October 29, 2025 • 46 mins
On this episode of Star Trek Universe, Effie and Dave beam down to Sigma Iotia II — the planet that found a book about Chicago mobsters and decided to run with it! From fedoras to tommy guns, the Iotians built an entire society modeled after 1920s gangland culture, maman. Now the warring “bosses” want the Federation to supply them with heaters for their escalating turf war. It’s one of the funniest and most iconic episodes of The Original Series, blending sci-fi satire with pulpy gangster style. Dave likes to think of it as “A Private Little Cosplay” — but you’ll know it better as Star Trek 2x20, “A Piece of the Action.”
🎙 Episode Reviewed:
Star Trek The Original Series 2×20 – “A Piece of the Action”
👥 Hosts:
David C. Roberson
Effie Ophelders
Note: This episode of Star Trek Universe continues young Effie's first watch of Star Trek in production order. Guiding her on this journey: Dave, a stalwart fan of almost four decades who rewatches along with her, provides trivia, insights and the occasional excitement-stoking minor spoiler.
🖖 Listen & Subscribe:
🌐 StarTrekUcast.com
🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎧 Spotify
📡 Spreaker
✍️ David C. Roberson’s Newsletter
🎙 Episode Reviewed:
Star Trek The Original Series 2×20 – “A Piece of the Action”
👥 Hosts:
David C. Roberson
Effie Ophelders
Note: This episode of Star Trek Universe continues young Effie's first watch of Star Trek in production order. Guiding her on this journey: Dave, a stalwart fan of almost four decades who rewatches along with her, provides trivia, insights and the occasional excitement-stoking minor spoiler.
🖖 Listen & Subscribe:
🌐 StarTrekUcast.com
🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎧 Spotify
📡 Spreaker
✍️ David C. Roberson’s Newsletter
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On this episode of Star Trek Universe, Fi and I
visit a planet that got a hold of a book
about Chicago gangsters and decided to base their entire society
around it. Now the warring mob bosses need the Federation
to supply them heaters for their escalating hits. Is an
episode I like to think of as a private little cosplay,
but more universally known as Star Trek two twenty a
(00:23):
piece of the action. Right after these mystery mob bosses
at Bowler Hats Bowl Mother welcome into Star Trek Universe.
As you might have guessed, this episode is part of
(00:45):
the classic watch rewatch, where David c Roberson, a lifelong
fan and frequent rewatcher of Star Trek, introduces the series
to fiop Helders, who is watching for the first time.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I am David c Roberson and.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I am f e. Upelders. Now, don't go on spreading
my name around town like that. You know you got
a nice podcast here. Be ashamed of something where to
happen to it? Kapeche, that's good. I like it. You're welcome.
I figured at some point we had to devolve into
whatever the language was they spoke in here. It's been
(01:20):
a while so exactly exactly the nineteen twenties were a
little before my time, but I have fond memories of
Gang Wars. I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, oh man, this is a divisive episode, Like how
come there are fans who just think it's too silly?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Basically, I guess in a way, it is. It is.
It is. It is silly. It's mostly an excuse to
be like, we want to do a gangster episode. It's
it feels very much like we have we have an
Old Earth set, let's reuse it again and like like,
just just set it in non specific town with with
(02:06):
old cars and we'll make it work. Mm hmmm, it's it's.
It's production wise clearly a cost saving measure of Oh,
this is what we use for other shows, so you know,
we'll write something around it.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You think that, oh.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
They had to build all of the sets for.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
This, Oh, I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I will say this this episode was in Roddenberry's original
pitch get out like it was.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
For real, straight up like part of his original pitch. Like.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
They were working on this episode from the first season,
from before the first season.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And this is what came out of it. For when
they worked on it for a season and a half,
is what you're trying to say. That's yes, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
It kind of kind of you know, kept getting pushed back. Yeah,
this is the last script credited to gen El Coon.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Oh oh wow.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Now, like I think DC.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Fontana and and then John Meredith Lucas took a crack
at it because it was shot after Gene Coon left, right,
But I mean, if you look at it, cancer.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh that's a good excuse, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, it's but yeah, like if you if you start
to if you really pay attention to this episode, Like
I mean, there's there's a lot of his themes running
through it, you know, like colonization, the democracy is racket
and you know, I don't know, it's like there's a
lot of there's a lot of Coon in this fair
(03:43):
god a jacked over.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, it works out for a weird plot by the end,
but like the the idea is there and and at
the same time, it feels, especially for the era, like
this is satirizing as based around a single book that
everyone sort of stupidly misinterprets. That feels dangerous for the sixties, man,
(04:08):
like you could get some backlash my goodness.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, that's that genel coon cynicism man.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Absolutely, yeah, and it's it's there for a reason. I
get it. I wonder who who wrote a thick leather
bound book named Chicago Bound Mobs of the twenties. But
you know, I mean historian's got a historian that's.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I feel like that is a book I would see
around Christmas time or any given holiday, especially like Father's
Day or Christmas. That's going to be in like the
five to ten dollars aisle on the books a million, right,
you know it's going to be on that table, and
it's gonna be like great gifts for.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Dad Chicago gigs is on the twenties.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, yeah, he might be interested in that. You know,
you got to give him something other than socks. Yeah,
it is very much a father's day, like let him
relive his manhood bye by reading about gangsters in the twenties,
you know, back when men and then that's right, that's
(05:13):
the you know, you're not you don't really feel like
a man without a giant machine gun just up against
your your side. You know, you gotta walk around with
it with the heater. Yeah, it's it's not at all
overcompensating for your literal manhood. That's that's that's what you
built the society around. Oh it is fun, though, it's
(05:37):
it's just it kind of gets long by the end
where you're just like, Okay, we're trying to unite these
fuckers by pretending we're an even bigger mob boss organization, right,
which is a fun sort of resolution, but it is
very much like it's it's nice of them to wonder
at the end, like how how is the Federation going
(06:01):
to respond when they show up later and they're like,
they're just giving a shit, they're giving us our cut.
What does that mean? What did you do? Yeah, well
it feels like we're stealing from these people something non interference.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
That's too late for that.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah yeah, that one's out the window a long while ago.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Oh yeah, the horizon fucked that one up.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
That's true. So now we have to course correct, which
pretty much allows everything, which is a weird ethical the
leba in it of itself, like Okay, you're not going
to get the book out of society, but that means
now we can just shape this world how we see
fit to you know, join us and it'll be fine.
(06:52):
And it's an interesting way of looking at non interference,
like we already fucked it up, so now we can
fuck it up again.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's interesting because like they're it's they're like, okay, so
the horizon one hundred years ago, hundred years ago came
into and made contact. We didn't have this interference law.
They were at like pre industrial age or just just
at industrial age, whatever it was, he said, and they're like, okay,
(07:24):
so they've already fucked it up. They know what the
Federation is, or they know it starfleet. Anyway, what are
we gonna do? How do we handle this? And then
they beamed down in their uniforms. Yeah, which is weird.
It's an odd choice, like you don't have to let
everybody the fuck know.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, we're just we're expected by the local mob boss.
So no, we're just gonna get picked up off the
street and be very surprised at everything.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, well I don't think they knew it was it
was the mob boss.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
No, not yet. No, they found that out pretty quickly
when you know, everyone got shot for a second and
one of them was still alive enough to take him in.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So yeah, like looking like going back through it this
time because this is just not one of my favorite episodes.
Really going back through it and paying attention to genel
Coon's contributions harder than I ever have really before, and
really just like paying attention. I like it a little
bit more, but not by much. Like it's a little
too ham fisted. It's a little not really ham fisted.
(08:37):
It's just Shattner's a ham that's the issue.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. It is very much Okay,
we're just we're giving them something to do that's fun
to act. But at the same time, plot wise, it's
not much is happening. And then and they do they
try and infiltrate the building and then get caught. Anyway,
it is very much Oh no, they've got a bigger
gun up your own guns. Now they've got bigger guns.
(09:03):
I guess we're all dropping guns. And it's until we
prove that we have a spaceship with a giant gun.
So yeah, which is fun. It is it is a
logical solution that this society would listen to, specifically that
kind of show of force, but it's not exactly subtle.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, I do. I do like that.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It feels a little fourth wall breaking, just a little
bit when they're like, wait a minute, I never saw
more than three guys up there.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
We've only seen these three guys.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, there might just be six of them, got which
is fair. That's that that I have never seen four
hundred people up on the enterprise. That's absolutely true. But yeah, no,
it's it's it's it's a fun romp, but it's not
exactly you know, it's it's still fun as when you
(10:04):
when you get to the second mob boss and crackle crackle, yeah, crackles.
