WEBVTT
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Space, the final frontier. Join us for a bold conversation.
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Our prime directive, to recap our favorite Star Trek shows,
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both new and old. To engage in debate about all
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things Trek. Prepare to energize. With phasers set to stun.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Phasers Set to Stun,
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where we continue to show our love for everything Star
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Trek in this ongoing series from a film by podcast
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that explores the expanding Trek universe by covering television, animation, movies, directors, merchandise,
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and much more. Plotting the course, as always, is your
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core Trek crew. I'm Scott Hoffman.
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And I'm Wayne Whited.
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And Dave is off on a mission to Talos V,
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so I hope he doesn't get in too much trouble.
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Hopefully he doesn't stop the wrong planet, and he can
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come back and talk with us soon. So now that
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we've wrapped up the latest season of Strange New Worlds,
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we're heading back to the original Star Trek, which continues
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to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year. Coincidentally, we're jumping
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back in with something that's very much related to Strange
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New Worlds, this two-parter episode titled The Menagerie. Part one
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originally aired on November 17th, 1966. Well, part two aired
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just seven days later on November 24th. Both episodes were
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directed by Mark Daniels and Robert Butler. Both were written
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by Gene Bradenberry and John D.F. Black with Stephen W. Karabastos, uh,
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also featured as a writer on part one. Now, this
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is one that gets a little tangled because we're technically
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talking about a two-parter that's kind of two episodes in one. Um,
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It's related to the cage we already covered. We'll get
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that in a minute. But, Wayne, let's ring the core
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bell and bring the session to order as you tell
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us what this episode is all about.
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All right. Captain Christopher Pike, now severely disabled following a
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tragic accident, arrives aboard the Enterprise, prompting Spock to take
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control of the ship and divert it to a forbidden planet,
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Talos IV, as Spock faces a court-martial for mutiny. He
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presents recordings from the Enterprise's earlier mission to Talos IV,
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where Pike encountered powerful aliens capable of creating incredibly realistic illusions.
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Through these recordings, the court learns how the Talosians attempted
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to keep Pike on their planet by offering him the
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illusion of a life free from his physical limitations. Spock's
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true motive is revealed, to return Captain Pike to Talos IV,
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where the aliens can provide him with a chance at
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a happier life despite his disabilities.
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Thanks, Wayne. So we've already talked about the cage on
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an earlier episode. So if you missed that one, please
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take a minute to check it out. Because in this episode,
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we're primarily talking about the courtroom and mutiny story surrounding
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that episode. So, Wayne, I'm curious because my so admittedly,
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I'm kind of the new guy with the original series.
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And this happens to be an episode that I have
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seen before, although it was a while ago. So I'm
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curious about your latest episode. Your thoughts on the latest
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viewing of this episode for our discussion today. How is
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that different from when you saw it for the first time?
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Yeah, I haven't seen the actual menagerie in decades. I
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saw the cage quite a few times since then, but
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not the menagerie. So I had to go back and
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remind myself of the extra stuff. But I actually, I
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found it rather interesting. It's definitely memorable. I like how
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they were able to incorporate... the older footage with, with
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this new storyline, it's, you know, it's pretty straightforward in
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terms of storyline, you know, he commits mutiny, Spock commits mutiny,
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turns it into, it really turns into something much more
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meaningful altogether. I, I, I like that idea. I like
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the Spock being, um, faithful to his original captain, but
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not wanting to, to disappoint or go against, uh, Kirk.
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It really, for this early, it's, and we're still early
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in the season, in the whole series, it really helps
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to expand the character of Spock, which at this point
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hasn't had too much expansion yet. It actually works. I'm
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really surprised at how well the incorporation of the original
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pilot works, considering how different I've always considered that pilot
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from the rest of the series. Um, I, I enjoyed it.
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I think it, it really works for me. That's, that's
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the thing. There's, there's a lot of emotion to the story.
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There's a lot of character development. Um, I just find
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Spock's devotion very, very touching.
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Yeah, I agree. Um, so I think when I saw
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this the first time it was compelling and interesting and
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it kind of, um, you know, everything that we pick
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up from it as a first time viewer for this,
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Spock's maneuvering through the process to ultimately free Captain Pike,
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so to speak. But as a devout fan of Strange
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New Worlds, this viewing hit me in a different way
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this time. There was a lot more emotional investment that
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I was reading into it from Spock in terms of
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Pike's well-being, not just his survival. I found myself also
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kind of wondering and trying to kind of reconcile what
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the crew... what the surrounding crew knew of Pike from
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their shared time on the enterprise, because we do get
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Kirk and Spock and bones all, um, going to see
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Pike for the first time. And it's the first time
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they're seeing him, um, in his condition in the chair. Um,
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so I, it seemed, it seemed like, uh, there should
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have been like, it was a little odd that, Clark
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didn't necessarily seem to know as much about Pike, even
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though they've gotten kind of close on strange new worlds. Um,
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but this is quite a few, I feel like it's
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quite a few years after, um, they had known each other.
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So that's where the timeline started getting kind of nutted
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up for me. So when they meet Pike in his condition,
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when they fight, when they arrive on the planet at
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the beginning of the episode, um, It had been just
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a few months since his accident.
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Well, I'm not sure because that's what I always thought
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it was. For years, for decades, I always thought it was.
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But since this last season of Strange New Worlds, and
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you're absolutely right. Now that we've seen Strange New Worlds,
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it kind of puts a completely different light on this episode.
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It's kind of neat that we're actually talking about this
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right after the fourth season. But I think... Because I
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remember there was one of the episodes of this last
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season that I was trying to figure out the whole timeline.
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And I believe that if the accident happens at the
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end of the fifth season of next season of Strange
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New Worlds, that would mean that this episode, the Menagerie,
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takes place about four or five years later.
