Yet Another Star Trek Podcast - Ep 004: (TOS S01E02) Charlie X

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

In this episode the gang is disappointed to find out that Patrick Stewart doesn't guess star as Professor X in the episode "Charlie X". Drew assembles and leads his team of comic nerds on this discussion filled trip. What did you think of "Charlie X"? 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: https://soundcloud.com/williamgrobbelaarmusic Additional artwork by George Rateau: https://www.fiverr.com/georgerateau  

Hey everyone, welcome to yet another Star Trek podcast. I'm your host for today, my name is Drew. Hey everyone, welcome to yet another Star Trek podcast. I'm your host for today, my name is Drew. Tonight, my co-host, first up. When he stares at you, you turn into Magic the Gathering cards. It's Brad! What's going on, buddy? Hey, how's it going?

Yeah, I mean, I got that magic glare, what can I say? Dude, are you tapped or untapped? That's it. I gotta make sure I'm untapped all the time. I gotta be prepared. I gotta confession that is literally the only thing I know about magic gathering. Yo, you know what? You got the basic. You got the basic style. That's all matters. Next up, he stares at you and you turn into protein powder. That's what you'd. That's that's that's so accurate. It's either protein powder or pre workout.

I mean, aren't they the same thing? No, no, no, no, no, that's. He's ready to pour you into some water and drink you. I might have to bring out that safe word. Oh, yeah, yeah, we are we're getting close I'm even a minute in and we're about to break out the safe word. Oh my goodness. How are you guys doing today? It's been exactly one week since we've met to talk about our favorite show in the entire universe Star Trek and Man, it's it's it's been a heck of a week hasn't it? How's everything going, Brad?

Brad, I've been doing good. Had the wife's birthday this past weekend. Did absolutely nothing. So it was fantastic and did everything that she wanted, which was fantastic for her. So therefore not so much for me. I'm sorry to hear that. But there's a lot of cleaning, there's a lot of cleaning and cooking and laundry. Was she like standing over you with like with a wooden spoon, judging everything you're doing? The judging eyes be like, those clothes are not gonna do themselves.

Ooh, fold it again and she knocks over the entire basket. She's like a cat standing on top of the, Oh, fold it again and she knocks over the entire basket. She's like a cat standing on top of the Top of the cabinet just knocking stuff over Clean that up and making while making eye contact the entire time and Maggi how you doing man? I'm great man up here in the Northeast. We we had a man up here in the Northeast, we had a snow squad. And the sky's blackened for what, 10 minutes. After we got the alert, I said to myself, I should get some popcorn.

And I was fully prepared to leave the house to go up the street to target and get popcorn. And my wife says to me, no, I'll go with you. I'm like, you sure? Because this is this is about the start and we're not going to get popcorn. And lo and behold, by the time she was ready to go, this wall started. And I just, I just kind of like, you know, shrugged my shoulders, turned back the her slowly, and unzip my jacket and say, this is your fault. Why, why did you do popcorn? Why not? Who doesn't need popcorn?

I mean, like, didn't you have other food in your house besides like the water that was coming out of the faucet? Couldn't you have some chips and dip? Yeah, but not every day is chip and dip day. Some days is popcorn day. And apparently Sunday was popcorn day. It was Saturday. Shit.

You're in the same state and you don't even know. We are. We are the same thing. We have no concept of time. For the record, Drew and I talked that day and we were like, man, what a what a weird weather phenomenon that just happened because of not global warming. And Drew's like, oh yeah, no, I'm up in this city.

And it just happened to cool. Yeah, we had it about 20 minutes before you had it. And but yeah, to answer your question, what day is it? I don't know. It's all very confusing for me. It's today. It's all of that. It is today.

Drew doesn't use a clock or a calendar. He looks up at the sky. He determines what day and the time of the year it is. Yeah. Pretty much. Winter solstice seems to be coming pretty soon today. Is it, is it, is a meme somewhere there? Yeah.

So there was something that I wanted to talk to you guys about last week and we kind of missed it. And I kind of want to you guys about last week and we kind of missed it. And I kind of want to get your impressions on this. Variety Hollywood Reporter announced that there's going to be a new Star Trek sequel using the JJ Abrams cast. Have you guys had chance to look into that at all and do you have any thoughts? I'm super excited, man. I'm super excited.

And every time they've tried to move forward with this new Star Trek in the Calvin timeline, I think I've sent you the article, and you've said to me, and I quote, I'll believe it when the trailer comes out. Even then, I won't believe it until I have tickets to my hand walk into the theater. I'm pretty sure, though, you would be excited

if we just said lens flare. I love it. I'm pretty sure though, you would be excited if we just said lens flare. I love it. I love it. But you know, that is, that is an accurate statement, Majeed. Like I, I have been waiting for this fourth film since the third one, which, you know, I enjoyed quite a bit and they've tied so many different directors to this fourth movie over the past How many years at this point and nothing is happening? So I mean it sounds like the cast is on board

but I guess I don't know now I'm reading some stuff that not everybody was aware that there was gonna be a fourth movie and I don't know any details,'m reading some stuff that not everybody was aware that there was gonna be a force movie. And I don't know any details, but did they initially plan for movies? They only plan one. I think that's accurate. Yeah, I think they've just be kind of going as they go. Honestly, like, I didn't really care for the third one.

