Uncanny Treks

by Bob and Matt

After Shows TV Reviews

Season 1

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine- "Signs and Portents" vs. "Necessary Evil"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine- "By Any Means Necessary" vs. "Rules of Acquisition"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine- "Survivors" vs. "Cardassians"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine- "Believers" vs. "Invasive Procedures"

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

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine- "Deathwalker" vs. "The Homecoming-The Circle-The Siege"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine-"Sky Full of Stars" vs. "In the Hands of the Prophets"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine-"The War Prayer" vs. "Duet"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine-"Mind War" vs. "The Forsaken"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine- "Parliament of Dreams" vs. "Battle Lines"

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)

Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine-"Infection" vs. "Nagus"

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

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