He's a he's also a fun character. It is very
much like, oh, at this point, we get that all
of the world has divided. This way is very, very stupid.
But but then you you, yeah, when they try to
(10:25):
resolve it, I feel like it takes a little long
to get there. There's the gag with the car where
you're like, yeah, I'm glad he couldn't just hop in
and drive, which is fair, but it's also just it
feels like they're stretching for time. At some points, I'm like, yeah,
it's not that entertaining.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I'm a little aggravated that they are still almost getting
hit by cars and ship after the city on the
edge of forever like y'all were there for a minute.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, yeah, they had time. They had time. That's that's fair,
that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Just well but they were they were walking, I guess right.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I mean they were still walking in the middle street.
Kirk's woman got hit by a car.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah yeah, at that point, you you you fear them
and you never learn to drive because my lord, dramatic
history of my my, my girl. She's dead because of
the car and the world. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
One of the big fan criticisms of the J. J.
Abrams movie when it came out, the first one was
they had that whole bit with Kirk as a kid
driving his stepfather's car like just like and like expertly
fucking just like just clearly just switching gears and just out,
(11:50):
oh god, well out running the cops while you know,
it's like a vintage car and uh, he's got beastie
boys playing.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
This feels very how many a sensory like but whatever.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So yeah, they would show that clip of him just
like as a as like a ten year old boy
driving this car and like basically doing like fast and
furious ship and then it cuts to like the original
series that he's just like.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You can't like you can't drive ship.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
You know it is it is a contrast.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's like alternate universe.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Indeed, it is not the same guy fair enough, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Well yeah no, it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
That actually is fun and perfect because in that universe
George Kirk died and he wasn't supposed to die. So
like the fact that it was his stepfather's car. In
the alternate universe, that was a that was a stepfather
he was never supposed to have.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Right, because it's it's yeah, it fucks with continuity in
multiple ways. In one scene, love that.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, what did you What did you
think of the fizz bin card game?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Oh god, I forgot about that. That was an extended
improv game. I feel like it was.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
It was of course came up with it.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, of course he did. That explained something. Yeah, it's
it's it's not the most intricate ruse it I forget.
How how did that even resolve? How did that help them? Again?
They just end up punching the dudes.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Anyway, he dropped a car and he's like, oh, I'll
get it, and then they used that as their way
into having the upper hand.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
In the in the physical altercation.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Okay, well I'm sure that made a ton of difference,
But then a card came out of it. Sure, Lord,
are there many fans who know how to play? Uh?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Probably I figured I figured, you know, I you know,
they probably came up with I know, I'm not going
I won't even play our card games.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I'm not gonna play Kirks fucking made.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Up full ship. Yeah, yeah, I know that's fair.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
So yeah, I like the gene coun stuff, the uh
Racket Federation and yeah, yeah, that's that's fun.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
There's some underlying themes that that you have to sort
of dig for because it is very much not on
the surface level. It's just a romp of, uh, we're
gonna have some guns, we're gonna pretend to be gangsters.
We're gonna talk to these people the way they they
will understand us. So we're just gonna put a kick up,
our feet on the table and you know, pretend to
(14:44):
be comfortable. And it's it's fun, but it's it feels dumb.
It's yeah, yeah, that's that's pretty much the episode.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, but you know, they the Federation does kind of
they are kind of organized criminals. I mean just coming along,
pushing their agendas, pushing.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, yeah, we'll take some of your resources. We'll give
you some of ours. Mostly we'll take yours.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Which you know, they never they we never go back
to this planet.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I'm not sure how this would solve anything.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
But yeah, there were multiple U. There are multiple apocryphal
sequels of course in books and comics and stuff like, Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I was sorry. I was entertained throughout by the fact
that a mix is spelled oc mix, but everybody calls
the calls the guy ox mix. That just I it was.
It was confusing. It was very much like, oh, thank
you subtitles for spelling the word. They're definitely not saying yeah,
(16:01):
but I'm sure it was on the script.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So there was an issue of Star Trek Unlimited comic
book series that was called a Piece of Reaction and
the the UH we we revisit the uh. The planet
and concept of cultural contamination resulting in this native adapting
(16:23):
Starfleet technology and uniforms is also visited in UH Star
Trek Prodigies All the world of stage.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
They did it there, they were.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Actually there was like an episode of d S nine
where they did like an anniversary thing and they wound
up doing like a sequeled or sort of a sequel
remix of Trouble with Triples. But they also considered doing
the DS nine crew visiting Sigma Ota two of course.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And they were all.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Like dressed in original series uniforms and acting like curric
and shit like.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Of course, of course there was there was.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
There was some sequel comic where they did like a
Trial of Captain Kirk, and they had Bella ox Mix
on the on the stand and he was explaining that
Kirk never came back for his for Yeah, so they've
just been keeping it.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah. Yeah, it's just been been saved up there in
a big old heap. Yeah, the bank account, especially for him. Oh,
it is. It is a fun It's it's dumb, but
it's fun. It's if it's a resolution that that you know,
makes sense, but it doesn't it doesn't solve the core issue,
(17:33):
Like it doesn't feel like the society is going to
go differently now. It feels like the Federation sort of
adapted to their culture to be able to communicate with
it without getting shot. Yeah, it's it doesn't feel like
they brought in something new and recontaminated it or steered
it any other way. It's just no, the mob planet
(17:54):
is now part of our mob.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
That's wolf sort of. Yeah, we're the with.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
The biggest mob. Join us. We're bigger, It's exactly, which
is the only way to get further. But it felt
like going into it, the objective was let's let's let's
fix whatever they they fucked up on the horizon, and
now we're just now we're getting them to join us.
(18:21):
That's that's really all we can do and hope that
our science officers later will show up and try to
educate them a bit or something.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Mm hmmm. Oh, by the way, the reason they decided
not to do that that version of the DS nine
is episode just because they were going to do a
bit of a correlation between the Sigma Iotians or how
we f you say it and Star Trek fans. Ooh
(18:49):
and then once someone, once someone was like, hey, fans
might feel like this is insulting.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, because everyone's acting like Kirk and it's cosplayers essentially, and.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, nobody could get it out of their fucking heads
that they were making fun of themselves.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Hey, yeah that doesn't work fair enough, Yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh no, it works proudig you did it beautifully.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Oh, okay, okay, there in eight fucking years. I'm looking
forward to it.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Oh, I think it's more like sixteen twenty five.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, we'll see sixteen, sixteen sixteen, see you there.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I'm still around.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I'll be around, hopefully. Jesus, let's not consider that. Huh. Regardless,
Trek will outlive us Aull probably at some point. It's
gonna get weird for people to rewatch because they'll be
into the twenty third century and they'll be like, eh,
not quite, honey, not quite.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Oh, by the way, this is our fiftieth episode.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It is, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Huh oh, we should we should have done something better,
something special for it. I guess I should have thought
about this.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
H sh Yeah we did. Actually, I believe I said
that I would mention that it was our fiftieth episode,
and you would make some exclamatory noise, and I would
probably make a dick joke and we'd move on.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Huh. Okay, fair enough, that count. That is the exclamatory noise,
And I guess we're waiting for a dick joke now.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Man, it'll happen.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, I don't want to force it. H I mean
sometimes you got to force it in no a, hey,
it's right there. Come on, I know, make it fit
you know you work it in there? How did I
get here? Do we have? Do we have quotes? Do
(20:46):
you have trivia?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Can we do?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Goodness?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Oh? So I like this one a lot. Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I want to see you turn a stone? Put your
hands over your head or ain't gonna have no head
to put your hands over?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah? Like that good introduction. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot
of fun expressions in there.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
And at some point they're just mocking the expressions by
by having having Kirk pretend and Sparck misunderstanding. Like it works,
it's fun.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Uh No, I don't think you're stupid, mister Kracko. I
just think your behavior is arrested. I haven't been arrested
in my whole life.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
That's just insulting. Can't can't say that to a guy
like that. I wonder if there is any police though, Like,
why why would this society have an opposing force to
the mobs because they're all mob?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Right, who's gonna arrest you another mob? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, but you know, no, and Coon he was you know,
saying that that's really what we've got anyway.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I was just really a mob.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I mean US police especially right now. Man, I guess
is is worse than proper police, but still you're officers
of the law. Yeah, that's a mob. That's fair, that's
fair to say.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
All nineties sci fi action heroes running around trying to
take down immigrants solid.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah yeah, yeah, except you know what is left of
those those action heroes right now, and they're in their
sixties and they can't really pass the fitness list anymore.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, no, uh hell love spot
and is uh I don't know. I won't want to
say grammar Nazi, but nobody helps nobody but himself. Sir,
you were employing a double negative.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, yeah, thanks for noticing.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Bud, thanks bock nankes bock, I am.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Employing a double negative. God damn it.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Uh ox mix saying the most cooperative man in the
world is a dead man, and if you don't keep
your mouth shut, you're gonna be cooperating.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yep, yeah, I like that one. That's good. There's there's
there's a lot of fun lines in there. They just
don't necessarily serve a bigger purpose per se, No, not really,
but it is fun, it is entertaining.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
My favorite line is Spock finally giving into the gangster
voice and saying, I would advise you as to keep
dialing ox mix.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, yeah, he understood eventually.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
How do you feel about McCoy accidentally leaving his communicator behind?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Uh ah, yeah, it's it's it's a bit on the nose,
but they should, like in in world, they should be
heading back for that ship. Oh yeah, Like there's no
there's no way where it's fine to just be like, ah,
(24:03):
in another hundred years they'll be using that technology and
they'll be way advanced and like that shit can't go right.
