Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

Galileo and “Distant Origin.”

That Galileo Galilei, the man who Albert Einstein called “the father of modern science,” turned up on Star Trek: Voyager should come as no surprise. The series was, after all, the first in the franchise to feature a captain with a scientific background. The story of the legendary Renaissance figure was retooled as a classic Trek allegory in the third-season episode “Distant Origin.” In its 24th-century rendition, the story features a society of hyper-evolved hadrosaurs that survived the mass extinction on Earth 66 million years earlier. Escaping to the stars, these smart dinos established their own advanced society and forgot where they came from. Beliefs about how their world came to be are challenged when the crew of the USS Voyager encounters Professor Forra Gegen, a Voth scientist whose radical discoveries about his people’s “distant origin” conflict with the conservative doctrine of their rulers.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook look at how the Star Trek: Voyager writers adapted the persecution of Galileo Galilei by the Catholic Church to tell the story of Voth scientist Forra Gegen. Like Galileo, who was put on trial for his proposal of a heliocentric view of the solar system, Gegen is tried for heresy against doctrine for claiming his people originated on a faraway planet called Earth. We also consider why the Renaissance should be a key moment for Star Trek’s understanding of history, question where the true story of Galileo ends and the myth of the persecuted scientist begins, and wonder whether mythologizing—be it of the past or the future—inevitably means suppressing inconvenient truths.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) The Life of Galileo (00:03:28) Science and Scripture (00:09:50) Dino DNA (00:22:20) Method or Madness? (00:35:30) Iconic Adverbs (00:45:50) The Renaissance of the Future (00:55:30) Galileos in Space (01:12:20)

Hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook

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

An International Approach to Star Trek.

Is the final frontier of Star Trek’s imagined future as quintessentially American as its nineteenth-century forbear, the Wild West? For more than 50 years, Star Trek has presented a decidedly internationalist vision of humanity’s future, while at the same time leaning very heavily on ideals and rhetoric specific to the United States.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett discuss Star Trek in an international context, in comparison with some other sci-fi shows from around the world. We touch on the German show Raumpatrouille, a fascinating contemporary of TOS which, sadly, only ran for seven episodes. We also consider how our own status as fans outside the US has influenced our appreciation of Star Trek, question whether the franchise’s vision of the future is one that could only have sprung from mid-20th-century America, and ponder what Star Trek might have looked like had it emerged from a very different culture.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) American Exceptionalism (00:10:11) Dubbing, Subtitles, and the Universal Translator (00:28:40) Hyphenated Identities (00:44:25) Comparative Treks (00:53:45) Stowaways and Space Pirates (01:05:40) The Past Is Another Planet (01:17:20) Meanwhile, in a Parallel Universe … (01:29:26)

Hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett Production Clara Cook (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) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Michael Eddington, Jean Valjean, and Les Misérables.

Star Trek’s heroes have always been avid readers. From The Complete Works of Shakespeare on display in Picard’s ready room to Janeway’s treasured volumes of Dante to Michael Burnham’s well-thumbed copy of Alice’s in Adventures in Wonderland, Starfleet’s finest have shown us that—even in humanity’s far future—great works of literature will continue to resonate and inspire. Less frequently, however, Trek’s villains have proved themselves equally well-read, with Kirk’s antagonists Khan and Chang spewing out lines from Melville and Shakespeare as they pursued their diabolical schemes. And in the Deep Space Nine episode “For the Uniform,” another classic text proves key to defeating the Maquis traitor Michael Eddington, as Captain Sisko and Jadzia Dax turn to Eddington’s favorite novel, Victor Hugo’s 1862 Les Misérables, in search of clues about their enemy’s personality.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett consider Les Misérables—a giant of nineteenth-century literature—along with some of its most successful adaptations as they look at how it connects both to “For the Uniform” and to Star Trek as a whole. We question whether Eddington’s casting of himself and Sisko in the roles of Jean Valjean and Javert respectively makes much sense when you read the source material, how Star Trek’s ideas about policing the galaxy reflect Hugo’s views on crime and punishment, and whether—in the utopian future of the Federation—it’s still possible for certain unlucky individuals to fall through the cracks.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Javert and Valjean (00:05:50) Policing the Galaxy (00:22:40) The Wretched Ones (00:32:18) Star Trek’s Victorian Moral Compass (00:40:22) Sisko and Eddington (00:54:20) The Greater Good (01:05:16) Final Thoughts (01:18:30)

