Yet Another Star Trek Podcast - Ep 003: (TOS S01E01) The Man Trap

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

In this episode the gang reviews the first episode of Star Trek to ever air, "The Man Trap". Majeed takes point in leading this away mission to review the episode. Between the lack of salt and suction cup monster, this episode is a trap! What did you think of "The Man Trap"? Drop us an email at [e-mail] and we'll discuss it on the air! Be sure to check out our website, social media, and join our Discord! Links for all are listed below: Website | Discord | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok| YouTube “Warp Speed” and "To the Stars" was written and performed by William Grobbelaar Music. Check out his Soundcloud for more music: https://soundcloud.com/williamgrobbelaarmusic

Hi everyone, welcome back to yet another Star Trek podcast. I'm a Jeep, but you can call me the Pebble. I'm joined by my very good friends. To my rights and a different state, we have Brad Prime, who is the number two Lego builder in his households. Brad, how you doing, buddy? Should I call you Mr. Pebble? Or is it, is a little Pebble? Just the Pebble, or is it, is a little Pebble? Just the Pebble, please. The Pebble, okay, so is this, I'm guessing this is a playoff

of like your idol, the rock, but let's be honest. Like, you can't compete in that category, buddy. You got to start working out a lot more in those arms, everybody. That's Strike II, Brad. You got your first strike. You got your first strike when we weren't recording. As my room wants to know that, Brad's on a second strike.

Two demerits down. I expect nonetheless for myself. If I don't, Lee is a get a few deductions in episode, then it's not worth it. Right. What do you do it? We are also joined by Drew, who was honorably discharged from section 31 and now pursues his dreams of building model space ships in a bottle. Hi, Drew. Ships in a bottle. It's great fun.

How's it going? It's going good, man. It's going good. I am very happy to be here today. This is our third episode. Yeah. And no one has heard any of it. Yes, yeah. But we can do the whole Netflix thing. It's going to drop everything at once.

It's a season. There's a season. Boom. Yeah. 26 episodes episodes done. So, right, this is exciting. Big Benjit, man, they can binge it and just absorb it, right? Or they can subscribe quicker than anyway.

Yeah, no. Right, I don't even have negative subscribers. I don't know. So right, this is pretty exciting. This is our third episode of our podcast and our second episode of the show overall. This week we watched Season 1 episode 1 titled The Mantra, not to be confused with that trip club in Tijuana, that Brad took me to. This episode is actually the pilot episode of the show that aired on September 6, 1966. I'm trusting both of you guys watched the episode. I caught a little bit of it.

Okay, all right. So in case you didn't, let's go through a little synopsis. The USS Enterprise arrives at planets M113 to deliver supplies to Dr. Robert Carter and his wife Nancy, whom Dr. Leonard McCoy was romantically involved with about 12 years ago. The craters have been on M1134 approximately five years Crater tells Kurt that the only thing they need are salt tablets and wishes to be left alone Kurt being a hero he is Insist, they must need other supplies and must at least allow Dr. McCoy to give them physicals check them out

While ten to Dr. Crater. Sorry Carter. Is a crater or a Carter? It's crater. Um, yeah, I think it's crater. I wrote this down. I should look at my notes. I did too. And I wrote down Dr. Crater and Dr. Crater, like Omora. Anyway, while Tending to Dr. Crater, Crue and Darnell, a member of Kirk's landing party, is lured away and killed under mysterious circumstances. I call it the suction cup monster.

That's a spoiler, everybody. After a space saw topsy. Is that a thing, space saw topsy? It is now. All right. After a space saw topsy, suggesting that the detail surrounding the death of the crewman was due to salt depletion. Kirk once again beams down to the planet seeking answers from Dr. Crater and Nancy with another landing party. Crooman's surgeon is found dead by Dr. Crater while Nancy is shown kneeling over the body of Crooman Green. Nancy is then shown to shapeshift into Krumin Green gaining access to the Enterprise. Let loose onboard the USS Enterprise.

The creature begins killing members of the crew by luring them, posing as someone they knew and trust, then draining their bodies with salts. Finally, the creature kills Dr. Crater and changes into Nancy almost killing Dr. McCoy. Kirk and Spock, who have figured out the creature's secret, rushes to Dr. McCoy's quarters. After fighting with the creature, Spock is able to convince McCoy that this is not the real Nancy. McCoy is then able to kill the creature saving the lives of Kirk and Spock, end of episode. That was a lovely synapses, sir. I appreciate you doing the wonderful job with that. I feel like the suction cup monster thing was a very big emphasis to me,

where it was the most hilarious way of a death. I could think of where it's just like every time you see the dead body Succeed cups right all over the face. Um well Yeah, there's a reason for that and this is like a real deep cut. I don't know if you guys are aware, but This episode was actually the start of Japanese tentacle porn What Brad loves Japanese tentacle porn. Oh yeah, of course. Brad, you should have known. Oh my god. The new spider sensitive in tingling. I called bullshit.

But wasn't this actually not the first episode that was... Not including the last one we watched, but I think this was like maybe the seventh episode they recorded. About six. Yeah, I believe it was the sixth one. Six, first of all. Yeah, as far as the production order, this was the sixth one out of the 80, but it was released first.

I, like thinking back, I can understand why they would do this. I want to see like the next episode, one that was actually done first, but like to me, there was a lot of attributes in this episode that allowed to pull the audience in. Action, love, it was science fiction, really up front. And I think it held a really good job overall in that sense. Yeah, I enjoyed it for the mystery aspect.

