HT.093 The Magicks of Megas-tu (TAS)

Transcript

auto-generated transcript has not been edited for accuracy.

Humanist Trek is a podcast about the humanism in Star Trek

Sarah Ray: The humanism that I would put into the universe is that those of us who are not motivated by fear, we have to leverage our own compassion somehow for the people who are, and understand that they just come from a different place than we do. They’re coming at this from a completely different reality, like we really do live in two different realities.

INTRO: Perhaps I could use this as an excuse to go to those far off planets with little polka dot at people, if necessary, and be able to talk about love, war, nature, God, sex, all those things that go to make up excitement of the human condition. I’m Captain James Kirk. Captain Kirk, Kirk of the starship Enterprise. And the ineluctable Mister Spock. Mister Spock. My first officer, Captain. Doctor Spock. I can’t imagine. Kirk, Kirk, Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Did I ever tell you about the time I saved Captain Kirk’s life? Kirk, Kirk of the starship Enterprise. What a blessing to be able to live one’s life over again, if the life you’ve led has left you unfulfilled.

Sarah Ray: Welcome aboard, and welcome to Humanist Trek. It’s a Star Trek podcast about the humanism in Star Trek. I’m Sara Ray.

Allie Ashmead: And I’m Allie Ashmead.

Sarah Ray: Summer’s gonna be busy. I got a lot of shit coming up, and we have some stuff coming up, too.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, we do.

Sarah Ray: So, first, the next couple of weeks, my sister is driving my mom out here for a visit. They’ll be here for a week.

Sarah Ray: So that’ll be fun for those of you who may just be tuning in. My father passed away not too long ago, a few months ago. And so my mom is trying to, you know, struggling to keep some sense of normalcy, and a big part of their normal was traveling a lot. They went to Florida every year for a couple months, and then they’d come out here with their camper and visit us. And so now that the camper driver is. Is not here, my sister is, who still lives, you know, in, in the same town that my mom lives in, where the town we all grew up in.

Allie Ashmead: Right?

Sarah Ray: So she’s. She’s going to bring mom out here, and we’re going to spend some time in the mountains and do some family shit together, and it’s going to be really nice. And then not long after that, we’re going to be prepping to go to Fort Collins for the Fort Collins Comic Con and big announcement. Drum roll, please. We have been confirmed for a panel at Fort Collins Comic Con.

Allie Ashmead: That’s going to be so cool. It’s terrifying, too. These, ah, always freak me out.

Sarah Ray: But here’s the great thing about this. We workshop this through all of these littler conventions, and then if we ever make it on the circuit, you know, if we ever go out and if we become professional podcasters, we could take this on the road. But this is nice because it gives us, you know, some time to.

Allie Ashmead: We’re practicing to work it out.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re, we are building the ship as we’re flying it.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah.

Sarah Ray: That, that applies to the podcast and the panel, and pretty much, I don’t know what else we’re going to be doing. I talked to the organizer and was like, hey, man, we’re going to be there the whole weekend. We’ll do whatever you need us to do. Like, if you, if, if you got a podcast room doing live shows, we’ll do one of those. If you got a. Whatever, like, we’re, we’re happy to do what we. Whatever you need.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah. Like, if they need us to moderate, a panel, I mean, we can do that, too.

Sarah Ray: So we’re going to be doing another panel on the humanism in Star Trek, and we’re thinking, you know, we, we’ve kicked this out to the listeners. what do you want to hear? What would you find interesting to hear us talk about for 45 minutes to an hour at a convention? Maybe it’s. And we got some really great responses back already from Bruce, specifically, who gave us some really good ideas. Do we pick one particular topic that’s a strong humanist theme or value and talk about that one specific thing, bringing in examples from a bunch of different episodes? Or do we build on the one that we did at the last con that we did this at and just, you know, refine that one? Or do we strike out and do something completely different? So if you have ideas, we would love to hear them. You can shoot us an email or hit us up on the social medias, or you can call that number that we have that nobody ever uses.

Allie Ashmead: Nobody uses a phone anymore. No, nobody calls anyone.

Sarah Ray: But it’s 920550 Trek. That’s 920-550-8735 if you want to, you can text that number. It comes right to my phone. Or you can call, leave a voicemail if you want. I don’t answer it. It’s not like a, you can call and talk to me for a little while. That’s not, that’s not what we’re doing here.

Doctor Aaron McDonald will be a guest on the humanist trek show

So let’s talk just briefly, about what has been announced for Fort Collins already.

Allie Ashmead: Okay.

Sarah Ray: There’s not a lot of Trek represented yet. Now, of course, they’re still updating the website as they make these announcements, but there will be one Doctor Aaron McDonald.

Allie Ashmead: Yay.

Sarah Ray: Who, by that point, Will. Will have been a friend of the show. Here’s another breaking announcement. Doctor Aaron Mack has agreed to be a guest on the. On the humanist trek show. So she’s going to be joining us for an upcoming episode where we’re thinking there’s a particular episode of the animated series that I need to go watch ahead now, because she was like, I very much like this episode and would love to come on and talk to you about this episode.

Becca: Okay, cool.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, so I got to see if.

Allie Ashmead: I watch ahead and.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, so we’ll talk to her about all of those things, and, maybe we’ll be able to hook up at the con, too. And then there’s also. There’s a booth called ask a scientist.

Allie Ashmead: Is that her booth or.

Sarah Ray: No, she’s. She is doing. I don’t know if it says all the things that she’s doing, but here’s what her blurb says. Aaron McDonald has a PhD in astrophysics and is a writer, speaker, producer, and science advisor. Currently the official science advisor for the Star Trek franchise. She has also voiced her fictional counterpart, Lieutenant Commander Aaron MacDonald, in Star Trek prodigy and the video game Star Trek online. She’s also the founder and CEO of Space Time Productions, a production company dedicated to lifting marginalized voices and providing opportunity in traditionally underrepresented genre stories.

Allie Ashmead: Love it.

Sarah Ray: She has also authored the audible original the Science of Sci-FI in collaboration with the great courses. Oh, do you remember when that was a thing? all the podcasters used to simp for the great courses, plus, they were a big podcast advertiser back in the day. and there’s a baby board book that she has, produced called Star Trek, my first book of space. Oh, right.

Allie Ashmead: I love it, I love it, I love it.

Tickets go on sale for Fort Collins Comic Con in three days

Sarah Ray: so then when I search for Trek, the other person that comes up is one of these scientists at the ask a scientist booth. And there’s, like, four or five people who, are on here for this booth, and this one is Doctor Michael L. Wong, a Carnegie postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Sciences Earth and Planets Laboratory, studying planetary atmospheres, habitability, biosignatures, and the emergence of life. In his spare time, he hosts a podcast called Strange New Worlds, which examines science, technology, and culture through the lens of Star Trek. So we should totally connect with him, too.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah.

