A Geek History of Time - Episode 282 - Gabriel Bell Riots Revisited Part III

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Hello geek timers. This is the third and final time that I will tell you this. You are listening to a replay of three episodes. This is the third one. So if this is where you're starting, there are so social contracts. You need to go back and listen to the first two. But if you are listening to this in the proper proper sequence. You would be on episode 77, but it's actually 282. Either way, here's what happened. In October of 2020, Ed and I got together and did a watch along of Deep Space Nine's past tense parts one and two. It was important because it was October of 2020. And just to quickly recap, we had spent the summer protesting police violence against our citizens and non-citizens,

against our people and police brutality. And we dared to say, please stop hurting us. And that didn't go over so well. And so we had to protest more and more and more. The result was, well, I don't know what the result was, but I do know that now homelessness is a bigger problem than it has been in all the years past, according to a number of statistics that I've found.

In terms of gross numbers, it was January of 23 that unhoused populations peaked. I'm not sure if the information on 2024 has come out yet, since we're still in the middle of it. But that's just it. Past tense parts one and two actually took place in September of 2024. You are now listening to those episodes

this September in 2024. We figured it was worth a replay. Confused yet? That's because you shouldn't start with episode 3 of a three-part series. Anyway, this is the last one, then we're back to our regular scheduled stuff. I believe the next episodes coming up will probably be me talking about a comic book character of some sort or something like that, because I usually do, or professional wrestling. Or Ed will talk about some science fiction author whose

name starts with an H and who also joined the Navy because that's that's kind of his bailiwick. Either way, enjoy this last episode of our watch along with past tense, the Gabriel Bell riots. Walt Disney. Yes. Beloved, beloved figure of our of our pop culture. That's how they get you. Yada yada yada. She eventually causes her own husband to be burned to death. And that makes me so happy on cold nights. It especially ended badly for the idiot Pecker Woods. Have a bottle of scotch. Okay, that's twice that he's mentioned redheads. It is un-American to get in the way of our freedom to restrict people's freedom. That was the- Okay. Yeah.

I know plenty about these things. But- I love me some Bobby Drake. Yeah, well if that's all we've got then we're being really lazy. Yeah. Y'all bone. You can literally poke a hole in it as soon as someone gets pneumonia. Well, I'm not as old as you.

Well, haha motherfucker, as old as you. Well, ha ha, motherfucker, I got a wizard. This is a Geek History of Time. Where we connect Nurgery to the real world. My name is Ed Blaylock. I am a world history teacher via virtual learning here in Northern California and part-time an English teacher as well. Coming to you live as I come to my students from my kitchen table where it is currently 79 degrees in my living room when our air conditioner is supposed to be keeping it at 74. So you can imagine how much confidence I have in my air conditioner

at this point. And of course I'm going to place this in time for anybody listening by telling you that this weekend as we record it we are expecting to have temperatures of 110 here in in our part of Northern California. So I have a lovely, lovely sauna-like weekend to look forward to. Who are you, sir? I'm Damian Harmony. I am a distance Latin teacher here in Northern California. My air conditioning does work, so humble brag.

And yet it's still going gonna be hotter than hell but the good news is I'll be stuck inside in yet another negotiation meeting I would like to say that that dates things but but anybody who knows what district you work for would know that it really doesn't really doesn't't. Like I'm like I kind of I kind of want to harness my inner like red from from Shawshank Redemption. I wish I wish I'd like to say that it means that we got our negotiations over with. that we got our negotiations over with but we both know that my district is not not particularly kind to do and so yeah yep so I would I would I would phrase it

as negotiations are endless negotiations are infinite negotiations pure we are unrefined we are on ending we are eternal Yeah So let's let's cheer ourselves up instead Yeah with some science fiction so escapist sci-fi last week no no Last week we watched deep space 9 And we watched episode 11 from season 3 called past tense and I promised that we would watch episode 12 past tense deep space 9 season 3 episode 12

So everyone to get out your Amazon everyone get out your Amazons, get out your Hulus, do what you got to do and it's gonna be season 3 episode 12 part 2 past tense and everyone needs to get that puppy going and get that thing cued up. Now the way we're gonna do it is we're gonna gonna say three, two, one, go. And when I say go, we hit that play button, okay? So get it queued up, make sure you got your, I'm telling you this Ed, make sure you got your closed captioning on.

Everyone else, put us in one ear and listen to it in the other. Yeah. Yup. All right, you ready for this? I'm ready. because put us in one ear and listen to it in the other. Yeah. Yep. All right. You ready for this? I'm ready. All right, so we'll do a test run, right?

So this is the test run. Three, two, one, go. And then you would have pushed it. All right, now for real Zs. Here we go. Three, two, one, go. All right. And you get the recaps.

Yeah. So they went back in time. Yeah. Technobabble, technobabble, technobabble. Technobabble, technobabble. Historical babble. Exposition, exposition, exposition exposition exposition Watershed events of the 21st century. Yes the Gabriel Bell riots. Yes.

