Star Trek and Lizard Babies

Kaitlyn and Emily explain how Star Trek has shaped our culture over the last 60 years. Joanna wonders who the Jar Jar Binks of Star Trek is. 

Follow the show on Instagram @mywholepersonalitypod
Produced and edited by Joanna Clark
Theme music by Rebecca Jaffe
Podcast art by Michelle Hong (michelleyhong.com)

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Catherine Janeway is my favorite character in fiction, I think. In fiction, like period. Whoa. That's why I say, like, I think the best technically series is Deep Space Nine. Yes, I agree. Um Okay, I'll watch it. Which is You can't start with that.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

I can't wait for the World War. No. I'm not warp speed able. What is this thing? Yeah, you're pre-warp civilization. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Because it's a little different in that it's set on this uh like a space station.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Also, you guys you guys just both yelled at me. I was like, I'm gonna watch that, and you were like, No!

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Stick down. But it is excellent because it's set on a space station and it has a lot more um, I think kind of because Gene Roddenberry died. Oh, absolutely, that is why. This is something that happened that I have in my notes. He died in 91, right?

SPEAKER_05 0:50

Yeah. Who is he? He's the creator of Star Trek.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

So his kind of thing is that like Star Trek. You guys are doing it again. I feel so uncomfortable. We're bullying her.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Oh my god, this is exactly how powder felt.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

I like this one thing, so I made it my whole thing. Now no one wants to talk to me at parties. Please listen to my spiel, because I made it my whole deal. I made it my whole personality.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Yeah. Hey everyone, welcome back to my whole personality. This episode is part two of my interview with my friends Caitlin and Emily. I they were on the episode that I did about the movie Powder a couple weeks ago. Um they listened to me talk about powder for about an hour, and then they talked to me about Star Trek. So you don't need to know anything about powder unless you want to before you get into this episode. But I do make a couple powder jokes um on this episode, as I am wanted to do. So even if you don't like Star Trek, I think this is a fun episode. I was gonna say they make it very approachable, but you'll actually notice that a couple times they yell at me uh throughout the interview. So I could have done a better job with that, Caitlin and Emily welcoming people into your community. But um, no, I had fun talking about it, and I'm gonna start watching Star Trek now. So there you go. But enjoy, and I'll see you all next week. Okay, so I am so excited to have you all talk about this topic. There's no better experts on the subject. But you all are gonna talk about Star Trek. Yeah. Yes. What like why is Star Trek your whole personality and when did that happen?

SPEAKER_05 2:42

Emily, I think you've been here longer than I have.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Well, I think for me, I only started watching it seriously as an adult. Sam. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, I definitely remember, like, my dad always was constantly watching like the sci-fi network, wouldn't you know, Star Trek was frequently on, and I remember him watching it, but I don't recall, I don't, you know, I didn't know what the what was going on. Yeah. So I didn't really get into it until I was an adult. And I think it's just been part of my steady adoption of increasingly nerdier interests, which I just keep finding even weirder things to like. So Star Trek, I think, is relatively mainstream. Oh my god, what is the end of this? Well, like later, I now I I love playing Magic the Gathering. Okay, yeah, whereas Star Trek collection coming out. Yeah, oh my god, I cannot tell you how excited I am about pumped. I'm so fucking excited about the ass.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

I feel like it would be intimidating to get into it as an adult because it's there's so much content that I and that's gonna be one of my questions for later. It's kind of like, where do you dive in? And I mean, on such a smaller scale, people struggle with that with real housewives because they're like, there's so many seasons and so many franchises, where do I get beginning? And I feel the same way on Star Trek. Wait, so why is it your whole personality?

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I think it's just and also I'm a big like sci-fi and fantasy fan generally. So it just kind of makes sense for you to because Star Trek is just a very like quintessential, I think, American like science fiction show. Absolutely. And I think it's just like you have to do it. I like had previously watched Battlestar Galactica, which I also love.

SPEAKER_05 4:13

Yeah, I would love Battlestar Galactica. Even nerdier. I think it's strange that you've seen. Yeah, I agree. I think Star Trek is a way more main one.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

I've seen the the Battlestar Galactica that they did in like the early 2000s. Yes. That's that one. That's it. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yeah, right? That's it. There's a movie, but that's like weird content.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

I don't know why we got that was like when when Netflix, when they would still mail you DVDs.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

Someone in your house was like Battlestar.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

And we were so obsessed with it. And then I remember like we went on vacation one time and we were like, don't watch ahead, because we all watched it together. And I just like was sleeping on the couch and I wake up and I hear the theme song in the background. I'm like, are you are you battle? Stargalactic. We went to a museum and we saw I have like a picture in front of one of the spaceships from it. That's fucking cool. I kind of want I want to rewatch it now.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Now I want to watch it too. This is like motivating me more to watch Battlestar.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

I think I've only like know vaguely of it because I see a lot of battlestar stuff when I'm like at the antique mall.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Right. Yeah. I do think the ending kind of goes off the rails a little bit of the series. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

But that can be said about so many things.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

That can be said about a lot of things. Literally everything. Powder. You're right. You're right. It started off. Wow. Shaking on the rails.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

They were like, how can we one up a woman coming out of an ambulance with smoking feet from being struck by lightning? Lightning equals albino baby. Right. Go. So why is it your whole personality, Kaylin?

