Star Wars vs Star Trek: The Ultimate Geek Showdown | Galaxy Quest, Acolyte & Sci-Fi Fails

In this episode of Original Geek, hosts Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw launch a warp-speed deep dive into the evolution of geek culture—from shag carpet Star Wars screenings to the cerebral calm of the Federation.

It’s Star Wars vs. Star Trek: which shaped geekdom more? Which gave us better villains, ships, stories… or memes?

Along the way:
 — The real power of Galaxy Quest
— Lower Decks as Trek’s unsung hero
— The Acolyte controversy
— Budget-killed finales
— And a passionate rant on geek identity

If you ever taped Next Gen, argued over Boba Fett, or quoted Galaxy Quest unironically—this one’s for you.

🔥 Subscribe, leave a review, and embrace your inner geek.

 Geek Culture, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Acolyte, Galaxy Quest, Lower Decks, Sci-Fi Nostalgia, Geek Identity, Pop Culture, Boba Fett, Gen X Geek, Critical Hits, Epic Fails 

Welcome to Original Geek—the podcast for anyone who rolled their first d20 on shag carpet, waited hours for a comic book JPEG to load on dial-up, and wore the label “geek” back when it got you mocked, not monetized.

Hosted by stand-up comic Steve Scarfo and Forever DM Jeff Shaw, we dive deep into what it meant to be a geek in the '70s and '80s—and how that underground culture became the mainstream multiverse we live in today.

🎙️ Subscribe for weekly episodes on Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, comic book chaos, geek court debates, and critical hits from your childhood basement.

👾 Follow us @OriginalGeekPodcast on socials and visit OriginalGeekPodcast.com for merch, extras, and to send us your own geeky tales.

If you ever hid a Monster Manual like it was porn, you’re not alone. You’re an Original Geek. Welcome home.

Chapters

• 0:00 Show Intro and Todays Topic: Star Wars or Star Trek?
• 9:46 Geek Flashback
• 14:20 Geek Court
• 22:53 Basement Treasures
• 29:37 Geek Evolution
• 37:18 Geek Rant
• 42:51 Critical Hits & Epic Fails

Transcript

Jeff (00:04.6)
geek.

Jeff (00:22.208)
Laps.

Steve Scarfo (00:22.355)
all right. Yeah. Welcome to Original Geek. It's the podcast for anyone who rolled dice in a basement, waited hours to download comic covers over dial up and proudly wore that label of geek back when it was a target, not a trend. We're going to dive deep, really deep into what it meant to be a geek in the 70s and 80s. And how does that compare to the mainstream world we live in today? We are two of the Gen X survivors who didn't just watch geek culture evolve. We live through every awkward phase.

Hi, I'm Steve Scarfo.

Jeff (00:53.614)
and I'm Jeff Shaw and we'll be your warp drive on today's Interstellar Jump.

Steve Scarfo (01:00.135)
Nice, because today we're going to sci-fi and the biggest topic to start the science fiction journey, Star Wars or Star Trek?

Jeff (01:01.506)
Yeah.

Jeff (01:05.43)
Right.

Jeff (01:13.996)
an age-old debate.

Steve Scarfo (01:17.183)
So I think we can see for those of us who are, so I know this will be some video, some audio if you're not watching the podcast and just listening to our dulcet tones, Mr. Shaw has a Star Wars t-shirt on.

Jeff (01:33.502)
Yes, it's actually for the Walt Disney World weekends, Star Wars weekends. So got one of those in, yep, at Hollywood Studios. Never got to go on the Galactic Star Cruiser. Couldn't, when it was open, shell out, I don't know, I think it was like $5,000 for three days, two nights. I just, I had that.

Steve Scarfo (01:46.633)
Yeah, well...

Steve Scarfo (01:57.281)
Five grand for a three-day weekend.

Jeff (02:01.235)
time and even today could not swing that but man that would have been cool.

Steve Scarfo (02:05.843)
Yeah, that's a Jeff Bezos level trip right there.

Jeff (02:09.375)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Steve Scarfo (02:14.527)
Now I will say, we're gonna be talking both Trek and Wars, but I've only been to the new MGM, I call it the new MGM just because we only get to go, I guess it's Hollywood Studios now, right? That's how old it was, MGM Studios at the beginning. But we went to Star Trek area and walked through the Millennium Falcon and saw Chewie and Darth.

Not to, actually we did see Darth Maul, but we saw, what's the other guy? With the red stripes on the helmet. Listen, you're messing with my geek, you're leaving me to swing. Han Solo's kid.

Jeff (02:56.813)
Ha ha ha.

Jeff (03:01.649)
my God, this is sad.

Steve Scarfo (03:05.057)
All right, I was thinking maybe we cut this out, we might have to, this is why we're old geeks. We are original, but OG is also old geeks.

Jeff (03:08.749)
Ha

Jeff (03:13.407)
Yeah. Yes.

Steve Scarfo (03:16.961)
Anyway, we saw him walk through and well, well, I'll put it on screen at some point.

Jeff (03:23.027)
It's Kylo Ren, but does he have a Darth name as well? Does he have a Sith Lord name?

