The Star Trek Episode
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[00:00:00] You're listening to the multi-verse podcast. Today, I'm out today and we've got Scott and Steven on their own, and talking star Trek. Enjoy. /I think we're good to go and that took more, more button pushing than we're used to. I'm not used to that level of button pushing. That's very, very true. All righty. We're laughing because this is our fourth swipe at this. Jason is not with us. He's on special assignment and, and you know, his day job took him to Europe.
Budapest. Pest. However you say that. However you say that. So we we decided we would get together, just Stephen and myself, like I said, like I've said many times, the Brit and the Brat. The Brit and the Brat. We'll let you figure out who's who with that. Exactly. That's also a plug for the new Who's Who coming out.
No, I'm sorry. I'm not going to turn this into an infomercial. So, , I'm gonna have to repeat myself, of course, you do, you guys listening to this don't know this because you're hearing this fresh for the [00:01:00] first time but I was playing kind of, amusing trick on myself because I wanted to catch Scott off guard and unfortunately I've blown it because, We're now in take four of recording tonight's podcast.
But for the record, he did catch me off guard. I did catch him off guard and what I had said to him was, is that my family and I had just gotten a Paramount Plus subscription and that we were deep diving lower decks. Which is just outstanding. This is, this has been
a whirlwind topic at the shop. I've been, I've been I've been bothering Mr. St. James for about a year to explore some of the Star Trek offerings because he is a old school diehard Star Trek fan like I am. Very fussy. Old school diehard fan. And, well, and, you know, you get misled by bad productions, you're you're gonna, you're gonna sit there and be a little hesitant.
But I, I recommended, if anything, Lower Decks, and [00:02:00] my advice to him. Was if you can get through the first one Yes episode It'll grow on you. Yes So tell me where you're at and how the whole family is it what the family's involved in this? Yes, they are. So what happened was is that I? I had that in my mind that because you had shown me the, I, I wrote the crossover episode.
I wrote them into the strange new world's lower deck live action, which was brilliant. And, and it was on my mind and it was kind of on my mind. And the, the family tradition that, that we have is that we, we, we eat dinner together as a family. But of course we, we do it in that very modern western world way where we all.
Grab our food and sit on the couch and watch TV together as a family unit. Just what the pilgrims had in mind I'm sure. And we'll watch TV and we'll, we'll watch usually like a half hour [00:03:00] sitcom or something like that. Because it's just something fun, it's just something we've always done. And I had this thought like, I, I want to, I really want to give Lower Decks a go.
And if I can sell... My wife on it, then I should be able to get the kids involved. And so we, we gave it a go and everybody loved it. And so we, we just, it's been every night. So this is what we do. At night we have dinner and we watch, we watch an episode of this. And that's why we're in we just started I think, I think season three.
And I, it's, it's just. Okay, so this, this is, this is the fun thing about this, is that what what my good friend Scott has been trying, as he, as he just mentioned, what he's been trying to do for a very long time now is get me to have a go with new Star [00:04:00] Trek, and I've, and as we, as he just said a few moments ago.
I'm quite the traditionalist, quite a grumpy traditionalist actually when it comes to this stuff. And I've been quite, you look like you've got something to say. But we share a lot of common ground. We love a lot of the same episodes. Now when you were over at my house a while back and I was on Paramount and I showed, we were watching an original series run.
You were quite startled at the CGI. Yes. Yes. You did not like. No. And, and, and for me, you know, I appreciate the original, but I, I kind of like watching shows sometimes that don't have shoestrings, but I digress. So right. And, and, and I will tell you, I, I'm folks, I, I've tried to tell him the entire story of discovery just so he'd stay away from discovery.
That's where I'm. I just, I, cause I, I knew if he enjoyed strange new worlds and lower decks. He would be sold on that [00:05:00] and I could get him to watch the final season of Picard. Because that has been... If I'd started him on the first season of Picard, he would never have finished anything with Paramount, probably.
Well, that was the thing, because I did. I watched the first episode of Picard. The first season? First season, first episode. And I was like, I don't know what this is, but it's not Star... It's not my Star Trek, damn it. And apart from the F bomb and everything, it just, I'm like, no, this just, I just didn't connect with it.
So, here's the interesting thing that's happened. So, I, I, I've, I've always loved Star Trek. And I have a real tether to it because it was something that my late father enjoyed. And so... Whenever we watched, when I, when I was a little boy in Florida, we watched obviously the original series. And when I moved to the States in 91 we, we would watch Next Generation.[00:06:00]
And which was, was still in production at that point. So, tether to me. I've gone through periods where I've read. You know, comics, and I've read novelizations, I've read a couple of original books set in that universe. But this was like, ages and ages ago. I really don't remember them very well, but they were all original series stuff.
I've always had a very fond place in my heart for all things Star Trek. But, the problem with any kind of love affair that you have with an intellectual property, Is that once that property dies out, you can go back to the well and keep revisiting, but it's, it's, I don't know, it just kind of loses its step.
