A lizard fight, some time travel, and a 23rd century courtroom drama. All this and more in this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
Tonight, I am joined by my friend Nate as we discuss:
Star Trek: The Original Series episodes: Arena, Tomorrow is Yesterday, and Court Martial
Can’t believe how far we are already. After this week we are through 21 episodes
If you don’t like Arena, you probably don’t like TOS
People who make fun of Star Trek people think of episodes like Arena
Over-the-top campiness
A convoluted message
A reflection on Vietnam?
Metaphors
Does the message of the Metrons make sense?
Flawed characters that we love
Do higher life forms have no predilection for violence?
First mention of the Federation
I get defensive of our heroes
Am I a Trekkie now?
Has Spock not learned his lessons? Is this a lack of logic?
I confuse photon and proton torpedoes
A recurring trend – watching people watching people on TV
Making the connection that this is specifically 300 years in the future
How and when does Earth become united?
More recurring themes – the Enterprise shows up and causes problems
How much difference does one person make? If John’s son hadn’t made the trip to Saturn, somebody else would have
How much can they mess up the timeline?
Recommending Matt Ridley books
Comedy of errors makes for a good episode. Without conflict, these episodes would be boring
How do you teach somebody from the past? How would we function if we were 300 years in the past?
Technological discussion from two sides
Time travel in different stories
Musings on time travel and different timelines, or how I finally contribute to Star Trek conversations
I won Star Trek
Time travel vs time dilation. Interstellar
More watching people watch people on TV
Regression in the courtroom over the next 250 years?
Stipulated! Clearly, I’m a legal expert
Another negative view of technology. But it’s the people who made technology unreliable
Fawlty Towers discussion
There are other ships like the Enterprise
Lawyering in the 23rd century is awful
Humanity fading into the shadow of the machine. AI discussions which are still applicable today
There’s a reason that we are following this crew and this captain
Vulcanians
The series has really found its footing. Social commentary. Showing what life can be. Using the medium of story to convey that message. Show, don’t tell