Uncanny Treks

Geometry of Shadows S2E3 (16 Nov 94) vs. 2nd Skin S3E5 (24 Oct 94)-Technomages don’t reappear in B5 but do play a big role in the spinoff Crusade (1999) & a novel trilogy (2001)-Much to Bob’s distaste, Lord of the Rings & Power Rangers come up-Michael Ansara plays the technomage as well as Kang in TOS & DS9 & Mr. Freeze in Batman TAS-René Descartes entertains questions about the first principles of reason & the possibility of deception & error in Discourse on the Method (1637) & Meditations on 1st Philosophy (1641)-Philip K. Dick’s narratives often engage w/ questions of Cartesian doubt, for example Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) & the film adaptation Blade Runner (1982) & “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966) & the film adaptation Total Recall (1990)-Bob’s example of Cartesian doubt this time is the Hitchcock thriller The Lady Vanishes (1938)-Matt makes grim Purge & Jonathan Swift references

Disclaimer: Cover art is meant to be clickbait (and never going to happen).Bob and Matt discuss the announcement of Babylon 5 returning on the CW Network.

Bob and Matt discuss the latest episode of Lower Decks.

Price of Peace (comic Dec 94-Mar 95) vs. Equilibrium S3E4 (17 Oct 94)-Bob vaguely paraphrases the opening line of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Cask of Amontillado’-Matt & Bob references the post-Vietnam & X-Files vibes of the Earth Alliance govt. okaying the Minbari mindwipe of Sinclair-Bob recommends skipping issues #5-10 of the first run of Babylon 5 comics, Matt recommends skipping issues #2-10-The assassination plot seems very inspired by Oliver Stone’s film JFK (1991)-The artist for issue #1-2, & 4, Israeli Mike Netzer, drew a Batman/Green Arrow graphic novel Matt & Bob read as kids, Poison Tomorrow (1992) as well as a 1978 Legion of Super-Heroes back-up where Mon-El fights the Khunds that Bob likes very much in Superboy & the Legion #236-The fill-in artist for #3, Colombian Carlos Garzón, apparently mainly worked on Marvel Star Wars & DC Star Trek comics.-The artist for #11 is Englishman John Ridgway, who did several fill-ins on the best run of the Spectre, John Ostrander’s in the early 90s-Matt & Bob say Cypher sounds like a badass 90s superhero name, but in fairness it is the mutant name of the least badass 80s member of the New Mutants-Bob makes the connections between the Siskos, beets, & black Louisianan cuisine to great Chew artist Rob Guillory-Bob & Matt debate the meaning & entailments of the concept thirst

Bob and Matt discuss the latest episode of Lower Decks.

Revelations S2E3 (11 Nov 94) vs. House of Quark S3E3 (10 Oct 94)-Matt & Bob debate whether Batman should be motivated by guilt in the same way as Spider-Man-Matt connects Delenn’s post-cocoon skin condition to Greyscale in Game of Thrones-Bob references June Lockhart from last season of Babylon 5 & the original Lost in Space-Bob is fatigued of cliched recitings of W.B. Yeats & T.S. Eliot poetry

Bob and Matt discuss the most recent episode of Lower Decks.

Points of Departure S2E1 (2 Nov 94) vs. The Search p1-2 S3E1-2 (26 Sep & 3 Oct 94)-This week Matt & Bob are too excited to introduce the season premieres by name-Matt no-sells Bob’s reference to the variety show Soul Train (1971-2006); in retaliation Bob no-sells Matt’s reference to the Borat franchise

Bob and Matt discuss the latest episode of Lower Decks.

Bob and Matt discuss the most recent episode of Lower Decks.

Bob and Matt discuss the ups and downs of DS9 Season 2.

Bob and Matt recap season 1 of Babylon 5.

Bob and Matt discuss the latest episode of Lower Decks.

Bob and Matt discuss the first four episodes of Titans Season 3 on HBO Max.