There's only so many times I can watch The Trouble with Tribbles, and not just sit there reciting lines. Okay. [00:07:00] New Star Trek comes along, I tried the first episode of Picard, and I'm like, eh, no. And I was like, okay, well I guess it's not to be. And it's the same feeling that I had when I went to see The Force Awakens.
I guess it's just not meant to be. So, Lower Decks. Start watching Lower Decks. And I'm dogged. I will pester someone if I know, because we have similar tastes, and I know. Yes, absolutely. So I had to get that in, because I just wanted to... No, no, no, and quite right, and well done. Your persistence paid off.
One of the criticisms that I've heard about Lower Decks is that it's not Star Trek. It's like, who's, I'm not going to name a person, he knows who he is, because he'll be listening to this I'm sure, who said... It's more like Family Guy than it is Star Trek. And I [00:08:00] was like, okay. And I kinda had that prejudice a little bit, sight unseen.
Because I'm like, an animated series? Star Trek? That just seems... I don't know, it just seems... Anyway. What I'm happy to, to have discovered is that, that show is so Star Trek. It is. It is so very Star Trek. I actually think it's more Star Trek than some of the other Star Trek shows that have come along.
Even with the humor and the ridiculousness and the curveballs. Man, I, no one in my family was quite prepared for the when they're doing the the, what is it, the Officer's Simulation Tests? Oh yes! And they're doing the naked time. And you've got that one shot of Boimler with his legs up in the air and he's completely naked showing the world [00:09:00] his unmentionables.
Although there is a censorship bar well played. I, I have two daughters and they just absolutely lost their minds over that. They were all just laughing their asses off so hard and I'm sitting there like. Well, that's something even I've never seen in Star Trek before. But it's so Star Trek. It really, really is.
And, and it's not the voices, although it, it's kind of fun. Like, like the one we, the episode we watched last night is they go to Deep Space Nine. And my wife and I when we were first married they were rerunning an episode of Deep Space Nine every night on whatever local Channel it was in, in Fort Lauderdale and there was a time where she used to, she was a bartender at the Olive Garden.
So, which has amazing perks, like you get cheap Olive Garden food. So we ate Olive Garden like, I don't know, three, four times a week. And so what a shift.[00:10:00]
She would have a baked ziti and a white pizza for me. And we'd sit down and we would watch Deep Space Nine. And, and, she, my wife is not the biggest Star Trek fan in the world. But, she, she enjoys the, the romanticism of it. And the, the, the characterizations. She quite, she quite gets into that. And she's never been a big Next Generation fan.
Or, or any of the others really, but there's something about Deep Space Nine that really, it's Casablanca in space and she loved it. And so we, we started watching it, we went through the Dominion War and everything and it was just, it was so much fun. So last night's episode there on Deep Space Nine, I kind of got this like...
Aww, they're at that deep space tonight. What should I do, sir? Park the ship? No, just keep going around [00:11:00] admiring the the pillars with awe, or however that... Yes, yes, and that was so, it's just, that was just so much fun. And so yeah, so we've been watching this and, and thoroughly enjoying it. And I've already said that, look, you know...
Once we clear through there, Strange New Worlds is, is, is going on, you know. And and I'm, I've gotten a thumbs up, like, well, we'll give it a go, you know. And just that, and it's, it's really kind of, It's been quite funny. I, I bought a collection of Star Trek comics, the year five hardcover because I thought, well, I'm, I'm kind of in such a Star Trek mood at the moment and that's, that's how I know that it's, it's working.
It's reach, it's reaching. Yeah. Discretionary spending has, yeah, yeah, yeah. Picked up a little bit on. It just kind of, I, I like this stuff and, and, and again, and you, I always have that internal debate, you know. There's the great [00:12:00] internal debates about entertainment. Is it Beatles or stones? Is it Zeppelin or who is it?
Star Trek or Star Wars? Now as a kid, it was all about Star Wars, but never at the expense of Star Trek. And when I moved to England I had Return of the Jedi, but then that kind of went away. But Star Trek, England has always quite enjoyed Star Trek. So, the original series was always playing somewhere.
And then when Next Generation came out you had to have like a Sky subscription. You, you, you couldn't get it. The only way you could watch episodes is if you rented them on videotape from the local video shop. So I did a, I did a little bit of that. But you know, if, if a new movie came out, man, I was, I was there, you know?
And, and I've always loved this stuff. So it's, it's actually been really nice. Cause like my mind is like, Hey, [00:13:00] let's, you know, my, my kids are old now. They don't really remember any of this stuff. I'm like, we're totally going to be watching some star trek in this house over the next, you know? So there you go.
Well, and I'll chime in on, you know. Said person who says that, you know, Star Trek wasn't supposed to be funny or family guy or any of that. Yeah. I want, I want to challenge him that you might not have been a real Star Trek fan because we've talked about Trouble with Tribbles. Tomorrow's Yesterday.
