Tag Archives: star trek

Episode 41 – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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At the edge of the Final Frontier, the Universe’s greatest mystery is about to unfold!

This month, we’re strolling the promenade and enjoying a hasperat with camp director for Camp Quest NorthWest, Michael Warbington, and Michel “Siskoid” Albert of the Gimme That Star Trek podcast to delve into the beloved franchise spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!

Widowed Starfleet commander, Benjamin Sisko, is assigned to a derelict space station orbiting a remote planet devastated by decades of military occupation. He expects a thankless humanitarian effort and a poor environment to raise his son alone. But, after a stable wormhole to the other side of the galaxy is discovered in the system, Sisko finds himself and his station – renamed Deep Space Nine –  at the very center of galactic commerce, political conspiracies, religious prophecies, and eventually war.

With a talented and diverse cast, and groundbreaking writing, it redefined what a Star Trek television show could be.

Music: 
“Main Title/Farewell” from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Dennis McCarthy

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Black Ops Episode 15 – What Do You Think Alan Moore Did?

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In our new episode, Greg Hatcher rejoins us for a free range conversation.

We chat a bit about Trek, the character of Captain Kirk and why it can be a gift when fictional characters age along with their actors.

We try to navigate the labyrinth of public domain laws to fruitlessly try to figure out what you can and cannot do with with new adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, the Lone Ranger and the Land of Oz, and whether being public domain has produced better material.

And finally, we wax nostalgic for a bygone time when “grim and gritty” was new, and when Alan Moore blew the comic industry’s collective mind by doing a post-modern adult interpretation of a British superhero aimed at children.

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Black Ops Episode 14 – More Stuff in the Basement

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In our new episode, there’s some more stuff to clean out the basement.

Casey loves science fiction, but has grown tired of the ubiquity of sci-fi that treats dystopia, calamity and apocalypse as inevitability.  What happened to looking for positive alternatives and aspirational worlds in our genre media?

Is it a symptom of our inability to imagine that we can overcome the things that make the modern world a scary place, and instead just imagine futures where our problems are exactly the same, or  just amplified?

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Fun Size Episode 34 – The Unanimous Whipping Boy of Big Budget Cinema

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We’re back! For this month’s off-topic dive, we look at the tale of two recent franchise spin-offs: Bumblebee and Fantastic Beasts: the Crimes of Grindelwald. Why does the former succeed out of the wreckage of a totally maligned series, while the latter squanders the potential of its predecessor? What do we want out of a spin-off, prequel or sequel to a beloved media property? What separates the wheat from the chaff?

Plus, we ponder the in-universe reality of the WWE in an age where professional wrestling no longer even pretends to be a real sport.

Join us, won’t you?

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Join Us for the Third Annual Captain Picard Day Celebration!

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It’s Back! So Tug down your on shirts and put your party shoes on!

Join Mike and Casey for our third annual Holiday Season gathering!

We’ll be at the Poodle Dog restaurant in Fife, in their Board Room for good food, good conversation, general cheer, and nerdity.

Where: Poodle Dog Restaurant in the “Board Room”
1522 54th Ave E, Fife, WA 98424

When: Saturday, December 15th, 2018 from 5:00pm to 9:30pm..or whenever!

Be There and Be Square!

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Mike Makes a Guest Appearance on the Gimme That Star Trek Podcast!

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Pop the cork on a nice bottle of kanar and bring plenty of yamok sauce, because Mike makes an appearance on Michel “Siskoid” Albert‘s Gimme That Star Trek podcast, to talk about his favorite Trek alien species: the Cardassians!

From their first appearance in the fourth season of Star Trek: the Next Generation to their ongoing role as one of the chief antagonists of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, we dive into the characters and stories that made the Cardassians the most interesting and nuanced villains the franchise ever had.

Check it out!

Fun Size Episode 29 – Fighting the Adam West Fight

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We jump back into the fray with Greg Hatcher, to talk debate the merits of Star Trek Discovery, the future of the franchise and what we want from a Trek property.

We also look at the trailer for the new streaming Titans series, and wonder why such a fun property would want to be dour and overserious. Why do so many fans –and even creators — just miss the point?

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Fun Size Episode 21 – The Nadir of Peak TV

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Wherein Mike and Casey discuss the weird evolution of HBO’s Game of Thrones from an almost obsessively grounded fantasy show to a fist-pumping, crowd-pleasing action fantasy.

We react to what we’ve seen, read and heard of the upcoming Star Trek Discovery and Seth MacFarlane’s Trek spoof/homage, the Orville. And we talk about how many studios – mainly Marvel Studios – don’t take advantage of the format of Netflix and often saddle their seasons with too many episodes.

