BackTrekking

BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Is Star Trek scary? A future with no paychecks, fake booze, and the ever-present fear you may be in a simulation is scary. Trek rarely gets to do horror because face it: in one hand you have a device that tells you exactly where Michael Myers is and in the other, a device that can phaser him right to the ground. The rationality and advanced technology of the Federation means superstitions are scarce and death is (mostly) curable. But when that technology goes awry, or when it's alien technology we don't understand, the fear factor can become pleasantly elevated.

That's where the Borg come in. They're robot zombies whose guns are often bigger than the Federations. They don't feel pity or remorse or fear, and they absolutely will not stop until something something. They're probably the closest that Trek gets to a matinee monster and they're scary for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the infection-slash-possession they represent. Get a little Borg on you and you could BECOME a Borg and suddenly be really interested in getting your former friends to join the club. The Borg are so popular an adversary on Star Trek, they even found a way to have them on Enterprise, which is set 200 years before their first appearance in the franchise, and to do it the Masters of Trek turned to one of the masters of modern horror, John Carpenter.

Uncle John is a versatile filmmaker who has written and directed films with a variety of settings and character types. If there's a unifying thread in his films, it's probably the emotion of paranoia of the unknown and none of his films embody that emotion better than 1982's "The Thing", a film which was mostly panned on its release but is now rightly heralded as one of the most fraught and disturbing sci-fi horror flicks of the 20th century. When searching for a way to bring the Borg to Enterprise, what could be better than to have hapless Federation scientists find something buried in the Arctic ice, waiting to revive and begin transforming the world in its image? Someone get Wilford Brimley on the phone!

On this episode, we talk about John Carpenter's masterpiece and Trek's college try at homaging it. We also discuss the way the film's many characters distinguish themselves with minimal dialogue, the simple construction of Carpenter films, yelling cool things at monsters, what's up with Copper's nose ring, the Outrageous Jack Burton, finding new elements in familiar antagonists, posting Zefram cringe, the vampire-zombie spectrum, Borg racism, Old Man Worf, and the show's most necessary Technological Exchange!

Nobody trusts anybody now and we're all very tired.

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Star Trek is the future . . . so where are all the robots? Nearly every artificial intelligence that Enterprise encountered during its five-year mission got blasted, talked to death, or both (usually after a smooch from Captain Kirk). Gene Roddenberry was a humanist in every sense of the word and the vision of a utopian future for humanity that he wanted to portray had little room for any artificial beings or aids; he wanted humanity to pull itself up by its own fleshy bootstraps. Nevermind the fact that automated manufacturing, self-regulating computer systems, and financial algorithms already made up the backbone of the economic and social prosperity that we enjoyed in the late 20th century. How much more would the utopia of the Federation in the 23rd century rely on robots and AI for economic regulation? Doesn't matter 'cause Kirk just told them to jump off a cliff.

So robots, mostly, were relegated to villains and boogiemen on early Trek, from the unfeeling Nomad, to the devious Ruk, to the all-too-human M5 computer. Still, the galaxy couldn't be in danger every week, and as Trek stretched its comedic muscles in its second season, robots on the show found a new role: comedic straightmen. "I, Mudd" finds returning ne'er-do-well Harcourt Fenton Mudd the captive ruler of a planet of androids who are programmed to serve and study humanity, whether humanity likes it or not. It's a chilling premise, but the episode instead milks it for comedy, as our normally stoic crew acts (or over-acts) unhinged to exploit the robots' reliance on logic and the directives of their programming.

Russian-American author Isaac Asimov wasn't afraid of a robot-filled future, nor did he think that a "rise of the robots" would be a cold, emotionless tide. Instead, his short stories and novels are filled with human-like robots who wrestle with their responsibility to serve humans but protect themselves, to emulate their creators but remain frustratingly behind them. Positronic robots are, by design, unable to harm humankind but one can imagine that someday their mission to serve humanity could be updated to include, like Mudd's androids, a measure of control in the relationship. On this episode, we compare and contrast the episode "I, Mudd" with its namesake, Asimov's seminal 1950 short story collection, "I, Robot". We talk about Asimov's unornamented prose, his vision of a world that robots will save whether we like it or not, the complex implications of the seemingly simple Three Laws, looking to "The Wizard of Oz" for a classic Trek antagonist, the friendship between Asimov and Roddenberry, poking fun at your own show, "Take my wives . . . please!", engaging "Trickster" mode, Leonard Nimoy: Robot Lawyer, red hair as characterization, missing out on a robot "Citizen Kane", the ancient "I, Robot" arcade game, and Mark Zuckerberg comes up more times than we're comfortable with.