There's no reason for you not to turn the fuck
around right there. And then so it's a little gag
that at the end that doesn't quite it doesn't quite
(24:24):
ring ring right, and it sort of implies like, oh,
so our intermingling will be fine because they'll find out
eventually that we're not really a mob because presumably they'll
be able to communicate with the outside worlds before we
ever come to collector forty percent for lack of it's
(24:46):
it's it makes the whole thing extra up in the
air of what are we doing to this society? But
then again, I guess it already is a tragedy coming
into it, where it's like, oh, we we accidentally gave
them only information on one part of our society, and
(25:09):
now they've evolved into just mobs. I don't know how
they got the accent from the book though, like the
language okay, but the mannerisms, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, that was a little weird one.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It is. It must be exceptionally well written, just very
you got to hear it up in your head and
you like, you can't just pronounce it normally, man, Yeah, yeah, oh.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
No, it is, it is.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
It is. It feels carelessly tossed in just to have
something at the end like, oh they fucked up, just
like the horizon, Ah, would you look at that? And
it's it's not a great idea. It is very much like, okay, funny,
but also now go back and get it because this
is this is fucked. You can't do.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
That, right, Yeah, I mean I in my head they
went back to get it.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah. Yeah, you'd have to assume.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
They just wanted to end it on a funny line.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Exactly like in a few years, they may depend on
a piece of our action, like, yeah, that's the joke.
And then seriously, we got to now we got to
turn back around. Come on, guys, just just put it
in reverse. I don't know how that works, check off,
but put it in reverse.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, well yeah, like I said, Moving on to Trivia,
ron Berry jotted down the idea for the episode a
one sentence synopsis titled President Capone on his very First
on the very first page of his very first Star
Trek series proposal in nineteen sixty four. Early in the
first season, George Clayton Johnson wrote an outline based on
(26:49):
this premise called The Syndicate. Rodn Berry liked it hired
Johnson to develop it further. Johnson wrote a treatment entitled
Chicago two the title. As he got occupied with developing
and writing The Man Trap, the concept was forgotten. During
the second season, Genel Kuhn discovered the treatment, decided to
use it, and he felt that after the success of
(27:11):
The Trouble with Triples, the series needed more comedy themed episodes.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I guess, I guess did we need it?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
That's that's the double edged sword of gen L Kuhn.
He was the one pushing the comedy episodes.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess no, they're they're sort of
they're their niche. I guess it takes takes decades of
reception to be like, oh, this is what fans want, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah yeah. David P.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Harmon and Kuhn's first uh Kuhn's first rap draft script
God I Can't Speak, entitled Mission into Chaos, featured the
Romulans trying to exploit the borderline planet Dana Aosha Too,
which the Federation wants to industrial lies. Much to the
crew surprise, the planet is ruled by gangster bosses based
(28:04):
on the book Chicago Mobs of the twenties. Kirk Hast
negotiate with Bella, Oxmix and the other crime crime bosses,
outsmarting the two Romulent agents, Rorick and Ramo, who try
to lure Bela Bella with sending him weapons and troops.
At the end, the Iotians agree to make a treaty
and send an ambassador to the Federation, but since every
(28:26):
boss had a vote, they all naturally voted for themselves,
and hence they all beamed aboard the Enterprise to be
escorted to the diplomatic talks.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Glad they didn't go that way.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
That sounds real, real roundabout like, Okay, romulans would be fun,
but also misplaced, like in uh huh, like that would
be a poor use of them in this story.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
But okay, they agree to make a treaty and then
everyone's an ambassador because they they will always vote for themselves. Okay,
that's a that's a joke ending, I guess too. But
it's not much better.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
This is the only Star Trek Original series episode to
end in a freeze frame.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Oh yeah, now you mention it.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
The Star Trek Encyclopedia refers to the Horizon as the
Data List Class USS Horizon, which was later seen as
a model in Star Trek Deep Space nine. It's just
in the background, like on a desk somewhere neat now.
In an homage to this episode, a heart bound copy
of a book beginning with the title Chicago Gangs can
be briefly glimpsed on a bookshelf in Travis Mayweather's headquarters
(29:39):
on board the ECS Horizon in the Star Trek Enterprise
episode Horizon.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Fair enough, that's fun. Got to put it in there somewhere,
Why not?
Speaker 1 (29:50):
M This is the first episode where a site to
site transport is performed not using the transporter, Like, yeah, specifically.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Right, what how does that? When is that again? Now
I'm just just off. Oh, it's it's them transporting them
on the planet without going through the ship, right, Okay, gotcha,
that's fair. That's I hadn't realized that was technically a
different thing. Yeah. Butt, it make sense because you're not
(30:21):
not using the transporter room. Yeah, oh that's clever.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
He just moved kirt from one place to another.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah. Yeah, which seems hard without the middle step. But sure.
I mean they can beam them up from anywhere, so
they could just put them down anywhere. Yeh, I'll be
on the lookout, all right. Well that's all I've got, man,
that's fair that that seems enough.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Right, Yeah, Like I said, not one of my favorite episodes.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, that's the shame of having This is your fiftieth EPISO.
So it's just there's not much to say about it.
It's campy. It's it's they get nice suits out of it.
That's about it.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah, you know what we can do?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, I was curious anyway, someone posted on a Reddit
thread or someone started a Reddit thread. I should say
talking about Alec. They tried to get into the original series.
They tried to watch Star Trek start Star Treks started
at the original series, and they just can't get into it.
It's so fucking awful and the effects are terrible.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Oh no, the effects. You're watching a show from the sixties. Man,
get over yourself. And there's remasters that look fine, if
a little bit more boring sometimes.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah, the original Phaser effects look pretty silly, but the
original planet looks more fun, so you know it went
see be loosome.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yeah, I'm just wondering what is your what is your
take fifty episodes in, like, like, do you feel like
this is a waste of time? Do you feel like
you just hate this?
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Oh no, not at all. No, I'm still enjoying it.
Like I'm I'm I've gotten well to the point of
having affinity for for this cast, for for these characters.
Uh and and I'm just enjoying the ride. I'm down.
Like it is very much hit or miss in the
sense that you're you're not quite sure if you're gonna
(32:26):
get a comedic episode or a more drama focused, more
serious commentary sort of episode or more action heavy like it,
but that is also in part it's also its strength,
where it is the variety and the the different roads
you can go down with the concept of we're exploring
worlds God knows what we run into, and yeah, some
(32:49):
of them get repetitive, but some of them are really
inventive and and really fun or at least look weird
or have something going for them. Like I I'm not
I'm not cynical enough to be like this sucks because
it's old that feels very shortsighted, where I'm like, I'm like,
(33:09):
I'm sure I would feel worse having skipped this and
just moved into more modern, better effects shows and been
half lost on parts of what's going on and what
they're referring back to and missing things. Yeah, it's way
more fun to see this piece of history and what
(33:31):
started the whole fan base.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah. Yeah. In reaction to.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Comments, this person apparently skipped ahead of TNG and still
didn't like it, and I was just like, you just
need to skip the whole franchise exactly.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
You just don't like TRECK, that's fine, but like, don't
force yourself to watch all of these shows if it's
not If it's just not for you, Like why are
you wanting to watch all of it? If you're skipping shows?