Like there was this ongoing mystery hanging over the crew. So my God, what's going on? What's killing them? Because, you know, according to Dr. Crater, him and his wife Nancy were the only ones on the planet. So they last. Oh, yeah. So, so that brings it up.

Like in the beginning, as soon as they they land it was a Kirk McCoy and The other guy all see a different woman. Darnel. Um, Darnel. Yeah, they all see like a different version of the woman And I was like, oh no, it's not the same episode again. It's like they're met somebody's messing with their minds Yeah, I am but I had to watch this episode twice by the way because like a moron The movie here trying to take notes and write down, you know Equips for today's episode and completely missed crucial plot point So I had to go back and watch the first 20 minutes and I'm like oh, okay, that makes sense. It's called the pause button What's that?

It makes sense. It's called the pause button. What's that? It's tough watching these episodes and taking notes though. It can be really challenging. Yeah, really ones. I tried writing them down like pen and paper and then I got like four sentences in and like, no screw this. I'm going to type it.

Yeah, no typing or voice chat. Yeah, multi screen have it on one window page on the other. Just type it away. Or watch us on a TV. Um, no. What? Listen, President, President, a lot of uses TV right now. I am, I struggled.

I think when we first decided to do this, guys, I struggled with the whole, okay, well, I can do all things. I'm going to be on the rowing machine of the gym while watching the episode. And I think we all agree. Or at least Drew and I agree that that's dumb. Yeah, I think that would probably be the probably not the most effective way to watch this. Yeah, no, it wouldn't be. I think that, you know, if you were just watching this for your own enjoyment without having to try to analyze it like we are, then by all means. But as far as like trying to have like an actual conversation about it, maybe the gym

isn't the best watching environment. It really isn't. No, no. The best, I mean, clearly the way to do this is while you're driving. Oh god, I mean, there's a much better solution. No, no. This episode brought to you by a dish-ractory driving. Drew, that's not how you did it though, right, buddy? I just want to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it.

I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it.

I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. Well, obviously, you know, they're putting their best foot forward, I think, as a series premiere. And I wasn't expecting them to kind of nail the formula so early on in the series, you know, a lot of times with modern TV, particularly, it takes a little while for the cast to kind of find their footing and everything. But here we have the sixth episode produced in the series, the first one to go to air. And we know that there were a number of changes to the formula leading up to, you know, during the first five episodes.

So I'm like kind of preparing myself to be a little disappointed. And what we ended up getting was a well-crafted story that had a clear plot thread from start to finish. We had characters that felt organic and like they enjoyed being in each other's company, Kirk and McCoy joking around with each other and, you know, spot kind of making his personality known, but also being willing to, you know, kind of step up to the plate and put himself out there when the situation arose.

And I think they just kind of hit that perfect balance. And I could see why they chose to lead the show with this one. I couldn't agree more either too. Honestly, it felt Much much more connected You were able to get a lot more character development between the the cast which was really nice and To your point you can also see a lot better interactions between the different characters too speaking and which was Lieutenant you heard a hitting on Spock

Sure seem that way it totally was that way. Yeah. Okay. I was actually going to bring that up if you weren't. So that was one of the talking points where I was like, that was not something I expected. And you know what? Thinking it back at the 8th, JJ Abrams run. And I can understand why he took that approach of having Spock and O'Hara And why he took that approach of having Spock and O'Hara be like a couple in that series. And it makes a lot more sense to me now that I saw this episode even. Well, considering that he only watched one episode of Star Trek before he made the move. I think I've watched more Star Trek than JJ Abrams. Probably.

To me, this episode was leaps and bounds over the cage. You know, especially now being one week removed from watching the cage, I can say this felt like an episode. Well, at least the cage felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone, while the man trap felt like an actual sci-fi TV show. You know, something better than what we watched last week. I would agree with that. Definitely, um, it's felt more like the Star Trek that I've kind of grown up with, you know, and I'm just going to address the elephant in the room. Uh, 1960s, James T. Kirk was a handsome fellow. Like William Shatner was a very handsome guy. I, he does not look like the same.

I would never think that he was that person. He's a good looking lad. Yeah. And he looks a lot like, what does it mean? Chris Pine. Yeah. I can see why they cast Chris Pine, is it?

They did a really good job casting, you, you know, for the the new movies, my opinion. You know, they, uh, they all fit the role nicely. They all resembled the characters, uh, to a enough of a degree where it was, you know, not a illogical leap, you know, yeah. No, I totally agree. Um, I, uh. I do want to get a take on what your favorite part of the episode was though, just to see how we are lighting up on this. I would say, thinking back towards how the episode was, my favorite part was the ending the the fight sequence between it was a Spock fighting the the monster

The hand-to-hand Kaba that that just really Appealed to me in so many different ways I was a big fan of the way that you know Kirk essentially zap ran again way that uh you know Kirk essentially zap rannygand his troops by launching waves and waves of his own men at the enemy. I'm watching I'm watching with G just completely losing. Think about how many crewman died in this. God that is such a good reference. Oh my God. Like how does that bragging beat the killbox? So he just kept sending wave after wave of men. So they buried that off.

How many people did this damn salt monster kill? And Kirk had at least three men on the planet die. A number of crewmen up on the ship died. Yeah. I dubbed the monster a salt chupacopera. I was calling it a salt vampire. So we're on the same page. I think the world did call it a salt vampire.