Chrysalis S1E22 (3 Oct 94) vs. The Jem’Hadar S2E26 (12 Jun 94)-Matt & Bob recorded a podcast episode on the penultimate television episodes of B5 S1 & DS9 S2, but Matt blacked out for 24 hours and lost all memory of "Legacies" and "Tribunal". He also keeps having flashbacks of torture and probing.-Bob’s favorite Faustian narratives are Christopher Marlowe Dr. Faustus (1592), Goethe Faust Pt. 1 (1808), Lord Byron Manfred (1817), Herman Melville Moby-Dick (1851), & Oscar Wilde Dorian Gray (1891)-Bob speculates that B5 may be the first show to tell a whole narrative across multiple seasons, in contrast to a show like Wiseguy (1987-90) that did multi-episode arcs or more improvisational soap opera like Dallas (1978-91), Crime Story (1986-8), Twin Peaks (1990-1)-Bob speculates that Harry Potter may be responsible for younger millennials’ and zoomers’ love for bildungsromans, in stark contrast to our elder millennial bitterness-Bob does like the new but sadly canceled Twilight Zone (2019-20)-Matt namechecks Banshee from the X-Men & Bob talks fondly about the Stepford Cuckoos’ disquiet that they lack telekinesis-Matt fails his Voight-Kampff test for Galaxy-class starship empathy-Bob, a UAW member, thinks highly of this radio episode on UAW president Walter Reuther’s death https://player.fm/series/history-conspiracy-podcast/the-death-of-walter-reuther-from-the-dave-emory-archives but not so highly of this podcast episode on Sen. Paul Wellstone’s death https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-strange-death-of-senator-paul-wellstone/id1235651909?i=1000501700367-Bob hopes Black Lightning (2018-21) allowed Cress Wiliams to be as haughty in that role as he is as Talak’talan-Bob lies & says we’re covering the B5 comic Price of Peace next, but, instead, we held off a couple of weeks on the comic & did the B5 S2 premiere & 2part DS9 S3 premiere next

Bob and Matt discuss Lower Decks S2E3.

TKO S1E20 (25 May 94) vs. Collaborator S2E24 (22 May 94)-Matt & Bob debate whether we’d be better off w/ the Mutai or The Purge franchise-Theodore Bikel also played Worf’s foster father in The Next Generation-Matt’s favorite boxing movies are Rocky (1976), Raging Bull (1980), & Pulp Fiction (1994). Bob’s are The Set-up (1949), Raging Bull, & Creed (2015)-Matt’s favorite martial arts movies are Drunken Master (1978) & Mortal Kombat (1995). Bob’s are both 1978 Shaw Bros films: 36th Chamber of Shaolin & 5 Deadly Venoms-Bob embarrassingly forgot that Johnny Blaze is a nom de guerre of Method Man-Twin Peaks & Sopranos are the best dream shows-Matt & Bob both co-sign that Danny McBride’s HBO comedies are the great examples of contemporary southern realism-Matt harasses Bob for not watching Logan (2017)

Bob and Matt discuss Season 2 Episode 2 of Lower Decks.

Bob and Matt review The Suicide Squad. To support our podcast, please consider subscribing to our Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/uncannytreks.

Quality of Mercy S1E19 (17 Aug 94) vs. Crossover S2E23 (15 May 94)-Matt maybe coins a phrase for a common sf trope: hardluck telepathy, examples from the X-Men include: Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Betsy Braddock, Kwannon, David Haller, Xi’an Coy Manh, Dani Moonstar, Quentin Quire, David Alleyne, & Stepford Cuckoos-Matt educates Bob on ‘Cult of Personality’-All the talk of spacing puts Bob in mind of the famous hard sf tale ’Cold Equations’, although it’s arguably a bit ridiculous & pretty sexist-Magneto gets mindwiped in the climax of Fatal Attractions (1993)-Bob was foolishly misremembering the concept of Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton as being introduced in Weapon X (1991), but it was much earlier in Proteus Saga (1979), although Wolverine’s unbreakable bones were alluded to before-June Lockhart played Dr. Maureen Robinson in the original Lost in Space (1965-8) & Dr. Rosen in this episode; sadly, there’s no reunion with Bill Mumy-The best popular book on M4A is Tim Faust Health Justice Now: Single Payer & What Comes Next (2019)-Bob references Sigmund Freud's very short essay “Medusa’s Head” (1922). The best & funnest popular introduction to psychoanalysis is Slavoj Žižek Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture (1991)-Bob & Matt compare the many episodes, comics, & novels set in the Mirror Universe-Bob again waxes nostalgic about Diane Duane Star Trek novels-Bob praises the Star Trek comics crossovers w/ Planet of the Apes (2015) & Legion of Super-Heroes (2012) & condemns the Dr. Who crossover (2012)-Matt references an Odo retcon in the David Mack Section 31 novel Disavowed (2014)-Great if controversial movies involving slavery include Burn! (1969), Mandingo (1975), Drum (1976), Django Unchained (2012), 12 Yrs a Slave (2013), Aferim! (2015), & Free State of Jones (2016)

Bob and Matt discuss the season 2 premiere of Lower Decks.

