Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

Star Trek’s Revivals. By the summer of ’69, Star Trek was dead. The half-century that followed has seen the franchise resurrected more times than the Borg Queen, but before all the spin-offs and reboots, Star Trek pioneered a much more straightforward approach to bringing back an old property—one that, in 2019, seems to have become almost ubiquitous: the original cast revival. In 1979, getting the old gang back together for The Motion Picture was truly a bold endeavor (although perhaps the short-lived Animated Series had helped pave the way). Four years later, with The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek truly proved the value of revival storytelling, turning the time off-air in the real world into a key dramatic asset.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Tony Black to consider Star Trek’s revivals, from 1979 to the forthcoming Picard series, which looks set to do for The Next Generation captain what the Original Series movies did for Kirk and his crew. Comparing Star Trek’s approach with some other recent TV revivals, we discuss the dramatic potential of returning to the well one more time, the danger of diminishing returns, and what happens to the sense of ending when every finale is only provisional.

Chapters Introduction (00:01:30) A Tale of Two Kirks (00:15:35) Revival versus Reboot (00:28:15) Picard (00:43:25) Bringing Back the Enterprise (00:58:50) Nog Lives! (01:11:00) Sense of Ending (01:16:30)

Host Duncan Barrett Guest Tony Black Production Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Star Trek: Generations.

When the cast of the original Star Trek series returned to the screen in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it marked the culmination of 10 years of fan-ticipation that started with the untimely cancellation of the series. This was not the case when it came time for the cast of The Next Generation to leap to the silver screen. They began filming their own freshman movie immediately after wrapping their final TV episode. Using the same sets—albeit spruced up a bit—and following a script written by wunderkinds Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore long before they bashed out the series finale “All Good Things...”, the movie faced an uphill battle in attempting to convince fans that cinematic Trek was truly a different beast from the beloved TV show. And yet in the hands of longtime Next Gen director David Carson, Generations did just that, offering a feast for the eyes, truly cinematic storytelling and an eye for spectacle that set it apart from the previous weekly instalments. Whether or not the film worked dramatically, it most certainly deserved to be seen on the big screen.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Dr. Chris Nunn at the University of Greenwich in London for a look at this key transitional moment in the continuing mission of Star Trek: The Next Generation. They consider Generations in relation to other TV-to-movie leaps, including The X-Files movie released only a few years later, which was required to slot into place within that show’s ongoing continuity. They also look at the pairing of Captains Kirk and Picard in the film, asking whether this particular double-act—“the most ambitious crossover event in Star Trek history”, as a popular meme might have it—succeeds or fails in attempting to serve two very different masters.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) In transition: from Small Screen to Big (00:09:05) The Hero’s Journey (00:34:00) Light, Shade, and Lens Flares (00:52:10) Kirk and Picard Go Large (01:15:00) The Future of CBS/Viacom (01:27:05). Final Thoughts (01:44:40)

Host Duncan Barrett Guest Dr. Chris Nunn Production Duncan Barrett (Producer, Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Star Trek and Dr. Who, with Una McCormack.

Not many TV shows have had a lifespan stretching beyond half a century. This is especially in the genre of science fiction, which is notorious for abrupt cancellations. Yet, when Star Trek celebrated its golden anniversary in 2016, it did so in the shadow of another long-running sci-fi behemoth from the other side of the pond: Dr. Who. Premiering on the BBC three years before Star Trek hit US airwaves, the quirky British show has, in many ways, had a similar history to its American counterpart. Like Dr. Who, Gene Roddenberry’s creation has constantly reinvented itself while retaining its core identity and values, and carrying with it a deeply loyal fan base who kept the faith through long periods off the air.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Dr. Una McCormack for a look at some of the links between these two iconic franchises. Trek.fm listeners will know Una as the author of a number of highly acclaimed Star Trek novels, but she is a prolific writer of Dr. Who tie-in fiction as well—not to mention a huge fan of the “madman—or woman—in a blue box” since childhood. Here she discusses some of the challenges of writing for these two fictional universes, the core qualities that Trek and Who have in common, and the varied historical and cultural influences that have pushed them in different directions.

Chapters Intro (0:00:00) Into the Tardis (00:04:11) Age-Appropriate Time Travel (00:15:17) Along for the Ride (00:24:10) Prime Directives (00:44:04) Crossovers (01:06:00) The Undefeated (01:14:30)

Host Duncan Barrett

Guest Una McCormack

Production Duncan Barrett (Editor, Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

The Rashomon Effect in Star Trek and Beyond.