I felt like we should go you know a little more unique on it so if we can refer to it as the salt chupacabra make Brad really happy. We can call it a salt taker. All right I don't care for Brad's a paid anymore. My notes also included referring to the two macois, the real McCoy and the salt macoise. Oh my god. Snip that and put that online. That's definitely a keeper. My favorite part of the episode was seeing Spock and Kirk working together. You know, again,

being coming from the 2009 version of the movies, you only see glimpses of that and you hear an old Spock, Spock Prime talking about how him and Kirk were friends way back away. So seeing them actually worked together was, you know, it was lovely. Yeah, I mean, the, the, the movies kind of do the show a bit of it the service because, I mean, you haven't really seen the actual original series movies, I don't believe, right? But the, they lean heavily on that friendship that, uh, between Kirk Spock and McCoy specifically, which I think, you know, you can kind of pick it up pretty quickly, just watch the movies alone. I think they do a good enough job of establishing that,

but you know, having the background of the series certainly helps. Whereas with the, the newer films, they kind of force them into it pretty quick. It's not as smooth. Now, it does remain to be seen as we go further into the production cycle, how that's going to pan out with, you know, the next episode. And once we start going to, like, you know, those first five that were that were produced. I think to me that's the big challenge, because we're seeing the sixth episode after the cast and crew has had time to work together. And they've built relationship probably on and off set.

And at this point, this is like a point where they're comfortable with each other. So we're maybe getting into more of those uncomfortable situations where it may just be a little awkward between the characters when we start to watch those true first episodes. Yeah. By the way, we didn't get everybody, right? We didn't see Scotty? No. I think it wasn't our moment where he was on the communicator though. I Don't remember about that or check off check off wasn't there. I don't believe check off shows up in the first season though Oh really? Yeah, he wasn't in He wasn't in the whole series I want to say he's season two forward that I did not know what me confirmed that for you before I have like right now there's like a billion Trekkies that are yelling at their car stereo.

I'm sorry, he's a building. How do you not know these things? I mean, listen, you should probably just kind of double up on it and just double down. I mean, double down. Double down and say whatever you thought, you know, was the right answer, is the right answer you double down true

Or don't we get a bunch of angry fan mail and we'll be like well Oops No, I'm totally there for it. I agree or bright I'm ignoring you. Well, I do this research. Oh, are you? I can tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell.

I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. So, so Majeed, what was your favorite part? Favorite part is watching, you know, Spock and Kirk working together on the planet surface after Kirk decided that it was no longer a good idea to send waves and waves of his crew to die. It was great where it's just like, let's split up.

And he kept on, let's split up, kind of attitude. Yeah. And of course, they keep dying. Yeah. Who would have guessed? What did you dislike about the episode? Not too much. I mean, I think overall, there really wasn't a lot to dislike. I think the episode was well crafted and well told.

And they did a nice job of kind of continuing that mystery from start to finish. As a viewer, we were able to see what was going on and able to figure it out, but the crew was still kind of dumbfounded. I like that they gave everything a point of view from both sides too. So you kind of had that opportunity to see from, you know, both angles. But I mean, as far as things that didn't like, I mean, salt is kind of a weak, um, vice or necessity, I suppose. But I think it's something that people can identify

with, so I'm willing to let it go. One time, just this one time. Yeah. What about you, Brad? Well, I think to your point, Drew, with this all, I think that's one of the more common knowledge potentially that people had as opposed to some of the other scientific backgrounds on other things. Thinking about the things that I really disliked, I think the one thing that kind of felt a little off was the time when the alien tries to seduce Uhorah in like this weird moment where it's like, I don't think it was the guy she used to know, but it was somebody that they mentioned like that somebody who you want to be with, it was something along those lines. Yeah.

And they kind of tried to like grab her attention that way. It was kind of weird and creepy at the same time. Well, there were some of that cringiness that we had in the pilot. It was still present in this as well too. It was a little bit cringy there. And then when like Yom and Rand walked out of the elevator, all the men just stopped and stared at her. She walked by with a plate of food. Oh yeah, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that by with a plate of food. Oh, yeah, that that That's what was it it was oh, I wish like she she was my omen to bring with my food Or something like there's like these two guys in the hallway, and that's when the monster started following her Yeah, then she was bringing food to Salim

Salim yes Yeah, and yeah, like that part was that was kind of cringy in that sense, and I think that was like it was things like that that kind of like shows the How this is still a Picture into that time period to how they they look and and feel towards Women in that sense,. So it was kind of meh, I guess you can say. Yeah, I mean, like on one hand, you had Uhera on the bridge who is, you know,

strong independent woman. You know, there's not a ton of women on the bridge, right? So she's already breaking that barrier. But then you have her kind of falling over Spock a little bit. She's kind of written a little whimsical in that way. You have her running into the crewman who she couldn't identify, but Spokeswahili, which she also spoke, and trying to make that move on her. You had to stuff with Yom and Rand.

There's enough there for me to say like, all right, well, okay, it's 1966. So we have to kind of keep that in mind, but at the same time in a 2022 frame of mind, it's a little challenging. I think one of the things though that differs between Star Trek then and now is that the targeted audience is really focused for just the adults, I think, in the 66, the original series, whereas I think the current Star Trek series does push to go towards the younger generation, the teenagers in a sense. To me, that's a big difference as far as that targeted audience side of things too.

