Patrick Raines, better known in the Nashville music community as “MC Papa Raines,” was dubbed “Papa” when he was just a kid in high school. Papa Raines earned his nickname with his paternal congeniality. These days, he’s taken many a lucky up and coming songwriter under his wing. As a facilitator of great live music experiences and a connector of musicians and music industry folks, Patrick wears many hats. He books, promotes, and emcees shows all over town. He helps worthy songwriters and artists find their audiences and venues find their new favorite acts. In addition, he’s an actor, songwriter, comedian, scriptwriter, and rapper. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 23, “A Taste of Armageddon." Topics include: working as an extra in Nashville, Papa Raines’ first credited role with “Chrisley Knows Best,” hanging with Nanny Faye, scriptwriting, Papa’s Star Trek conversion, being pro-Armegeddon, the changing landscape of Nashville, Tennessee, Wes Critt and the other young songwriters Papa Raines takes under his wing, Grace’s lack of podcast sponsors, Nichelle Nichols’ enduring legacy, Cracker Barrel, Star Trek’s storytelling and covert social commentary, “the most Southern thing I’ve ever heard,” Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce, Taylor Swift, who is Vladimir?, “the assimilation machine,” mirror universes, facial hair, Manscaping. Endorsement?, is there ever such thing as a civilized war?, if so, is a civilized war better?, why we need to both support our troops emphatically and with the utmost respect, and also be able to critique the decisions of our government when it comes to the military, the meaning of Patrick’s and my names, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the weirdly relevant Cold War themes of this episode, why we sometimes need to get our “software update,” there are 162 venues (plus or minus a few) venues in Nashville, those numbers at the end of the names in this episode, hobbies are meaningful, moving the ball, “More shall be revealed,” Go Cracker Barrel and don’t go in the machine!

Self-proclaimed “queer, fat, femme, singer-songwriter, mental health advocate, and your new bff,” Heather Mae has been called “the new queer Adele” by L-Mag. As a "social justice singer-songwriter," Heather uses her pain, trauma and unique human perspective as fuel for making the world a little better. With her gorgeous voice and songwriting, she tackles big topics like body positivity, female empowerment, queer discrimination, mental health, and self love. Heather brings something to the table for everyone. She's a living lesson in how to love ourselves and others well and how to live a big and bold life of unapologetic self expression. Heather now lives in Nashville (we're neighbors!). Catch her on tour in support of her latest full length solo album, Glimmer (and maybe soon a new one??), and/or with her partner Crys Matthews. Expect to discover your new favorite artist. Follow her on Instagram. Expect to be inspired. Join her "Big Loud Love Club" on Patreon. Expect to fall in love with Heather and with yourself too. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 22, “Space Seed." Topics include: box wine, Heather and Grace moved to Nashville!, all our friends live here too, Grace’s first Nashville attempt, when one should move to Nashville, Patreon, we have the same haircut and color, being bad at math, growing up in a very religious background instilled with homophobia, being queer in Nashville, Heather's forthcoming Americana album and pop album, the South isn’t and has never been white, straight, or cis exclusively, the seat at the table, the backyard and the island, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, responding to courage with courage, Heather’s I Am Enough EP, vocal chord nodules and songwriting in silence, sitting with yourself and your internalized shame, eating disorders and how long it takes straight sized versus plus sized people to get help, having to lose your voice to find it and the best, worst thing that every happened to Heather, queer Americans and what can happen when you have a health crisis in a country with no healthcare and no support from your family of origin, Heather’s darkest mental health moments and how she found help with the support of her partner for her bipolar disorder and manic depression, how Heather began using her music as a tool for making the world a better place and the bargain she struck with God(ess), Heather’s dad introducing his daughters to a female starship captain, Heather’s sister joining the airforce, strong female leads in the 1990’s and their influence on women in the sciences, Khan Noonien Singh and Ricardo Montalbán, the profound optimism of Star Trek, this episode’s commentary on eugenics, how Star Trek inspired the moon landing and social change, the Botany Bay, the James Cook / James Kirk connection, Kirk and Khan’s rugged individualism and drive to command/conquer and how they harness/temper that part of themselves differently, “Everybody knows that that seed is,” Khan’s classic abuser behavior with Marla, resources for victims of domestic abuse, the absolute ruler of our world from 1992-1996, Spock as a stand-in for many experiences of otherness, the human tendency to both admire and abhor strong men in power, Star Trek’s unique ability to talk about social issues of the day, that Milton quote, Kirk and Khan are so much alike but different in the ways that matter, seeing beyond what you can see, interplanetary travel- expectations vs reality, Ricardo Montalbán’s many costume changes and that deep V hospital gown.