Yes. Star Trek can be funny without being slapstick. Yes. And, you know, the dynamics between Kirk, Spock, McCoy, right? The fact that those actors fell into those roles and you know, they tweaked it to, to, to meet their skillset. I can just watch some outtakes of that. Oh yeah. And so when you move to, you know, when you move over next generation, you know, Patrick Stewart's not known for his wa ha [00:14:00] ha time.
But there's some snark later on in the season. So for lower decks, it is, it is a fun take on, yes, we're in this utopian society, but the toilets still have to be cleaned. Yes. There's still some kind of funk left over in the holodeck. There, there are, there are inappropriate relationships between, between, Doctors and, and you know, the security guys.
Oh man, I've got to interject there real quick. So, so, one of the episodes, I don't know if it was the Deep Space Nine one or the one before. No, it was there's one of the swankier living quarters on the first level has opened up. Oh yes, the contest. So, so the, the Delta crew. Who hate the, what are the lower decks, are they the beta crew?
I think they're, yeah, I think they're the beta team. And so they're, [00:15:00] they don't like each other. So they're, they're kind of both seeing what they can do to try and get this room anyway. So at one point, and it's a little bit of a riff on First Contact. Where they when they're trying to get away from the Borg and they went into the holodeck and activated the, the, the Picard nightclub 1940s thing.
And there's a, there's a little bit of it because there's so many little nods and, and winks and homages to old Star Trek stuff. That's actually a lot of fun to kind of, Oh, I know what they're doing here. And, it turns out that Shaxx, the, is that the guy's name? The Bajoran security guy? yeah. And the, the cat woman, The doctor.
The doctor, have got this kind of crazed fantasy where they're Bonnie and Clyde. And, I've got to say it, but, Shaxx is the sort of the big tough Bajoran guy, and he's kind of losing his cool, he's getting upset, [00:16:00] and this cat doctor, she's like, says some, some line about, Do you, do you want to like come and, you know, suckle on my teeth for a while or something like that?
And again, you know, my kids are just like, what the heck? And I'm like, this is so bizarre. But that, but Scott, you're absolutely right. Because, you know, there were strange relationships that this was going on. And so what happened is so one of the episodes that we watched is when Rutherford And the other engineering guy who's got the mustache, who you found out he's like actually the prince, they go to this planet, and they, they're sent down to interact with the locals, and they're all orange skinned, white haired people, and they kind of live this hedonistic lifestyle.
Meanwhile Mariner and The first officer. The first officer got to fix the thing anyway. Yeah, they're up in the elevator. And the [00:17:00] whole thing is, well, we're not engineers. We should be down there on first contact. And you sent the engineers down there. That's right. They're trying to mix it up. Anyway, so, I'm watching this and I'm like, these orange skinned, white haired aliens.
I'm like, I wonder if, I've seen these before. I know what they're from. So at the end of the episode, I queued up, because Paramount Plus, it's all there. The original series episode, The Apple. Yes. Okay, so it turns out, although in The Apple, they are orange skinned, white haired aliens. It's not the same race, but, like, species, or what have you, but there's a thing.
Anyway. My girls just laughed their asses off of the absurdity of that episode. And there's, there's a moment where there's a red shirt, a sexy blonde red shirt. She's gonna live. The guy red shirt, he's gonna die, because of course. And Chekhov is like [00:18:00] making some serious moves on her. And, and, it's like, oh so they, my girls are like, oh so they used to do this in the old show too.
They're always like... Having little trysts and things. I'm like Yes, that's that's that's exactly right. That's That is it. That's it. You got it referencing throwbacks when they show up to the planet that Landru was running and Yeah, they the TOS group had got them off the Landru. Yeah, and then they're back on it And they show up Mariners like look you just can't You're just worshiping me again.
We came back a hundred years ago. Kirk, fix this for it. Yeah, but we all like the, we all like the murdering and all that. Hell, Andrew! No, no, we can't do that. And when Jeffrey Combs comes back. Right. And does, have you gotten to hear him do some of the... No. Okay, there's some murder bots that he gets to do.
There's a whole manic AI gone crazy Okay. [00:19:00] storyline that... Oh, no, I did see that. Yes. Yes. There's an, an Echocom peanut hamper and her story ends up crossing over with Combs. And just this past week, they had a follow up episode of, you know, Starfleet doesn't want to deactivate insane AI. So they're in a rehabilitation center going through therapy.
Outstanding. And that. What's good for those diehards are like, I don't, I don't need silliness in my, in, in, in my Star Trek. I, I beg to differ. You go back to Deep Space Nine, just the Worf's Bachelor Party. Yes. Now, Dax's Bridal Shower. Right. The only difference to me is that it's not serialized and it's animated.