Babylon² S1E18(10 Aug 94) vs. The Wire S2E22 (8 May 94)-3 interesting superhero examples of the unstuck in time trope in Captain America: Reborn (2009-10), Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne (2010), & Infinite Avengers (2014)-Matt gets Yaphet Kotto in Alien (1979) vibes from Garibaldi-Matt gets Labyrinth (1986) vibes from Zathras-Bob gets Tom Waits “What’s He Building?” (1999) vibes off Delenn-Bob’s favorite Flying Dutchman narrative is the William Hope Hodgson weird novel Ghost Pirates (1909), available on Librivox-Bob is very discontent w/ the climax of Fantastic 4: Grand Design (2019)-Matt & Bob are relieved we didn’t get the Kira equivalent of Batman: Venom (1991)

A Voice in the Wilderness- Part 2 S1E17 (3 Aug 94) vs. Maquis p1-2 S2E20-1 (24 Apr & 1 May 94)-Bob gets annoyed at Matt’s spurious Star Wars Death Star references-Ron Canada played the crooked chief of LA police in The Shield (2002-8)-There’s a very good 2017 episode of The Dig interviewing Aziz Rana’ about his book 2 Faces of American Freedom (2014) on US settler colonialism-Bob’s about to start watching the short-lived, Thomas Pynchon-esque dramedy Lodge 49 (2018-9) that also features Bertila Damas

A Voice in the Wilderness p1 S1E16 (20 Jul 94) vs. Blood Oath S2E19 (27 Mar 94)-Kor, Koloth, Kang, Curzon, & Sulu’s backstory w/ the Albino is explored in the Michael Martin & Andy Mangels Excelsior novel Forged in Fire (2007)-Before TNG, in the Star Trek paracanon, Klingons were more like TNG Romulans, careful strategists, & Romulans were more like TNG Klingons, honor-bound warriors. For the essential Klingon TOS novel, see John Ford Final Reflection (1984), &, for the essential Romulan TOS novels, see the 5 Diane Duane novels from the 80s & 00s-The failed Uncle Ruckus film kickstarter campaign was in 2013. A revival of the Boondocks is supposed to premiere on HBO MAX in 2022.-The Psi Corps novel Bob intends to eventually read is Gregory Keyes Fate of Bester (1999)-Matt & Bob reference Twin Peaks S3 The Return (2017), Catholic Twin Peaks aka Mare of Easttown (2021), Dexter (2006-13), & The Killing (2011-4)-Matt & Bob ponder the 2-part storytelling in a variety of cartoons-Bob connects the tropes of Halloween (2018), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), & Terminator Dark Fate (2019)

Eyes S1E15 (13 Jul 94) vs. Profit & Loss S2E18 (20 Mar 94)-Bob misspoke & references the great Hong Kong film trilogy Infernal Affairs (2002-3) remade into Marty Scorsese’s The Departed (2006)-There have been 236 Friends episodes (1994-2004) & 154 It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-) episodes so far. Bob stupidly misremembers Always Sunny episode title formats-Matt dubs Jeffrey Combs the Stan Lee of tv sf-Matt & Bob long for a rematch between The Rock & 7 of 9 in Picard S2-Bob hates on Star Trek & Babylon 5 prequel novels, Matt hates on Arthurian parallels-Pavlovian conditioning is not to be mistaken with Pavel Chekov-Bob’s favorite book on climate change is Christian Parenti Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change & the New Geography of Violence (2011)-The Time for My Stories (2021) podcast did an interesting episode on Dallas (1978-91)-Ivanova has a dream with a Twin Peaks vibe