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Okay. Okay. And then the events of the cage, we've
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not seen that represented in Discovery or Strange New Worlds yet. Right.
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Because that, you know, that took place. Well, we did,
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but only in flashback in, in a second season of discovery,
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because it took place about a year before the second
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season of discovery, which is where we were introduced to
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Pike and, and Spock and, and, uh, Una. Um, so yeah,
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everything on strange new worlds takes place afterwards.
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Yeah. Got it. Okay. That makes a lot more sense. Um,
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it's just that emotional investment that Spock has, um, it
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puts a lot more meaning behind what he's going through.
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It's almost like as a watcher of strange new worlds.
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Now you see that this is him finally kind of
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bringing him home almost.
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Yeah.
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Um, but I don't know. It's fascinating. I would just,
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I'd recommend obviously watching strange new worlds to anybody who's
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a fan of the classic series. Um, and, uh, anybody
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who's a fan of strange new worlds, this might be
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a good jumping on point to try, uh, the original series. Obviously,
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there are several things we've already talked about that would
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be a good time to do so. But I mean,
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particularly now as we're getting ready for that last season,
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I think there's a certain amount of question in people's
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minds about, you know, we know kind of what happens
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to Pike, but what will happen to Pike that we
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will see in the next season. I think this is
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just kind of an intriguing setup for that.
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It is.
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Makes me interested to see it with that kind of lens.
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And I can see myself watching this again after the
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ending of Strange New Worlds.
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Yeah.
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And I think that would be a great place to
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watch it. I think, I think it'd be, um, a
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great way of starting. Um, other than I, I actually,
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I would prefer you people, if you're not watching, if
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you've never watched the original series and you're watching strange
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new worlds, I actually would start with this, um, rather
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than start with the cage. It would make much more sense. Um,
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you know, I, I actually saw the cage before I
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saw the menagerie. Oh, back years and years ago, back
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in the eight piece, because the cage, what was released
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on videotape, I think it was around 86 is around
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the time voyage home came out. And it was like
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this weird mix of color and black and white. Cause
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they hadn't found the, the, the, the, uh, original film
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was lost, but, um, I didn't see the menagerie until
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like years, a couple of years later. Um, so, you know,
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that I'm, I'm a little backwards from everybody else, but
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it's just, it's interesting watching it after all these years
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and with strange new worlds now, very, you know, we're
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in our memory since we just watched the fourth season,
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you know, just having to reevaluate again, because you get
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a completely different look at Pike and a completely different
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look at the characters around him. And I understand.
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Yeah.
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I mean, there is some little difference. You, Considering how
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many times Kirk has appeared in Strange New Worlds, he
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should recognize and be very familiar with Pike. And he
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definitely doesn't seem familiar. But, you know, hey, I can
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look past that.
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Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think for me, there's a
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different way of looking at Pike with more empathy for
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the man in the chair.
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Yeah.
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Right. It was thinking about his... Maybe in an original
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viewing of this, it may have been seen that Captain
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Pike didn't want to go back to Telos 4. That
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maybe he saw that as a bad experience or he's
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scared to go back or something to that effect. With
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this kind of viewing, though, it feels like the Pike
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that we know through Strange New Worlds would do it
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because he wants to protect Spock. that he wants to
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protect Kirk that he wants to protect everybody around him
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and say like I don't want you to do this
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for me let me.
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Be that's that's exactly how I felt rewatching this is
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that he he doesn't he's trying to protect Spock he's
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trying to protect the other people he doesn't want to
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to he don't want them to ruin their careers just
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for him yeah yeah.
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So viewers if you haven't done so already I encourage
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you to watch Strange New Worlds and catch up maybe
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give it more than one season since this past season
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was a little bit unusual, I'll say. But for sure,
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give it a shot and then take a look at
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this Menagerie two-parter. All right, well, let's take a quick
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break and when we come back, we'll talk about the
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next episode, The Conscience of the King. All right, welcome back, listeners.
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We're getting into the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, getting
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back into the original series. We're talking about Technically three episodes,
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I guess. We just talked about the first two with
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the Menagerie two-parter. And we're getting into the third, The
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Conscious of the King. The first aired on December 8th, 1966.
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Directed by Gerd Oswald and written by Barry Trivers and
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Stephen W. Karabatsos. I'm going to get that right one
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of these times.
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At least once.
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So Wayne, if you wouldn't mind, tell us what this
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episode is all about.
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The Enterprise is sent to Planet Q. where Captain Kirk's
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friend Dr. Thomas Layton suspects Shakespearean actor Anton Kardin is
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actually Kodos the Executioner, responsible for massacring half the population
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of Taurus IV during a famine. After Layton is murdered
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and other witnesses are targeted, Kirk investigates while Spock discovers
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that several survivors have died wherever Kardinian's acting troop has
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been nearby. Evidence increasingly points to Kardinian, But the truth
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emerges when his daughter Lenore reveals she has been killing
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the witnesses to protect her father. But when Lenore attempts
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to shoot Kirk, Caridian takes the blast and dies, leaving
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his daughter mentally shattered.
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So I feel like that's a pretty fascinating twist to
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this one. As a first-time watcher, I found that to
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be pretty surprising. It did remind me of, at least
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in the essential plot of a couple of Next Generation movies, Yes.
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Yes.
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Um, in particular, like the, um, uh, some of the
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episodes where there's just kind of that mistaken identity for
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who the murderer is. Uh, it reminded me of times
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at times for some reason with the, uh, episode where Riker, um,
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is believed to have killed a scientist, uh, that was
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with his wife. Um, and, um, a few other episodes
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where there was this kind of like, mistaken identity in
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history or kind of mistaken history. I don't know. I
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thought the twist with Lenore and Credian's actions, that kind