To Baldly Go

In this episode, we discuss:
Spectre of the Gun, The Day of the Dove, and For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky
Budget issues during Season 3?
Nate is over the non-spacey episodes
Some bourbon discussion
Klingons with swords
Nate rejects the premise of the episode
Nate nearly rage quits the podcast over the IMDB rating
I claim victory in the discussion
We’ve seen this episode before
A Star Trek Sith Lord
Who is pulling the strings?
How does Kirk run into the same Klingon multiple times?
Captain Uhura?
Truth, religion, and dogma
Prime Directive
Is Bones married?
Characters are always safe (except the redshirts)
Similarities to other shows

In this episode, we discuss:
Abbie and I had an opportunity to watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and a Q&A session with William Shatner
For a 92-year-old man, Shatner was ranting and raving and moving around pretty well
An education in COPD and lung disease
The impact of the Actors’ Strike on the show
Stories about bow hunting and pranks on DeForest Kelley
Getting pulled over dressed as Captain Kirk
No shit, Shatner!
Shatner was what we expected. A master of his craft
Curiosity
Seeing the movie in the theater was a trip
A better appreciation for the movie on a second viewing
The experience of watching this kind of movie in that kind of setting
A great movie in its own right. But even better for a Star Trek movie
Felt like Star Trek
Shatner’s thoughts about Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Space Seed holds up
Movie reshoots after leaks
Gene Roddenberry intrigue
Kirk’s forgotten plots
Leonard Nimoy was ready to be done as Spock
Why is the Genesis technology a threat in Khan’s hands?
Vulcans can cry?
Learning why things work on a Starship. If you don’t know why, you can’t adapt.  You can’t be creative
William Shatner and George Takei don’t get along
Ricardo Montelban’s real chest
Character names changed because of clerical errors
Continuing voyages of ongoing missions…
Original story proposal
TV in the ‘90s

In this episode, we discuss:
The Paradise Syndrome, And the Children Shall Lead, and Is There in Truth no Beauty?
Star Trek: Renegades
Other TV discussion
The worst episode yet?
Was life in the past better than life today? Life without Advil…
House spoilers
Tahiti Syndrome
Differences between cultural appropriation and cultural assimilation
Greek mythology
Kirk’s fear
We decide on an episode title
Without followers, evil cannot spread
Star Trek and Zodiac connections
Do we see reality for what it is? Or for what is useful?
Sciencey-sounding words
Beauty
What could go wrong?
Smart decisions and storytelling
Trying different technical things in the episode
The IDIC medallion
Word salad
Spock’s French Stewart eyes?
Completely unrelated music discussion
Nate and I discover our mutual love of Blues Traveler

In this week’s episode, we discuss:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spock’s Brain, and The Enterprise Incident
The movie worked a lot better on a big TV than The Original Series
Strong opening to the movie
Klingons look and seem very different
Enterprise porn
Remastered version of the movie – probably looked better on my TV at home than it would have in the theater
Characters felt different
What somebody who doesn’t know anything about Star Trek might think Star Trek is like
William Shatner doing a Captain Kirk impersonation
Differences between the series and the movie
For all the criticism of the movie, it was stunning
Is human consciousness just a physics and chemistry question?
Some timely Oscars talk – debating Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker
Absurd moments for a Star Trek episode
Future technological understanding
Was Gene Roddenberry holding up a mirror to society?
Star Trek and Black Mirror
Star Trek as a Trojan horse
Mutual respect with the Romulans?
Lies of omission
Space pirates
The Vulcan Death Grip
Genetic similarities between Vulcans and Romulans
Self-destructing Enterprise
A pleasant surprise for early season 3

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
As usual, I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend Nate, as we discuss:
The final two episodes of Season 2: Bread and Circuses and Assignment: Earth
Abbie is over The Original Series
More episodes we feel like we’ve seen before
Prime Directive
Kirk’s character judging abilities
Parallel development vs Earth influence
Religious references
Dropping the things that worked in Season 1
South Park: Cartoon Wars and Star Trek Mad Libs
Will Abbie still enjoy other Star Trek series after this?
Will I become a bigger Trekkie than Abbie?
Our scoring system is like Who’s Line is it Anyway?
Would Kirk risk his crew to save Spock and Bones?
Another Gene Roddenberry episode
Are fun character traits a crutch? Lazy?
Do Star Trek characters make something a Star Trek story?
Spinoffs!
Do Star Trek and Doctor Who take place in the same universe?
How shows are influenced by the time in which they are made
Top shows from the late 1960s
Fewer “timeless” stories in Season 2
More discussion about technological evolution faster than biological evolution
Bioshock spoilers
The choice of character names can tell a lot
Overall ratings of season 2
Different ways to experience TV
Our next plans