Sarah Ray: While we’re there, of course, there’s lots of cosplay guests and all of that kind of stuff. You know, the vendors room, the toys, the collectibles, all of that good stuff. There is a media and podcasters category here on their website, which.

Allie Ashmead: Okay, but what does that mean?

Sarah Ray: Right? It doesn’t really give me a lot of detail. Like, are they, are these people doing live stuff during the thing? again, their website is a work in progress. So in three days, tickets go on sale for Fort Collins Comic Con, and it’s foco. And, yeah, so we’d love to see you there. More on that when we know more.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, cool. I’m excited. We have to think about what we’re going to, how we’re going to dress up. Are we doing the, are we doing the planetarium again?

Sarah Ray: I need some, seamstress help. I need some, some sewing help because, you know, it has the little hook and loop thing on the back up of the neck and that fucking popped out. So I need to sew that back together somehow.

Allie Ashmead: Needle and thread. Yeah, that should be.

Sarah Ray: Yeah. and the time to do it. That’s the hard part.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, yeah.

Sarah Ray: I mean, all I have is that and my tos uniform.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, I gonna have to. I need a new uniform, so maybe I’ll do a discovery, disco something. Disco.

Sarah Ray: Yeah. Yeah, I need a disco uniform.

Episode eight of Star Trek the animated series discusses big bang theory

Okay, how do we turn the car around towards this crazy ass episode?

Allie Ashmead: Yo no say. Yo no say. Tu megas. Megas tu. I swear it’s spanish.

Sarah Ray: well, como sidice and espanol. It’s Star Trek the animated series. Season one, episode eight. The magics of megas two.

Speaker B: Sir, contact with an object. It’s moving toward us. No visual contact yet. Deflector is full intensity versus pseudo.

Sarah Ray: Yes, guess.

Speaker B: Anything on your scanners?

Sarah Ray: It’s coming at light speed.

Speaker B: Collision, cars, visual contact. Anything to work?

Allie Ashmead: All wavelengths dominated by ionization effects.

Speaker B: Sir, all engines full stop.

Sarah Ray: Last week we were at the edge of the galaxy. This week we’re at the center. Man, they do covering some ground in this fucking series. Enterprises all over the damn place.

Allie Ashmead: So they’re going to the center of the galaxy.

Sarah Ray: Uh-huh.

Allie Ashmead: And his captain’s log at the beginning says that scientists have theorized that our galaxy was created from a great explosion. And then the scientists are thinking that the center of the galaxy might still be creating new matter. So that’s what they’re going to investigate.

Sarah Ray: And I highly recommend that you watch this episode right now. pause. us walk. Don’t run. Go to your paramount. Plus, watch this episode, because who knows? Another four years of science denialism in the highest office in our land, and this episode might be banned for believing in the big Bang theory.

Allie Ashmead: True, but we all know now that the center of every galaxy, or just about every galaxy, is a black hole. It’s not making stuff, it’s pulling stuff in, you know?

Sarah Ray: And furthermore, again, we’re podcasters, not astrophysicists. But if we’re talking about the big bang, aren’t we talking about the creation of, the universe, not the galaxy? So wouldn’t. Wouldn’t the central point be the center of the universe, not the center of the Milky Way? Just a cartoon, Sarah. Just a cartoon.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, you’re right, you’re right, you’re right.

Sarah Ray: But, yeah, they kept saying, oh, the center of the galaxy, and the galaxy and the explosion. And then. But no, that’s not. Did our understanding of this change, or did they get this wrong?

Allie Ashmead: The question I’m wondering, did we not know back then, in the seventies? Surely. Yeah, we knew. We knew that there were more than one galaxy and that we were one of the millions of galaxies.

Sarah Ray: Yellow alert. Deflectors up. And Sulu’s draining the power, trying to stay in one spot. And Spock begins charting the area as McCoy arrives on the bridge. All. What the fuck, you guys? Suddenly, Sulu reports that they’re being pulled in, and he’s already at warp six, trying to fight against the pole. Spock says this is some kind of matter energy whirlwind.

Allie Ashmead: Hello. It’s a black hole. You’re going towards a black hole. But the graphics make it look like there’s actually some sort of storm. And there’s wind. And I’m thinking, there’s no wind in space. There’s no weather in space, but maybe I’m wrong.

Sarah Ray: So they can’t break free, so they’re going to drive straight into the storm and hope that it’s calm at the center, like a hurricane again, based on what available evidence.

Allie Ashmead: Okay, I know, but you said you liked this episode.

Sarah Ray: I do like this episode. During this buildup, we see the bridge crew being thrown out of their chairs, officers falling down in the hallways, engineers holding onto ladders. So Spock has to, like, drag himself up off the floor to work the controls, and finally, they end up at the center of this storm. Scotty reports that any damage they sustained can be repaired. And Spock is just in heaven. This is a, scientist’s wet dream, but not a medics. And McCoy is proudly scared to bits. So they’re going to ride the storm wherever, which might be, into the center of all things.

The Enterprise disappears from normal space and reappears somewhere else

And the enterprise glows bright yellow, disappearing from normal space and reappearing somewhere else. And Spock explains they are no longer in time and space as we understand it.

Allie Ashmead: Subspace radio is dead. The ship’s chronometers, basically, the clock is dead, which makes. Okay, whatever. And Spock says the natural laws of our universe don’t operate here, so that, I guess that causes a clocks to stop, but, it also causes the ship’s life support to fail as well. So they’re starting to run out of oxygen and starting to pass out.

Sarah Ray: It’s like subspace radio is dead. Ship’s chronometer stopped. Engines are fading out, whatever that means. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.

Allie Ashmead: Enough. I get the point. What is that? I have heard that before.

Sarah Ray: It’s from Ghostbusters.

Allie Ashmead: Okay?

Sarah Ray: You’ve heard it on this show before.

Allie Ashmead: I know. I know I have. That’s what I mean. I’ve heard you say it, but, yeah, all the systems are dead and everybody’s starting to pass out because they ain’t got no oxygen.

Sarah Ray: And then they start seeing shit. A goat man appears.

Allie Ashmead: It’s dumbness. It’s dumbness. From the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Oh, my God. And I’m like, what the. Of all. So, yeah, he’s a goat man with horns and like, what do they call the half man?

Sarah Ray: Half goat man? Bear? Goat man.

Allie Ashmead: Bear. Goat. Yeah, because it’s one of those mythical creatures. it’s not a centaur because that’s a horse fawn.

Sarah Ray: A fawn, yeah.

Allie Ashmead: But this guy, this goat man appears, and he’s so cheerful. He’s like, ah, ah. Humans. Can’t you do anything right? As they’re suffocating and he does something, he says, like a magic word. Is that what he said was. Was that what that was?

Sarah Ray: Pradamanthus. Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: And then, whatever that is, suddenly, suddenly, now they’re fine. The enterprise is back into normal space and they’re orbiting some pink, red striped planet, but there’s a planet in the center of the galaxy. I’m so confused.