I know in the midst of everything else we're talking about this is going to sound really shallow, because it really is really shallow. But Jedzia really cleans up really well. Yes. She is a beauty Yeah, it's like holy cow. All right All right, and so yeah, we see yeah the riots and firing shotgun shell in the air and kid rock. Yeah I'm just gonna call it that for the rest of the time might as well

Right down to the fucking hat like yeah, and and the scruffy Knot beard and the long ass hair Yeah, yep, and now the conclusion. You know yeah, I know Moving on all right You're looking at So yeah, he's named himself as Gabriel Bell they have hostages who are cops who've been roughed up. Yeah and the social worker Now you've not seen this in a long time, so let's do the over-under on

Anybody being killed in this specifically who and Yeah, and by him, okay, I'm going to say Kidrock I'm gonna give you Let's see what I'm gonna say I'm gonna say three to two odds Kid Rock winds up smoking one of the cops okay, I'm gonna give you About the same odds that he's responsible for murdering the

Social worker and Oh, hey, it's that guy here is about is about to get oh no, okay? He's getting he's getting saved All right, so yeah, I think I think yeah kid rock basically has a has a He's got Chekhov's gun. Yeah, he's got a he's got a three to two odds of Killing somebody it is it is in fact Chekhov's gun although the handgun that Cisco just took from you know hey It's that guy Might might just actually be Chekhov's gun here since since I'm since I'm new to rewatching this this episode Now you know it's interesting to me that for us as the viewer in now the 21st century when this came out in the late 20th century there there was inevitably going to be racial coding

about you know looking at you know who's pointing a gun at whom right yeah, but there's no there there Although there's you know very serious you know class distinctions going on here, and there is kind of subliminal racial stuff going on Nobody is Mm-hmm Nobody is Nobody's mentioning it at all so even in this in this very clearly really intensely dystopian future it's a

Raceless Seemingly on the surface colorblind dystopian future mm-hmm which which is which is still very rotten barian yep okay and so that was our cold open yes and here is our you know it's called a cold open by the way this is a thing I don't know it's okay if you don't either we can always just well no it, no, it has to do with the idea that the opening credits, it kind of treats that phrase, treats the opening credits as kind of the warm-up to get you into, okay, this is who we all are, this is what we're all doing, you know, this is our show. Like right here we have, you know, the titles coming up, and so if the show opened with the the titles like that

It wouldn't be a cold open, but in this case It's okay, and you're coming from whatever ad you're coming to straight into the show okay, and so it's a cold open Which is kind of a a sibling trope to zero to corpse sibling trope to zero to corpse which is from you know like law and order and other you know police procedurals where it's you know you go from you know it's it's almost always a cold open and the cold open ends with the the finding of the dead body that's gonna be the the motive you know the MacGuffin for the whole plot of the episode. Now, interestingly, Star Trek, usually your cold open gets you to touch the A story, but usually it's you're following the B or the C story, or you're just kind of developing

something that will show up thematically through the season. It's very rarely like, here's the big story, But in a two-parter your cold opens can end up probably telling you here's everything that you need to know yeah, well because and And this may or may not this may or may not have actually been cold open simply because we had the you know last time On deep space nine. I don't know if that obviates it being a cold open or if it's just in midi arrests or what? Right. All right. So we know National Guard State Governor District is secured. Here we go. Filtering out of the district for weeks. Oh, by the way, Clint Howard's in this one. Oh By the way clinton howards in this one. Okay. All right. It's kind of a fun little fact So, a reasonable guy that they met before who wants to organize, they're sending him

out to organize and they're giving him kind of his purpose in all of this and he's actually very cooperative and heading the right way. Yeah. Now here's a funny thing, and our audience might not know this, but it's just kind of interesting that when you have people talking to each other, the closed captioning is all in caps, but when you're watching something, hearing a recording or hearing a video,

everything is Standard like not just all normal normal normal typeface. I just I always found to be kind of nice. Yeah, I Do like that connection Yeah, he's and again, he's a gradualist. This is not a problem I have to deal with, so we can find out stuff later. And she's like, no, I've got friends who could get killed. Yeah. It's an interesting point of bringing up the idea of privilege without actually pointing out privilege. Well, also, he's friends with the police because he's, you know, and he's a guy that would have no reason to deal with the police, too, because he's rich.

So, yeah. But yeah. Yada yada yada yada yada. Techno babble, techno babble, techno babble. Yada yada yada yada yada technobabble technobabble technobabble Bit of business with a tablet babble babble babble babble Rodeo out there shown wah Doing his his usual very good. I'm deeply impatient like you know figure this the hell out Why are you all so dim yep? She broke her nose

They're camouflaging her her alien features with a with a breather a strip. That's that's Wow easy okay, maybe you better say nothing. I'll do the talking right Right cuz here we go back to period in the past. We're not 100% certain. Have they said when they're going to? No, that's the fun part of these little vignettes. So they went to the 30s. Well, great. Recisional, extra-stating charge. So this is them unsuccessfully looking for Sisko and Bashir. Again, let's get them into the film or into the episode. Let's get them doing something that's visually appealing. But this is the B story. We'll need them at the end when they rescue them.