Right. Because the Strange New Worlds has shown you That if I put live action Lower Decks people, who, God bless them for grabbing every, you know, setting that [00:20:00] all up. They could pull a, you know, other than the guy that plays the first offer, they could pull a show off with live action versions of those.
And, I love the little, just always making references, because when Star Trek fans get together, and they're having a good time, we all shoot one liners that we've heard. From there, we make geek reference, and I think that's with comics, Doctor Who fans and all that, but in this case, you, you have those people writing this show.
Yes. And the new season actually has kind of an almost serious storyline. There's still, it's still the silly crew, it's, and to me, people bag on the first season of Lower Decks in some ways. Everyone hates the first season of Next Gen. Everybody despises the first. Deep, season of Deep Space Nine. Yeah. You only go back, and Voyager.
We hate it because it's not our track. But it is very much our track. Yes, [00:21:00] that's right. You got to give it a chance to kind of find its groove. Even Discovery, which wears on my last nerve. I'm gonna have to watch this just for that. But it gave us Anson Mount and Ethan Peck's Spock and Pike. So, so, so you, the second season, you got to see that and they were so impressive that they get, you know, that's how we got strange new world.
So I say thank you to discovery and I was discovery fans out there because like we've talked about on this channel before, this is someone's first Spider Man. This is someone's first discovery is somebody's first star Trek. Yes. Someone saw the little girl from walking dead show up. As the main character over here, someone who is a Doug Jones fan, you know, that right show it.
And so you followed him into that show and something, something grabbed you, but once again, when I say not my trick, it's not my, what should be not my preferred track, but after you watch it, everyone [00:22:00] has, you know, the
You know, the ugly cousin that only shows up at Christmas and steals all the silverware. Oh, you have one of those too. Oh, we all, you know, who doesn't. But, you know, going back just to Lower Decks. The, have you seen the episode where you get to see all the other species Lower Decks? No. Where the Klingons, you're gonna be like, Oh yes, oh my gosh, yes!
The Klingons, the Vulcans, you know, Yes. And they keep up with that. At some point you get a Ferengi. The Borg at the end of that was just the Vulcan ship was, was brilliant because you've got that one female officer who's, she's gonna kind of do this her own way and she's getting, she's getting into the, the Vulcan equivalent of, of trouble, of trouble and snar conversations with her commanding officers.
But because they're Vulcan. Everything they say is at the exact same pitch. There's no raising of [00:23:00] the voice, there's no lowering, there's no anger, there's no humor, there's no... It's all at the same pitch. And so, it's, it's... I thought that was really clever. And it was quite funny as well, because you've got to think like, wow, this is, this is a Vulcan losing, losing his temper with another Vulcan.
And... Unless you're really paying attention to the choice of words, you'd never know it because there's no emotional display whatsoever. And I thought that was brilliant. But no, I, it's, it's very, very Star Trek. And, you know, his, his kind of a thought that occurred to me because I was relit.
You know, it, it relit a pilot light that had kind of blown out some, some time ago. And and I said, you know, it's, it's funny because, Star Wars, I, I've seen the new movies. I watched the first series of Mandalorian. And [00:24:00] I've kind of dipped in and out on some of the other bits and pieces. And I can admire the technical feet, I can admire the quality.
There's a lot of things I can admire, but the one thing I've yet to find is the heart. Now, Mandalorian probably comes closest, but I know they're like in season three, I think, now, or they did a third season. I don't feel the pull. It's like, oh, I've got to make sure I watch season two. And it's not a slight to anyone who loves this stuff at all because it's one thing we do.
We see here every time we're in the multiverse in the shop is, you know, people love what they love and there's a fandom for everybody, you know, and and that's absolutely brilliant. But Star Wars, it's like so many other things. It can become somebody else's. Passion. If it moves away, it can stop being yours and [00:25:00] become somebody else's.
And you can take that kind of reaction and can just say, hey, it's not my Star Wars anymore and there's nothing wrong with that. The talk about Star Wars when Mandalorian was coming out was this idea that, Oh, it's a vast universe and we can tell all kinds of different stories. Yeah, but Star Trek actually did that 30 years ago with Deep Space Nine, and, and I remember at the time that was one of the biggest criticisms, which was, well, hang on, this isn't Star Trek.
No, no ship. There's, there's no ship. Why, why aren't they exploring, you know, and, and, and, okay, oh, they get the Defiant. Oh, now they're going to do it, you know, no. It was something different, but in that world, and, and I, I really liked the idea that there would be different approaches. So again, a comedy show, an animated show, sure, why not?
It works. And, you know, [00:26:00] my take on what you were saying about that as well, I go back and re watch Deep Space Nine more than I watch Next Gen. Yeah. And in a lot of ways because I enjoy, I love, I even love Enterprise. I know there's some people out there that... Throwing rocks, cussing a lot. I enjoyed Enterprise for what it was.
