He's Aidan...She's Lindsay
Together we are The Bicks, and we're here to take you through all our pop culture favourites. Join us as we train our literary lenses on the stories that shape us.
Together we are The Bicks, and we're here to take you through all our pop culture favourites. Join us as we train our literary lenses on the stories that shape us.
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
The second film entry for our original cast -- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan -- reinvigorated the franchise after The Motion Picture drew big bucks but tepid critical reviews. A lesser version of Khan might have put the nail in Star Trek's coffin.
Thankfully, it didn't, and forty years later we're still chugging away through the Alpha Quadrant. Let's explore why, with Kirk & Khaaaaaaan!, Kirk & Spock, Kirk & Carol & David, Chekov and the ear bug (*shudder*), the Enterprise & the Reliant, and the birth of a new
Episode Sponsor: Genesis To-Go!
Bicks Log: Is The Wrath of Khan a perfect/the best encapsulation of what makes Star Trek what it is?
Notes:
Monster Maroon
Trek Culture
Aidan here: Lindsay...Bruce McLean??? If you're going to reference Die Hard in my presence, you'd best get the name of the main character right...
Lindsay here: And yet you sat across from me and listened with your own two ears and didn't correct me, so...check and mate.
Saturday Nov 12, 2022
Saturday Nov 12, 2022
Saturday Nov 12, 2022
Star Trek's first foray onto the big screen has experienced a recent reevaluation by fans, but what we wanted to know is how was it seen by original fans at the time of its release? Lucky for us we have a pair of OG fans in the family -- so today we're welcoming Aidan's parents to the podcast to talk all about that original experience in all its glory!
Episode Sponsor: Kivas Fajo's Toy Emporium
Bicks Log: We bypassed today's debate in the interest of sparing our guests!
Notes:
After looking through the depths of the internet, we couldn't find any specific release history for The Animated Series in Canada, which may explain why today's special guests never heard of it until recently.
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
After one of the most competitive polls in our short lived Twitter campaign (which, if you don't follow us there, we're likely abandoning soon), this watchalong came down to a coin toss, followed by a unilateral decision to negate the coin toss entirely. The result is our watchalong with The Lorelei Signal, one of the better Animated Series episodes, and the only one to feature (acting) Captain Uhura!
It's a short episode this week, so hope you all enjoy!
Notes and Recognitions:
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
This episode is about one of the least known shows in Star Trek, but one we thoroughly enjoyed. The Animated Series holds a special place in Star Trek history, as a bridge between TOS and the films, and also as the first series to truly be freed from the constraints of what was possible to film in a live action series. The result is a strange, sometimes silly/sometimes serious batch of episodes that feel truly unique. Join us for a talk about what brought the series to fruition, what makes it so unique, and our talk about whether it's worth your time as a Trekkie (spoiler alert: we think so!).
Episode Sponsor: The Vulcan Science Institutes Atomic Alarm Clock for Children (or VSIAACC for short). Help keep your youthful, impetuous and overly-emotional Vulcan child in check with this chronologically indestructible clock! Get one today!
Bicks Log: Does The Animated Series stand on its own as a distinct product, or is it merely the much-vaunted fourth season of The Original Series?
Notes:
Be sure to check out the amazing Next Generation and Voyager reimaginings of famous scenes, in the original art and animation style of TAS. They're simply stellar.
Also check out the mini behind-the-scenes featurette about how the team that created the series built them.
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
This time our lovely Twitter voters (follow us on there if you want to decide future watchalongs!) chose one of Aidan's all-time favourite Trek episodes "The Tholian Web" to enjoy alongside you, dear listeners! In one of the few high points of Season 3, this episode had it all: a great sci-fi premise, interesting character moments, and most importantly, a break for dear William Shatner.
Join us to hear every inane thought about the episode that enters our heads, including our takes on just why the USS Defiant glowed green, and what makes this episode work so well among all TOS standouts.
Notes and Recognitions:
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
If you've ever wondered what frustration sounds like - congratulations, you've found it in this episode of The Bicks Do Star Trek! Season 3 of The Original Series is one of the more frustrating seasons in Star Trek history - for producers, writers, actors, and even the creator - and that frustration seeps into the episodes themselves, and by conduit, your hosts. In a season filled with episodes that pale in comparison to what came before, we found a few nuggets of joy and a whole lot of... other nuggets.
