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DS9: "Past Tense, Part I" (s3e11)
124 Plays3 months ago
HISTORY IS NOW. The Bell Riots are Star Trek's biggest line in the sand between its fictional future and our now and it's all because how we treat each other now determines our civilization's tomorrow. A transporter accident sends Sisko, Bashir, and Dax to August 2024 in San Francisco where in Star Trek's history, the government has imprisoned the unhoused in Sanctuary Districts. Our Star Trek Predicts... Today! theme month kicks off with 1995's predictions about 2024. Hey... a lot of this stuff is happening this week -- and next!
The grades begin at (21:11).
Recommended
Transcript
Time Travel Accident to 2024
00:00:00
Speaker
This week on Trek Mary Kill, Dims, Ghosts, Gimmes, Energize. A transporter accident. The beam was redirected through time, not space. Redirected where? Not where. When? Sends the crew three centuries back in time. This is not the Earth we're used to, Doctor. Into the heart of a full-scale revolution. This place is about to explode. But getting home may be rewriting history. That's enough on the next Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Introduction to Trek Mary Kill Podcast
00:00:44
Speaker
Hi, I'm Brian. Hi, I'm Kristen. Welcome to Trek Mary Kill, a podcast that, due to the constraints of Starfleet's temporal displacement policy, can't go back in time to change episodes of Star Trek, but only observe and judge. ah But we're doing that for an interesting episode, a very famous episode, for its predictions about the future, which ah is very important for us because we're kicking off our season three here of Trek Mary Kill with Star Trek Predicts,
00:01:12
Speaker
Today!
Societal Issues in 'Past Tense, Part 1'
00:01:14
Speaker
So like I said, this episode is set in 2024 that we're about to discuss. Past Tense, part one, is the 11th episode of Deep Space Nine's third season. It premiered in syndication January 8th, 1995. Teleplay by Robert Hewitt-Wolf from a story by Ira Stephen Bear with Robert Hewitt-Wolf, directed by Reza Bedi. Memory Alpha describes it. Trapped 300 years in the past, Cisco, Bashir, and Dax find themselves confronting one of the darkest hours in Earth's history.
00:01:40
Speaker
what memory alpha doesn't say is that the darkest hour is our treatment of the unhoused or the less fortunate, the poor, impoverished, however one describes humanity as underclass, and given the world we live in today with wealth and equality beyond all notion of measurement and most of the world just a paycheck or two away from losing shelter it seems we're only in like minute 30 of this darkest hour We're looking at episodes that predicted future events through the lens of the present
Relevance of Bell Riots to Modern Society
00:02:08
Speaker
day. In this case, Deepsea Stein is predicting the Bell Riots, an incident where the Unhoused who have been rounded up and caged in these... open air prisons basically called, well, there's buildings in there, but they're called sanctuary districts. A ghetto. It's a ghetto. Yes. There we go. Thank you. That's a word that has not been used in earnest since like the 70s. I'm not saying it as like... Correct. No, you're using it correctly. It is a ghetto. ah Literally, they've rounded people certain people up and put them in an area where they're segregated for the rest of the population and they cannot leave.
00:02:43
Speaker
People are revolting against these conditions and this riot is supposed to occur September 1st to September 3rd, 2024. That's next week. Christen, was this the first time you've seen the episode or had you seen it before? Oh, okay.
00:02:59
Speaker
Nice surprise. I remember watching this as a kid and being like, wow, that's pretty deep. That's pretty intense. And there are certainly a lot of things that were instantly recognizable at the time. And certainly I'm going to launch into all the stuff about how not not a lot has changed before we get into the the the weighty issues here. Let's talk about the superficial stuff, because it's fun.
Game Analysis: Fashion, Politics, Internet
00:03:22
Speaker
And Kristen, for the first time in our shoes history, I want us to play a real live game of fuck, marry, kill.
00:03:28
Speaker
hu Oh, still using Trek Mary Kill. But here are the three concepts. Yeah. There's people who are listening who don't know what our podcast means, and that is what it is. Yes. Do you want to fuck it, Mary, or kill it? So we give you three facets of this first episode. It's a cliffhanger, so they carry over. But anyway, so the three things are,
00:03:50
Speaker
Fashion, the vibes or the cultural politics, do these characters feel like they're of 2024 as we understand 2024? And the third thing is, I was gonna say the importance of the internet, but let's just say like how they use the internet. So again, fashion, internet and the vibes or reality. Fuck, marry, kill, which one's which? I am going to kill the vibes and cultural politics.
00:04:17
Speaker
okay Because yes, they do feel accurate, but I don't care for it. um There's people who... um I don't have this in any of the categories or the grades, but um like there's just kind of people who are like, oh, what's going... I thought it was supposed to be really nice in those kettos that we've erected. And just like completely blind to what's going on. Don't care for that.
00:04:45
Speaker
I'm going to say I'm going to marry
Future Fashion Design Challenges
00:04:47
Speaker
the the use of the internet because um unlike today, it's not just a bunch of shit posters like you actually go on the internet to get a new ID and do like research at a desk. and So you're fucking with that fashion. Yeah, um I didn't love the fashion, but um I thought Dax's like her whole makeup and hair vibe was very interesting.
00:05:15
Speaker
So I approached this question that I posed to myself and to you a little bit differently in that I was like, what did, I was thinking about and from how the writers in 94 predicted 2024 and like, what of theirs, if I were to lay out those three things, what do they predict, but other their predictions, which one's a check, marry and kill. I still like yours though, because yeah, first of all, I would kill the, the, oh, those
Parallels Between Episode Predictions and Reality
00:05:40
Speaker
those are still going on.
00:05:43
Speaker
it was It was both things, that's what you said. Well, it was about a year up, and then taxx or was it it was Dax, right, who's like, I want to be so sure about all that. So that's what i why
Bashir's Character Development in Context
00:05:55
Speaker
I put Mary for the Vibes Cultural Politics because, which I think we actually, because, you know, kind of like predicted the student protests in France, like for completely different reasons, obviously. Yeah. ah But then the just the idea of like, no, a lot of this feels very familiar still. ah The people necessarily didn't didn't necessarily sound like how they sound now. I think they take some liberties or they don't
Real-World Inspiration Behind the Episode
00:06:23
Speaker
realize that the police would be very invested and involved in rounding people up.
00:06:28
Speaker
and maintaining these sanctuary districts ah or that they'd be so eloquent speakers, the guards, you know, those kinds of things. But I still thought the vibes was was the strongest of these three things. the The importance of the Internet. I'll give it a trek because they still thought it'd be more like a TV style set up, not knowing that streaming. but You know, like TV didn't win the Internet one in that battle. It's more like basically YouTube. um I also was like, can I give them points for the stylus being like, that's cool. We do use styluses, but we really do have a lot more touch screens, but still a trek. But I have to kill the fashion. It looks ridiculous. It's just 90s plus. Yeah. i've I've listened to costume designers talk
Star Trek's Storytelling on Societal Issues
00:07:13
Speaker
about this and how it's impossible.