SPEAKER_05 5:40

I came to Star Trek in like 2020 pandemic. Because I had just finished watching all of Monk. Also excellent. Also excellent. And I was like, you know what? I do like Star Trek because I guess saying 2020 isn't totally accurate, but I dug into like the next generation Star Trek, the one with Patrick Stewart. Like I started that in 2020. Is he John? Jean-Luc Picard, yeah. Or like Magneto from the uh Marvel Universe.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Yeah, I remember watching a little bit of that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:14

Yes. I think for me, I that's probably what I know him as first, only because it was came out at like a seminal time in my life. And Star Trek was pretty much over. Like it was happening when in the late 90s, early 2000s, but I wasn't aware of it then. And I'm talking like Star Trek on TV at least. Because the movies are a whole different ballpark. And they're like the most current Star Trek movies, the ones with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, are like canon divergent. They're and they're like a whole separate, like alternate universe because it doesn't line up with what's happened on TV with Star Trek. So I did watch those and I enjoyed them. And I so I knew the characters like Captain Kirk and Spock, like the I think the characters that like the general American might know. Like you would know who Captain Kirk is Spock. Like you would get the Spock reference.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

I even know who Data is.

SPEAKER_05 7:08

Exactly. The man on my t-shirt. Yes. Um, yeah. So the man, the myth, the legend. There's all these like things that feed over into the pulp culture. So like starting Star Trek in 2020 with the next generation wasn't I was like, yeah, why not? Why have I why haven't I done this yet? And it really just fed into like the the nerddom and all the other aspects of being like a a trekkie, which I don't I don't really call myself that. Do you call yourself a trekkie? I don't think so, but I guess I could be.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yeah, like going to a convention.

SPEAKER_05 7:36

I think I want to I've been to two conventions. I'm like, I guess I'm a trekkie.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

Yeah. You said earlier, Emily, when you walked in, I haven't been to a Star Trek convention. Thought the sentence was gonna end there. You said in a while.

unknown 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:48

Well, there used to be a big one here in Chicago, and it hasn't happened 2021, maybe. Yeah, it was a while ago. You all went together. Yeah. I liked I Emily's like, I'm going. And I was like, can I come? So you went with her and John, and it was like a great Sunday afternoon over at McCormick Place. Yes. That sounds really nice. It was great. It was good. And it was just like a really just welcoming environment. No one there was like too intense, or like there wasn't someone there that made you uncomfortable. It was just like people were really nice and excited to be around the fandom of Star Trek. And that's why this series has lasted so long. It started in the 60s, it went off the air after a couple seasons, like three seasons, I think, and then it was gone. It wasn't wasn't anywhere, and the fans kept it alive. The first Star Trek convention, I learned this in this beautiful book that I found at an antique mall. I'm sure you paid like$19.99 for it. And it was published in 94.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Oh my god, a year before Powder.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

And a year before me.

SPEAKER_04 8:51

Wait, were you born in 1995?

SPEAKER_05 8:53

No, I was oh wait.

unknown 8:54

I did the math wrong.

SPEAKER_05 8:55

Okay, I was gonna say, wait. Um no, I'm from '93, so I was a baby. And I learned in the 70s, like 1974 was the first Star Trek convention in New York City, and people thought it was gonna be like a couple hundred people. Thousands of people came from all over the world to this convention. So like fans have kept this franchise alive because it hasn't always been mainstream, it became almost like appointment TV w during Next Generation in 1987 when John Luc Picard took it over. But it was still like the like the nerds or like the alt like people who loved Star Trek. And I think that's kind of why I felt more at home in that space. And it's also something where you can have on in the background, you can enjoy an episode, and if you're like, oh, this episode is actually uh doesn't hold up in the year of 2025, or super weird, super fucking weird, and you're like, I'm not feeling this, you just skip it. You and you go on because it's like very much it's episodic.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

Yeah, it's like Buffy, it's like monster of the week. No, alien of the week, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Yeah, though it does kind of evolve like Buffy does to have longer arcs and like similar in like later seasons, like the way Buffy is in like later 30s. Oh, there's this big, there's a big bad, there's a bigger thing, yeah, which is good.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

There's just like a formula for Star Trek, and I enjoyed the comfort of that, and it just made me feel calm in 2020 when nothing was calm, and I just binged watched it all. I went all through next generation, then I went to the next series, which is Deep Space Nine, and then I went to Voyager, and then I went to I watched the movies that all came out during that time with the Next Generation cast. There are movies that have the original cast in the 70s that were a huge success that led to them bringing Star Trek back to TV because they're like, oh, these movies did well.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Doesn't Kirk get killed in one of those movies?

SPEAKER_05 10:52

I'm sure at some point that's the other thing about Star Trek is that people show up back alive in mysterious ways.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

I love that's very soap opera.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

It is. There's a lot of like, oh, and there's also like a lot of like maybe non-canon books and that will continue the story, but then it's kind of like, okay, but is that canon?

SPEAKER_05 11:12

Yeah, so you gotta really go in with the mindset of like I don't I'm not gonna really understand what year it is.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Yeah. And that's where I struggle because I think part the part of my brain, when I was like, I want to start watching this, and I want you all to tell me where to start, what order to start. I I feel like, do I need to know where I am in space and time?

