Enterprising Individuals

Our exploration of the spooky side of Trek continues this week, as we stalk the fog-strewn streets of Argelius II looking for the "Wolf in the Fold"!

Author Marc Giller returns to the show to talk about the best episode of Star Trek: The Original Series in which Jack the Ripper possesses the USS Enterprise. Scotty's got a bump on the noggin and a distrust of girls and Dr. McCoy prescribes a little belly-dancer-related R&R to get the chief engineer back on his feet. But when the bodies begin to pile up, Kirk and crew must face down a ghost from Earth's past before the lights go out . . . PERMANENTLY!

"Rational" Trek takes a powder in this episode, as we're served not only a murder mystery, but a ghost story, a slasher flick, zombies, demons, and haunted house tale, all in a script from the author of "Psycho"! During the show, Marc and I discuss Trek's desire to "laugh at the boogiemen," genre mashups, "Arthur C. Clarke" magic, the endurance of the Ripper myth, the longest scene in the series, the conflict between Alexander Courage and Gene Roddenberry, and the way spirituality is explored (or often is not) in Star Trek.

We also discuss the draconian punishments of pleasure planets, the Borg as space zombies, the scandal of bellybuttons, Discount Christopher Lee, Gene's nickel-nursing, the best way to use time travel in a story, how you can't show the crew meeting God but the Devil is fine, what Gene thought of the Trek spinoffs, Marc stands up for the From Hell movie, and Aaron wants to see a hot tub brawl between Captain Kirk and Jesus Christ!

Happy Halloween!

Follow Marc on Twitter and check out his website to see his work!
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It's a wealth of discussion this week as Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics, joins the show to talk about what's in Picard's wallet! The "no money" economy of the Federation has always been one of its major selling points, but how would a system like that actually operate? Manu and I discuss the "economic plumbing" of the UFP, as well as what it might take for us to reach a similar economic reality. We also touch on "unlimited cookies", the responsibility of ownership, reputation as currency, the socioeconomic benchmark of smoked salmon, wielding soft economic power, and how the Federation could buy the entire galaxy without breaking the Bank of Bolius!

Plus, we've got news about Discovery Season 2, a report from last weekend's screening of the DS9 Documentary, What We Leave Behind, and we look ahead to this weekend's Destination Trek in Birmingham!

By Spock's beard, this is a great episode!

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Bone up before the documentary with Paula and Terry's Deep Space Nine Companion and see her pics from the screening!
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https://trekmovie.com/2018/10/17/report-and-photos-cast-and-crew-of-star-trek-deep-space-nine-at-la-screening-of-what-we-left-behind/

Follow Manu on Twitter!
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Listen to our "Runaway" recap show!
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Get updates from Ella from Destination Trek!
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This week, we're exploring the difference between Creole and Cajun as well as prudence and paranoia as we examine "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost"!

Writer Eleanor Tremeer comes back to Enterprising Individuals to talk about a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine two-parter that explores the question, "What is it worth giving up in order to feel safe?" A Dominion act of terror on Earth shakes the security of the Federation government, and Starfleet Security responds by increasing their readiness and curtailing the freedoms of the populace. Can Sisko uncover the dark conspiracy at the highest levels of command before he loses his ship, his family, and the Federation's soul?

Utopia is put on trial in this pair of episodes, as the writers of DS9 push the show out of the "Roddenberry Box" and critique the socialist paradise that Trek fans (and Trek characters) take for granted. Over the course of this episode, we discuss the show's prescient parallels to political debates in our own world, we examine the inherent paradox in utopian military sci-fi, we question if enlightened characters can really probe dystopia, we compare Deep Space Nine to post-war Berlin, and Eleanor shares the insights she learned from interviewing Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore!

It's not all political pessimism, however, as we also discuss military code-switching-as-subtle-interrogation, pissing off Michael Bay, "Scooby Doo" bad guys in Trek, whether Sisko is the Colin Powell or the Jar-Jar, the laziness of Changeling strategy, we ask if there are vampires in the 24th century, who's the Angela Merkel of the Federation, Aaron resigns himself to being the "Tom Paris" of the show, and Eleanor pegs "The Last Jedi" as the Marmite of Star Wars films!

All that and a head full of meat spiders, too!

Follow Eleanor on Twitter!
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Check out Eleanor's article on DS9's exploration of the dark side of Utopia!
https://io9.gizmodo.com/to-boldly-stay-how-deep-space-nine-upended-star-trek-b-1823186821

Hear our live episode with Melinda Snodgrass from CONvergence 2018!
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We are talking #StarTrekDiscovery’s “Runaway” LIVE! Tweet to the show at #discoverage!

We are talking #StarTrekDiscovery’s “Runaway” LIVE! Tweet to the show at #discoverage!

This week, we welcome aboard Clarence Brown of the Discussing Trek podcast to talk about what's coming up in the world of Star Trek! We break down the news about the new Picard show, discuss the positives and negatives of "canon", talk about the changing face of fandom in the digital age, and we speculate on the "future" of the future!

