Hey, Joe. Hi.
So, we are in series 2 of the original series.
It's the final episode, episode 26, and it is a backdoor pilot
isn't it, for another Gene Roddenbury show?
And I have to say that this is pretty great.
So fun.
I've got a feeling.
Had Assignment Earth made it to the schedules in the 60s and we
were just talking off Mike about the exciting adventures of Gary 7
popping about history with his glamorous secretary and his cat on
his shoulder and his sonic screwdriver.
I mean, yeah.
I think that idea might take off, you know.
Yeah, oh, no, I would have watched the shit out of it for sure.
Well, you kind of did, didn't you?
For many years.
Yeah, that's true.
That is true.
There's something about 1968, I think.
That is what makes it fun.
And I'm on another podcast called Bondfinger.
And when we ran out of Bond films to watch, we just started
watching what I call 60s Spy-fi shit, which is exactly what this
would have been.
This is like the champions, I think, maybe more than anything else
that I've seen.
And the Champions has a bunch of people who get sort of special
magical powers by going to Tibet or some nonsense and then they
come back and solve sort of crimes and things.
But spy-fi was the big thing in the 60s and it benefits from just
everything being as stylish as hell and gadgets and computers and
all of that sort of stuff and the space program.
I bet you were so sad when Bombfinger left the 60s and went in the
70s, you know, because the designs all changed after that, didn't
they?
Yeah, it lost that fabulous sort of primary colours, very exotic
look, but all those 60s. wonderful 60s.
You say spi-fi, you say the champions, but I do detect a bit of
bewitched in here as well.
Yes.
Yeah.
At one point, I sort of blurred my eyes and said, am I watching
Bewitched?
cat on that woman's shoulder.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I'll look and like, I think, I think that this is probably pretty
unpopular, and I did check.
Why?
Well, I don't know.
But I think because it's not really a Star Trek episode and it is
a backdoor pilot for something else.
This is a time travel story with a message.
This is the voyage home.
This is Picard series 2.
This is absolutely Star Trek.
Well, in fact, it's absolutely Picard series 2, and that was the
thing that struck me more than anything.
It's almost embarrassing.
And I had no idea.
Look, so I knew.
So in Picard series 2, we had all of Brady, who is a supervisor
which is what Gary 7 is, and she has the same teleport effect, the
same transporter effect, which is the sort of cloud of smoke in a
box.
And so it's very definitely actually referring to this, even
though this is kind of marginal as a Star Trek episode.
But it's the idea that something is said in the present day that
it absolutely is expressing contemporary concerns.
So we're at the height of the Cold War.
It's 1968, and the space race may well be heading in the
direction.
It was certainly a thing that people were worried about the
prospect of, which is the sort of spaceborne nuclear missiles that
could just be directed to sort of crash onto a target at any
time.
And so this is kind of, it is 68, but it's also sort of 5 minutes
into the future where that's a prospect.
And so our guys don't go back in time to avert it.
That's not what's happening, but Gary 7 is in the present day, he's
you know, he hasn't travelled in time.
He's just been brought up by aliens or something and we
presumably...
Unnamed planet.
Which I believe they didn't name him Picard either.
No, no, they wouldn't say that.
I like that.
I like the mystery of that.
That's right.
And, you know, for us, it was it was climate change, wasn't it?
That was the problem, but there were also additional problems of
racism and the rise of fascism in the United States and all of
that sort of thing.
Like all of those contemporary concerns were addressed, and they
get to be addressed really well by just going, oh, fuck it, we'll
set it in the present day.
And say, this is really good, but the additional thing that's
extra good is that Gary Seven's job is to stop the Americans from
launching a spaceborne nuclear weapon.
And so he has to stop the Americans from doing it and we're on his
side.
You know, Gary 7's a good guy.
He's the protagonist of this new show and he's stopping America
from escalating the Cold War.
And I think that's amazing.
Like, it's quite astounding, I think.
Still relevant today, I think.
And the joy of the randomiser is that we got the last episode of
Picard's series 2. where fucking seen for scene.
These 2 episodes play out in the same way. where they're in
mission control, where this rocket is going up, where there's
people trying to stop it happening, where we're running around a
bit.
I was going, Jesus, were they taking notes?
Did they watch assignment Earth and go, right, we'll put that in.
But that's what Kurtzman Drake does.
I think it's incredibly irresponsible of the original series to
rip off Picard series 2 like this, you know?
It's, it is just typical of Kurtzman Trek, isn't it, to take
something that's marginal or unloved or, you know, you would never
have had a reference to Gary 7 and ISIS and stuff in 90s Trek
because we were all kind of a little bit embarrassed about that
sort of thread through original drag.
People that brought you masks, the sequel, and them the sequel.
Well, also spend an entire season doing the plot...
Operation align, eh?
I saw that, is it?
Simon Earth.
Yeah, yeah.
But just as a pilot, I think the success of a pilot is, do you
want to watch more?
Yeah.
I would watch the hell out of this.
Yeah.
You know?
and I think Gary Severn comes into it and he's very stony-faced.
And I said to you, you're sort of playing it a bit Nemoy, a bit
icy.
And then they throw in this ditsy secretary character.
And so then suddenly you've got these 2 contrasts playing comedy
together.
The cat's in there as well.
There's this crazy plot going on around them and I'm like, man
give me more of this.
I want more.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a little bit, you know how in the Mandalorian, like the
Mandalorians a very serious sort of proper series, character.
Oh, what was character, all of that sort of?
Yeah, yeah.
But he's accompanied by a puppet.
You know, he like undermines him and behaves like a toddler and
does all sorts of fun things the whole time.
And I think Gary 7, even before Terry Garr, for God's sake, because
Roberta Lincoln comes along.
He's being undermined by the cat and so the cat makes him
impossible to take completely seriously.
And I make our pun and say today, I think my favourite single
scene that we've watched in the entire run of Untitled Star Trek
project is Gary 7 climbing across that gantry.
Clearly on his stomach, just like they're doing Batman, trying to
sabotage this rocket from going up with the cat.
Stop going.
Miaow.
I mean, it's just absurd, but I love absurd.
Let me start.
We discussed it, stuff. mad, isn't it?
Yep.
Oh, it's just great.
Can I regale you with a quote, please, from Lisa Aunt Wallace, who
I believe was hoping this would make it the series?
And was probably a little disappointed though, it wasn't.
He says, assignment Earth is interesting in a sense because I'd
gone to Paramount and pitched a series of ideas for them, but they
said that Gene Robinbury had come up with a very similar idea.
So I saw Jean and we decided to pull the idea, which was about a
man from tomorrow, who takes care of the present on earth.
That was intended to be the pilot, although it was never made into
a series.
It was a very good pilot, and it's a shame because I think if they
have done it as a series with just Gary 7, it would have been a
very successful show.
I believe Gene and I split the credit on that one.
Right.
So it was actually written as a script, minus Star Trek.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And like there are other back door pilots that we're kind of aware
of and stuff and it always sort of seems slightly dodgy.
It kind of betrays the show's status as just a TV program, you
know, launching another TV program.