SPEAKER_05 11:30

Just that you're in the 24th century. For all of them, for next generation, because that's where you absolutely should start. Yes. Because I don't watch the original series.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

I I try I start that's where you can't start there. It's just too old, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05 11:45

Like, yeah, like I mean, it really is. Unless I grew up watching TV land religiously, and I didn't even watch Star Trek because I was watching I Love Lucy and Green Acres. Interesting tie. Yes. Oh, okay. Do you know about this? I do, go ahead and say it. Okay, Emily, you know about this, right? The Lucille Ball tie. Okay, so wait, no, I think I do.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 12:04

Oh, yeah. It's it's pretty famous, and I don't think this really became known until like probably the past couple, like 20 years maybe. But Lucille Ball saved the original series Star Trek when it was on TV. Lucille Ball saw the gem that it was. Her production company started producing it and saved it, and it ran for the previous other seasons, and it she like her money especially just really allowed uh Gene Roddenberry, who's the creator of Star Trek, do his thing. And we wouldn't have it without her.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

Thanks, Lucy Kind of already answered this. What's your favorite franchise in the Star Trek canon? Like best TV series, and then also movie.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

I don't really have any particular feelings about the movies. I'm not like super excited about them as much, except for um first contact.

SPEAKER_05 12:53

I was just gonna say first contact's really fun.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

First contact is pretty good because it's that's they kind of like you could go there's a lot of like time travel throughout Star Trek, and they go back to when they first are developing light speed travel, and it's kind of like like, oh, and this is when they meet the and then they become a spacefaring species, and like humans kind of crawl their way out of like Civil War? Yeah, it's kind of like things are really bad for humans, but then the Star Trek society is kind of a utopia. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

Did they were the people that went to space like when things were going to shit on Earth, were they like, we're gonna go ahead and set this up? Were the people on Earth like making fun of the people in space, being like, you guys are just so here's the thing. What losers, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:35

Here's here's the canon around that. So the Vulcans, Spock, his people, were watching planet Earth for like a hundred years, a couple I think it's a hundred years, it could be a little bit more than that, before they made themselves known, before they made first contact with humans, because they thought that humans were primitive, not ready for it. They waited for them to have like that massive civil war, and then the society turned to a more utopian like paradise where there's no money.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

I was gonna say, how much worse do we have to get for the Vulcans to come? I know, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

And that's kind of a big thing in Star Trek later is that like when they're exploring, if you you don't make contact, you don't try to like interact with species that haven't achieved space. Warp technology technology so they can travel. Oh, if they're pre-that, then you have to like they're pre-warp civilization and leave them alone. Yeah, and let them figure it out.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

Yeah, it I mean, I love Star Trek because there's so much like canon stuff where like that, I'm like, oh yeah, not everyone knows that. Yeah, like obviously they're a pre-warp civilization. I know you go there's a whole like the biggest role of Star Trek is like the first contact rule. Yeah. That's a great movie to watch. I think you could watch that independently, you'd be a little lost, but you just like go with it, and I think you'd still enjoy the movie-going experience with that one. But if you want to start with movies, start with those Chris Pine ones because it's kind of just like fun to get into the universe.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Yeah, and it's like you'll understand it because it's it's made for everyone, it's made for everyone. And you kind of kind of get from the you you know who Kirk is, you know who Spock is, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:03

Yeah, like and you all like Kirk because William Shatner's kind of a kind of a kind of a he's kind of not my preferred captain.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

There's so much more interested, interesting captains out there.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

I love Katherine Janeway, who is the star of Star Trek Voyager.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Catherine Janeway is my favorite character in fiction, I think. In fiction, yeah. Yeah, like period. Whoa. That's why I say like I think the best technically series is Deep Space Nine. Yes, I agree. Um Okay, I'll watch. Which is You can't start with that.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Oh, I can't. Oh my god. You're not ready. No. I'm not warp speed able. What is this thing? Yeah, you're pre-warp civilization.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Sorry. Because it's a little different in that it's set on this uh like a space station.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

Also, you guys you guys just both yelled at me. I was like, I'm gonna watch that new one.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

You're already sit down. But it is excellent because it's set on a space station. It's kind of like behind this backdrop of like war between these other two species. It's it's and it has a lot more um, I think kind of because Gene Roddenberry died. Oh, absolutely. That is why. This is something that happened that I have in my have in my notes.

SPEAKER_05 16:13

He died in 91, right? Yeah. Who is he? He's the creator of Star Trek.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So his kind of thing is that like Star Trek. You guys are doing it again.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

We're bullying her. Oh my god, this is exactly how powder felt. Oh, they call him a light bulb. Sorry, I've horrible. They call him the F-word, the R word, and then they call him a light bulb.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

I guess light bulb is the nicest of that.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Yeah.

unknown 16:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Well, anyway, so Gene Roddenberry kind of like it was really important that this was like a utopia. Like every like things really are great in this future. There isn't racism, there isn't money, no sex, like there's no sexism, except everyone does wear a very short skirt, that's fine. Yeah, there's moments of that where you just have to be like, Jesus Christ. It's just the 60s. And yeah, but so but he also didn't want like interpersonal conflicts between the crew, but that makes it really fucking boring. Yeah. So once he had like once he darred, and then it's kind of like the writers were able to be like, okay, well, let's create something that's a little bit more a little more grit. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that makes it better. But like I said, I think my personal favorite is Voyager because I love Catherine James.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

And can I start with that or no?

SPEAKER_02 17:24

No.

unknown 17:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Voyager's also well, maybe you can.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Voyager's weird in that no, Caitlyn said no.

SPEAKER_05 17:32

Sorry. I'm I I'm currently re-watching Voyager. I'm in season six, I think, of seven. Is it seven? Is it eight? I don't fucking know. Every every season has 30 episodes.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 17:45

It's a lot, like nothing, it's exaggeration, but different time in TV.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Okay, yeah, it's like the OC.