00:07:17
Speaker
to do future fashion without it referencing the current trends. My favorite bit of future costume design of near future humanistic costume design of a movie recently was her, where they're basically, they took it back to the 70s and sort of futurize that a little bit with the modern stuff. I have a friend who was in that film actually.
00:07:42
Speaker
And the men would look ridiculous with their high pants and all that stuff, but it it created a certain mode of like, this feels familiar to our time, but it is also clearly very stylized. And you could see that, oh, some old fashions get recycled into this new thing. It kind of worked really well. And here and there it's on a TV budget, too. So I'm not going to I'm not going to crucify them too much for it. It just was like,
00:08:07
Speaker
Uh, maybe they, there's a version where it's like, maybe they're almost like too artistically flourished. I'm not sure that fashion. Uh, especially for men these days is all that interesting, especially these like tech guys who they would be the 2024 equivalent of the rich people. They wouldn't look like this, like Christopher Brinner, who we'll talk about more, uh, costumes. He would not have been dressed quite like that.
00:08:31
Speaker
And he actually kind of had the same vibe as her with the button collar and all this. Anyway, I just thought it would be fun to play that out because the rest of the episode deals with some pretty weighty themes. And I just wanted to point out that they all looked kind of ridiculous in their future clothes and it was funny.
00:08:46
Speaker
Well, you know what? I like the office worker. The office worker looked good. You know, like people were kind of dressed in a, it was a nice style. when It was fun. All right. So according to Star Trek on August 30th, 2024, Cisco, be Cisco Bashir and DAX being from the divine and orbit of earth in the 24th century to San Francisco in the 21st century for sci-fi reasons.
00:09:07
Speaker
On the night of August 31st, Dr. Bashir is assaulted and a man who comes to his defense is stabbed and killed. That man is named Gabriel Bell, a figure from history who would lead the riots in the unblemished version of history. And then early in the morning, September 1st, the fight between a guard and a person in the sanctuary district, unrelated, sparks the riot and the group takes over the central processing center. On September 2nd, the riot becomes national news when the people in the sanctuary district are able to broadcast their stories on September 3rd, the government storms the building, killing Gabriel Bell. So that's the future prediction. And obviously, yeah almost like if Waco was good,
00:09:53
Speaker
but like the government came in and killed everybody. But like, let's say that they actually had a point. They call people. like the David Koresh guy. Let's say he wasn't a megalomniacole asshole, and he was like actually altruistic. And he wasn't a single person, he was many people. Yeah.
00:10:20
Speaker
us Some other thoughts. As the staff of DS9 prepared to launch its third season, the plight of the expanding homeless population of America weighed heavily on Robert Hewitt Wolf's mind. This is from the Star Trek Deep Space Nine companion.
00:10:31
Speaker
It was, as he states, quote, difficult to turn a blind eye to the sight of people living on the streets in unprecedented numbers, unquote. Nowhere was it more conspicuous than in Santa Monica, a region of mild temperatures and ocean breezes and beautiful parks filled to capacity with people who had and have nowhere else to go. ah Wolf was not alone in his observation. Ira Barads and Santa Monica, the homeless, have become living sculptures, people literally walking over them.
00:10:58
Speaker
He tells a more writerly version of the story on the Season 3 DVD. I was in Santa Monica one day and there were all these homeless people there. It was a beautiful day at the ocean, sky, sun, and homeless people everywhere. And all these tourists and people up and about, and they were walking past these homeless people's left. They were just part of the scenery. It was like some artist had done some interesting rendition of juxtaposition between nature and urban decay right there in front of me. And the fact was that nobody seemed to care at all.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I said, there has to be something about that. Where does that go? How far do you take that?
Critique of 2024's Internet Portrayal
00:11:28
Speaker
And that evolved into the idea for a concentration camp, essentially for the homeless. So as the book says, again, my beloved Deep Space Nine companion, ah Robert Wolfe began bugging Ira Bear about a story in which Cisco comes to Santa Monica in the 1990s, but he also knew it had to be something more than a passive lament about the state of the 20th century.
00:11:48
Speaker
Wolf's first crack at the script was called Cold and distant stars and had to do with the plight of Cisco as a homeless man Looking up at the sky and knowing that was where he belonged Quote I wanted Cisco to be saying I'm the captain of a star base in the year 23 Whatever and I don't belong here and everybody's telling him you're homeless schizophrenic. Take your Thorazine, but that never quite worked Unquote they did wind up end up taking this idea though, basically and doing a version of it as far beyond the stars That's the one where they where Cisco is having these visions, or we get this alternate story of this character, Benny Russell, who was a pulp sci-fi writer in the 50s, and it's a very affecting episode, which we'll actually be doing later this season, but more on past tense.
Influence of Historical Events on Episode
00:12:32
Speaker
So Ira Bear is the one who came up with an angle that he thought would serve the story well. Attica, the prison riots in New York back in the 70s, and those riots were triggered by living conditions that had degraded to the point where the prisoners were being stripped of their humanity.
00:12:47
Speaker
Quote, I came in and told Robert, I hope you like it because I think this is the way we have to do it. We're going to do concentration camps, unquote. yeah Only a few days later, the writing staff was shocked to read the headline on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, Homeless Camp Wade in L.A. Industrial Area. The article described a plan proposed by the city to make downtown L.A. friendlier to business by shuttling homeless people to an urban campground and a fence lot in the city's core industrial area," unquote dissenters quoted in the article claimed that building a large fence would make it nothing more than a prison.
Media Portrayal of Cities vs. Reality
00:13:22
Speaker
We were amazed, concurs ba ah Bear, noting that people who knew about his and Wolf's concentration camp story kept approaching them and asking if they'd known about the government's plan. And Ira Bear said, I didn't know about it until I read it in the paper. It was scary. It was really scary. And then yeah passed this prologue August 1st 2024 so not that long ago just a few weeks ago San Francisco Standard published on its website an article with the headline mayor issues homeless order bus tickets before anything as shelters near full mayor London Breed issued an executive order Thursday directing all city workers to offer homeless people trips
00:13:58
Speaker
out of town before providing any other services such as housing or shelter, the standard has learned. Breed said the number of homeless people moving to San Francisco from other states and California counties increased from 28% in 2019 to 40% of the total homeless population this year according to data her office shared exclusively with the standard.