Two podcasters meet on the internet. They watch a classic film that one has seen and the other hasn’t. They compare it to an episode of Star Trek—or maybe two, or even three or four. They consider the broader cultural implications of the film’s central themes of uncertainty, subjectivity, and the unknowability of truth. Or perhaps they don’t. Listening at home, you wonder: Did any of these things really happen? Can you trust your ears? Are you sure you can really remember what you’ve heard?

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Tony Black to look at famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s seminal 1950 film Rashomon and its influences on Star Trek—in particular on “A Matter of Perspective” from The Next Generation and “Rules of Engagement” from Deep Space Nine.

The so-called Rashomon Effect—a cultural trope in which multiple unreliable narrators produce different accounts of the same event—has become so popular that it has eclipsed the fame of the story that inspired it. Comparing the black-and-white Japanese film, about the frustrated attempt to understand an act of extreme violence that takes place in a secluded bamboo grove, with the episodes of Star Trek and The X-Files that borrowed from it—along with the 1998 play Copenhagen—we ask whether the film’s fascination with the impossibility of reconstructing an objective history of events may be peculiarly relevant in the current “post-truth” world.

Chapters Rashomon and What We Left Behind (00:03:55) A Matter of Perspective (00:13:51) Rules of Engagement (00:23:47) The X-Files (00:27:30) “Living Witness” and “Author, Author” (00:36:28) Alternative Facts (00:41:00) Copenhagen (00:53:15) Final Thoughts (01:07:15)

Host Duncan Barrett

Guest Tony Black

Production Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Life on a nuclear submarine vs. a Federation starship.

In this special edition of Primitive Culture, meant to complement the previous episode’s discussion of The Hunt for Red October, host Duncan Barrett is joined by former US Navy submariner John Krikorian—better known for his popular Trek Profiles podcast—to discuss the parallels between Star Trek’s imagined life in space and his own experiences living and working underwater. Join us on this not-so-deep dive as they tackle questions of naval discipline in a cramped and confined environment, the role of the executive officer as a link between captain and crew, and the perils of flushing a toilet the wrong way a thousand feet below the surface.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Life in the Void (00:11:15) Onboard Entertainment (00:14:45) Lower Decks (00:17:40) Chain of Command (00:24:20) Disciplinary Measures (00:35:25)

Hosts Duncan Barrett

Guests John Krikorian

Production Duncan Barrett (Producer, Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

The Hunt for Red October and Face of the Enemy.

In space, all warriors are cold warriors. And none are colder, perhaps, than the steely Romulans who crew those imposingly green warbirds. In the sixth-season TNG episode “Face of the Enemy,” the normally warm-hearted Counselor Deanna Troi must join their ranks as she impersonates Major Rakal, a ruthless operative in the Tal Shiar, the Romulan intelligence service. This popular story was inspired, in part, by Tom Clancy’s thriller The Hunt for Red October—particularly the movie adaptation starring Sean Connery as a Soviet submarine commander who attempts to defect to the West. In fact, when writer Naren Shankar was at work on the script, it was Connery’s voice he imagined for the captain of the Romulan ship.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Carlos Miranda, a massive fan of The Hunt for Red October, to discuss the film’s influence on “Face of the Enemy.” We then open up the discussion and look at the role of the Romulans as primary Cold War antagonist in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as some other episodes involving defections across Star Trek’s own iron curtain: the Neutral Zone. Finally, we consider how the Enterprise’s various Romulan encounters might play into the new Picard series coming in early 2020.

Chapters Up Periscope (00:02:15) Cloaking Dagger (00:15:40) One Ping Only (00:35:20) Across the Neutral Zone (00:41:55) Chair Versus Badge (00:51:55) Final Thoughts (01:06:58)

Host Duncan Barrett

Guest Carlos Miranda

Production Duncan Barrett (Editor, Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Deadly Games, from *The Prisoner* to “Move Along Home.”

A product of the same era as the original Star Trek, the short-lived British drama The Prisoner was, in many ways, more in touch with the psychedelic spirit of the age. Now considered a cult classic, this bizarre blend of spy thriller and existential science fiction remains as puzzling half a century on as when it was first broadcast. It has also been hugely influential, not least on Star Trek itself. One episode in particular, Deep Space Nine’s “Move Along Home,” took its inspiration from an iconic scene in “Checkmate,” an episode of The Prisoner in which a game of chess is played with living human pieces.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Tony Black to look back at the legacy of The Prisoner, comparing this iconic TV show to its contemporary—Star Trek: The Original Series—and asking why the writers of Deep Space Nine tried—and, arguably, failed—to capture the quintessential weirdness in their own, somewhat baffling, episode. We then consider the overall role of games in Star Trek storytelling, comparing the Wadi in “Move Along Home” to the Empire of Azad in Iain M. Banks 1988 novel The Player of Games, asking whether the way a character wins or loses can offer a window into their soul.