I honestly can't even remember. I think the third one was probably one of the third one. I honestly can't remember. I think the third one was probably one of the better ones. I felt it was. Yeah, because it felt closer to what we've been watching on the series, you know? Yeah, I would agree with that. It felt the most Star Trek to me. Star Trek, yeah.

Star Trek E, to me. You know, I felt like the crew had bonded and developed like these real friendships, and they were kind of bouncing off of each other. The first film, they didn't know each other. And they were kind of at odds with each other quite a bit. And with the second one, I think there was so much focus on the whole con reveal and everything.

And I just felt like they hadn't earned some of that stuff. And then I just got a little silly. But the third film, to me, felt more organic. And it kind of reminded me of like some of the later original series films, some of the next generation films. Just, I don't know. It felt like more of a Star Trek movie than the other two. Because the first Star Trek had to set up Kirk taking over on ship. It had to

set up these bonds. It had to explain where this existed in the timeline. The second one had to live up to the promise that Kirk was going to quote unquote earn the captain's chair. And then by the time the third one came out, they had already settled into these storylines, these roles. There was nothing else to really prove. So they had a little more freedom to fall back into what made Star Trek. Star Trek. I don't know, I think with the Kelvin timeline stuff, it just feels very unoriginal. It feels like they're rehashing the same characters and retelling the same stories,

but just reimagining it. I know that's the point of a reboot, but I would have rather saw something unique or original with new characters, new locations, something that was different. Well, with the third film, that's exactly what you've got. The other two, not so much. So by that logic, you would, I would say that you would probably prefer the third film.

I agree. I don't even know. Like I know I saw it, but I don't remember any of it. Like I know there was a good alien with like good stripes and like a, I don't remember. Stripes. Stripes sounds right. Like a, like a, like a tiger, like a zebra. Wait, tiger is not half stripes. Wait, tiger's don't have stripes. I'm not, you guys figure this out. I'm just, I don't agree. I don't, if we can't solve this now, I won't be able to focus on recording the podcast.

Yes, tigers have stripes. Ah, thank God. All right, I'm good now. So today, we're going to be talking about Charlie X. It is the second-earing episode of the original series, first aired on September 15th, 1966. Second to air, but the eighth episode produced in the series overall. And yeah, let's get into it, shall we? The crew of the Enterprise provides transportation for a young man named Charlie Evans. Charlie is on his way to Colony Alpha 5. Captain of the Antares is all too eager to talk about how great Charlie is. We learn right away that Charlie has never seen a woman before, and that's because he was a sole

survivor of a crash ship grew up alone for 14 years. Charlie explained to Dr. McCoy that he used the ship's recordings to learn how to talk. It's clear that his social skills are lacking, however, as he starts to stalk Yeoman Rand. After observing how two other men interacted with each other, he makes the bold decision to slap Rand's ass. For some reason, Rand decides not to kill Charlie on the spot, and she tells Tim to talk to the captain and why it's a bad idea to put your hands on another woman's tushy. After meeting back up with Kirk, Charlie tries to get a better understanding of women, and Kirk tries to find a way to get out of the conversation. Thankfully, a message from the Antares comes for the captain giving him and out. The two of them take a turbo lift to the bridge, and Kirk becomes a quick change expert,

changes his shirt, only to hear a very vague warning before the entire is blows up. Things start to get real dicey at this point. Kirk, McCoy, and Spock play a game of hot potato as they try to get someone else to play father figure for Charlie. As expected, Charlie gets bored of their crap and runs off to find Rand. When he finally finds her, Rand tries to hook Charlie up with another young yeoman in an attempt to give him the hint. She's not interested.

But after turning down his advances yet again, Charlie somehow ends up with Kirk again, but this time Kirk should shirtless and he tries to teach him how to take a fall. Charlie loses his patience with this judo lesson and with everybody on the Enterprise, he starts to use his godlike powers whenever he wants. The crew of the Enterprise make multiple failed attempts to stop Charlie as they try to prevent him from getting this colony Alpha 5. Luckily, this amazingly timely alien race called Dathazie and show up in the nick of time and magically undo everything Charlie did, including returning all the people

that Charlie made vanish into nothingness. The floating green head explains to Charlie that he was given powers to live, but he can never leave their planet. In the freeze frame shot, we see Charlie vanish and the crew of the Enterprise go back to their daily tasks. To sum up the episode, Charlie X is not related to Professor X. Kirk is a quick change expert in the Turbo Lift and if a bodyless being ever shows up you better do what it says.

Wow. That was some episode wasn't it? It sure was. So first thing I got to ask you guys, I'm gonna start with Majeed on this one. If you had got like powers of Charlie did, what would you do with them? Just his powers or just powers in general? Yes. Let's just stick with Charlie's powers. I'm gonna make myself rich because at that point, I'm assuming that I wouldn't have learned

that with great power also comes great responsibility. So I would have abused those powers. How about you, Brad? I'd probably go mess with the queue. See what the hell they're up to. You know, that brings up a an interesting point like how close to the queue continuum is Charlie. Never going a little asco here for for Majeed, but continuum is Charlie. Now we're going a little asco here for Majeed, but the QContinuum have this omnipotence that I kind of wonder where Charlie's draw the line. I guess he can't

just magically appear and disappear. I've noticed that there tends to be a level of power that flows throughout Star Trek's shows and in episodes that like to me this is like the first true showing of a truly powerful being that is beyond potential comprehension of like humanity. And it I think it's a good example of how it's it's that elephant in the room where this stuff happens a lot, but they just never really address it. They're like, oh it happens, so we're just gonna leave it in the corner and hope it doesn't do anything. And if you truly sit down and think about it, it's terrifying to think about how powerful some of these beings and aliens have throughout the Star Trek history, but it's also comical at the same time. It's hilarious to just understand that at the same time too.