And so, and and I think there are some things in the premise that
it's kind of impossible to take seriously if you're a particular
kind of Star Trek fan.
So suddenly we can travel back in time.
I like the fact that's just done in a line, you know, we don't
have a complicated effect sequence with a load of buses or the
cars coming out of us.
It's just, no, we've gone back in time.
We're here. going to do a bit of observation.
Yeah.
It's great.
Yeah, so that's their mission this week, which is sort of very
strange.
It's like that, um, that in TAS, where we had that ejector button
you know, it's just never mentioned again, but you've got you've
got the console that can take you back in time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, I actually think that that ejection panel thing, if they
have those on Voyager, that might explain what happened to the
Borg baby from last week.
Terrible.
I think that might be what happened to that cheese.
Remember that cheese that Nilix brought on the ship that nearly
brought it down?
Ah, yeah.
Oh, no, it goes funny.
Get the cheese to Sick Bay.
That's the line.
Why do we watch this show?
baffling sometimes, but not when we're watching this.
My last point to you is this, though, is this is the end of season
two.
Yeah, and this is a delightful adventure that we're on here.
Somehow we go from this to Spock's brain at the beginning of
Series 3.
And I don't think we will ever see such a jarring shifting quality
between 2 seasons of Star Trek.
And we can only put the blame on Fred Freiburger, really, can't
we?
Yeah, yeah, we can.
Roddenbury's still in charge at this point.
So he's keeping it thumb. let's have some fun.
I think we should.
All right.
I'll count it in.
Five, four, three, two, one and we're off.
I did notice this episode was 50 minutes long.
Is that the standard length of an original series episode?
Oh, okay.
Well, I think it was 45.
Now No, no, no.
So, I, I watched this originally with the, like the original
version without the new special effects, and I'm currently
watching the version with the new special effects, and the most
striking difference is that the Enterprise is orbiting Earth, but
no one on the production team has ever seen proper photographs of
what the Earth looks like from space.
And it will only be a few months from now that they will see.
What did it look like, though?
So there's no cloud cover.
And the landmasses are very brown, like light brown rather than
sort of green and darker, you know, like it's just clearly written
by someone who's never seen the earth from space, but it's so just
so few months before.
It's almost like a valuable document. space, isn't it?
of what we thought was of there.
Before it happened.
It's almost a shame to change it.
Isn't it wild?
It does a little bit.
I mean, the other versions still exist. so that's fine.
And you can see why they would change it.
We do have a lot of episodes of Star Trek, don't we?
Where someone eccentric beams onto the ship like this.
But this might be one of my favourites.
Yeah, and the fact that the cat goes for Scotty.
And I'm going to say, you know, because you know Mark isn't a
massive fan of Star Trek, but the 2nd he heard of miaow, he was in
that room watching this episode with me.
What did he say about?
He only watched it for a minute and went, oh, this is terrible.
Walks out again.
Look at the cat.
Look at Shatner curls his lip in reaction to it as well.
Who do you think they knew?
Do you think the actors knew, you know, Shatner or that lot, that
this was a backdoor pilot, or this was just the latest Star Trek?
Surely.
Because the action is...
It desperate work as a Star Trek.
The 2 sets of people, isn't it?
Yeah.
But in fact, the Enterprise crew do really take a backseat, like
they're in it a bit, um, but it is mostly about Gary 7.
And basically all they have to do is decide whether to prevent
Gary 7 from saving the day or not.
And it is he saves the...
I noticed in the last or 3rd, Shatner and Nemoy were just being
held at gunpoint for long stretches in a corner of a room.
Chapters going, excuse me. mosh up, right?
He steps forward every now and again to get the light, but they
just keep pointing a gun at him.
Listen.
Oh my.
You know, I always skip the music.
Whenever I do TOS.
I don't really like the original series music.
I know it's iconic.
I think it's, yeah, it is iconic and cheesy, so I do listen to it
I have to say.
So, Mr. 7 or Gary 7, I think, oh, there's Art Wallace's credit.
I think he's playing it a bit like Patrick McGuin, and it does
seem like a very period performance. like he's Nimo, yes, but he's
just very, very serious.
And I think there's only one point in the episode where he's
amused, maybe by the computer, I can't remember, but he's nearly
unreadable, isn't he?
And he's very kind of on very...
But the fact that he is so stony faced is what makes those comedy
sequences with the woman.
So funny, you know, you need the straight man there.
And he fulfils that brilliantly.
This is definitely post-prisoner, isn't it?
absolutely.
Like McGoon's a name at this point.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, I think so, yes.
Yeah, I love I love this as well.
The fact that he's a modern day guy. just happens to have all
these powers and they skip over that with a line.
The economy of this script.
We've gone back in time.
There's this fella, we've spent a bit of time on another planet
and he's got all these powers now.
That's it.
Right.
Let's go and have some fun.
No, but imagine if this was the next generation.
I mean, we'd be going through the mechanics of going back in
time.
We'd probably be exploring the world that he came from.
Yeah, so what's his story?
Is he brought up as a child?
He's abducted as a child or something like that?
He says he's a man from the 20th century, but we don't get a full
kind of backstory.
And so that kind of works, I guess.
The inscrutability that makes him so interesting though, isn't
it?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I think it's sort of what we felt about Spock in series one, before
we knew, like, all the background, detail, it made it, that's what
drew people to that character, that he was alien and interesting.
Yeah.
Oh, and it's, you know what, Nathan, there's a wonderful chance
for Leonard Nimo is put on an array of hats in this episode as
well.
Oh, so good.
So great.
It is so terrific.
The costume department had a field day on.
Normally, you know, we're doing the gap costumes, you know, these
awful primary colours, but they're doing 60s pop fashions now.
Great.
Yeah.
You know, this is directed by Mark Daniels.
He did spot sprain after this.
Mm, yeah, I noticed.
And then he did Spock's brain and we said, I think he never worked
on the show again.
He was so horrified.
But I mean, this would have been really fun to do because, you
know, rather than just trying to create a planet in a tiny room.
They just go outside where there's a whole planet and then they
can just shoot that.
And that really opens...
I was thinking of you the whole time they were outside, you know?
And it looks so stylish.
It's because it's film work as well.
So it just adds a sheen.
But there's a mass space that they put on the screen.
Yeah, it just feels like there's some money here.
And it's the end of the season as well.
You think they would have run out at this point.
Yeah, but also I think maybe like maybe there's some assignment
earth, money sloshing around, but also going outside doesn't
necessarily have to be that expensive.
It does seem to be a thing that 90 Star Trek avoids, but, you know
you do get it a bit in, in, uh, in original track.
And just going outside where there are people actually is not that
expensive.
I think what happened on shows like Design, they said every time
they went on location.
It was arduous because the sun was beaten down.
The latex was dripping. all covered in latex.
Everyone's shoes was full of sweat, you know?
And it made a pretty miserable voice.
Can we just talk about the MVP of this episode again, please?
The cat, the Spock is currently stroking or was a 2nd ago.
He's got, oh, he likes it.
It's like a triple.
It's like him, isn't it?
It's completely disinteresting, a bit emotionless, you know?
Scrutinising everybody.