When you say newer start track, do you mean like discovery forward? Are you talking like TNG Voyager? I think TNG, because they have that element of the children involved If you think about like they had wet west the crusher and then they had Jake Cisco eventually they had Naomi Naomi while men. Yeah Naomi wildman from from Voyager

But I think thinking about that like it's been pushing more towards that teenage late teens generation. I remember me talking with my high school buddies while I was watching Voyager and super excited about each new episode coming out. And I think it appealed more towards that audience, as opposed to the adult. And I think if you think about TV during that time period, TV tended to push to be more of the gritty, the more darker side of things in the 80s and 90s as opposed to what you see in Star Trek during that time period. Yeah, I think we talked about it during our very first episode.

That Star Trek is very much a product of its time. You know, and I think what everything we saw with your run and the goings on with the salt, you know, these are these are things and topics how we discussed and brought up during the 60s, you know. I don't have anybody to ask though. Yeah, I mean, like I can talk to my mother about it. She used to watch this when she was a kid. So, you know, special guest star.

Yeah, no. Love you, mom. But anyway, assuming she's watching this, we're listening Mark for edit. I've been podcasting for 10 years. I don't think she's listening to a single episode of Time. No, she might because, you know, Brad and I are here. Yes, true. That's true.

I get that Brad loved the fight between Spock and Salt Chupacopera, but that was the most, that was the most disliked, most disliked, I dislike that part of the episode the most. Really, that was hilarious. That was so perfect. It was, it was unintentionally. It was so perfectly bad.

It was so perfectly bad. It was so perfectly bad. It was so unintentionally funny to me. The way that the creature was wearing the Nancy disguise and just takes the hits by Spock, who we understand is supposed to have, I guess, maybe a little more strength than a normal human, right, because he's Vulcan. Or a half Vulcan, right? He's half Vulcan, yeah. So a little stronger, right? Cause he's Vulcan or a half Vulcan, right?

He's half Vulcan, yeah. Okay. So a little stronger, but I mean, those are some pretty solid double axed handles he was throwing around. Right. And he got all into it and the smirk that the Nancy Chupacopera has on her face.

It's screened cheesy to me, but you guys warned me about this. You guys warned me about the cheesiness. I should have been better prepared But it was my most I it was my most eye rolling moment of the episode. I did not like that You mean to tell me you didn't have like nacho chips ready to just dip it in so Just really quick. I made nachos on Sunday

They didn't they didn't make it to the game. They didn't make it to Super Bowl. Those were gone while watching a movie. I said, there's no way I'm gonna be able to save this. They're so good and I was so hungry. Big mistake, by the way. I had nothing to eat during the game. Oh yeah, that sucks. had nothing to eat during the game. Oh, yeah, that sucks. So you ate an entire plate of nachos that was designed for a party group by yourself.

I refused to answer that question, Brad. You should know better than to ask me that. That's strike three. That's another demarrow, Brad. See, see, we're all keeping track. This is a new record for you. Let's be honest. If I can't make five then it's not worth trying. That's fair. We all need goals.

Hashtag squad goals. So this is our first introduction to most of the main cast of characters that I assume will be following through the rest of the season. Right. You're her spot George Takai Takai. Sue, Sue, Sue, Takai. George Sule. Chakoff wasn't in there. Scotty or while she wasn't there. But you know, I mean, these are the characters going to be following and I'm pretty excited.

And because this is my first exposure to these versions of the characters, you know, I can't stop comparing them to the portrayals from the 2009 reboot. Did you guys have a similar type of experience watching these characters on screen? Do you guys have a similar type of experience watching these characters on screen? I'm going to go with no mainly because these are the characters I kind of grew up with watching the the movies that they were in and so it felt very connected to those movies. thinking about the Abrams series, it's Kelvin timeline, I believe if I remember correctly, that it that feels so foreign to me in comparison. So it's the opposite. Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of with Brad. I mean, I was always okay with the idea of the Abrams universe just because they had found a nice little package

to kind of tie up the two in and keep them separate from each other, you know, with the whole parallel universe type thing, and that's perfectly fine. I would certainly comparing those characters more to this cast than the other way around. But I can totally understand why you would say that, GD, because like you saw the Abrams movies first, so that is your barometer. How do you feel they stacked up? I think it was weird. I think it was so weird. In what way? Spock and What was the actor's name? Who played him in 2009, but those two are Quinto, Zach, Zach,

Zach, they look so much alike. Like, you know, as Spock, they look so much alike. It's scary. It's uncanny. like, like, you know, as Spock, they look so much alike. It's scary. It's uncanny. And Kirkman, Chris Pine and William Shatner, they look almost alike as well. You know, it's, it's crazy to be. Of course, I mean, I just John show and and so he's not done. I'll see how their characters in 2009 compared to what I see when we get more exposure to Sulu and And you're hurrah as we go on but the Spock and and and and Kurt characters they

If he did it for me. I think you'll be happy with the portrayal of McCoy as well too. I think Carl Urban did an excellent job, uh, channeling bones, and, you know, uh, DeForest Kelly's take on it. I, I think he did probably one of the best jobs out of the, the new cast. I mean Zachary Quinto did also very good channeling spot. I feel but I think I think Carl urban really hit the nail in the head for me when it came to like when I think about Simon Pegg while I love him. I absolutely adore the guy but he he was distant from what I really thought of for Scotty, but he did make the character his own in a way, and so I can't fault him for that. But I understand what you're coming from, Mijid, because I think that happens to me more often when I've read a book and then they portray the character from the book onto screen. And it, it's a little jarring at first,

because you have a picture in your head on how this person should work, or how this person should act, just like you have in this case, where it's the, you know, the Star Trek cast from the movies, and you're comparing them to this. And so there's going to be like a slight difference. The big trick is to try to get over that in the understanding and try to like not disregard them but just acknowledge that they exist in a different way. I'll do my best. That's asking me to get over something is like asking me to stop talking about the rock in every episode we do here. It's gonna be difficult. I also keep in mind too that it's a fine line between like a tribute and a parody.