Yeah, I would agree with that. Mijin, how do you feel about the omnipotent God storyline? I think it was very cheesy. I think it was done very, very cheesy. And I kind of wish I had my nachos for that, as Brad would say. I really enjoyed it, but um, did, did Kirk also have godly powers because stick with me on this one. Whatever Charlie used his powers and he was, you know, gazing into the camera, it would

always highlight just his eyes. And during the judo lesson with, with Topless Kirk, he also had like the just the highlight around his eyes when he was trying to tell Charlie, hey, you cut it out. Like, you know, the Kirk have powers, you know, just... He had the power of confidence and swagger. I don't think he's ever acquired powers in any of the episodes, and I'm aware of. Well, no, I mean, you know, nothing of that nature, no, but, but I mean, like, I, you had Charlie who was, who was relying on his powers to get what he wanted, and Kirk was relying on his sheer charisma and confidence to get what he wanted. So it was like a man mask, yes. He just, you know, sprayed in the general direction of Charlie

and Charlie O'Bade. So, you know, I found it very interesting to watch Kurt kind of flex those muscles, no pun intended. He was flexing. He was flexing, yeah. So how about you Drew, which power, or what would you do with those types of powers if you had that? Oh, man, you know, I wasn't expecting to have to answer this question myself. You were like, I'm just hoping we talk about other crap and so therefore they forget about it and then I'm good. In Brad's defense, we are pretty, you know, short-minded.

And we won't move on. Years ago, I had a conversation with some friends we were sitting around trying to figure out what each other's superpowers would have been if we were like, you know, superheroes. And I always joked around that my superpower would be to have the strength to German suplex a tank. You might call that a droplex. I love it. So perfect. So if you're ever wondering where I got that from, now you know. I love that. I love that you guys are like, hey, what would we do if you were

superheroes? None of you guys would be superheroes. Who are you calling? You know, I'll be villains. We were like, we were like 20. We didn't know any better. Man, I'm totally, we weren't jaded yet. I would totally use that power for time travel. Go around. You don't already?

Oh, of course, man. I mean, there's like Brad. We've definitely seen two Brad's in one place at the same time. I know, right? Yeah, I know. two brads in one place at the same time. I know, right? Yeah. Yeah. Buffalo Wild Wings is a spawn point. Can I blow your minds, both of your minds collectively really quick?

Yes. Go for it. I watched the episode on Sunday night with my wife. What? What? I watched the episode Sunday night with my wife. What did she think? What she said?

She was willing to watch it. Now mind you, this is the same woman that thought Yoda was a Star Trek character. So the fact that I got her to agree to watch this episode with me I think was, you know, it's pretty, it's pretty curk of on my part, you know. Did you like stare at her with shadows around your face and just a streak of light across your eyes and say, you're going to watch Star Trek with me?

I, uh, I kind of slowly unzipped my sweater. And I said, you sure you don't want to watch this with me? Are you sure? Boy, that was misdirection of it's finest nature, man. Yeah, she wanted to get a little bit of shoulder here. Let me show you some of that shoulder. Oh, yeah. Now you're watching the Enterprise.

She, she totally enjoyed it, man. She was there for it. Yeah, she thought it was cheesy, but, um, she enjoyed it. She was like, oh, hey, that's the same character that was in the movie with, she said Gamora. I love that she knows Zoi Sadanas, just Gamora now. Oh my god, yeah. And yeah, and she was like, oh, I see why they cast him. I see why they did that. Oh, he looks like Kirk from a different angle.

I see why they use that handsome guy. I'm like, wait, you think Chris Pine is handsome? Also, because I do. I mean, yes. Yeah. I was embarrassed, you know, that I'm over here writing notes down and I had to get up to put close in a dryer and I had to pause and she's like, wait, why are you pausing it? I said, this is homework. I said, I said, Brad and Jewel tear me apart if I don't, if I don't take notes and be able to talk about this at the expert level they do. I think that was actually probably a good episode to introduce her into it.

The cage was probably would have made her leave the room and be like, yeah, I'm never watching that ever again. And man trap was probably, it was good, but it was, I think this was a lot better episode to introduce a non-star Trek type of person into the series. Yeah, no, it's totally. I was, I'm over here writing down notes and she's like, well, what are you, oh, this is for your little thing with Brad and Drew.

Am I, am I gonna be on it? I'm like, no. No, No, you're not. I don't know. No. We can get like a 15 second clip of her being like, it's silly. You guys are silly. Yeah. That's just being generous. I she tells a story to other people about how I told her about the podcast with you guys and how I have my hands on my hips and Really proud of myself that I was doing this You know part of her is like oh, it's cool that he has friends You know, this is what I got to put up with you Um, you know, it's a death of us part. You made your choice.