SPEAKER_05 17:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Exactly like the OC.

SPEAKER_05 17:53

Just like the OC. And it's just like too confusing because there's a lot of callbacks and references that I think as a new person watching it, you're gonna be frustrated by that.

SPEAKER_04 18:03

Okay, so start with first contact.

SPEAKER_05 18:06

Start with next generation. Oh fuck, you said that already. Yeah, start with like season one of next, you're never gonna make it. And I like I guess I'm doing a bad job of making this approachable because you can do it. I guess you could you could truly start anywhere, but like I get overwhelmed really easily. Um and I don't want you to like feel like you're missing out and like missing out on like the most experience. You I think you've watched Star Wars, right? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

And you started with probably I started with the originals.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

Exactly. At this point, we're basically saying skip the originals, okay, go straight to um just hop right into the 90s.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Use the Jar Jar Banks of Star Trek.

SPEAKER_05 18:47

Okay, that is an amazing question. Nelix? It's fucking Neelix. Nelix is from Star Trek Voyager. Um, if you really power through it, you can do it in like six months.

SPEAKER_04 18:59

I'll laugh at this joke in six months.

SPEAKER_05 19:02

Yeah. Um, Neelix um is a Talaxian, which is an alien. He's from the Delta Quadrant. Sure. Which is very far away from us. We're in the Alpha Cult quadrant. That's Earth.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Is that real?

unknown 19:16

No.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

I don't think we quadrant it yet.

unknown 19:19

But no.

SPEAKER_05 19:20

Um but it like it could be real. Like scientists adopt these kinds of things all the time for like real-world use cases. In NASA, there were such huge fans of the original series Star Trek, they successfully got one of the first um space objects that we shot up there called Enterprise after the USS Enterprise. Like they were successful in doing cultural things.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

And you can tell like the communicators from uh the original series Star Trek, they look like flip phones, they're two phones.

SPEAKER_05 19:50

Absolutely. And I really think iPads were probably also inspired by the tablets in later seasons.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Oh, there's a million tablets. Yeah, that's like the one thing that didn't transfer.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

They're like they kind of seem like books. It's just so many things transfer from TV movies into like our actual society. And I think Star Trek is just such a great example of that because it's been happening for 60 years. This year is the 60th anniversary of the original series.

SPEAKER_04 20:15

How are you all celebrating?

SPEAKER_05 20:16

I'm going to the Star Trek convention in Vegas to celebrate. Do you want to come?

SPEAKER_02 20:20

I kind of would. I would go to Vegas for work, and I'm like, this is we should see if it overlaps. If it did, I would just be like, Yeah, I'm not coming back. How are you celebrating? Well, now I feel like I'm just gonna re-watch all of them because I started last night in preparation for this recording, and I'm like, I just have to keep powering through, or like going through to my favorite episodes, which I definitely will do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

What were some of the things like what episode it doesn't I haven't seen them and I'm not allowed to see them apparently? Right, yeah. So what what what did you find when you were watching the episodes last night?

SPEAKER_02 20:50

So something that I want to bring up free Catherine Janeway, my favorite character.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

So she is I've been waiting. I've been waiting to get back to this. I probably come together in a way.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Um she's a female cap. She's like the first female captain in well, I mean, that we focus a lot on Star Trek. And I think that's just why I liked her so much, because it's like really cool to be like, like, oh, she's like a leader, she's very competent, but she's a very like well-thought-out character. She's definitely my favorite, just because like, I don't know, you don't see a lot of even now, like women leaders who don't also suck at that.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

Or in shows or in real life.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

In re in shows. I guess there are real women who aren't bad at their jobs. But yeah, that's why I like her. And one thing that I really liked when I watched the show is so her uh commander who's like her first, you know, her second the officer were directly below her. There's always a lot of sexual tension between them. Definitely the one of the biggest like shipping pairs in Star Trek is Katherine and Shikode, who's her commanding officer.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

Are they both human?

SPEAKER_05 21:57

Yeah, yeah, both from Earth.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Yeah, both from Earth. And I've always really liked them because it was like, for once it was kind of like the woman is in charge, and he's kind of his goal is to like help her, which is not usually the way relationships are, though that never really they don't actually end up getting together, partially because the actress who played Katherine Janeway, Kate Mulgru, who's also an amazing actress.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Um, didn't kind of want them to do it because she was already kind of like not, you know, people would target the female character, I think. Yeah. And also she didn't just want to make it like another romance plot, even though I think it would have been so good. But also it creates a lot drama.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

That's like kind of cool that the actress, like the actor, could have a say in how the story goes. She's really good at it.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Yeah, I I I love K Mogrew. So she's my favorite character. Okay. The Tracodi romance is pasta. It would be well, it's because they never really get to do it. So it's like kind of just like lingering, and then he ends up with someone else, and I heard it.

SPEAKER_05 22:58

Should we talk about it? Because it is really upsetting.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

It is upsetting. But the character is amazing.

SPEAKER_05 23:02

And I don't think I don't think this is spoilers because this happened. I think that actual episode happened in like 2001. Yeah, so it's been a while. So 25 years. I think we can let it go. The spoiler tag about this. Because he's gets with seven of nine, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

He gets with seven of nine.

SPEAKER_05 23:20

That is the character's name because she is a former Borg alien. I'm handing you a couple of things.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

I know what a Borg is. I've seen well, I feel like with my dad, I did see something with a Borg, and they very much doesn't John um I keep okay, sorry. Yes. I need to get this out of the way. So I went to see La Miz with my friend Evan, and he didn't understand it at all. And then we get in the car afterwards, and he goes, So what's who's Jean? So Jean-Luc Picard. What's he doing? And so now whenever I want to say Jean Luc Picard, I say Jean Valjean.

