Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

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)

Music and Characters. In space, no one can hear you sing. But for Starfleet’s best and the brightest, a passion—and preferably talent—for music is practically an occupational requirement. From Spock’s harp to Riker’s trombone, Data’s violin to Harry’s clarinet, Star Trek’s characters have carried on playing for more than half a century, filling the silent void of space with a rich medley.

In this supplemental episode of Primitive Culture, recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall during a performance of Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage, Duncan Barrett is joined by Clara Cook to discuss the importance of music in Star Trek’s technologically sophisticated future. With all human—and alien—culture available at the mere press of a touchscreen, what does it mean to put in the hours of practice necessary to master a musical instrument? And can a symphony performed by an android truly be considered a “live” performance?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) The Virtues of Live Performance (00:03:05) “Virtuoso” and Elitist Snobbery (00:05:40) “Lessons” and Talent vs. Passion (00:08:55) Jazz Standards and Improvisation (00:17:08) The Instrument Maketh the Man (00:22:55) The “Classical” Music of the Future (00:26:15) The Consolation of Romantic Music (00:31:50) Folk Music and Raw Emotion (00:39:20) Hopes for Discovery (00:46:05) Filling the Void (00:48:24) Closing (00:52:17) Host Duncan Barrett Guest Clara Cook 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)

Star Trek and Shakespeare, Part I.

The play's the thing, whether on the stage of the Globe Theatre in sixteenth-century London or aboard a twenty-third-century starship. In The Original Series episode "The Conscience of the King," Captain Kirk and his crew play host to a troupe of Shakespearean actors hiding a terrible secret. But the Karidian Company of Players offer only the first of many interpretations of the Bard's plays within the Complete Works of Trek.

In the first act of a two-part episode of Primitive Culture devoted to the Man from Stratford, hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black look at the original Enterprise crew's brushes with Shakespeare, from echoes of The Tempest in the rejected pilot episode "The Cage" all the way through to the wild rantings of General Chang in The Undiscovered Country, 26 years later.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) The Undiscovered Country (00:02:04) "The Conscience of the King" (00:18:11) Captains Logs as Soliloquies (00:25:20) More Shakespearean Treks in TOS (00:29:06) The Tempest as the Birth of Science Fiction (00:30:30) Born Sexy Yesterday, with a Horse (00:41:21) Closing (00:45:45)

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)

Westworld and the Holodeck.   A state-of-the-art entertainment complex where you can live out your wildest dreams, surrounded by people who look, sound, and even feel like flesh-and-blood. The sixth-season TNG episode “A Fistful of Datas” tips its (cowboy) hat to the 1973 film Westworld, in which a robot gunslinger runs amok in a Wild West fantasyland, terrorizing the hapless players whose fun day out has just turned into a nightmare.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett discuss the connections between Westworld’s amoral theme park and Star Trek’s holodeck. We consider the risks human beings will take for excitement, the moral cost of creating artificial beings for exploitation in games of sex and violence, and whether such complex systems can ever truly be kept under control.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Holographic Rights in Voyager (00:15:23) Prostitution and Holographic Sex (00:23:34)  Vic Fontaine (00:30:14)  Safety Protocols and Corporate Responsibility (00:33:50)  Hubris Versus Sabotage (00:48:00)  Post-finale Voyager Novels and the Holo-revolution (00:52:00)  Final Thoughts and Recommended Viewing (01:01:00)    Hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett   Production Tony Black (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Legacies of WWII in The Original Series. For the cast and crew of The Original Series, World War II was more than just a dark page in the history books—it was an experience through which they had lived, loved, and lost. From piloting bombers over the Pacific to storming the beaches of Normandy, many of them had seen more than their fair share of action. Those who were too young to have served had witnessed the devastation that war brought to ordinary people. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy—both raised in Jewish immigrant families—were also impacted by the conflict as the horrors of the Holocaust felt very close to home. In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black explore the war stories of Star Trek’s original cast and crew, focusing on Gene Roddenberry’s service with the US Army Air Forces and James Doohan’s time with the Royal Canadian Artillery. Along the way, we consider how The Original Series explored the historical legacies of the war in episodes such as “Patterns of Force” and “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Gene Roddenberry (00:02:53) James Doohan (00:14:51) They also served… (00:32:58) “Patterns of Force” (00:35:30) Fascist iconography (00:42:50) “The City on the Edge of Forever” (00:49:05) Allegory and historical sensitivity (00:55:57) Final Thoughts (00:59.57) Closing (01:01:23) Hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black Production Tony Black (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