Sarah Ray: Hidden somewhere, somehow, through. Yeah. So this guy is very Satan like. Very. And his name is even Lucien. So there’s a lot of, like, satanic imagery here.

Allie Ashmead: And that was the first thing I thought. Lucien.

Sarah Ray: Yep. He shows up and he’s like, hi, I’m here to apply for the role of chaplain, in the elementary school in Florida. Is I understand that you’re hiring those now. you can’t discriminate against my religion, so you have to take Satanists too. Careful what you wish for.

Allie Ashmead: Mm

Sarah Ray: And of course, he’s voiced by Jimmy Doohan.

Allie Ashmead: Mm

Sarah Ray: Spock is still pretty skeptical about all of this stuff, though. And then Lucien says, welcome. I knew eventually humans would come searching for me. And he insists on continuing this elsewhere. And KSm disappear, leaving Uhura, Sulu and Erics in shock.

Allie Ashmead: He’s yoing them from the bridge to some planets, I guess the pink striped planet surface.

Sarah Ray: And right away, McCoy looks at Kirk and he’s all like, wavy and shit. So McCoy rubs his eyes a few times, and Kirk’s like, back in the.

Speaker B: Sixties, he was part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. I think he did a little too much lds.

Sarah Ray: So they talk Lucid into fixing their corporeal bodies, but not without some shit. Talking from Spock and McCoy, of course.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, he’s just basically doing a bunch of magic as they’re talking. He first makes McCoy and Spock turn them into a smaller version of a goat man and some sort of spinning top.

Sarah Ray: What? I don’t know what the symbolization of the spinning top is for. Is that something to do with Lucifer? Satan?

Allie Ashmead: No.

Sarah Ray: Lucien. Any of that, I don’t know that I know of.

Allie Ashmead: But he says something like, children will play. and then he yoinks them back to normal, and then now they’re in a different woodland glade, surrounded by trees, and he’s like, is this better?

Sarah Ray: So was that whole thing just like a demonstration of his powers? Is that why we did all that?

Allie Ashmead: Maybe. I think, yeah, he’s changing the. Their surroundings, he’s changing things to things and.

They’re in a universe that has its own rules that are quite different

Yeah, so I don’t know. But now that they’re in a world that’s more to their liking and more that they’re familiar with, he welcomes them to Megastu, and I’m going to say it in a spanish accent because it sounds Spanish. Megastu. And Kirk is like what, exactly? Exactly as Megas, too. And it is apparently a world that has its own rules that are quite different from their universe.

Sarah Ray: So we’re in a different universe, but. Or are we outside the universe? Are we out?

Allie Ashmead: But they’re supposed to be at the middle of the galaxy. Their galaxy, not in another universe. I’m so confused. But apparently because he snaps his fingers, and now they’re in a different place. A meadow by Lake, and he says, our universe operates by what you call magic. So he keeps. I think they’re using the wrong term. Galaxy. Universe.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, for sure. The magic tricks start up again as he snaps and makes an apple appear in each hand, and he chucks one of those at McCoy. And McCoy thinks this is all just his imagination. He’s like, I swear to God, if a fucking white rabbit comes hopping around the corner, you guys, swear to God, I am out of here.

Allie Ashmead: I’m leaving it with just my imagination.

Sarah Ray: Lucien insists this is all real. Here in this universe, the people turn to sorcerers for their needs, and there’s another blink, and you missed it. Mention of beauty and how women here stay as young and beautiful as they want by using magic. And that’s it. That’s all you get. It’s Tas. We got other shit to do. But there was a thought there that. A thread that could have been pulled on.

Allie Ashmead: They don’t need to have the misogyny. I will say there isn’t as much misogyny and Tas as there would normally be, like a tos, but, yeah. So Lucien sounds sort of like, he’s selling stuff, you know, he’s like, what do you need? You need a. You need a room, you need a castle, you need stable. Stop in at your friendly sorcerer’s contractor and let him do the work. And he could have had a commercial.

Sarah Ray: A spock runs this through his logic brain and decides that this makes sense. If this galactic creation point exists, it would have to extend beyond time and space into some other dimension where logic works differently. Then Lucien says something that, again, suggests he has encountered humans before. And Kirk’s like, okay, what gives? You keep talking like you know us how? And this sets off an exposition dump. Megas II is populated by these magician people, each a specialist in their own kind of magic, except for Lucien, who is something of a generalist. And they went on a summer vacation into the prime universe one time and found themselves on earth, where they became advisors to earth people. is this another one of those what if what we thought were gods were actually aliens? Episode? That’s what we’re doing.

Allie Ashmead: Ancient aliens. Ancient aliens. Yeah, that sounds like what it was. Basically, they started advising humans. They helped our ancestors and drew on the power that they left behind in their own universe, and they made it work in our world or Kirk’s world. And then. But then they had to leave. But Lucien didn’t want to leave for some reason, he had a love for humans, and he didn’t want to leave, and he fought, but he had to.

Sarah Ray: Leave anyway, and they’re not quite prepared to explain why they had to leave just yet. only that they had to leave. And speaking of leaving, Lucien flies up into the air for some reason and then back down. And then, like the dude at the party who’s the first one to notice the flashing red and blue lights? He’s like, oh, shit, they’re coming. You guys gotta go. You gotta get out of here. Don’t let him see you.

Allie Ashmead: Yep. And he immediately yoinks them back to the bridge and he tells them, don’t give away your presents. Next thing you know, they’re back on the bridge and they’re like, to who? What are you talking about? They don’t even know what that meant.

Sarah Ray: But they decide that Lucien must be hiding them from the other Megan. Megans, Megans, Megans, Megans, whatever.

Allie Ashmead: Like Meghan Markles. Like the Megans.

Sarah Ray: The Megans. Hes even put up some kind of cloud between the planet and the enterprise. So weve got to figure out why they need to be hidden and what might happen if theyre found out. Kirk wants weapons, but Scotty says nothing works except life support, and even he doesn’t even understand how that’s working.

Spock is drawing a pentagram on the floor in Star Trek

Then there’s this long cross dissolve between Kirk hand contemplatively on his chin and Spock drawing on the floor. And I went down an occult rabbit hole here.

Allie Ashmead: He’s drawing a pentagram on the floor. Well, isn’t that what it is? It’s a sort of, sort of pentagram, penta something.

Sarah Ray: So, yes, so I learned. Here’s what I learned. I, here’s my book report on the occult. So there is a difference between a pentagram and a pentacle. the main difference being that the pentagram is just the five pointed star representing the five elements, and the pentacle has a circle around the star connecting all of the points, and that represents balance and harmony.

Allie Ashmead: But this thing, that doesn’t sound so bad.

Sarah Ray: No, no, this thing Spock is drawing, though, isn’t quite either of those. It’s like the star, but it’s inside a pentagon, like straight lines, not a circle. And so I didn’t see if that meant anything specific. Or, you know, maybe they did that so as not to invoke some stupid superstition in the audience or something. I don’t know. I think drawing the pentagram enough.