Yeah, and it's an empty street. Right. And so you can see a boxing advertisement there. You can see the fur coat. You can see very rich people. It is the 30s. Yeah. Coming out of it, undoubtedly coming out of Speakeasy.

Yep. Told you not to say anything. Yeah. to speak easy. I told you not to say anything. Yeah and I do have to say the set design here is very well done. The sense that you get of you know stress over work, everything else is remarkable. And you know, looking closely at Kid Rock's costuming here, I think he's actually wearing a hat that I own. Only mine's in much better shape, because mine hasn't been abused by a costume designer

to make it look like it's being worn by a hobo Right. I want to point out. It's not a cheap hat I'm sure there's cheap versions of it though. Yeah, okay could be but it Yeah, here's where you you start to see the difference in approaches to what's going on. He is very much caring only about himself. Cisco cares about the future and can't tell anyone about it. And um. Flynn was born in Tasmania.

And then the other guy cares about the overall community so yeah Let them get their own hostages Yeah And And this is him knowing what's going to happen and using it to inspire people. Yeah. Now I'll log on to the interface because they have the internet. Because they had the internet. It was nascent as hell and so this is Projecting forward what it would have been He's got the face, he's got the family, he's the guy next door.

Yeah, he was in Life Goes On for the last three years. Like from 89 to 93 he did Life Goes On. Yeah, that's true. So, you have a data link. I mean, again, you know, they're generalizing and they're trying to figure it out and what have you. Yeah. But, you know, again, I like the detail that they put into this place. You have really good overhead lighting, but it's kind of terrible and you've got even a camera in the upper corner there yeah so oh check your email buddy Wow edgy you people yeah the over under on

Vin getting out of here is Good well, okay, it's not but think narratively by the way, that's like the chief of police That's trying to negotiate with them in front of an army truck. Yeah, which I kind of like it talks about the militarization of the police Yeah but What do you call it if you if you have him who is an unrestrained bigot, I think he's gonna live because, narratively, you need someone to have changed. To show that if I can change, you can change, we all can change. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can change. We all can change. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we are, just so people know, we are at the 16 minute, 5, 6, 7 second mark. The social worker has just been, you know, roughed up. manhandled by Kid Rock in front of the terminal here. Because again, nobody imagined mobile devices in you know 1995 correct the Long run yep Yeah Just for the record the head looks a hell of a lot better the first way because right now He looks like a complete fucking moron, but anyway

Sorry, no worries Like he hands the gun to the doctor by the way. Yeah Yeah, I would also point out though that your chief of police is She presents I would say Hispanic Yeah, I could I can see that definitely. Yeah. So Okay. Now, ideologically, what's going on there? We don't deserve to be locked up. I get that. But very much like we want to work, we want a chance to do such and such and so and so.

By the way, you're going gonna tell the governor for us, which in 2024 may or may not be Gavin Newsom. But I would like to, there's something about that ideology of like, all we want is a chance. I don't know what I would call that. It feels a little Booker T. Washington-esque. It's Booker T., it's Protestant work ethic.

It is that, okay. You know, it's the dignity of being able to have a job. The, you know, all of the, I mean, it's still capitalism. The thing is You know Roddenberry designed a socialist utopia But but in the writing that we have here. They're fighting to try to you know get The the right in a capitalist society to work Which which is actually Marxist at its core because capitalism is the last stage before you can get to the utopia That is a good point. Yeah, according according Marxist theory, right?

Got a little trouble Didn't when you put his real name on a computer Okay, so she's she's now kind of dangerous to the timeline Because she's spotted, you kind of dangerous to the timeline Because she's spotted you know difference in the name there Okay mother not being able to take care of her child And just kind of appealing to the humanity. And then now you see how social workers get ground down to just pushing papers. Yep. Yep.

Done my job. Yeah. You get these little monologues that would absolutely work as audition pieces? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, they'd be great for that. And they kind of come. They sound like they're out of Stiegel's work.

Stiegel? Siegel? Anyway, yeah. No, they're they're they're you know slice of life Working, you know kind of kind of inner inner monologue kind of stuff sure No My the only one picturing Vin having a Trump sticker on his truck Like

You know calling all losers he's the one one to be the big hero getting up right, you know I Think this guy might also be trying to look and say I'm like art Carney Honey, you know what with the the hat and everything I would I would say that there probably is something to that. Oh Yeah, you're not you're not helping yourself here kiddo just just shut up and let your Let your fellow revolutionary, you know or blood let one of the revolutionaries, you know

Save your stupid cut and pickin life Again just a Again, just sheer hostility of the system. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, good point. It was a great Cisco moment here. Yes. Again, Cisco understands what's at stake here completely. And he's trying to talk some sense into the guy and this is just some fantastic acting on his part because you see his face break just a little bit there yeah yeah around his eyes yeah and and corners of his mouth

and and the breathing he's doing right here. Mm-hmm. He's clearly yeah The way he closed his mouth there. I got up. I got to keep it together Yep, but I really want to just like completely freak out serious moment. Let me up moment Yeah And we can't hear it but there I think they're playing Jimi Hendrix there. Uh... Yeah. Yeah. That would... that would... that would suit.