Grail S1E14 (6 Jul 94) vs. Playing God S2E17 (27 Feb 94)-Matt commences his ritual of torturing Bob by reminding him of Friends: The Reunion (2021)-Bob has been reading the Thanos v2 (2017-8) series, which has story arcs by Jeff Lemire/Mike Deodato & Donny Cates/Geoff Shaw & includes the conceit that Thanos tortures random people on earth, confident the Avengers won’t notice-Blowback S2 (2021) about US-Cuba relations is the best podcast of the year-Richard Poe did the audiobook for one of the great US novels, Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian (1985)-Diane Duane’s excellent Star Trek novels include Wounded Sky (1983), My Enemy, My Ally (1984), Spock’s World (1988), & Dark Mirror (1993)--For a recent critique of meritocracy, see Daniel Markovits Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, & Devours the Elite (2019) & a critical interview with the author on The Genn [Loury] Show-Christy Marx, creator of Jem & the Holograms (1985-8), wrote this B5 episode-For some reason Bob goes to The Practice (19997-2004) as the pinnacle of 90s network tv drama, probably because he finds lawyers more interesting than doctors-Bob feels like Tolkein is a bigger influence on B5 than Arthurian legend, but there are many overt Arthurian references in B5 & the spin-off Crusade (1999)-Matt & Bob rhapsodize about David Warner’s long career in & out of Trek-William Sanderson plays the hotelier Farnum on the great Deadwood (2004-6)-The B5 novel Kathryn Drennan To Dream in the City of Sorrows (1997) is set on Minbar

Signs & Portents S1E13 (18 May 94) vs. Necessary Evil S2E8 (14 Nov 93)-The opening of ‘Necessary Evil’ has big film noir or gothic melodrama vibes like Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), The Letter (1940), Casablanca (1942), Jane Eyre (1943), Mildred Pierce (1945), or Secret beyond the Door (1947)-Bob retells a maybe apocryphal story of confusion on the set of the film noir The Big Sleep (1946) between 3 of 20th century US’s great artists: Howard Hawks, William Faulkner, & Raymond Chandler-An amazing loose depiction of a drunk Faulkner in Hollywood is the Coen brothers’ film Barton Fink (1991)-Odo apes some lines from the great detective show Columbo (1971-8, 89-2003)-The best book on femmes fatales is Mary Ann Doane Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis (1991)

By Any Means Necessary S1E12 (11 May 94) vs. Rules of Acquisition S2E7 (6 Nov 93)-The best contemporary US & UK books on labor strategy from organizers are Jane McAlevey Raising Expectations & Raising Hell (2012), No Shortcuts (2016), A Collective Bargain (2020), Shaun Richman Tell the Bosses We’re Coming (2020), & Len McCluskey Why You Should Be a Trade Unionist (2020)-For an an account of the recent wave of red state teachers’ strikes, see Eric Blanc Red State Revolt (2019)-Other interesting labor union episodes or seasons of tv include Deep Space 9 S4 ‘Bar Association’ (1996), The Wire S2 (2003), Battlestar Galactica S3 ‘Dirty Hands’ (2007), & Snowpiercer S1 (2020)-For some interesting books on cross-dressing in different historical narratives, see Marjorie Garber Vested Interests: Cross-dressing & Cultural Anxiety (1991), The Female Marine & Related Works: Narratives of Cross-Dressing & Urban Vice in US Early Republic (1998) ed. Daniel Cohen, & Heather Humann Gender Bending in Detective Fiction (2017)-Fascinating works of cross-dressing on stage & screen include William Shakespeare 12th Night (1601), Thomases Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl (1611), Billy Wilder Some Like It Hot (1959), & Tim Burton Ed Wood (1994)

Survivors S1E11 (4 May 94) vs. Cardassians S2E5 (24 Oct 93)-Garibaldi’s, Sinclair’s, & the Shadows’ backstory are further explored in a very bad arc of the Babylon 5 DC comic, Shadows Past & Present (1996)-The classic contemporary critique of NAFTA is the Ralph Nader edited collection Case against Free Trade: GATT, NAFTA, & the Globalization of Corporate Power (1993) that includes contributions from Jerry Brown, Wendell Berry, & occasional sf writer Margret Atwood-On FDR’s selectively vague & historic 1932 campaign, see Donald Ritchie Electing FDR: New Deal Campaign of 1932 (2007)-Matt & Bob talk again about Andrew Robinson’s backstory novel for Garak, Stitch in Time (2000)-For the further adventures of Rugal, see Una McCormack Never-ending Sacrifice (2009)-Garibaldi’s & Kemmer’s emotional incest energy reminded Bob of the much better Arthur Miller tragedy View from the Bridge (1955)