I always criticized it because there, the, you couldn't add a sense of suspense. Who are, who are these guys in the ship that turns invisible on their point of view? Those Rhymalins. Those are all Rhymalins. You couldn't, you could, you can only play dumb with that to the audience for so, so long. And sometimes when they introduced them, you know, they, they played up one.
Aspect of, you know, the shadowy, who are these, but you all knew, I think that's why Deep Space Nine needed the Dominion and Jim Hadar and all of that, because, you know, you're going to another sector or space and coming back through this wormhole, you can't have Klingon [00:27:00] 2. 0 you can't have Romulan 2.
0, so you've got a shapeshifter, and I know the, I know the Dominion Warfare And some people say it flies in the face of what Gene Roddenberry had in mind, and I enjoy the idea, Gene's idea that Earth made it is, is a good idea. Yes. Earth made it. Yes. You know, and I think every decade needs a Star Trek. Yes.
The time's going on in the world right now. We need, we need something to give us a little hope but. If you, if we went out and found Vulcans, or guys with ridges on their head, and all of that, as enlightened as we'd like to think humanity is, there would be discourse. There would be, yes, there would be misunderstandings, there'd be alliances, there'd be, there'd be all these sneaky things.
[00:28:00] Deep Space Nine, to me, was more human. Yes. It was more, I mean, everything talks about humanity on the, you know, Next Generation was all humanity. We found, we, we found the way to cure those, those people who were addicted to this drug. We might've shut that because Lower Decks went back to the planets with the two dueling drug dealers, drug dealers.
They went back and visited the dueling, you know, the customers and the drug dealers. Okay. From season one of Next Gen where You know, they get back and they're like, Oh, look, they're still addicted to exercise or something like that. You know, in Voyager, Janeway, straight up killed Tuvix, you know, oh gosh, right.
Yeah, we're not gonna get too different. I mean, she straight up. Yeah, I mean, that was she did that. And, and we, I don't know if there's a Lower Decks reference to that. Eventually they, they touch on all of this, right. But for me, if I, if, if you had to look at me and say out of the original [00:29:00] group, You can keep TOS, you know, you got Next Gen, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, and the Little Animate series.
You only get to keep one group of stories, it's Deep Space Nine. I love all the other characters, I love all the other universes. But, for me, the idea of all these not aliens, but different cultures with different belief systems. The Federation has to deal with the Ferengi who are the ultimate capitalists.
Right. They have to deal with the Bajorans, which are the ultimate in religion and faith. Yeah. And, and, you know, all, you know, I don't know, I don't know what European country they were basing their yeah, we're, we're, we're very religious, but we're also freedom fighters. You know, I don't know where you.
Where you can, because there's so many examples of what that would be. Well, yeah, and, and, you know, [00:30:00] it's, I'll tell you, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think it's, it's the, I think it would be the wise thing to say. Especially where we are just at the moment. There's a game you can play, because I've played it, where you try and figure out who the various races in Star Trek are.
Oh, cool thing. And that's all I'm going to say and we're not going to do that now because that could be a fun nerd parlor game 30 years ago. Now someone's going to take it the wrong way and going to get upset. So we're not going to do that. Sorry kids. See me, but if you go find it on your own, we're completely, yeah, that's right.
Because yeah, they, there are some archetypes there. There are some, some cultural. And, and when you kind of, if you, if you see it the way that I've seen it, and you map it out, it's like, Oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Okay, [00:31:00] so, right, okay. But anyway, no, it, it, it is, and, and you're absolutely right.
It's it's, it's, it does the thing that that science fiction does best. And there's, I think it's actually on, oh this is such a nerdy thing to admit, but if you get a hold of, they re released the soundtrack to Star Trek Motion Picture a few years ago as a double CD, and so disc one was obviously Jerry Goldsmith's score, which is my favorite, right?
Not only is it my favorite Star Trek score, but it's actually with the exception of possibly Chinatown, is my favorite Goldsmiths score. I can listen to that any time. I love, it's one of the reasons why I actually quite, I have quite a fondness for the motion picture. And I [00:32:00] appreciate that puts me in small company.
But and the second disc. I don't know where this audio track came from, I, I suspect maybe it was like a record that came out, whatever, but basically it's, it's interviews with, with Gene Roddenberry, and there's an interview with Gene Roddenberry interviewing DeForest Kelly, and there's a, there's a bit from I guess the Star Trek convention, this is all back in the 1970s, and, and it's, it's kind of interesting, there's some interesting, you know, DeForest Kelly talks about, you know, what he thinks about what medicine will be like in the future and so on and so forth.
And it's quite interesting. And in one of these, they talk about how, I think it's one of the convention speeches that Gene Roddenberry gave. And he's talking about how science fiction is really the only Entertainment genre left or, or, or available to us. [00:33:00] Perhaps it's a better way of putting it that allows you to kind of explore societal issues under the guise of look, you can look, you can watch the episode where.
The, the black on the left side and the white on the right side people are trying to find that white on the right side of black and I'm, I'm probably just screwed that up. Let that be your last battlefield. Okay. You can watch that and just go, Ah, well, that's kind of a groovy, weird, funky 60s science fiction thing.