SPEAKER_05 23:50

I love that.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

Yeah. Okay, so let me see this Borg. So does Jean Luc Picard become a Borg?

SPEAKER_05 23:54

The Borg are an overarching villain in like the new Star Trek.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

Very scary.

SPEAKER_05 24:00

Probably the best villain, I would say.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

That was it.

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Yeah, they really did a good job with the Borg. And they carry it throughout everything. It's even in like the new animated series, Lower Decks.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

I've heard that's really good. Oh, it's so Lorra. You could start with Lower Decks. You honestly could. It's funny. Yeah. And the Borg are like really good because they're kind of frightening. The idea is that they're trying to create like a collective and they kind of like take random people, yeah. They assimilate them. Yeah, and assimilate them, like embed them with technology so they always have like wires poking out of them. Yeah. Their slogan is resistance is futile.

SPEAKER_05 24:35

Yeah, which is also a big cultural thing.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

Not really a like a rallying cry. No.

SPEAKER_05 24:40

Oh no, but it's like super scary to hear. People like they quake in their Starfleet uniforms when they hear that because the Borg are really hard to beat. That would be like my number one way, not I don't want to ever encounter a Borg. No, okay. Like if aliens were real and I think that they are, I would please don't be a Borg.

SPEAKER_04 24:57

Yeah. That's what I heard that they it when alien because I I've heard that aliens are real and that they come into your room at night and stick something up your nose and into your brain and then leave.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

I mean, if they do that, like okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:10

But that's like Borgish behavior.

SPEAKER_05 25:11

The Borg would fully take your ass.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 25:19

Your favorite Star Trek character was Catherine Janeway. Who's yours? I think it has to be Data, Lieutenant Commander Data. He is a uh android. He's not he's not a human. Okay. And this is rare. He's like the only sentient like android because the guy that created him um died. And they they can't figure out. They can't make anymore. They can't make any more. There's like, I mean, they try. There's these whole things. How do they try? Oh, it's like I don't want to get into it.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

It's a complicated thing. You guys won't let me you guys won't tell me anything about Star Trek. Is he a robot?

SPEAKER_05 25:58

Um, I think he's more than a robot. He's more than a robot. He's a a man-made humanoid per secret. I mean, he's a man.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

I think frequently in Star Trek there's a lot of combination talk about like what is what is a person, what is a human.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

Because there's like data falling right into that trap. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Like data is kind of like like, what does it mean to be a person? And he becomes more human over time. And there are other characters that kind of follow that similar mold.

SPEAKER_05 26:25

Yes. Almost every Star Trek series, there will be some kind of storyline that touches on that.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

The humanity in people? Yes. Very powder. Very powder. Because in Voyager, so in the thing with Voyager is that they're sent to like the super far away, like they can't get back to the Alpha Quadrant. They're like 70,000 light years away, and a bunch of people are killed in this, and now they only have the emergency medical hologram to be a doctor.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

So how did you know she was gonna say that?

SPEAKER_05 26:53

Because it makes sense. Yeah, that's um I was like the he's the non-human human in that series. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

Okay, so he's a great character too. Is he an android?

SPEAKER_05 27:04

He's a hologram.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Yeah. Stop yelling at me.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Oh, so it's kind of like he has to, he has to become like the medical director of the for because everyone else is dead.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

Yeah, he's it, and he has to exceed his programming and become a real person and develop bedside manner. And then Can you put your hand through him though if he's a hologram? There's a different programming that doesn't prevent that, but yes, you could if that was turned off.

unknown 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Yeah. So it's kind of like over time just being like he like learns more and becomes more human, and he has to get the crew to think of him as a person.

SPEAKER_05 27:38

He loves to sing. So many episodes of him singing opera.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

I wanted to talk about Odo.

SPEAKER_05 27:44

Yes, let's talk about Odo.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

It's spelled O D O. Exactly. So in Deep Space Nine, he's a main character in Deep Space Nine, and he's like a changeling, which is like kind of a new kind of species here that eventually we learn. He's a shapeshifter, he can be goo. I just he's just like an excellent character to have around because it's really cool to have see him build up, like um, you know, how does he fit in with his crew being this member of the species that no one really knows what he is? He doesn't really know his background, he was just found there, and he's just like a weird, like goo dude, and everyone can tell he looks different, you know. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_05 28:20

Does he shift into different I think every 16 hours he has to go back into his original form, which is goo? Which is goo, and he literally has a bucket that he goes into.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

It feels like they could find something better.

SPEAKER_05 28:32

That's that's like I'm sure that's a joke on the show. Like it's it's so funny that it's Odo's bucket.

SPEAKER_04 28:37

What happens if some of him what happens if somebody puts their hand in and takes a s a handful out and puts it somewhere else?

SPEAKER_05 28:44

It'll it's kind of like flubber, where um it'll f it'll find it sway back.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Yeah. In his home planet, it's just like a ocean of goo and everyone's together and gooin out, you know? Oh my god. So you can tell it gets weird.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

Should we talk about the episode where they turn into lizards?

SPEAKER_02 29:03

So on Voyager, at one point, there is a an episode where two characters turn into lizards, and then the two lizards have babies. No. Yes. So it's kind of like, and but then they were able to turn them back into humans. So it's like, okay, so they like canonically had sex and had lizard wishes.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

So are the babies lizards?