Allie Ashmead: But anyway, yeah, back then, yeah. So Spock’s getting this ouija board out, too, but, for some reason he thinks to see if he can conjure.

Sarah Ray: Up some magic do you remember that scene in the craft where the girls get together and they try to do light as a feather, stiff as a board, light as a feather, stiff as a board, and they lift the girl up? You don’t remember that?

Allie Ashmead: Vaguely.

Sarah Ray: stiff is a board. That’s Spock in this scene. He’s like.

Allie Ashmead: He’s like.

Sarah Ray: This universe uses different logic so it’s logical that I can do magic well.

Allie Ashmead: And he stands on the little Penta. Penta whatever.

Sarah Ray: He’s like. He’s like, I am Spock. I call to the guardians of the watchtowers of the east, or whatever. I need to watch that. I love that movie so much. I need to watch the craft. Yes.

Allie Ashmead: I haven’t seen it in so long, I don’t remember.

Sarah Ray: I think that was my lesbian awakening, to be honest.

Allie Ashmead: I see. So he decides he’s gonna stand on the pentagram thing, and he’s gonna try to move a chess piece from across the room. He pulls out his hands and he says something like, may the energy of the universe be the power in Meka.

Sarah Ray: Like a high mechahaineo.

Allie Ashmead: It doesn’t work at first, but he keeps doing it. And then he says, power of the universe, enter my being. Oh.

Sarah Ray: Oh, my.

Allie Ashmead: He’s like, I know I can. I believe I can. And then he starts glowing, and then the chess piece moves.

Sarah Ray: So now we need to set up a chess match between Spock the magician and M and Charlie X. A quick captain’s log. Kirk says that in this universe, it appears that belief is as potent a force as energy and matter are in our own.

Allie Ashmead: Oh, no.

Sarah Ray: And this is an interesting thought exercise, because obviously my mind goes straight to theistic religious belief.

Allie Ashmead: Mine too.

Sarah Ray: So, belief without evidence, no matter or energy involved, as far as our natural laws are concerned, I’ve decided I don’t think I’d like this universe. I don’t think I’d like to live in the universe where beliefs are as like you can just believe a thing into existence. I don’t know that I’d like that.

Allie Ashmead: That’d be a little dangerous.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: I think, I think you need to have rules of a universe. Laws.

Allie Ashmead: That things you know to be true. It would be like being on that away planet that everything you think is going to happen.

This episode is about what if what humans thought were gods were actually aliens

Sarah Ray: Speaking of exercises on the bridge, Sulu is exercising his ability to harness this magic power. And it’s 1983, of course, so he conjures himself up a pretty lady, but.

Allie Ashmead: That woman soon turns into Lucien because he’s like, what the fuck? Are y’all doing? Told you to keep it down. But apparently all this mental energy that they’re using is it can be traced, and that’s gonna alert the others. And, he’s like, you’ll be found. And sure enough, a voice comes over and it says, you have been found. And it’s another. Megan. Megan.

Sarah Ray: Yeah. Here’s another example of the great artistry of the animated series, because what we get is this. It’s beautiful, but it’s also kind of creepy. This stream of colors moving across the screen with various faces mixed into it, and it’s, like, overlaid against Kirk’s Bach and Sulu. and the voice of this Megan. Megan is George Takei.

Allie Ashmead: I know. I was like, hey, I know that voice.

Sarah Ray: And he’s like, you evil fuckers came here to spread your evil. And the voice talks about how this time it is the humans who shall suffer. The humans and also leucine, of course, you’ll all pay. Oh, my.

Allie Ashmead: Oh, my.

Sarah Ray: So what the hell happened all those millennia ago when the Mega people visited Earth?

Allie Ashmead: Because they hate the humans, and Lucien is the only one who has any sort of affinity for them. So this Megan sends the, the enterprise towards the planet falling, and. And then they show the ship splitting in two and exploding. We’re about to find out.

Sarah Ray: Then m the crew suddenly find themselves in stocks on that old western set from star, the original series. But this time there’s a sign that reads, salem, massachusetts. So maybe we’re about to get a history lesson. This episode is not what if humans thought were gods were actually aliens? It’s what if what humans thought were witches were actually aliens.

Allie Ashmead: And what do we do with witches?

Sarah Ray: We burn them.

Allie Ashmead: We burn them. We burn witches.

Sarah Ray: The stocks have been rearranged in a kind of u shape, like a meeting space. and in the middle is a pentagram on the floor. And Kirk and Spock work out that they’re in 1691, Massachusetts, as a puritan man stands in the middle and calls the trial to order. We are indeed treated to some history here. The Meagans visited earth and tried to use their powers to help humans, but the greedy fox tried to take advantage of their abilities, because that’s what we do. And when the Megans refused to serve them, they were called devils, warlocks, and evil sorcerers. And everyone was told to fear them. And in return, they were indeed the witches burned in humanitys past. So they. So they all gathered outside of town for one big the gathering, and they combined their powers to return to megas two. And they locked the door behind them again, like a bugs bunny cartoon with, like, the 17 deadbolts and chains and shit. And they locked the door and they never talked to anybody again. Zachary.

Allie Ashmead: Now, the guy that’s talking, who was voiced by George. Decay, his name is Asmodeus, which is another word for the devil, or Satan, which I thought was interesting. Osmo. Do you know that song Bill’s about?

Sarah Ray: Osmolis?

Allie Ashmead: So the.

Sarah Ray: Oh, yes, yes.

Allie Ashmead: Lucifer. Yes.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, you’ve sent it to me before. With the cats.

Allie Ashmead: Yes.

Sarah Ray: Yeah. So this fear has been cooking for a long, long time. And they’re afraid that if one earth ship was able to get here and find them, others will come, too. Still, the trial begins. Asmodeus says they’ve never had to hurt anyone before, and they don’t want to now. And he asks, who will speak in defense of earth? And Spock raises his hand and he’s like, if you’ll note my bowl cut and pointy ears, I am not one of these fuckers. If you would be so kind as to release me from these stocks. whatever you got with them is with them, not me.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, I ain’t got nothing to do with this. No, he says he will speak on. And it makes sense, you know, he’s not from Earth, so he’s not necessarily wouldn’t be seen as biased.

Sarah Ray: Right? So Spock starts calling witnesses. First, Lucien. And he asks Lucien why he seems to be the only Megan that doesn’t fear or hate humans. And Lucien explains that he kind of sees a lot of himself in humanity. Megan’s are solitary, individual specialists. Humans are much more communal and sharing.

Spock asks Kirk if humans have changed since the Salem witch trials

next witness. This is Tas. No time to fuck around with cross examinations or anything. We don’t have time for that. So James T. Kirk takes the stand, and Spock asks him if he believes humans have changed for the better since the days of Salem. And Kirk’s line here is great. He says, I think we’ve been trying to change. Humans have their faults, greed, envy, panicky fear. But in the centuries since the Salem witch trials, we’ve learned we try to understand and respect all life forms except those flyin pancake ones. We genocided the fuck out of those ones.