Join us for a chat about why these episodes fail to impress, the few highlights we could pull out, and the numerous specific problems *cough*sexism*cough* that plague the show this year. Also a brief chat about the production and what the potential legacy of the show could have looked like if this was indeed the final piece of Star Trek to ever exist.
Episode Sponsor: Eden's Enterprises! Whatever joyous road you're taking, man, you can get there with Eden's Enterprises!
Bicks Log: With the crew on light duty rotations, we had time to ponder whether "Turnabout Intruder" - one of the most detested episodes of TOS - was salvageable.
Notes:
We are so very dumb and confused "Spock's Brain" and "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky". However this is kind of indicative of our level of devotion and love for this season as a whole.
Aidan claimed D.C. Fontana was the showrunner/story editor - which was true for Season 2, but not Season 3! She left to go do freelance work after Season 2 concluded. And boy was her lack of presence noted.
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
In which we sit down and watch through the classic Season 2 episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" with you, dear listeners! So cue it up and boldly go with us as we learn about just why, in fact, the Klingons and the Tribbles have such a rich history of animosity...(jk we don't know why and no one ever really explains it in this episode, it's just a thing that is and we have to learn to accept it...)
We look forward to more watchalongs in the future, and will probably be having semi-regular polls to help us decide which episodes to cover in our watchalongs on our Twitter, so follow us there and please do let us know if there's an episode you'd love to watch with us!
Notes and Recognitions:
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
In this foray into pretty well known, we're examining the second season of The Original Series in all its didactic glory. Whether your joy is faraway trips to places that feel very much like home, or a few light-hearted romps through the less serious parts of the galaxy, the second season has a lot to offer, and a fair bit for us to talk about. So sit back (or walk, or commute, or do whatever you want really we're not your parents) and listen in as we chat about the second season of Star Trek.
Today's Sponsor: Mudd's Emporium! If you're looking for the very latest in HoloSuite technology, look no further than the HoloHeaven 3000, available exclusively through Mudd's Emporium. Don't forget to tell them Harry sent you!
Bicks Log: Today we discussed which style of episode best fits Star Trek as a whole: the serious, deep, sci-fi or character heavy ones, or the lighthearted, comedic ones that have a bit more fun with the possibilities of a sci-fi universe?
Notes:
For those who are not familiar with Sonic Screwdrivers or Doctor Who generally... Assignment Earth is pretty much an outright theft of the idea, with the addition of a cat!
Lindsay is a writer and junior high school English teacher based in Edmonton, Alberta. In addition to loving Twin Peaks and Shakespeare, she is a big fan of her husband, Aidan, her three cats (Neko, Cooper, and Audrey), teaching, reading and writing, and traveling.
And coffee...you can't forget coffee.
Aidan is a writer and communications professional also based in Edmonton, Alberta. His work has been featured in several different publications, periodicals, and books. When he isn't writing or podcasting, he can usually be found attending to his second love: gaming, with a cat or two at his side.
We met when we were 18. We supported each other through university. We moved in together at and then we got married. We live in the coolest neighbourhood in Edmonton. And we record our podcast in our home office overlooking the North Saskatchewan River Valley.
Our podcast came to life in late 2016 as Bickering Peaks: A Twin Peaks Podcast. In those early days, we spent our time rewatching Twin Peaks and analysing the series in Season One of the podcast.
In Season Two of our show, we applied that same rigour to Twin Peaks: The Return.
Season Three saw us tackle the larger question of series co-creators' David Lynch's and Mark Frost's creative oeuvre.
We decided to take our podcast into vastly different territory for Season Four when we dove headfirst into the works of William Shakespeare.
Our slightly truncated Season Five boldly went where no Bicks have gone before...and we promise we will finish our look at the Star Trek universe soon.
Season Six is our soft reboot — a return to form and hopefully a more regular release schedule. We hope you'll continue to follow along as we tackle the pop culture stuff that strikes our fancy.
You can contact us at thebickspod[at]gmail[dot]com.