66 and 99? NICE

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

There's a reason that the Pepe Silvia scene from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has become a popular meme. In our post-Watergate/Gamergate/Deflategate/et al. world, governmental conspiracy has gone from something the Washington Post investigates to fodder for the obsessive, "crazy" tinfoil hat characters of prime-time TV. Conspiracy was popular as a subject long before ex-President Nixon took his last helicopter ride out of Washington, but Watergate seemed to solidify paranoia as a *genre*, leading to the classic paranoid thrillers of the '70s like "Three Days of the Condor", "The Conversation", and of course, "All the President's Men". Generally, conspiracy films end with justice done and our hero's integrity being rewarded. Unfortunately, however, the actual process of uncovering a conspiracy tends to be a long and frustrating one, replete with half-truths and redactions and missing the satisfying third act reveal, the bad guys in question going unpunished and often keeping the positions they abused in the first place.

Such was the Iran-Contra affair, a twisted, multi-national criminal conspiracy to fund right-wing rebels in a Central American nation that the Reagan Administration used illegal weapons sales and drug money to support. Iran-Contra was all anyone on either side of the aisle could talk about in the late '80s; in 2019, it's a barely remembered footnote of the Reagan presidency, as is the stack of pardons handed out to nearly everyone involved by Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush. Bush (and his son) went on to be president, the Sandinista party (with a new coat of paint) remains in power in Nicaragua to this day, and Ollie North got a TV show on Fox News. Players with bit parts---like CIA-recruited pilot Barry Seal, focus of the 2017 movie "American Made"---got a bullet for their troubles, disposable by design and by policy.

The TNG episode "Too Short a Season" and the conspiracy it contains doesn't have a Barry Seal character exactly. Imagine instead that Ronald Reagan himself---the "Great Communicator"---began his diplomatic career by secretly negotiating with terrorists and giving them exactly what they wanted. Now, after 45 years of lies and cover-ups, he's returning to the planet in question to atone for his crimes . . . as a sweaty 25-year-old? Star Trek!

This week, we're looking at one of early TNG's botched attempts at political commentary and the Tom Cruise film that swooped in to set the record straight. On the show, we talk about the twisted conspiracy underpinning Iran-Contra, the film's attempt to "McKay" a potentially stultifying subject, the "Three Billboards" vibe, Domnhall Gleason=weak dick, getting your "Burn After Reading" in your "Goodfellas", too much medicine and not enough sugar, Tom Cruise question acting, the Federation's first Muppet admiral, Professor X chairs, "Oops, you war-crimed", exactly when to Benjamin Button yourself, Troi clownface, the dreaded "anti-Bechdel", running phasers to the Contras, pharmacological crime-fighting ethics, and LEONARD MAIZLISH! *gasp*

This episode is dedicated to DC Fontana, Rene Auberjonois, and the many Trek actors and staff we've lost this year.

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

It's tough to improve on Shakespeare. Sure, the guy's got a cultural monopoly going since he happened to write his plays in English, and America exports more culture than we do bullets. But you have to admit, the guy's pretty good. It would be the height of hubris then, you'd have to agree, to try and rewrite one of his most famous and beloved plays in an attempt to give it a more raw and modern take on power and politics. And an expanded role for Falstaff, 'natch. And yet, Australian actor and former thin person Joel Edgerton did exactly that for his Netflix "Henry V" adaptation, "The King". This contemporary revision of Shakespeare's mostly nakedly propagandistic play strips out the impassioned speeches, the racial tensions, and most of the poignancy of a treatise on the responsibilities of a head of state that still has something to teach modern audiences, 400 years after it was first performed on stage.

Meanwhile, 1000 years after Henry and his men landed on the beaches of Normandy, Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds himself weighing the same responsibilities and consequences that Henry did on the night before Agincourt. A Romulan admiral has risked ex-communication and death to defect across the Neutral Zone in order to warn Starfleet that the Romulan Empire has established a secret beachhead in anticipation of an all-out invasion of the Federation. Should Picard strike first and expose the Romulan plot, saving billions? Or is he leading his crew that is sworn to follow him into a trap and an ignoble death?

We're contemplating what makes a good king (or a good captain) this week, as we compare these two ruminations on war and rule. We also discuss "fixing" Shakespeare, drool acting, why Trek keeps going back to Shakespeare, the episode's unique premise, the unrealized potential of the Romulans, shouting=acting, and the Data ex Machina. We also talk about the double double-cross, pocket Klingons, Falstaff 3000, manic pixie dream fille, Jared Leto's the Dauphin, manipulators gonna manipulate, the Koala Krew, Gooey's got questions, Kal's got answers, and our all-time best Technological Exchange!

We got swords, they got swords, all God's children got swords!

