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Our Desperate Need for Human Contact (Patreon)

Published:
2024-05-03 23:06:18
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Hey all, Swaim here! David Bell and I are recording a big new batch of Star Trek: The Next Futurama, including covering the Futurama movies, and we need a whole mess of listener questions to answer. Please comment here with a question for us about Star Trek, Futurama, cantaloupe, or anything else and we'll answer it on the pod!

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Comments

Zack Long

What's the best movie to watch on drugs?

Max Reinhold

If you had to consume either Data or Bender, who would you choose, and what dipping sauce would you use?

Andrew Johnson

If Futurama could adapt a Harlan Ellison story, which one(s) would you pick?

All My Life I Want Milly and Power

Michael I forgot to message you while you were in NZ as I live in Wellington, what did you think of Wellington overall/ what places did you go to, and how did you enjoy your time here?

Nick Porisch

Hey! Considering you’re both screenwriters, if there was one room in all of TV history that you wish you could work as a writer in, what would it be?

joe dude

boxers, briefs, commando, or other? Is there an occasion where it definitely calls for one over the others?

Taylor Hensley

In which Star Trek TV series would each of you want to live? Which episode of Star Trek or Futurama do you believe has implications that no one talks about? If every character from TNG was turned into an ice-cream flavor, who would be your favorite to eat?

Jason

Despite being an iconic part of TNG, the Borg appear precious few times (Q, Who; BOBW; I, Borg; the Descent). What's your pitch for another Borg episode?

Robin Malaga

Which common trek archetype (i.e., Insane admiral, eccentric scientist, captain's old pal whos younger than they look, etc) is your favourite

Adam by the Birch

Speaking of space golf... What kind of future or space sport would you like to see created in either series?

Ryan Bond

I saw a man jump off a bridge and then saw his crumpled body 300 feet below. I was the only witness and reported it. At the time I was going to therapy but I forgot to bring it up and then my therapist was like "Whelp I think you're done with therapy" after about 5 sessions and now I have weird PTSD every time I drive over the bridge when I work north of town and I don't know what to do about it since I live in a small town and there is only like, the one guy for therapy. What was I saying? Oh, should I take Wellbutrin or Adderall for my ADHD?

Ramonalisa

It's a mortal kombat game but starring the casts of tng and futurama; who would you main and what would be their fatality?

Doctor of Doom

Do you have any preferred romantic/platonic pairings/relationships (sometimes just called ‘ships’ in fandom-speak) in either show? Or is that not something you think about when consuming media? Or if that’s not something you want to discuss, what would be the most fun mind-swap between a character from one show and the other?

Adam by the Birch

If the tentacle came for you, would you join the collective and love the tentacle?

Erik Pohanka

If you could invent something novel but ridiculous, such as the Finglonger, what would it be?

Nemo Thompson

Is it an inevitability that there will be a DS9 /Futurama podcast?

Joylesstiger

Do you think there will ever be another science fiction show like TNG that's cerebral and contemplative? Or has our appetite for fast paced action and explosions become too great?

Adam by the Birch

How do you think Futurama got all the head from historical figures who must have died years before the technology to keep them alive in jars was invented? We know they only have forward time machines so they can't go backwards. Are they Robots? Reanimated corpse heads!? Clones?!?!

Joylesstiger

Who would you cast to play Sinno in a movie adaptation of your book?

Brian Harrington

You've done/are doing systematic analyses of some of your favourite artists/franchieses: Vonnegut, Cohen Bros, Stephen King, Anderson(s), Harlan Ellison, Futurama, TNG. What would be your LEAST favourite version of this? Which artist/franchise would be an absolute nightmare to analyze every single episode/work systematically?

Adam by the Birch

Last one... For now... I can't promise that... Have either of you watched Lower Decks yet? If so, what do you think?

Mica

My brain has been rotted from years of this. What are your favorite non-canon ships? As in shipping. For example Qcard. Love the podcast!

Ian W

If you could have a character from Futurama or TNG on as a guest for this podcast, who would you want? Who would be the best? Who would be the worst?

Patrick D Ryall

If you had to make a buddy cop movie with one character from each show, which ones would you choose and what kind of crime would they deal with?