00:14:18
Speaker
And this order, Kristin comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its most recent session that outdoor sleeping mans do not violate the eighth amendment for cruel and unusual punishment. There, of course, are a fewer shelter beds and unhoused and enough legal red tape thrown up by the same whiny politicians who complain they can't use the police to brutalize the announced that delay services from being provided. What is that? Operation Lock Key, Room Key in L.A.? Yeah, that was Room Key. yeah Yeah, Room Key. And it's like they're just there's a bunch of empty rooms unused because
Star Trek's Impact on Addressing Societal Issues
00:14:50
Speaker
it's it's like all the the requirements are just, it's all ah it's all window dressing, it's all pointless. And if you ask in in l LA, the most um loudest of most obnoxious people who get quoted, they they just don't want to see the unhoused and would like them rounded up and shift off shipped off to the desert. Have you ever noticed? They already always include that quote. Why don't we just ship them to the desert? Yeah. um So everyone agrees that there's a homelessness problem.
00:15:18
Speaker
But if you ask more in-depth questions, some people's problem is that they have to look at them. yeah That's the problem. Whereas I think we should just give them housing. That's actually the cheapest way to deal with um homelessness is to provide no strings. ah you not I mean, not no strings attached, but very few strings attached. ah Housing um like you can bring your pets. You don't have to be free. You know you don't have to be completely sober. ah That kind of stuff.
00:15:48
Speaker
I have lived in LA for over 20 years and I've only witnessed it grow larger and larger. and I'm from Northern California and you lived in the Bay Area. Yes. I think you can even talk to the San Francisco part of this, which gets nationalized as an issue. Yeah, I'm going to talk about that ah soon in one of the grades. Yeah, no one disputes that it's an it's a ah problem. the The solutions though are there's really two and it seems like I don't even know if it's it's not the cheaper option that's what I mean that's what you said the data is concludes the cheaper option is not the cruelest option but it probably reveals the character of our
00:16:31
Speaker
of our country, that the cruel option is the preferred option. And it's tough. And Star Trek, here's Star Trek back in 1995 trying to be one little bit of light. And I'm pretty sure that there's no way in hell an episode even in the ballpark of the of this idea would ever be entertained and in Star Trek today for for many reasons that are not just the people coming up with the ideas. But I think there is a concerted effort by the people who are producing our media to make sure that it's like it's only treated one way. Yeah, you can feel bad for them, but this is a problem, a problem that has to be cleaned up. Get it off the street. I don't want to see it. Yeah, they add the out of sight, out of mind thing. Yep. Yep. memory alpha notes. Wolf had been pitching this idea since the next generation, believe it or not. And according to the book, Star Trek, the next generation 365, his original idea involved Picard and Geordi beaming to Earth during the Watts riots.
00:17:28
Speaker
Oh, boy. yeah Yeah. It's better that they made some up. It's the yeah, it is best that they did it that way. Also, I'm like, I don't want to see Patrick Stewart in the Watts riots. I do not either. Who's this guy talking about King Lear over here? Well, you know, the buildings are all on fire or whatever.
00:17:49
Speaker
the actor who plays the actual Gabriel Bell, John Lendale Bennett, ah was Avery Brooks Standin. And earlier in the season of Deep Space Nine, he also played a Klingon and in the episode, The House of Quark. And in both instances, his character was stabbed to death. Oh. I don't know what that's all about, just kind of funny. Oh, I do want to go back and say I think that data would be like the best at looting.
00:18:19
Speaker
of of all the Star Trek crew, because he's very strong and can be very fast. that's Like if you want a television, get on in there and get me that television and just right out. And I think he might be like down for it too. If you're like, well,
00:18:39
Speaker
This is a human experience. Yes. Data. And if Geordi's anywhere in danger as well, he's like, well, Geordi's priority won.
00:18:52
Speaker
Starfleet's temporal displacement policy is mentioned for the first time in this episode. This policy subsequently returns in the fifth season episode trials and tribulations, which you already did. That's where the part Department of Temporal Investigations gets its edict, I guess, its mission statement from. Yeah, where were they on this one?
00:19:09
Speaker
out of sight, out of mind. They didn't want to think about it. Yeah, like they were. What was it? What was it about? Homeless people. Sleep at the switch on this one. yeah I'll tell you that much. ah This is the first deep episode of Deep Space Nine to feature Earth, which they would revisit a ah few other times.
00:19:25
Speaker
A couple more memory alpha notes. Alexandra Sidig comments, I didn't realize the country was so depressed as to need it, but the episode was almost a cinematic version of that statement by the LA Council. Robert Hewitt Woolf adds in the same DVD special feature, the whole idea was the Bell Riots were a formative thing in the history of the Federation because it was what made people feel really bad enough to try to make the Federation.
00:19:47
Speaker
And finally, because it's rare that we're ever going to mention Star Trek Picard season two, and even a faintly positive light. We have killed all 10 episodes of that season. oh Anyway.
00:19:59
Speaker
ah They did put an Easter egg in that in season two in a scene where Q's, for reasons,
Star Trek's Cultural Relevance and Predictions
00:20:07
Speaker
reading a newspaper. But Chris Brinner, we've just mentioned this tech guy, he is featured in ah an LA Times article on January 21st, 2024. Brinner was the subject of a Los Angeles Times article about the potential unionization of his company to which he was opposed. A billionaire ah opposing unionization in the San Francisco Bay Area. Spot on. Yeah, it all synced up well. I mean, it could have been. I mean, it could have been like anyone from any of the tech companies, Intel, whatever, like it could have been it didn't have to be necessarily like a Steve Jobs type person. It could be Oracle. Yeah, it could be anything. Yeah. I mean, historic. I mean, the Apple employees were usually paid like towards the upper
00:20:57
Speaker
and historically back then at least, I don't know. All right, ready to get into the grades? Yeah. Great scenes. How many do you have? I have three. Okay, let's hear it. At the very beginning, Odo and Kira are like, I absolutely do not want to go to that formal Starfleet dinner under any circumstances. They know.
00:21:23
Speaker
I always think it's a weird when Kira comes along on these adventures to Earth. I'm like, if anyone should stay behind on the Bajoran space station. It's the Bajoran. It should be. but Like the official yes the designated Bajoran who's supposed to. Yeah. And I also think it's funny when she's.
00:21:41
Speaker
but She's suddenly saddled with saving the Federation from, you know, history and yeah listening to O'Brien's techno babble. Exactly. I'm like, she's got to be like, but Bajor is still there. I'm not here to be here today. yeah ah Or just even like, a you know, I'm I'm a I'm a militia person. I'm not really like down with all the science jargon, O'Brien. Yeah.