It's got these weird sort of quirky purrs and miaow that it does
as well.
Oh, it's wonderful.
And did you notice when it jumped on that fella on the transporter
pad?
That wasn't a toy cat they threw at him.
The cat literally left on.
That was him.
I reckon they threw the cap from off camera, some stage.
It's very comfortable in Nemoy's hands right now.
Yeah.
So this is interesting too.
There'll be an assassination today, but it's the launching of an
orbital nuclear warhead platform by the United States, and it's, so
we're not stopping the other powers who are Russia, but we're not
going to mention them.
Uh, yeah, yeah.
And so this is the thing that...
It's almost telling the kids, do you know what?
There's a lot going on out there, all right?
Stop watching the TV and pay attention.
Yeah, but I'm...
But it is, it's doing what Picard does, you know, Picard series 2
is really, really contemporary and it's concerns.
And it's, but I think it's space emission doesn't really land
huh?
Because it's, you know, they find a chemical on Europa that's used
to find a technological solution for, you know, like a stupid
space.
Yeah.
This.
Well, you know, there weren't orbiting nuclear plants, but they
were certainly a thing that was being discussed.
Do you know what I mean?
Like people were speculating about them.
So, yes, look, there it is.
The Sonic.
The consequence is feasible, is that what you're saying?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, like the Cold War was dangerous and terrifying in
all sorts of ways, you know.
God, that guy's hideous, isn't he?
The blonde...
She has a shame, you know, because very often the red shirts were
very cute.
They're often pretty.
But again, I think that that's kind of a fun thing, that extra
fucked it up, but the idea that he has this special pan, but it
doesn't, he doesn't shoot people or anything.
He just makes them slightly loopy, like they're a little bit drug
fucked and kind of happy and, you know, the policeman that he
overpowers later, who has this sort of goofy grin on his face.
We just say the elephant. basically the doctor, isn't he?
Doctor Who.
Well, yeah.
Well, except though, that he's not funny and the, you know, like
not deliberately funny.
I thought it was very funny when he was climbing up that gantry.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was a circumstance.
It was making me laugh more than anything.
Yeah, look at those guys.
Look at those guys.
It's like the massive drug party they had at the end of...
The door opens and the cat walks through and then the door shuts.
They know this is absurd, right?
Yeah, no, yeah, of course they do. you know, I'm not going to
invite too many criticisms of Picard series too, because I think
obviously the characterisation is more layered and it's more
spectacularly executed and things like that. more smart.
I think that this probably works better as a single episode than
protracted across an entire season.
Even though they did manage to drag some good things out of that.
I think I think a lot of people were a bit tired in those sort of
mid to late episodes of series 2 when they were going.
Okay, let's move along now. you know, like we know how this is
going to end.
So I think that this office is giving you definite bewitched vibes
and maybe...
The door just opened on its own.
And then that's it. and there's the cloud.
So what if the card series 2 is really assignment Earth and it's
finally been greenlit as a series after all this?
And all up Brady is the sort of thing they would do.
Yeah.
I mean, look at that.
Did you see that drink's covering it?
Just slide shut to hide the portal.
I know, I know, with those hilarious glasses on it as well.
And I've, let's shout out to the 60s when people had drinks
cabinets in their offices.
Somehow they just magically just zoomed out of halls and things
like this, you know?
God, I wish I was alive in the 60s.
No, but think about those secret panels and stuff, even in Doctor
Who, I'm thinking the invasion, you know, the door in Tobias
Vaughan's office that also slides open to reveal a space thing.
Do you know what I mean?
Like this is the era for that, I think, the 60s.
Okay, just slit aside.
Look at the bookcase opens as well.
That is a massive computer and even better.
It's got a really snippy woman's voice, isn't it?
It's a clip, sarky computer.
Well, and he's got the shits with it, doesn't he, for being a sort
of arrogant, you know, something computer.
I can't even remember what he calls it.
He does look like a lead as well, doesn't he?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, I don't think he's massively good looking or anything like
that, but he's interesting.
It's quite smart, though.
He's got sorry either.
He's got it.
Whatever it is, he's got it.
Yeah, he does have something and the outfit, I mean, look at the
suit.
Look at the colours, he just looks magnificent.
I love the sort of coloured lights for the computers as well.
Just all of it.
Everything about this room. is amazing.
In fact, I think not who did a bit of nicking, you know, because
you remember Shada in season 17 when Professor Kronosis study
becomes a spaceship.
That's all very similar to this, isn't it?
And in fact, do you remember an old man Bashir, where, I mean
after in James Bond, But where, which is...
A woman presses the bar.
The wall slides aside and then it's massive array of weapons just
appears out of no way.
But again, it is 60 Spotify, isn't it?
It's all that sort of. yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And it is just visually sumptuous.
That's what I love.
Yeah.
Because, you know, like we said about Scott Spray.
There was just no set dressing at all.
It was it was empty rooms with coloured gerols on the walls, you
know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Whereas this has got just an all they have to do is like period
furniture, like the stuff that they would have been like create a
contemporary office turns out in 1968.
That looks stylish.
I do all this wacky stuff.
This is why they go to, Alice in Wonderland, because you can do
the tea party, you know, and go to town with it.
You're not doing like, you know, just the studio, the terrible
studio with the rocks in the background and then the lit sky.
Yeah.
So in, in, um, series 2 of Strange New Worlds, there's an episode
where Captain Pike goes to visit someone on another planet and we
actually get to go outside and realise the planet like that.
And that's a thing that strangely worlds has made a point of
doing.
It says it can realise planets by going on location, and it can
afford to do that, and that's an expensive thing to do.
But you can't do that in the 60s or the 90s.
You can very rarely go to a place unless it's, you know, the
wilderness or something.
It can't be...
That episode with Boheemler in it.
What was that called?
You know, you know where the sort of the gateway was on that
planet?
That had a look at one of those old studios sets about it.
The light in was just, and I was like, they're doing it.
It's like one of those sheep out shit.
Yeah, yeah.
It's city on the edge of forever.
He's left the city on the edge of forever.
Only, it's a time portal created by New weekend.
We're not doing it... doing it lovingly, you know?
Yeah, yeah exactly right.
There we go.
Gary 7 on his sofa with the cat.
Has he got a dime Monte collar?
Shit, yeah, I think she does.
Now look at this.
These women there, Hamp, we've got a diverse group of extras.
Look how handsome Shatner looks in that outfit.
And it's the 1st of all.
Lemoy's amazing bubble hat.
Yeah, whatever that is.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, when do they do that joke?
The joke, like, there is another joke where do we go back into?
no, no.
He takes the hat off later on, doesn't he?
She turns around and his ears are on the show.
I really thought she was.
Yeah, but I mean, he's worn a hat before.
Yeah.
Well, in the boy's home.
The belt around his ears, doesn't he?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But in in track.
So, so he's got a thing that will, uh, that's his equivalent of
the psyche.
A slightly psychic.
Homicide squad.
He works for everyone.
Yep.
And all you need is a piece of paper to prove that you're one of
those people. to think, you know, Doctor Who was paying
attention.
Yeah.