Or you can watch it and go, Oh, I know exactly what they're talking about here. And they're talking about racial divides. And that's, obviously this is late 1960s civil rights movement is, is in full swing. This, this has got some, this has got some weight to it. I remember the episode of Next Generation where [00:34:00] Riker...
You're gonna have to help me with this one, Scott. It's the episode where Riker, he has a relationship with... An alien woman. Is it the asexual? Yeah. I can come up with that episode. Yeah, and, and, again, you could just take it at face value and just go, oh, so that was, you know, that's what they did on the show this week.
Or you can look at it as this is a very, very early attempt to introduce maybe non binary thinking or Some an alternative. It's called The Outcast. The Outcast, that's it. Rocker falls in love with Soren, a member of an androgynous race, which finds genders specifically unacceptable. Right. And I remember when that episode came out because there were, there were a couple of people that I knew who were real Star Trek fans who really had a problem with that episode.
Because it, [00:35:00] It pulled the, the loose, pulled the string a little too close to their own feelings about the, that world, just that world, exactly. And it's like, okay, well, you know, in, look, in the first episode of Next Generation, look very closely, you're going to see a guy walking around in a miniskirt. And.
That's all I'm going to say about that. But it's, there's, Star Trek is a huge, huge toy box and there's so much you can do with it. And so, yeah, I'm like, I'm just loving this. Well, and when I, you know, and I've heard Gene say many times that science fiction is the way to tell stories that you can't tell any, any other way.
Sometimes I get sad that we as a society have to be tricked to go down those roads. [00:36:00] I mean, it's, it's, it's, I mean, it is, it is similar to hiding the pill in the peanut butter to give it to the dog and not trying to use this podcast to serve, to say, to fix world problems. Cause that's, that's not, that's the other show that's, yeah, that's the, that's the daylight show.
But Star Trek has meant, has been a big part of my life, my sister's life, and what I wanted to get back to is, something you said a couple times, you know, back, back in the day, everyone talks about, when you interview Star Trek fans, my family and I sat around and watched this, and you know, I wanted to be a doctor or an engineer because of Star Trek, you know, Michelle Nichols had many young ladies come up to her and all this, the fact that your family, and I know.
Your family fairly well, and they all have diverse interests, but that the fact that we can, y'all can get together and watch that show, you're building upon the tradition that Star Trek started, even though it's a little different, we don't eat at the [00:37:00] table, then go over, we're all sitting there munching out, and it bonds my sister and I, and I really can't really get my, me and my daughters, I got five, Not interested in that.
Our bonding experience is the Marvel movies. Same thing with the grandkids. And Rick and Morty. Don't judge. But, you know, to hear, it, it tickles my heart. And I know if Gene, for all his flaws and, you know, Everything about him, you know, he was just a, he was just a man. If he heard you say that, my family and I would get together.
And now he's got to hear it in different iterations. It would just tickle him to death because it's no matter where you're consuming your content. Right. No matter, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, you know, Avery Brooks, Mulgrew, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula. Y'all are together. Yes. You're communing with this.
Now, what I wanted, I'm going to put this on, Mr. St. James, [00:38:00] is that since you surprised me. Right, here we go. I want a follow up show when we are done with Strange New Worlds. Got it. And then we'll put a third one and it doesn't have to be Picard season one. No, no. But season three, because it pulls at that next gen, even though it's...
Admittedly, not our next gen, but it is. Okay, you got it. That's, that's, that's really, I'm putting it out now where I mean, It, it's so much fun to talk Star Trek. It is! And, and I haven't done that in, in so long. And this is a guy who's my first episode was Spock's brain and I kept going after that But as you know when I was a kid what got me about Spock's brain was that all those girls were in satin dresses with little Go go boots and you know when you're eight or nine, that's that holds your interest.
I swear was that Linda Carter? That was in I don't know But there's looked at but that you know, that's what caught my interest at [00:39:00] first and I I like the I like the idea It's just, that's all I can think about right now is, is the it's, I'll tell you what it is. It's the, it's Shore Leave. At the end of Shore Leave there's, cause they think McCoy is dead.
Yep. And then he comes back. And he's trying to explain to them, hey, Jim, they've got this, they've got this great thing underground and it's just amazing and you've got to come look at it because we never see it. And McCoy is standing there and he's got two two girls on, he's got a girl on each arm.
And they're wearing this kind of like, one is orange and I think the other one is blue and it's like this really bizarre. Shag carpet thing that's just barely covering their, their unmentionables. And I'm just like, this is, wow, the future. Whoa. You know, in [00:40:00] the future, this is, I'm okay. And, and I, I know this left an impression on, on young, on the younger version of me.