Yeah. So I beat you guys. I got my wife to watch an episode of Star Trek before you could. Well, that's not entirely true, because watch Deep Space 9 from start to finish with me. So don't do it. I'll never get my wife to watch that. She will watch Star Wars related things, but even Star Wars stuff now is really getting

her going with saying, this is stupid. Why are we watching it? I don't understand anything. My wife watched Discovery with me. She watched it with Season 2 with Pike. So when Anton Mountain came onto the cast, she watched those episodes. And I don't blame her for sticking around because Pike, like we've talked about before, he was just the best part, not proto-Pike. Protopike can go, you know, kick rocks somewhere.

I'm talking about Anton Mountain Pike. Can we call him Beta Pike? She's got a thing for Anson. I do. Everybody does. Yeah. Anson mounts dreamy. Man, yeah, he has a salt and pepper hair. Rew.

I don't even have to react to that. You know, do you know, you just, you just, uh, you just like, okay, well, I'm starting to piece things together. Um, but you like to rock. You like Sans and mounts. What do they have in common? Nothing. He burns like a kitten. He burns the kitten. He burns.

Listen, if a kitten ever purred like that, just get rid of the kitten. This is something you're gonna see. This is it. I want to talk about Charlie and his repeated attempts at courting a human rant. First of all, how do you feel that situation was presented? Stalker-ish? Um, like, like it was the implication that she couldn't say no or something bad will happen to her.

Because she's on a boat. She wouldn't dare say no. I feel like they handled it pretty well though. Like, you know, we've seen this sort of thing happen with the first episode of the pilot. And I feel like if this situation arose with those sensibilities from the pilot, we might have had a very different outcome. She stood up for herself. She was very, she's very commanding and she knew what she wanted, what she didn't want. I just

quickly, not a side step, but just a quick thing The uniforms for the women were really really shorts. Yes, like I think you're hurrah got like fell off a chair And it's like basically an under skirt shot. It was the weirdest thing I really hope that as the show goes on a season two they give her a more conservative look pants. You, they give her a more conservative look. Pants, you hope they give her pants. Let's not go that far. You're not gonna see pants on the women's uniforms until the movies. No, unfortunately.

Hey, you know what, I feel like we should get some kilts in there and then I would feel comfortable. But you're not, but, but no, why? Why would you be comfortable with kills? There's equality, man. Like, I want to see a Scotsman with like a kill on. And then I'd be like, oh, cool. Shit's equal now.

Did that next generation? What? So who do you want to see wearing a kills? Scottie. No, obviously. Scottie. He's Welch. He's not even Scottish. Yeah, close.

He's a Welchman. I'm not, I don't like this. That's right. And Picard was a Frenchman. Right, John Luke. With an English accent. You didn't have an English accent. Yeah.

Is it English? You're breaking me right now. It would be your first time. Is it is a mirror? Is it GD's break? You could go both ways with that one. And just to clarify before some keyboard warrior yells at me, Scotty is in fact Scottish, not Welch. I don't, uh, I don't have enough information to fight you on this, so leave it alone.

Well, it's a fact. You need to understand, GD, that you're in the presence of two individuals who are far nerdy or than you will ever be. Hey, out of the three of us in this podcast, who's the one nerd not wearing a Star Trek shirt? He's got you there, Brad. Fair, fair, fair. He's got you there. What'd you guys think about Kirk and the way he handled the situations with Charlie? Namely how he spoke to Charlie about how it's not okay to treat women that way or how he tried to

or how he tried to reluctantly mentor Charlie to some degree and show some sort of a, I wouldn't go as far as saying, father ship role, but kind of feel those shoes a little bit. I think given the situation that the story is based around, it was an acceptable method. Because remember Charlie was alone since he was three so he shouldn't or probably wouldn't have an understanding of any type of social cues in that sense. So I think to the way Kirk was trying to get Charlie to understand it was a cross between talking to a child and trying to get an adolescent young male to understand the whole situation. Was Janice the first person or Rand? Was she the first person that Charlie saw

when he got in the ship? Was it the first woman? The first woman, yeah. So Leste first sight? Pretty much. I thought Kurt handled it well. Yeah, and I mean, like, you know, the, I think he said, there's no right

way to hit a woman. Don't know, it's an interesting way to phrase it. It certainly wasn't as definitive as I would have liked, like, you don't hit women, but, you know, I guess we could take it, right? Like, this is what it is. Now, he was saying, you don't hit women. Kirk is a Kirk is an exception. There's his powers and his man mask. I really appreciate it that he tried he reluctantly tried to take Charlie under his wing and showed him how to control himself. But Charlie was just too impatient. And when you coupled that with the fact that Kirk didn't even want To mentor him, you know that that relationship deteriorated really fast But to Kirk's credit when the phasions showed up at the end of the episode

Kirk fought to keep him around. He's like well, he should be with his own kind He should not be with another culture. Yeah. Human should raise this boy. And I thought that that was a true statement of his character that despite the frustrations, despite the battle he went through to get his control of his ship back and to get his crew back, he was still willing to do the right thing.