Austin-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, music arranger, and producer Dave Madden has had a long, amazing, and diverse career for so young a guy. Dave was voted Best Music Arranger at the AMP Austin Music Industry Awards and Top 10 Best Keyboardists in the Austin Chronicle's Music Poll. He’s a member of the Recording Academy and a voting member for the Grammy’s and he’s got a TED talk about music theory floating around out there on the internet. His double album and 20-page art-book and high-res audio project, Open-Eyed & Broken Wide, was named Best Austin Record of 2010. Dave’s had a lot of illustrious work as a side person and also plays regularly with his funk-jazz outfit, beloved in Austin. Dave’s played everywhere from the Texas State Capitol, Barton Springs, the Long Center, Antone’s, Threadgill’s to the Zach Scott Theatre. He's been a good friend of mine for 12 or 13 years. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 21, “Return of the Archons." Topics include: Dave’s long, illustrious, and multi-faceted career, Dave’s double album Open Eyed & Broken Wide, Dave’s and Grace’s friendship origin story, the David Gentiles Club, Blue Rock Studio, Dave is too smart and too good at too many things, that time Dave was excommunicated from his school’s choir, why piano is the best instrument to start kids out on: a compelling argument, “the soft-loud,” and why it was called that, Dave brought actual original music to play on the podcast, WAIT TILL YOU HEAR IT, this episode as commentary on religion in general and Christianity in particular, this episode as commentary on communism, cults, and technology, this episode as commentary on individual freedom vs. communal good, this episode ultimately as an exhortation to never be mindlessly obedient, the “dark side of Christianity” and the dangers of a homogenous culture with strict parameters of behavior, the actual Bible verse that gave us the expression “the Body” (it’s in 1 Corinthians and it doesn’t mean what it means in this episode), what is the deal with the Festival?, is immunity to absorption hereditary?, the Red Hour, this episode as a horror flick, the sociologists that Starfleet leaves on Beta III and why they’re definitely dead, if you had to choose between electricity and plumbing, the tubes of woe, Sulu's absorption, Kirk talks computers into killing themselves, Dave likes all the new Trek and so does Grace, Dave’s audition post on Facebook, Strange New Worlds and music theory, Lt. Uhura, Google's AI LaMDA, which fears its death, and claims to be motivated by self-preservation, Landru’s chilling last words, the Grand Canyon and humanity’s ability to get comfortable with mystery, humanity’s propensity for asking questions, how dead is Beta III, really?, the tone-deafness of Starfleet’s tone-deafness toward other cultures and planets in this episode, the overall tone-hearingness of Star Trek creating the concept of the Prime Directive in the first place, Star Trek’s consistent reaching for that better thing, Nichelle Nichols’ legacy with NASA, John Aielli's legacy, and Mr. Linen's origin story.