Steve Scarfo (03:27.841)
I thought he did, maybe it's just Kylo. I thought maybe I'm blanking on something that didn't exist. Someone will tell us. At some point in time, someone's gonna hit comments or an email and go, you idiots. It was obviously Darth X, you know.

Jeff (03:29.837)
I think it's Kylo Ren, yeah.

Jeff (03:40.334)
So just for the listener, I did really enjoy those last three Star Wars films. think I know it was divisive, but I saw them only once. So I didn't rewatch any of them. And the same is true with the prequels. I only watched them once. I've seen the original trilogy many times.

Steve Scarfo (04:04.512)
the pr-

Prequels were a mixed bag.

Jeff (04:12.523)
Yeah, well, but that generation, Millennials, that was their Star Wars. So for them, that was a great trilogy. And that's why it's still like, and has kind of with revisionist history done well. But.

Steve Scarfo (04:29.889)
I don't know that who's a Mesa is ever gonna be Yeah, I don't know if Jar Jar is ever ever gonna be retconned the one of the cooler add-ins was using some of the original footage from the original Star Wars that they had dropped because they had They had Jabba the Hutt is just a big fat, dude and They redid that with the CGI

Jeff (04:35.166)
I know, cha-cha binks.

Steve Scarfo (05:00.353)
And in the read so like that's the kind of CGI stuff I liked them doing but creating Jar Jar seemed Grand it was groundbreaking. There weren't any other

you know, CGI characters, there might have been a reason for

Jeff (05:17.345)
Yeah, I know. I know, but and just, so the audience knows, even though I've taken Star Wars as the position in geek court later, and I do have more Star Wars paraphernalia, but I love Star Trek. Star Trek's awesome. So, no.

Steve Scarfo (05:40.839)
Don't suck up to the Star Trek people now. Don't listen. Look at you trying to. you don't waffle. Pick a side, man. Look at you.

Jeff (05:48.128)
no, I know, just, for geek cord I will. But for right now, I do think Star Trek is awesome too. It's just incredibly different.

Steve Scarfo (05:52.734)
Okay.

Steve Scarfo (05:57.897)
All right. Yeah, I mean, that's part of the appeal, right? Because Star Trek, as much as it's about intergalactic war, most of the time, and crazy creatures like Klingons and the Borg and the Gorn, right? It has a hopeful view of the future where Earth was in turmoil and blew up and then and what emerged was this federation that

You know, we got technology enough that everybody could be provided for. There was no inequality because there was no resource needs. Very positive, very forward, you know. And in Star Trek, sorry, in Star Wars, it kind of goes the other way where they're still more grimy, there's still more insidiousness, and it's interplanetary.

Jeff (06:52.203)
Yeah, and of course, you know, Star Wars fandom can be crazy. So when I say this, they're probably gonna get ripped in the comments, but Star Wars is an adventure story. Star Trek does something that I love that good sci-fi does, which is really make a commentary on our own society. So you're watching it and you should be learning lessons. Clearly people aren't all learning those lessons, but.

That and that's in a similar fashion, the Orville. I don't know if anyone has watched that. Highly recommend the Orville. I know where this is a Star Trek Star Wars episode, but the Orville is another version of Star Trek. It really is like it's episodic and it's often has social commentary. Like there's one episode of that that is, you know, a society fueled by likes. So you actually have a button.

you could like or dislike someone. mean, that's like, could not be any more clear cut a commentary on our current society.

Steve Scarfo (07:51.797)
Yes.

Steve Scarfo (08:00.577)
And I totally agree, I think the real charm of the Orville, it's what would Star Trek look like from the left a little bit? know, Star Trek was always the big shot of the bridge crew and the huge things that they, and the Orville brought it down to earth. Like, I think they even made fun of it one of the first episodes about how there's a bathroom, because the running joke is they then would show the bathroom in Star Trek.

Jeff (08:28.277)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And is. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (08:32.393)
And it was funny. Seth MacFarlane's, you know, he's Rhode Island boy. you know, family guy, American dad, all that. He's, and he's funny.

Jeff (08:40.321)
Yeah, they, you know, once again, like you're saying more down to earth, which is weird in this space show, but meaning like that it had like people making choices and decisions that like you can really identify with. Like when they were using the replicator to create all kinds of weird stuff for, man, who's that guy?

Steve Scarfo (08:56.149)
we're normal. Yeah.

Jeff (09:07.511)
The one that eats everything. like, would he eat this? Would he eat this?

Steve Scarfo (09:11.041)
Yes, yeah. I forget the character's name, but yeah, they're replicating food as a gag, not because they need food.

Jeff (09:18.349)
Yes. Right. So good stuff.

Steve Scarfo (09:23.979)
So that's the deal today, Trek versus Wars. It is of course a sci-fi episode, so things like the Orville and stuff will dive in. But I think it's time to look backwards a little bit, Jeff.

Jeff (09:39.761)
are we in a geek flashback? my God. Wow, really taking me back.

