014 - Well, there goes Paradise

To Baldly Go

An evil crew, paradise, and a destructive intergalactic space worm. All this and more in this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast!

I am joined, as usual, this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:

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