Allie Ashmead: In an effort to elaborate, he says, you know, you have access to our records, on the enterprise. All of the history of Earth is at your disposable. And then he talks about general order number one, which is sort of like the prime directive.

Sarah Ray: The prime directive.

Speaker B: How often have you broken it? See, the prime m directive has many different functions.

Sarah Ray: The prime directive.

Speaker B: There’s more what you call it guidelines than actual rules. It’s a very interesting proposition. Let me think about it.

Allie Ashmead: Where none of their starships can interfere with the normal development of an alien society. And then he’s like, look at that. You know? Is that the earth that you knew?

Sarah Ray: Asmodeus says, enough. Here’s your history and your records. And talk about a thing not aging well. There are, like, reels of tape and old mainframe punch cards flying around. Yeah, like, if this had been made in the nineties, it’d be floppy disks and cassette tapes.

Allie Ashmead: True, true.

Sarah Ray: Apparently, this three second pause is the time needed for all the Megans to assimilate all that history and new information. Because Jimmy, the head Megan speaks again, saying they now understand that the human’s trespass into this place was just an accident, so it’s not likely to happen again. But, we still have to punish Lucien, and his punishment will be to be confined in limbo for eternity, to live only with himself.

Allie Ashmead: So cruel. And Kirk feels like to do that to someone like Lucien would be as bad as sentencing him to death.

Sarah Ray: Again. We’re a social species, and this guy seems to be more like us than his own people.

Allie Ashmead: But then Megan, the Megan says, don’t you realize, though, who he is? He’s the devil. He’s Lucifer. He’s the tempter, the trickster, the rollicker, the names that humans have given to Lucifer or Satan.

Sarah Ray: And Kirk’s like, yeah, we abandoned all the old, dusty Bronze age books and shit a long time ago. he’s a living being, an intelligent life form, and that’s all that matters to us. And and we will not join you in harming him. Well, that just kicks off a big old Star Trek magic fight.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah.

Sarah Ray: Kirk pulls his sword from his back by the power of Grayskull or whatever.

Allie Ashmead: No, it’s by Graf, Thor’s hammer.

Sarah Ray: They start licking magic shots back and forth at each other, and Kirk is.

Allie Ashmead: Like, learning how to use his magic, and Megan lights him on fire. He creates, a rainstorm to put the fire out. It’s hilarious.

Sarah Ray: As Modius says, there’s no way he can defeat an entire planet by himself. We’ve got you outnumbered. And Kirk says he has to try, or the Megans will become as bad as the Earthmen they fear. He says you’re acting out of terror instead of thought or respect. And again, like we say so often, the. The way Star Trek is so timeless, in its commentary on the human condition. If you look at a lot of the things that are happening in the world today, a lot of the things being done are being done out of fear.

Allie Ashmead: Oh, yeah.

Sarah Ray: Rather than thought. Resume, taz. The Enterprise is back in orbit and everything’s just fine.

Allie Ashmead: And the. Megan was saying the head. Megan was saying, you were prepared to die for Lucien.

Sarah Ray: Asmodeus says, by sparing your helpless enemy, who surely would have destroyed you, you demonstrated the advanced trade of mercy, something we hardly expected. Wait, no, that’s the wrong episode. He says you were prepared to die for Lucien of being alien to you. It was a test.

Allie Ashmead: the whole trial and all that bullshit was just a show, I guess. But, yeah, it’s. It was a complete test. And they had to have proof that mankind had grown and learn wisdom since they last saw them.

Sarah Ray: And it was Kirk’s compassion that was the proof enough for them. So much so that the Megans think they would be all right if other Earth ships were to come visit.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, I don’t think so. I think we just need to, like, stay away from each other.

Sarah Ray: This, seems to be happening a lot, though, like, because at the end of the episode, because this is the animated series, everything has to be happy. And I resolved, and we move along and so, like. And they all live happily ever after? Nah, I don’t think so. I think at the end of this episode, Kirk says, we are very sorry to have trespassed into your space, and we will not be back and we.

Allie Ashmead: Will not report this to Federation, because if they do, they’re gonna want to send someone else, some other ships.

Sarah Ray: I’m just gonna drop. I’m gonna drop a buoy on my way out.

Allie Ashmead: Do not go here.

Sarah Ray: Don’t come in.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, that’s what should happen. But everybody’s like you said, everything’s all hunky dory and, they’re drinking. They. Lucien’s conjured up some beer mugs and they’re toasting to their new friendship.

Spock asks Kirk if he thinks Lucien really was Lucifer

Sarah Ray: The button on the episode, as the enterprise speeds away from the planet, McCoy is happy to leave the magic behind, and he asks Kirk if he thinks Lucien really was the demon some people called Lucifer. Kirk doesn’t seem to care, but Spock remarks that if it is the same being, then this marks the second time Lucien was cast out. And thanks to Kirk, the first time he was saved. Boy, I’m sure glad that’s over with.

Speaker B: I’m happy the affair is over.

Sarah Ray: Me too.

Speaker B: A most annoying, emotional episode.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: But, you know, I learned something today.

Speaker B: When dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel building, creating one jealous God. If all this makes a God, by sparing your helpless enemy, who surely would have destroyed you, you demonstrated the advance trait of mercy. Frankly, I was rather dismayed by your use of the term half breed. You must admit, it is an unsophisticated expression.

Allie Ashmead: Ooh, interesting. Compassion for the devil. like, you know what I mean? The quote unquote the devil, which is interesting.

Sarah Ray: Well, when you think about, like, people who claim satanism as a religion.

Sarah Ray: You know, obviously they. Neither of there’s two camps and they hate each other, and neither of them believe in a literal Satan. Right. But it is that Satan represents something, and the representation of that is, a questioning of authority and a. An, independence of self and things like that. Self direction.

Allie Ashmead: When I was growing up, I’m like, is the devil that bad? Because he’s punished. You’re being punished for doing something bad. So maybe he’s not like, he’s the one punishing you. You know what I mean?

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: Like, they’re like, you’re gonna go to hell because where this guy who really.

Sarah Ray: Loves bad people hangs out of.

Allie Ashmead: Right?

Sarah Ray: And he’s gonna punish me. Okay.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, that now, I mean, it just didn’t make any sense. But to me, when I was kid.

This episode is about fear as a motivator, right?

Sarah Ray: Okay, here’s what I like about this episode. And we touched on it as we went through it, but this episode is about fear as a motivator, right? Earth people turned on the Megans, called them witches, feared and killed them. And when the Megans came back home, they became the same way about humans and all other aliens, for that matter, again, like, they, like a xenophobia. They came home, they shut their door, pulled all their blinds, and said, we don’t want to go outside ever again.