So for example, Brad pointed out Simon Peggs' rendition of Scotty, making it his own. But if you were to try to be too much like James Doohan, it would be more of a parody of James Doohan's performance, you know, or if you try to be too much like William Shatner, now you're a parody of William Shatner. And that's almost insulting. I can't imagine the challenges that that cast went through to take these iconic characters that people have been quoting and mimicking for better or for worse for 50 years and try to turn them into you know something that's

Holy their own yet still a tribute to the originals That makes sense. I think I think Carl Orbin is the only one that didn't at the time have a legacy actor to talk to, right? Because the original actor who played bones had passed away 2009. Oh, he had he had passed away well before that. Yeah. I think it was in the 90s or maybe 80s. I believe so. Now, he was in the first episode of Next Generation and Star Trek 6 came after the first season at TNG, but he didn't, he wasn't, he passed away not long after that. I want to say like 95, maybe, or early 90s.

I'm trying to see if I can find that up. You guys should stop for time. So, oh, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. So, what you're telling me is that the actor who played bones made a cameo appearance or appearance on newer, my next generation. He has, yeah, it was the first episode. Yeah, he was there.

So, as the same character or as a different character. Yeah. Yeah, it was the first episode. Yeah, it was there. So very, very brief moment. As the same character or as a different character. Yeah. Yeah, it was the same character. He was, it was, I'm pretty sure he had a lot of makeup on, but he looked extremely old in comparison to that. And I think that he did that purposely because of the episode or the Star Trek 6, I'm just going to the country.

And Drew, can you correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't really remember him showing up in generations. No, it was the only one that was in generations. Well, you had Kirk, you had McCoy and I'm sorry. Kirk Scottie and Chek off in generations, right? Check off. Yeah. Yeah.

So that was then what I don't think pass into torch. Yeah. That was their official because generation was the first TNG movie, but it was a, it starts off with the original cast kind of setting the stage and then stuff happens. Go fast forward to future kind of thing. But it is, it is very much a passing of the torch. Yeah. Um, that makes me excited. That's, that's so we have X number of, uh, TOS to get through.

Then we can start to move just just so you know there's there's a giant leap from that undiscovered country Star Trek 6 Generation goes downwards Then goes to first contact which is immediate drastic upwards just so so just Make sure you have your expectations set If we ever get to that point so first contact was with the next generation crew, right? Because I, yes, yes. So I remember Jonathan Freight's beard. Oh, Frank Scott, I love that guy.

By the way, DeForest Kelly passed away in 1999. Rest in peace, bones. So a little bit further than I anticipated. But yeah, in his cameo in next generation was very brief, but he was wearing a ton of makeup. And keep me in mind that it's about 100 or so years after the events of the original series. So, you know, however old he was in TOS, add 100 to that. And that was his age in next gen, which isn't uncommon. You know, they addressed people in Star Trek as being able to well outlive our current age span.

So, centarians? Yeah, that's not uncommon at all. They can do all that. You know what, even if we, we don't make it this, not kind of what, if this podcast doesn't make it to the movies, I think as a group, we should still watch them because that's, that's, that's intriguing to me. That, that concept of passing the torch.

I, I love that. Um, honestly, like, like your point is if we don't get to chance to finish the, the series, but I do think it would be fun to at least watch all six of the movies and then, hell, actually, we can watch all of the movies the entire run and it would still be fun. Because there's enough character building that you don't really need to watch the entire series to get an understanding of it. I think the movies are done very well overall in the general sense. Just just for the record, my OCD is breaking right now and none of this is allowed

You guys aren't laughing at that nearly as much as I wanted you to OCD isn't a joking matter Drew I know I should never joke about OCD That an 80 HD those are two things we should have. I'm so sorry, everyone. Everything has to be in order. Yeah. I'm going to break it one more time.

Or there's chaos. I'm going to break it one more time. So was Ricardo Maltibon in the original run of the series? Spice hits? Yes. So he plays Khan in the original series. Yes. What's episode?

You'll get there when you get there. Stop trying to fast forward. All right, all right, all right. Is it the first season in these? No, I'm not telling you. You know the character mud from Discovery? Stop it, Brad. Wait, what's mud again?

I forgot who mud was. We'll see the CG Hamster yes, yes, he was a hamster. Yeah, yeah, we'll go with that Oh my god, wait I can't wait for the Troubles man Troubles are gonna be fun. I'm waiting for the For the I think the the Paxons right the really dumb ones from um lower decks That's the key and g the pack leds. Yeah, that pack leds. Yeah, I love those guys. Red alert. Red alert. Sorry.