Yeah, you could see how he struggled with that decision to, uh, to, you know, to keep him to keep Charlie on board, which I appreciate it. There was some acting there. Brad, do you think that like he had his fingers crossed behind his back when he was saying that to them? No, I don't think so. But I do have to point out that when Charlie started to exhibit the Godlike powers, and I can't remember that that Krumman, or if they even mentioned his name, it's like the this other Krumman who was in the same room and they were sparring.

He's like, he's gone. And then Kirk's just like, you're a bad boy. That's kind of it. It wasn't like, oh my god, what happened to this guy? Just more of like, you shouldn't do that. That brings me back to another way of Drew ruining me. Last week, Drew basically compared Kirk to Zapp Rannigan. When Kirk said to Spock, hey, he's over taxing himself. So I know what to do. We have to, you know, we

have to keep throwing stuff out of it. I said, oh my God, he's gonna sacrifice everybody. We've after weave after him. I said Drew really. I said I won't ever able to unhear that. It's always gonna be burned into my skull because of Drew. You're welcome. When they said that we have to over-tax him, all like, the picture was like,

we gotta turn all the lights on every single room. Every single light has to be on for it. And I was like, oh man, my wife would be in like, and having her out there, I can turn every single light on without having anybody turn it off. By the way, it was so complicated to turn on some lights. And I'm pretty glad to station it turned on some lights. You know, we were talking about,

we were just comparing your wife to a cat knocking objects off the table earlier in the episode, but like watching McCoy and Spock turning on all the instruments at their panels kind of reminded me of the same thing, because they just walk over, they press a bunch of buttons and then they stare at them. And then they go over the next panel and they'd be like, and they stare at at him. And Charlie's like, oh, you better not do that. You better not do that, or you're gonna be in trouble. And then anything would go over to another panel and stare at him.

Don't make me do it. Don't make me do it. That's about sums it up. I made that same threat to people knowing that I can't fight. I'm like, oh, don't make me. Don't make me, oh, you're going and done it. me. And I just kind of slowly give up. And you're just like, okay, I accept this. I back into the bushes like Homer Simpson. I'm like, you know what? You called

my bluff. I, I, I appreciate you did it. I'm leaving now. What did you think about the, uh, the scene where Spock is playing his Vulcan loot and who her I start singing That was it was blatant flirting and you hear us part, right? You know she has something for the years man She talked about it a few times and in the song she talked about the About the ears and it was it was a garbage song by the way. Oh God, the song was trash. I'm so glad she was an actress and not a singer. It was no way that was breaking top 100. Was that her actually singing?

Yeah. What are they gonna do? Bring in a worse singer. That's so good. I don't know. I remember reading somewhere that she can actually sing and I don't know if it was just like years later that she really took like lessons or something, but to me it just didn't sound right. Well, she took lessons after the episode aired and critics were

bombing her for the first time. The first draft of the episode actually had Uh, uh, as a mimic who was like, uh, you know, parodying her, her fellow officers like, you know, uh, just kind of mocking them. And I guess, uh, it was later turned into the song because of Nichole's musical talents. We keep using the word talents. Are we talking about the same word?

Just, I'm just reading what memory Alfred gives me. Are we using this term loosely? Cause I can use terms loosely. Talent? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, you mean her, not me, okay. Oh.

Oh, you mean her, not me, okay. Oh. I am, I, man, I'm loving the portrayal of William Shatner as Kirk with every passing episode. I think it's, it's, he's, listen, he walks into a room and he commands it. He's the only person I've ever seen wear a bright green silk shirt with the deepest V ever. And just own it. Like he made it look good. And I totally appreciate that. Yeah, I don't think I ever really appreciated his ability

to command a room until we started doing this, quite honestly. Yeah. And it is powerful. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. You feel Chris Pine is a good representation.

In some instances, not everything. Well, I mean, if you're looking at the first film with Pine in it, no, because he wasn't that person yet. And even with the second film, probably not, I think more so in the third film, but it's different. They're not the same man, even though they show the same name. I am. So at what point does it become, um, hammy on unwitting Shatner's part, right? Because you've you've you've

obviously like I did hear all the the negative things that people on William Shatner's part, right? Cause you've, you've, you've obviously, like I did hear all the negative things that people said about his performance where he pauses in between sentences and he'll just eye-banging the camera. I mean, I don't think that was ever really truly a thing. I think it's just kind of overblown, you know, sarcasm on his delivery.

I think it's, I think it's over the years, things progressed to a certain way. And it's certain parts of his acting, because you can, I understand what you mean, Majid, or at least I think I understand what you mean. And I can kind of see that in the episodes we've watched so far, but it's not in an intensity level

where it's the entire episode. It's only like maybe he does a line a certain way that that's like totally how Shaftner would deliver it. So I think when you think about the entirety of this series, I don't think it really gets to that point. Yeah, I'm just happy then. You won't hear him speak like that like for an entire episode.