But then it's, it's all, but it's all part and parcel of the idea that wouldn't it be nice if we could just get rid of all the bullshit and actually just have fun with our lives? And that's what it is. So, you know, and that doesn't sit well with everyone. And we're, Scott and I are going to kind of skirt around some of the specifics on this.
But we did have a Star Trek conversation not too long ago. We did. When we, when we discovered that We could call it utopia, but somebody else might refer to it as communism. We'll leave it at that. But it's just interesting how different people can watch something like that, and come away with it, come away from it, with it like, well that seems really, but you can't make money.
You can't, well, you know, well, well, you can. If [00:41:00] you're a Ferengi, that whole, that whole culture is right there for you to visit. I mean, they could seriously do with some dental hygiene, but it's, it's, it's not gone, it's there. But it's just the idea that, you know, and look, here we are, that it's I don't know when this episode is going to air.
It's October 14th we've got all sorts of crisis going on in Europe, and now we've got crisis going on in the Middle East. And yeah, it is, I think it's very, very important, especially when it comes to whatever escapism that you'll, you'll, you need. That it gives you a sense of hope that, you know, I'm just going to put some faith in the fact that one day we'll get past all this nonsense.
And we can actually maybe come together and do, and just live fun lives. And fun in Star Trek means exploring, and gadgets, and [00:42:00] scantily clad females. Okay, look, that might not be everyone's cup of tea. Maybe green skin, you know? Maybe green skin? You know? What I'm saying is, having an open mind, and yeah, I totally subscribe to that whole iDick thing.
And, and there you go. So no, this has just been an absolute, I actually think, yeah, you're right. I think Gene Roddenberry would be laughing his ass off at Lower Decks. And it would, and it would get the the Great Bird of the Galaxy's, you know, thumb of of approval. And yeah, I, I'm, I'm enjoying the cameos.
I'm enjoying, you know, they've got to get Sulu. And George Takei's got to show up at some point. No spoilers. Okay, but there but there there is a there's actually a nod to to Kay and his Relationship with William Shatner, I Can't wait and it's just a very and of course Boehmer's Involved in it because he'd have to be of course really and you know when I look at him He [00:43:00] is all of us Star Trek fan.
Oh, he is That may not be a startling revelation to anybody But I've got friends that are like, Oh, I'm more like, you know, I, I read identify with Mariner. I identify with this. I identify with Riker. If we're being honest with ourselves, we're all born. We're all him. Absolutely. And if we showed up on NCC one seven Oh one with Christopher Pike, we would stammer and stutter and, and, you know, I love the, the.
He's got that Tom Paris plate. Oh, man. Going through the Jefferies tube. And it's just all he can do not to, not He's got that plate and he wants I think he wants to get it signed. He wants to get it signed and you know as comic book fans as well, I mean it appeals to both Who of us have not stood in line way too long and paid too much for an autograph for somebody who appreciates our fandom, but wouldn't know our name or recognize, or if they saw us on the street and we [00:44:00] were charging them, they'd call the cops.
I, I'm, I confess. I and unfortunately this, this, this did not survive the the, the mysterious Georgia tornado. But I had a UK quad movie poster. Okay, so American movie posters. Vertical. British movie posters are horizontal and they call these, they call 'em quads. And I had a quad, an original quad for Wrath of Khan.
Mm-Hmm. . And it had, it was only four fifths. The, the poster, if you can kind of picture this, if you divided it into horizontal stripes at four-fifths the top fifth. And the reason why it was blank is because that would allow the local movie theater to write on the top the date of when that movie was going to be playing at that movie theater.
Okay, so I had [00:45:00] this quad and I I got it in person. I, I, I, Had autographs from TK and Walter Koenig and Michelle Nichols, a friend of mine who used to run and organize Star Trek conventions very kindly put it in front of James Doohan right before he passed away. And, but obviously the, the, the Forrest Kelly, unfortunately, he, he, he, he, he was already gone.
And I remember going to, I think it was a Dragon Con in Atlanta and Shatner and Nimoy were there. And I was going to get them to sign it and something happened that day and I was in such a terrible mood and I was, I'm just not going to go and do this and I've regretted it ever since. Cause the poster is now long gone too.
But but there is, but that's it. There is something about meeting some of these people and, and, and the the gentleman who plays Tom Paris. I actually volunteered at a Star Trek convention for this, this guy I was friends with. [00:46:00] And and I said, you know, I'll, he was like, look, if you come along and help us run the show, I'll get you in for free.
I was like, oh, brilliant. Okay. My, my wife was incredibly pregnant with, with with our first daughter. And and I said, so what do you want me to do? And he goes, well, he said here, sit here and, and, and help keep the line moving. And I sat down and I had I really should know their names. But the actor who played Tom Parents.
Robert Patrick Duncan? McNeil? McNeil? Something like that. He was on my left. And William Sanderson, who plays, it was his first Star Trek convention. He plays the Section 31 guy. He plays, . Okay, so Paris is Robin Robert Duncan McNeil. Robert Duncan McNeil. Lovely man. He, he, so you're talking about the guy, are you talking about the, the section 31?