Believers S1E10 (27 Apr 94) vs. Invasive Procedures S2E4 (17 Oct 93)-We were happy to recognize John Glover who played Lionel Luthor & voiced the Riddler on Batman: The Animated Series & Tim Russ who played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager-The Trill issues raised in this episode callback to our prior discussion: https://rss.com/podcasts/b5ds9/174686/-Some of the implications about the Trill symbiote selection process being suspect are also present in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3--For a recent critique of meritocracy, see Daniel Markovits Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, & Devours the Elite (2019) & a critical interview with the author on The Genn [Loury] Show

Deathwalker S1E9 (20 Apr 94) vs. The Homecoming- The Circle- The Siege S2 E1-3(26 Sep, 3 Oct, 10 Oct 93)-A quick consult of the Babylon Project wiki says the only two major Earth Alliance wars before the series Babylon 5 began were the Dilgar War (2230-2) & the Earth-Minbari War (2245-8), although we later vaguely learn of something called the Canal Wars, which don’t sound like a major interstellar war & may’ve occurred between Earth Alliance & Mars separatists-League of Non-aligned Worlds, according to the Babylon Project wiki, has an average of 14 members, although that often fluctuates, but they are limited to 10 ambassadors w/ a collective single vote (although in Bob’s memory it seems like sometimes the League only gets to use their vote as a tiebreaker when there’s a deadlock among the 5 major powers) on the Babylon 5 Advisory Council. The entry doesn’t give any sense of the League’s history prior to it being invaded by the Dilgar in 2230-Frank Langella’s roles include Skeletor in Masters of the Universe (1987) & the kindly Soviet spymaster Gabriel in The Americans (2013-8)

Sky Full of Stars S1E8 (16 Mar 94) vs. In the Hands of the Prophets S1 E20, Finale (20 Jun 93)-René Descartes entertains questions about the first principles of reason & the possibility of deception & error in Discourse on the Method (1637) & Meditations on 1st Philosophy (1641)-Philip K. Dick’s narratives often engage w/ questions of Cartesian doubt, for example Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) & the film adaptation Blade Runner (1982) & “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966) & the film adaptation Total Recall (1990)-If you want more info on the RFK assanination & conspiracies around it, check out the excellent podcast season RFK Tapes (2018)

Bob and Matt discuss the best and worst of DS9 Season 1.

The War Prayer S1 E7 (9 Mar 94) vs. Duet S1 E19 (13 Jun 93)-”War Prayer” (1905) is a Mark Twain prose poem, originating from his disgust about the Spanish-US war & US occupation of the Philippines-Upon rewatching, G’Kar is inciting a crowd of Narn, Minbari, Drazi, & presumably other species from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds that Bob didn’t recognize. Pointedly, no Centauri are in the crowd-The new delegate to the League was Mila Shar of Abba IV-Harris Yulin is famous for playing the hanging judge in Ghostbusters 2 (1989)-The great 90s cop show famous for its interrogation scenes is Homicide (1993-99)-The summary of the Andrew Robinson novel Stitch in Time (2000) about Garak’s pre-history makes it sound like Garak’s role in the Cardassian occupation of Bajor was minimal, with him being forced to work as a plain, simple tailor by Dukat for revenge. The Dafydd ab Hugh novel Courageous (1999) seems to have flashbacks on what Winn Adami did during the Cardassian occupation. Bob was mistaken about the Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens trilogy Millenium (2000), which seems like an alternate universe narrative. The Terok Nor trilogy (2008) seems to cover the whole history of the Bajoran occupation & the final novel, S.D. Perry & Britta Dennison Dawn of the Eagles, seems to partially cover Odo’s time as security chief on Terok Nor when, according to the Memory Beta summary of the novel, he was an active collaborator w/ Kira & the Bajoran resistance against the Cardassian occupation. Bob read the Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch novel Vectors (1999) when it came out, which deals w/ the Cardassian occupation, but Bob cannot remember any details about this disease novel other than the presence of Dr. Pulaski from the Next Generation & Odo-Although the paracanon of the novels seem to dispute this, we speculated that Odo’s role as security chief under the Cardassian occupation was similar to Claude Rains’s character as a Vichy French policeman in the great film Casablanca (1942)-For an in-depth history of nazis fleeing to Latin America, see the podcast TrueAnon’s 5-part Spider Network series (2020, episodes 66, 74, 83, 87, & 89). For science-fictional treatments of the same topic, see the film Boys from Brazil (1978) & the comic Manhattan Projects (2012-6)