Then just just yeah, dude, like what are you trying
to get to?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
He wound up like going into like actually like coming
at the premise in a way that okay makes sense,
but it's also just like, dude, give into it. It's
just like why how do they get so far along
in society and they're just still like just goingto planets
and like beaming down without any protection, And I'm.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Like, really, really, we're gonna be like, oh, the atmosphere
might be dangerous. Yeah, they measured it, and apparently all
the planets they visit like they can cross a men's distances.
So at that point, yeah, the planets they're gonna actually
go down to will be the ones with similar masses
and gravities and fucking atmospheres. It'll be fine, just like.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
You will notice.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
And it starts very early, like the first episode or something,
where like you'll say like M class planet, Yeah, yeah,
that's what that means, that's what amosphere. Yeah, M class planet.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
It's safe to go down basically, it's Earth like we
can do this. Yeah, And given the the infinite space
therein they they'll just find more of them. That's fine,
just mathematically, just go with it, like fuck off.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
And as they get a little bit more budget, you're
gonna see them wearing space suits. Sometimes you're gonna see
them with their you know, with more weaponry. And also
that ship is not going to save them from monsters. No,
they're still gonna they might not be wearing red shirts,
but fuckers will die. Fuckers that are not in the
main cast.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yeah, there of course. And we've seen the orange half
met bullshit in this in this show as well, and
it's not better or anything like, it's not like I
need to see that every episode. I'm fine with looking
at the costumes because that's that's the show, like this,
(36:00):
this is what they look like. It's fun, Like, come on,
people are so so sour. It's so easy to go
on Reddit and be a dick about something to the fans.
It's weird, man, Just just get a hobby.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
I also had like this conversation with someone who was
just being really like I said a thing on my
social media about like I get it, but it writes
my ass Like when someone's like where should I start
on Star Trek and people like Star Trek fans are
some of them are so fucking ashamed of the original
series that they just like, they will tell them you
(36:37):
just skip everything and you just go to Strange New Worlds.
And I'm like, Jesus, Strange New Worlds as a fucking
show is so incredibly dependent upon the original series. Yeah,
I can't imagine watching that show.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Without knowing the former. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, Like so much of it is just reference, all referential.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
It's fun. Who the fuck we're dealing with? Like, and
that's weird. It's such a weird take.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
And like, and I was just saying, you know, it
just crips my ass when I see people do that.
And this guy like just came at me and was like, oh, yeah,
you're just you're gatekeeping for all future people who might
watch Star Trek. I would like people to start watching
Star Trek and I actually like it.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
That's that's oh my god, that's not a given. You know,
like people are gonna like it or they won't, but
you can't start with certain shows. Like some of them
are gonna work on their own better I presume, but
still it's it's it's a world and if you were
the kind of person to get into a franchise. Yeah,
(37:45):
you're not gonna skip the half of the franchise that
will be important later on. It's weird.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Yeah, I would really say, like TG works pretty damn
well on his owne sure, there are.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Maybe three or four episodes really that just like and
you still don't need the original series.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
All you need to know is that there was there
were other ships before this fucking ship. DS nine works
really well on his own. Voyager works really fucking well
on his own.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
But none of them are apparently saying start there, right,
which is you can't like you can, yeah, you could.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
But Strange New World is basically just a one big,
giant fucking reference to the original series and also like
being very on the nose about ass see what we
changed to see what's.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Different, exactly what it is we fucked with. The timeline
doesn't hit if you don't know what the original timeline is, Like, right,
that makes sense, but you have to know that going
into it. Yeah, you can't catch everyone up on everything
that happened back and back in the sixties. Like that's yeah,
(38:55):
oh well you shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You shouldn't watch Picard if you haven't seen fucking seven
seasons of Next Generation and.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Like four movies.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yeah, because you won't get about Picard. That's that makes.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Sense, and you still might not.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
We'll see, but I'm sure it is.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
But you know everything.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
That that's a fact, especially in this fandom or any really,
but it's really an all the fandoms are very divided.
People have different tastes and that's fine, but we got
to argue over it because otherwise it's not fun. You're
not a real fan if you don't enjoy arguing with
other people who also enjoy the same thing about why
you're so different in liking different parts of the same thing.
(39:40):
That's half the fun. But yeah, no, I'm looking forward
to it just because I like Patrick Stewart. But we'll see.
If I enjoyed Pericard by the end of it, like
it might wreck everything. My childhood is ruined.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I liked Picard, I think more than Matt did. But
I think we both love season So.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
No, that's good. Just got to get through two of them.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Oh, I mean we were just like we were pretty
over the moon for season three.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Like that's good. Okay, Well, if I mean it's better
than something just sort of waning where you're like, oh,
the third season, they don't know what they're doing anymore. No,
they were working towards this all the the whole time,
Like fuck, yeah, give us something to go out on
that's fun.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Yeah, all right, Well, you know, I'm very interested to see.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I was just curious.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
I often encounter people who were very, very hard on
the original series.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah, it seems to be a thing, but like within
its context, that's I don't have that many issues there are,
Like the good episodes are really good. There are some
really cool concepts and some really interesting moral quandaries, and
like just good plots, and sure it's not all performing
at its peak, but that's kind of the reality of
(40:59):
having is not a serialized but an episodic show that
back in the day where a lot of people were
working on different ideas. If you like, the worst I
can say is not skip the entire show. It's it's
no watch this, this, this, and this great episode. Like
if you're just if you just give people a list
(41:21):
who are more hesitant to take on the entire three seasons,
then sure make them. Make them skip some of the
the campy ones or the ones that aren't as important.
I guess. But at the same time, eventually they'll there
will be callbacks, so it is worth going through it, Like,
that's why I'm doing that, so I can enjoy it
(41:44):
to the fullest extent, because if I don't have the
full context, you're you're You're just gonna sit there explaining
to me, well, this was actually in an episode you
didn't see, Like fuck that, why would I Yeah, I'll
just be disappointed by later episodes? Why would I do
that to myself?
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah, it's it's just it's a thing I've seen trekkies
do for my entire life to be like, oh, you
don't need this. You just watched this. You don't need
to watch all that, just watch this. You don't need
to watch this. You just gotta watch this, Like yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
It's it's a way to make it more accessible in
purely time constraints, Like speaking purely as a I guess
you can start there so you don't feel like you
have to watch all of the shows and do a
podcast for sixteen years. But where's the fun in that.
That's not it's not the full experience, you know. And
(42:34):
it did take me, you know, doing this project to
finally get started on it because otherwise, yeah, I probably
would have postponed it at infinitum, just just trying to procrastinate, Like, ah,
but it's so much and I don't know where to start.
You know where to start at the fucking beginning. It
just feels like a lot of homework. But it's it's
(42:56):
more fun that way, and we're discussing it, so I'm
having good time. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
It's always funny to me when I've seen people say like,
where do we start with Star Trek.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
And I'm like, episode motherfucker one. You know where it's
on Netflix? Just open it, watch the pilot.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Go stop playing, stop playing. You know where to start exactly.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
It's like, oh, I don't know what Marvel movies to
watch and which ones to skip none of them. Just
don't If you want to get into it, just start
at the beginning, get to Avengers and you'll like it
or you won't. But for fox sake, it's not like
the people do I need to see for this new movie? Like, no, man,
(43:39):
you don't know who's we show up.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
It is as maddening to me as the people who
are like is this movie is it worth watching?
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Oh my god, you don't know that no one can
tell you, but you can. It's probably worth watching. Thousands
of people worked hard on it, and if it's shit,
then you haven't a afterwards, and you can put it
on a letter box and nobody can like it and
that's fine, that's life.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Or people will actually like it like that's There's still
one Dutch queer film that I basically ripped apart for
a couple of paragraphs, and it occasionally it just keeps
getting likes because it's on It's on Netflix and people
will actually read it for some reason where I'm like, Okay,
this is niche enough for me to be noticed in
(44:26):
the in the reviews. It's fun where it's like, oh
sixty seven likes, oh sixty eight. Now, I was pretty
mad at that movie. It's always fun to reread it
whenever I get a new like and I'm like, yeah,
I stand behind this rant. This opinion is still cool.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
All right, Well we're gonna move on.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
We should next time.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
On the classic treck watch, rewatch the main crew illictit
sensations from Vice after the innocent folks are turned into dice. Yep,
the Kelvins captured the Enterprise and we're back through the
galactic barrier, this time without silvery eyes. Ah ah no,
(45:13):
Gary Mitchell's this time as everybody was turned to a
fucking cube.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yep, it's a It's a D twelve at least or twenty.