Yeah. I love the... I love the flashing light coming out of the window behind him. And... and... Oh dear. Pfft. Wow. Yup. Like... like did... did... Doing all this good writing and then you did this.

And then, and then, and then, and then this is our portrait of SF in the 60s. This is supposed to be Hayd Ashberry. Something like that, yeah. Like, you know, like I could, I could tell you. Wow. English muffins are still a thing Well you know You need to get breakfast for 10,000 people. Oh, yeah, you know relatively utilitarian way of getting it done Kind of makes me want one tomorrow Not gonna lie me too not gonna lie me too yeah I'm doing oh no if they if they kill the kid I'm gonna be pissed

not even lying I'm gonna be so mad yeah well the cost of this revolution yeah so sorry kind of don't care if they kill the kid. I'm gonna be pissed. Ha ha ha. I'm just saying narratively. Oh yeah, well yeah. Luke and Jenna was left at the clinic. Okay.

Oh yeah, Vin thinking he's being all scheming like yeah, yeah see his family look you gotta let him go you gotta let us all go Yeah, how about you you know recognize? That like you're keeping a whole bunch of innocent people fucking prisoner Well more importantly than than his so he's like kind of manipulating, but you know what? The cops there are switching places in some ways Then has shown Shreds of humanity this guy is kind of hardening up because it's affecting him personally now before he was sympathetic and now he Now he's hardening because he's thinking more about himself.

Yeah. And I love the I just want to get home. It's like, yeah, so do I. Yeah. That that does sound nice Yeah form a committee and he immediately goes to you're telling us nothing is gonna change but But The governor is not going to let the situation continue forever We're gonna roll the trucks in and you know start shooting people right? Feels a little um

Portland II doesn't it a little bit yeah for those of us watching this you know in this time and place yeah yeah Yeah Also, I'm getting kind of a Les Miserables vibe too. Oh, yeah her haircut helps, too Yeah, well her haircut and her whole outfit don't don't hurt. Yeah No, I mean gives that Les Mis feel like she's the boy ghost collecting the bullets no yeah a little bit oh no it's gonna be trouble cuz here she is oh my god speaking of that guy that's Clint Howard that's yeah okay so fun fact this is just for like you know hey there's some people who have worse mental issues. And I'll come back to him when we see him again.

So now they're trying to. Hack the net. Yeah, yeah. And now we finally get everybody reunited. Thank God. I really would watch her smear him all over the floor. Yeah, I know. But instead... Totally disappoints him. I feel like during the filming of this, Vin's hair got dyed because he's old. I doubt that it did, but it just in that scene it looked like it

yeah yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Little bit of a comedic moment. Yep. Yep. Yep. So now we've got the plan. Yeah. So now we've got the plan. And he knows that he has to see it through to the end because no Gabriel Bell means no everything. No, no timeline.

And we know that there's no timeline. They don't know that yet. But we definitely know. Yeah. And and Bashir coming out of his fuckboyness to Offer to be one of the ones to stay behind. Yep And this is how they get the net access here we go Because you know privilege yeah thing Privilege has its perks

Takes him persuading but I think I think this is where we get to see Clint Howard again Yeah, probably since he was you know loping behind her Forehand he would be one of the ones who took her com badge exactly I'm trying to remember what happened to Cisco and Bashir's com badges in the first place. Never explained. Never explained. Okay. Yeah, they just existed without them. Yep, Clint Howard. Okay, so Clint Howard is Ron Howard's little brother. He shows up in every movie

Ron Howard directs. Maybe it's his older brother. I don't remember. But he was also in one of the first episodes of Star Trek where they run into a child who is actually an adult. And he's about three or four years old and they dubbed over his voice. And he basically just wanted people to come play with him on his ship. Yep, I remember that. And... I gotta say...

Mm-hmm? This is gonna be awful, but, um... I mean, now that you point out that he is Ron Howard's brother, I can definitely see the family resemblance. Mm-hmm. And... In a family where Ron Howard is the pretty one, that's... Yep. Kinda saying something. Yeah, don't want to be like I know that's not Kind of me

Yeah, I just recently watched Far and Away, and Clint Howard is in that too. Really? Yeah, he's the guy that runs the chicken processing plant. Alright. Yeah. Alright, back down the manhole we go Let me see if I understand what you're asking me to do here's some more exposition They're acting like criminals. They have guns. They're taking hostages.

So the power of the media. So here's something that they got right. They just didn't get it in the right way. We all have our individual phones to do this now. You've got Zebra Productions to do this now. This was, this is a conglomerate and he's going to make use of all of the interfaces, which is essentially very similar. It's just ours are wireless and pocket-held

And he's doing it for the sake of ratings where as other people are doing it to raise awareness, but Regardless you do have people Publicizing an event and making it so everyone has to confront it and cannot Can't wait away. Yeah Yeah Elimin it. Can't look away. Yeah. Yeah. Eliminates their ability to look away. Yeah. Well, you'd be surprised.

Well, we're not surprised. We're living it. But it's surprising how much people do look away. Oh, well, yeah. The capacity of people to look away is continually disappointing. Oh, and other sanctuaries, they're starting to have disturbances, so kind of nationwide. And now she's being ordered to storm the building, I think, because you don't want these things rising up and people to pay attention.