Mind War S1 E6 (2 Mar 94) v. The Forsaken S1 E17 (23 May 93)-The great rabbit is on the lawn in Donnie Darko (2001)-Walter Koeing played navigator Chekov in seasons 2 & 3 of the original Star Trek (1966-69) & guest starred in the Baywatch spoof Son of the Beach (2000-2)-Koeing’s parents were Russian Jewish immigrants from Lithuania to Chicago-Alfred Bester is a great golden age sf writer who wrote the novels Demolished Man (1953) (a version of Dostoevsky Crime & Punishment [1866] but w/ telepathy) & Stars My Destination (1956) (a version of Dumas Count of Monte Cristo [1844] but w/ teleportation)-Alfred Bester’s work on the original Green Lantern spanned 1943-7-The scale of the Sigma 957 walker reminds Bob of the weird fiction of H.P. Lovecraft & Matt of the DC comics character Spectre (the best Spectre run, by John Ostrander & Tom Mandrake, ran 1992-8)-JMS wrote about 2 dozen episodes of the cartoon Real Ghostbusters (1986-91). His better comics runs include his run on Thor (2007-9) & the early part of his run on Amazing Spider-Man (2001-7) while the worst stuff include his runs on Brave & the Bold (2009-10) & Superman (2010-5)-Matt’s subsequent browsing confirmed that Digipets premiered in ‘97-Bajoran Militia uniform colors are command red, security brown, operations gray, & engineering green/gray-Bester’s salute is a reference to the all-time great English show The Prisoner (1967-8), influential on both Babylon 5 & Twin Peaks S3: The Return (2017)

B5 S1 E5 Parliament of Dreams ( 25 Feb 94) v DS9 S1 E13 Battle Lines (25 Apr 93)-Baruch Spinoza is a Dutch philosopher of Portugese Jewish ancestry, famous for his pantheist (or crypto-atheist) metaphysics & ethics & really influential on later continental European philosophy-Screwball comedies are a romantic comedy subgenre prominent from the 1930s to mid 60s, famous for witty banter & the battle of the sexes. Classic examples include The Awful Truth (1937), His Girl Friday (1940), & Some Like It Hot (1959)-Bill Mumy played in 3 Twilight Zone episodes: ‘Long Distance Call’ & ‘It’s a Good Life’ (both 1961) & ‘In Praise of Pip’ (1963) and Will Robinson in Lost in Space (1965-8) along with Jonathan Harris as the wonderfully queer and archly English Dr. Smith-Mumy co-created the Nickelodeon kids show Space Cases (1996-97) w/ Peter David, famous for his runs on the Marvel comic X-Factor (1990-3, 2005-15) & for creating the new Star Trek novel series New Frontier (1997-2015). Space Cases bears some visual similarities to the forthcoming kids cartoon Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-)-The great Hong Kong action director John Woo did direct a failed Lost in Space reboot pilot for the WB in 2004, & the sets were sold to the already running Battlestar Galactica reboot (2003-9)-The much more successful Netflix Lost in Space reboot (2018-21) has Mumy briefly play a Dr. Smith whose identity is assumed by a confidence artist played by the excellent Parker Posey-’Battle Lines’ gives Matt vibes from the great postapocalyptic film series Mad Max-Jonathan Banks is most known for his roles on the crime shows Wiseguy (1987-90), Breaking Bad (2008-13), & Better Call Saul (2015-22)-Our 2nd homage to The Godfather (1972), this time from Babylon 5-The best books on Star Trek & economics are French economist Manu Saadia Trekonomics & Peter Frase 4 Futures: Life after Capitalism (both 2016)