The Wrath of Khan and Classic Literature. Nicholas Meyer, upon putting his stamp on the Star Trek universe with The Wrath of Khan, introduced classical human literature to the franchise in a way never before seen. Khan Noonien Singh's bookshelf on the wreckage of the SS Botany Bay displayed a host of significant texts—from Shakespeare to Milton—which spoke to his grandiose fate as one of the galaxy's most dangerous villains.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black delve into the literature that Meyer brought to his first Star Trek film, focusing heavily on Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities and Melville's Moby-Dick, discussing how they connect with and reflect Khan and his nemesis: Admiral James T. Kirk. Along the way, it's Tony's turn to recount his Star Trek origin story.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Tony's Star Trek Journey (00:02:25) What do books represent? (00:13:18) A Tale of Two Cities (00:21:07) Moby-Dick (00:33:37) Nick Meyer's Bookshelf (00:42:47) Paradise Lost (00:52:37) King Lear (01:01:24) Final Thoughts (01:06:55)

Hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black Production Tony Black (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Star Trek and Terrorism. The darkest nightmare of our age—terrorism—has become the problem of the early 21st century. The fear of rogue forces striking at the very heart of civilization—killing innocent civilians—has never been more potent. Star Trek has never shied away from addressing the issues humanity faces. The franchise has looked at the nature of terrorism in many different forms, from rebel separatists to freedom fighters to extremists operating under the guise of a religion or creed.

In this, our first topical supplemental episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett respond to the recent, devastating bombing of the United Kingdom’s Manchester Arena. We attempt to examine the meaning of terrorism within the Star Trek universe—from The Next Generation to the Kelvin-timeline movies—in hopes of making some sense of this tragic event.

Chapters Introduction: Manchester (01:06:00) “The High Ground” and the IRA (00:15:46) Terrorists and Freedom Fighters on Deep Space Nine (00:25:11) Enterprise and 9/11 (00:31:00) Into Darkness and Military Interventionism (00:45:26) Other Cultural Responses to 9/11 (00:49:56) Final Thoughts (00:51:49)

Hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett

Production Tony Black (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

The Manchurian Candidate and The Mind’s Eye. Across human history, assassinations have driven the path of societies, empires and governments. Along the way, they have accounted for some of the most insidious and mysterious conspiracy theories the world has ever known. Star Trek: The Next Generation’s fourth season episode “The Mind’s Eye” adapted a classic piece of American cinema: The Manchurian Candidate. This 1962 film, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey, dealt with the terrifying reality of mind control and political murder.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett explore TNG’s story of Romulan subterfuge in comparison with Frankenheimer’s movie, drawing parallels and examining how Star Trek frames the concept of political assassination in the 24th century.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Duncan’s Journey to Star Trek (2:24) The Manchurian Candidate and “The Mind’s Eye” (12:39) Scorpions in a Bottle (20:21) Un-Federation Activities (26:53) A Commander Riker Holiday (32:17) Bashir, Tuvok, and O’Brien (34:36) The Manchurian Backstory (40:36) A Good Adaptation? (52:51)

Hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett Production Tony Black (Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Oppenheimer, Degra, and Jetrel. Star Trek has always been a looking glass through which we see ourselves, a way of examining our world, who we are, and where we came from. Trek.fm is proud to introduce our newest show, Primitive Culture. In each episode, hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black tie history and culture to Star Trekand discuss how our own world inspires the franchise we love—and how that franchise inspires us. In the pilot episode, “Destroyers of Worlds,” Tony and Duncan look at the relationship between J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, and two of Star Trek’s complex figures: Jetrel and Degra.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Meet the Hosts (00:01:30) Morality and the Atom Bomb (00:09:45) Ma’Bor Jetrel (00:22:54) Loss of Family, Death of Children (00:28:39) Degra and EnterpriseSeason 3 (00:39:08) Redemption and Forgiveness (00:45:40) Final Thoughts (00:55:35) Recommended Reading (00:59:18) Hosts Tony Black and Duncan Barrett Production Tony Black (Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)