I can't, I can't, I can't. Listen, the lore is so deep and you just telling me that hey, this, um, this, this, you know, this extends to multiple decades in multiple, uh, you know, movies and shows that, that, that, that, that's cool, man, I love that kind of continuity. Well, it's, it's, it's not without its issues, like to be clear, because they didn't really start trying to shoehorn this continuity in until the next generation aired, because you'll start to see throughout the original series, there's a lot of inconsistencies with the star dates, for example, or warp speed, or distances from objects. They refer to the galaxy quadrants very flippantly.

There's an episode that's coming up very, very soon, where they go to another galaxy. But then you get into next generation and deep space 9. And that sort of travel is almost impossible without some sort of extra terrestrial interference, right? So the idea of just the ship being able to travel to another galaxy gets just like completely wiped off the table like that's not that's not within our technological realm So there's there's there's a degree of like backpedaling, but they also kind of set this foundation of like kind of figuring out which parts are important and retconning them in and making it all canon,

making it all work for better workforce. I guess we said it. Yeah, I mean, there's once like, with the next generation, they really brought in some people that were like hellbent I'm making sure that everything was as Accurate as possible whether scientifically accurate to a degree of course within Hollywood's ability or

Just within respect to previous episodes whether it's within TNG or other series altogether. And then you start having like this layers of an onion, right? So the next show has to respect everything that TNG has done and build upon that. And you know, when you have some of these shows that are going seven seasons, the onion just gets really big. Except for when they make a law that says you can't go pass warp speed five and then the next episode

They go pass wereps speed five. Yeah, he was giving it. Oh she got right exactly exactly So I'm not trying to not trying to jump ahead, but I do have to ask Is is there any type of serialized storytelling in the original series? Okay, sometimes there are some points from what I recall that they do continuation, but it's not like what we're used to. Yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, you might, you might find like something referenced in an episode and then, you know, half a dozen episodes later, they kind of throw a call back to it, but I would say, and Brad, you can, you know, agree or disagree here, I feel like they pretty much are in an island of themselves, you know, each episode is pretty self-contained.

Well, the goal is really like the episodic type of field towards it. So that each episode is its own self-contained story. Just like a comic book where you can pick up one book and you can read everything from that book and you're done. Yeah, because well, the newer stuff, right? So with Picard and with Discovery, that's all serialized. Like, if you miss one episode, you're done so. Yeah. All right, that's good. Yeah, and that's that's been kind of like a recurring theme up until I would say really the later later stuff of TNG, deep space nine because a lot of that stuff even still was episodic. Yeah, I mean, deep space nine really leaned into the serialized nature pretty heavily

from seasons Three on and then like yeah almost exclusively like the last season two seasons or so But they still dropped in like one-off episodes that were unrelated I think the closest one that started it really was Voyager only because they had that end goal of getting to her. And that was the one that really kind of started the whole idea in that sense. But now that they've done it, I think it's a lot better of a storytelling process.

Yeah. I just like the thing that I don't really care for to some degree is how locked into that that serialized nature a lot of these new shows are. You know like I don't know it's got its pros and cons. I have mixed feelings on it. I'm looking forward to seeing what to do with strange new worlds. So apparently that's supposed to be a little bit more episodic in nature so we'll have to see how it goes. And don't they also have what the Starfleet Academy coming out soon? Did I read that right? Um, it's a movie I thought. I don't know any details on that. I think it's just a rumor at this point.

Well, the other thing, the only thing I know of otherwise is the section 31. Hmm, that's been in the work since the day discovery started though and that's gone basically nowhere. Yeah, but I would be okay with it. Right, because we get like with Michelle. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's the only reason I would watch it. But was it the Tyler? The ashtaler? Ashtaler? I didn't care for that guy.

I hated that guy. I love him. God, Drew. That's right. I love him. Now, he's hilarious. You know what? I take that strike back.

You are entitled to your incorrect opinion. Don't even go there. Don't even go there. Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss the I'm letting or something. That's a good answer. How much Sunday with chocolate and fudge breakfast? I thought of that question last night. What is, what are they going to put in my head to lure me away? It's going to be pretty easy. I'm pretty local about it. That's the rock.

Sorry. It's going to be the rock. You know, I'm pretty vocal about it, you know, that's the rock. Sorry, it's gonna be the rock. Hey, you want to want to spot me? Like, yeah, of course. And then I die. Could be, you know, maybe, maybe it would be Jonathan Freaks. It's also a safe answer. Goodness. Um, what you guys think of the costumes in this? How'd you feel about the of the time period is to, to win this game out, I thought it was, it was very well done. Yeah, I know the budget is, God, God awful compared to what we have nowadays. And to me, I thought it was, it fit the style of the show in my opinion. I was impressed. I was not expecting it to be as was not expecting it to be as solid as it was. I mean, like, I'm staring at a picture of it right now. And, uh, you know, like, they did a pretty good job, I think, you know, I have to admit though,

now that I've seen it, I finally understood what that game we used to play, Star Trek timelines, when they'd come up with that character. I finally understand where that thing was because I remember seeing it in the game and it was like, what the heck is this thing? It makes no sense at all. It's extremely ugly, extremely weird, whatever. Now, I get it. It makes sense. That's pretty cool. I didn't know that was ever in the games, but I didn't even know that there was a game called Star Trek timeline. So I learned it's tonight. So Brad's a mobile game. Brad and I used to play it. Um, and it's definitely one of those like pay to win type games, but it's a lot of fun. And they pull characters from all the series and some pretty obscure ones. This one's being one of them. It's kind of fun when you're playing that game to go back and check the history of certain things and kind of get an idea where they're coming from.