Yeah. Which- The moment media attention starts happening, gets. Now, saying the governor's doing it instead of the president's doing it, because, you know, it makes sense. You're in city, you'd talk to the governor. And also saying that the president's doing it, it would be ridiculous to assume that the president would send in troops to a city to put down protests. But we have a history of governors doing that and of

mayors doing that, say Chicago 1968. Yeah and well and we actually have presidents ordering it in the case of the bonus riots. Yeah that's a good point. but that was in DC proper though. So in some, you know, that's in his backyard. Well, yeah, granted, but you get what I'm saying. Yeah, that's a really good question for it. You know, the whiskey rebellion for fuck's sake. Like, you know, I mean. But was it the governor or the president that ordered the putting down of the New York riots. I think that was the governor. Probably treasured by the president. Yeah, I'm sure.

I'm sure the president was, you know, on the telegraph, you know, making the telegraph wires pretty hot, but it was probably a governor decision. Yeah. All right, now they finally found it. They found Dax. All right, Keira Dax. Dax, do you hear me? Ah, I know where that is. Yeah. Yeah, plenty of people do. It's a recognizable

Recognizable landmark. It looks nothing like that by the way. Yeah, no, it's... Looks nothing like that. Actually, a friend of the show, Derek, is a San Francisco denizen. So he might also like knowing that reference of Polk in California. He could probably tell us where some like really good food is around there They're talking baseball by the way This timeline The Kings I believe played for London. So baseball has become multinational. Has become global, yeah.

Which is interesting. Yeah, well, baseball is one of Cisco's passions as a kid and 20 years things. And he really follows Buck, I forget Buck's last name. Okay. But Buck. Just got mentioned. What's that?

It just got mentioned, Buck Bokai. Oh yeah, yeah, Bokai, who is the greatest baseball player ever, so it's a Japanese player playing for a team in England. But they had previously mentioned that Europe had fallen apart. Yeah. So, it's kind of interesting that they'd still have baseball there. Well, keep in mind that the person who said Europe is falling apart was an American tourist. True. That you know the person who said you know Europe is falling apart was an American tourist true and in

Conversation with the group of other hoity-toity you know people talking Yeah, you know so statements like that get made oh here you go conversationally Oh, you're sending the Sun home shit shit now the Sun is wearing the same hat as this guy now oh no Now he wouldn't have cocked that long long ago. Yeah, well, you know, as a gun nut, stuff like that happens all the time. You just learn to ignore it. Yeah.

But yeah. It's the way of saying I'm ready now. Yeah, it's, again, it's a visual mechanical shorthand. But yeah. It's the way of saying I'm ready now. Yeah. Again, it's a visual mechanical shorthand for that. I get it. When we talk about, oh, I was writing this email, people's hands will look like they were writing an email. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, oh. Oh. Wow. Yeah. This is remarkably graphic for a Star Trek episode. Yep.

I like that. The state police come in and fuck it up, where the local police have not it's a problem yeah or pacify the building yeah yeah pacify yeah did a great job I also would point out that the police are remarkably unarmored. They definitely got that wrong. Police nowadays are just insanely armored. Yeah, they're heavily armored. insanely armored Yeah, they're heavily armored yeah

You know like carrier plate stop at 223 around armored Well okay when they're doing something like this they're very heavily armored rest of the time not as much all right so a bunch of people been hurt which people been injured um bz no BC no BD BD hat dude looks like a hobo yeah he's been shot dead web has been shot dead the dad from life goes on. The son is still alive. So far. Yeah, episode ain't over yet. Oh, trust. Look at that. How could

we have let this happen? Ah. And this is how we can still have a Gabriel Bell who died in the Bell Riots. Oh, cantankerous guy would have been cantankerous anyway. Yeah. Yeah, narratively, all right. Yeah. Now, it turns out the timeline's been restored because Gabriel Bell did die. Okay. What I like also about this ship is the quarters there's bunks

Yeah, it's not a yacht actually. Yeah, it actually looks like a real. Yeah military vessel I'm not looking forward to explaining this to Starfleet Command. At least it's a good picture. Yeah about that temporal displacement policy. Oh here's the moral lesson at the end. Well you see to me. That's a good question. How could they have gotten things to get so bad, everyone? Yeah.

Some anvils need to be dropped. Yeah. All right. Yeah. So, there you go. So, good escapist science fiction. Totally not tied to what's going on now. Pure fluff.