Maybe I didn't look that close. I think it was
a fourteen fourteen D fourteen.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
Sure, I think, yeah, I think I did.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Count Oh wow, dedication love it. I was, I was,
how many sides does a human cube have? It's it's
important to no, Yeah, all.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Right, we're talking about Star Trek two twenty one by
any other name. And until then, Joel Untrue lived long, prosper.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
And of course, eat a dick, people, eat a dick.
Capeche Thank you for listening to the Star Trek Universe Podcast,
a Stranded Panda production.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
If you'd like to hear more from David C.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Robertson, check out the DC on Screen podcast or Malagustt
TV for his web videos.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
If you'd like to hear more from Matthew.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Carroll, check out the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Podcast or listen to his music.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
Just search for Matthew Carroll anywhere you get music
On this episode of Star Trek Universe, Fi and I
visit a planet that got a hold of a book
about Chicago gangsters and decided to base their entire society
around it. Now the warring mob bosses need the Federation
to supply them heaters for their escalating hits. Is an
episode I like to think of as a private little cosplay,
but more universally known as Star Trek two twenty a
(00:23):
piece of the action. Right after these mystery mob bosses
at Bowler Hats Bowl Mother welcome into Star Trek Universe.
As you might have guessed, this episode is part of
(00:45):
the classic watch rewatch, where David c Roberson, a lifelong
fan and frequent rewatcher of Star Trek, introduces the series
to fiop Helders, who is watching for the first time.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I am David c Roberson and.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I am f e. Upelders. Now, don't go on spreading
my name around town like that. You know you got
a nice podcast here. Be ashamed of something where to
happen to it? Kapeche, that's good. I like it. You're welcome.
I figured at some point we had to devolve into
whatever the language was they spoke in here. It's been
(01:20):
a while so exactly exactly the nineteen twenties were a
little before my time, but I have fond memories of
Gang Wars. I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, oh man, this is a divisive episode, Like how
come there are fans who just think it's too silly?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Basically, I guess in a way, it is. It is.
It is. It is silly. It's mostly an excuse to
be like, we want to do a gangster episode. It's
it feels very much like we have we have an
Old Earth set, let's reuse it again and like like,
just just set it in non specific town with with
(02:06):
old cars and we'll make it work. Mm hmmm, it's it's.
It's production wise clearly a cost saving measure of Oh,
this is what we use for other shows, so you know,
we'll write something around it.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You think that, oh.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
They had to build all of the sets for.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
This, Oh, I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I will say this this episode was in Roddenberry's original
pitch get out like it was.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
For real, straight up like part of his original pitch. Like.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
They were working on this episode from the first season,
from before the first season.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And this is what came out of it. For when
they worked on it for a season and a half,
is what you're trying to say. That's yes, that's impressive.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
It kind of kind of you know, kept getting pushed back. Yeah,
this is the last script credited to gen El Coon.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Oh oh wow.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Now, like I think DC.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Fontana and and then John Meredith Lucas took a crack
at it because it was shot after Gene Coon left, right,
But I mean, if you look at it, cancer.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh that's a good excuse, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, it's but yeah, like if you if you start
to if you really pay attention to this episode, Like
I mean, there's there's a lot of his themes running
through it, you know, like colonization, the democracy is racket
and you know, I don't know, it's like there's a
lot of there's a lot of Coon in this fair
(03:43):
god a jacked over.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, it works out for a weird plot by the end,
but like the the idea is there and and at
the same time, it feels, especially for the era, like
this is satirizing as based around a single book that
everyone sort of stupidly misinterprets. That feels dangerous for the sixties, man,
(04:08):
like you could get some backlash my goodness.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, that's that genel coon cynicism man.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Absolutely, yeah, and it's it's there for a reason. I
get it. I wonder who who wrote a thick leather
bound book named Chicago Bound Mobs of the twenties. But
you know, I mean historian's got a historian that's.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I feel like that is a book I would see
around Christmas time or any given holiday, especially like Father's
Day or Christmas. That's going to be in like the
five to ten dollars aisle on the books a million, right,
you know it's going to be on that table, and
it's gonna be like great gifts for.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Dad Chicago gigs is on the twenties.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, yeah, he might be interested in that. You know,
you got to give him something other than socks. Yeah,
it is very much a father's day, like let him
relive his manhood bye by reading about gangsters in the twenties,
you know, back when men and then that's right, that's
(05:13):
the you know, you're not you don't really feel like
a man without a giant machine gun just up against
your your side. You know, you gotta walk around with
it with the heater. Yeah, it's it's not at all
overcompensating for your literal manhood. That's that's that's what you
built the society around. Oh it is fun, though, it's
(05:37):
it's just it kind of gets long by the end
where you're just like, Okay, we're trying to unite these
fuckers by pretending we're an even bigger mob boss organization, right,
which is a fun sort of resolution, but it is
very much like it's it's nice of them to wonder
at the end, like how how is the Federation going
(06:01):
to respond when they show up later and they're like,
they're just giving a shit, they're giving us our cut.
What does that mean? What did you do? Yeah, well
it feels like we're stealing from these people something non interference.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
That's too late for that.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah yeah, that one's out the window a long while ago.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Oh yeah, the horizon fucked that one up.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
That's true. So now we have to course correct, which
pretty much allows everything, which is a weird ethical the
leba in it of itself, like Okay, you're not going
to get the book out of society, but that means
now we can just shape this world how we see
fit to you know, join us and it'll be fine.
(06:52):
And it's an interesting way of looking at non interference,
like we already fucked it up, so now we can
fuck it up again.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's interesting because like they're it's they're like, okay, so
the horizon one hundred years ago, hundred years ago came
into and made contact. We didn't have this interference law.
They were at like pre industrial age or just just
at industrial age, whatever it was, he said, and they're like, okay,
(07:24):
so they've already fucked it up. They know what the
Federation is, or they know it starfleet. Anyway, what are
we gonna do? How do we handle this? And then
they beamed down in their uniforms. Yeah, which is weird.
It's an odd choice, like you don't have to let
everybody the fuck know.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, we're just we're expected by the local mob boss.
So no, we're just gonna get picked up off the
street and be very surprised at everything.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, well I don't think they knew it was it
was the mob boss.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
No, not yet. No, they found that out pretty quickly
when you know, everyone got shot for a second and
one of them was still alive enough to take him in.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So yeah, like looking like going back through it this
time because this is just not one of my favorite episodes.
Really going back through it and paying attention to genel
Coon's contributions harder than I ever have really before, and
really just like paying attention. I like it a little
bit more, but not by much. Like it's a little
too ham fisted. It's a little not really ham fisted.
(08:37):
It's just Shattner's a ham that's the issue.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. It is very much Okay,
we're just we're giving them something to do that's fun
to act. But at the same time, plot wise, it's
not much is happening. And then and they do they
try and infiltrate the building and then get caught. Anyway,
it is very much Oh no, they've got a bigger
gun up your own guns. Now they've got bigger guns.
(09:03):
I guess we're all dropping guns. And it's until we
prove that we have a spaceship with a giant gun.
So yeah, which is fun. It is it is a
logical solution that this society would listen to, specifically that
kind of show of force, but it's not exactly subtle.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, I do. I do like that.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It feels a little fourth wall breaking, just a little
bit when they're like, wait a minute, I never saw
more than three guys up there.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
We've only seen these three guys.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, there might just be six of them, got which
is fair. That's that that I have never seen four
hundred people up on the enterprise. That's absolutely true. But yeah, no,
it's it's it's it's a fun romp, but it's not
exactly you know, it's it's still fun as when you
(10:04):
when you get to the second mob boss and crackle crackle, yeah, crackles.
He's a he's also a fun character. It is very
much like, oh, at this point, we get that all
of the world has divided. This way is very, very stupid.
But but then you you, yeah, when they try to
(10:25):
resolve it, I feel like it takes a little long
to get there. There's the gag with the car where
you're like, yeah, I'm glad he couldn't just hop in
and drive, which is fair, but it's also just it
feels like they're stretching for time. At some points, I'm like, yeah,
it's not that entertaining.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I'm a little aggravated that they are still almost getting
hit by cars and ship after the city on the
edge of forever like y'all were there for a minute.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, yeah, they had time. They had time. That's that's fair,
that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Just well but they were they were walking, I guess right.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I mean they were still walking in the middle street.