That is 100% somebody's interpretation of him. That is 100% sarcasm or satire or whatever. We just go listen to rock-a-man, they'll be, take care of your fixer. And he's in on the joke, too. I remember there was an episode of WWE Raw that he hosted where he was singing the theme songs to like John Cena's theme and Ray Mysterio's theme and he was doing it in that stereotypical Shatner delivery. You know, it was hilarious or at least that's how he think it was. Yeah. I mean, I remember seeing him on the Twilight Zone with the, the plane episode. And like, it's the famous line,

like there's something on the wing. And I mean, I know that's something that's always brought up as far as, can't be, but when you actually watch him acting and you actually watch it as in like a full on flow, it doesn't like a full on flow. It doesn't like go out of proportion and it doesn't go out to that far left field like what people tend to stereotype him as. That's exactly what I had in my mind was there's

some thing on the wing. Some thing. Yeah, it's it is in your head. It is far worse than the actual episode. He'll do that. Like that's not something that will happen often, but it will happen. Yeah, but but it is the cultural impression of this is 55 years ago. Yeah. So at this point, it's going to be a full perversion of what the actual truth is at this point. Right. Side note, that episode of the Twilight Zone would be fun to do a review for at some point. Bonus. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then we can watch the John Litho one too version. Hey, John Litho. Yeah, he, he, I think it was in the movie. Like they, they redid that exact story with him as a shatter, Shatter's part. Interesting. Interesting. I did love all that can't be Twilight's own stuff. Yeah, Twilight sounds great. all that can't be Twilight Zone stuff. Yeah, Twilight Zone is great.

And just to continue down that path, this story, Charlie X, is very Twilight Zone-esque. Yeah. Yeah, I've noticed like, this is what our third episode so far we watched. And all three episodes have a very Twilight Zone outer limits influence or at least feel in my mind from it.

And I think it feels more of them getting their own footing. But then again, as the next episodes we watch, like it could just be, this is how the original series is. And it's more on that footing as opposed to what we envision it to be. I'm curious to see how this kind of pans out because our next episode on the schedule is if I'm not mistaken, the first episode produced outside of the pilot. So we're kind of going backwards in the production order a

little bit. Okay, so production episode number two. Correct, yeah. Okay. And we'll talk a little bit about that before we wrap up the show, I'll kind of point out some things to look out for there. So when do we get when do we get Scotty? That's a good question. I'm surprised he hasn't been on here yet because he is he is main cast. After the episode there was this you know when when they're when Charlie gets beamed away and he basically go back to working like nothing happened. Yeah. The end credit, they show like, Sulu fighting and it looks like previews for upcoming episodes. So a shirtless Sulu and just these, you know, space battles.

But I didn't see Scotty. Although in my mind, I'm looking for Simon Peck, I think. Well, you will be sadly disappointed. I don't think so. I think James Dewen is wonderful. I think James Dewen will be hashtag your Scotty. He's mine. I love Peck, but it's so different.

It's, yeah, no, not in day kind of situation. Wait, I have the ability to say hashtag not my Scotty or hashtag my Scotty. It's, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I'd like to see you try. I'd like to see you try. So I just read that he only appears in 66 of the 79 episodes. Really? Hmm. Apparently, yeah. Interesting. Does Kirk appear in everyone too? I would imagine. Well, except for the cage. Okay. So it's funny one thing. I guess I never really realized was that Rand was a bigger part. I didn't realize that she had a somewhat bigger role in the beginning of the series. Yeah, I mean, she's not quite main cast, but she's, you know, a regular, which is something I never really realized. And I am kind of sad to say that I didn't know that.

Yeah. Because I actually really enjoy the character. From what I'm seeing of her, I would like to get to know and understand her better. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like I'm thinking back to like Star Trek IV or Star Trek III when the the Enterprise is pulling into DryDoc and you know it just fought Khan and you know she's standing in the window of the Starbase looking at the ship and just like, oh my goodness. And that kind of has a little bit more impact now. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So Star Trek III picks up immediately where Star Trek II left off?

Yeah, the second, third and fourth films are essentially a trilogy. And they resume almost immediately after the previous rule. I love them that happens. Yeah. I love that. Second and the fourth are probably some of my favorite Star Trek movies. Yeah, same. I know the third I've watched it so few times I probably have only seen it maybe

I want to say maybe three or four times total It's not one that I tend to watch on a regular basis so I Rather watch some of the other ones. Hmm It's it's a it's a good movie I'd rather watch some of the other ones. Hmm. It's a good movie. Maybe not the best one, but certainly is pretty good, in my opinion. Which one?

Part four, the quest for peace. Number three. There are no films with that title. I'm thinking Superman. I'm thinking Superman quest for peace. My bad. Of course you're my bad. Sorry. What else do you guys have anything else about this episode that you want to talk about

that I may be haven't covered? Sexy fighting robes. Why? Why are you wearing sexy fighting robes? First of all, they're called Geeze. Geeze aren't made of silk. Neither were those. It was a pretty shiny and very feathery type of fabric.

Something that you would use to seduce a member of the opposite sex. Oh my god, it was Valor. Was it Valor? I don't remember seeing Valor. Brad is abstaining from this. Yeah. Honestly, the highlight of the episode for me was the quick change scene with Kirk.

Him changing his shirt. That was just hilarious. Was that an accident? They just make a mistake. I think they had to have made a mistake because I I remember watching the episode and I like I was watching it And they changed scenes and he had his wearing an entirely different shirt But it was like a consecutive point where they were like doing something and it was like oh my god He just changed this shirt in the turbo lift. Yeah

By the way, this is the first appearance of the captain's log, right? From Kurt? No. No, the captain's log is quite liberally in the last episode. Did they? Yep. I should have been taking less notes. Yeah. That was an outfit it was as important as this one.

