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Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

Oct 17, 2021

James Bond and Julian Bashir.

Not many film franchises can boast 25 installments over the course of more than half a century, so for sheer longevity the James Bond cinematic franchise certainly gives Star Trek a run for its money. In some ways, the old-fashioned brutal masculine ethos of Bond feels very much out of...


May 8, 2021

The Scopes Monkey Trial, Inherit the Wind, and DS9’s “In the Hands of the Prophets.”


The trial of US high school teacher John Scopes in 1925 was perhaps the definitive 20th-century showdown between religion and science. Indicted for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in defiance of creationist state law,...


Jun 30, 2020

DS9’s “Meridian” and the 1954 Hollywood musical that inspired it.

Perhaps more so than any other Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine leaned heavily for inspiration on the world of 20th-century film. But not every futuristic retooling of a classic movie could reach the heights of “Badda-Bing Badda-Bang,” which we...


Jun 13, 2020

Ocean’s 11 (1960) and “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang.”

Long before George Clooney assembled his star-studded gang of high-rolling thieves, the original Danny Ocean—Frank Sinatra—successfully knocked off five casinos in a single night in the original 1960 Ocean’s 11. With help from Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and...