Kirk's woman got hit by a car.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah yeah, at that point, you you you fear them
and you never learn to drive because my lord, dramatic
history of my my, my girl. She's dead because of
the car and the world. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
One of the big fan criticisms of the J. J.
Abrams movie when it came out, the first one was
they had that whole bit with Kirk as a kid
driving his stepfather's car like just like and like expertly
fucking just like just clearly just switching gears and just out,
(11:50):
oh god, well out running the cops while you know,
it's like a vintage car and uh, he's got beastie
boys playing.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
This feels very how many a sensory like but whatever.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So yeah, they would show that clip of him just
like as a as like a ten year old boy
driving this car and like basically doing like fast and
furious ship and then it cuts to like the original
series that he's just like.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You can't like you can't drive ship.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
You know it is it is a contrast.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's like alternate universe.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Indeed, it is not the same guy fair enough, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Well yeah no, it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
That actually is fun and perfect because in that universe
George Kirk died and he wasn't supposed to die. So
like the fact that it was his stepfather's car. In
the alternate universe, that was a that was a stepfather
he was never supposed to have.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Right, because it's it's yeah, it fucks with continuity in
multiple ways. In one scene, love that.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, what did you What did you
think of the fizz bin card game?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Oh god, I forgot about that. That was an extended
improv game. I feel like it was.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
It was of course came up with it.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, of course he did. That explained something. Yeah, it's
it's it's not the most intricate ruse it I forget.
How how did that even resolve? How did that help them? Again?
They just end up punching the dudes.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Anyway, he dropped a car and he's like, oh, I'll
get it, and then they used that as their way
into having the upper hand.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
In the in the physical altercation.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Okay, well I'm sure that made a ton of difference,
But then a card came out of it. Sure, Lord,
are there many fans who know how to play? Uh?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Probably I figured I figured, you know, I you know,
they probably came up with I know, I'm not going
I won't even play our card games.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I'm not gonna play Kirks fucking made.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Up full ship. Yeah, yeah, I know that's fair.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
So yeah, I like the gene coun stuff, the uh
Racket Federation and yeah, yeah, that's that's fun.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
There's some underlying themes that that you have to sort
of dig for because it is very much not on
the surface level. It's just a romp of, uh, we're
gonna have some guns, we're gonna pretend to be gangsters.
We're gonna talk to these people the way they they
will understand us. So we're just gonna put a kick up,
our feet on the table and you know, pretend to
(14:44):
be comfortable. And it's it's fun, but it's it feels dumb.
It's yeah, yeah, that's that's pretty much the episode.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, but you know, they the Federation does kind of
they are kind of organized criminals. I mean just coming along,
pushing their agendas, pushing.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, yeah, we'll take some of your resources. We'll give
you some of ours. Mostly we'll take yours.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Which you know, they never they we never go back
to this planet.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I'm not sure how this would solve anything.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
But yeah, there were multiple U. There are multiple apocryphal
sequels of course in books and comics and stuff like, Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I was sorry. I was entertained throughout by the fact
that a mix is spelled oc mix, but everybody calls
the calls the guy ox mix. That just I it was.
It was confusing. It was very much like, oh, thank
you subtitles for spelling the word. They're definitely not saying yeah,
(16:01):
but I'm sure it was on the script.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So there was an issue of Star Trek Unlimited comic
book series that was called a Piece of Reaction and
the the UH we we revisit the uh. The planet
and concept of cultural contamination resulting in this native adapting
(16:23):
Starfleet technology and uniforms is also visited in UH Star
Trek Prodigies All the world of stage.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
They did it there, they were.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Actually there was like an episode of d S nine
where they did like an anniversary thing and they wound
up doing like a sequeled or sort of a sequel
remix of Trouble with Triples. But they also considered doing
the DS nine crew visiting Sigma Ota two of course.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And they were all.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Like dressed in original series uniforms and acting like curric
and shit like.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Of course, of course there was there was.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
There was some sequel comic where they did like a
Trial of Captain Kirk, and they had Bella ox Mix
on the on the stand and he was explaining that
Kirk never came back for his for Yeah, so they've
just been keeping it.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah. Yeah, it's just been been saved up there in
a big old heap. Yeah, the bank account, especially for him. Oh,
it is. It is a fun It's it's dumb, but
it's fun. It's if it's a resolution that that you know,
makes sense, but it doesn't it doesn't solve the core issue,
(17:33):
Like it doesn't feel like the society is going to
go differently now. It feels like the Federation sort of
adapted to their culture to be able to communicate with
it without getting shot. Yeah, it's it doesn't feel like
they brought in something new and recontaminated it or steered
it any other way. It's just no, the mob planet
(17:54):
is now part of our mob.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
That's wolf sort of. Yeah, we're the with.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
The biggest mob. Join us. We're bigger, It's exactly, which
is the only way to get further. But it felt
like going into it, the objective was let's let's let's
fix whatever they they fucked up on the horizon, and
now we're just now we're getting them to join us.
(18:21):
That's that's really all we can do and hope that
our science officers later will show up and try to
educate them a bit or something.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Mm hmmm. Oh, by the way, the reason they decided
not to do that that version of the DS nine
is episode just because they were going to do a
bit of a correlation between the Sigma Iotians or how
we f you say it and Star Trek fans. Ooh
(18:49):
and then once someone, once someone was like, hey, fans
might feel like this is insulting.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, because everyone's acting like Kirk and it's cosplayers essentially, and.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, nobody could get it out of their fucking heads
that they were making fun of themselves.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Hey, yeah that doesn't work fair enough, Yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh no, it works proudig you did it beautifully.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Oh, okay, okay, there in eight fucking years. I'm looking
forward to it.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Oh, I think it's more like sixteen twenty five.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, we'll see sixteen, sixteen sixteen, see you there.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I'm still around.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I'll be around, hopefully. Jesus, let's not consider that. Huh. Regardless,
Trek will outlive us Aull probably at some point. It's
gonna get weird for people to rewatch because they'll be
into the twenty third century and they'll be like, eh,
not quite, honey, not quite.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Oh, by the way, this is our fiftieth episode.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It is, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Huh oh, we should we should have done something better,
something special for it. I guess I should have thought
about this.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
H sh Yeah we did. Actually, I believe I said
that I would mention that it was our fiftieth episode,
and you would make some exclamatory noise, and I would
probably make a dick joke and we'd move on.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Huh. Okay, fair enough, that count. That is the exclamatory noise,
And I guess we're waiting for a dick joke now.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Man, it'll happen.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, I don't want to force it. H I mean
sometimes you got to force it in no a, hey,
it's right there. Come on, I know, make it fit
you know you work it in there? How did I
get here? Do we have? Do we have quotes? Do
(20:46):
you have trivia?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Can we do?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Goodness?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Oh? So I like this one a lot. Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I want to see you turn a stone? Put your
hands over your head or ain't gonna have no head
to put your hands over?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah? Like that good introduction. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot
of fun expressions in there.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
And at some point they're just mocking the expressions by
by having having Kirk pretend and Sparck misunderstanding. Like it works,
it's fun.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Uh No, I don't think you're stupid, mister Kracko. I
just think your behavior is arrested. I haven't been arrested
in my whole life.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
That's just insulting. Can't can't say that to a guy
like that. I wonder if there is any police though, Like,
why why would this society have an opposing force to
the mobs because they're all mob?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Right, who's gonna arrest you another mob? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, but you know, no, and Coon he was you know,
saying that that's really what we've got anyway.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I was just really a mob.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I mean US police especially right now. Man, I guess
is is worse than proper police, but still you're officers
of the law. Yeah, that's a mob. That's fair, that's
fair to say.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
All nineties sci fi action heroes running around trying to
take down immigrants solid.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah yeah, yeah, except you know what is left of
those those action heroes right now, and they're in their
sixties and they can't really pass the fitness list anymore.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, no, uh hell love spot
and is uh I don't know. I won't want to
say grammar Nazi, but nobody helps nobody but himself. Sir,
you were employing a double negative.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, yeah, thanks for noticing.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Bud, thanks bock nankes bock, I am.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Employing a double negative. God damn it.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Uh ox mix saying the most cooperative man in the
world is a dead man, and if you don't keep
your mouth shut, you're gonna be cooperating.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yep, yeah, I like that one. That's good. There's there's
there's a lot of fun lines in there. They just
don't necessarily serve a bigger purpose per se, No, not really,
but it is fun, it is entertaining.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
My favorite line is Spock finally giving into the gangster
voice and saying, I would advise you as to keep
dialing ox mix.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, yeah, he understood eventually.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
How do you feel about McCoy accidentally leaving his communicator behind?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Uh ah, yeah, it's it's it's a bit on the nose,
but they should, like in in world, they should be
heading back for that ship. Oh yeah, Like there's no
there's no way where it's fine to just be like, ah,
(24:03):
in another hundred years they'll be using that technology and
they'll be way advanced and like that shit can't go right.
