Sub Rosa Solo Session

Unedited, slightly incoherent, and mostly redundant, The Beige and The Bold Solo Sessions are episodes where I run through a show with just you, the listener, as my companion. In "Sub Rosa," things get messy.

Sub Rosa has gotten infamous in later years as the one where Dr. Crusher fucks the ghost. I've heard it said that if Riker had fucked the ghost we wouldn't give that episode nearly as much guff. I disagree. Riker gets a lot of guff for his love interests and if he'd fucked a ghost, he'd get flack for it. It would be the ur-Riker episode.

Also, I did a little count recently and there are 10 ghost episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That's a lot of ghosts. A lot.

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes are usually posted on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Sub-Rosa-Solo-Session-e1bugju

Will and Dave

It's funny how people process things. I'm constantly tired of the Star Trek Questions. I'm like a vampire fielding questions about utilitarian philosophy, the physicist hearing about turning on headlights when traveling just below the speed of light, the vegan being asked about protein.

Is the transporter a murder machine? No. Why do the consoles explode? Drama. Is the Federation's policy of respect for other cultures just as bad as The Borg? No, you fucking idiot with a malfunctioning brain.

When Dave Chapelle jokes about being "team TERF"--like he's sympathizing with feminists who exclude trans women--his defenders (and Dave) say we need to watch his whole special to understand the nuance of his position on whether trans people deserve respect as people.

But somehow, when Wil Wheaton talks about respect for others, those same supporters crack out a Star Trek meme even older than the metaphysical questions about transporters: "Shut up Wesley."

Are Dave Chapelle's supporters actually encouraging an understanding of truth and complicated context of--of fucking course not. A nuanced reading would be that two men of a similar age have different and complex takes (Wil Wheaton is one year older than Dave Chapelle).

But that's not the world we fucking live in. Whatever its merits, Dave Chapelle's "trans people are mean on the internet" spiel has attracted people who just hate trans people. It encourages and focuses them. We're told that recognizing this is somehow worse than the behavior of those hateful folks. That taking the side of legitimately oppressed folks 'oppresses the oppressors, actually, which is 100% equally as bad' 

Whether it's gay people or black people or trans people, the folks who believe the social fabric will utterly disintegrate if we're given equal rights because they equate their comfort with a functioning society will always oppose the equality of minority groups. 

I don't agree with Dave Chapelle, but I don't doubt his feelings of loss for a friend who died. I also understand Wil Wheaton's journey of empathy for people who aren't like him. It's pretty simple to respect folks who are using their platform to talk about shit they care about while disagreeing or understanding the harm their words are doing.

It's not rocket science.

Lower Decks

Hey it's me and Matt lookin' at one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's last classic episodes: "Lower Decks." We're gonna watch it together on Netflix and then talk about it some.

Given that Star Trek: Lower Decks is based on this episode, it's surprisingly heavy. The series has a lot of humor with only touches of drama and pathos, but it does have those as well. It's true to its roots and it's the best Star Trek I've watched since Deep Space Nine.

Less seriously, Taurik did get that Ensign killed because he couldn't count to four.

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes are posted on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Lower-Decks-e1akjm4

Homeward Solo Session

Unedited, slightly incoherent, and mostly redundant, The Beige and The Bold Solo Sessions are episodes where I run through a show with just you, the listener, as my companion. In "Homeward," I basically miss everything Dr. Crusher was saying because she addresses a lot of my concerns, but--

--what about DOMESTICATION?! Do you know how long it took for us to make wheat, corn, and other plants edible?! The Boraalans aren't starting over from their modest, medieval beginnings; they're going back to hunting and gathering. I'd be shocked if their culture survived that. If Lower Decks (the series) could casually kill off Spock 2, I'm rooting for them to revisit New Boraal and just find bodies.

The word I was thinking of was "referendum." Seems like something that The Federation could put together over a long weekend. I'd much rather see the story where Picard has to debate the fate of these guys with his own agenda against someone else, rather than just have him shrug his way through least-bad options.

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes are usually posted on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Homeward-Solo-Session-e1ae014

The Pegasus

I'm watching TNG's 7th season alongside you, the viewer, and Alex from Media Thinkings and Cinema Joes.

It's about Riker and loyalty versus principle. It's a great conflict that has a lot of ideas behind it and addresses a lot of the structure of the Star Trek universe. "Sadly, we don't see any compelling alternative ideas behind this. Don't be a dick and murder your crew, future Starfleet captains."

Also, this episode is connected to the series finale for Star Trek: Enterprise. I don't like Enterprise, so I dodge most of animus based on that. For those of you who do like Enterprise, I'm sorry.

Alex can be found on twitter @MediaThinkings and @CinemaJoes, as well as on Anchor on PopBreakTV.

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes are posted on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/The-Pegasus-e1ad7rt

Parallels

I'm watching TNG's 7th season alongside you, the viewer and Grymm from Descents part one and two. We're talking about Worf. In time.

It's a collection of roads not traveled, which is a pretty good look when, dead Geordis aside, most are pretty badass. Worf ranks up if people die I guess. It feels like Starfleet wouldn't function quite so much like a Klingon ship, but I guess it does. As is, it makes Worf look a little undervalued. Like, if he was given the opportunity he'd excel. 

But hey, Lieutenant Commander Worf leaving security and re-entering the command track is just something that Star Trek may never be able to handle.

I mixed up two episodes when talking about Deep Space Nine: "Distant Voices" and "Whispers." The episode I was thinking of is just called "Whispers."

So Worf and Troi: Hot or not?

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes are posted on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Parallels-e19c9ue

Force of Nature

I'm watching TNG's 7th season alongside you, the viewer and Joie from Jump and Shoot. We're talking about climate change. In space.

Season seven puts the "beige" in The Beige and The Bold and this one is no exception. I've gravitated further from "language of television" and closer to "lazy contemporary assumptions." This episode is that so much because Star Trek just ignores climate change and then everyone pretends they handwaved technological solution to it. 

It shows how the very short attention span of television is ill-suited to handle something lingering and ongoing like climate change. Imagine if this hung around Trek's neck for the next 8 years. We'd get tired of it. But hey, we'll get be beyond tired due to climate change.

Please enjoy our fun podcast.

You can listen to Jump & Shoot on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/yQLXv. The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most  podcasting platforms. New episodes are posted on Sunday nights at 9:00  PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Force-of-Nature-e18u30q