Yeah. So not a lot of games do that. I mean, Star Trek has such a rocky history with video games anyway. Not that this one would be particularly considered good, but it was fun for a long time. It's a great game when you need to go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet for a bit that man has to use you this for isn't that's a podcast before so so speaking of a person of a hearing loss yeah YouTube everybody in the room next door gets to hear what I was to

Goodness oh god, that's That's terrible. It's horrible. No, nobody wants that so therefore I have to play things quiet So anything that I can play without sound is bad. We're done. I'm gonna show you how to sound proof a room play without sound is bad. And we're done. I'm going to show you how to sound proof a room. I am. So the salt chupacopera side, the other costumes, so of the actual crewman.

I noticed it was a very thick material compared to, you know, again, I hate to keep making comparison. But you know, so the 2009 reboot, the costumes are much heavier and just they can look like they're burning up inside of it. It's like it was made of wool. But at the same time, were there new red shirts back then? Was that not a trope? I don't think the trope had been established yet. Here's the thing, right? So I'm going to go a little deep with you here, Judy. The colors of the uniforms correspond to what division the crewman works in.

So in the original series, gold was considered command division. Red was considered operations. So you're looking at either engineering or security. And then blue was considered the sciences, medical research, you know, regular science, whatever. So that's where the red shirt trope kind of comes into play because the red shirts were always the security officers, which would be beamed down with the phasers and they would ultimately die. In this episode, the trope I don't think had really been ironed out yet. Plus, if you think about it, the first guy that beams down with them, you know, they're bringing, they're bringing down a doctor to examine them so it makes sense that they would have also another scientific officer with them because they weren't expecting a sort of hostile situation. So, so, so, Darnell, if I recall correctly,

was wearing blue. Yeah, he was. Yeah. So, it, it stands to reason that he was probably, you know, some sort of a medical officer to some degree. Somebody that could probably assist McCoy, even though they never set it in the episode. Yeah. I mean, honestly, it seemed like McCoy was just annoyed with, with Crubing Green. Well, was it Crubing? No, Darnell, Crubing Darnell.

Yeah. Green was the one that the creature mimicked and then beam up with yeah, yeah Darnell was the one. I was like oh man She's so really hot you like so when I visited a Planet with way back when it was like the I This guy beams down to this husband and wife's house the wife walks outside and she like shakes her ass at him and then the two of them go traipsing off together. Like, is that how that works? Back into 60s I think it did.

Oh my God. He's lucky he didn't get like shot by the husband. Like with a shotgun? Yes with a shotgun. I would have double bear- Get away from my darn dear wife! Ha ha ha ha! Uh...

Ugh, goodness. So, I enjoyed the man-trapped a lot more than I enjoyed the cage, and it was a really smart decision by the network to make the man trap the very first episode. It showed the dynamic between a spark and a spark and a relationship between Kirk and McCoy and how much of a jerk or heroic Kirk could be. Whether he's yelling or putting down his, uh, his, his team and then apologize into two scenes later or sacrificing them on the planet's surface. You know, it, it, it, it definitely was a good introduction to these characters and it

makes you want to tune in the next week to see how, you know, these, uh, these people evolve. You guys, uh, you guys agree that it was better than the cage. Oh, yeah, I definitely think it was it was far surpassing the cage and that's the To your point every single Connection there. There was a lot better of communication between the characters a lot more chemistry and I guess that's the question I am gonna have is when we get to those first per like those original first five episodes that were originally produced is they're gonna be that same level of chemistry or that same level of quality

that we're we're seeing this one episode but I definitely agree that that was a good episode to pick to get audiences hooked into this series during that time. Yeah, 100%. I mean, for me, like, I think this is a much better start to the series proper. The characters all had personalities. They felt authentic. They acted like they cared for each other and further what, you know, for their job. You know, Kirk took the capt's role very seriously. Yeah. He was upset that he had crewmen that were dead.

He was insistent that they get to the bottom of this. It wasn't just like a flippant thing that happened. He felt like he belonged in the captain's chair in a way that Pike really didn't in the cage. Yeah, Pike didn't want to be in the captain's chair. You way that Pike really didn't in the cage. Yeah, Pike didn't want to be in the captain's chair. You know, Pike wanted to be out. I wanted to be on vacation with a green stabiler. Exactly.

You know, I also enjoyed the camaraderie with Kirk and McCoy. I liked how Ujra was trying to get to know her crewmates a little bit better. I liked the camaraderie with Sulu and Rand. You know, I felt like the bit better. I like the camaraderie with Sulu and Rand. You know, I felt like the stalkerish nature of the men towards the women was a bit cringy and heavy-handed, but overall vast improvement from the cage. And it's easy to see why they chose this

to be the first-earing episode of the show. There was a mix of action, logic, emotion, it basically nailed all the Trek tropes. Good, yeah, what about you, Brett, what do you think? I definitely can't mirror enough what Drew just said. This really did help feel much more of an actual Star Trek episode. It, to me, felt like the same type of message that you could

get from TNG or Deep Space Knight or one of the other series and it really helped provide more context towards the actual situation being in space to have the characters for the development all that. I think that was a really big win for them by Erring this episode in that general sense But gee, how about yourself man? What how'd you feel? I hate it to cage I I hated the cage to the point where I said my god, why are we doing this? and

Just within the first five minutes of watching the man trap, I said, okay, you know that Vince McMahon meme where he's growing in excitement. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I got to the third Vince McMahon face expression during that episode because it was, you know, it just grew and it built upon this mystery, this murder mystery. I love mysteries. I love murder mysteries.