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yes, we're left on a planet. They abandoned their lizards. What what else would you do if you were turned into a lizard, had sex with another lizard? How big were the lizards?

SPEAKER_05 29:34

Oh, they were like iguana, big iguana.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Big up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

Pretty big, but not.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Did they when they were the lizards, did they know? Was it like was it like um like look who's talking? Like, could you hear the No.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

No, they were just like animals.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

So I recently rewatched this episode.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Okay, good, because I was about to say, like, I thought about it last night, but I was like, I don't know if I'm ready for it.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

No, like, because the lizard thing doesn't happen until really towards the end of the episode, so you don't see it coming. And I was joking, like, I was telling Evan about this fucking lizard episode because I didn't think it was that episode. And it's early in Voyager, like maybe season two, and it's the captain, Catherine Janeway, and um, Tom Parris, who is the guy that like drives the ship.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Tom Paris is kind of like the I like Tom Paris, but he's kind of like the character that's like a general hot guy who you think everyone would like. He's like handsome and kind of like a bad boy, so you'd be like, oh, everyone's gonna love him. But he's just kind of like the mo like everyone wants to fuck him as a lizard. But like not really.

SPEAKER_05 30:42

Like you can tell like the casting was a little weird on him at times. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so it's him and the captain. They get stranded on this planet, or like they get stranded apart from the ship, and it's and they have to the rest of the team has to find them, and it's hard to find them because they're like evolving or devolving into this like lizard, and eventually they're lizards. That's who they are. There's no like, I'm Tom Paris stuck in a lizard. There's none of that. And then they are driven to mate because they're listening, these lizards and their inherent drive to mate is overwhelming, and they have all these lizard babies, and then they become humans again. And the captain and Tom Paris are like, oh my god, we fucking had sex. Do they remember it? They like kind of do.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Yeah, I it's kind of confused. And then they decide to leave the babies behind.

SPEAKER_05 31:34

Yeah, because like what are they gonna do? These lizard babies.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

I don't know. Would you guys leave them behind? Yes. Yeah, yeah, I would. I'm pretty bad. I'm also there's another from Voyager, uh, the Tuvix incident. Oh. Where two characters um on the ship are like accidentally combined in their transporter into one person named Tuvix, and then Catherine Janeway has to decide okay, like we if we figured out how to like separate them, should we do it? Because then we're killing Tuvix to create, like, to save.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

So they bond with Tuvix. Yeah, they bond with Tuvix.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

But she doesn't like we love him.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

Yeah. That'd be such a bummer if like they didn't end up bringing you back. Because you're like, actually, we kind of like like when you merged with that other person, we liked the that better than we liked you. So sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

But that's like a whole thing. It's like, oh, she killed him, and I'm like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

Like a lot of interesting um life choices.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Oh, yeah. There's a lot of um, some of them can be dumb, but a lot of them are like, okay, this is a really interesting, like, moral question. There's like good stuff in Deep Space Nine about like war.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

It's Tuvix.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

Tuvok is combined. Make this. Oh no, that's Nelix. That's just regular Nelix.

SPEAKER_05 32:57

To make Tuvics.

SPEAKER_04 32:58

Boy, Tuvok looks like he's just been through the ringer. Tuvak. Sorry, Nelix. Nelix does look like he's been through the ringer. Is this who you said was the Jar Jar Banks? Yeah. Doesn't he look like the Jar Jar Banks? Yeah, he looks scared and uh windswept. Oh my god, he's scared in this he's scared in this picture on the back. Why does he always look like he's like who knows what's happening in this photo? These are really helpful. Thank you. Chief of Security. What is one Star Trek invention that you wish existed in the real world?

SPEAKER_05 33:35

There's so many, and some of them do exist now.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yeah, over time we've made some of them. What we have not made is the replicator, which is just like a thing that makes any food you want.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

You remember it's even better than the microwave and spy kids, where you know where they put like the foil packet of McDonald's in the microwave and it comes out a full fucking happy meal. I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

I think that what is that? Smarthouse also does something like that?

SPEAKER_05 33:57

Oh, it's like I think that's rip on Star Trek, absolutely. Sure, yeah. But like it's even better than that. You can say, computer, replicate like a screw. Earl Grey. Oh, I forgot. Okay, I'm gonna make everyone tea later because I have those um Captain McCard tea cups. So everyone, we had to have a cup of tea.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Okay, great. Picard always is like Earl Grey, like hot. That's what he always gets. But you can get like make anything.

SPEAKER_05 34:23

You can make tools, clothing, it's like a 3D printer, but it's frequently food. I mean, I guess it is like a 3D printer. It's like the most advanced 3D printer. Like, I hope, I'm sure whoever came up with 3D printing was a Star Trek fan of some.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

3D printing, I still don't understand what it is. It still blows my mind.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

As far as I know, they have not made any like sandwiches with it yet. No, or like soup. So that's what I would want. Because then you could just be like, I want a Cinnabon.

SPEAKER_04 34:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Like it's truly like pizza hot.

SPEAKER_04 34:54

I was gonna say, I think soup would probably be like the easiest thing you could. I feel like they'd be like, just turn on some water and put it in a cup.

SPEAKER_05 35:01

You know, a few years ago, um Koerig, like the coffee cups, had a collab with Campbell soup, where people say had like different flavors of Campbell soup. I think it was like chicken noodle and tomato and put it in the little Kurig pot.