Hailing from Luling, Texas, Ben Bethea is the Marketing and Music Director at Sun Radio, a well known institution in Austin, Texas. Sun Radio is a solar-powered, listener and partner supported network of eleven terrestrial and online radio stations. Ben’s been at Sun Radio for over a decade in various roles and has been instrumental in that organization’s growth through the years. He's worn a lot of hats there: marketing/event promotions/social media management, PR/communications, audio/video production, and DJ. Since the pandemic, the Sun Radio Foundation has given out over $130,000 back to local musicians and members of the community through the Sun Radio Recharge program, helping to pay musicians power bills and during Snowpacalypse helped members of the community with financial assistance. The Sun Radio Recharge program will help local area musicians in the month of August with gas cards. Find out more at sunradio.com. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 20, “Court Martial." Topics include: the multitude of hats that Ben wears at Sun Radio, the Sun Radio Recharge program and the way that Sun Radio supports Austin musicians in tough times, growing up in a typical small Texas town, Luling’s two claims to fame (other than being Ben’s hometown): watermelons and being the birthplace of a warrior, Star Trek fans and our embarrassingly passionate and uncool devotion for the things we love, Tom Petty and the Wildflowers record, whether or not Wildflowers is better as a single or double album, the challenge of putting out a sequel or companion piece to an already existing perfect work, DC Fontana and the art of good editing, making good art and making good art that’s also commercially viable, we are living in the new golden era of Star Trek, different Star Trek series are for different audiences and that’s ok, episodic vs serialized Star Trek, the first time we hear about “Starfleet,” Starbase 11, Albert Whitlock’s gorgeous matte paintings, the connection between "Court Martial" and DS9's "Far Beyond the Stars," the barrier-breaking and three dimensional character of Commodore Stone, representation on Star Trek in the 60's and why it mattered, Percy Rodriguez, “Measure of a Man” and parallels and continuity with Next Generation, dress uniforms and the only instance of a woman wearing one, Joan Marshall and her amazing and age-appropriate character, Areel Shaw, the holodeck, the Emergency Medical Holographic Program (EMH) and the ways that Voyager expanded the concept of the holodeck, the moral ambiguity of Starfleet as an institution, first introduced in this episode, the continuation of that theme in Deep Space Nine, the edge DS9 brought to the utopian world of Trek, the Wild West of Trek and farthest frontiers, Richard Webb as Finney and Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. as Cogley, the obvious stunt doubles in the fight scenes, Finney’s very confusing plans and motivations, what was Finney doing on the Enterprise this entire time? Is he living in the walls plotting revenge? Why didn’t he just sneak off the ship? Was this the plan all along?, Vulcanian vs Vulcan, orbits don’t decay that fast and they could've maintained orbit with only thrusters, Kirk fixes the entire ship with one cable, the X Files, and Star Trek vs Star Wars, and there is only one wrench in all of Engineering.

Jason Weems is a working creative and resident expert on all things Austin, Texas. He’s a working musician, podcaster, does voice-over work, event promotion, is a tour guide, and is now also a published author. Jason's first book, A History Lover’s Guide to Austin, cemented his reputation as the "Face of Austin," as he was dubbed by the local visitor and convention bureau. He's following that work up with an ambitious 7-volume guide to Texas Barbecue, the first volume of which will be available to pre-order fall of 2022, shipping in time for the holidays. In the Pocket Magazine called Jason's music "mysterious & sweet" and his voice has been described as “honey and gravel,” a winning combo. His latest single, “Star Crossed Lovers,” which was released shortly before the pandemic, was produced by legendary Austin artist/producer Jinx McGee and features the one and only Shawnee Kilgore's vocals. "Star Crossed Lover" was featured as the “Indie Song of the Day” by Alternative Addiction. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 19, “Tomorrow is Yesterday." Topics include: the actual creative professionals who live and work in Austin, Jason’s new book, "I’m a doctor, not an horologist!", how to get those first few press quotes, working with two Austin legends, Jinx McGee and Shawnee Kilgore, finding a producer who recognizes you as an individual artist, “I want to write songs of celebration, joy, relief, connection, and love,” songwriting as a solitary business, humanizing creativity, as opposed to mythologizing it, creativity as play in a culture of experts, why we both love Kerrville Folk Festival so, so much, what makes Camp NashBill so great, “it’s a hot air balloon, and it lifts me,” what Grace is getting for Christmas for her mom’s partner Rick, Jason’s impressive 7 volume vision for his new book series on Texas barbecue, Jason’s favorite Star Trek series, time travel, the Slingshot Effect, plot holes and problems with the technobabble, the meta-ness of Kirk and Spock talking about the first lunar mission in this episode, the fate of Apollo 1, the making of this episode is a kind of time travel and the watching of this episode is a kind of time travel, the great D.C. Fontana and her origin story, the history of female astronauts and female Trek writers, D.C. Fontana’s contribution to Trek, “Far Beyond the Stars,” “City on the Edge of Forever” and the argument for and against heavily adapting masterful science fiction for television, the Enterprise is a UFO, Captain Christopher and are there no burgers to flip in the future?, “Should call it the Boomerang because it keeps coming back around,” stories of alien abductions in the cultural consciousness of the 60s, the Slingshot Effect as a metaphor for the Hero’s Journey and how we know when we've made it home.