Chris S

Hypnotoad, whats his deal? Is he content being a dogshow winner and TV personality? Seems like he could be doing a lot more for the universe. what do you guys think?

sarah sexton

if you could visit one planet from each show which would you choose?

sarah sexton

what was your earliest answer (that you can remember) to “what do you want to be when you grow up”? mine was “whale doctor”, my brother’s was “a rainbow”.

SpacerGal

First, have you ever come across a TTRPG ruleset you think would work as a framework for either Star Trek or Futurama? Second, how difficult (if at all) would you personally find it to run a game set in either show, and which do you think would be more of a challenge from a GM perspective?

Downhome Chiken

If you could witness, but not affect, some event in the past just to give an accurate indisputable account (assume you're believed), what would it be?

drunkencoyote

Do you guys play any other ttrpg other than D&D? Who is the Futurama analogue for Guinan? I think it's Nibbler. Who would be most comfortable if they switched universes? This last one is idle nonsense and not meant to be disrespectful to either party but is Jason Pargin secretly Dave's dad?

Ed Smith

Do you think Picard is more English or French? And do you think nationality should matter more or less to people in the the Star Trek world.

William Parker

Will Small Beans or Gamefully ever give their thoughts on the Fallout show?

Magnanimous

Have you played any of the Star Trek or Futurama video games? If so, which game is your favorite?

Magnanimous

Who would do a better job of directing a Star Trek episode: Wes Anderson or Paul Thomas Anderson?

Aaron Saenz

If you could pick a Star Trek to pair with the Simpsons for a sister-podcast to this one, which Star Trek would it be?

A Blodgett

If the two shows were to be represented by animations done only by photographing paintings, which art style or artist would you choose for each show. And if they were comic books, what artist or art style?

Aaron Saenz

What's the clearest violation of the Prime Directive in Futurama? Which Futurama villain would fare the best in TNG?

Steve Snyder

Could y’all explain what you mean when you use “sweaty” to describe a sample of writing? You use it in a few episodes, and I glean the gist of what you mean, but if someone asked me to explain it I couldn’t. I tried to google it and found nothing insightful.

Zac Schwartz

Have you ever read any of Iain M Banks' Culture novels, or Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children series? Both of them are basically Star Trek but way smarter due to not suffering the constraint of having to be a 42-minute TV show. More broadly, are there books you've read that you feel pull off the themes of Star Trek in a different setting/milieu?

Danny Laurence

How has your opinion of either show changed over time? Has doing this podcast changed anything about your perception of them?

Nikolai Gloeckler

What's a food that you don't like but you know everyone else likes it so you feel weird about not liking it?

Beet Boy

Are we going to get a Coen Brothers Brothers on Drive Away Dolls?

Eli

How do you get to a point in practicing writing where you no longer overanalyze and hate everything you write?

Oliver Allen

Where did the music for mulder after dark and rough stuff come from?

Ryan Martin

Who would each of you say is the funniest person from the cracked diaspora? Be real.

Ryan Martin

Is there a way to change the structure of the “we just watched”/“pick the flick” tiers so that anyone could have a chance to submit something without having to check the availability all the time? Let me pay and stick it at the bottom of a mile long list, I don’t care I got time.

Ryan Martin

Do you regret incorporating this question and answer aspect into the show and thus allowing a bunch of internet weirdos to have even more access to your innermost thoughts?

Jordan Barrick

If you lived on Deep Space 9 what would be your ideal job there/what kind of shop would you own?

Jordan Barrick

What monster do you think would be the most delicious?

Jordan Barrick

What do you think your Mirror Universe alternate self would be like?

DrMrSpock

Star Trek seems to live in a world without a social media analog like Facebook or Twitter (RIP), even in the more recent series (Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks). In addition, a fair number of people still read books, watch movies on a flat screen, and do what they want on the holodeck. And any celebrities are either politicians, rich people, or scientists. If there is a ship-wide digital forum, we never see it. Futurama, on the other hand, tries to paint a broader swath of humanity, but it's ultimately still pretty idealized. For example, the Eye-Phone was a one episode critique and then it's gone again. Often the characters don't have to deal with the broader impacts of a constant internet presence. Besides the obvious fact that the writers of both series are highly educated nerds and often use the characters as "everymen" who experience situations or fascets of society that the writers wish to explore (like Jurgis in Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'), what are the societal and personal implications of a future society without a pervasive and all-consuming social media?

Joseph Murray

Who would you rather have in a crisis, kif or barclay?