SPEAKER_04 35:16

I see the logic.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

Right?

SPEAKER_04 35:18

But I hate that. So the replicator.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Sure. Um the transporter. Yeah, but there are a lot of transporter accidents. Are there? There's a lot of accidents with a lot of things. Like the Tuvix situation, I believe, was a transporter accident. Yes. So I don't know. It's not perfect.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Because that's what I like. I I don't know any of them, but I I wrote down transporter because that'd be cool to like be able to be myself wherever I want. Whenever I want.

SPEAKER_05 35:45

I like the holodeck. Yes. Which is kind of like you know what that one is?

SPEAKER_04 35:49

Is that um like VR? Pretty much. Kind of, yeah. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Like you just kind of go into a big room and you can like do what you can be part of like whatever you want to do. Like Janeway's always in like a period piece type thing. Irish countryside.

SPEAKER_04 36:02

Yeah. Oh, that's fun. And so you like interact with characters in this. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 36:07

And you can like write your own stories in the Star Trek universe instead of movies. Movies would be like this archaic form of entertainment.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 36:18

And you put yourself in. Yes, it's like a hollow film, I think they call them, or some hollow novel, they say a lot. Yeah. Who writes them?

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Sometimes the people like, oh, it's my program. Like it's like I made this.

SPEAKER_05 36:31

I've been working on it, it's my hobby. No, come to like 1920s, New Orleans, speak easy with me.

SPEAKER_04 36:36

Yeah. That's cool. Can you touch things in there?

SPEAKER_05 36:38

Oh, yeah. Yeah. People fuck in there. They do. I'm sure Quark has that's his whole business. That's true. That's his whole business. Pretty much. Well, he runs this like CD brothel, a CD bar with hollow suites on Deep Space Nine's space station. And um, he's like a bartender. There's gambling. It's a full like braw space brothel.

SPEAKER_04 36:59

Open the door and walk in there, you just see a bunch of people. I'm picturing like if you walk into like a silent disco.

SPEAKER_05 37:05

It's like no, it's it's more immersive than other people can walk into your program. They shouldn't be able to, but like it happens all the time, like through different like plots, plot devices. But so you like reserve time. Yeah. They're like, I've booked the holodeck suite for an hour, and I'm gonna use my program like Irish countryside to bang this guy.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Yeah, I was gonna say it seems like they there's definitely some bang all over the walls.

SPEAKER_05 37:32

There's there's like so many different stories that are all tied to that holodeck.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

I bet the other downside with the holodeck though is there's also a lot of holodeck accidents in which yeah, the hollow like holograms in there become sentient pretty frequently. Or like it's like, oh, like you can't die in the holodeck, except we turned off the safety fee. Like, oh no, don't we get stabbed and you die? Like okay, so risky, but fun. But isn't all fun risky? Exactly. I also think in our current, you know, if we actually had holodeck technology, we would all die in there. What?

SPEAKER_04 38:06

Oh, I would die with a V if somebody would be like, Hey, do you want to play a VR game? I feel like I would trip over something and die.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yeah. You know, but you would just like like we're addicted to our phone, like we can't look up for our phones for five seconds. Like, we couldn't be in a like a realistic time where I could just like have sex with everyone in this period. Peace.

SPEAKER_04 38:25

So we know what your holodeck would be. And so what would yours be, Caitlin? Probably something similar, I'm so honest.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

It's just gonna be doing it. There is a lot of um in Voyager since they're stuck, stranded, only humans. Um, they're like 100,000 light years away. It would take 90 years to get home. So like they're they're out there. Spoiler, they do get home. Um surprise.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

Okay. Are they 90 years old when they get home? No. No. Oh they make it. They make it. Well, Interstellar really uh traumatized me.

SPEAKER_05 38:56

Yep, yeah. Not not that situation at all, thankfully. But there's all these people, like they make like resort programs. So they're like, oh, this is just a resort we go hang out at. So it's like taking a vacation. Well, that's nice. People, there's frequent refrage like like things about going uh like wind sailing or like windsurfing.

SPEAKER_04 39:16

Do people come back tan? Yeah, I mean, I think I I'm gonna say yes.

SPEAKER_05 39:21

Okay, it seems pretty realistic, so you'd think you'd at least get a little tan.

SPEAKER_04 39:25

Yeah, I know you guys have like said it a million times. I don't know why I'm not getting it. It's like you actually are in that place. Yes, you are.

SPEAKER_05 39:30

Like you're drinking, yes, you're drinking, eating, you're feeling the screwing people.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Okay, everyone has usually everyone's wearing the outfit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:38

Wait, what outfit? Whatever the character, like yeah, whatever's another. Are you a 1930s gangster? Yeah. Yeah. Are you a Nazi? Wait, really? Yes. Oh my god. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

You'd be surprised where Nazis come.

SPEAKER_05 39:50

Is it is it Voyager or Deep Space Nine that has like a couple season finales where they're like fighting Nazis? I think it's there definitely is a vo is a holodeck episode where they're like in 1930s Germany, yeah. And then it's like it's definitely Voyager because Seven of Nine is singing in the club as she does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

I forgot that there was somebody named Seven of Nine.

SPEAKER_05 40:10

Yeah, it's a hard one. Well, they brought her onto the show because is it Jerry? It's like Jerry Ryan or something like that. Anyway, she's a baddie. She's hot. She's real hot. She is the most 90s hot. Jerry Ryan, sorry. Jerry Ryan. Yeah. Um sorry, what does she have to do with Nazis? It's just she's in the episode. Oh, okay. She wasn't a Nazi though. And um, she's a redeemed um Borg. They've basically turned her back into Hazard.