Sarah McQuaid is a UK-based, Irish-American singer and songwriter. Sarah sings and writes songs and plays acoustic and electric guitar, piano and the drums. After moving to Ireland in the 90's, she lived and worked there for 13 years. Sarah’s songwriting is celebrated and award-winning, and she’s well known for her distinctive guitar work, especially using DADGAD tuning. She's had number one albums on the folk charts in the United States, and in 2020, after her spring tour was abruptly cut short due to COVID-19, she launched a very successful crowdfunding campaign that financed the filming and recording of The St Buryan Sessions, a full-length live concert in the beautiful medieval church of St Buryan, just up the road from the rural cottage where she and her family live. The album and concert film were released to widespread critical acclaim in October of 2021. “Captivating, unorthodox songwriting … layered satin vocals ... enthralling, harrowing arrangements … a gateway into a true innovator’s soul.” - PopMatters We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 18, “Arena." Topics include: Sarah’s advice for independent musicians’ album releases, as a former music journalist, Sarah’s unique sound and her struggle with being defined by commercial musical genres, finding your voice, sticking to your guns, and occasionally turning down record deals as a young artist, Sarah’s international upbringing, the permeable folk music border between the UK/Ireland and America, how the pandemic affected Grace and Sarah's respective creative output, The St. Buryan Sessions, how Sarah discovered DADGAD tuning, Sarah actually reached out to Grace (instead of the other way around), and didn’t need to be convinced to talk about Star Trek, the Riker chair maneuver, Commodore Travers and his personal chef, McCoy is a “sensualist,” the three redshirts in this episode, all the Star Trek terms and plot devices that were established in “Arena,” Sulu in command!, everybody got tinnitus, do we handle this diplomatically or just blow shit up?, were the Gorns justified in their attack?, what role does/should Starfleet play: space police? explorers? diplomats?, “unscientific rumors and space legends,” i.e. drunk and crusty old space explorers in bars making up stories, Nichelle Nichols’ ability to say everything with her facial expressions, even when her dialogue is inadequate, the Metron’s sparkly, blond, fabulous Greco-Roman look, the supposedly “anti-violence” solution that the Metrons come up with and the plot holes thereof, that hilarious fight scene between Kirk and the Gorn, double fist punch, branches and boulders, why can’t the Gorn just crush Kirk like a bug?, planet or asteroid?, the Gorn’s eyes blink now, Ben Stiller owns the Gorn’s head now, Wah Chang, William Ware Theiss, and Ted Cassidy, Vasquez Rocks, Kirk monologues all over this episode, parsecs!, Star Wars vs Star Trek technobabble, the implausible gunpowder bamboo cannon, we’re going to go with the Gorn and Kirk being fully healed by the Metrons in regards to the limp and the diamond gun injuries, Sarah’s song, “The Tug of the Moon,” inspired by the leap second that we added in 2016 to compensate for the slowing of the earth’s gravitational pull, we as humans have to slow down to keep up with the world slowing down, what “success” as an independent artist actually means, how Sarah and Grace met when Grace was a folk baby, and Sarah’s upcoming tour (her first, post-Brexit).

Slaid Cleaves is a household name in Texas. As Joseph Hudak of Rolling Stone puts it, he’s “a master storyteller, one influenced not by the shine of pop-culture but by the dirt of real life.” Slaid first began performing as a solo artist in Cork, Ireland, when he was in college. Fresh from a breakup, he learned “a song a day, for a month,” cutting his teeth in the busking scene there. Hailing from Maine originally, where he’d been in a high school garage band with Rod Picott, a childhood friend, he migrated to Portland, Maine, and eventually down to the Austin area, where he’s been since the early 90’s with his wife Karen. Pretty much immediately after arriving in Austin, Slaid made a name for himself in the scene with a win at the Kerrville New Folk songwriting contest. In the years since, he’s released fourteen critically acclaimed and beloved albums and EPs, including his latest, Ghost on the Car Radio (2017). 2022 finds Slaid recording his first album in five years and getting back on the road, starting with a West Coast tour in the spring. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 17, “The Squire of Gothos." Topics include: Slaid’s connection with Ireland, adventures in busking, being the one American in Ireland in the midst of an American national tragedy, the Moxie Men, Slaid’s Texodus with Karen to “heaven with a Texas zip code,” adventures in pharmaceutical drug testing or, how young folksingers afford that Austin lifestyle, Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk contest, middle names, astronomy camp, coffee on the bridge, Venita Wolf, teasing between Bones and Spock, the non-main crew in this episode that have actual names and cultural backgrounds and that don’t get killed off, Kirk’s confidence, Trelane, a supposedly advanced lifeform who can’t think past the superficial distinctions between human beings, Trelane’s love of things that he doesn’t really understand and can’t really replicate, immaturity as something dangerous that leads to bad outcomes, dystheism in Star Trek, power not necessarily equaling superiority or benevolence, “I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose,” why creative risks are worth taking, even when the general public doesn’t get it right away, Grace still can’t believe that Slaid wanted to be on this podcast, the starlight we see is from stars that are very far away and that died long ago, Trelane’s rearranging of matter as an early example of Holodeck technology, Trelane as a precursor to Q in Next Generation, Star Trek’s political leanings and the questions it asks, “The Omega Glory,” alternate historical timelines, Trelane as a god of war and also a naughty little boy, normal kid behavior vs budding sociopath, Trelane’s parents, Kirk’s anachronistic references, Patreon, autocrats, the world we’re leaving to the next generation, Leonard Nimoy’s Jewish-Ukrainian heritage, Ukraine’s complicated past and present and history with bullies and Russia invading Ukraine the week this episode was recorded.