Yeah. Pure fluff. I can always count on Star Trek to just take me out of the reality I'm dealing with. Take you out of whatever stressful social justice situation you find yourself in. Except there was that one episode of the next generation that was very preachy where Picard becomes Robin Hood I just felt it was very heavy-handed it was

very clearly a reference to triangle sure yeah I mean yeah it does it does Nicely done. Nicely done. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, yeah. It does have its episodes of you're kidding, right? Right. But yeah. You mean like where Crusher fucks an Irish ghost? Oh lord. Yeah. And that shit happened

I think in the seventh season. There's no excuse. Oh yeah, no. There was's no excuse. Oh, yeah No, there was absolutely no excuse for it or You know any of the any of the clip episodes in any any seer in any any season? Oh see I'll give them that because that tells me they ran low on their budget for the other ones and So they they didn't have the budget for a good episode, so they just put together a bunch of clips. Yeah, well I know, but I'm just saying, as storytelling goes, those are ones that you're like,

oh, okay, it's gonna be one of these. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. That's that. Yeah, I gotta say I'm a little

Disappointed in And I mean it's an artifact of it having been the 90s, but I'm a little I'm a little disappointed in DAX Not having I mean, it's an artifact of it having been the 90s, but I'm a little I'm a little disappointed in Dax Not having more to do If you know what I mean, yeah, I Mean her her the role she plays is important, but it's it's very clearly Not a co-a plot. it's very clearly a B plot. And, you know, I mean, we're talking about, you know, a great character.

Again, there really weren't any, well, okay, I won't say there weren't any, but there were very few weak characters on the show. And there were no, even when a character wasn't all that great the person portraying them The actors were all Amazing I mean they just had a great cast. Oh, yeah, and and I feel any of the times that they leave any of these folks without enough to do I Just feel kind of robbed right now like if you if you have an episode

and and and as you pointed out at the beginning of part one you know they've shoehorned the whole the whole ops team onto the bridge of the defiant mm-hmm like why is everybody there like I feel like it would have been a better choice to just be like okay no look no, look, they're going to Earth. These are the characters that we're going to see. They're going to be here. And like, let everybody else have a life on screen that we don't have to know about every minute of every episode. Yeah. You know, and just just let the audience realize, OK, we're going to be focusing on these characters for this couple of episodes like there we go

you know and Yeah, yeah, I don't know I mean I get I get narratively why they why they had to have Kira and O'Brien you know doing the vignettesettes in the different decades of the 20th century. Chasing them down. Chasing them down. I understand why they had to do that.

It feels clunky, but it might have kind of been unavoidable. Right. You know, to bring the whole plot together and explain how the heck it is they made it back without it looking like a Deus Ex Machina. You know, you've got to show your work or it winds up looking like God from the machine, which I understand, but I don't know, still feels kind of clunky. But yeah, I mean, by and large, it's a great couple of episodes of TV and as as

Anvils being dropped by a Star Trek show goes It's very well done. Mm-hmm, you know and and I give a lot of credit to the writers for DS9 When they did this kind of over no, no, we're making a statement kind of thing they they did this kind of overt, no, no, we're making a statement, kind of thing. They did it, I think, with more finesse than Roddenberry ever did. Oh, yeah. You know, and I know there is a faction or a sect of Star Trek fandom that,

saying anything like that about Roddenberry is heretical But he had a great many strengths Subtlety was never one of them right and and I mean there are some things that just don't need to be subtle I totally get that but You know him him and Rod Serling could compete with each other over my sledgehammer is bigger. No sledgehammer is bigger and mine is made out of neutronium like Dude and and they managed to make the point here In a way that never feels contrived like well, but it's obvious. Can't you see?

feels contrived like well, but it's obvious can't you see he's black on the left side of his face and white on the right and I'm white on the left side of my face and black and let like dude Yeah, you know like like I get that it and that it that was a I think any treatment of that issue in the original Star Trek in the time that it was happening would need to be pointed like that but like, you know, maybe not quite delivered with the same level of Obtuse-ness I Don't know how else to say I'm fisted ham. Yeah. There you go. It's it was yeah, and and I think I think here

all of those beats all of those moments of You know, oh, hey, we're making a statement. I think managed to stay very true to the characters and to the To the to the arc in the milieu In which they were existing all all of the characters in the past even though they're they're very briefly sketched because we only have two episodes to get to know them they you know they're they're characters you know they have they they have they have some level of a personality have some level of a personality, they have some level of a backstory, and everything

they do manages to be clearly motivated by that, you know, by who they are within that world that they inhabit. And I just, yeah, that's, if you want to make a story resonate, I think it's easier to make a story resonate when you're able to keep it grounded in character that way. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I don't really have that much to add. I did a lot of the research upfront on it. I think that it's scary how prescient it is because these were problems that they saw

as a problem in 1994, and here we are damn near 30 years later, and we're still running into the same problems. And so it's not so much they predicted the future as they called out what was happening in the past and we haven't fixed it. Yeah. Which is those very last two lines. How did this happen? And how can we prevent this from happening again?

And as you mentioned in the last episode, in the first episode of the show, Bashir's line is very pointed about, if we ever get desperate enough, are we going to be true to our principles? Yeah. I think it's one of those moments like, oh, wow, just add us, why don't you?

No kidding? Holy crap 2001 called and they said oops Yeah, you know and and One of the things that that kind of struck me About the description of how the Roddenberry verse earth of 2024 got the way it did Feels again, I'm gonna say almost naive, is Cisco said, well, the problems just felt insurmountable and they just, they gave up.