B5 S1 E4 Infection (18 Feb 94) v DS9 S1E11 Nagus (21 Mar 93)-Ikarrian infections recalls in various ways the Star Trek: Next Generation antagonists the Borg, the role of evil AI in the original Trek (“Return of the Archons” [1967] & “Ultimate Computer” [1968] are 2 of the most prominent), the Phalanx in X-Men comics (they’re first big story Phalanx Covenant came out a few months after this episode, the Black Panther antagonist Klaw (debuted 1966), & the Terminator (1st 2 films came out in 1984 & 1991)-DC Comics published an 11-issue B5 comic series (1994-95). The first arc, Price of Peace, was published in a trade paperback, & we will probably cover it on the show between S1 & 2 of B5. The second arc, Shadows Past & Present, explores the backstory of how Garibaldi & Sinclair meet. It isn’t good, folks. In 1998 DC republished a 3-issue B5 mini called In Valen’s Name, which takes place in B5 S4, we might cover that. DC’s interest in B5 comics may have stemmed from its long swath of publishing Trek comics (1984-96)-David McCallum was one of the leads of the excellent English series Sapphire & Steel (1979-82). The other 2 charismatic characters from Sapphire & Steel, beside the leads, were Lead & Silver. The finale of Sapphire & Steel influenced Twin Peaks Season 3: The Return (2017)-Mark Fisher, one of our great theorists & horror media critics, writes about Sapphire & Steel in his Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures (2014), although his posthumous The Weird & the Eerie (2017) is also relevant.-The leather aesthetic was big in the first X-Men film trilogy (2000-6) & Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run (2001-4)-Quark’s reception of a petitioner is an homage to the opening scene of The Godfather (1972)-Ironic given his portrayal of a capitalist patriarch, Wallace Shawn is also a socialist playwright & his monologue play The Fever (1990) is a particularly harsh presentation. The podcast Proles of the Round Table has an excellent version of the play.-Scenes of learning to read in primary or secondary languages or awakening to the power of the written word are an important trope of Afro-American literature, for example in Frederick Douglass & Richard Wright autobiographies Octavia Butler Dawn (1987) sf novel

B5 S1 E3 Born to the Purple (9 Feb 94) v DS9 S1 E8 Dax (13 Feb 93)-For more about metaphysical questions of identity, consult the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entries on ‘identity’, ‘personal identity’, ‘identity over time’, & ‘relative identity’-For a recent critique of meritocracy, see Daniel Markovits Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, & Devours the Elite (2019) & a critical interview with the author on The Genn [Loury] Show-Trills factor heavily into Star Trek: Discovery S3 (2020-1) & the new space opera novel that has shaped Bob’s understanding of the Trill as an integrated consciousness is Arkady Martine Memory Called Empire (2019)“Long Black Veil” is a famous country ballad originally performed by Lefty Frizzell (1959) similar to the plot of “Dax”. The ballad has also been covered by Joan Baez (1963), Johnny Cash (1965), & al.-Italian actress Fabiana Udenio is best known for roles in Austin Powers (1997) & Jane the Virgin (2014-9)-The use of Quark’s bar as a courtroom recalled similar scenarios in westerns like Man who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) & Deadwood (2004-6)-Other, better Star Trek episodes involving legal proceedings are Next Generation episodes “Measure of a Man” (1989) & “Drumhead” (1991) & the Voyager episode “Death Wish” (1996)-DS9 returns to questions of murder & the Dax symbiote in “Equillibrium” (1994)

B5 S1 E2 Soul Hunter (2 Feb 94) v DS9 S1 E7 Q-Less (8 Feb 93)-Bob misidentifies the year for “Soul Hunter”; it’s actually 94-Sf writer Isaac Asimov is most famous for his Robot (1950-6) & Foundation (1951-3) trilogies-Bob continues his streak of being one year off on airdates, Bladerunner is actually 82 (it came out on the same day as John Carpenter’s The Thing, remarkably)-Q appears in 10 episodes across almost every season of Next Generation, Vash appears in the Next Gen episodes “Captain’s Holiday” (1990) & “Qpid” (1991)-Two of the best studies that explore the triangulating dynamics of desire are René Girard Deceit, Desire and the Novel: Self and Other in Literary Structure (1961) & Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Between Men: English Literature & Male Homosocial Desire (1985)-Harry Mudd has appeared in 2 original Trek episodes, 1 animated Trek episode, 2 Discovery episodes, & 1 Short Trek-The new space opera novel that has shaped Bob’s understanding of the Trill as an integrated consciousness is Arkady Martine Memory Called Empire (2019)-Prof. Moriarty tries to murder by exsanguination in Sherlock Holmes & the Secret Weapon (1943)-Twin Peaks S3: The Return (2017) is the best thing to air on tv since the moon landing-The best cocoons in pop culture are spun by the kaiju Mothra-N’Grath does seem to only appear in B5 S1. His ancestor Zorak debuted in 1966 & returned for Space Ghost: Coast to Coast in 1994

