Standard Orbit 117: Spock is a Stone Cold Playa / by Norman Lao

The Enterprise Incidental.

Running Time: 1 hour 25 minutes 30 seconds
Download / RSS / Send us a message / Discuss the show / Support Trek.fm

As a follow-up to Standard Orbit 116: The Real Enemy Is War Itself, The "Refit" Crew wanted to take a look at the only other episode in the entirety of the 79 of The Original Series that featured the Romulans. We also wanted to do something a little unorthodox for this podcast. We are doing a "live commentary" of The Enterprise Incident–a very polished and exciting episode from Season Three and what we felt was the perfect compliment and a fantastic continuation of the Romulans and their alluring mystique that began with Season One's Balance of Terror.

Please note that we will be commenting specifically on the HD remastered version and several of our comments address the amazing quality of the visual effects and overall production of The Enterprise Incident. If you are listening to this show in your car, or commuting to work or school, this probably won't make that much sense to you, unless of course you have this particular episode committed to memory. We hope you take the time and opportunity to sync up your rewatch of The Enterprise Incident with our commentary to accompany you. Enjoy!

Feature

Welcome to Standard Orbit (00:00:55)
Rewatching a Remastered Classic (00:01:46)
Three, Two, One … PLAY! (00:04:57)
Should Have Been The Premiere? (00:57:41)
Hailing Frequencies Open (01:03:51)
Our Final Thoughts and Thank You (01:11:46)
Subspace Signal Sweepstakes! (01:18:52)

Hosts

Norman C. Lao and Jeffrey Harlan

Production

C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer), Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer), Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer), Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer), Ken Tripp (Editor and Associate Producer), Renee Roberts (Associate Producer), Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer), Richard Marquez (Production Manager), Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

More Recent Episodes of Standard Orbit...
Standard Orbit 301: Consequences of Leadership
Standard Orbit 301: Consequences of Leadership

Kirk as captain. We discuss the leadership style of Captain Kirk and the consequences of his decisions.

Standard Orbit 300: The Final Frontier
Standard Orbit 300: The Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a rather infamous film both in and out of Star Trek circles,  but we here at Standard Orbit happen to love it. In celebration of our 300th episode, hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart decided to do something special: an audio drama of The Final Frontier based on an earlier draft of the film's script (featuring the rock monster) and with the dream casting of the film, Sean Connery as Sybok.

Standard Orbit 299: This Is Goodbye
Standard Orbit 299: This Is Goodbye

This week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp and Zach Moore disembark the podcast after a nearly four year journey together behind the microphone. They reminisce with Hayley Stoddart about their fondest hosting memories, favorite episodes of the podcast, friendships forged over the years and say their final goodbyes.

Standard Orbit 298: The Rise Of Fan Service
Standard Orbit 298: The Rise Of Fan Service

This week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart discuss the concept of fan service and how perhaps too much creeped in to JJ Abrams' Star Trek and Star Wars films. What is fan service, is it what the writers and directors of our favorite franchises think it is, does is do more harm than good, and do we as fans really even want it?

Standard Orbit 297: Inverted Commas
Standard Orbit 297: Inverted Commas

This week on Standard Orbit, host Zach Moore is joined by author and critic Darren Mooney to discuss the first season of The Original Series. This concludes our backwards trilogy that started in Standard Orbit 196 with the third season, and continued in Standard Orbits 246 with the second season.

Standard Orbit 296: Generosity
Standard Orbit 296: Generosity

Fans might know her best as Demora Sulu from Star Trek: Generations, but Jacqueline Kim has a career that extends far beyond Star Trek! This week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart are proud to welcome Jacqueline to the show and discuss her accomplishments as an actress, writer, director, artist and humanitarian!

Standard Orbit 295: D.C. Fontana
Standard Orbit 295: D.C. Fontana

This week on Standard Orbit, hosts Ken Tripp and Zach Moore reflect on the life and work of Dorothy "D.C." Fontana. Passing away this past week at the age of eighty, Dorothy was one of the foundational creative forces behind the Star Trek universe and we celebrate her legacy by exploring her incredible Star Trek resume.

Standard Orbit 294: Kelvin Trailers
Standard Orbit 294: Kelvin Trailers

This week on Standard Orbit: Ken and Hayley discuss the news about a new Star Trek movie and then dive deep into the trailers that accompanied Kelvin Timeline films. You'll hear the trailers and the response and the noise that followed on social media. Boldly Listen!