Allie Ashmead: Mm

Sarah Ray: And to me, that just speaks to humanity’s proclivity to withdraw into ourselves as individuals, but also, like, how that affects societies. Like, yeah, when we put ourselves out there, we’re gonna find some shitty people. It’s like dating. but.

Sarah Ray: That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t date. That doesn’t mean we should lock our doors and pull the blinds and hide from the world. Like, like, yeah, maybe some people who migrate from one country to another, for example, aren’t great, great people. Maybe some of them are criminals, but you shouldn’t.

Allie Ashmead: Not all of them are, because they’re only coming to make a better life, if you think about it.

Sarah Ray: And you shouldn’t build a wall and I put bugs, money, levels of door locks on the door and never let anyone else through the door ever again. And yet, like, in a lot of the things that we do today as humans, a lot of it is just a fear based response. And I know we’ve talked about this before, too. There was a great book that I read and we were going to interview and it just, on my old podcast and it just didn’t work out. But it was a, a scientific study that had been done between politically left and politically right people and, what their motivation, what motivates them, what causes physiological responses. And so they showed them images. Some of them were like, happy children and fields of flowers and shit like that. And then other ones were like, guns and scary, angry things. And they can, you know, they hook you up to all kinds of shit.

Allie Ashmead: And they see your brain light up.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, they can read all that stuff. And the people who self defined as conservative, politically conservative, had a stronger response to the more fear imagery than the happy clappy stuff.

Sarah Ray: And so interesting what they came away from that study was like, maybe, maybe half of us ish are just driven to be motivated. Yeah. that’s just how they are. And that’s not to say that that’s good or bad, but it’s to say, now, here’s the thing, we understand better. So how do we, as people on the left, how do we. We’ve got to meet in the middle. You remember it back in the end. I didn’t intend for this to go political at all, but remember when, when I was a kid, Republicans, and Democrats kind of wanted the same thing, but they had different ways of going about it. And, ah, there were things that we agreed on that we could work together on. A lot of bipartisanship when I was a kid, and now it is not that at all. That is gone.

Allie Ashmead: The exact opposite, it is more. Burn the other side, kill them all. It is vitriolic.

Sarah Ray: The Biden administration had a immigration proposal that I didn’t like. It went farther than I would have gone. And it checked a lot of boxes that the Republicans wanted in an immigration policy. And the Republicans said, we’re going to vote against that because Donald Trump said we shouldn’t give Biden a win. This is scary times right now, guys.

Allie Ashmead: It is. And now it’s not even about the actual politics anymore. It is pedantic stuff.

Sarah Ray: My team, your team.

Allie Ashmead: I don’t want my team, your team. it isn’t even about the people anymore. And unless we get back to that. We are. The whole world is going to go to hell.

Perpetu: We all need to examine our deeply held beliefs

Sarah Ray: So here’s what, the thing. The humanism that I would put into the universe or the galaxy, depending on.

Allie Ashmead: Which middle of the galaxy, I don’t know.

Sarah Ray: is that those of us who are not motivated by fear, we have to leverage our own compassion somehow for the people who are and understand that they’re. They just come from a different place than we do. They’re coming at this from a completely different reality. Like, we really do live in two different realities, which, is bonkers. But I also want us all to think. Examine your own deeply held beliefs, whatever they may be, and ask yourself, because you may have never asked yourself, where does this belief of mine come from? It may have been something you were taught as a kid, and you just never questioned it because you weren’t. We’re not supposed to question authority. Perpetu. It may. It may come from somebody wound you up with the fear of what? These. To continue the analogy, these people are coming here to. Turk. Your gerbs. They took our jibs. They took your job.

Allie Ashmead: They took your job, Turk.

Sarah Ray: They’re Turkey gerbs and their criminals and their MS 13, and they’re all this bullshit. And they wind up all of this scary fear stuff that motivates you to go help them stay in power or get power or whatever. And I think we all just need to examine our beliefs and think about where do they come from? Do I hold this belief because I have a. Is it a fear based response or is there a.

Allie Ashmead: Is there something valid.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: Right? Is there a valid reason that you are treating an immigrant terribly? Do you actually have any proof that some. That the things that you’re afraid of are actually happening?

Sarah Ray: Right.

Allie Ashmead: Or is it just the fact that you’re so afraid of what might happen because somebody told you that? That. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think we all should re examine everything. Anytime you’re afraid of something, just sit down and say, why am I afraid of this? Just m doing something everyday thing or some, Some big issue, like. Like immigration or something.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: Like, and be honest with yourself.

Sarah Ray: Sending Lucien to live in limbo, this, reflected to me the idea of, like, the outcast, right? Like, so, like, think, of tribal communities, right, where the. The community offers a safety and comfort in exchange for following the rules. And if you don’t follow the rules, we send you out into the forest to think about what you’ve done.

Allie Ashmead: Prison, sort of. You’re separated from the rest of the right. Yeah.

Sarah Ray: And this may function as a protection for the community. Right. We did that as people to protect everyone else, to get rid of that guy and put him in jail because, he’s doing bad shit. But it’s at the expense of that person. And that’s still a person.

Allie Ashmead: But they rationalize, oh, we didn’t kill him.

Sarah Ray: Right.

Allie Ashmead: We’re not going to kill you. We’re just going to.

Sarah Ray: Although you wish you were dead.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sarah Ray: But it uses fear and punishment to change behavior, which we know only works on a surface level. Right. It’s the, it’s the old, I, hit my kids and they turned out fine. And my papa hit me, and I turned out fine. Well, no, you probably didn’t, actually. But, like, it may have worked to change the behavior, but, but it create, did that create a, it created a fear? Yeah. Did that create a person who, who is motivated and responds to fear?

Allie Ashmead: Yeah. Because now everyone’s afraid of doing what Lucian did, you know, whatever. And so they’re all living in fear, you know what I mean? it comes back to the community. The fear is now instilled in the community. I mean, some fear is healthy.

Sarah Ray: Yes, yes. But when you, when you look at fear from the perspective of, and I think we’ve talked about this before, too, the idea of, again, you know, we’re out on the Serengeti and there’s a rustle in the wind, and the bush over there moves. Is that the wind or is there a fucking lion back behind that bush that’s going to fucking kill and eat me?

Allie Ashmead: Well, a white person would be like, let’s go see what it is. I’ll be out of there.

Sarah Ray: And then shoot it.

Allie Ashmead: right. Or, yeah, let’s go see what it is. Let’s see if we can shoot it.

Sarah Ray: So, you know, but, but there’s a balance to that because it may have just been the wind, and there’s berries in that bush that we really need to survive.

Allie Ashmead: Mm

Sarah Ray: So there’s, you know, there’s trade offs to those kinds of situations.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah.

Sarah Ray: If you let fear drive you all the time, you never get the berries. You never go into the bushes because you’re always afraid of the big, bad monster that might be there. But you may not have good evidence.

Allie Ashmead: For, and maybe it’s there, but you don’t need to be afraid of it.

Sarah Ray: Right.