Death on the Nile, murder on the Orientex Press, knives out, movies were made you think. I love stuff like that. So it was really good of Star Trek to give me an episode where I'm at the edge of my seat thinking, okay, well, why are they dying? Is there an octopus on this planet? By the way, those look like somebody just gave the victims hikis on their face. Oh, well, yeah.

I mean, I mean, I'm looking at the production notes here and it looks like that's exactly what happened. They just had an actress walking around sucking on everybody's faces. You're assuming actress. It was, it was William Shatter. But yeah, I agree with you man like to to me like thinking about the cage and how the comparison like I remember talking with drew afterwards After we recorded the last episode and I was just so deflated after we watched the or did the episode for the cage because it was such a or did the episode for the cage, because it was such a big mood shift comparison

to how this is, and this one is something that I felt so, so much more connected with, much more, like, entertained, and it was something that, okay, yeah, I want to watch the next episode now. It's, where is the cage, I finished that, and I'm like, ah, jeez, where did I get myself into? I think the important part about that is, you guys talk without me.

Is that a thing? Is this happened very often? You guys are excluding me from conversations? I don't remember this. I was in a part of this. Oh, I needed to talk to Drew about production stuff. Is that code? Is it code for production stuff?

Right. It's to do those little snippets on how to actually do the editing on that stuff. Right. It was as code for, Magida's not to do anything with talking gifts. And you said it. You can't unsee it. I can't unsee it. We can leave that and I'm't answer it. I can't answer it. We can leave that and I'm okay with that.

I'll give myself a debarant. So on a score, if we were to rate this episode guys and a scale of one to ten Bulldoon would you put this I would probably give it a seven. That's all right I I think there was definitely potential room for improvement But it it's probably like a high seven for me like I think it was really high up there in that sense where it was It's probably like a high seven for me. Like I think it was really high up there in that sense where it was, it was very entertaining. I enjoyed the story.

The mystery was fun to watch. There was the, the, the just the right amount of cheese all around that I could, you know, dip the nachos in. It was great. But I think it's, to me, it's a solid seven. Yeah. I'm right there with you actually, Brad. That's a seven for me as well too. I I think the episode

just you know fall short of being great, but I can't think of a better way to introduce uh somebody to Star Trek than this you know it gets right to it. The characters all have clear defined roles. There's a little bit of humor. there's action, there's that mystery, there's that little bit of scientific element. The Star Trek is always leaned on. I think it's a wonderful mix and I really enjoyed it. Loved watching this episode. Yeah, I'm right there with you guys. Seven. Very solid seven. It's just such a solid episode. Like it took chances with the fight scenes. But it basically ticked all the boxes for the formula going forward. You know,

the friendships, the relationships between the crewman, Kirk, and Spock, that friendship, it just everything, just, they knew what they were doing. The first five minutes I was hooked, like I was saying before, as compared to the cage, where it's like I'm 45 minutes in and I'm finally starting to be engaged. This one had me hooked almost immediately. Yeah, same here. Like it was such a such an easier episode to watch.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, I hope next week's the same. Next week we have a episode two titled Charlie X. Um, so I this is not this is not about Charlie Kelly by the way Just to be clear just so everyone knows that we're still watching Star Trek and not it's always sunny. I feel it off you correct All right, so in episode two Charlie X which we're watching next week The enterprise picks up an unstable 17 year old boy who's been 14 years alone Under the deserted planet and lacks the training and restraint to handle his superhuman mental powers wisely All right

That that's that gave me goosebumps. Oh in a good way or a bad way. I Don't have to answer that question. Do I? Yeah, well I way. I don't have the answer to that question. Do I? Yeah, well, I'm gonna, I, I, I normally watched the episodes on Monday night to retain the most I can. And then we talk about it on Tuesday. I may have to watch this sooner than that. Really? Yeah. This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this Oh, he totally is those are two demarrads on both your houses. I'm pretty sure he's like Oh, this is when when Charles Xavier starts this is the origin story. I mean it has to be right this is the same character name Charlie X X men

Charles Xavier put it together buddy Put it together Yeah, this is this is the MC you at work over here Yeah, this is this is the MCEW at work over here. All right, everyone, thanks for tuning in. This has been another episode of yet another Star Trek podcast. Tune in next week and we'll have some more Star Trek related fun. Work safe fun. Tonight, it's, it's never worth saving. Hahaha.

Thanks for listening to yet another Star Trek Podcast, we're part of the retro sessions network. This episode is recorded on February 15th, 2022, and is hosted by Brad, Drew, and Madrid. Drew fixes everything in post to make a sound good. Our music warped speed into the stars was written and performed by William Grobalar Music. Be sure to check them out on SoundCloud we'll have the link in the show notes.

Wanna check us out on social media? We're just about everywhere. At yet another ST pod. Wanna drop us a line? Emails. Yet another ST pod. Wanna drop us a line? Emails. Yet another ST pod at gmail.com. Next week we'll be watching episode 2 titled Charlie X. Watch along with us on Paramount Plus or however you get your Star Trek episodes.

Wanna support the show? The best way is to write a review and rate us on Apple Podcasts, but if you're anywhere you get your podcasts. Don't forget to subscribe, that's pretty important. Thanks again, we'll see you next week. Bye yeee! you