The Bicks Pod
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 is widely considered the start of "good Trek" in the TNG era. Whether you agree with that or not, this season definitely ups the ante in terms of storytelling, characterization, thematic links, and philosophical import. This week, Aidan and Lindsay deep dive into the production history, some of the changes behind and in front of the camera, and explore the larger story arcs that are going to take us into the second half of the series' run.
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Bicks Log: How useful is the Prime Directive?
Notes and Recognitions:
The intro music is different between Season 1 (strings high in the mix) and Season 2 (strings lower) and again to Season 3 (strings seem to not be there at all in some places) so Lindsay is kinda right but also kinda full of shit...
OrangeRiver has a great Season 3 breakdown video we watched in preparation for this podcast as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEzxaVfTAw&ab_channel=OrangeRiver
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Ad Music: Coconut Grove by Hotham is licensed under a Creative Commons License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Stream: https://linktr.ee/hothammusic Free Download: https://hypeddit.com/hotham/coconutgrove Support by RFM - NCM: https://bit.ly/3TzyYA1
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday May 16, 2023
Tuesday May 16, 2023
Watchalong episodes are back baby! Today we're watching Season 1 Episode 15 of Star Trek: The Next Generation "11001001" (the one with the Bynars).
Tuesday May 09, 2023
Tuesday May 09, 2023
Boldly going where no one in 1987 was really sure they wanted to go - 100 years into the future - Paramount greenlit Star Trek: The Next Generation. And a seed was planted. Join us as we talk about the behind the scenes work that eventually led to one of the most iconic of Star Trek series' and heralded the rebirth of Gene Rodenberry's vision of the future - ready to go for a new generation (your hosts' generation, as it turned out). We also discuss the characters, episodes, and issues that cropped up repeatedly in the first season, as well as the bones of the show that we grew to love and idolize.
Episode Sponsor: CubeSpace - it's time to build your online presence!
Bicks Log: What are the things in Season 1 that the show messed up the worst, but was corrected over the course of the show?
Notes:
As a reminder, this was recorded before Picard Season 3, so there may be some odd references
Sadly "Crusher is a mom" has remained extremely true
Aidan had this large (for a child) version of the mini phaser used frequently in the first few seasons
He also had the rounded tip version of the fuller handheld phaser, though he can't find any photos so he might be imagining that
Lindsay had the more ubiquitous and cool-looking pointed-tip phaser
Chaos on the Bridge is the Shatner-hosted documentary that provides a great insight into the crazy ship that was TNG Seasons 1 & 2
For clarity's sake around syndication: the local station would sell 5 minutes of local advertising per episode, and Paramount got the money from 7 minutes of national advertisements
The UK didn't receive any TNG until September 26, 1990, three years after "Encounter at Farpoint" first aired in the United States
"You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel."
Other videos to learn more about Season 1 include:
Rowan J. Coleman's Retrospective Part 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB08m-d1hhc&ab_channel=RowanJColeman
Was TNG Season 1 Really That Bad?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPGSKOIu1dI&ab_channel=OrangeRiver
Twin Peaks actors appearing this season:
Brenda Strong
Carel Struycken
Robert Knepper
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
As we say goodbye to Star Trek: Picard after three seasons, lit in the warm glow of nostalgia, we'll take a look at the entirety of the series, our likes and dislikes, what's next for these characters and what we might have done differently to address the shortcomings we felt took away from our experience of these stories.
Episode Sponsor: PokerGalaxy.net
Bicks Log Double-Header: Question #1 - If you could make one change to Picard Season 3 to better reflect what you wanted out of the series, what would it be? Question #2 - If you had to pick your "Engage" one-liner, what would it be?
Notes and Recognitions:
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Ad Music: "Swing Time" by Music by Pedro
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Borg Shootout Remixes feat. The Beach Boys as well as the always-good Beastie Boys
The Reddit post both Lindsay and I read that discussed how the season just didn't address all the issues it raised
After we recorded, we came across this amazing review of Season 3 that really summed up Aidan's feelings and thoughts better than he managed to get across at all in the episode. It's truly a great read of what failed in Season 3.
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
You hear that? The voices of those we've come to know and those we've missed for years now, coming back to shepherd us towards the endgame for Star Trek Picard. Join us as we talk a lot about that one moment we were waiting for all season, as well as even more talk about many other moments of this episode that we could have frankly done without. Despite our ups and downs from this episode and others, we are excited for the finale and hope you'll join us next week as well!
Episode Sponsor: Tuvix Instant Transporter Services (Aidan apologizes for the terrible acronym, he was very tired when he wrote this and thought it was funny, even though it's not).
Bicks Log: Which kid of the Enterprise D crew would perform which function in the renewed Enterprise D?
Notes and Recognitions:
Aidan has an epic rant-down from about 24:45 to 34:10 all about Jack Crusher and the sequence at the start of the episode where he delivers himself to the Borg.
A quick rundown of TikTok's congressional hearings and the sad state of US Congress' understanding of technology.
Lindsay's own rant goes from 46:30 to 50:30, all about Seasons 1 & 2 of Picard and how it's been completely abandoned in this Season.
Soji was the Data-type android that survived, Dahj was the one who did not make it. We needed to look it up.
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
Surrender with us as we mentally prepare for the final voyage of The Next Generation crew, finally re-united in this week's episode. While we found this episode repeated a few of the foibles from previous Picard that have turned up earlier in the season, we nonetheless enjoyed this week's outing and are eagerly looking forward to the final two episodes with the characters we grew up loving so dearly.
Episode Sponsor: Vadic's Frozen Foods
Bicks Log: Has this season done a good job adapting the TNG characters for a future 25 years removed from the last episode of the television series?
Notes and Recognitions:
Swear Trek (in case you haven't seen it before)
Ad music: "Fly the Friendly Skies"
"Dance of the Dream Man" by Angelo Badalamenti
RIP Paul Cattermole of S Club 7
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
As we continue on into the back half of Season 3 of Picard, we are starting to see the outlines of an endgame, and, well, we have thoughts. Less about the endgame itself than about how we're getting there, as we found this particular episode a little more uneven than the previous ones, all the while loving certain elements and craving more of others. It's another bickering filled episode for your listening pleasure (or pain? we don't know why anyone listens to us).
Episode Sponsor: Masterclass
Bicks Log: How has this season of Picard changed our interpretation of the utopianism that the TNG era was known for?
Notes and Recognitions:
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Ad muzak: "Sixty Second Commercial #1" by Mmigo/Michael Reynolds
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
For a show that we all knew was going to be (at least partially) about getting the gang back together, this week's episode of Star Trek: Picard did a lot of work getting the gang back together. Join us for a discussion of the sentimentality of those reunions, the plot mysteries still waiting to be discovered, and our thoughts about this season's level of fan service!
Episode Sponsor: World of Warships!
Bicks Log: Does this season sport too much fan service?
Notes and Recognitions:
The director's name is Dan Liu, who also directed the stellar episode of Strange New Worlds: "Memento Mori".
Intro Music: Chasing Stars by AG Music
Ad Muzak: "Friendly Skies" from Fly the Friendly Skies of United
Outro Music: Idle Hands by The Impossibulls