Allie Ashmead: Maybe it’s just there to get berries, too.

There is one wing of the so called bird that is absolutely driven by fear

Sarah Ray: Yeah. Yes. I feel like they tried to tie the bow at the end of this episode to say, maybe you can get through to people who are governed by fear with a little compassion. And that speaks very loudly to me again when I look at the political divide in this country and the world. I mean, it’s everywhere right now. There is absolutely one so called wing of the so called bird that is absolutely driven by fear. And I think those of us on the other wing just don’t know how to get through to them at all. And maybe it’s compassion.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, I’m. Maybe we have to let go of our own fear of them, too. because in the anger, because a lot of us would just write these people off. Oh, they’re stupid. They’re this, they’re that. They’re. And that’s not good either.

Sarah Ray: I have said, and I will admit this right now, I have said very tongue in cheek, very comedically, that, if they want the south so fucking bad, let’s just move everybody that wants to be in the southe. They just build a wall on the Mason Dixon line. I’ll help pay for it. I’m fine with that. you can have the swamp ass south, and the rest of us are going to build a socialist utopia in the north. And I say that in jest. because then we would have to be neighboring countries with these people. Right. It’s not like you can just move them out of your house and the problem is gone. We live on starship Earth. We are all on this planet together, and our actions affect everyone on the planet. And so it’s not as simple.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah. And it’s not just moving someone across the border.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: Because we’re global. I mean, with everything that we have now, technology, we are, it’s, everything is global. And just moving someone away physically is not enough.

Sarah Ray: No. And move them away is the wrong approach. And I acknowledge that. Again, I say it for comedy. We know we have to figure out how to live together on this world, like, with people whose ideas are very different from ours. So, you know, then the questions become, what’s changing? Because we used to seem to be able to get along kind of pretty well. Or did we, for pieces of time, maybe. Yeah. Or did we?

Allie Ashmead: Or did we? Because, like, right now, because we have so much media and we know everything that’s going on, or we think we know it’s being reported, it’s always in our face. Maybe it’s always been shitty, like, we’ve always had trouble getting along, but it’s just now more in our face.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: And it just seems so, it just seems like everywhere.

Sarah Ray: I agree. And I think it’s just the, temperature is reaching. Boiling at a rapid pace. And what. What do we do? We’ve got to turn the car around somehow and not turn the car around back to the 1950s. We’re not going back. That’s the other thing. So I say so called left and right wings of the so called bird because. And I don’t remember where I heard this now, but if I were running the Democratic Party, first of all, when those. I get polls all the time, I’m surveyed a lot, and a lot of times they’ll ask you, you know, how do you identify politically? And it’s Democrat, Republican, independent, other. And I always select other and write in progressive.

Sarah Ray: And then the next question is, well, which of the parties is more closely aligned to your values? And the answer is Democrat. But I don’t. I don’t identify as a Democrat. It’s not a strong, like a lot of conservatives, Republican is a very strong part of their identity, and I don’t have that with any political party. Again, it’s. It’s the values to me. And the Democrats don’t hit them all for me. They don’t go far enough. And if I were leading either the Democratic Party or what should be a progressive third party, I would. I would be rebranding this whole conversation about left and right to forward and backward. There is a party, there is a political party that wants to take us backward, and there is another who wants to move forward. Which do you want? And that’s really what we’re choosing between. Do you want to go back to the good old days in the 1950s with the sock hops and the soda fountains and the, you know, subjugated blood segregation? Right. Is that what you want? And a lot of people do.

Allie Ashmead: And yes, I was going to say there are a lot of people who would say yes to that question. Yeah. Ah, women. Women knew their place.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: They had no reproductive rights. LGBTQ. You couldn’t live freely. Everything was controlled. there was ten commandments in school and prayer and bullshit. And those were the good old. They want.

Sarah Ray: Absolutely. Yeah.

My daughter did a theater camp this past week

Again, everybody go. Research project 2025. It’s coming. This is what they want. They wrote a playbook about it.

Sarah Ray: I had an interaction like this in the wild. So my daughter did a theater camp this past week. We should have talked about that at the open of the show. Whatever, we’ll talk about it now. So she did a theater camp. She’s absolutely hooked. Thanks, to everyone who donated to help make that happen? So it was a week long day camp. Not a. Not a sleepover camp or anything, right? So they went Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, eight to noonish, whatever. And then on 01:00 on Friday, they had a performance.

Sarah Ray: And we came in and we were in the second row, and in front of us was a boomer in the wild. And we had the neighbor’s kid with us because our. They go to school together, right? So she was there to support her friend and she was making some weird noises like kids do, you know, just being fucking weird. Ah. Which we embrace in this household.

Allie Ashmead: And the kid, the kid, the neighbor.

Sarah Ray: The neighbor kid. Yeah. and this lady in front of us turned around and said some shit. And she. I mean, like, I don’t normally say anything, but that’s just. She’s just being rude or something like that. And becca’s like, what are you talking about, rude? She’s a. This is a child being a child. They make noises. And it struck me as like, no, this woman wants this child to sit down, shut up, be seen and not heard. Boy, am I glad we’re moving away from that.

Allie Ashmead: We’re taught.

Sarah Ray: I don’t. I don’t want that world. Yeah, this is the forward. I’m going away from that shit. Because it wasn’t helpful, it wasn’t healthy. It. We know now from a mental health perspective, that is terrible for children.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah. But not. Not everybody knows it, like, you know what I mean? it’s. It’s now like mental health is.

Sarah Ray: And I should say, I understand that it’s harder for older folks to, you know, get over their shit and get on the bus. Because deep seated beliefs and understandings are really hard to overcome. I do understand that. But to, like, snark at a complete fucking stranger.

Allie Ashmead: Child.

Sarah Ray: A baby child.

Allie Ashmead: That’s a baby. Because I. I call them babies. Anybody over under ten, that’s a baby. Yeah, babies.

Sarah Ray: Anyway, anybody die in this episode?

Allie Ashmead: Nope.

Sarah Ray: They’re not killing anybody. They’re this.

Allie Ashmead: They’re not killing anyone. I’m, I’m, I’m saving up all the mad bars for TNG.

Sarah Ray: I guess I can’t wait till you write some bars for Tasha yar. Oh, I’m sorry. Spoiler alert. Did I say that out loud?

Allie Ashmead: Well, everyone knows by now without maybe.

Speaker B: Let’s get right to business.

Federation pays off percentages, and the boss. Fine. I’m authorized to pay an equitable price

Fine. I’m authorized to pay an equitable price. Federation has invested a great deal of money in our training. They’re about due for a small return.

Allie Ashmead: Listen, we pay off percentages. We’re entitled to a little service for all money, huh?

Speaker B: Is this the way your citizens do business? They’re right of petition.

Sarah Ray: They pay their percentages, and the boss.

Speaker B: Takes care of them.

Humanist Trekanagra podcast features humor in laughter

Sarah Ray: Is there anything else, listeners of humanist Trekanagra the podcast it’s humor in laughter. Dathon on the Patreon Sea shaka when.

