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Episode 36: Alexander Perry

2020-May-05

Episode 36: Alexander Perry

2020-May-05
Images of Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC

In this episode, we speak with Alex Perry, host of the Weekly Trek news digest show over on the Tricorder Transmissions Podcast Network. Alex and I had a very frank and sometimes philosophical discussion about Star Trek and what parts of it speak to him. Enjoy!

Alex in the center seat.

Topics

  • Beaver Scouts in the UK
  • Matt Frewer
  • The old Star Trek VHS tapes
  • Seeing Star Trek completely out of order
  • Alex’s viewing tracker and rating system as a kid
  • The TrekRanks podcast
  • John’s Star Trek rating scale
  • The futility of trying to decide what is good Star Trek
  • Alex’s preference for the “Season-Based Viewing Order” of Star Trek
    • Will Discovery S3 cause problems for this viewing order?
  • The T’Kon Empire
  • The role of Animated Series in Trek history
  • The number of TAS references in modern Trek
  • Alex put Star Trek away in college
  • A pilgrimage to the Star Trek Experience
  • Alex’s contributions to TrekCore
  • Thoughts on constructive ways to spend your time on fandom
  • The Star Trek tour in Ticonderoga, NY
  • Alex talks about his first scoop
  • On combating misinformation in the fandom
  • Similarities between the fandom wars and the current political climate
  • AwesomeCon & Shore Leave conventions
  • Photo Ops vs Autographs
  • Alex’s personal rules for photo ops
  • Eaglemoss ships
  • On collecting Star Trek novels
  • Alex’s collecting of screen-used props (See gallery pictures below)
  • Screen-used props and what they mean
  • The limits of knowledge in the Star Trek universe
  • Starfleet as a bureaucracy
  • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
  • Life in the Federation outside of Starfleet: idyllic or is it less so?
  • The future as seen in the show versus what fans have been told outside of what’s on the screen
  • The futility of trying to make sense of the Federation economy
  • The “End of History” by Fukuyama
  • The concept of eudaimonia, or Human Flourishing
  • John Stuart Mill and Experiments in Living
  • Logic versus brawn in Star Trek
  • The Picard show as a challenge to the idea of who John-Luc Picard is as a Captain and as a person
  • Would people be capable of making the decisions to create a Federation?
  • The novel “Control” is the final boss
  • The messages of the UFP trilogy from ENT S4, especially as compared to the Control novel
  • The strange kind of Star Trek episodes that are ham-handed yet still powerful in their message
  • What is Star Trek trying to do?
  • The contrasting styles of some of the writers who have worked on Star Trek at various times
  • The hidden charms of Star Trek Generations
  • Soren as one of the most interesting of all Star Trek movie villains
  • The Last Temptation of Christ and Picard in the Nexus
  • The age of the viewer changing the interpretation of messages in an episode
  • The fine balance of the documentary Trekkies
  • Alex’s feelings about the fandom changing over time
  • Rejecting Star Trek while in college
  • Star Trek at its most confident
  • Living, eating, sleeping, and breathing Star Trek
  • Alex contemplates on his personal connection to Star Trek
  • The YouTube video that had John in stitches about the Kurlan Naiskos

Episodes Discussed

  • A Matter of Time TNG S5E09
  • Violations TNG S5E12
  • Hero Worship TNG S5E11
  • Basics Part II VOY S3E01
  • Flashback VOY S3E02
  • City on the Edge of Forever TOS S1E28
  • The Battle TNG S1E09
  • Yesteryear TAS S1E02
  • Stardust City Rag STP S1E05
  • The Omega Directive VOY S4E21
  • Homefront & Paradise Lost DS9 S4E11 & S4E12
  • The Devil in the Dark TOS S1E25
  • This Side of Paradise TOS S1E24
  • Remembrance STP S01E01
  • Section:31 Control (Novel, 2017)
  • The UFP trilogy from ENT S04E12 S04E13 S04E14
  • A Taste of Armageddon TOS S1E23
  • Let That Be Your Last Battlefield TOS S3E15
  • Spock’s Brain TOS S3E01
  • Star Trek Generations (1994)
  • Rascals TNG S6E07
  • Tapestry TNG S6E15
  • Real Life VOY S3E22
  • Homestead VOY S7E23
  • The 37s VOY S2E01
  • Trekkies (Documentary 1997)
  • Improbable Cause & The Die is Cast DS9 S3E20 S3E21

Connect

Honorary Star Trek title awarded: Curator of Fandom Collections at the Federation Museum on Memory Alpha

Background photo by Jason Weingardt on Unsplash.

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