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Quick, what am I describing? Giant lizard, arrow-shaped rock formations, slow-motion choreography, white powder on the ground? Okay, "last year's Burning Man" was a pretty good guess, but we're talking about the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Arena"! For the uneducated, "Arena" IS Trek: rubber-masked aliens, bare desert sets, two-fisted Canadians . . . its indelible visuals have made it shorthand for "Star Trek-type show", even 50 years and 5 additional series later. But under the rubber mask, "Arena" is more than just a bout of reptilian pugilism. It holds the same themes of war, wonder, revenge, and forgiveness that you can find in any era of Trek.

So, too, is Fredrick Brown's short story, "Arena". Released at the climax of WWII, it presents a similar situation; a human and an alien enter champion combat for the fate of their races while a god-like alien looks on. But, in a reflection of its times, "Arena" the story is more concerned with humanity's triumph and ingenuity than peace or understanding between races. And the alien, though no less abhorrent, is merely a relentless, remorseless opponent, with no excuse for its brutality. Likewise, our hero Carson sets about his task of eliminating the other with all the vigor you'd expect from a white, male American spaceman. God-like aliens, place your bets!

We go mano y Gorno this week on two all-time classic examples of their respective media, talking about an episode of Trek firsts, memetic story elements, writing your story and getting the rights later, TV scenes with good level design, making your deathmatch fair, justifiable genocide, chatty blue lizards, and Kal and Gooey discuss their respective creative processes. We also discuss inspirational bus trips, thinking your enemy to death, how much "The Lighthouse" cost, watching Star Trek characters watch "Star Trek", "Oops! I genocided!", keeping a "great table" thanks to your dealer, gun nut Kirk, #twilightzone, Gooey's blastin' Baja, and Kal may never see his favorite movies again!

Kill. Hurt. Come.

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes in an episode chosen by you!

Some works of art are unassailable in their perfection . . . the Sistine Chapel, the Starry Night, the KFC Double Down. Criticism of them goes beyond merely evaluating their construction and extends instead into the effect they've had on society and culture itself. If theater is life, cinema is art, and television is furniture, the movie "Casablanca" would undoubtedly be film's Mona Lisa or, at the very least, Sunflowers. The question, "Is it good?", has been answered by time. The question, "Is it still relevant?", is possibly apter; it is, after all, nearly 80 years old. But the positive evidence of the film's endurance is present in its countless cultural homages and its familiarity to people who have never even sat through it.

On its surface, the desperate and war-weary world of "Casablanca" doesn't look much like the world of Star Trek. DS9, maybe, but certainly not TNG. The titular city of the film (and real-life WWII) is haunted by a panoply of refugees, displaced by the war and by the Nazis who move among them, discussing over drinks who to conquer next. It's a city divided between the hopeful and those who sell hope at the market price. Where the characters of Star Trek are noble and uncompromising, Casablanca's heroes live ignobly, victims of despair and their own convictions.
Star Trek embodies humanity's aspirations, but films like "Casablanca" remind us of the cruel realities of war and the acts of both injustice and heroism that happen in every century.

We go all-out again this week in an episode almost as long as the war itself, comparing "Casablanca" with TNG's take on the classic film, "We'll Always Have Paris". During the episode, we discuss the film's modern pace and sensibility, its origins as a stage play, how Michael Curtiz was the Spielberg of his day, the living world of Casablanca, making all the right choices, the problem with pure characters, and the personal stakes of the film's immigrant cast. We also talk playing chess with yourself, escaping Nazis just to play them in movies, the questionable lyrics of La Marseillaise, sketchy Tinder, getting "The Contest" past the censors, Barb Wire "doing a 'Casablanca'", passionate towel whacking, menus of the future, Kal's ready to protest The Irishman, and Gooey just wants to make peace!

This one's for you, Low IQ Canadian!

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Starfleet is what you get when hippies have no man to rail against, when hippies *are* the man (and woman and antennaed being) but can also bathe and hold down jobs. And in the Hippie Federation, everything is cool. Believe in God, don't believe in God, claim you are God . . . all valid options. But in the rapidly developing theocratic societies of colonial New England, God was your deity, boss, and president all rolled into one and breaking the law, including God's law, meant you had a date with the gibbet and you're buying.

That's the world the characters of "The Crucible" find themselves in as Arthur Miller's play begins. Puritans are, despite all efforts to the contrary, still human, but when lust and lies are capital crimes, some "righteous" citizens are willing to exploit Salem's fear of the supernatural to settle scores, to increase their holdings, and to try and possess someone they think they deserve. On the other side of the equation, the very real Salem Witch Trials also occurred in the Star Trek universe, and the fear and hatred on display in early America cost us a relationship with an alien race who was looking to share their extraordinary gifts, and Kirk and the Enterprise are being put through their own trial over humanity's rejection of "The Magics of Megas-Tu".