DrMrSpock
>>137042406

It also seems like the federation has not figured out a way to "innoculate" against addictive media other than perhaps a cultural or literal ban. In the TNG episode 'The Game', Riker brings back an AR "cup and ball" game from Risa and no one has immunity to it once they start playing. Similarly, in Lower Decks episode 'Parth Ferengi's Heart Place', Boimler visits Ferenginar with a detailed itinerary, but ends up watching a TV show and eating junk food in his hotel then entire time. In the end, he is physically extracted from his hotel room. If these games or shows are so addictive, surely they are spreading to other planets, including earth.

DrMrSpock

Different topic: I know many people want to avoid this, but can we have an episode dedicated to gender? And perhaps another on Neurodiversity? You've mentioned before how Star Trek's direct attempts to examine these subjects are often clunky and dated, but the way some characters are written gives people unintentional representation. Examples of unintentional success: Data and Odo as austic, Dax as a model for the trans experience (Bashir as well!). Bashir and Garak's gay-coded relationship (arguably intentional by the actors). Intentional success: Picard's post-Borg and post-Cardassian-torture PTSD, Barclay as the avatar of anxiety, Spock as a person from two different cultures/races. Question expanding on this: how much control can a writers and directors really have over this? How can they avoid cringy steriotypes while still letting their characters breath and grow and live in ways that the writers don't necessarily understand?

DrMrSpock

I can't remember if you have done this before, but if you were to pitch an entire Star Trek show to Paramount and CBS, what would it be?

DrMrSpock
>>137010801

Have the borg been played out? They were the main villain in Star Trek: First Contact and played a huge role in Voyager. They also appear in Picard in an almost interesting way.

DrMrSpock
>>137042439

What era of Kif and Barclay are we talking about? They both seem to stabilize as they gain experience, most notably Barclay.

S C

I can't think of anyone better to ask this question than you guys. While talking about his Star Trek script, Quentin Tarantino remarked that several Star Trek episodes could be given a full-movie treatment. This reminded me of TNG's episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", which is like a 45-minute adaptation of The Twilight Zone's "The Last Flight". Which TNG episode would you remake as a movie if given the opportunity?

Thomas J. and the Beez

When I was a kid growing up in Mississippi TNG was my weekly escape from westerns and soaps and the stuff my grandparents watched. Was TNG that portal for any of y'all?

Steve Snyder

This is just a recommendation for Swaim. If you haven’t seen Midnight Gospel on Netflix I think you would like it. I would just say watch the last episode, but you sort of need to see all of it. I know you have to watch tons of stuff so recommendations may sound like work, and if I’m wrong and you hate it I’ll be full of apologies, but I’m fairly confident you’d appreciate it.

Chris

Are there any episodes that stand out as especially strong for movie adaptation?

BWJhimself

It would be easy to see DS9 as a spinoff of TNG, rather than a sister show in the same universe. If they made a spinoff/sister show of Futurama, which regular but non-main character should move with it to be the O'Brien? Which main character should join it a few seasons in to be the Worf?

Sandacious .

What do you think it would take to be considered a nerd in the Star Trek universe? Would there be particular ways of using the holodeck which would be considered pretty sad? Other than sexually, that is.

Sandacious .

Skin-tight uniforms seem to have been as much a staple of sci-fi as mediaeval European technology has been a staple of fantasy for most of its existence as a genre. Do you a) think there's a good reason for this and b) have any other ideas for what the fashions of the future could be?

Sandacious .

Do you think the picture where Michael is represented as a portmanteau of Worf and Fry while Dave is represented as a Data/Bender hybrid is accurate? I think it would be reversed.

JB

If you could bring a villain from each show into the other for a fun episode, who would they be?

Michael C Deters

With Futurama having no spin-offs, and Star Trek having 9, what are your, (up to 8) top ideas/wishes for Futurama Spin-offs?

E l i j a h

I believe that we are born into a world of responsibilities, to others and ourselves equally. I believe that when we fulfill those responsibilities it feels intrinsically good, because we are doing just that: fulfilling our role in life. My question is this: What is one moment or phase of your life where you felt the specific joy of your actions that I’ve described? What is one moment where you know, perhaps only with clarity in retrospect, that you either ignored the core responsibility of our lives or outright acted against it? It’s a big sounding question but there are a lot of small moments I’ve experienced that fall in this question’s net. Also, regardless of the number of clauses or query marks, I consider this one question because I am Buddhist (I am refusing to elaborate, thankfully).

