Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast - 8: Not Futile

8: Not Futile

08/15/17 • 87 min

Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

The French Resistance and Star Trek’s Maquis.

In the mid-1990s, when the writers of Star Trek were dreaming up a new terrorist splinter group that would threaten the Federation’s delicate treaty with Cardassia, they turned to the history books to choose a name for the controversial organization. The term maquis, a Corsican word meaning hilly brushland, had originally been adopted by French Resistance fighters who fled to the hills to escape the Nazis. From the relative safety of their rustic bases, these maquis plotted raids against their German overlords, like latter-day Robin Hoods hiding from the Sherrif of Nottingham.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett consider legacies of the French Resistance in the Star Trek universe, focusing in particular on the presentation of the Bajoran Resistance and the Maquis, who planned their raids on Cardassian strongholds from secret bases in the caves and hills of rural provinces. What is it about these rebels of World War II that proved so irresistible to Star Trek’s writers half a century later? And what exactly does such rebellion represent in the supposedly utopian future of the Federation?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) “The Killing Game” (00:04:05) Resistance vs. Collaboration (00:09:15) Charles De Gaulle and Bajoran Resistance Cells (00:13:38) Provisional Governments and the Challenges of Post-war Reconstruction (00:19:48) Heroes, Terrorists, and Collaborators (00:26:48) The Maquis and Les Misérables (00:32:57) Voyager’s Maquis (00:44:21) Authority and Authoritarianism (00:52:32) Moral Ambiguity in Deep Space Nine (01:00:59) The Cardassian Resistance (01:05:52) Final Thoughts (01:18:52)

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)

The French Resistance and Star Trek’s Maquis.

Previous Episode

7: Were I Human

Star Trek and Shakespeare, Part II. Once more unto the breach! Part II of our look at Shakespeare in Star Trek focuses on the Next Generation era. What does it mean for a Starfleet captain to have a copy of the Complete Works in his ready room? Can an android truly understand what it means to be a fifteenth-century monarch? And at what point does the line begin to blur between heavyweight classical actor Patrick Stewart and bookish Shakespearean fanboy Captain Picard?

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black trace echoes of Shakespeare’s plays through The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, looking at the ways in which characters, plots, and themes from these five-hundred-year-old works are borrowed and repurposed in a science fiction context. Ultimately, we discover, Shakespeare and Star Trek have at least one thing in common: an inclusive humanism that celebrates the rich complexity of life—in other words, infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

Chapters Introduction and The Ultimate Voyage (00:00:00) The Continuing Mission of The Tempest (00:08:10) Hamlet’s Evolved Sensibility (00:19:33) Heightened Text and Renaissance Bridge Design (00:27:38) Spoofing and Bad Acting (00:32:42) Allusions and Echoes in Deep Space Nine (00:38:56) Dahar Master Falstaff (00:44:50) Shakespearean Antiheroes (00:51:00) Voyager and the Eclipse of High Culture (00:57:42) Final Thoughts (01:04:00) Hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black 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)

Next Episode

9: Yippee Ki-Ay!

Star Trek and Action Movies. Lights! Camera! Action? Compared to the other science fiction franchise with which it shares half its name, Star Trek has always been distinctly contemplative, as much morality play as spectacular entertainment. But right from the start, there were moves to punch up the action. In 1965, the show’s original pilot was rejected by NBC executives for being too “cerebral.” A quarter-century later, Patrick Stewart expressed a similar view, begging Gene Roddenberry to offer the enlightened Captain Picard more opportunities for “sex and shooting.” By the time Picard was reinvented for the silver screen, the wise, unflappable diplomat had become a man of action, with bulging muscles rippling under his sweat-stained vest.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett look at what Star Trek has borrowed from the action movie genre, focusing on the episodes “Starship Mine” and “Macrocosm,” and their debt to Die Hard and Aliens. What does it mean when Starfleet’s most idealistic captains are forced to forgo diplomacy and get out their guns? And to what extent can Star Trek absorb action-movie tropes without sacrificing its own unique qualities? Join us as we saddle up, lock and load, and get ready to boldly kick some alien butt.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Ellen Ripley (00:10:05) Sex and Shooting (00:16:00) The Changing Face of Action (00:21:06) Gender-blind Casting (00:31:05) Evaluating the Episodes (00:34:28) Adult Content (00:40:50) Babes vs. Badasses (00:46:14) Final Thoughts (00:54:13) 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)