And Mike prays for death as his lungs are full of yuck and his voice sounds terrible. Ugh.

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Fun Size Episode 18 – A Nesting Doll of Weird

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We continue our talk with Greg Hatcher and dive into the world of comic books and beyond!

We reminisce about Marvel’s 1970s misfit superhero team, the Defenders, and an absolutely batshit tale from writer Steve Gerber that includes stolen brains, absurd body horror, elves with guns, and the soul of an evil wizard trapped in the body of a baby deer!

Plus, we look at the strange turn that comic book scribe Mark Millar’s work has taken in his new series Huck, which is a radical departure from his regularly shocking, cynical and violent stories.

We talk about fan entitlement and the ups and downs of finite vs. ongoing storytelling.

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Fun Size Episode 12 – I’m Just Here for Ka-Ching!

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We continue our talk with Matt Goodman and Matthew Amster-Burton, and get into topics ranging from advertising characters transitioning into movie characters, and why the ultimate thing an actor can do is be photographed holding a skull.

We also get into weird meta-fiction in everything from Batman to Kurt Vonnegut to Will Ferrell movies, where the author themselves become characters directing the action.

Plus, we look at the renewed optimism — both in and about — Star Trek. Not only the return of the utopian aspirational science fiction future, but also how Justin Lin may have course-corrected a second movie franchise with Star Trek Beyond.

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Fun Size Episode 10 – Jodorowsky’s Still Alive

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Mike and Casey sit down with Kinsey Burke, Patrick Johnson, and Sam Mulvey to bat around a contentious and complicated topic: adaptations, reboots and remakes.

How faithful should a work be to its source material when it’s adapted from one storytelling medium to another? What happens when it deviates over time? What about when a beloved past work is rebooted in ways we cannot stand? Is it really worth getting worked up about, now that the floodgates are open?

And can a bad adaptation transcend the source material and become a wonderful hypnotic disaster? Is it time to make peace with changes to Game of Thrones, and the Ghostbusters remake?

Also, Mike fights — against all odds —  to protect a young friend from a 43 year-old movie spoiler.

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Fun Size Episode 6 – Open Carry Nunchuck Movement

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Nunchaku

In the wake of injury, scheduling issues, and technical problems, we will sadly not be able to give you our regularly scheduled panel episode. However, we can give you another Fun Sized dose of off-topic nonsense!

We sit down with Rebecca Friedman — again — for a talk about weird local insurance ads, superhero cartoons starring M.C. Hammer, and forthcoming return of Star Trek to television.

And seriously, don’t bring your ninja weapons on the White House tour, bro.

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Episode 23.5 – Do We Need to Get Racist, Casey?

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In the afterglow of our Star Trek: the Next Generation panel, Mike and Casey continue their chat with Ryan Chaddock and Greg Hatcher for some off-topic conversation.

We dig into why Mike totally doesn’t have pink eye, the use (or non-use) of secondary Star Trek characters, our hopes and fears for Star Wars: the Force Awakens, the Blade Runner and Mad Max sequels, inter-fandom schadenfreude, and 1980s slasher movies.

And we ponder: why don’t we get any hate mail?

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Episode 23 – Star Trek: the Next Generation

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Space…the final frontier…

Mike and Casey reserve a table in Ten Forward and share a pot of “tea, early grey, hot” with Greg Hatcher of Comic Book Resources’ Comics Should Be Good! blog and game designer Ryan Chaddock. Our continuing mission: to launch a class-5 probe into the Neutral Zone, and to discuss the classic science fiction series, Star Trek: the Next Generation.

We discuss how it added to the Trek mythos, the tug of war over the show’s themes and writing, and how the classic series stands the test of times as a piece of optimistic science fiction in a current age of popular dystopias and the “grim and gritty” storytelling in genre film and television.

Make it so!

Music: 
“End Credits” from Star Trek: First Contact by Jerry Goldsmith

Previously titled: “Oh, God. Not Another Troi Episode!”

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Episode 21.5 – The Robots Disagree with You, Edgar Wright!

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In the aftermath of our Twin Peaks panel, we’re joined again by Roz Townsend and Pól Rua for a continued discussion about how awesome actor Miguel Ferrer is. We also dive into how Twin Peaks‘ Pacific Northwest setting is very familiar to our Seattle-area panelists, and how the show influenced a decade of television.

We get into automated fansourcing of our entertainment, why Godwin’s Law demands you support the arts, and the British science fiction series, Blake’s 7.

Also, Mike argues with a folksy robot.

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