Allie Ashmead: The reviews fella Kalo his pledge at.

Sarah Ray: Patreon, humanist Trek, their content wide dharmak and jalad at Patreon pledge with arms wide.

Allie Ashmead: Mirab with your support, your laughter Temba his arms open.

Sarah Ray: Our admirals at Patreon. Russell at the race of Natara Ali, her arms with fists open Petyr and Sara at Lunga Sherry with sales unfurled.

Allie Ashmead: Patreon.com humanist trek where laughter flows. So cough in joyous unity.

Test of my command abilities. Is that all you gotta say? What about my performance

Speaker B: I assume you’re loitering around here to learn what efficiency rating. I plan to give your cadets trainees to the briefing room. Is that all you gotta say? What about my performance? Aren’t you dead?

Allie Ashmead: I don’t believe this was a fair.

Speaker B: Test of my command abilities.

Allie Ashmead: There was no way to win.

Speaker B: There’s no correct resolution. It’s a test of character.

Sarah Ray: Now what is that supposed to mean?

Speaker B: I am understandably curious.

Allie Ashmead: May I ask you a question?

Speaker B: Who’s been holding up the damn elevator?

Credited writer for this episode, Larry Brody, had originally rejected script

Sarah Ray: Becca, is back now with the answer to this week’s Starfleet Academy cadet challenge for the magicks of magas two. Remind us again the question.

Becca: Credited writer for this episode, Larry Brody, had originally sent his script for the third season of the original series, but, producer Freddy Fry Berger rejected it. Three years later, he pitched the same idea to Gene Roddenberry for this series. Roddenberry loved the idea and Brody’s script, but according to Brody, what did he realize when the episode finally aired?

Sarah Ray: I could not be fucked to tell you what our answers were.

Becca: Sarah said his idea had been written and produced on the original series and he didn’t get credit. Allie said it had already been done in a similar way on Tos.

Sarah Ray: Okay. And the answer was, according to Brody.

Becca: Roddenberry rewrote all of the dialogue. Brody has said he didn’t even recognize it at all as his incorrect.

Allie Ashmead: Wow. Yeah. So I was. Yeah, I was reading the. About the Walter Koenig episode where he. He had had to rewrite it twelve times.

Sarah Ray: Jesus.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah. So. Goodness, I guess that was just the norm.

Becca: Yeah. Seems like I’ve seen a lot of that where Gene has done a lot of this.

Sarah Ray: Well, Gene famously wrote lyrics to the Star Trek theme song and had them copyrighted so that, even though they aren’t in the final show, he is a co writer of the Star Trek theme. And so he screwed Alexander courage out of some royalty money is what had happened there.

Allie Ashmead: Wow.

Sarah Ray: Yeah.

Allie Ashmead: Wow.

Sarah Ray: Next week we’ll be reviewing Star the animated series, season one, episode nine.

Enterprise crew returns to amusement park planet where computer has taken over

Once upon a planet. Upon returning to the amusement park planet, the Enterprise crew finds that the caretaker has died and the computer has taken over, creating havoc. Oh, is this the, All right, so we’re going back to the Alice in Wonderland planet. I have not seen this.

Allie Ashmead: I actually have.

Sarah Ray: Okay.

Allie Ashmead: I fell asleep watching it.

Sarah Ray: because that’s what you do.

Allie Ashmead: I do. I just leave it on. I watch the two episodes, and then I just leave it on.

There’s a safety mechanism shown that is not typically shown in trek

Sarah Ray: All right, what’s our question for once upon a planet?

Becca: What extremely rare for Star Trek safety mechanism is shown in this episode?

Allie Ashmead: What? What extremely rare. Start. What?

Sarah Ray: You have to have a pass to go on the bridge. You have to have security clearance. That’s the safety measure.

Becca: There’s a safety mechanism shown that is not typically shown in trek.

Sarah Ray: Mechanism.

Allie Ashmead: A safety mechanism.

Sarah Ray: So this is the technology thing, is it? Their belts again? They’re magic belts. They’re. What the fuck are those called? They’re life support belts.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah, life support belts. A safety mechanism that is usually not shown in trek.

Sarah Ray: Right.

Allie Ashmead: What?

Sarah Ray: Their heaters are locked in a different place from their heater. Ammunition? I don’t know.

Allie Ashmead: Their heaters have a safety on. Well, now they do have a. I don’t know. Safety mechanism. It’s gotta be something mechanical. What have we always complained about that they should do?

Sarah Ray: Lots of shit.

Allie Ashmead: I know.

Sarah Ray: Oh, maybe. Maybe it’s something to do with the transporter. Detecting other things in the stream when they beam you in? No, because. No, no, no. I take it back, because that is, like, very, very common in later trek.

Allie Ashmead: Yeah. I’m trying to remember this episode. They did all beam down for shore leave. It has. It might be something with the transporter, though, but I don’t know what. Yeah, I have no idea.

Allie Ashmead: I gotta say something, though, right? Extremely rare safety mechanism.

Sarah Ray: She’s really trying to read into the.

Allie Ashmead: And I’m trying to remember, like, what did I. Extremely rare safety mechanism. I don’t know.

Allie Ashmead: It’s got to be something to do with the transporter, but I have no idea.

Sarah Ray: All right.

Becca: Something to do with the transporter.

Allie Ashmead: Yes. That’s my answer. Something. Something to do with the transporter.

Sarah Ray: Okay, and what did you record for my answer?

Becca: Life support belt.

Sarah Ray: Yeah, those were in another episode, too, though. Yeah, it was, right? So it could be. It could be that Becca’s just like, because Becca’s not watching along with us, so she might not know that this was already shown in the episode and an episode before. I don’t know.

Share this episode use the hashtag Starfleet challenge

Anyway, we’re gonna lose every time, and so if you’d like to lose with us, you know how to do that. Head over to your social media. Share this episode use the hashtag Starfleet challenge. Send us a text or a voicemail to 920550 Trek 920-550-8735 call and leave us a message or send us a text. We’ll pick out our winner. as as of now, Anders is still our winner and our favorite listener. So you got to dethrone Anders at this point and, play along with us next time on Humanist Trek. Star the animated series, season one, episode nine Once Upon a Planet.

Allie Ashmead: what the heck? What does he say?

Sarah Ray: What does who say?

Allie Ashmead: What do I say?

Sarah Ray: Diftor hech smusma.

Allie Ashmead: That’s it. Yeah. Diftor hech smusma

Sarah Ray: kapla.

Becca: I don’t know. Oh, my God.

Allie Ashmead: Get me out of here.

Becca: Humanist Trek is available wherever you replicate your podcast. Follow us on all the social medias at humanistrec. Become a patron patreon.com/humanisttrek. Open hailing frequencies to podcastumanistrek.com and visit our website, humanistrek.com. humanist Trek is a production of Sarah Austin Media.