Oh, this woman, this woman's costume, honestly.
It's like bright orange and pink.
You'd only have it in the 60s.
So this is Terry Garr who gets nominated for best supporting
actress in Tootsie.
So she is a thing, but not at this point, I think.
Like, and she was very familiar.
Like, I didn't recognise her immediately, but I just knew that I'd
seen her in something.
And I think she's...
Yeah, I saw that.
A review on Jammers, where someone was saying, you know, she was a
useless airhead.
That's kind of the idea, isn't it?
It's supposed to be fun.
Do you know what?
She saves the day because she believes Gary and she helps convince
Spock and Kirk to let him do the thing.
You know, like she gets to save the day.
She learns to trust him and and they get to work together and it's
like a weird, like this sort of weird office where the computer
like the typewriter does dictation and stuff.
Like, I just...
I really want to watch the rest of the show. series one.
And we'll have a bit of moonlighting, will they, won't they, going
on with this pair?
Yeah, yeah, maybe.
But maybe she's just sort of sweet and kind of funny and stuff and
that doesn't go there because maybe that's not the sort of thing
that this show would ever have been.
Have we gone to series, you know.
I'll be desperate to know what that filing cabinet's going to turn
into and that picture on the wall.
I just want everything in this room to have another function.
Everything slides out and then another thing's behind it.
The magic typewriter.
Just dictates.
That's it.
It's dragon.
I like the fact as well.
I really explore it and she just keeps going.
It's still doing it. still doing what I'm saying. incredible.
Stop it, stop it.
Even doing punctuation, capitals, everything.
But you just think, like, your regular, your average Star Trek
viewer just doesn't like this sort of thing.
I just, it's so fun.
What's the objection?
Oh, I don't know.
I think it's because, I think it's because for some people, Star
Trek is a serious thing and because everything that happens on
Star Trek happens really happens in a future that we're
imagining.
And so they fear making the universe ridiculous.
And we, like we, Doctor Who fans do that as well.
They're frightened that the world that the show takes place in
becomes preposterous.
But the thing is that it just does...
I mean, if they really truly die against those universes, When
they stumble across episodes like masks and Genesis, they must
have a lot of trouble.
Yeah, yeah, where things just happen basically for the logical
reasons. reality.
Yeah, it's very good.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then, you know, Kurtzman, Star Trek comes along and it's
in some kind of conversation with previous Star Trek.
Do you know what I mean?
Like it's it's taking what's best of them and reefing on it, taking
what's overlooked. to highlight again. what's been, like, lower
decks does that so brilliantly.
But celebrate at the same time.
And that, that's a fine line.
They do it really well Yeah, they really do.
It's sort of like the Galaxy Quest effect, isn't it?
You know, of being a pastiche, taking a piss and saying this is
great anyway.
Yeah, that's right.
So these two, like, I think they are.
Look at her.
You know what's sad, though?
Are they?
You know what's really sad?
Isn't this pilot series for Simon Earth?
We've got a better... representation, a female representation than
we ever do in Star Trek.
Yeah, yeah.
You know?
She's got she's got agency.
She's got a personality.
Yeah, and she's a colleague.
Like Ahura's literally just pushing buttons in this episode.
Yeah, she's barely in this one, isn't she?
I think she gets one line possibly.
I was going to say something really awful then.
I was going to say, is it because she's white, but I don't think
that's the case.
Well, no, I don't know.
I mean, it's still like there's who's the main white woman on
original?
It's Yeoman Rand?
Yeah, or Christine Chapel.
Oh, yeah, who's just a weeping, you know, lovesick puppy.
They're very minor characters, you know, so there isn't a female
lead.
I'm going to assume that...
What's her name, Miss?
the sectary?
What was her name?
Miss Lincoln.
I'm assuming she's got like great martial arts skills, a bit like
the Avengers. that she's got a...
I hope she doesn't.
I heard she's kind of like a bit hapless and kind of she's found
herself in this thing, but she's plucky and is willing to try.
And so she does it by being And what she does is in comedy
sequences.
She just picks up a vase and smashes it out of someone's head or
something like that, you know, a change right.
Yeah, she's bringing in the table.
She's over Gary's head, by mistake, you know, like...
He's being held up by the latest aliens.
She brings in the tea and then just smashes the tray over the reds
you know?
Yeah, yeah.
This stuff writes itself.
Yeah, I think I think she would be she would be a really funny
foil.
Imagine the periods of history they could visit as well.
I mean, it's ripe.
I don't really want them to do that.
I want them to stay here in the 60s and thwart the Americans from
for what the American military industrial complex.
Every single episode in the 60s, so you'll have a bit of glamour
every week.
Yeah.
Paul Shatner and Nemo.
Like a bit lost.
Oh, are we still... are we still in this?
Let's remember this could potentially have been the last episode
of TOS, because the 3rd series was on a given, was it?
No.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a funny way to think about it.
I was watching it, thinking, wow, and Scotty gets 2 lines and
Chekhov gets 2 lines and no one's really celebrated in this last
episode.
No, although Jimmy Dewan does get a bigger role than just Scotty
in this episode.
Oh, does he?
What does he do?
He's not that he's not that female computer voice, is he?
No, yeah, that's right.
No, he's the mission control voice in the scenes towards the end
of a thing.
He's the guy doing all the announcements on mission control
because he is a consummate voice.
Yeah, I still remember the Scottish accent.
It's just nature of his voice in Bem when he played every alien
going.
He played Arax and Bam himself.
Hello, Captain K. Oh, it was amazing.
Wow, she's really going for it.
Man.
I mean, that's way cooler than transporter beams, just walking
through that misty portal.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
And they recreate it. what we did, remember?
What was that episode called in the Western place with all the
signs hanging up from nowhere?
Do you remember?
Yeah, they walked through a misty portal, didn't they?
Remember that that worked last season.
We can have a bit of that.
Yeah.
Oh I loved all of this.
I thought those guys were...
And there's a long shot, a 2nd of this setting with the rocket
matted in.
And you know, it's a bit awkward because you can see the line, but
the scale of it is great.
Oh, yeah, no, I think that works really well and that's an
original thing, isn't it, clearly, because it's just a
photograph.
I thought the way they used the stock.
And that's a photograph. was really well done as well.
Obviously, you can tell when they're in mission control and when
they're in the corner of a studio with one console.
Yeah, yeah.
But it was very well done.
But they go outside and they have establishing shots and stuff and
they can use normal TV tricks to kind of sell the world much more
easily and more cheaply than they can in a normal Star Trek.
I don't think that Nemo and Chapman I should ever take those coats
off.
You know, they should never get back into their uniforms again.
Shatner particularly looks great.
Shannon looks so good in that, in that...
Spock's being very handsy with Miss Lincoln, isn't he?
Yeah, so that was the one thing about it that I didn't like very
much.
I...
Oh, this useless woman, she's going to give us away.
I'm going to cover her mouth.
Well, it's 1968 and look at what Emma Peel is doing at the same
time. try to get me hot, honestly.
She's so good.
I love this.
I love they accidentally beam the policeman up.
And then they just be in the back.
So great.
You don't even mind me, doesn't it?