How do you feel about the phasians, the aliens? I felt like that was Bella Legosi's head. Just floating up there. Who was Bella Legosi's head. Just floating up there. Who's Bella Legosi? That's a famous actor from way early, early on film. Way before your time. Way before Star Trek. We're the same age, guys.

You do realize that I went to school for like film editing and all the other fun stuff right? So I had to do film history and all that. All right Brad went to Juilliard. Everyone Brad went to Juilliard. Juilliard. Uh Brad is a classically trained actor. No I've just seen a ton of movies.

I used to have like a collection of movies where it was like up to the 400s. Actually that's preplex. That's pre before that it was all DVDs. Listen, I saw a ton of movies too. I saw every one of the Ernest movies. Ernest goes to jail. Ernest scared stupid.

Scared stupid. Yeah. I saw all the PV Herman movies. That's talk movies, Brad. I saw movies too. So this is a game. No. Also Baka. No. Singing in the rain. too. So this is a game. No, it's a block.

No, singing the rain. No, those aren't movies. All right, cool. Just don't let's let's hope nobody is a cinematophile who's a who's watching this or listen to this. Brumble into Bronx. That is classic. That's a classic.

But to your point, your floating head was to me a bit hilarious. It reminded me of the floating head from TNG. And also the floating head from, I think it was like a Voyager episode or a DS9 episode or something. They do the floating head a few times. Yeah, Ransom from Lower Decks. They didn't use that into a floating head. We'll talk about Jack Ransom in a bit. I'm going to put the brakes on that right now because we will get to that.

I'm gonna put the brakes on that right now because we will get to that I'm excited. Yeah, I don't I don't know if the floating head look like Emerald Agassi The famous chef, but I mean I guess I can always look it up later Right I said the same word right Emerald Agassi That Bella look whatever man, you know what I'm saying the same thing. I'm not I'm not gonna try I'm not ever gonna. I think Drew's right. Let's move on. Let's move on. I would say the same thing. Oh my God. That'd be no. And I win. Right. All right, guys, so I need to know what you thought of this episode. Majid.

I loved it. I, man, I loved it. I'm a sucker for powers. I'm a sucker for powers. I'm a sucker for, you know, references, deep cover references to it's always sunny, I feel it off of you. And I guess I'm a sucker for Captain Kirk Power Moves.

Like that was like Captain Kirk has some power moves, man. That was some big energy coming from Kirk. Can we just call it big Kirk Energy instead? Yes. Okay. That was some big Kirk Energy just call it a big Kirk energy instead? Yes. That was some big Kirk energy. That was some big Kirk energy. Listen, he went shirtless to exercise even though he said no shirt, no shoes, no workout. He's like, he's the captain.

He was tossed around dudes, you know, twice his size. He was bossing around a character that know, twice his size. He was bossing around, he was bossing around a character that could literally disintegrate him with a thought. But nope, nope. He was willing to sacrifice his entire crew to beat him. I love the episode and I hope we have more like it. What are you scoring this is? An eight.

Wow. I'll give it an eight. Wow. I'll give it an eight. I think when we when we finally do our end of season tally and and and top ranking episodes, this will be right up at the top like this, this will be up there. The fact that you can even get my wife to sit through an episode, I think that means something. All right, all right. Brad, how about you? I think the episode was very well done. It did have some points that kind of made me just roll my eyes over the stocking of brand

was kind of like one of those, okay, really really but they did it in a way that it wasn't um overly inappropriate like we've seen in some of the previous episodes so I'm I definitely enjoyed it overall uh I still can't get over the the quick change for Kirk man like that was like and then I think for member crack correctly in the beginning of the episode, he was wearing that like V-neck. He was. And it was so weird. Like at first it was like, is this mirror Kirk?

Is this like a mirror universe Kirk? I thought mirror verse had like a goatee. That's only for Spock. Is that only for Spock? Oh man. I'm pretty sure Kirk doesn't have it in the mirrors I don't believe so I have never I've never actually seen mirror mirror so I'm looking forward to that Yeah, I'm looking for that too, but overall I think that it was a very solid episode. I enjoyed it

See I'm like torn between giving it a seven or an eight. Can I do a point seven point five? No, I don't have a problem with that. I do. All right, because Drew's the host, he gets to choose whether or not it's acceptable. So I'm doing seven point five. We could do point five,

but we cannot split it further than that. Yeah, if you give me a seven point two, five, I'm driving to your house and open hands, Mac, and you're facing it. and that high of a ranking in my mind. This was really good. It was very high up there. There were some moments of cheese, like you say, Majid, where you could just dip some nachos in it, because it was delicious. That's your saying, that's not my saying. Yeah, I just co-opted it.

But that's kind of what it was. It was a very good episode overall. My cat just like busted through the door, like it was nobody's business. Like this is my room. Yeah. I'm on it on it's time, on it's time pause or for a pause.

I don't know. I think you might have dropped kick the door. I'm not entirely sure. He drew Plex the door. He did. He did. See what I did there? It's a call-back.