00:22:05
Speaker
It's just funny because Nanaa Visitor is so good at just selling the, I'm listening to you face and I'm pretending to be interested. I just think it's funny. You have two more. Yeah. um so Star Trek predicting that sleeping on the street would be made illegal, specifically in 2024. That's very spot on. How did they do it? Amazing. um so This is where I'm going to talk about how the perception of San Francisco back in 1995 was that it was completely filled with homeless people and it's completely crime-ridden and a horrible place to live and visit. it For my whole life, that is what the perception I thought was. And now all of a sudden people are like, I can't believe it. There's homeless people everywhere. And there's crime and your car will get broken into. But I was always under the impression that was always, at least since the 90s,
00:23:03
Speaker
how people viewed it. But I gonna was there like a time when, like the mid 2000s people like this is a beautiful, safe city and you can leave, you know, leave your car door unlocked and everything will be fine. No, it's always been a line of attack. I think it was like, because Google moved in there and people were like, Oh, it's such a nice city and everyone started moving back to sit like, you know,
00:23:28
Speaker
People. I mean, like ah it's for all but in the 20th century, at one point I was like the Paris of the United States or the Paris of the West Coast or something. And even in like in the 90s, I remember the 49ers having a banner in their stadium about the world's most beautiful city or even third most, something like that. I mean, I call attention like San Francisco was always sort of like a beacon, but even growing up in Northern California and near there, I wouldn't I can sometimes claim the Bay Area, but sometimes people from there are like, no, so but right between Sacramento and San Francisco is where I live. So it's like, whatever. The point is is that, ah you know, you still have dead heads. You had hate Ashbury. You had the 60s movements also. There's always been a cultural and let's be clear, a class clash going on in that city all the time. And
00:24:19
Speaker
I think all that's really happened is as the media has become more ah homogenized by way of conservative voices owning the airwaves, they've been able to step on the gas and push one message ah pretty loud and clear. And it's very clear when you go there now, the intention is this is going to become 10 dudes' feudal land. Like, that's the intention.
00:24:46
Speaker
I will say though, my sister lives in San Francisco and she parks her car on the street every night. Ballsy. Ballsy. She says even if you have like a little tissue on the floor, they'll break in and search it. But she so it's completely her car's spotless inside. You can't leave anything in the car. Usually leave like the center console opens and people see there's nothing in there.
00:25:07
Speaker
but
00:25:10
Speaker
ah just so far so good It's been like a few years and yeah, the lights the interior light on all night. Yeah. Just take it. So you like the scene where they get picked up is is the bigger thing where they i liked it. I mean, I thought it was sad, but I liked it. Because, yeah, they like you can't sleep on the street. That's illegal.
00:25:31
Speaker
I remember as a kid first watching going like, where is that? And now that I know firmly it's the Paramount backlot, I'm like, Oh my gosh. Yeah, no, it looked like a backlot big time. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
Cisco and Bashir Confront Societal Realities
00:25:40
Speaker
And I have one more, but Sharon Cisco getting a street fight with the, but I will say that guy that they get in the fight with looks like the most unmedicine day player they could get. Honestly, the guy with the hat. Yeah.
00:25:57
Speaker
Biddle is the character's name and I'm not kidding. I'm not scared of him. The actor's name is Frank Military.
00:26:07
Speaker
ah So I had four and they were Cisco and Bashir when they're first brought into the sanctuary district and we get this cinematic introduction to this squalor and hellscape and people struggling but also kids trying to like play and be children and all that and Cisco explains the history and says this is not the earth we're used to doctor that's still a century away it's succinct and visual and and i think it's a really now that i'm older and you can see what they're trying to do a real sucker punch at the ending right
00:26:41
Speaker
They are brought in by two guards, the guard that one of the guards is like, do we have to bring them in? I just want to go home. I've been working late. I was making it home. in My family is like, it's illegal. We can't, he's like, what do you want? Anarchy? We got to bring these guys in. Then they get like a few steps inside. And then the other, the cranky guard turns to the guard that once leave, he goes, what do I care if you, if you leave, get out of here. Cause he can go home.
00:27:03
Speaker
And then the episode and that goes to Blackout, I'm like, that is that's a artistic intent.
Dax's Adaptability in 2024
00:27:09
Speaker
And I appreciated it very much. And then the other three decks trying to play along with Chris Brinner. She's able to she's she's good. at I was going to say code switching, but she's very.
00:27:19
Speaker
able to quickly realize like, oh, shit, I'm not where I'm supposed to be. Oh, this guy's attracted to me. All right. Just use that. Let's go with that. ah She's able to fabricate her identity. And because she's so beautiful, she's not really hassled. And of course, I'm talking about really the scene after he's brought her back to his office and he's given her some privacy so she could basically hack the system to create a false identity so she doesn't get arrested. And then he comes and he starts talking to her and he mentioned the tattoos. Should we talk about the tattoos of that conversation now? Oh, my God. Yeah.
00:27:50
Speaker
and So he's he's like, where are those, where'd you get those tattoos? Japan. And then of course, cause Dax is great. She's like, how did you get, how did you know? But she's playing it so honestly. And then he says, I got a B or a tribe tattoo on my sleeve, like everybody did in the back in high school, like everybody did in the nineties. And then I had to get rid of it because of the defense contracts. And I was like,
00:28:12
Speaker
I just realized something, Chris, and I was gonna say, people are still getting those tattoos today. And I was like, maybe that's true. But what's probably more true is that I've now realized that people, roughly his age, got them in high school in the 90s. And so in real life, I've actually seen a lot of people just with the ones they got in high school, as though they were Chris Brinner themselves. ah So I just thought it was a pretty wild, specific ah thing to say. ah Because in l LA, you see them everywhere.
00:28:41
Speaker
ah Yeah, the tribal tattoo, if you do not belong to said tribe, it's a bad idea. We now call it cultural appropriation, but back in the 90s, people were like, this is just so cool, it means such and such, and it's probably not what it means. Isn't that what a whole Lost episode was about? It was about Jex.
00:28:59
Speaker
ah You know, very well tattoo. All right. We don't know. We don't know. You know, very well. I've only seen two episodes of lost and that was not one of them. Yeah. ah um So I thought that was a great scene. Good performance by Terry Farrell. And and I'm sure what they're trying to do, which they would not do now, is make this billionaire guy seem like a decent guy. You know, if he just understood. Yeah, he did. He didn't seem like overtly evil in any way. He actually was like helping Dax like himself instead of pawning her off on an assistant. And Dax being smart enough to be like, I i got to use this guy's account to fake an ID but but did like on the Internet and get some money. I don't know where she got that, but just she like steals somebody's identity, probably. Right. And it's like they're sending in the new card, new ID card here. Great.
00:30:00
Speaker
All right, Cisco and Bashir in the processing office and Cisco realizing the moment in time they've been transported into. And he gives the background on the bell riots, says it's a watershed moment in history. yeah should wrap up and yep Also wrapped in that is Bashir's frustration, being like, did we could help, you know, these people can be helped. What's going on here? And just him just being exasperated. Bashir being the audience, one part of the audience stand in, I think is really, really smart because even up to this point, Bashir was not a character people liked. They had started to maybe warm to him because they
00:30:34
Speaker
in season two because he became friends with O'Brien, but he wasn't quite there yet. And everyone on the show kind of credits this episode as being the actual turning point. Yeah, I can i can certainly see that.