Sequence in the 2 TV movie where that policeman on a bike goes
straight into the TARDIS and then comes straight out again.
And then go straight out again.
And look, there they are back in the office.
I should have just gone, strike me pink.
Yeah, look at all this stuff.
And it works as well because the stock shots, they're doing the
announcements over it as well.
And it's marrying with the studio shots.
So it's it's adequate enough for what they're trying to tell.
Yeah, I mean, this is a small set.
It's all they're ever going to be able to afford and I guess we
imagine we're looking out through that window over mission
control.
So I buy that.
Tells the story.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, why is there always a sassy guard?
Uh, this guy.
But again, so he's just going to use his special Sonic screwdriver
too.
He's literally psychic paper, isn't he?
Let me in.
It's my ID.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He got his psyche paper.
And I'm getting a good look here of what Doctor Who would look
like on film, you know, and I'm loving it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, you know, the doctor's a little bit more ramshackle and a
little bit less authoritative.
John Pertwee?
Maybe it's a pertwee.
Yeah, maybe it's per twee.
That pen.
The security guy.
She distracts him.
He gets shot by the happiness gun.
And now he's doing some acting.
Look at him.
He's suddenly happy.
I could be doing it.
Stop making these parallels.
But I think there was a happiness gun in underworld in doctor as
well.
I think they might. everyone's looking at this episode.
But I think what's really funny. is that he's super serious.
And when he's doing his things, he just leaves trails have sort of
blisted out guards and stuff.
That's what we want, isn't it?
We don't, like...
Suddenly down sleeves.
Oh, yeah, yeah, no, it's fun.
That's exactly right.
There's something really fun about it.
And so now we're doing all this sort of race against time. to our
favourite shuttle. which, you know, it doesn't, but it's, it's
well done.
I think it's well, especially the bit where he's climbing up the
gantry. stop talking about it.
Oh, it's so funny.
I feel like more shows nowadays should be climbing up walls, you
know, like that.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, sorry, yeah, yeah.
Climbing up the floor.
Along the thing.
I can't wait to see that again.
That's going to be pretty great.
Although it's probably just the floor.
No, it's definitely...
Those shots in Batman when they're going up roads.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It so true.
I'm not sure.
I think the feeding has ever been better.
But the great thing about it is that everyone knows how it's done
and that that's part of the fun of it.
Like part of the fun is seeing them play it as if they're walking
up the wall.
And we're all in on the joke.
Well, they've just got their hand, like one hand on a window ledge
or something like that.
And they hold on and have a dialogue scene for about 5 minutes.
Yeah.
And here's our stock footage of the, you know, like Apollo thing
or whatever.
Like, what is it?
Satin 5 rocket?
I don't know.
But that's pretty awesome.
This is, for me, this is just what Star Trek should be doing.
Look at the suits.
Look at them in their suits.
Look at Shatner in that suit.
They both look magnificent, don't they?
stock shot looked a bit like Starfleet headquarters from the 90s
just then.
Yeah, I was getting vibes of before and after. from Voyager series
one.
Talking about a Star Trek universe where everyone takes things
very seriously.
Yeah.
Do you know what, though?
We did agree, didn't we?
The other week.
I said to you, I used to think DS9 was this incredibly serious
greatest show.
And then we watched an episode in the height of the war arc, which
was the biggest fucking soap opera we've ever seen, the pair of
that.
As it should be.
Yeah, that's what's great about it.
That's not a failure.
That's it. absolutely doing the right. sort of force of nature and
things like that when it's taken itself incredibly seriously that
it's very tedious.
Well, I think if it's good, it can afford to take itself seriously
I think.
But I mean, there's an inherent ridiculousness to the premise
isn't there, I guess?
Yeah, isn't he fun?
Oh, God, I was going to make more parallel stops here.
This is the one time I can do it because I feel like this is
basically a doctor's story posing as a Star Trek story.
But, you know, Leopolis, where you got the guards going up the
gantry after the doctor.
We just had a bit of that there as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we're launching from the Canary Islands.
Wait, what?
No, we're not.
Oh, they're tracking it or something?
Okay.
I think he's gone up now.
We're heading for that sequence.
We are heading up for the scene.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
That's a stock shot.
That works well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It must have sort of done a bit of dick in first.
It looks really good.
What stock shots have we got?
I will write this...
Yeah, either that or there is a thing.
Do you know what I mean?
They go to a building with a thing on it and shoot that.
I don't know.
I mean, where are they here?
Just a car park.
Oh, now we're in the set. photographic background.
Oh yeah, I do too.
I do.
And now yet we're doing a slow sedate pan up the rocket.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It feels like it's got some scale, doesn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah, that is great.
But then we are reminded of the artificial television in the
second.
Oh, look at Nimoy's hat now.
Nemoy's new hat.
He's got, why is he wearing a different hat?
Are they still wearing the same suit?
They are.
Someone stole in the studio between scenes, the other one.
So they're like, oh, bugger it.
Doris, give us your app. makes sense.
Look short from the distance.
I know that's a stock shop, but that's fabulous.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, film.
This works, oh, this, there, there's our...
They do this in future.
Is that...?
What's that?
No, that's real.
I think that's that's, yeah, a helicopter getting past them. that's
real. holy crap.
I keep calling it a rocket. a shuttle, isn't it?
No, no, it's a rocket. shuttle.
So the shuttles don't really start happening until the 80s, I
think.
Do you like the fact that they've got that red light on the
console there?
Like an old policeman's love.
Yep, yep.
Well, it's the flashing red line.
It's an alert, you need an alert.
Oh, come on, missy.
It's time to save the day.
Roberta.
I'm so useless.
She's so sweet.
Bless her.
Oh, what's happening?
Is Gary coming back?
No he can't be coming back.
She figured out that the door works by...
Oh, she's figured out how to open the thing using the pen.
I used to be so obsessed.
So I am born like a year after this as, well, thereabouts, right?
And so I remember as a child, like a very small child going to my
father's office and it being decorated like this and the desk set
you know, like with the pens.
Like that stuff just fascinated the hell out of me.
I just think the designer must have just been like, oh, here we
go.
Here we go.
Here it is.
That's a good cat.
I'll tell you what, for climbing over him like that.
Just as they need him.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, he's got some salmon in his pocket or something.
So you've got this tiny bit of rocket set with some dry ice
pumping out.
Yeah.
It's great.
And he's kind of...
The fact's so great.
She's a fur... cat's gone.
The photographic backdrop as well.
I just think they're really trying.
It really works.
I think the photographic backdrop really, really bad.
I mean, I'm going to remind you of TNG series one and all those
terrible studios says.
They're putting far more effort into this.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And effectively, that's where this is where Gene Roddenbury
stopped and TNG one is where he picked it up again, is it?
on television.
Yeah, I guess so.
Yeah, it's forgotten.
He's forgotten how good he was.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, yeah.
I think, you know, like the distance...
What is it?
It's 20 years distanced.
Do you know what I mean?
And I think that I think that he's not in a position to realise
what really worked the 1st time around and there are things
probably that were good, but that he was kind of embarrassed about
you know.
