Red shirts might be one of the biggest pop-cultural tropes given to us by Star Trek, but what does it mean, in-universe and out, the first of our two part look actually gives us both as Miles describes the IDW miniseries ‘Star Trek: Red Shirts’ to Charlie and neither can hide their dissatisfaction while following up with a brief discussion of the John Scalzi novel ‘Redshirts.’ Next episode, we’ll actually be talking about episodes of Star Trek which feature examples of Red Shirts themselves. DISCLAIMER: NO RED SHIRTS WERE WORN DURING THE RECORDING OF THIS PODCAST!


SHOW NOTES: ‘Star Trek: Red Shirts’ (16:25) and John Scalzi’s ‘Redshirts’ (01:02:26)

TALKING POINTS: Miles has to carry nitroglycerin in case his heart stops and he finds that metal, The Legend of Luther Arkwright, Star Trek Voyager: Across the Universe, it makes a weird sense that Spock and Worf would be mates, Star Trek: Defiant is a much better comic, Lower Decks’ potential cynicism is canceled out by Tendi being a goddamn delight, Strikeforce Moritori, Avengers Arena and the Battle Royale manga, this might be the one Star Trek ‘thing’ that convinces Miles that Section 31 should exist, making meta-jokes and parodies canonical to the universe is not always a good idea, why send these losers on a covert mission? Miles uses the term ‘Cronenberged’ and hates himself for it, uncertain tonal shifts, Miles and Charlie try and thrash out what they think would be a better treatment of the same material, John Scalzi’s types of novels, the differences and similarities between Red Shirts and Redshirts (aside from the space), Charlie is very happy John Scalzi didn’t appear in his own novel, what happens to Redshirts after the episode is over? A Doctor Who reference to please Miles, that very 2012 feeling of the book, how post-modern self-awareness can sometimes get irritiating, if you approach every situation like you’re actually in a horror movie- get help, Stargate Universe was underrated, Space Scamps III is inevitable.

Show Notes: Miles and Charlie are climbing a mountain, why are they climbing a mountain? Is it to meet God? The Devil? Their approaching mid-life crises? Whichever, we have now approached the 199th and 200th episodes of Trek on Our Big List and we are celebrating, if not in style, then with a movie- Star Trek V The Final Frontier to be exact. But before that, we have a little animated amuse-bouche with ‘The Magicks of Megas-Tu’ where the Enterprise meets the Devil and Miles realises that for him, his adventure with Trek has brought him back to the beginning. Will he confront his pain or does he need his pain? Row Row Row your Boat.

Episodes Discussed: Mystics of Megas-Tu (17:50) and Star Trek V-The Final Frontier (44:52)

TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: The Scrubs reboot, Spider-Man 2, the issues with Marvel’s use of Ultraman, why did Miles’ mum have a crush on David Cassidy? Ed Bishop, the weird mystical stuff of Star Trek, Spock’s nerdy use of magick, Bones’ probably would go Matthew Hopkins in this situation, Miles’ early memories of Star Trek was weird, how did this get past the US censors? The Shatnerverse starts here, Klaa looks like a Klingon Bill Bailey, a criminal waste of David Warner, when the comedy does and doesn’t work, Shatner just having a nice little run around, do Vulcans have goths? Sybok is too pathetic to be played by Connery, you sometimes need to tell your audience if you’re doing a subtext, was Uhura brought along specifically for naked fan dance? Charlie talks about his root canal, Why did the audience not like this film? Thankfully Sybok was not made the next Khan, familial cannibalism, is our 200th episode of Trek covered better or worse than our 1st, The Cage? How has John Lithgow not been in Star Trek? (Especially instead of that wizard show)

Hark, what podcast through yonder window breaks?

It’s Casual Trek! We have a fun topic today with Star Trek episodes with titles which are Shakespeare quotes!

Listen to Charlie’s terrible attempt at acting, followed by our James Van Der Beek memorial and three fun episodes of Star Trek!

Dagger of the Mind has Kirk and a doctor arrive in a mind-fixing bunker which would feel at home in Space: 1999 and somehow, Kirk willingly gets in the machine that messes with your brain.

Thine Own Self has a crumpled Data show up in a Ren Faire village with amnesia and a deadly package.

Mortal Coil lets us see Neelix die AND Ethan Phillips act up a storm as he has to confront the lack of a bit Avatar tree.

Then in writing the show notes, Charlie realises we never actually confronted how Shakespearean the plots were, so you’ll have to do that yourself after you listen to the show!

00:05:02 What Non-Star Trek Things We’ve Been Enjoying: The Dead Zone (book), Wuthering Heights (2026)

00:13:46 James Van Der Beek Memorial Segment

00:17:29 Star Trek: The Original Series: Dagger of the Mind

00:46:55 Star Trek: The Next Generation: Thine Own Self

01:13:33 Star Trek: Voyager: Mortal Coil (CW: suicidal ideation)

Talking points include: The time that Miles ‘trod the boards’, the various incarnations of The Dead Zone, various old SyFy shows, Wuthering Heights, James Van Der Beek, Charlie poorly tries to quote Shakespeare, Talur would believe in QAnon, jobbing actors, Miles is off on another one about Doctor Who, the cosmic horror of the Teletubbies, Neelix is a man about town, Chakotay ‘helps’ Neelix, Silicon Heaven, you can hear when Charlie finds out that Neelix leaves Voyager right near the end, . Oh, and occasionally Star Trek.

Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn

Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network

https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek

Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com

Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com