00:30:46
Speaker
And then the last one is Cisco and Bashir walking through the sanctuary district day not at night after they've had they've been immersed in it long enough. And Bashir is lamenting sort of the path of human process of progress. you know like This suffering is unnecessary, but also are we all just as Starfleet, as Federation, as the idea of Star Trek?
00:31:05
Speaker
are the good times simply one bad time away from us doing this to each other or allowing this to happen. And Cisco's talking about how also people, we've just given up and trying to solve problems. And that really resonates because we certainly have. ah Best trek tropes. I have many, so ah i've let her rip. Rule of acquisition 111 and rule of acquisition 217.
00:31:30
Speaker
A nice bit to set up, like we're still on a science fiction alien show, right? Like that's the future that they're in. Quark has to, you know, FaceTime in and be like, just, you know, I still exist. Don't forget your highest skewing character in the focus groups. You got to have me on one time. Yeah. Transporter accident. Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
And Dax, I mean, she doesn't okay, I wouldn't say that this is specifically something Dax does all the time, but like Dax like flirting with this with the clearly rich guy to get out get out of the sticky stitch situation. Like she's been around for so long that she can navigate those situations. Yeah.
00:32:19
Speaker
And then maybe another host, she wasn't able to do that, but um like she's, like her just being smart enough to be like, I'm going to manipulate this situation so I don't get thrown in the ghetto concentration camp.
00:32:33
Speaker
um But she doesn't know anything about history. or As you will recall, doesn't even know anything about his great grandfather. We later find out.
00:32:48
Speaker
And we also later find out he has basically a photographic memory. so it's like He's like, I don't know anything about 21st century history. just good That means he didn't even bother like looking at a book about it at ever any point. ye Well, I'm trying to think like how much of 324 years ago do I remember? 1724, do I remember? Well, you would remember something like the Boston Tea Party, like some pivotal moment in history, right? Yeah, sure. Yeah.
00:33:15
Speaker
Well, he vaguely remembers the Bell riots. He did hear about that. Yeah, he's he's vaguely aware. Yeah. I like you saying that because I have the opposite. I like ah the flip side of that, which is a Starfleet captain having a fondness or curiosity about the past, especially like American history. Kirk had that, obviously. Picard was more European or like Earth history. But, ah you know, it's a good trope. when We always need that, especially. It's good that your captain has that interest in the audience's history. It's like certainly come in handy.
Science Fiction as a Mirror to Society
00:33:50
Speaker
Yes.
00:33:51
Speaker
Good God, like, oh my, especially Kirk, oh my, imagine, like, going into, like, any of those situations. be I don't know who's Aristotle. I so i don't know. what I don't know. I don't have any context for any of this. um I do like that Bashir, though, in this episode becomes somewhat useful.
00:34:11
Speaker
Yeah, he's very Dr. E, right? Yeah. But, you know, do you have any others? Yeah. Oops. We've contaminated the timeline.
00:34:22
Speaker
Sadoops. Again, the temporal time cops know where we found. Yeah.
Temporal Non-Interference Policy in Drama
00:34:32
Speaker
That's right. Well, that's right. Because you would think that if they're popping up at the end of Strange and Worlds to be like honor system, that they would be able to travel back in time to Cisco, being like, this is a space accident that you need to get out of. yeah like It kind of all starts to fall apart if you think about it too much. But yes, that's good.
00:34:51
Speaker
Time travel and transporter accident, though. This is like I put both of that. You yeah had the transport accident, but time travel is the best trek trope, is usually tricky. But I like that Deep Space Nine was like the middle child that was like, I'm not going to do time travel the way the other Star Trek shows have done it. Hurrump, we're going to find our own way. And here they're like, what if a transporter
Realism of Star Trek's Future Society Portrayal
00:35:12
Speaker
accident caused the time travel travel? That was good.
00:35:15
Speaker
Uh, even though I have a worst trick trope about that in a minute, but in this particular case, they're not really traveling back in time just to do it. So like we've seen Star Trek tackled modern issues by using aliens and alien civilizations to make their point. And that's fine. Like Voyager in their later seasons, like the doctor goes and becomes a doctor for this alien hospital system. And it's supposed to be a commentary on, you know, our HMO or, you know, our current healthcare care system.
00:35:44
Speaker
Um, that's fine. That's fine. But I think in this very, very specific issue, it is like best reflected back to us through the lens of Star Trek of like, you're only going to get to Star Trek once you confront these issues and by making it about human beings in our present or I guess in our not too distant future for the present audience, 1995.
00:36:06
Speaker
I think that's what really sells it. These are human beings, not abstractions. If you make them aliens, they you know, they become ah an abstraction. So I think it was very ah necessary that it worked out the way that it that they time travel the way that they did anyway. Any other ones? Uh, for best. Yeah. No, I gave up. I like Starfleet uniforms being really weird looking to people in the past.
00:36:31
Speaker
Sometimes that really bothers me, but it is kind of a strange uniform because it is like a jumpsuit. Yes. So they get called pajamas and and they're both referred to Cisco and Bashir as being dressed like clowns. I mean, it looks like there's some kind of like foreign flight attendants or something. Yeah, I don't know how I would. I wouldn't be so weird. the back What the hell is going on with these people? Like it's not that weird, you know. Right. And he doesn't treat it as that weird. He just is like, I don't know what you're wearing their pajamas or you look like clowns. Yeah. It just looks like a kind of a strange uniform.
00:37:01
Speaker
Uh, the temporal non-interference policy, I want to talk about right now. There are, there are some nerdy fans out there that get really pedantic and they're like, or they get really they really i thought i'm shocked. yeah They really like misapply social justice language as well of like oh great the fact that the non-interference policy exists is like a detriment to the show in a way in that.
00:37:26
Speaker
but They're trying to i'm trying to think of situations where the tension of having this policy is not the point of the story. In other words, there are fans out there that, or just casual observers of Star Trek are like, Star Trek is cool, but it has the stupid prime directive rule where they can interfere.
00:37:42
Speaker
or whatever like they have this magic technology but they can't do this or that or like blah blah blah there's whole episodes or Picard just let something happen or whatever and I defy people I dare people to show me evidence episodes where when it is invoked it is not broken stretched or challenged like yeah when it comes up it is for the almost always the express purpose of telling a dramatic story because of it So like thepping off the top of my head, I can't think of a well, it's the prime directive. um Our hands are tied and then that's it. That's the end of it. Like i don't I can't off the top of my head come up with a scenario in which that happened.