In this bonus episode, Bob and Matt discuss the trailers that dropped on First Contact Day.

B5 S1 E1 Midnight on the Firing Line (26 Jan 94) v DS9 S1 E3 Past Prologue (11 Jan 93)-Lursa & B’Etor appeared in the Next Generation episodes “Redemption” (1991) & “Birthright” (1994) & movie Generations (1994)-Andrew Robinson, the great actor who plays plain & simple Garak, published the novel Stitch in Time (2000), which fills in Garak’s backstory & was published as the last numbered DS9 novel shortly after the end of the tv series. The novel would be very influential on the DS9 relaunch novels (2001-17) that continued the story after the tv series’ end

Babylon 5: The Gathering (22 Feb 93) v DS9 S1 E1-2 Emissary (4 Jan 93)-We weren’t wild about Tamlyn Tomita’s performance as Lt. Cdr. Takashima, but we love her as Commodore Oh in Star Trek: Picard (2020)-Johnny Sekka who played Dr. Kyle was a Senegalese-born Gambian actor famous from the London theater scene-Dr. Kyle’s & Ms. Alexander’s openings of Ambassador Kosh’s encounter suit reminded us of scenes in the films Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), & Pulp Fiction (1994)-A fantastic early use of Medusa in sf is Catherine Moore tale “Shambleau” (Weird Tales 1933), and the other famous weird fiction writer referenced is H.P. Lovecraft, known for his Cthulhu Mythos (1917-35)-The amazing DS9 dream episode w/ Sisko as 50s sf writer is “Far beyond the Stars” (1998)-The early Next Generation episodes w/ crossovers to the original Star Trek series we reference are “Encounter at Farpoint” (1987), “Sarek” (1990), “Unification” (1991), & “Relics” (1992)-Colm Meaney’s post-DS9 work includes Intermission (2003) & Hell on Wheels (2011-6), René Auberjonois’s post-DS9 work includes Boston Legal (2004-8), & the great Michelle Forbes appeared as Ro Laren in 8 episodes of Next Gen S5-7 (1991-4)-For more on the historical specificity of antisemitism, see the political economist Moishe Postone essay “The Holocaust & the Trajectory of the C20” (2003)-DS9 premiered in Jan 93, B5 in Feb 93, & X-Files in Sep 93-Delenn’s rings have big Green Lantern Corps or the Mandarin (Iron Man antagonist) energy-Afrofuturist novelist & sf critic Samuel Delany seizes on descriptions of doors as an example of the techniques of sf language in prose fiction late in his essay “About 5,750 Words” (1968)

Introductory episode:-Even as 90s kids, we weren’t clear on the differences between Babylon 5 (1993-9), Stargate SG-1 (1997-2008), & Farscape (1999-2004)-The aborted B5 computer game was developed by Sierra, the company famous for King’s Quest (1980-2016) & Space Quest (1986-95)-B5 S1-4 was on PTEN, B5 S5, most of the latter tv movies, & the spinoff series Crusade (1999) were on TNT-Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-93) is a big touchstone for both of us, Matt likes “The Inner Light” (1992) episode, Captain Riker’s adventures continue in the fun Titan novels (2005-17), but the proliferation of new Trek tv series set after the movie Nemesis (2002) have led to the announcement of a Coda trilogy of novels (2021) to end the extensive novel series that had continued the Next Gen, DS9, Voyager, & Titan crews’ adventures-The first DS9 console game was Crossroads of Time (1995)-As kids we both played the Star Trek 25th Anniversary computer game (1992) & the sequel Judgement Rites (1993)-The B5 S2 episode Bob references is “Distant Star” (1994)