Are you talking about the guy who played Sloan? Yes. Okay. [00:47:00] Yes. William Sanderson, I think his name. And he was on my right. And I quite like Sanderson because he, he's been in a few movies. He was in Shoshan? Yeah, he's been in there everywhere. Redemption. He was in the Green mile. And yeah. William Sadler.
God, I'm terrible with names. Anyway he was quite nervous, because like it was his first Star Trek convention. And he was kind of freaked out because... And Star Trek fans can be kind of overwhelming. Yes, they can. You know. What was funny is people kept bringing up photos that they had made. Because he was the villain in Die Hard 2, and there's a sequence in the beginning where he's naked, and he's doing karate moves or something.
And, and women kept bringing that a printout of that for him to sign, and he was like, Okay, uh huh huh, okay, here we go. But Mr. McNeil was an absolute delight. He was a, he was a pro. Doing these shows and I sat down and he said, Hey, I'm, you know, Arara, how are you? What are you doing? Just, [00:48:00] you know, lovely man, absolutely lovely man.
And I think the Star Trek family has done a great job of welcoming in new actors and training them on how to behave because it is very consistent. The only one that's the wild card is Shatner. Yes. I mean, he's not really rude. No, you just don't know what you're gonna get. But, but, but he's got to have his own wing.
He's got to go do it. I remember here in Dallas a couple years back all the Next Generation cast with the exception of Will Wheaton showed up and Denise Crosby was here. Oh, nice. And Shatner was the MC. Right. And he had to be. Right. A lot of times he would ask comparative questions between the TOS group and the next gen, and you kind of just They were polite.
I'm sure they all they all like Bill, but you could see a couple of times. I'm sorry [00:49:00] You know Brent Spiner And Oh God, Jory LaForge, how am I, how am I now? Oh, LaVar Burton. LaVar Burton. You know they're good. It would be like you and me up there on stage. Yes. Because there's some looks that cross their faces that, you know, for one guy that was in Roots and the other one that has done, you know, Broadway, all this, y'all couldn't mask the, oh, there goes Bill.
Hey. There we go. You know, Sir Patrick had his stuff together. Denise was just bored. And you know, there's times that Marina looked like she just really wanted to hit people with a stick but I love, you know, I've always had a very positive experience when I meet these guys out in the wild like that and I think they go through a camp.
They have to. So I'll tell you, Senator, we're going to wrap this up. So. So, there's been an ongoing joke in my family for quite a few years.[00:50:00] Because we were at one of these DragonCon conventions just like 20 years ago. And we had stayed at the hotel and we were down in the they have a restaurant.
I forget which Marriott it was. And having breakfast. I can't remember who it was, one of us, it might have been me, actually, it might have been me. Somebody had gone up to get some food and was walking back to the table and happened to walk past Walter Koenig, who was seated at one of the tables in this restaurant.
I know this story, this is a lot of fun. And I don't know what aftershave Mr. Koenig wears. But it was amazing. And I, I got, I think it was me actually. And I sat down to my wife and my, my daughter's godfather is there, George and a friend of [00:51:00] his. And we're, you know, and I'm like, you know, man, Chekhov just smells amazing.
Guys, you've got to. You know, you know that thing you've seen in a million TV shows don't look you see it's somebody over there Don't look and then they'll kind of look well. This was a version of that only this was You've got to walk past him. Don't make it really obvious that you're smelling him because that's going to be kind of creepy and he's probably going to call security.
But if you get a chance, just kind of glance in there and take a, take a whiff because he smells amazing. And we all did. And we were all like, this is just, this is absolutely fantastic. And years later in England, I was working for a company and I told them this story. And one of the young lads there, he I came into work the next day and he had gone on Photoshop or something and he had this picture of Chekhov when he, when he's young and a bottle of perfume and he'd redone the font and everything and it says Chekhov Pour Homme and [00:52:00] I'm like, I wish I could find this stuff because so if, in, if there's any crazy, crazy way that this podcast should ever itself creeping into the ears of the aforementioned Mr.
Walter Koenig. Not to be creepy, but I'd love to know what you were wearing, man, because you smelled amazing. Anyway, and there we go, folks. For, there we go. For our long overdue Star Trek, I'm back in the game and boldly going where Others go quite regularly, but you know, not, not saying that you should have listened to me six months ago, but Hey, it makes good, it makes good content for today.
Kids, doesn't it? And that'll be the last word next time./ Thanks for listening to the multi-verse podcast. If you'd like to join us in person, you can do that at the multi-verse in Hurst, Texas. It's our brick and mortar store. If you would like [00:53:00] to join us online and shop our store there, you can do that at multi-verse dot shop www dot multi-verse dot shop. Thanks for sticking with us. Do us a favor. Review us like us all the things that you do and all the places that you do them it helps us out quite a bit thanks so much see you next time