Standard Orbit 293: Team Kang
Standard Orbit 293: Team Kang

This week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart talk the third season episode Day of the Dove. An underrated and oft-overlooked episode, we discuss the glimpses it gives us into Klingon culture, how it puts the folly of prejudice on full display, the influences it may or may not have had on the movie era and much more!

Standard Orbit 292: Visions From The Twilight Zone
Standard Orbit 292: Visions From The Twilight Zone

This week on Standard Orbit host Zach Moore is joined by author, speaker, artist and historian Arlen Schumer to discuss The Twilight Zone and The Original Series! We discuss the influence Twilight Zone had on TOS, quintessential episodes vs. fan favorites and if and why there's a difference between them, the aesthetics of 1960s television and much more!

Standard Orbit 291: The Aliens of Beyond
Standard Orbit 291: The Aliens of Beyond

Join Ken and Hayley as they discuss the five key aliens in Star Trek Beyond. They dive into their plot lines they drove and the value they brought to the movie. With great technology and effects in today's films; Star Trek Beyond brought more exciting alien characters to the big screen. Boldly Listen.

Standard Orbit 290: A Friendship That Defined Them Both
Standard Orbit 290: A Friendship That Defined Them Both

In 2001, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy sat down for a candid (as candid as can be expected in front of a film crew anyway) conversation about their lives, their friendship, and of course Star Trek. This was the documentary Mind Meld: Secrets Behind The Journey Of A Lifetime, and this week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart discuss this peek into the minds of the two men most synonymous with Star Trek.

Standard Orbit 289: Battle At The Lithium Cracking Station
Standard Orbit 289: Battle At The Lithium Cracking Station

This week on Standard Orbit host Zach Moore is joined by Brandon-Shea Mutala from Warp 5 and Melodic Treks for another TOS commentary, this time on Where No Man Has Gone Before. Is this a perfect "Episode 0" for The Original Series? Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? What's up with Kirk's middle initial? Where does this rank among the rest of the Star Trek pilots? All this and much more in this week's Standard Orbit, boldly listen!

Standard Orbit 288: Lee Plays Old Games Poorly
Standard Orbit 288: Lee Plays Old Games Poorly

This week on Standard Orbit, host Zach Moore is joined by Lee Sargent from Lee Draws Stuff to discuss Star Trek video games. Not only is Lee an artist, he's also a video game aficionado and on his YouTube series Lee Plays Old Games...Poorly has been working through some classic (and not so classic) Star Trek games!

Standard Orbit 287: Bigger is Better
Standard Orbit 287: Bigger is Better

Starships have always been a mainstay and as much of a character as the cast. Ken and Hayley discuss the potential reasons for the size of the ships between the series and in the Kelvin timeline. Get you Geek on and Boldly listen!

Standard Orbit 286: Return To Yesterday
Standard Orbit 286: Return To Yesterday

As we all know, the USS Enterprise was on a five year mission. Unfortunately that mission was cut short by NBC when it canceled Star Trek after just three seasons, but what if it wasn't? This week on Standard Orbit, hosts Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart each pitch a story idea for a hypothetical fourth season of TOS.

Standard Orbit 285: A Convention and a Movie
Standard Orbit 285: A Convention and a Movie

This week on Standard Orbit; Hayley and Ken catch up on a some recent events surrounding Star Trek. They explore the FanX Convention where four TrekFM hosts participated in a panel and discuss the challenges faced by fan artists. We then talk about the 40th Anniversary release of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Standard Orbit 284: Diversity in Star Trek
Standard Orbit 284: Diversity in Star Trek

Standard Orbit's Hayley Stoddart joins TrekFM hosts Amy Nelson, Zachary Fruhling, and Brandi Jackola in a discussion panel at the Salt Lake City FanX Fall 2019 event. This is a direct recording from the event and the show starts right at the introduction of the panel. Boldly Listen to the important and interesting discussion!

Standard Orbit 283: "You Should Have Let Me Sleep!"
Standard Orbit 283: "You Should Have Let Me Sleep!"

The Star Trek movies have (with rare exception) usually featured a special guest villain, and this trend has continued into the Kelvin Timeline era. Nero, John Harr---Khan, and Krall have all faced off against the new cast of Captain Kirk and the Enterprise, and this week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp and Zach Moore discuss and rank them.

Standard Orbit 282: I Am Unicorn Dog!
Standard Orbit 282: I Am Unicorn Dog!

"Star Trek Fan Collectives" were a series of DVD collections released in the 2000s that featured episodes from across all the series that shared a common theme. This week on Standard Orbit, hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart are joined by their counterparts from the 24th century Amy Nelson, Justin Oser and Joe Keegan from Earl Grey to discuss the TOS episodes included in the Alternate Realities Collective.

