Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast - 14: The Trek Is Out There

14: The Trek Is Out There

10/31/17 • 66 min

Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

The X-Files and Star Trek. Just like Kirk and Spock, Mulder and Scully have become pop-culture icons, outgrowing the some 200 television episodes and two films in which they appear. Although The X-Files has yet to achieve Star Trek’s level of longevity, the property will soon mark its twenty-fifth anniversary, and is returning next year for the further adventures of the two indefatigable FBI agents—now both in their fifties. In Star Trek terms, it has made it from “The Man Trap” all the way through to The Undiscovered Country.

In this special Halloween episode of Primitive Culture, Tony returns from his long vacation on Risa to talk with Duncan about the only show he might love more than Star Trek. We discuss the thematic connections between these two science fiction behemoths, looking at their shared interest in UFO culture, preoccupation with the historical legacies of World War II, and the various ways in which the huge success of The X-Files in the 1990s might have shaped the Trek that followed—from the shady shenanigans of Section 31 in Deep Space Nine to the latest episodes of Discovery.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Longevity and Nostalgia (00:03:40) The Nineties’ Zeitgeist and Mistrust of Authority (00:17:19) World War II Guilt and Conspiracy (00:22:35) 9/11 and the Restarting of History (00:48:14) Closing (00:58:23) Hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett Production Tony Black (Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

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13: Everything I Need to Know About Baseball I Learned from Watching Star Trek

The Federation’s Field of Dreams.

“Death to the opposition!” Starfleet officers are expected to be good sports and, for many of them, the lessons they’ve learned while playing their favorite games—tennis, fencing, even water polo—are ones they’ve brought with them onto the bridges of their starships. But no Star Trek character is as closely identified with his personal sporting passion than Captain Benjamin Sisko, whose deep love of baseball shines through all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett—who doesn’t know a bunt from a fancy dan—is joined by major-league baseball enthusiasts Mike Schindler and Zach Moore for a lesson on what makes this quintessentially American sport so meaningful to its fans. Along the way, they puzzle over why baseball is such a good fit for Star Trek’s storytelling, and what it means to be a good loser when you’re fighting a seemingly unwinnable war.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Inside Baseball (00:04:25) The In-Field Fly Rule (00:25:13) The Ball of the Emissary (00:41:15) Sisko the Jerk (00:52:00) Buck Bokai (00:56:20) Final Thoughts (01:01:40)

Host Duncan Barrett

Guests Mike Schindler and Zach Moore

Production Tony Black (Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

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15: Existence is Futile

Time Loops in Star Trek.

Time’s up! Or is it? For those Starfleet officers unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped in a temporal causality loop, the mental strain of repeating the same moments again and again can be hard to bear. And for the writers and directors faced with the challenge of making a deeply repetitive story exciting, the logistical problems are significant. Nonetheless, time-loop stories have become a science fiction staple, running the gamut from comedy (Groundhog Day) to action thriller (Source Code). Within Star Trek, “Cause and Effect” (TNG) and “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” (DSC) share a structural similarity. But while one is a dramatic ensemble mystery, the other is a quirky character drama. The time loop proves itself to be anything but repetitive.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, recorded live in London’s West End, hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett explore this unique storytelling device, both within Star Trek and beyond. From the 1973 short story “12:01 PM” by American writer Richard A. Lupoff right up to the eighth episode of Star Trek: Discovery, they consider the role time-loop stories play in science fiction, asking whether there is more to these tales than simple entertainment? What are the darker issues at play when the loops begin to unravel, and what can they tell us about our own distinctly linear lives?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” (00:05:10) “Cause and Effect” (00:08:09) General Discussion (00:16:21) Timings (00:31:21) Loopy Morality (00:35:20) Groovy Futility (00:39:27) The Eternal Loop (00:44:14) Circles of Hell (00:47:15) Final Thoughts (00:50:42)

Hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett