This is my special two year Podiversary Extravaganza, part 2 of 3. To celebrate this milestone, I invited former guests back on the show to interview me about which episodes/movies/books from Star Trek were most meaningful to me! Because of the fun and wide-ranging discussions, I will be bringing you these interviews over three episodes.

You can go back and listen to the first one if you haven’t heard it yet.

In this one, I talk with Dan Davidson of the TrekGeeks about the novel Yesterday’s Son. Then Aly Martinez, the 24-year-old-Trekkie herself speaks with me about It’s Only a Paper Moon. My friend Amy Nelson and I take on Homeward from TNG and then my dear friend Shashank Avvaru and I have a chat about the classic TOS episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.

Topics

• Segment One – Yesterday’s Son – Dan Davidson
  • Origin of the “Secret Plan”
  • Dan’s enjoyment of Marina’s episode
  • Synopsis of the book
  • Scotty in command of the Enterprise
  • Commodore Wesley and the USS Lexington
  • Perpetually continuing a cycle of Father/Son problems
  • The joy of the Guardian of Forever
  • Did Spock really love Zarabeth?
  • Zarabeth’s eventual funeral and its impact
• Message from Anika Dane
• Segment Two – It’s Only a Paper Moon – Aly Martinez
  • Aron Eisenberg as Nog
  • Jadzia vs Ezri as characters
  • The different iterations of family in DS9
  • The music in the episode, especially I’ll Be Seeing You
    • Aly’s choice of songs: Sinatra sings Come Fly with Me
    • Aly’s second pick: Sinatra sings Fly me to the Moon
    • John’s choice of songs: R.E.M’s King of Birds
    • John’s special bonus pick: Mumford & Sons, There will be Time (Live)
  • The character of Vic Fontaine compared to other holo-characters
  • The limits of Vic’s programming
  • Art that endures
  • What is a Gold Star family?
  • Tolkien in World War I
  • The scene from Lord of the Rings when the Hobbits don’t speak in the pub
  • The challenges of civilians trying to interact with war veterans
  • The term “moto” or “mote” definition
  • Veterans talk about how to respond to people saying “Thank you for your service.”
  • Is the Holodeck usage in the episode a kind of therapy or an allegory for substance abuse?
  • Aly’s new podcast Twitter account
• Message from Andrew Heaton
• Segment Three – Homeward – Amy Nelson
  • Where we find guests for the show
  • This episode is the Cheeseburger of Star Trek
  • Nikolai and Worf in the Turbolift scene
  • Disagreeing vehemently without dismissing the other side
  • Picard and Janeway as contrasting examples of Captains
  • Troi getting to be a “real counselor”
  • Further reading on the Armenian Genocide
    • History.com gives a short overview
    • Armenian Genocide FAQ
    • Resource Guide from the University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies on the Armenian Genocide
    • US government communiqués and contemporaneous newspaper articles about the genocide as it occurred
    • The intellectuals and leaders killed on April 24
• The host’s Grandmother and Grandfather, circa 1928. The boy on the left became the host’s father.
  • 
• Operation Nemesis
• Rafael Lemkin and the term “Genocide”
• Incirlik base in Turkey
• Segment Four – Let That Be Your Last Battlefield – Shashank Avvaru
  • 1968 Events
    • Washington Post retrospective
    • 1968 DNC Convention
    • Chicago Riots
    • Detroit Riots
  • MLK Assassination
  • RFK Assassination
• Message from Dr Mohamed Noor
• From the Bonus Material
  • The host’s father’s Army picture
    • 
• Link to the host’s story about 12/31/1999 (Warning: link will not be active for very long.)

Episodes Discussed

• Segment One – Yesterday’s Son – Dan Davidson
  • All Our Yesterdays TOS S3E23
  • Journey to Babel TOS S2E10
  • Star Trek novel Imzadi
• Segment Two – It’s Only a Paper Moon – Aly Martinez
  • 11001001 TNG S1E15
  • Hollow Pursuits TNG S3E21
• Segment Three – Homeward – Amy Nelson
  • Star Trek: Insurrection
• From the Bonus material
  • Remembrance STP S1E1
  • STP Countdown Comics
  • Encounter at Farpoint TNG S1E01

Connect

• Connect with your host on Twitter here.
• Facebook is here.

Background photo of Nevada by Kuldar Kalvik on Unsplash