Plus, we take a look back at Season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery, we take a look ahead at Season 2 and "Short Treks", Clarence talks about "catching up" as a young fan without satellite TV, and Aaron is obsessed with Rob Liefeld's feet! It's less weird than it sounds!

Come back this Thursday @ 9:00pm central for our live recap of "Runaway", the first Discovery Short Trek!

Pre-order Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 on Blu-ray!
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Put away your shoes and your old life as a Starfleet captain as we illuminate "The Inner Light!"

Writer and co-founder of BAR'D SOAP Sara Lynn Michener joins the show this week to talk about an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that's arguably the best and most affecting hour of the series. When the Enterprise encounters an ancient probe, Captain Picard is zapped into the shoes of Kamin, a simple iron-weaver. Will he find a way back to his old life, or will he find peace and contentment with a family whose reality he struggles to accept?

The strength of any story (or sci-fi franchise) is in its characters, and Patrick Stewart gives a tour-de-force performance as he takes Picard through the loss of his old life, the halting acceptance of his new circumstances, and the devastation of returning home and learning he can never go home again. On this episode, we discuss the value of skepticism and critical thinking, the psychology of Kataan, trading your space program for top-notch VR, the most contextual flute song ever, good soup, and Captain Picard as the Ultimate Space Dad!

We also talk about the arbitrary rules of parental media restriction, the power of profanity, "being careful with that Star Trek," the responsibilities of criticism, "Black Panther" as "Thor-with-mega-representation", what lies beyond "meta", the Truman Show on crack, Aaron once again confuses Deadpool and Daredevil, Sara outlines "the Ultimate Gaslight", and we ask, "Who's the real mirror Elon Musk?"

The farther one travels, the less one really knows if they're in some kind of sophisticated simulation!

Clean up with Bar'd Soap and more awesome creative things!
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Unstop the presses this week 'cause we've got news about the upcoming series of Discovery mini-episodes, Short Treks! Plus, we've got news about CBS, planet Vulcan, and a plaintive plea for Spock's Brain!

Then, we review a documentary about the life of Trek guest star Susan Oliver, "The Green Girl!" Susan was a beautiful woman, a talented actress, a daring pilot, and a person with an incredible sense of determination and self-identity, and The Green Girl is a fascinating look at a life too short but well-lived.

Get more info about "The Green Girl" at www.thegreengirlmovie.com!

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Open up a fresh deck of cards and sit down for a game of fizzbin as we cut ourselves "A Piece of the Action"!

Dr. Steven Mollmann joins the show this week to talk about a classic episode of Star Trek: the Original Series that sees our heroes trade their phasers for tommyguns and their uniforms for zoot suits! When the Enterprise arrives at Sigma Iotia II, they discover that cultural contamination by the USS Horizon has altered the primitive society, and "gangsters" vie for control of the planet. Now Kirk and crew must prevent an all-out gang war before Oxmyx and Krako can rub them out!

Humor in Trek is always welcome and on this episode, we talk about some of Trek's funniest moments and why it's necessary to occasionally pop the bubble of ostentation. We also discuss how Sigma Iotia is the Galaxy Quest of planets, the vagaries of the Prime Directive, the way humor humanizes your favorite characters, Trek's history of employing comedy actors, and the granular detail of 23rd century books about the 1920s.

We also cover dating Victorian-style, the origins of the "scientist", how "mood" spelled backwards is "doom", a planet of Rick and Morty names, adding boob jokes to Heart of Darkness, Milton Berle's lost "serious" role, Dixieland Mark Ruffalo, and we commiserate over not being allowed to watch "bad" stuff as kids! Take that, Mom and Dad!

Stun the whole block from orbit! It's the only way to be sure.

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Double check your TOS this week (that's Terms of Service) as Dr. David A. Banks comes back to the show to assess the state of data security and implementation in the Star Trek universe! No one in Trek has an ID or a social media account or watches cable news . . . instead, they're a bunch of Shakespeare-loving, flute-playing beatniks who take their benevolent surveillance state for granted. How did humanity go from dragging Zuck up on Capitol Hill to being OK with having to argue with a computer to keep from dying in the cold of space?

In this wide-ranging talk, we look at Trek's conspicuous lack of data privacy, the crew's Victorian pastimes, the role of the media in Trek, "big data" (not Data), and we ask, "Just who's on the Federation Council, anyway?" Plus, we talk future news networks, having "admin" as your auto-destruct password, how the cop procedural killed the western, the David Simon season of DS9, scamming your Andorian grandma's welfare, losing the Spotify servers in WW3, Ensign Tilly's Instagram account, and an Elon Musk hot take!

It is your civic duty to listen to this show!

Follow David on Twitter and check out his website!
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http://www.davidabanks.org

Read Shannon Mattern's article, "Databodies in Codespace"!
https://placesjournal.org/article/databodies-in-codespace/

Hit the books and learn more about the issues on the show!
Treknology
https://amzn.to/2MTzABh
Biopolitics: An Advanced Introduction
https://amzn.to/2NnfEpQ
Everybody Lies
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Join our crew on Patreon and get access to our new feature, Stellar Commentaries!
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Click through our Amazon link on enterprisingindividuals.com to support the show!
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Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for Trek news and updates!
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