Shakespeare. Star Trek. The combination seems a bit odd.

From Wikipedia: William Shakespeare (bapt. 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist.

Star Trek, the original series, was set in the 23rd century, created by Gene Roddenberry. From Wikipedia: In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and television westerns such as Wagon Train.

But, the writers of Star Trek were also influenced by Shakespeare.

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on Bard Trek, and will also look at how theatre, plays, and drama became a part of Trek, with special guest Trevor Rines (see author photo & bio below).

Also, on this podcast, Dream Casting and The OOTB (outside-of-the-box) Casting, for Star Trek and Shakespeare.

Trevor Rines is an actor, musician, writer, notorious punster, & boardgame designer & developer, with a background in Astrophysics, who is quoted on DNA in The Dictionary of Canadian Quotations.

Since the start of the pandemic, he’s performed (online, of course) in every single one of Shakespeare’s plays with The Quarantine Players.

As a composer, he’s written music for many theatrical productions, including the incidental music & songs for two Shakespeare productions.

As a voice actor, his low, rumbling voice has been heard onstage with orchestras, as well as on TV, radio, film, documentaries, audio dramas, radio plays, & even on other podcasts…

Plan 9 from Outer Space is considered by many to be one of the worst films of all time. Is it, though? Does it really deserve that distinction? It is not in the list of the 100 lowest rated films in the IMDB database. So why do people think that? It is not listed in the Medved’s The 50 Worst Films of All Time, that was published in 1978, but it is listed as their choice of worst film in their book, The Golden Turkey Awards, published in 1980. Why not in the 1978 book, but then in the 1980 book? Sadly, that is not discussed in this podcast.

Ed Wood, the director (not the film) is listed as the Worst Director of All Time.

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on Plan 9 from Outer Space, and will also look at the film Ed Wood, with special guest Shaindle Minuk (see author photo & bio below).

Troy and David have also uncovered the first 8 plans, and will reveal these in this podcast, and Shaindle will let us know what Plan 10 was.

Also, on this podcast, Dream Casting and OOTB (Out-of-the-box) Casting, for 9 of the Plan 9 cast.

Shaindle Minuk is a Builds Artist for animation and has been working in the TV and film industries for decades in various capacities, such as Described Video scriptwriter and Continuity and Spotting Lists (CCSL), to name just a few.

Shaindle is also the editor and co-founder of misterkitty.org, which hosts some of the many comics and graphic novels Shaindle has created over the years, alongside humourous features such as “Found Objects” (in which Shain showcases her vast collection of creepy, unappealing ceramic animal figurines and toys) and the popular “Stupid Comics”, which provides in-depth commentary on, well, stupid comics.

The Dead Zone was a 1979 book by Stephen King. It was his first book to rank among the top ten best-selling novels in the United States, and the first story that he set in the fictional town of Castle Rock. The Dead Zone then became a 1983 movie with a deep Canadian connection, directed by David Cronenberg and starring, in order of billing, Christopher Walken; Brooke Adams; Tom Skerritt; Herbert Lom; Anthony Zerbe; Colleen Dewhurst; Martin Sheen; Nicholas Campbell; Sean Sullivan; and, Jackie Burroughs.

Johnny Smith is a psychic, the character based loosely on Peter Hurkos and Edgar Cayce, a man who can glimpse the future by touch. But what if the future is too terrible to contemplate? What is he willing to risk to change it?

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on The Dead Zone, with special guest Bev Vincent (see author photo & bio below).

Bev Vincent is the author of several books, including The Road to the Dark Tower and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, as well as over 100 short stories, including appearances in Ellery Queen’s, Alfred Hitchcock’s and Black Cat Mystery magazines. and Cemetery Dance magazine.

He has been writing News from the Dead Zone for Cemetery Dance for two decades.

His work has been nominated for the Stoker (twice), Edgar, Ignotus and ITW Thriller Awards.

In 2018, he co-edited the anthology Flight or Fright with Stephen King, and his recent collaboration with Brian Keene is called Dissonant Harmonies. 

To learn more, visit bevvincent.com