00:38:20
Speaker
yeah In the episode where Worf's brother basically steals away an entire undeveloped planet, I can't remember the name of the episode in season seven now, 15 year old me would be so mad that he cannot remember the name of the episode, but um basically in that episode, it starts with the card telling the crew, this is the prime directive, we have to let this whole planet be destroyed. And that's that's like a big shocking deal. It's really stupid and it sucks.
00:38:45
Speaker
But guess what the episode's about? Hey, someone didn't buy your line of shit, Patrick Stewart. So he he took them and saved them. And now the enterprise has to deal with that. You know, I mean, like, so even in the examples where they go through it with it to some degree, it weighs on the story. It's not just a frivolity. And here it's just, you know, Cisco stepping up saying, I'm never going to let humanity return to this if I can help it. And then knowing enough to do like, well, fuck, I got to be Gabriel Bell now.
00:39:14
Speaker
Good thing that guy was black, because I can match the skid tone. Here we go. so at They're going to look at his ID and be like, yeah, it's the same guy. Exactly. so I want to put it as a best trek trope because i like well we might run into one of these examples where it doesn't get used for any meaningful purpose, but it almost always is. and This is like a great use of it, I think.
00:39:35
Speaker
ah Because we don't even care about this fake history, right? And by making our characters care about it, the show makes us care about what's going to happen. Anyway, Dr. Bashir caring about the death of hundreds of people. we You know, we're either like the the police will storm this and start killing a bunch of writers and hundreds of people will die. And Bashir's like hundreds of people.
00:39:57
Speaker
I think, Kristin, we've seen this already with Enterprise, but certainly like the J.J. Abrams era, really since 9-11. American media tends to not get out of bed for anything less than like thousands of people. And now maybe even like millions of people, you have to really amp it up. So I just thought it was nice that, you know, Star Trek really does value individual life, too. So just seeing ah them caring about people dying. ah And then then you get to actually see the people and it's like kids and families who just were thrown in there.
00:40:27
Speaker
And then my last one is when Chris Brinner says, let me help you, when he's helping to accept from the subway floor. I don't know if this is an intentional callback, but in The City on the Edge of Forever, Kirk tells Edith Keeler, let me help. 100 years or so from now, I believe a famous novelist will write a classic using that theme. He'll recommend those three words even over, I love you. Now, is this a subtle callback or?
00:40:53
Speaker
Is this suggesting that brin Brinner becomes the novelist, or has he read this book? Because it kind of lines up timeline-wise, like it's like the 1930s. I think it's coincidental. but I don't know, but I like it all the same. I think the idea of Let Me Help You, of being selfless and being of service to others, is it's a thing that's in our current time period that we're living in, it's a rare attitude. So I just like it reaffirmed here in Star Trek, even it's like 30 years after it was set in the original series. So worst trek tropes, techno babble, the time travel explanation, Chris and I declare to be horseshit. It's so stupid. um Yeah, I have the temporal bubble around the ship that keeps them.
00:41:40
Speaker
from being affected by the events of time. I'm OK with that. I'm more. I mean, OK, the whole one of thing is really annoying. But at the end, like, why are we still here? And I'm like, oh, my God. Well, must be some kind of champion. We also what is with OK, I did not have time to look all this up, but like they're looking for all the communications and like one they could find as a Romulan one.
00:42:11
Speaker
Yeah. What's what's up? ah They're just trying to say like, there's no Federation as we understand it. i'm trying to I'm trying to remember if there's any idea or notion of like... Like how long ago did the Vulcan start observing Earth? Well, the the theory, the thinking then in that case would be like the Romulans conquered the Vulcans.
00:42:33
Speaker
would be the, if you were to keep going with the thought, like in the 24th century of when, and there's no Federation, what had the Romulans done? They probably conquered the Vulcans at some point. So that's why- It doesn't seem like that smart enough for that, but okay. ah Yeah, right. So I think that's it. All right. Yeah. That's the only real thing that I could think there, but it was enough to say like, hey, things are radically different here.
00:42:58
Speaker
ah But like the chronoton particles from the cloaking device got lodged in the hole, and then just passing by was the singularity that flared up and basically triggered time particles in the hull of the ship. And and Kira says, well, we've been using the transporter ever since the cloaking device was installed and it hasn't been an issue. And my recollection is that that ship came to them installed with the cloaking device. So it's just like ah it's not like a big bump, but it's just like,
00:43:28
Speaker
uh it's stupid i do appreciate them wanting to try desperately to do something different from the normal time travel stuff and i don't have a better pitch and in writers rooms if you criticize or have a negative for an idea usually if you break it you have to fix it but in this case i'm like if they spend so much time having o'brien try to explain what's going on You could sit, it's just like taking a little time. Like his eyes are about to cross. And she's really acting hard to pretend to care. Yeah, she's like... Which again, credit to Donah visitor, who's amazing. Got it. And then my other worst trick trope was, Cisco has a sister? I forgot about that.
00:44:06
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I had to go back and do some research and apparently it's his half sister. We never see her. So that's at least good. That's why I never remembered her. And she's really only mentioned two or three times. And Portland still exists. Portland still exists. Right. Right. I really do feel very strongly that they forgot about her at the end of the show, though, like that as that was a character like maybe I don't think Jake mentions her after his dad dies in the finale after Captain Sisko dies in the finale. I don't think he's like, I'm going to go see my aunt or whatever and also it's I don't know it's just it's a little strange ah but I do what I put in the worst joke of like
00:44:43
Speaker
They do a really nice job of establishing Cisco as a normal dude. And I really like that he has a sister and all that stuff and has like a full family that's really great. It just, I guess I'm putting it as a worst structure of like, that's an important thread I think that they could have brought up on. I have and a really nice relationship with my sisters. And there's like an old TV trope too. Well, good for you, Brian.
00:45:06
Speaker
Well, you talk to your sisters all the time, too. You have a relationship with your sisters. Yes, I do. So like, I think it was like the Dexter showrunner of like, if you can't be nice to your sister, who can you be nice to? So it was like important to establish Dexter is a good person. And we know this because he has a good relationship with the sister. Don't they like an incestuous thing? That's later on for reasons, which I think we've discussed previously in this Trek-Americal podcast, which is that sometimes, oh, I remember now, I was with a guest co-host talking about a Strange New Worlds episode, where sometimes writers like to smack down the actors, get out of line, and they made the characters incestuous, but it's her adopted brother, so they're not related by blood. It doesn't matter. Right, I get that. The other part of it is that the two actors, though, got married in real life,
00:45:52
Speaker
And then they divorced. ah And so the actor, so the writers sought to basically punish them, I guess. I have not watched the show on Grey's Anatomy after Catherine Heigl was like, well, the writing wasn't very good this year. They gave her like a disease that you're like ugly and bald or something. That's exactly what it is. Yep. Any were strict troops for you? Yeah, I haven't even gone on through mine. OK, Star Trek always assumes that the future people will be wearing the worst neckwear. Chris's tie is an abomination, and they always do this. they oh It's always some weird neckwear or whatever, because I think that's just easy. yes Oh, this is out of place. Also,
00:46:41
Speaker
the slaying and the pejoratives, the gimme and the dims, First of all, the dims, that sounds like, that's pretty pejorative, like right on, like with no context, like that's pretty bad. I think they said they pulled all that from Rio Bravo just as like, cause they like the movie. So those like all referencing that, but yes, it's still, we've talked about this before, it was like one of our first episodes. I'm like, I don't like futuristic slang most of the time. And this is just another version of that.