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
As usual, I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend Nate, as we discuss:
The next 3 episodes of season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series – By Any Other Name, The Omega Glory, and The Ultimate Computer
Interstellar from the perspective of the other planets
Callbacks to earlier episodes
What I’ve come to expect from Star Trek, but does that mean they’re running out of ideas?
Kirk, the man-whore
What does it mean to be human?
What does it mean to be living?
Life is more than just elements, but without the elements, there is no life
Some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu analysis
Episodes starting a lot stronger than they finish
Was this propaganda?
Subtlety vs heavy-handedness
A successful letter-writing campaign
A brief history lesson about The Scorpions
Seeing more recurring story lines and trends
Negative views on technology?
Saying “Thank you” to Alexa
In real life we make the same mistakes and tell the same stories over and over again
Different experience between binge watching and watching weekly over the course of many years
Similar shows, books, and movies released around the same time
Will the AI conversation actually change?  Has the conversation surrounding AI changed in the past 60 years?

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
As usual, I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:
The next 3 episodes of season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series – A Private Little War, Return to Tomorrow, and Patterns of Force
What was the message of this episode? Do they even know?
TV makeup and High Definition
We don’t like Gene Roddenberry episodes?
Understanding why TOS was cancelled
Was TOS running out of ideas?
A Next Generation actress
Characters acting out of character
Star Trek and the Apollo missions
Other shows calling their shots
Command structure on the Enterprise
Risk vs. reward
Scotty’s voice and linguistic talents
Biblical connections?
Plot devices vs. realism
Fermi paradox
Aliens and Mexican parliament
A relative lack of surprise that Kirk and Spock dressed as Nazis
Blues Brothers discussion
Nazi imagery in the episode
An episode we wanted to dislike
Is there always a silver lining?
Moral ambiguity and how shows are received

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
I am joined again this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate as we discuss:
The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – The Gamesters of Triskelion, A Piece of the Action, and The Immunity Syndrome
First – my homework to rewatch The Trouble with Tribbles
I can see why The Trouble with Tribbles is a favorite episode for many
Does “more fun” mean “better”?
Parks and Rec The Sopranos
Have we seen this episode before?
Aaron can rate something a 10
Fair terms?
Would Kirk have acted the same if only saving himself and crew?
Downgrading my rating and things that took me out of the episode
No blondes on Vulcan
A good-enough episode
Application of the Prime Directive?
Let’s play Cups!
Kirk’s ‘20s talk
Radios and rotary phones
Nate hates Scotty
Abbie didn’t finish the final episode
The death of one vs the deaths of many
Kirk’s understanding of their mission
Spock shit-talking McCoy
Spock and McCoy truly care for each other
Nate’s 13-year-old humor
Instinct and intuition vs logic
Did the Vulcans logic themselves to death?

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
I am joined again this week by my wife Abbie and our friend Nate as we discuss:
The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Obsession, Wolf in the Fold, and The Trouble with Tribbles
Drinking Minnesota beer in Northeast Florida
A good, forgettable episode
PTSD in Star Trek
Personal log vs Captain’s log
Kirk is quite the dynamic character
The Farragut
Moby Dick
Logic vs Intuition
Star Trek and religion
A Newsradio segue
Hedonism Bot from Futurama
An episode that could have been stronger if it was shorter
Piglet the Ripper
Deep space murder mystery – of course we’ll jump to an unsolved series of murders from London 400 years prior
Stunt doubles and watching Star Trek on our phones (like they did when this first came out)
“Abbie will hate this episode”
Was Hengist innocent?
Anchor points and being underwhelmed
Undercover Klingon
A perfect episode???
Physical altercations over disrespectful words
I agree to rewatch The Trouble with Tribbles

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.
I am joined again by my wife Abbie and our friend Nate as we discuss:
The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Journey to Babel, Friday’s Child, and The Deadly Years
Starting with the last episode
Aging the characters, compared to reality
Are we aging differently now? Or is it a social construct?
A good leader surrounds himself with good people
Don’t embarrass the boss
Budgetary constraints and command
Trying to do the right thing, but not knowing how to do it
Stockton or Stocker?
The Beginning of Infinity
How does the Neutral Zone work?
The return of Corbomite
Watching on a phone instead of a TV making the series more palatable?
A better episode if made today?
Earliest-born Star Trek actor – born in 1882!!
A murder mystery on the Enterprise
Sarek – a character with depth that I don’t realize
Additional episode context and how these episodes are received
Orions? Or Gorn?
Lack of recurring characters
Genetic espionage
Strange episode titles
A strong start and a slow, weak finish
We’ve seen this episode before
Good music
The Godmother of Star Trek
Who punched first?
Reactions to Chekov’s Russia claims
Computing in the 1960s, Teletype, and how technologically forward-looking we can be
Technological inspiration from Star Trek
Chick Fil-a vs Raisin’ Canes
Thumbnails for next week’s episodes
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