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

The Human Frontier in Guernsey.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, recorded live at the Guille-Allès Library in Guernsey, regular host Duncan Barrett is interviewed by Laura Perkins about his book Star Trek: The Human Frontier. Duncan discusses his own history with Star Trek and looks at some of the cultural influences that have inspired the franchise’s writers over more than half a century. In a wide-ranging discussion, that looks at the mid-1960s onwards, Duncan and Laura discuss the role—and limitations—of allegory as a storytelling device and how Star Trek has always moved and warped with the times. Then, in an audience Q&A, the conversation turns to the the latest iteration, Star Trek: Discovery, and the ways in which the new series goes—boldly or otherwise—beyond what has gone before.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Deep Space Guernsey (00:04:49) The Good, the Bad, and the Allegorical (00:09:10) Darmok and Jalad in the Polling Booth (00:29:50) Outside the Roddenberry Box (00:39:30) Q&A (00:44:35) Star Trek: Discovery (00:56:00)

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

Cyrano de Bergerac on Deep Space Nine.

From seventeenth-century France to mid-1980s Washington State to a twenty-fourth-century space station, Edmond Rostard’s classic play Cyrano de Bergerac has proved eminently adaptable to new settings. Its timeless theme of unrequited love has resonated with fresh audiences with each interpretation, while the central tragicomic set piece—in which a man woos his beloved on behalf of a friend—never fails to hit the dramatic high notes.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett look at Ronald D. Moore’s loose adaptation of the Cyrano de Bergerac in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places.” We compare this version with both the original 1897 play and the 1987 Steve Martin comedy Roxanne, while considering the rituals of romance—in real life and on screen—and what happens to consent in such tales of comedic deception. We also ask whether, at the end of the day, all love is unrequited.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Enter Cyrano (00:03:50) Ménage a Quatre (00:08:15) Informed Consent (00:20:00) Identity Crises (00:33:55) Unhappy Endings (00:48:58) From Mythic Romance to Messy Hookups (01:05:00) In the Friend Zone (01:12:00) Final Thoughts (01:19:40)

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

Gothic Fiction in Star Trek: Voyager.

Even starship captains, with the whole galaxy to explore, need a bit of mindless escapism from time to time. While Jean-Luc Picard donned his fedora and trench coat to live out a holographic fantasy life as the surly gumshoe Dixon Hill, Kathryn Janeway’s choice of entertainment might seem—at least on the surface—even less in keeping with her “real” personality. In three early episodes of Star Trek: Voyager—“Cathexis,” “Learning Curve,” and “Persistence of Vision”—we see her indulge in a holonovel that appears to combine elements of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898), and Rebecca, the 1938 novel by Dame Daphne du Maurier. In her holographic escape from life in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway played the role of a wide-eyed governess who finds herself at the heart of a sinister gothic mystery.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett take a look at the literary influences on Captain Janeway’s Lambda One holonovel, considering questions of female agency, repressed sexuality, and the apparent value of low-brow entertainment to Starfleet’s high-ranking officers. We also question whether a show as bright and cheery as Star Trek: Voyager can ever truly accommodate Gothicism.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) The Birth of the Holonovel (00:07:00) High Tech, Low Brow (00:17:30) Turning to Screwing (00:22:50) Janeway Eyre (00:36:55) Delta Quadrant Gothic (00:54:35) Infinite Diversity in Limited Combinations (01:06:25)

Star Trek’s Dark Ages.

