20: Would You Rather?

01/23/18 • 72 min

Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

Star Trek’s Impossible Choices.

Since the publication of William Styron’s novel Sophie’s Choice in 1979, the title has entered the cultural lexicon as a term meaning a difficult situation in which a person must choose between two equally deserving alternatives. Two Star Trek episodes-Discovery’s “Lethe” and Voyager’s “Latent Image,” both written by Joe Menosky-borrow the story’s horrifying central conceit: a mother forced to choose between her children. In Jeri Taylor’s Voyager novel Mosaic, we learn that a similarly unbearable choice early in Kathryn Janeway’s Starfleet career almost destroyed her chances at command, plunging her into deep depression.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett consider Star Trek’s approach to impossible choices. For the men and women who want to sit in the captain’s chair, part of their training involves facing the most terrible dilemmas-sending a friend to his death to save the ship or facing the ultimate no-win scenario: the Kobayashi Maru. But are some choices just too awful for human beings to cope with? And what happens when being forced to choose makes us lose something we can never get back?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) “Lethe” (00:04:43) “Latent Image” (00:13:00) Boundaries of Impossibility (00:23:00) Mosaic (00:31:45) The Kobayashi Maru (00:36:15) “Children of Time” and Generational Empathy (00:38:20) The Needs of the Many (00:50:45) Twenty-first-century Choices (01:02:00)

Hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett

Production Clara Cook (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) 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)

Star Trek’s Impossible Choices.

Hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett

Previous Episode

19: You Can Go Home Again

Voyager, History, and Nostalgia.

While Captain Picard took command of the Enterprise-D with an order to “see what’s out there,” Captain Janeway’s mission statement was almost the opposite: “Set a course for home.” For seven years, the crew of the USS Voyager was, in a sense, exploring backwards; and this return journey was reflected in the show’s obsession with the past. Many episodes dealt with thorny questions of history and historiography, debating the relationship between official narratives and more personal, individual memories of days gone by. Others reveled in the pleasures of nostalgia, celebrating the ways our links to the past—and to our ancestors—can inspire and comfort us in the present.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by award-winning Irish blogger Darren Mooney to discuss Voyager’s approach to history and nostalgia in the context of the broader Star Trek narrative. Is the impulse to get home an inherently conservative mission? Does the shift to prequels and reboots since Voyager ended signal an inability to truly move forward? Or is it simply inevitable that a franchise with a fifty-year history would be as concerned with the past as with the future?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) History (00:04:01) Nostalgia (00:08:50) Memory As the Guarantee of Truth (00:22:24) Guilt and Shame (00:30:05) The Impossible Future (00:40:00) Tom Paris, Retro Screenwriter (00:54:00) Corporate Meddlers and Continuity Pornographers (01:06:30) Final Thoughts (01:23:15) Hosts Duncan Barrett

Guest Darren Mooney

Production Clara Cook (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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21: So, What's the Problem?

When Star Trek: Discovery debuted in September 2017, it brought to our TV screens the first explicitly gay couple in the franchise’s fifty-year history. Lieutenant Stamets and Doctor Culber, played by LGBT “actorvists” Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz, quickly won their way into the audience’s hearts, presenting one of Star Trek’s most realistic onscreen relationships. But why has it taken half a century for Star Trek to get to this point? Is sexuality the true final frontier for Gene Roddenberry’s inclusive agenda?

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook are joined by Kay Elizabeth Shaw to trace the history of LGBT representation in Star Trek, from the early 1990s to the present day. Looking at iconic episodes such as “The Outcast,” “The Host,” and “Rejoined”-as well as taking a brief trip to DS9’s sexually fluid Mirror Universe-we consider some of the reasons that true representation has taken so long, as well as some of the people who played a role on both sides of this long-running debate.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Allegorical Representation (00:04:50) Misplaced Pronouns (00:14:50) Roddenberry’s Plan (00:22:30) Slash Fictions and Resistant Readings (00:26:48) Mirror Sexuality and Kira Nerys (00:48:35) Gatekeepers and Fan Fiction (00:54:40) Straight Actors and Gay Roles (01:12:20) Bury Your Gays? (01:23:00) Final Thoughts (01:33:10)

Hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook Guest Kay Elizabeth Shaw