What I would have liked to have seen was had they realised what
they had, which they realised in the early 70s when the reruns
were going out.
And they just said, you know, we would make this, but the sets
would be too expensive to make again.
So tough shit.
You've got the animated series.
I would like to have seen how it would have transformed into the
70s.
Like phase two.
Because that was the original plan that then gets turned into into
the motionless picture, isn't it?
Have you seen some of those phase two?
I mean, the child was one of those scripts, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maybe maybe Roddenbury really had gone off the boy or come TNG.
The child.
So Space 1999 does the child.
Only the child is Julian Glover and ends up being evil. wonderful.
It's so good.
Oh, that.
Look at that.
Wait, are they going to beam him out of there?
They are.
They're going to beam him out of there.
So he...
Oh, yes, okay.
So we don't prevent the launch, do we?
And so instead we have to crash a nuclear form into the surface of
the planet.
It's just what we want. is a spectacular ending.
It'd be a hot country.
It won't be like anywhere where there are people, I guess.
Oh, I love that she's figuring out how to use the room, how to get
to him.
Yep.
Will she learn how to beam?
Yeah.
Yeah, here we go.
They're getting him.
In fact, Nathan, I'm gonna do it again.
I'm getting scenes from Lagopolis here of Tom Baker on the gantry
you know.
Any story that ends with a climax of someone poking into a console
like that to save the day.
Well, that sounds... science fiction for you, isn't it?
Oh, so she gets him back.
She gets him back from the enterprise.
It does seem to be accidental, though.
She's just twiddling a few knobs.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, no, no, no, because she's super surprised that it happens.
But she does help save the day and she does bond with him, I
think.
This is our lead, you know, of our new fabulous show.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, this computer.
Do you know what?
It's going to be my mission in life now to have a house where the
bookcase slides out.
It gives me fucking lip every time it talks to me.
Oh, look at look at the monitor.
I wish I had a round one.
I do feel a bit sorry for Spock and Kirk.
They hadn't do it much, I...
No.
Yeah, they're having an easy week this week.
I'm sure they're still getting paid.
They're fine.
I mean, we've had what, 40, nearly 50 episodes of a pair of them
now.
They've done a lot, you know?
Yeah, magnanimous enough to let the backtop pilots slip in.
But like that whole conversation that they had was just about how
they can't do anything, you know, like we're standing here.
I, afraid we can't do it. just reminding us that they, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, just let Gary and Roberta do the plot while we stand here.
I'm surprised I should.
It would have been nice if they had to pop up, again, in series
3.
Yeah, it's not the sort of thing that they did, I think.
And I think they stopped having, didn't they?
I think we're a bit embarrassed by this.
Like, you know, even though it's really fun.
I think.
Are you embarrassed by this?
No, not at all.
I think it's awesome.
Well, I mean, this is basically a template for the other show that
you and I obsess about.
You know?
Well, it's well, it once really funny though.
Like, if you think about it right, when 90 Star Trek says, let's
do a spinoff, they go, I know, let's make it the same, but it's
set on a space station, and you can think, okay, that's super
imaginative.
And then the next spinoff is, let's do it, but it's another
spaceship.
And then the other spinoff after that is, let's do that, but it's
another spaceship, and that's really all they ever come up with
somewhere else.
This is like, yeah, yeah, this is like aliens, you know, have
taken people from Earth, train them up to prevent the American
military industrial complex.
And then send them back.
A different show, isn't it?
a completely different show.
And it would have had a different sci-fi.
Yeah, it would have been wonderful.
Yeah, yeah.
Although, you know, you know what I mean?
I'll never resist the temptation to defend DS9.
What I will say is they decided to set it on the space station, but
then make it in a massive soap opera.
And that's what they did that was different, you know?
No, but like when they're coming up with the idea, it's basically
just we're all on a space station and then every week 2 people go
on a runabout and go and do an adventure.
You know, like they know what they're doing.
The pillar pitch was, it's on a space station with consequences.
That was that was that was the gold there.
But I don't think they discover that until they certainly don't
discover it in the series one, where are the consequences?
Do you know what I mean?
No sequels to other things or anything.
Like, it takes a while for them to work out why they're different
from Star Trek and it is, oh, look at that.
Oh, she ringing the cops.
Roberta, come on.
But Star Trek 2 assignment Earth, as 2 separate shows had it, come
to fruition, is like, um, 60 stock 2 into 70s, Doctor Who.
It is a completely different.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
A whole different thing.
And I think that's good, isn't it?
That's healthy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And this is a kind of road not travelled for Star Trek.
And so although we have come back and looked at it again in Picard
series 2, you can't imagine calling a thing a Star Trek spinoff
and having it be anything like this.
Imagine, Nathan, right, with the Kurtzman money.
Yeah, they were like, right, we're finally got to do assignment
Earth and we're going to set it in the...
And we're going to have all that square.
Fabulous design from back in the day.
You and me would love it.
It would be great.
Everybody else would be cringing.
We want a season two, right?
But you're absolutely right about the use of stock footage because
it's set around a launch, and because there is all that news
footage of all of the launches and stuff.
I mean, the moon landing is just over a year away.
I think this is like March 1968.
I can't remember.
But, you know, we've had rockets and stuff like that and footage
on them, you know.
So they use it really effectively and it makes it look very
science fiction-y and I guess that's why this is the Spy-fi era. in
the air as well, wasn't it?
Send in.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, rocket up to the moon.
So it is cutting edge this.
We're looking at it now, we think it's a bit quaint, but back in
the day.
Like, that's it.
Like, I'm, I, it's, it maybe 10 years after this, I go to Cape
Canaveral in, in Florida as a child and I saw the, you know, the, I
must have seen them.
Must have been the enterprise.
It was a definitely sort of space shuttle in any case.
You know, um, And that's kind of the death of it.
You know, once the space shuttles come in, then it all sort of
goes to hell and it's no longer exciting and stuff, but it's so
exciting in the 60s.
We've lost that buzz about it, isn't it?
Of exploring the unknown.
Yeah.
I don't feel we have in terms of fiction and the enticing
possibilities.
I do think we have in terms of reality.
Yeah.
Well, it's just incredible to think that 50 years ago, there were
people walking around on the moon, were more than that now, but
that's... shared sense of excitement of everyone watching it on
the TV.
Oh, yeah.
See, that did happen within my lifetime.
Like, I think I was maybe 2 or 3 months old.
And your love of science fiction began there.
That's it.
I think I was propped up in front of the television.
Oh, look, she's got the she's got the Sonic screwdriver now.
She pointing it at Gary 7.
Yeah, is she going to make him happy?
See this is great, isn't it?
Oh my god.
This is bewitched.
This is bloody bewitched Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's absolutely.
It's the look of the thing.
But what is really good about this scene is that she thinks he's
an enemy agent because she knows that he tried to stop an American
rocket launch, right?
And so it's like, you're my enemy, I'm going to point, you know
point this gum thing at you, and she comes around.
She believes him by the end of the episode in just a few minutes.
She will, uh, she'll show that she believes him and actually helps
to convince uh, Kirk and Spock to let him do the thing.
