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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast. I am joined again this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss: The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Catspaw, I Mudd, and Metamorphosis Probably the weakest set of episodes yet Going over Abbie’s low bar for this series Nate almost didn’t finish the episode A Star Trek episode? Or a Halloween special with Star Trek characters? Not the “most philosophically rich” episode of Star Trek Chekov’s hair Enterprise props today The sum of its parts are greater than the whole Seeing something we’ve seen before Binge watching affecting the viewing experience? Recurring themes – a life without limit is meaningless Recurring themes – the ethics of AI Technological advancements to allow intergalactic travel? Nearing halfway through The Original Series More problematical moments Which Einstein? I’ve heard that name before! Another rare consensus The importance of human contact to humans Captain Kirk. Diplomat Nate gets distracted with DS9 talk again Yesterday’s progressivism, tomorrow’s conservatism Judas goats Nate’s growing fondness for Kirk Limitations providing meaning and value – recurrent themes TOS episodes as a basis for future series episodes and movies The first people to make certain Star Trek connections Space rabies! Nate already has a rating for Trouble with Tribbles Seeing why the series was cancelled after season 2 Ricky Gervais and Arena

An evil crew, paradise, and a destructive intergalactic space worm.  All this and more in this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast! I am joined, as usual, this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss: The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Mirror Mirror, The Apple, and The Doomsday Machine Is this the “darkest timeline”? Another parallel universe episode Gene Roddenberry’s vision (hope?) for the future Star Trek has always been progressive for its time – it’s not something new today Under the progressive veneer, there are still traditional values throughout the episodes Theory of parallel universes What are you?  DNA?  Experiences? Was Kirk trying to change the mirror universe for the better?  Or was he just trying to get back to his universe and his ship? “Evil” Kirk is a formidable foe For a savage society, they are really bad at fighting Uniform colors Nature vs. Nurture and morality A piecemeal episode A Spock and Bones role reversal? What is the definition of “Paradise”? An anti-religion episode? Spock like Satan No ramifications? Can freedom be imposed?  Or is it necessarily a choice? Lurr – Ruler of Omicron Persei VIII The parable of the banker and the fisherman from Jimmy John’s Can a society be thriving but also stagnant? Exploration of other command styles Other ships A rare consensus Cold War commentary How often to officers lose their ships? Decisions and results Major transporter issues.  Is Scotty bad at his job? Security shortcomings Planetary system discussion Motion Picture and other movie discussion It all comes back to Independence Day