SPEAKER_04 40:35

Oh, like rehabed from the Borg.

SPEAKER_05 40:37

Yes, back into human. And she is very straightforward and blunt, and they brought her that character on to like save the series because the ratings were going down. Because remember. So they wanted a hot chick with big boobs. Absolutely, because it's the mid-90s. It's it is still the mid-90s. Yeah. It's still the mid-90s.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Well, it's like Battlestar Galactica. There's this like hot blonde that keeps showing up randomly, and you're like, what's happened in there?

SPEAKER_02 40:59

It's crazy that like they ended up destroying the world pretty much because this guy gets like duped by this hot chick. Like, that's the only like, oh, oops.

SPEAKER_04 41:09

Like last question, and then I want to make sure that you all say anything else that you wanted to. We already kind of talked about this. Do you believe in aliens? And if so, do you think they're already here?

SPEAKER_05 41:22

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

Among us right now? Probably. In this room?

SPEAKER_05 41:26

No, I would say not in this room. Yeah. Um, but I think I'm a human. I I like really like the Vulcan style of watching and waiting. I wouldn't be surprised if there are like more advanced civilizations, aliens, like kind of just monitoring Earth. And I do know that makes me sound bonkers.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

Oh no, I said that I said for a fact they come into the room and stick a scope up your nose and put something in your brain while you're sleeping.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

I know I think they're probably here. I don't know if we've had any interactions with them. Maybe.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

I want to think there are aliens for sure, because it just seems kind of sad to be like, oh, this huge universe, and then it's like just us. Like there's like just like no way, yeah. Like statistically, I feel like it seems like if they've gotten here, I don't know. Like everything's so far away. Did they develop like a warp speed of travel? I hope so.

SPEAKER_04 42:18

I hope we can because I really want to go to see other oh, you do.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Yeah. Okay, those I mean I couldn't because I'm pretty motion sick. Me too.

SPEAKER_05 42:26

So it would be bad for all the other astronauts.

SPEAKER_04 42:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:31

I mean, if we're going like by the Star Trek timeline, I think it's a in about a hundred years uh warp drive is invented. We're getting there. So um that that's the other thing about Star Trek is that I like to kind of just believe the canon because it's all future. Because I'm like, that'll happen. That's gonna be that's just part of it. It's gonna we're gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_04 42:54

Right. Yeah, they uh I guess it kind of brings a little hope to these dark times.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's a hopeful vision of the future, largely, I would say. Escapism.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

Is there anything else I didn't ask that you all wanted to mention about Star Trek?

SPEAKER_02 43:09

Uh, sort of a character on Star Trek is related to why Barack Obama became president, I guess, long term. Oh, let's hear it. Okay, so a man named Jack Ryan was a candidate for the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois. He was campaigning against Barack Obama, but it received a lot of attention because there was a disclosure of like sealed custody documents from a divorce from his wife, Jerry Ryan, who played Seven of Nine. And the documents kind of detailed that uh Ryan wanted his wife to perform sexual acts in public in like clubs and stuff. Oh and so that was kind of holodeck. Yeah, Apolodeck. What are we in Quarks bars? Seven of Nine's husband is a pervert, and now Barack Obama's president.

unknown 43:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Maybe not one to maybe he would have lost anyway. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

That's some crazy that's I can't that is crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:04

Star Trek touches every aspect of our lives. I really think it does. I really think it does. From like medicine, technology, like I really think it does. Sex. Yeah. Sex.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

Having babies is lizards. Lizard babies. Lizard babies.

SPEAKER_05 44:17

That's how I plan to procreate lizard baby.

SPEAKER_04 44:19

Yeah. And then you'll leave them on the left. That's just what's good for them. What would I be able to do for them? You're right.

SPEAKER_03 44:25

I can't breastfeed a lizard.

SPEAKER_04 44:27

They don't want to live here. Yeah, that was like with um Tangent. It'll be so fast. But with the last Jurassic Park movie, when they brought that, when they brought Dolores back from the Jurassic World, I was like, you guys, she doesn't want to be in she doesn't want to be in the No, but at that point in that movie, I was like, okay. I gotta love you. I liked I saw it on theaters, I loved it. I know. I my mom, I went with my mom and she said afterwards, she said, that's the most fun I've had in years. So yeah. So I think that's how you'll feel when you start Star Trek. Okay, great. And I'll start with say it with me, next Jen. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

I was I was being silent to test you. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

I was actually kind of scared.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

Because then if you said it, Rob, we would have been like, no.

SPEAKER_04 45:12

Thank you all for coming and sharing your culture with me. Of course. I'm so excited to get started. And um, thank you for letting me tell you about powder.

SPEAKER_05 45:21

Hell yeah. Thank you for telling us about powder because that shit was crazy. Yeah, it was really like it makes me wish that we just picked an episode of Star Trek to describe it.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

We talked about the lizards pretty more than I would have anticipated.

SPEAKER_04 45:36

I will I still am pretty shocked that. Yeah, what a what a moral dilemma.

SPEAKER_02 45:42

Leave them.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

Do you leave your baby if it's a lizard? Dump them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:46

Dump those lizard babies.

SPEAKER_04 45:50

Thanks for listening to my whole personality. This podcast is edited and produced by me, Joanna Clark. Theme music by Rebecca Jaffe. If you like this podcast, please like, subscribe, rate it, review it, wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Bye bye.