Yeah, it's a great end.
Yes.
It means the 2 characters do go on a little journey together as
well, don't they?
So then she loves to trust him.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Ah, there we go.
There's our Vulcan neck pinch.
Wipe it out of the action for 20 minutes now.
Finally, they're in the plot again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just get peeped out.
These guys don't notice.
I wonder what happened to those 2 policemen.
I think they've gone for a bit of a lie down, the ones that got
beamed up to the Enterprise.
Yeah, I think so.
They're drinking at 70s. 60s. day drinking now.
It's after lunch.
It's time to have drink.
There could be a little club.
You know those homeless people when the ship comes down in voyage
home?
There's like a club of people every time they come back in time
with a spaceship or something.
It's just like, 0 my god, another spaceship.
The society of, you know, spaceship sightings or something.
So here's Gary explaining the premise to her.
I know this world needs help.
That's why some of my generation are kind of crazy rebels.
Yeah, that's terribly cheesy, um, you know, dialogue and stuff, but
what about that?
They wonder whether they're going to be alive by the time we're
30.
You know, because of the Cold War.
And like in Picard, like Picard series 2 goes out to a world where
children, you know, are right to fear.
And perhaps, you know, we know how the Cold War turned out, but
they're right to fear the future, I think, in the same way.
And it is, like, the climate change thing.
It is another tangible thing, isn't it?
That we know, it's going to, well, we're heading in a unfortunate
direction.
Well, do you remember, like they look up, Raffian 7, look up to
the hills above.
Where are we in LA?
I can't remember and we look up at those hills and see them on
fire and you know, like the news from Hawaii and stuff just a
couple of weeks ago.
I almost love Kursman Trek for taking this episode and showing
it's got legs, you know?
Yeah, absolutely.
That's what they do.
That's absolutely what they do.
I just wish they would have gone to the 60s as well.
Never mind.
All that, all that location work in series Tory Picard is great.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, what's the, is Spock saying trust your guard?
Look at them looking at each other.
All 3 of them in close-up.
These men, manning and being men at each other.
Talk about human intuition.
We're leaning into some of the things we normally explore in this
show.
Yeah, yeah, delicately.
Yeah, it's just like it would give Spock a spotline.
Yeah, this could be one of his last line.
We better make him say something.
Yeah, and...
Yeah, so Spock and her convince him to do it.
And just his own intuition.
I think he recognises the fellow, like another lead of another TV
show, and so he should let him do his thing.
I think they said to Shatner, you know, look, if you want to do a
play this month, go ahead, all right?
We'll just fill you in.
A couple of location shots. you'll be fine.
Boom.
So where are we who do we find out where we're blowing up?
No, some Antarctica somewhere.
It's a remote land with no people on it.
With no people on it.
Everything's fine and the nuclear fallout is all good.
Oh, Jesus.
No.
No problem.
This is the cause of the climate problem that we're seeing in
Picard series 2?
Cause and effect.
They did actually blow up quite a few nuclear bombs in testing and
stuff.
So, you know, I guess it's okay.
Yeah, even into the 80s and stuff.
I mean, this bewitched stuff here.
The typewriter's tight in itself.
There's a close-up on the cat.
The fabulous woman.
He's there in his suit.
He's relaxing on the thing.
I actually, the one thing that I think is just fantastic is this.
She looks across and the cat is suddenly a beautiful woman and for
no reason at all.
And then like, what's that?
But after talking, we would explore the backstory.
He's been talking about to that cat like it is, you know, his
lover of the episodes.
She's pissy.
She's a little bit jealous.
You just wanted to turn to the camera and do that thing with her
nose.
Simply my cat.
And then back to the cat.
There we go. looking a little bit embarrassed.
I don't know.
Terry Carr's reaction.
So funny.
Oh, I know who you've got now, Shatner, effortlessly charming as
he's going to go now.
So, you know, he's got that lovely smile on his face and he's like
right, well, we're done here.
Enjoy your show.
David, look at this.
Like, we can say we can't tell you about the future, but we can
say that Gary 7 and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Lincoln, have exciting
adventures in store for them.
It's like the it's like the Emma Peel Tara King crossing on the
stairs.
It's like the golden handshake.
Enjoy your series.
No, I just think about the Simpsons in the Simpsons show, spinoff
showcase, you know, where they're setting up Ralph Wigam and Chief
Wigam in, you know, I've watched that as well.
So funny.
Yeah, I'd watch that.
What this really does show as well is how Star Trek can absorb
other genres from the time and make it work because you've got
that sort of comedy from bewitchedness.
You've got that spy-fi stuff from the champions and all of that.
And maybe people find it embarrassing.
I think it worked as a fun adventure romp.
I think it works brilliantly.
Yeah, I do too.
I think it's a really enjoyable 50 minutes of TV.
And, you know, Scott McNulty says that a TOS episode tends to be
on average about 10 minutes too long.
But I didn't feel that way about this.
I was entertained the whole time.
And just the fact that it, like we said, it skips over enormous
gaps in logic, like the time travel with one line.
You know, it's doing it.
Oh, no, no.
It's just we do the minimum that we need to do to just kind of get
everyone in the position to have this episode.
Yeah.
And you know, the only trouble is, is they kept looking at other
genres and, you know, they looked at Westerns and we had that fun
episode in series three.
But they also looked at zombie episodes and we got Spot's brain
you know.
It's hit and missed depending on which genre they're looking at.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know what genre they were looking at when it was the way
to Eden, those hippies that came along.
Yeah, God, series 3 is rough, isn't it?
I think there's more in there than we think there might be
though.
We'll unearth it as we go along.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I think we've had good experiences in series 3 already, haven't
we?
Ah, yeah, the ones we've done.
I mean, I even enjoyed Scott's brain.
What I think we should do now is, though, is you and I start a
brand new podcast, as you named at the beginning, untitled
Assignment Earth projects.
Well, I, yeah, I suspect that the show would have been called
Assignment Earth, but given that we don't know, I'd be tempted to
call it untitled Gary 7 Project, because I think that's a, that's
a pretty awesome title.
We could just pretend they went on to make a whole 30 episode
season of it.
I believe there was 890 odd episodes of that, you know.
Imagine that.
They still making it now. get renewed.
Yes.
Star Trek doesn't get renewed.
Something happens.
Someone goes back in time.
Probably Bones goes back in time by mistake because he's on drugs
or whatever.
And, uh, you know, he knocks over Gene Roddenby's tea lady or
something and Star Trek gets cancelled at the end of series two
but they go on to make 894 episodes of uh, Gary 7.
Not a terrible outcome.
It's a glorious parody cartoon. they're making of the Gary 7
project right now with a great voice artist that can do it.
They've got a kids show of all these Gary 7-esque little kids, a
prequel.
And the movies.
Don't get restarted.
I'll tell you what right?
The even ones are terrible, but the odd ones are great.
Yeah, magnificent.
All right, it's the end of the episode and it is time for us to
work out what we're going to be watching next.
This was your excellent choice, assignment Earth, and so it's my
turn to ruin all.
You gave us collective, and I gave us assignment.
No, you're ahead on points for sure.