00:47:15
Speaker
It sounds so weird. or the go Watch out for ghosts. What are those? yeah what is how Just ah you know people who haven't assimilated very well. Right. And what do they call IDs? He has a different word for an ID, which is kind of annoying.
00:47:31
Speaker
anyway um And then comms, badges, conveniently being in operational. In this case, some of them were stolen. Yeah.
00:47:43
Speaker
ah Most cosplayable character or moment are, oh, we get to unveil this new grade. Yep. So what do you have? I'm saying Dax's outfit at that boring cocktail party. That has to be the winner because the ha the hair and the makeup and she's got like, like feathers coming out of her hair. Like it's a real interesting book. Yes. Yes.
00:48:09
Speaker
I knew that that was going to come up or that has to be the winner, but I was also just going to, as a joke, say, I'm going to go with character actor Bill Smitrovich, the dad web. Oh, yeah. Because you could just go to a convention and be like, I'm, I'm web from past tense, but I'm also Bill Smitrovich, who you've seen in like movie like Manhunter, or he's been all these other their crime movies. He's like a very like noticeable face. And you've definitely seen that guy. So I just thought it was funny. But it's un that whole cocktail party that is very much like, whoa, what's going on here? But Dax takes the yeah, for sure. Now it's time for the line. Let's join here. Great lines. I did not have an opportunity to write me down, Brian. I'm really sorry. First episode back going to be
00:48:59
Speaker
It's just, you know, got to get back in the rhythm mode. So I apologize, but and go ahead. All right. Bashir says, and once they were out of sight, what then? I mean, look at this man. There's no need for that man to live like that. I really feel that way. There's no reason for this to be the world that we live in. There's no reason.
00:49:19
Speaker
It's a choice that people are making, and it's it's absent reason it's filled with malice. ahis I have a whole exchange, Cisco Bashir and Cisco, in that Night Walk scene I thought was a great scene. I'm just going to play the clip. Once they were out of sight, what then? I look at this man. There's no need for him to live like that. For the right medication, he could lead a full and normal life.
00:49:47
Speaker
Maybe in our time. Not just in our time. There are any number of effective treatments for schizophrenia. Even in this day and They could cure that man now, today, if they gave a damn. It's not that they don't give a damn. They've just given up. The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with. That only makes things worse. Causing people to suffer because you hate them is terrible.
00:50:16
Speaker
But causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care, it's really hard to understand. They'll remember. It will take some time and it won't be easy. But eventually, people in this century will remember how to care. And then I really liked Webb's line, Bill Smitrovich's line, when he's trying to say, we're going to gather people together and try to put a face on this. We're not derelicts, no matter what they say about us.
00:50:46
Speaker
And then the Brinner Dax Exchange, really important. That's the whole point of the sanctuary, to give people in trouble food and a place to say, that's all it's for, then why is there a wall around it?
00:50:57
Speaker
Yeah. And then he just has that stupid face where he's like, duh, I don't know. And then I have to put this line because it encapsulates the whole episode. The name is Bell. Gabriel Bell. Yeah. Would this episode be a fun, hollow novel to play out? I think I can answer for both of us. Absolutely not. No, this will be a nightmare. It would start with would you like to be in a homeless encampment in San Francisco. Right.
00:51:27
Speaker
ah and Without a jacket. Right, because at least it's LA shooting doubling in San Francisco. ah That shit is windy. yeah So at least Avery Brooks is actually like like acting as if he is cold. Yes. Because it is really cold. Yeah. Even in the summer.
00:51:50
Speaker
But I mean, the whole experience you'd have to start with, uh, you gotta talk to quark. That's one of the first things you gotta do. That's fun. Uh, but then you gotta get transporter sickness right off the bat. I don't want to get that. Oh, so for this grade, it's, we have to do the whole episode. We can't be like, Oh, this one part would be fun. You know, you can do it, you know, it's open to interpretation. I'm just saying, like, if you were to play out every event of the episode, though, it's like maybe it's funded for a second, but then right off the bat, you're sick right away, and then you're arrested, then you're in an open, yeah. Spending like four hours in what appears to be like a social security administration building, and then sleeping on the streets of San Francisco and like not getting enough to eat, and then getting in a street fight,
00:52:36
Speaker
I really liked the use of the backlot though, of Paramount backlot for that subway tube in that the implication to me was that the two dudes beamed on the concrete and she might've like beamed in midair and fallen the rest of the way. Like that's kind of how it was suggested. So I have that again, there'd just be a terrible hollow novel to play. ah All right. The anti-incredient award for best performance. Um,
00:53:06
Speaker
I don't know who do you have. Avery Brooks. Yeah, that's why I think so, too. I think this year does a good job. He does. That's a fair point. I kind of want to give aable mention yeah honorable. It's very strong honorable mention.
00:53:19
Speaker
ah I think this is just a great episode to show when if you can't get fully off format, which in the Toronto shows, they can't really leave the sound stages and the volume and all that. So it's harder to do, but it it it just shows goes to show if you can put our characters in extreme adversary, like under extreme circumstances where they don't have the tech, they can't like you know, employ the whole ensemble to get through it, that when you just pair them up or really put them through it where it's like, we are all we have, it's interesting how it brings ah the viewers and the cast all seem to go closer together, like they're getting through something. That's what it felt like watching Alexander Siddig here is like he bonded with everybody because it's like they're trying to survive. So the Shatner. um How about the the guy
00:54:13
Speaker
the menacing guy who shoots or who stabs the real ah Gabriel Bell. So the Frank military? Yeah, Frank military. And then he like, decides to take over the Social Security Administration building.
00:54:29
Speaker
I'm fine with that because ah this is a spoiler. or We rarely call this shot, but he's definitely going to win it for this part two. so He's going to, I might have to create another grade of like the most obnoxious character. a Frank military yeah ah memorial war. though He really, really makes it yeah, he really, yes. He really makes a meal out of most of his lines in the next episode. It's going to get really obnoxious.