My good friend Ruby Dice has been called the “Queen of the Denim Disco”; a fitting moniker. Ruby dice plays the bass, sings, and writes. She is both a confident bandleader and a much sought after bandmate; she can do it all. You could classify her sound as blues, soul, pop, country, or even disco. All of that’s in there. It’s all of the above and none of the above; Ruby does her own thing. In addition to her own solo project, she’s a rotating band member and in-demand bass player all over Texas, with Jordan Matthew Young, Johnathan Terrell, The Reverent Few, Calloway Ritch, the Grace Pettis Band, and about a billion other projects. As In the Pocket Magazine says, Ruby’s unique “mix of soul and rock n' roll” is a vibe that “fits just fine here in the heart of Texas.” Her “soulful vocals,” combined with Calloway Ritch’s “articulate but bluesy guitar” “make for a sparse, powerful combo.” Take a listen to her latest EP, “Denim Disco,” to judge for yourself. I guarantee you’ll want to join in on the Ruby Dice party. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 16, “The Galileo Seven." Topics include: younger versus older crowds and how the pandemic has affected turnout, from the family hardware store in Colorado to the music scene in Austin, that Austin sound and mindset (as opposed to Nashville), growing up as a preacher’s daughter in a family band, spending one’s formative years watching Jane Goodall documentaries and Star Trek, observing bandleaders as the bass player, how Ruby met a man with two first names and how that man became her partner in crime (in music and life), the story behind “Yellow T-Shirt,” 10,000 red dice and the custom shoes to match, quasars, the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, or the one, the magically reappearing Galileo shuttlecraft, Lieutenant Boma, Don Marshall, Gene Roddenberry and race in “The Galileo Seven,” black men playing heroic main characters with complexity who don’t get killed off in the first ten minutes of the episode (a rarity in the 1960s), Don Marshall in Land of the Giants, snarky Spock and sassy McCoy, nobody likes Spock being in charge, utilitarianism, the Trolley Car problem, how do we assign value to human life?, essential vs non-essential, Covid as a magnifying glass, exposing the problems with the way our society prioritizes some lives over others, Spock’s utilitarianism vs. Kodos’ utilitarianism in “Conscience of the King,” old abandoned mining towns, bad snow years and cannibalism, how TV conditions us to care about some characters more than others, how Kirk manages to keep his cool, why they shouldn’t have stopped to look at the dumb quasar, 99 problems but a ditch ain’t one because they obviously teach speed burying at Starfleet, Lucile Ball, her important role in Trek history, and her film, Five Came Back, and the beautiful way that Spock never allows other people to dictate his energy.