And the thing is, and we've had this conversation with other people on Facebook talking specifically about homelessness and this was Kind of interestingly we had this because we had this conversation earlier today That You know, we know that, you know mental health Care is is if we if we were able to figure out how to how to fund mental health care community community-based mental

health support and care for people who in this show were dims, if we could figure out how to help people in a community way. And we actually know how to do it. We just haven't put the money there. If we put the money toward doing that, if we put if we put the money to word toward doing that we prioritized that and If we just said okay, no look If you are homeless Here is a tiny house, you know

600 square foot tiny house on a plot. Here you go and we're gonna house you we're gonna give you an address and on a plot here you go and we're gonna house you we're gonna give you an address and like studies of shit like the fins and I hate giving the fins credit for anything because I Hope it's one of my few prejudices because my ex-wife was a fin but you know like the fins figured out how to solve it like no you give them a house and Most of them who can are gonna go back to work and the ones who can't are the ones that you need to be giving the addiction support to the right health support to the other whatever whatever else it is they've got going on if they're cognitively impaired or whatever they you know

Like they're the ones that you need to be providing services to and you know what that gets a shitload easier If you just give them a place to fucking live. Yep What that gets a shitload easier if you just give them a place to fucking live. Yep Absolutely, but but here's the thing we we we know that anybody who reads Studies and reads what the fins did and reads how the stuff works We know that the problem is that there is this faction within our society And again this gets back to hey all we want is we want to get out of here and we want to get jobs the problem is we have this idea of the deserving poor as opposed to the undeserving poor and there are people who are so stuck on this idea of whether somebody is deserving or

undeserving that they're not willing to solve the problem for the people who do deserve it right because god forbid some lazy fucker just you know gets a free house like okay which is funny because when you're rich yeah that's completely acceptable yeah yeah well because and and now I'm gonna put on my my pointy pointy-headed Religion nerd hat You know that that all comes down to again It's related to the Protestant work ethic the idea of predestination and well, you know if you're wealthy Then that's a sign that God loves you You know because you're either gonna go to heaven or you're wealthy, then that's a sign that God loves you.

You know, because you're either going to go to heaven or you're not, and there's no way for you to know. But we all need to know whether we're going to go to heaven or not. And so if you're successful, it means you're more likely to be predestined. You're you're one of the elect, you're more likely to be one of the elect, which is where prosperity gospel comes from. one of the elect you're more likely to be one of the elect which is where prosperity gospel comes from I mean it's it's bullshit speaking of course as a Catholic but like if you read the fucking Bible and if you stick to what Christ actually says if you're following Christ that's not how it works but through multiple generations of Protestant fuckery And I say that with with the greatest respect for you know, my practicing Protestant friends I don't mean you but you know when you when you look at the

doctrines that developed over time out of that you get the Puritans and you get this literally this idea of Success being a sign of God's earthly favor. And you know, God wants you to be wealthy. You just have to do the right things and make God happy and you'll be you'll you'll you'll be good in this life, which is an unchristian idea. Like that's that's antithetical to the idea of what you're supposed to be trying to do as a Christian if you're a Christian You should be st. Francis of Assisi, which is to say I don't own anything You know everything everything I have I'm giving over to those who are less fortunate than me

I'm I'm working, you know, my motive is to is is other people You know and anyway I'm working, you know, my motive is to, is other people. You know, and anyway, so, you know, this episode, unfortunately, you know, because you mentioned, you know, I don't know what to call this thing of, you know, we just want jobs, and what it is, is it's this Protestant work ethic,

this idea that there are deserving poor, and there are deserving poor and they're undeserving poor right and and this episode I think is naive in that we don't ever see anybody go like well you know we can't you know nobody ever says we can't eliminate the the the sanctuaries and and reinstitute employment and do all this we can't do any of that because you know like they don't deserve it right They're gonna game the system. You know they're not they're not they're not really gonna look for jobs They're gonna. They're gonna try to get you know booze and drugs or well. They had a name for me. Those are gimmies

Yeah, people looking for free handouts Yeah, yeah, there were g were gimmies and there were ghosts. Ghosts are the ones who are essentially criminals. They've given up. They're now not even the underbelly. And then there are dims, people who can't help it. So gimmies are greedy. Ghosts are predacious or predatory.

And dims can't help it. But none of them deserve it. And that's really the thing. See, what gets me about the whole thing is that, like he said it in the beginning, he's like, it's not that they don't care, it's that they've given up trying to fix it. And that feels very much like what you're talking about.

It's not that society has stopped caring because people care from about 8 o'clock till 11 o'clock every Sunday but they have kind of given up and and I think a society where predestination exists might or as a theme or as a cultural holdover might give itself more over to that. But I also think that shit's hard, man. And when people have been breaking this system for the last 60 years, 50 years, and at that time it was an imperfect system. It was a system that needed to be torn down a bit and reformed, and instead of reforming it, people were like, nope, let's just break it down because deserve

versus not. I think that what they're saying is clearly an outcropping of that. You know and and part of you know the whole the whole idea of Dems and And we have you know Multiple characters showing up who are some kind of law enforcement in you know uniforms with with weapons. Yeah identified by such yeah goes goes back to Another conversation we had outside of the show where in the 70s, public institutions for mental health were defunded and abolished. And they needed, like you said,

parts of that system needed to be torn down. Like you said, parts of that system needed to be torn down. And they were. But what was supposed to happen was that money was supposed to go into, as I mentioned before, community-based mental health. And instead, it wound up going to more cops. It wound up going to training cops to operate the way the Army was operating in Vietnam with, you

know, cruisers and long-distance patrols, whereas in Vietnam they were using helicopters. Right. You know, and separating them further from the community, which then winds up rolling over into what these episodes didn't touch on because it's Roddenberry's future, which is the idea that in our real world, there's a really, really powerful racial component to all of this. And we get a little bit of that from Cisco.