00:54:59
Speaker
Okay. All right, shoot to thrill most exciting imagery sequence. Now this could have some overlap with the great scenes. and That's okay. But we're really just talking about visuals. ah When they pull up to earth. Okay, first time. Yeah, that's true. Great. I should probably just give it to that. I really like the tracking shot of Cisco and Bashir when they're walking through the district at night though. Yeah, cinematography wise, they're letting the you know the sadness of fires going off in trash cans to illuminate everything, but I think you're right. We rarely get to see Deep Space Nine or the Defiant roll up to Earth, so I think maybe that's the winner there. um And also, there's a lot of background actors in this episode, yeah and it's like really difficult to shoot around unto cloth and close and
00:55:45
Speaker
all that stuff. So yeah, good job. I think the whole crew here. Yes, everyone was really committed to this. What part of this will they teach at Starfleet Academy? I mean, the temporal displacement policy. Yeah. So Bashir even says sounds good in the classroom. ah He tips. Yeah, he just answers the grade for us. That's good. yeah Could this episode have been hornier? And would that have made it better?
00:56:11
Speaker
I think Dax should have had a tryst with um her protector, Chris Berman, or Brenner, whatever. burba whatever I don't know, whatever. Rumbling, stumbling, fumbling.
00:56:24
Speaker
and He scores with Dax.
00:56:31
Speaker
I thought he, yeah, it could have been Hornier from his perspective, but I was thinking like in- I'm glad it didn't go that way though. In the Roddenberry version of Star Trek, she's definitely like sex fine. A Kirk version of like- It's going to be like, am I going to have to fuck my way out of this one? That's exactly. But I think- One of our favorite tropes usually.
00:56:52
Speaker
It is. and i But I think she is kind of using it in a way. ah She is definitely like, I got to use this. And I think it's good in part one that there's they're playing on the tension. Right. Because if if he's able to fuck her right away, he's not going to help her. Yeah. He got a hotel. Yes. Like four or five nights assuming San Francisco. Yes. Yeah.
00:57:12
Speaker
Uh, but she, she's playing it. I think she's playing along with like, I gotta string him on, I gotta string him along, make him think he's got a chance. Uh, but without it made it better if it had been like, if you had been more coming on to her. No, I don't think so. I think also her green just to go to the cocktail. She's like, Oh yeah, I'd like that. I'm like, no, you wouldn't. I knew, I knew she was lying right there, yeah but well yeah like I gotta do it. I mean, the guy, you know, all right. So Trek, marry or kill past tense part one.
00:57:41
Speaker
Um, I, I actually really liked this episode. Um, I think, okay, it's between either like a Trek and a Mary for me, actually. Why wouldn't it be a Mary is my question. Uh, just haven't seen part two yet, I guess. Oh, well I have. And I still think it's like, how often do we get to see an episode of TV in general? That's like this. It's as you said, they, everyone did a great job like making it. So it's well made.
00:58:09
Speaker
I think it's very well written and I think it's well acted. I even think the score in and a couple of moments, in particular, the scene in the processing office where Cisco realizes where when in history they are and is explaining it to Bashir, I thought the score. The techno babble scenes do ding it.
00:58:29
Speaker
But it's like a good reminder of like, don't forget, this is still a Star Trek show. This is the future we're trying to get back to. Wouldn't it it be great if this was our only problem? I kind of think it's a marry just because it's like, it's what more could you want from this idea? Like how how better could they have done it? and And for Star Trek, it's like, this is like one of the only shows that could do something like this. Okay, then you but you have ah convinced me. We're gonna marry it.
00:58:56
Speaker
All right. That's a good way to get the season going. Kick it off with a Mary. All right. Well, then next week we're going to conclude ah what's going to happen now that Ben Sisko is Gabriel Bell, temporarily, we hope, in part two, past tense part two. And let's see. He's going to die. That's right. He's going to die. So how are they going to save him? ah Because they're not going to have the future technology to get to them. Is Dax going to get to them in time? We don't know. Is any of the predictions made going to hold up Now that we're going to basically be contemporaneous with the dates in the episode, we will find out next week. well if a riot
00:59:34
Speaker
someone riot breaks eye there there are riots currently that's right but not going the way This one. but no And I think next week we can talk about more. It's the bad kind. yeah Would any of this have play out the way it does today? And now knowing we know about modern days. That's something to talk about next week. This is already pretty weighty. um Glad they did it. Really interesting episode. You would think a show set on a space station far away from earth that they they're the show that does this is really something it's really special i think and that's what just goes to show if you're it's kind of like that plato's stepchildren episode when i was like you know mire dolinsky the writer was he was like i want to tell a story about class you know class struggles and found a way to do it and robert you wolf the writer is just like i this homeless
01:00:23
Speaker
epidemic, this problem, I don't see anyone even trying to address it. And like the West Wing will do like shows do versions where it's like a very special episode, you know, ah somewhat unhoused person ah was a veteran and they died with ah Toby's coat on and Toby's like, well, how could I make this right? A military funeral. I work for the president. I can't help homeless people, but I can give him the right I know. That's as far as it goes. And so here's an episode where it's like, you're going to have riots if you don't, and and people are going to die. i wish I wish somebody would do something about this. Yeah. so cancel the Can't be the current administration. Can't can't do, you know, like, yeah.
01:01:06
Speaker
I think catharsis on our media is a is a noble goal. You know, I think we're finding presenting solutions to big problems. I think it's a noble goal, even if it winds up being silly. I think this episode is far from silly. Yeah. We don't like the hat guy. He is. ah ah ah A low point.
01:01:31
Speaker
Yeah. But I mean, maybe they're like, hey, he's got to be weird because he's, you know, he's got to be like at 11 because he, you know, he takes over. He's got, you know, bad play. He doesn't think things out. He's going off half cocked, et cetera.
01:01:44
Speaker
Plus, I hope he dies in the riot. I'm going to say that right now. OK, good prediction to have. But it's also like ah we've made him president of the United States. Yeah. And plus plus ah Pulp Fiction had just come out and been a big hit. So he's probably like Tarantino five trying to act in that style. I don't know. Oh, we got rid of ah most of its time quality. I think it worked. I think that was a good call.
01:02:08
Speaker
I mean, there's a lot we could have put there. There's a lot we could have put there. You know, there's, you know, the same design of the future where it's just like yeah everything looks like an atrium. The guards of 2024 or the cops would have ARs. They wouldn't have shotguns. Yeah. One thing that I thought was funny was in this version of 2024, the lady's like, look, the police, they're underpaid and overworked. So, you know, get get you know give them a break.
01:02:36
Speaker
No, they're, they're quite well off and they are not overworked. All right. I feel good about that one that we, we were able to kick it off so well. Be sure to, uh, rate and review us. If you feel so inclined, that is, uh, wherever you listen, check out check marykillpod.com for all of our standings. Again, season three, we are just kicking off and until next week, Tim Kao.