E l i j a h
>>137020277

Sweaty is a slang term referring to when someone’s actions or output make it clear that they are a tryhard. When an athlete makes the hardest thing in the world look easy, that is NOT sweaty. When the actions or output of someone makes it look like they were “sweating” doing it, and failing to seem natural or confident, and when it seems like they want to project that they are more than they are, that shit sweaty as hell. It’s the opposite of “no sweat”

E l i j a h
>>137042406

The phone question is great, it touches on something I’ve been thinking about for a long time in regards to media (particularly films). It’s very difficult, it seems, to incorporate the everpresence using existing film language (without coming off as cringey, detached, outdated, etc.). I’ve seen good examples of when the film just slightly touches the thing, as just a small aspect of an offline self. But deeper connection, entanglement, presence? I barely even see people try. I remember in a screenwriting class, the first thing the teacher said on the subject of horror movies is that you have to figure out a way to take away their phones, that phones break all the little tropes and tricks of older horror by offering too big of a way out. It’s an obnoxiously ubiquitous line of dialogue of horror movies: “Oh no I didn’t charge my phone,” or “Oh no I don’t have any signal.” It’s usually accompanied by an insert of the phone with the screen basically just making a sad face or whatever. Jordan Peele did a great job making the phone a huge deal in Get Out. The phone is essential to the resolution of the film! It really treats it so seriously that it makes the other films look even sillier. The man can subvert and revert any trope into iconic status with zero sweat. But that’s just the 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 not the 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵. Perfect Blue I think is the film that captures it best, the animal of connection as a terrifying monster. It’s crazy how prescient the film is for how early it came out. 1997! And I’m struggling to come up with any recent films that succeed at the internet being the everpresence. There has to be more. But at least Satoshi nailed it 30 years ago.

Steven

Don't you think Fry was a fool to expel the gas station parasites, as they still made him himself, just the best version of himself? And don't you fantasize about ingesting them yourself constantly? To the point that they're probably your first wish in a genii scenario? Don't you?

JasperParse

Why do dog butts smell? 🐕

Matt

I know yall are tired of Marvel movies and super heros so, what sort of superheros exist in the TNG universe? It seems like tricorders and phasers cover most superpowers, not to mention races of shape changers and mind readers already exist. Whats fantastical to Picard or Guinan?

Antha Auciello

Which show do you feel has the best approach to time travel and why is it Futurama

Kyle Scholten

Zapp was famously written with Phil Hartman in mind. Billy West capably picked up the mantle and played the character how he thought Hartman would have. If one of the main ensemble actors of TNG had passed before the show began, which OTHER actor in the cast do you think could have portrayed their character in the same respect? Would Whoopi have made for a good Troi? Could Michael Dorn have made a good Geordi? Love the show guys.

Jaybee

Swaim once talked about a rad sounding DS9 D&D module he wrote. Any chance he would be willing to pull that out for a live play? Or just a live TTRPG play of the Star trek TTRPG (which imo is pretty good). I think watching/hearing you guys play it and really putting your universe knowledge and creativity to it would be a treat.

Malory McVicker

If you were given the go ahead by a massive streaming company/studio to take any speculative fiction short story and then the central concept into a movie or short series, which would you choose. I think the Region Between would be an incredible ride. The Sky is Burning would make a really neat moody short film.

Robin Malaga

Who are each of your top 5 favourite characters franchise wide? Mine are data picard spock obrien and bones

John Krane

If you were given the opportunity to rewrite one bad/mediocre episode of either show -- but you had to keep the core features of the story -- what would you choose and what changes would you make? Thanks for all the 'pod.

DrMrSpock
>>137069157

'The First Duty' could be an amazing psychological courtroom thriller/drama.

Matt
>>137227883

I know Wesley is the special boy, but if Guinan is a hundreds year old alien that Q fears, i would hope she knows about the traveler or comparable aliens.

Nicholas Speer

What live action IP would be better as a cartoon?

Billy Whitman

What are some fictional species, alien or otherwise, that you would like to see make an appearance on Star Trek or Futurama?

Mason Reeze

What is a movie that was super hyped that you ended up not liking? Or the reverse, what is a movie that got shit on that you ended up really enjoying?