It's another long episode but our first recorded in person and our first Star Trek animated series episode! Join us as we examine the chilling real-world events in 17th century Massachusets Bay Colony that claimed 19 lives and set neighbor against neighbor. We discuss the historical details of the witch hunts of the late 1600s, the actual victims and their persecutors, the "spiritual evidence" brought against the accused, the sexist and greedy motives of the accusers, the continued poignance of Miller's play and the author's own courage under persecution, the movie's stellar cast, and the possible chemical causes of "demonic possession."

We also talk about the subtle subversiveness of the animated episode, finishing the 5-year mission, making friends with the devil, being Promethean, Wishbone in space, Jimmy Doohan voicing everyone, tripping on rye, Frank Miller's The Crucible, Punky Brewster's dad, the ultimate Hollywood weasel, dancing with the black man, Paul mf'in Scofield, shooting nets, where toll roads come from, Gooey labels this a "hangout movie", and Kal gets into his theater past!

This is the closest we're going to get to true crime so tune in! Happy Halloween!

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Starfleet is nominally a military organization (the ranks and uniforms give it away) but the heroes of your favorite Star Trek series tend to do more exploring than soldiering and attend more string concertos than memorial services. But what if you take away the holodecks and chocolate sundaes and thrust the shiny, happy people of the Federation into a kill-or-be-killed scenario on a bare and worthless scrap of rock? Will their enlightened principles die before they do?

That's the question "The Siege of AR-558" asks. and in doing so it references real-life battles like Guadalcanal in WWII and films based on them, like "The Thin Red Line" and "Hell is for Heroes". Trek has ever been a commentary on the present, rather than the future, and in this episode and the last season of DS9, the Federation, like 20th and 21st century America, sees itself being torn between its non-interventionist ideals and its desire to remake the world in its image.

We once again go long on this episode, trying to contain the epic scope of the War in the Pacific and the War in the Alpha Quadrant. We discuss the historical battle of Guadalcanal, the confident filmmaking of Terrence Malick and the 20-year road that led to "The Thin Red Line", the amazing amount of material that DIDN'T make it into the film, letting chaos be your commentary, bringing darkness and real stakes to the Star Trek universe, pathos vs. bathos, making EVERYTHING a character, depicting disability in Star Trek, and how Nog was a better Wesley Crusher.

We also talk about Vin Diesel impressions, Shakespeare robbing everyone at the Oscars, Casey Jones, blowing your butt off, John Savage, the Bob Newhart phone bit, killing Will Robinson, transporters and the Geneva Convention, Kal shares his nightmare tale of seeing "Thin Red Line" in the theater, and Gooey wonders "Oh, my God . . . what is a good movie?"

This episode is dedicated to Aron Eisenberg.

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Star Trek helped popularize the time loop story, beating Groundhog Day to press by almost a year, and the idea of our characters locked in a repeating set of events has repeated itself in the various Star Trek series. Enter "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad", where it's Discovery's turn to live, die, and repeat. "Magic" itself came in the wake of "Edge of Tomorrow", an underappreciated action sci-fi flick about Tom Cruise going from coward zero to wartime hero by dying over and over and over and...

It's another seeming endless episode as we return from a break to talk about how EoT went from manga to the big screen, seeing Tom Cruise be bad at something, the slow-motion pushup felt around the world, how "Magic" makes vulnerability its greatest strength, finally getting to know the Disco crew, 100%ing the Mudd level, and having the same musical tastes as Alex Kurtzman.

We've also got a little bit of Switch talk, we try to peel back the layers of the Walter Mosely flap, Gooey's living that AMC Stubs life, and Kal is losing it over Emily Blunt!

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BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Stop me if you've heard this one: old scientist, hot daughter, mysterious planet . . . Star Trek is no stranger to cribbing from the greats and this week we examine the similarities between the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Oasis" and the all-time sci-fi classic film, "Forbidden Planet"!

On this extra-long episode, we discuss Leslie Nielsen's best sci-fi film, a movie that (like many Trek episodes) was *itself* inspired by Shakespeare's play "The Tempest". Trek often explores the murky dividing line between superscience and supernatural, and the fantastic Krell technology that Dr. Morbius discovers on Altair IV smacks of forbidden, god-like power. Then things get spooky as Archer and crew explore a ghost ship that turns out to have real ghosts, courtesy of a fully-featured Rene Auberjonois!

We're all over the road on this ep, talking about architecture as landscape, stunt writers, teaching alien women to love, declaring psychological bankruptcy, the origin of Bender, George W. Bush impressions, sick T'Pol owns, some sort of "prime" directive, Kal buries/praises Brannon Braga, and Gooey is revealed as an Enterprise head!

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