4: Flirty Fly-Boys Primitive Culture: A Star Trek History and Culture Podcast

Legacies of WWII in The Original Series.

For the cast and crew of The Original Series, World War II was more than just a dark page in the history books—it was an experience through which they had lived, loved, and lost. From piloting bombers over the Pacific to storming the beaches of Normandy, many of them had seen more than their fair share of action. Those who were too young to have served had witnessed the devastation that war brought to ordinary people. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy—both raised in Jewish immigrant families—were also impacted by the conflict as the horrors of the Holocaust felt very close to home.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Duncan Barrett and Tony Black explore the war stories of Star Trek’s original cast and crew, focusing on Gene Roddenberry’s service with the US Army Air Forces and James Doohan’s time with the Royal Canadian Artillery. Along the way, we consider how The Original Series explored the historical legacies of the war in episodes such as “Patterns of Force” and “The City on the Edge of Forever.”

Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Gene Roddenberry (00:02:53)
James Doohan (00:14:51)
They also served… (00:32:58)
“Patterns of Force” (00:35:30)
Fascist iconography (00:42:50)
“The City on the Edge of Forever” (00:49:05)
Allegory and historical sensitivity (00:55:57)
Final Thoughts (00:59.57)
Closing (01:01:23)

Hosts
Duncan Barrett and Tony Black

Production
Tony Black (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)