There's no reason for you not to turn the fuck
around right there. And then so it's a little gag
that at the end that doesn't quite it doesn't quite
(24:24):
ring ring right, and it sort of implies like, oh,
so our intermingling will be fine because they'll find out
eventually that we're not really a mob because presumably they'll
be able to communicate with the outside worlds before we
ever come to collector forty percent for lack of it's
(24:46):
it's it makes the whole thing extra up in the
air of what are we doing to this society? But
then again, I guess it already is a tragedy coming
into it, where it's like, oh, we we accidentally gave
them only information on one part of our society, and
(25:09):
now they've evolved into just mobs. I don't know how
they got the accent from the book though, like the
language okay, but the mannerisms, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, that was a little weird one.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It is. It must be exceptionally well written, just very
you got to hear it up in your head and
you like, you can't just pronounce it normally, man, Yeah, yeah, oh.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
No, it is, it is.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
It is. It feels carelessly tossed in just to have
something at the end like, oh they fucked up, just
like the horizon, Ah, would you look at that? And
it's it's not a great idea. It is very much like, okay, funny,
but also now go back and get it because this
is this is fucked. You can't do.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
That, right, Yeah, I mean I in my head they
went back to get it.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah. Yeah, you'd have to assume.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
They just wanted to end it on a funny line.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Exactly like in a few years, they may depend on
a piece of our action, like, yeah, that's the joke.
And then seriously, we got to now we got to
turn back around. Come on, guys, just just put it
in reverse. I don't know how that works, check off,
but put it in reverse.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, well yeah, like I said, Moving on to Trivia,
ron Berry jotted down the idea for the episode a
one sentence synopsis titled President Capone on his very First
on the very first page of his very first Star
Trek series proposal in nineteen sixty four. Early in the
first season, George Clayton Johnson wrote an outline based on
(26:49):
this premise called The Syndicate. Rodn Berry liked it hired
Johnson to develop it further. Johnson wrote a treatment entitled
Chicago two the title. As he got occupied with developing
and writing The Man Trap, the concept was forgotten. During
the second season, Genel Kuhn discovered the treatment, decided to
use it, and he felt that after the success of
(27:11):
The Trouble with Triples, the series needed more comedy themed episodes.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I guess, I guess did we need it?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
That's that's the double edged sword of gen L Kuhn.
He was the one pushing the comedy episodes.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess no, they're they're sort of
they're their niche. I guess it takes takes decades of
reception to be like, oh, this is what fans want, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah yeah. David P.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Harmon and Kuhn's first uh Kuhn's first rap draft script
God I Can't Speak, entitled Mission into Chaos, featured the
Romulans trying to exploit the borderline planet Dana Aosha Too,
which the Federation wants to industrial lies. Much to the
crew surprise, the planet is ruled by gangster bosses based
(28:04):
on the book Chicago Mobs of the twenties. Kirk Hast
negotiate with Bella, Oxmix and the other crime crime bosses,
outsmarting the two Romulent agents, Rorick and Ramo, who try
to lure Bela Bella with sending him weapons and troops.
At the end, the Iotians agree to make a treaty
and send an ambassador to the Federation, but since every
(28:26):
boss had a vote, they all naturally voted for themselves,
and hence they all beamed aboard the Enterprise to be
escorted to the diplomatic talks.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Glad they didn't go that way.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
That sounds real, real roundabout like, Okay, romulans would be fun,
but also misplaced, like in uh huh, like that would
be a poor use of them in this story.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
But okay, they agree to make a treaty and then
everyone's an ambassador because they they will always vote for themselves. Okay,
that's a that's a joke ending, I guess too. But
it's not much better.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
This is the only Star Trek Original series episode to
end in a freeze frame.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Oh yeah, now you mention it.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
The Star Trek Encyclopedia refers to the Horizon as the
Data List Class USS Horizon, which was later seen as
a model in Star Trek Deep Space nine. It's just
in the background, like on a desk somewhere neat now.
In an homage to this episode, a heart bound copy
of a book beginning with the title Chicago Gangs can
be briefly glimpsed on a bookshelf in Travis Mayweather's headquarters
(29:39):
on board the ECS Horizon in the Star Trek Enterprise
episode Horizon.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Fair enough, that's fun. Got to put it in there somewhere,
Why not?
Speaker 1 (29:50):
M This is the first episode where a site to
site transport is performed not using the transporter, Like, yeah, specifically.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Right, what how does that? When is that again? Now
I'm just just off. Oh, it's it's them transporting them
on the planet without going through the ship, right, Okay, gotcha,
that's fair. That's I hadn't realized that was technically a
different thing. Yeah. Butt, it make sense because you're not
(30:21):
not using the transporter room. Yeah, oh that's clever.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
He just moved kirt from one place to another.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah. Yeah, which seems hard without the middle step. But sure.
I mean they can beam them up from anywhere, so
they could just put them down anywhere. Yeh, I'll be
on the lookout, all right. Well that's all I've got, man,
that's fair that that seems enough.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Right, Yeah, Like I said, not one of my favorite episodes.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, that's the shame of having This is your fiftieth EPISO.
So it's just there's not much to say about it.
It's campy. It's it's they get nice suits out of it.
That's about it.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah, you know what we can do?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, I was curious anyway, someone posted on a Reddit
thread or someone started a Reddit thread. I should say
talking about Alec. They tried to get into the original series.
They tried to watch Star Trek start Star Treks started
at the original series, and they just can't get into it.
It's so fucking awful and the effects are terrible.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Oh no, the effects. You're watching a show from the sixties. Man,
get over yourself. And there's remasters that look fine, if
a little bit more boring sometimes.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah, the original Phaser effects look pretty silly, but the
original planet looks more fun, so you know it went
see be loosome.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yeah, I'm just wondering what is your what is your
take fifty episodes in, like, like, do you feel like
this is a waste of time? Do you feel like
you just hate this?
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Oh no, not at all. No, I'm still enjoying it.
Like I'm I'm I've gotten well to the point of
having affinity for for this cast, for for these characters.
Uh and and I'm just enjoying the ride. I'm down.
Like it is very much hit or miss in the
sense that you're you're not quite sure if you're gonna
(32:26):
get a comedic episode or a more drama focused, more
serious commentary sort of episode or more action heavy like it,
but that is also in part it's also its strength,
where it is the variety and the the different roads
you can go down with the concept of we're exploring
worlds God knows what we run into, and yeah, some
(32:49):
of them get repetitive, but some of them are really
inventive and and really fun or at least look weird
or have something going for them. Like I I'm not
I'm not cynical enough to be like this sucks because
it's old that feels very shortsighted, where I'm like, I'm like,
(33:09):
I'm sure I would feel worse having skipped this and
just moved into more modern, better effects shows and been
half lost on parts of what's going on and what
they're referring back to and missing things. Yeah, it's way
more fun to see this piece of history and what
(33:31):
started the whole fan base.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah. Yeah. In reaction to.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Comments, this person apparently skipped ahead of TNG and still
didn't like it, and I was just like, you just
need to skip the whole franchise exactly.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
You just don't like TRECK, that's fine, but like, don't
force yourself to watch all of these shows if it's
not If it's just not for you, Like why are
you wanting to watch all of it? If you're skipping shows?
Then just just yeah, dude, like what are you trying
to get to?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
He wound up like going into like actually like coming
at the premise in a way that okay makes sense,
but it's also just like, dude, give into it. It's
just like why how do they get so far along
in society and they're just still like just goingto planets
and like beaming down without any protection, And I'm.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Like, really, really, we're gonna be like, oh, the atmosphere
might be dangerous. Yeah, they measured it, and apparently all
the planets they visit like they can cross a men's distances.