Sanctuary districts. Eugenics Wars. World War III and the post-atomic horror. It seems clear that the period between our own time and the founding of Starfleet is not one of humanity’s finest chapters. In fact, for a franchise built on an optimistic view of tomorrow, Star Trek offers more than a few glimpses of a catastrophic future.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Tony Black to look at these Dark Ages in the imagined history that is Star Trek. What does it take—as far as Trek is concerned—to get from today to a utopian future? Are we heading in the right direction? Is there hope in technology? And how far into its own history can Star Trek dip before it becomes something fundamentally different?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) World War III (00:09:15) First Contact (00:15:05) Augmented Realities (00:27:20) Regime Change (00:36:02) Earth Exit (00:47:40) The Truth Is Out There (00:59:45) Black Mirrors (01:07:15) Final Thoughts (01:22:45)

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) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Short Treks and bite-sized content.

Between 1966 and 2001, Star Trek seemed to be the incredible shrinking franchise. The 50-minute running time of The Original Series gave way to the 44 minutes for episodes of The Next Generation, 43 minutes for Deep Space Nine and Voyager, and a lean 42 minutes by the time of Enterprise. But when Trek made the leap to a streaming service with Discovery, all bets were off. The length of an episode began to vary from week to week, depending on the needs of the story. More striking than Discovery’s variable length, however, was the decision to release a series of shorts between seasons. This short-form approach to storytelling was previously the domain of fan films, not officially licensed Trek.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook look at the Short Treks in relation to both Star Trek’s own short and long forms—from The Animated Series (22 minutes) to The Motion Picture (well over two hours), and also in relation to short fiction in general. Is brevity truly the soul of wit? What does it mean for Star Trek to embrace the format so readily? And is something inevitably lost when our content keeps shrinking and shrinking?

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) First Impressions (00:03:04) Picking Up the Pace (00:18:00) Comic Timing (00:36:10) To B-Plot or Not to B-Plot? (00:46:01) Anthology: The Final Frontier (01:00:30) The Perfect Proving Ground (01:18:12) Final Thoughts (01:26:25) Hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook Production Clara Cook (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

From Altair IV to Talos IV.

Star Trek’s original unaired pilot, “The Cage,” established the template for much of what was to come. But that episode was, itself, heavily influenced by an earlier work of science fiction, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. Stylistic similarities between the two works abound, but there is a deeper link as well: both stories concern a highly advanced alien race whose incredible mental abilities have brought about societal collapse.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook look at the connections between Forbidden Planet and “The Cage,” focusing on the character of Christopher Pike, captain of the USS Enterprise before Kirk. With the return of Pike and his first officer, Number One, in Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, we also consider the popular longevity of these barely glimpsed characters and how their presentation has changed over the course of half a century.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) In the Beginning… (00:03:00) “Born Sexy Yesterday”(00:11:50) Monsters from the Id (00:27:00) Where No Men Have Gone Before (00:35:30) A Tale of Two Captains (00:42:00) Number One Fans (00:58:24) Acting Up? (01:09:25) Final Thoughts (01:25:25)

Hosts Duncan Barrett and Clara Cook Production Clara Cook (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) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Odysseus, Craft, and Calypso.

When Pulitzer-Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon was announced as the writer the Star Trek: Short Treks episode “Calypso,” fans knew they would be in for something special. But the poignant, wry, and bold story he came up with was full of surprises. Chabon chose to set his episode a thousand years in Discovery’s future, further than any Star Trek episode had gone before. Far from reveling in the high-tech futurism of the barely glimpsed world beyond the ship, he instead produced a bottle show that seemed fixated on the past—both Star Trek’s and our own. The central premise—and title—of the story originate in Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem Odyssey, while twentieth-century cultural curios Betty Boop and Funny Face add a quirky real-world humanity to this otherwise deeply detached tale.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett consider how the use of cultural touchstones from long-ago play into the Star Trek: Short Treks episode “Calypso.” Along the way, we consider the importance of names and stock epithets in the Homeric literary traditional, ideas of female sexuality as embodied in both classic Hollywood film and more recent forays into virtual romance, and how the products of an ancient, long-dead culture can continue to resonate centuries later.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Crafty Odysseus (00:08:04) Funny Faces (00:17:55) Romancing Alexa (00:31:10) Beyond the Short Form? (00:54:30) That Which Survives (01:09:20) Final Thoughts (01:16:30)

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