We get a little bit of that from from Cisco. We'll get a little bit of that. I think we get that visually and we get that kind of sub rosa, but we don't get that overtly stated in any way. But you like you said, and like I'd said, like look at who gets put where, look at the casting from the different scenes and what have you. So yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, if anything in the last, geez, since camera phones have been a thing, has shown us, it's that that is absolutely 100% a true thing that's

happened for a long, long time in this country and continues to happen. I mean, we are, I think, a week removed from the shooting in Kenosha. And that was after three months of demonstrations and protests about what happened one state over in in Minneapolis So clearly there's a racial component to it Yeah, yeah, and a caprice toward black folks and toward Toward their bodies and their lives that there does not exist for white folks. Yeah, so and

and for white folks. Yeah. And again, how did we let it get there? Well, some people would point out that it's always been that way. We've just been hitting this news button. And somebody would point out that absolutely it's gotten here because people, it's not that they don't care, it's that they gave up. And yeah, I don't have any solutions. Unfortunately, Star Trek doesn't tell us how we're going to get to getting to replicate whatever we want. For food. That would be

neat. But it wouldn't suck. Yeah, but it does say we have to go through something called the eugenics war first. So that's That's that doesn't sound good awful. Yeah, that's that really I don't like that. Yeah But anyway, so all right, what you're reading anything Well, I'm again going to as I did a couple of episodes ago I'm gonna plug the Flying Tigers by Sam Kleiner which is the the story of the pilots who fought against the Japanese in China even before our entry into World War two which even at the time was being turned into movie myth-making John Wayne of course made the famous film the flying Tigers

Which is actually a pretty good war movie I gotta say And I mean it suffers from being a relic of the 40s, but sure you know So yeah, I'm gonna recommend that it's a very good read and a really Remarkable story out of history. Nice. How about you? I'm gonna recommend another TV show this week Now I am looking for an escape every once in a while probably because I've spent More than 40 hours this week just negotiating with my district. So I would like to say that that's time stamping this episode too, but we will see.

So I'm going to say watch Letter Kenny. I've mentioned it before. I watched a few more episodes again. Got another buddy of mine into it It just oh my god, so clever such wonderful writing Escapes a lot of what you got going on in your world and and Just tells a fun little story about a few people in a place and it's's nice. You get to see some cool character arcs in it too. So, yeah.

All right, I have been meaning to check it out. I need to actually take the time and sit down and really watch it. So yeah. Now, is that Amazon or is that? Hulu. I found it on Hulu. I forget what studio makes it.

You could probably find their own streaming service. Everybody has one. But get your wife to sit down with you and watch it. But turn on the subtitles. Well, you're gonna do that anyway, because you're a parent. But turn on subtitles, because you absolutely need subtitles for it,

because they're Canadians. Okay. Yeah. Sounds good. Where can we find you on social medias? All right, so on the social medias Speaking of letter Kenny squirrely Dan, I can be found on on the tik toks at EH Blaylock And on Twitter on the Twitter machine at the same address EH Blaylock And on Twitter on the Twitter machine at the same address eh Blaylock On Instagram I am at mr. Blaylock mr. Blaylock And as I always point out We can collectively be found on Twitter as

geek history time and Where can you be found? Oh, there's one last place. You can always find me in a beer garden when one is open Socially distancing now, of course, but you know, it's a good place to look if you're trying to find where I am Where can you be found? Oh, it's funny too because you mentioned the beer garden when I was in Berlin two years ago For only three days. There's a whole group of teachers Yeah gotten an argument with one of them in the Topography of terror museum which used to be the old SS headquarters Okay, I got to tell that story sometime

but after that night where I took the really radical stance of attacking Nazis is acceptable. Yeah. You communist, you know. You know? Well, really it's because I was doing, I was advocating violence and that's just as bad as advocating genocide apparently because yeah, it was, oof. So they all went to yet another beer garden. Like third day in, they went to a beer garden,

I went and found a comedy club and performed at it. Yeah, well, we all have our different unhealthy coping mechanisms. Exactly, so I just talk into a microphone and insist that people listen for eight minutes at a time. But anyway, social media wise you can find me at Duh Harmony on the Twitter and on the Insta. Duh Harmony has two H's in it. You can also find me every Tuesday night at 8 30 at You can also find me every Tuesday night at 8.30 at twitch.tv forward slash capital puns. And you'll see my unhealthy coping habits there too because I'll be punning.

So that's that's about it. So for a Geek History of Time, I'm Damian Harmony. And I'm Ed Blaylock. And may you all live long and prosper.