Standard Orbit 281: We Are Controlling Transmission
Standard Orbit 281: We Are Controlling Transmission

This week on Standard Orbit, host Zach Moore is joined by The Outer Limits Podcast’s Victor Gamboa to discuss The Outer Limits episodes featuring TOS actors, both members of the regular cast and guest stars! We talk the many connections between Star Trek and The Outer Limits, as well as The Twilight Zone.

Standard Orbit 280: "I am Batman!"
Standard Orbit 280: "I am Batman!"

Holy Standard Orbit, Batman! we're jumping into the 1960's actors who played key roles in Star Trek and Batman. Join Ken and Hayley as we review the characters and how different, or similar the two series cast these actors. All this and more on this week's Standard Orbit, boldly listen!

Standard Orbit 279: I Must Return To This Place Again
Standard Orbit 279: I Must Return To This Place Again

This week on Standard Orbit, hosts Ken Tripp and Zach Moore discuss their experience at Star Trek Las Vegas 2019. William Shatner and Walter Koenig's panels, The Motion Picture's 40th Anniversary panel, meeting actresses Robin Curtis and Jacqueline Kim, and much more!

Standard Orbit 278: Star Trek Las Vegas 2019
Standard Orbit 278: Star Trek Las Vegas 2019

It's that time of year again, Star Trek Las Vegas! Several hosts from the network made the annual pilgrimage to STLV 2019: Ken Tripp and Zach Moore from Standard Orbit, Amy Nelson, Justin Oser and Joe Keegan from Earl Grey (plus The Edge for Amy and The Line for Justin), and Mike Schindler from The Edge and The Line. This week on Standard Oribt, we share our Trek.fm host roundtable discussion where we discuss our convention likes, dislikes and experiences!

Standard Orbit 277: Emergency Alert, Negative Control At Helm
Standard Orbit 277: Emergency Alert, Negative Control At Helm

With the fortieth anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture upon us there have been whispers of a 4K upgrade of the film and beyond even that, a 4K (and for the first time, high definition) upgrade of the Director's Edition from 2001. This week on Standard Orbit, hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart discuss the likelihood of this coming to pass and also compare the theatrical and director's cuts of the film.

Standard Orbit 276: William Shatner vs. The World
Standard Orbit 276: William Shatner vs. The World

At eighty eight years old, William Shatner is as active as ever. Television, music albums, conventions and of course social media; there’s no slowing down The Shat. His continued interactions with fans and commentary on Twitter has not been without incident however, and this week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp and Zach Moore take a look at some of the more controversial situations Shatner has been a part of in recent years.

Standard Orbit 275: Star Trek: Revengeance
Standard Orbit 275: Star Trek: Revengeance

By popular demand, we're back one last time retitling the adventures of The Original Series crew in the style of "Berman Era" of Star Trek! This time hosts Ken Tripp, Zach Moore and Hayley Stoddart reimagine The Motion Picture through The Undiscovered Country with titles that would fit alongside Generations, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis.

Standard Orbit 274: Atavachron
Standard Orbit 274: Atavachron

We're back with the third and final installment in our series retitling The Original Seriesepisodes in the style of "Berman Era" of Star Trek! This time host Zach Moore is joined by Brian Drew from TrekMovie.com's The Shuttle Pod(cast) to reimagine the third season, also talking the origins of Brian's Star Trek fandom and the fandom of the 1970s along the way.

Standard Orbit 273: Just Terrible Enough To Fit Right Next To The Thaw
Standard Orbit 273: Just Terrible Enough To Fit Right Next To The Thaw

Retitling season one of The Original Series was so much fun, we're back with more alternate episode titles for the second season! This time host Zach Moore is joined by host of Melodic Treks and Warp Five Brandon-Shea Mutala to take on the likes of Wolf in the Fold, A Private Little War and Return to Tomorrow and reimagine them as if they were titled at the height the "Berman Era" of Star Trek.

Standard Orbit 272: Less Creative Is The Goal
Standard Orbit 272: Less Creative Is The Goal

The Original Series is well known for it's flowery, cultured and sometimes dare we say pretentious episode titles, so this week on Standard Orbit hosts Ken Tripp and Zach Moore thought it would be fun to do a run down of the first season's episode titles and reimagine them as if they were titled at the height the "Berman" era of Star Trek when the music was wallpaper and the titles were too.