So at that point, yeah, the planets they're gonna actually
go down to will be the ones with similar masses
and gravities and fucking atmospheres. It'll be fine, just like.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
You will notice.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
And it starts very early, like the first episode or something,
where like you'll say like M class planet, Yeah, yeah,
that's what that means, that's what amosphere. Yeah, M class planet.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
It's safe to go down basically, it's Earth like we
can do this. Yeah, And given the the infinite space
therein they they'll just find more of them. That's fine,
just mathematically, just go with it, like fuck off.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
And as they get a little bit more budget, you're
gonna see them wearing space suits. Sometimes you're gonna see
them with their you know, with more weaponry. And also
that ship is not going to save them from monsters. No,
they're still gonna they might not be wearing red shirts,
but fuckers will die. Fuckers that are not in the
main cast.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yeah, there of course. And we've seen the orange half
met bullshit in this in this show as well, and
it's not better or anything like, it's not like I
need to see that every episode. I'm fine with looking
at the costumes because that's that's the show, like this,
(36:00):
this is what they look like. It's fun, Like, come on,
people are so so sour. It's so easy to go
on Reddit and be a dick about something to the fans.
It's weird, man, Just just get a hobby.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
I also had like this conversation with someone who was
just being really like I said a thing on my
social media about like I get it, but it writes
my ass Like when someone's like where should I start
on Star Trek and people like Star Trek fans are
some of them are so fucking ashamed of the original
series that they just like, they will tell them you
(36:37):
just skip everything and you just go to Strange New Worlds.
And I'm like, Jesus, Strange New Worlds as a fucking
show is so incredibly dependent upon the original series. Yeah,
I can't imagine watching that show.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Without knowing the former. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, Like so much of it is just reference, all referential.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
It's fun. Who the fuck we're dealing with? Like, and
that's weird. It's such a weird take.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
And like, and I was just saying, you know, it
just crips my ass when I see people do that.
And this guy like just came at me and was like, oh, yeah,
you're just you're gatekeeping for all future people who might
watch Star Trek. I would like people to start watching
Star Trek and I actually like it.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
That's that's oh my god, that's not a given. You know,
like people are gonna like it or they won't, but
you can't start with certain shows. Like some of them
are gonna work on their own better I presume, but
still it's it's it's a world and if you were
the kind of person to get into a franchise. Yeah,
(37:45):
you're not gonna skip the half of the franchise that
will be important later on. It's weird.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Yeah, I would really say, like TG works pretty damn
well on his owne sure, there are.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Maybe three or four episodes really that just like and
you still don't need the original series.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
All you need to know is that there was there
were other ships before this fucking ship. DS nine works
really well on his own. Voyager works really fucking well
on his own.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
But none of them are apparently saying start there, right,
which is you can't like you can, yeah, you could.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
But Strange New World is basically just a one big,
giant fucking reference to the original series and also like
being very on the nose about ass see what we
changed to see what's.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Different, exactly what it is we fucked with. The timeline
doesn't hit if you don't know what the original timeline is, Like, right,
that makes sense, but you have to know that going
into it. Yeah, you can't catch everyone up on everything
that happened back and back in the sixties. Like that's yeah,
(38:55):
oh well you shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You shouldn't watch Picard if you haven't seen fucking seven
seasons of Next Generation and.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Like four movies.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yeah, because you won't get about Picard. That's that makes.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Sense, and you still might not.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
We'll see, but I'm sure it is.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
But you know everything.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
That that's a fact, especially in this fandom or any really,
but it's really an all the fandoms are very divided.
People have different tastes and that's fine, but we got
to argue over it because otherwise it's not fun. You're
not a real fan if you don't enjoy arguing with
other people who also enjoy the same thing about why
you're so different in liking different parts of the same thing.
(39:40):
That's half the fun. But yeah, no, I'm looking forward
to it just because I like Patrick Stewart. But we'll see.
If I enjoyed Pericard by the end of it, like
it might wreck everything. My childhood is ruined.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I liked Picard, I think more than Matt did. But
I think we both love season So.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
No, that's good. Just got to get through two of them.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Oh, I mean we were just like we were pretty
over the moon for season three.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Like that's good. Okay, Well, if I mean it's better
than something just sort of waning where you're like, oh,
the third season, they don't know what they're doing anymore. No,
they were working towards this all the the whole time,
Like fuck, yeah, give us something to go out on
that's fun.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Yeah, all right, Well, you know, I'm very interested to see.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I was just curious.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
I often encounter people who were very, very hard on
the original series.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah, it seems to be a thing, but like within
its context, that's I don't have that many issues there are,
Like the good episodes are really good. There are some
really cool concepts and some really interesting moral quandaries, and
like just good plots, and sure it's not all performing
at its peak, but that's kind of the reality of
(40:59):
having is not a serialized but an episodic show that
back in the day where a lot of people were
working on different ideas. If you like, the worst I
can say is not skip the entire show. It's it's
no watch this, this, this, and this great episode. Like
if you're just if you just give people a list
(41:21):
who are more hesitant to take on the entire three seasons,
then sure make them. Make them skip some of the
the campy ones or the ones that aren't as important.
I guess. But at the same time, eventually they'll there
will be callbacks, so it is worth going through it, Like,
that's why I'm doing that, so I can enjoy it
(41:44):
to the fullest extent, because if I don't have the
full context, you're you're You're just gonna sit there explaining
to me, well, this was actually in an episode you
didn't see, Like fuck that, why would I Yeah, I'll
just be disappointed by later episodes? Why would I do
that to myself?
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah, it's it's just it's a thing I've seen trekkies
do for my entire life to be like, oh, you
don't need this. You just watched this. You don't need
to watch all that, just watch this. You don't need
to watch this. You just gotta watch this, Like yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
It's it's a way to make it more accessible in
purely time constraints, Like speaking purely as a I guess
you can start there so you don't feel like you
have to watch all of the shows and do a
podcast for sixteen years. But where's the fun in that.
That's not it's not the full experience, you know. And
(42:34):
it did take me, you know, doing this project to
finally get started on it because otherwise, yeah, I probably
would have postponed it at infinitum, just just trying to procrastinate, Like, ah,
but it's so much and I don't know where to start.
You know where to start at the fucking beginning. It
just feels like a lot of homework. But it's it's
(42:56):
more fun that way, and we're discussing it, so I'm
having good time. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
It's always funny to me when I've seen people say like,
where do we start with Star Trek.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
And I'm like, episode motherfucker one. You know where it's
on Netflix? Just open it, watch the pilot.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Go stop playing, stop playing. You know where to start exactly.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
It's like, oh, I don't know what Marvel movies to
watch and which ones to skip none of them. Just
don't If you want to get into it, just start
at the beginning, get to Avengers and you'll like it
or you won't. But for fox sake, it's not like
the people do I need to see for this new movie? Like, no, man,
(43:39):
you don't know who's we show up.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
It is as maddening to me as the people who
are like is this movie is it worth watching?
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Oh my god, you don't know that no one can
tell you, but you can. It's probably worth watching. Thousands
of people worked hard on it, and if it's shit,
then you haven't a afterwards, and you can put it
on a letter box and nobody can like it and
that's fine, that's life.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Or people will actually like it like that's There's still
one Dutch queer film that I basically ripped apart for
a couple of paragraphs, and it occasionally it just keeps
getting likes because it's on It's on Netflix and people
will actually read it for some reason where I'm like, Okay,
this is niche enough for me to be noticed in
(44:26):
the in the reviews. It's fun where it's like, oh
sixty seven likes, oh sixty eight. Now, I was pretty
mad at that movie. It's always fun to reread it
whenever I get a new like and I'm like, yeah,
I stand behind this rant. This opinion is still cool.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
All right, Well we're gonna move on.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
We should next time.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
On the classic treck watch, rewatch the main crew illictit
sensations from Vice after the innocent folks are turned into dice. Yep,
the Kelvins captured the Enterprise and we're back through the
galactic barrier, this time without silvery eyes. Ah ah no,
(45:13):
Gary Mitchell's this time as everybody was turned to a
fucking cube.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yep, it's a It's a D twelve at least or twenty.
Maybe I didn't look that close. I think it was
a fourteen fourteen D fourteen.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
Sure, I think, yeah, I think I did.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Count Oh wow, dedication love it. I was, I was,
how many sides does a human cube have? It's it's
important to no, Yeah, all.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Right, we're talking about Star Trek two twenty one by
any other name. And until then, Joel Untrue lived long, prosper.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
And of course, eat a dick, people, eat a dick.
Capeche Thank you for listening to the Star Trek Universe Podcast,
a Stranded Panda production.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
If you'd like to hear more from David C.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Robertson, check out the DC on Screen podcast or Malagustt
TV for his web videos.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
If you'd like to hear more from Matthew.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Carroll, check out the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Podcast or listen to his music.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
Just search for Matthew Carroll anywhere you get music
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