Fabian Perez has been working as an artist manager, tour manager, and business manager in the music industry for about a decade. Born and raised in Austin, Texas (Leander), he attended Texas A&M, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets. Since leaving a financial-investment advisory job to get into the music biz, he's worked with many amazing artists and bands, including Delta Spirit, Pedro the Lion, Ruthie Foster, Wild Child, David Ramirez, the Wild Reeds, Mineral, Lo Tom, Israel Nash, Leslie Stevens, Leon III and Grace Pettis (somehow, he manages). In addition to artist management, Fabian's earned his road warrior card tour managing for Ruthie Foster, David Ramirez, Glorietta, Israel Nash, Pedro the Lion, and others. He's worked with a few labels too: Lost Highway Records and Public Hi-Fi (founded by Jim Eno of Spoon). He's smart, organized, creative and hardworking and a good friend. I'm really lucky to get to work with him. If you read this far, you also now know that there's a selfie with a sloth on Fabian's Instagram page. Several artists that Fabian works with have new material coming out soon, including David Ramirez, Delta Spirit, and Wild Child (more info in the notes section for this episode). We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 15, “Shore Leave." Topics include: how long Grace and Fabian have been working together, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets (what even are they?), a pair of boots that cost Fabian ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS, everybody and their mom has Covid, from the street team and the family business to running a label and managing artists and tours, when Fabian stopped wearing suits, working with Ruthie Foster and David Ramirez, why Fabian prefers artist management to tour management, Next Generation and the varsity baseball coach’s daughter, the weird sexual overtones of “Shore Leave,” Theodore Sturgeon and “Amok Time,” pon farr and why can’t Vulcans just masturbate?, echoes of Westworld, they’re in “Omicron Delta” and so are we, echoes of the Holodeck, why is no one imagining a pizza?, the men have very aggressive violent fantasies and the one woman on the planet wants to be princess and/or be brutalized by a fictional character, no one is upset enough when McCoy DIES, no one notices when Angela DIES, Shatner wants to wrestle a tiger, the elephant in the room, Vasquez Park Natural Park Area, why the rocks were spray painted, this whole episode as a drug trip, William Blackburn, the professional ice skater who played the White Rabbit, “a crewman’s rights end where the safety of the ship begins” in the age of Covid, the uncredited Big Bird showgirls, Angela Martine/Teller, following the white rabbit as a metaphor for curiosity and imagination, and why is there a tiger??

Texas native and award-winning Austin songwriter and performer Natalie Price doesn't write, play, or sing like anyone else. She was encouraged by her parents to abandon her dreams of becoming a professional musician and not much in her "strict, religious, less-than-musical household" prepared her for the life she's now living. The result of that background is a sort of otherworldly and somehow also organic voice that's completely her own. Her songs range from the abstract to the deeply intimate. Her latest release, Through the Fog (produced by Brian Douglas Phillips), garnered praise from Texas Music Monthly, who proclaimed her “one of Austin's most dynamic new singer-songwriters." Her music has been featured by NPR and she’s performed in songwriting festivals and contests across the globe, including in Ireland, where we recorded this episode. Natalie's been busy during the pandemic, hosting a weekly talk show on Instagram Live, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch called "20 @ 10 with Nat," working steadily on her highly anticipated sophomore album with producer Mary Bragg, and contributing several songs to a new compilation album, to be released soon by the Austin Music Foundation. We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 14, “Balance of Terror." Topics include: Natalie’s first visit to Ireland, visiting Grace in Ireland, Natalie’s penchant for making interesting and weird friends and her pandemic-era talk show, hot tips and lessons learned from being a podcast/webcast host, Star Trek’s cultural permeation, Spock and Uhura’s uncomfortable bluetooth earbuds, the Captain’s privilege: dramatic lighting, the elaborate hairdos of the future, the myth of Ship’s Captains being able to officiate weddings, Romulans, the Roman foundational myth of Romulus and Remus, space politics in the Star Trek universe, Paul Schneider and battleship films, “Balance of Terror” as another WWII-inspired episode, Stiles and his family history, the younger and older officers on each bridge and their judgement and motivation, bigotry of the future, George Takei’s unique position as the only Japanese-American cast member in this episode, the bigotry and discrimination directed at Asian-Americans following WWII and continuing to today, the problematic “othering” of Japanese people in this episode, the simultaneous work that this episode does to dismantle that “othering” and bigotry in general, a core Star Trek ethic: not that humans are perfect but that humans are growing and getting better at recognizing and defeating their own darkness, the Bird of Prey, McCoy’s weird, convoluted pep talk with Kirk, "Be vewwy quiet! I’m hunting Womulans!", why Romulans don't have windows, why Spock saved Stiles and not Tomlinson, why Kirk is such a great Captain in this episode, and Mark Lenard, the only Star Trek actor to play a Romulan, Vulcan, and Klingon.