TALKIN’ ‘BOUT BI-GENERATION: Our hosts reconvene to talk about the final two David Tenant and Catherine Tate-led specials for Doctor Who––”Wild Blue Yonder” and “The Giggle”––which ultimately ends with Ncuti Gatwa taking over the lead role.
PAST BECOMES PRESENT: We have a quick Star Trek check-in as D. Bethel reflects on the harrowing Deep Space Nine two-parter, “Past Tense.”
TOPICS:
(00:00) Intro – Andrew’s “camping trip” (02:51) Doctor Who – “Wild Blue Yonder” & “The Giggle” (42:56) Outro – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Past Tense” (45:17) Outtakes
RELEVANT EPISODES:
-“The Winter Donna” (8 December 2023): Where our hosts talk about “The Star Beast”, the first Doctor Who 60th anniversary special.
INFO:
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STRANGE NEW WORLDS: Our hosts discuss the premiere episode of the brand new Star Trek show on Paramount+, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a show that’s a throwback not only in continuity, but in its episodic approach to storytelling.
DOCTOR NEW: Last weekend brought the announcement of the actor who will replace Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor in the legacy BBC science-fiction show, Doctor Who. Our hosts discuss their excitement for the announcement of Ncuti Gatwa as the 14th Doctor.
WEEK IN GEEK: It’s an animated kind of week this week as Andrew gets his specific Star Wars fandom ignited with the premiere of the new Disney+ animated series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and D. Bethel nerds out on all the ingenious choices and animation tech found in the new Sony/Netflix film, The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines director, Michael Rianda, tells the story of getting the billboard for the classic Michigan restaurant, Redamak’s, into the movie via this Twitter thread:
The story behind Redamaks in our movie: @Roweyourboatz loved it and it was a Michigan staple- where the Mitchells are from. We wanted to use real places so the world would feel more authentic.
After (approximately) ten weeks of teasing, Andrew and D. Bethel finally talk about the newest series of Doctor Who, which not only introduces Jodie Whittaker as the new Doctor (as well as her substantial crew) but also new showrunner, Chris Chibnall, and his team to bring the world a fresh look at a 55 year-old character.
D. Bethel dives into his history with the Mass Effect series and why he found a lot to enjoy in Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Imposter Syndrome is a natural psychological consequence caused by breaking free from personal norms. Trying something new can be scary. For those already beset with anxiety issues, the Imposter Syndrome converts us to flagellants, knowing simultaneously that these thoughts are bogus while also knowing they motivate us to push through the arbitrary and unconscious barriers we set for ourselves.
In graduate school, I had a bad case of Imposter Syndrome––one of many manifestations of my anxiety. The anxiety caused me to eat and drink a lot; it tickled my health in various ways; I lost a lot of sleep. I often woke up at one or two or three in the morning, spinning my impending failure through all possible scenarios or, if it was a good day, trying to harvest and codify all the ideas bouncing off each other like balls in a bingo spinner.
Eventually, I trained myself to just get out of bed. Go do something. Distract yourself. In the case of distraction, I learned that video games did that best.
Most of these nights happened after Nicole and I moved into our second Sacramento townhouse, away from the social thrum of midtown, which left us with mostly quiet nights; so, what sleep I could get would be uninterrupted and pleasant. On the anxiety nights, however, I crept downstairs, headphones already on and listening to podcasts––some video game commentary, some comedy interviews, some political debate, some history––and I’d fire up my Xbox 360 for hours of distraction, getting a good chunk of game in before the world even woke up. When I look back at these nights, the games that I see most in my memories are the Mass Effect series, specifically the two sequels.
Scanning planets captured perfectly the strange, silent calm of what we understand of outer space. Unlike humans…there’s nothing fragile about the cosmos. It simply is, existing slowly toward some end that is neither frightening nor threatening.
Since I was playing with the sound off (so as to consume quality audio entertainment), I rarely worked through story missions during these insomnious sessions. Instead, I searched for the mundane in the games’ side missions: fetch quests, collection runs, delivery missions. The most calming task I could do, and what I did most often, was planet scanning.
I can feel myself calming down already. (Mass Effect: Andromeda screenshot courtesy of USgamer.)