I like it. I like it. Drew, what are your thoughts, man? How would you, how'd you find this episode? I enjoyed it, but I think I'm a little bit more negative than you guys were on it. I thought it was a pretty solid episode, but nothing that ever like really excelled to greatness. It's 2022. This is a trope that we've seen done time and time again, whether it's in movies, TV, cartoons, comics, you name it. You know, the God-like creature that doesn't know how to handle

his own powers, you know, just out of control. It was done before this and it's been done since. In 1966, maybe not quite as much as it's been done since, but I still think they did a decent job. There's some interesting displays here, like Kirk's willingness to show zero fear and demand respect, no matter how outmatched he may actually be. And then at the end, he still manages to show compassion and recognizes that the aliens, the phasions that are going to be taking Charlie away by putting him with people that are not his own kind isn't the right way to take care of another human. That's a long way of me saying that I think this is a six out of 10. I solid episode but I wouldn't like

run to see it I don't think. I think this is the first time out of the three of us we have three different scores. We have a six, seven, and eight. We had a three, four, and five for the cage. You ready? Yeah, I'm tracking this. I thought I was the lowest for cage. I thought we all collectively hated the cage. Well, oh, we did.

We did. Who gave you, we did, we did. Who gave you the five? Mejid did. Did I really? Yeah. Oh, God. Can I change it? No.

Can I, I can't change it? Oh, the cage is horrible. Yeah. Oh, my God. See, this is why like, it's trying to get like, temper your expectations with these numbers. Yeah. No, no. I'd rather dig a Q-tip into my ear canal

and pull it out of the side than have to watch another, you know, viewing of the cage. So far, so far I'm not sure that me raising it from a zero to a three is valid yet, but I'll give more episodes some chance to fail. Sure enough. Oof, forever the pessimist, huh? Hey, Drew, you promised me that we'd circle back to Jack Ransom.

Yes, and I'm about to do so with our introduction for next week's episode where no man has gone before See what I did there no Gary Mitchell is from this episode The guy who Jack Ransom tried to be When he turned into a god he was channeling the powers that Gary Mitchell was given. Who's Gary Mitchell? Back to back God episodes. Yes, basically.

So are you saying that I have to go back and watch Lower Decks after watching the next episode? I think it will make you appreciate this episode more. Or, yeah. And vice versa. You expect too much of me. I'm not saying you have to do it. I'm just saying that it will better have more appreciation. You'll have more appreciation. The jokes will hit harder. I think what you I've told you this time and time again, your opinions have a great effect on my life. You probably should wait until we're done with the whole rewatch because there's going to be a lot more

down the road. I'm not telling you to watch the whole show just watch one episode. You guys think that my memory is is good. I barely remember what we watched two weeks ago. Oh man, it was the cage wasn't it? Yeah. Anyway, so next week we're going to be watching where no man has gone before and it counts are at the limits of our galaxy begins to change Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell threatens the future of the Enterprise and the human race itself. This is the second pilot that Jean Roddenberry filmed for the show and it was actually the second episode produced but strangely enough the third one released so you guys are going to kind of notice the uniforms are a little different. It's actually quite jarring after getting two episodes with the normal uniforms that we're used to. So

so is this going to be more v neck like shirt Kirk we're going to see? No, no, quite the opposite. Everybody's wearing turtlenecks. Velour bodysuits. It gets cold in space. It gets cold in space. I get it. It's very, very bizarre. But yeah, man, this is like the foundation of the Lower Dex episode. So looking forward to seeing what you think about that. Before it to it. I couldn't be more excited. I think you could. I could be more excited. But I feel like if I say I could be more excited,

I come off like a jerk. I come off more of a jerk. But if I say I couldn't be more excited, you guys know what I'm trying to say, even though it's not entirely accurate. That you're a jerk, got it. Oh, God, that's Shrek 3. That's Shrek 3.

Have we ever gotten the Shrek 3 during the recording before? I don't believe so. Oh, God, this to the heavy. Have we ever gotten a strike three during the recording before? I don't believe so. Oh God, this is the first. This is the first. Only took three episodes to get him into. It's your strike three. Again. My goal is five.

Yeah, well, no. That's a dimer and we'll discuss fines next week. On that note, I'd like to thank everybody for tuning in to yet another Star Trek podcast. We'll see you next week. Bye everybody. Bye! Thanks for listening to yet another Star Trek podcast.

We're a part of the Retro Sessions Network. This episode was recorded on February 22nd, 2022. Hey, that's a palindrome. It was hosted by Brad Drew M. Majeed. This episode was edited by me, Drew. Brad wrote this in Noffsys, and our shoulder daddy, Majeed, takes care of the artwork. Our music, warp speed, into the stars, was written and performed by William Grobalar Music. Be sure to check him out on SoundCloud, we'll have a link for that in the show notes. Would you like to chat with us on social media?

We're just about everywhere. At yet another ST pod. When a drop is aligned, you can email us at yet another ST pod at gmail.com. Next week we will be watching where no man has gone before. Please watch along with us on Paramount Plus or wherever you get your shows. Let us know what you think of the episode. Want to support us? The best way is to write a review and rate us an Apple Podcast, Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts. Don't forget to subscribe too. That's pretty important. Thanks again. We'll see you next week. you