Chapters Briefed: The Prisoner (00:07:14) Stamped: Kirk and Number 6 (00:16:00) Numbered: Serialization and DS9 (00:23:00) Filed: High or Low Stakes (00:36:45) Indexed: Alien Games (00:45:00) Pushed: Cheating (00:59:20) Debriefed: Final Thoughts (01:11:00)

Host Duncan Barrett

Guests Tony Black

Production Tony Black (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) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Cast Changes in Star Trek.

When Star Trek’s original pilot, “The Cage,” was rejected by NBC, Gene Roddenberry was forced to rethink the acting lineup for his new show. Jeffrey Hunter’s Christopher Pike was out, replaced by the more charismatic William Shatner as James T. Kirk. Gone, too, was Roddenberry’s partner, Majel Barrett, leaving Leonard Nimoy as the only cast member to survive the recasting process. It was the first in a series of periodic reshuffles that have marked the franchise throughout its long history, many the result of bitter behind-the-scenes disputes between actors and producers. Most recently, the Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind has shone a light on the circumstances surrounding Terry Farrell’s abrupt departure from the show at the end of its penultimate season—a subject that is clearly emotive for those involved, even more than 20 years later.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, recorded live in London following the first public screening of the Deep Space Nine documentary, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Carlos Miranda, Drew Barker, and Andy Poulastides to discuss Star Trek’s reshuffling of personnel in front of the camera. We consider the introduction of Worf to DS9 and Seven of Nine to Voyager with the goal of boosting viewing figures, the abrupt departures of Gates McFadden from The Next Generation, Terry Farrell’s exit from DS9 and Jennifer Lien’s Voyager farewell, and the ways in which modern TV sensibilities—in the wake of shows such as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones—have upended long-held assumptions about the longevity of series regulars.

Stuart Baird and Star Trek: Nemesis.

The lowest-grossing of the Star Trek films, 2002’s outing by The Next Generation crew—Star Trek: Nemesis—was the first installment to open below number one at the box office. Losing out on the top spot to the Jennifer Lopez rom-com Maid in Manhattan may seem bad, the fourth TNG trip to the cinema performed so poorly that it proved to be their last. In fact, it killed off Star Trek’s silver screen prospects for more than half a decade.

For years, many fans have blamed the failures of Nemesis—both commercially and critically—on its director, Stuart Baird. Better known for his work as an Academy Award-winning editor than for his three less lauded directorial outings, Baird apparently had minimal interest in the Star Trek franchise. This is said to have been true both before and, perhaps more surprisingly, during the making of the film. But is it fair to lay all the blame squarely at the feet of its director?

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Dr. Chris Nunn, a lecturer in film at the University of Greenwich in London, to take a fresh look at Nemesis in relation to Baird’s two other Hollywood movies: Executive Decision and U.S. Marshals. Will an examination of the director’s previous work change the longstanding view among Star Trek fans that Braid broke the odd-numbered curse for all the wrong reasons? Is it right to blame one man for a broth that had plenty of cooks around to spoil it? And, most importantly, is Nemesis really as bad as it’s cracked up to be?

Chapters The Presence of Time (00:01:25) New Beginnings (00:12:16) Baird to the Bridge (00:22:26) Khan Revisited (00:37:20) Post-Nemesis (00:58:20) Meanwhile, in a Parallel Universe … (01:05:00)

Host Duncan Barrett

Guest Chris Nunn

Production Duncan Barrett (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Star Trek and Fan Service.

When Brannon Braga and Rick Berman wrote the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005, they intended it as a “valentine” for the fans who had stuck with the franchise since The Next Generation debuted in 1987. Surely, they reasoned, the inclusion of TNG favorites Will Riker and Deanna Troi would be the perfect way to close the book on 18 years of continuous TV production. Sadly, “These Are The Voyages” fell flat. The gesture proved far from successful, interpreted as not so much a token of reciprocal love as a misguided effort from an unwanted admirer.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by the show’s co-founder, Tony Black, to talk about the charms—and the perils—of fan service in Star Trek. We look at some of the highs, such as the beloved 30th Anniversary celebration “Trials and Tribble-ations”, as well as the lows, and try to pick apart what makes them succeed or fail in the eyes of fans. In particular, we focus on the inclusion of TOS characters in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery and the recent rise of petitions from unsatisfied fans directed at TV creators. And, we consider the boundary between successful fan service and what Brannon Braga dismissively referred to as “continuity pornography.”

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Fan Petitions (00:07:20) Anniversary Episodes (00:25:45) Online Encounters (00:44:25) Poor Service? (00:50:15) “Sarek” and “Blood Oath” (01:04:07) “In A Mirror Darkly” (01:18:47)

Host Duncan Barrett Guest Tony Black Production Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)