So let's see what I can do.
Will I fall further behind because we are going to choose an
episode of Star Trek Discovery?
Okay.
We haven't done it for a long time.
We haven't done it for a very long time.
So let's see what we get.
But you know, the only reason I have that reaction is because of
all the Kursman treks, you know that's my least favourite.
Yeah, yeah, but I, you know, like you haven't seen the best of it
I think, is part of the problem.
I've seen 2.5 seasons of it.
That's a fair bulk of it.
That is, but I think it gets better.
And it is a flawed show in all sorts of ways, but I think, you
know, if we didn't have discovery, we wouldn't have everything
else.
Yeah, that's very true.
Thankful for discovery, for giving us prodigy, lower decks, strange
new worlds.
All of it. wonderful stuff.
So this...
This is really interesting.
I don't know if we'll do this.
This is called all in, and it is the episode, I think, after the
one that we've already done in series 4.
And so Book and Michael have kind of pardoned way.
He went off at the end, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
She says shit. which I think is pretty great.
I love it when they swear in Star Trek.
And so I think she shows after him.
And then she looked off camera longingly, as she has, I want to
do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But then the 2 of them meet in a place and they play a high stakes
poker game, which is an extremely weird kind of scary for the show
to take.
But it gives them a chance to kind of, you know, we get to play
out the conflict between them, which has been sort of simmering
and which is obviously spilled over at the end of that
cliffhanger.
It's actually pretty good.
And I do think that series four.
As I've said many times, the end of series 4 is pretty great Star
Trek, but I am going to press it again.
And this might be actually, this is actually what might be a bit
interesting.
So what we've rolled is season two, episode eight, uh, and it is
called if memory serves, and it has, um, Pike, who is captain of
the Enterprise, obviously, in series two.
Ah, well, no, don't you remember?
It's like, where is Spock for the whole 1st part of series 2?
It's kind of where's Spock?
We haven't seen Spock.
This is Spock and Burnham going to the planet Talos 4, which is
where the cage takes place.
Let's do this.
I think we should.
Because this is this is kind of the genesis of Strange New World
because what they do is they recreate Talos 4, but they obviously
recreate it with modern production sensibilities and on a modern
TV budget while still being true to what we all remember from that
episode.
And so in a way, if memory serves.
I can't remember what it means in the context of the show, but for
us, it's kind of like, can we do 10 years before original Star
Trek and can we do it convincingly and can it work now?
And it will be fun to see Anson Mount again, uh, because we've
kind of overdosed a bit on, on straight you worlds, given how few
episodes there are, so we get to see him again.
We get to see him with Michael and we get to see Telos 4.
Well, I mean, it's not just the Genesis of Strangely Wells, but
it's leaning right back to the genesis of Star Trek with the the
original pilot episodes, and it gives us a chance to talk about
that.
It gives us a chance to talk about series 2 of discovery, which I
think we both agree is probably the weakest season, but gave us
all those wonderful gifts to go on and spearhead strange new
worlds.
Yeah, that's a great choice, I think.
And I do remember it being visually arresting as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Really great.
Doesn't it have like a title pre-title sequ or like a previously
on?
Aware of that.
It shows you fame from that original part of episode.
Maybe.
Yeah.
So it might be the most sort of Star Trekie discovery episode that
there is.
Yeah, maybe that's right.
Maybe that's absolutely right.
All right, let's do it.
Fantastic.
You've been listening to Entitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford
and Nathan Bottomley.
We're online at untitledstar trekproject.com where you can find
subscription links and links to our social media accounts.
Our podcast artwork is by Kayla Ciceran, and the theme was
composed by Cameron Lamb.
This episode was recorded on the 29th of August 2023 and released
on the 1st of September.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek Discovery, if memory
serves.
Ah, OK. All right.
Oh, hang on, I'm not able to get the reps already.
Um, I've got it.
Like I know they've juiced up somebody effects here.
I just don't think this would have looked bad, though, back in the
day.
Do you know the?
I watched it with the original effects.
And I am now going to watch it with the new effects.
Oh, interesting.
Okay, well, you tell me what's different.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's one thing that is really different in a really interesting
way for an amazing reason.
Yeah.
All right.
You should open this and it's like, right, we've got a new podcast
in the works.
It's called Gary 7 and we're going to do the pilot episode now.
Untitled Dinner.
Oh, yeah, great.
But it's called, it's definitely called a Simon Earth, isn't it?
Like, it's definitely called the Simon Earth.
Which would be a great name for a 60s series.
Yeah, of course.
Where's he going this time?
The Roman times.
The cat's being hailed as a god, yeah.
Oh, amazing.
There are 2 other episodes with colons in them.
Course oblivion.
Oh, and...
What's the other one?
Operation annihilate.
Is that it?
Of the whole run.
I think so.
Wait a sec.
I can probably find this out.
Of course oblivion.
It's so bad.
Oh, laughing so much when I was listening back to that
collective.
I do think we're funny as when we're being really mean, you know?
Oh, because we talk about how shitty Janeway looks in, um, Course
oblivion, 1159, because it's 1129.
Yeah.
Is that it?
No, it's just a Simon Earth and Course Oblivion.
Operation annihilate doesn't have one.
Anyway, that's just a punctuation thing. that I can...
I'd rather have a Simon Earth than wrongs darker than deaf and
knight.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I agree.
One promise is excitement.
The other one promises...
Just misery.
Guess what, Kira?
I fucked your mother.
Is it that one?
And you're going to try and kill her, yeah.
Is that one?
Although it's worth it, just for your mama joke.
The bit where he drops the news and he's fucking loving it at that
moment, you know?
You're a mother and I, we're lovers.
Oh, for God's sake. soap opera.
It's so funny And then she goes to Ops and she's fucking horrible
to everybody.
Bashir and Abra are talking about the hollow switch.
She's like, when are you people going to go back to work?
Come on.
For God's sake.
That's great.
She won't have any banter, no ops banter.
She goes, I've watched enough Voyager.
I mean, any of that.
For God's sake.
All right.
Okay.
I have realised, is you and I definitely can talk about Star Trek
aren't we?
Oh, yeah.
You definitely can.
We have opinions.
But with detail as well.
I have been exploring a few other podcasts and it's more opinion
and less fact, and they reach for facts all the time as well, which
are, they don't come having sort of absorbed it.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I think we know stuff.
I mean, like we're embarrassing on.
Uh, you know, original series, but fuck.
I, I, I, I, 4 episodes of this shit, like how, you know, that's
where we have the most thumb though.
When we're discovering stuff like this.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Far out.
So good.
It's really good.
All right.
So I do the thing?
You haven't done a disinterested Hey, Joe for a while, you know?
No, I've been, I've been, you know, taking drugs.
No, I mean, paying careful attention.
And getting sleep anyway.
Oh, no, look at this.
Oh sorry.
So I, I, yeah, I gotten a bit less than 7 hours, but I'll do
better because I've been trying to get in really early and do
stuff before.
I'll put the lights on.
You might as well go to bed.
Yeah, I may as well go into work, you see, where I can turn the
lights on.
Okay.
Hey, Joe. Hi.