Podcast: Whom Pods Destroy

Episode 52 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture turns 40

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 52 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture turns 40
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A simple feeling in an otherwise cold film?

We are delighted to present our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A film that, in many ways, only a Star Trek fans could love.

Robert Wise’s epic proved to be something of a false start for the Star Trek franchise. It is a mid-70s sci-fi film made in the latter part of the decade as the audience palate was changing in the wake of Star Wars and Close Encounters. More than that the film is accused, by its critics as overly ponderous and lacking warmth.

The film’s defenders, however, argue that it’s a portrayal of Gene Roddenberry vision of humanity and Starfleet.

Join Terry, Graham and Derek as we weigh up the pros and cons of this film and consider the films perhaps surprisingly considerable legacy.

Episode 51 – Dreaming of a Ken Adam Star Trek

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 51 - Dreaming of a Ken Adam Star Trek
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Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art of the USS Enterprise for Planet of Titans

The build-up to the our 40th-anniversary celebration concludes with an exploration of Star Trek in the 1970s.

This decade saw a lot of social changes. The transforming science fiction genre that started with Soylent Green but ended with Close Encounters challenged Star Trek and Paramount as they tried to figure out the best way to bring back this much-loved series following its ill-judged cancellation back in 1968.

These ideas included low budget movies to a big-budget TV series and then an even bigger budget movie that became Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Terry, Graham, and Derek take you through this tumultuous decade and wonder what Star Trek might have been had Planet of Titans or Phase 2 come to fruition. We also chuck in some hot TNG takes as well.

Episode 50 – A Space Odyssey

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 50 - A Space Odyssey
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As close in on our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture we take some time to discuss one of the all-time great movies of the science fiction genre with a direct influence on the revived Stare Trek film made eleven years later: Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Derek, Terry and Graham discuss the production, themes and structure of a film that defies the usual conventions of the cinema to deliver what is as much an art installation as it is a film.

Episode 49 – Nomad is such a bloke

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 49 - Nomad is such a bloke
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Nomad
Nomad can destroy worlds but can’t cope when a woman expresses herself.

Whom Pods Destroy continues its build-up to the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture with a discussion on the second season original series episode which gare many similarities to the Motion Picture without having been acknowledged, The Changeling.

Episode 48 – Forbidden Planet (Star Trek -1)

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 48 - Forbidden Planet (Star Trek -1)
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Captain John J Adams, Morbius, Altaira and Robby the Robot in the 1956 sci-fi retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Forbidden Planet.

In the first of our series marking the 40th anniversary of Star Trek The Motion Picture, Whom Pods Destroy goes back to when Star Trek was but a glint in Gene Roddenberry’s eye and explore the 1956 science fiction masterpiece, Forbidden Planet.

It is an established fact that the MGM classic directly informed Gene Roddenberry’s thinking when developing the original series of Star Trek and if you’ve watched the film you can easily understand why. Terry, Derek and Graham reflect on this genre classic and celebrate its similarities with Trek.

Episode 47 – Kirk

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 47 - Kirk
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We are delighted to return with another edition of Whom Pods Destroy – A Star Trek discussion podcast. In this edition, Terry, Graham and Derek discuss the big dog himself. James T Kirk.

The discussion reflects on the origins of the character, the journey he took throughout theOriginal Series and movies and they discuss the future of Starfleet’s greatest captain*

You can watch the William Shatner film, The Intruder on Youtube here.

*subjective statement. May not Starfleet’s greatest captain.

Episode 46 – James & Tiberius

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Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 46 - James & Tiberius
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Janice Rand is confronted by three senior officers, one of whom is, as far as she knows, her attacker.

Terry, Graham, and Derek are back after their brief hiatus with another episode of Whom Pods Destroy – A Star Trek Discussion Podcast.

In the episode, we discussed a much loved and much memed but very controversial episode fro the first series of the Original Series: “The Enemy Within”. This is the story of how Captain Kirk is separated into two, beings. One is intelligent, rational, compassionate while the other is savage, devious and violent. The episode contains a scene with sexual violence against a woman and the handling of this sub-plot is considered to be highly problematic.

Episode 45 – Turtle Wax

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Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 45 - Turtle Wax
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Spock coming to terms with his new life with Zarabeth

Whom Pods Destroy returns with another episode, taking a deep dive into the original series.

In this podcast we discuss the late third season episode “All Our Yesterdays”. The episode where Spock regresses and er… gets back to basics, so to speak.

This episode threw up all manner of side topics, about contemporary storytelling formats and how they no longer exist today.

We also get a worrying insight in some of Derek’s more… intense fantasy realms.

Episode 44 – Spock here!

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 44 - Spock here!
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Whom Pods Destroy is back with Graham, Derek & Terry getting all loved up for the one and only Spock.

Well, I say the one and only but in fact there have been a number of iterations of that “green blooded sonofabitch” and we spent a pleasant 45 minutes discussing the portrayal, development and characterisation of one of Star Trek’s most beloved Starfleet officers throughout his nearly half a century of association with the franchise.

Episode 43 – Nigel Mudd

Whom Pods Destroy
Whom Pods Destroy
Episode 43 - Nigel Mudd
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We are delighted to return for another episode of Star Trek chat.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd is one of the most notorious characters on the history of the Star Trek. A sex trafficker, drug dealer, misogynist and rogue.

And that’s just in his first appearance.

Mudd appears in two episodes of The Original Series, one from the Animated Series and made his return to Star Trek Discovery, to some consternation. Although Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad is probably one of the best episodes from Series 1 of Disco.

On Whom Pods Destroy, Graham and Derek discuss a character that is both celebrated and derided. We talk about Mudd’s development and ask why the creators persist with this “lovable rogue”. Did they recognise, in Mudd, characteristics of some the public figures in our time?

We also speculate as to what shape the proposed Mudd Next Generation episode might have taken.