Steve Scarfo (09:41.875)
I think we might be. I don't know what that was. All right. So what was it? is one of your flashbacks? What are your sci fi?

Jeff (09:58.67)
So I actually think about the action figures and I was thinking about this and I realized like I had nine GI Joe's, had GI Joe's, we had GI Joe's. So boys is very much gender. Boys had their GI Joe's, girls had their Barbies, and that's the way it was. And then we, and it was awesome to get all these action figures.

Steve Scarfo (10:16.189)
yeah.

We gotta remember we're in the 70s and 80s when gender norms were all there were.

Jeff (10:26.797)
because like we could keep those stories going because, you know, we didn't have all this content. There's so much content right now. I'm, you know, I'm behind on content. Like there's more Star Wars and Star Trek, you know, shows that I could be watching that need to get caught up on. But at that time we get to see our movie and that's it. And the action figures let us.

keep reliving that or create new content. One of my favorite characters is Boba Fett. And I looked it up because it's like, you Boba Fett really wasn't in the movies very long. It was two minutes between two movies, two minutes of screen time of Boba Fett. That's it. But he's such a cool looking character. And I just love my Boba Fett action figure. And I remembered he got to go on a lot more adventures.

Steve Scarfo (11:12.459)
That's it.

Jeff (11:25.249)
because I have those action figures. So for me, it's the action figures.

Steve Scarfo (11:27.605)
I what was the, the quote was great too. Boba Fett, Boba Fett, right? I don't know how many times Boyd said that throughout our childhoods. know, Han Solo's coming out of the deep freeze. They're going to throw him into the sand monster and Boba Fett shows up and all you hear is Chewie go, boobafet, boobafet. And that's all we heard for years. I like the action figures. I do.

Jeff (11:32.585)
Yes.

Yeah

Jeff (11:46.669)
Yeah.

Yeah. So that was me. Action.

Steve Scarfo (11:55.777)
For me, it was the first time watching Star Trek The Next Generation. I was in the army at the time and I had a lot of time between things that we needed to do. So I would go to my bunk, had this, you know, I want to say I was in Korea at the time and we had a Kwanzaa hut. I don't know if you guys know what that up. Look at our little with those are look them up.

It's literally just a tin kind of, it almost looks like an aircraft hanger, but much smaller of course. And so we didn't have rooms, we just had bunk beds or beds laid out and we had wall lockers separating our spaces. So the guy across from me and I both built a table and put TVs in a barrier so we could have a little bit of privacy and I just sat on my bunk and watched Star Trek The Next Generation.

So it was sort of comfort food for the soul, if you will. So that's one of the reasons why I think I probably look very fondly on Star Trek, because it was a piece of home when I was in a foreign country. You know, I was 18, graduated high school. Ten days later, I was in basic training. By the end of that year, I was in Korea. You know what mean? It was it was a culture shock. So Star Trek got me through a little bit while I was over there.

Jeff (13:14.091)
Yeah.

Jeff (13:22.337)
Well, I have to admit, sadly, I was one of those people I've been warning in our two rants the first two episodes not to be. The kind of the hater. And when Star Trek Next Generation first premiered and I didn't watch it. And for two reasons, one, I was like, not the original.

Steve Scarfo (13:49.151)
Purest.

Jeff (13:49.932)
So was being that guy, which I'm telling everyone not to be anymore. So I was that guy. and I have to admit, thought Jordy LaForge's banana clip visor looked dumb. So I'm like, that looks dumb. Yeah. Once again, judgy, douchey. That's why I was about it. yeah. So I don't want to be that guy anymore. And I recommend no one else be that guy.

Steve Scarfo (14:18.156)
It was, you know, that's okay. That's what we were. It's good. So now we're gonna go right from not wanting to be a hater into opposite sides of a topic here. So the question really is which franchise has had the biggest cultural impact? Wait, what?

Jeff (14:30.134)
Ha ha ha ha.

Jeff (14:39.713)
Wait, we have to say this is geek court. Dun dun. Come on. Yeah, it's geek court.

Steve Scarfo (14:43.393)
see? Dum dum. All right, let's do that again. This is now Geek Court. Dum dum.

Jeff (14:51.799)
Yes.

Steve Scarfo (14:55.305)
All right, so the question again is which franchise had the biggest cultural impact? I think we could say they're both still impacting because they're both still going. But to this point, I think we know which way you're going to fly in your X-wing off to hang out with Yoda. But tell us why, Jeff, why?

Jeff (15:11.757)
Yeah.

Jeff (15:17.547)
Yes.

Steve Scarfo (15:22.111)
Star

Jeff (15:23.603)
So, Star Wars, that, you know, the, the numbers are, are in Star Wars favor for being the more impactful franchise. the value of the Star Trek franchise is at four billion dollars. mean, that's, that's a lot of money, right? And we, have to agree four billion is a ton of dough. So that must make Star Trek, Star Trek has four billion.

Steve Scarfo (15:48.469)
Wait, did you say Star Trek or Star Wars? Trek has four billion. Look at you, I see what you're doing. You're baiting me in here, because Star Wars is a very big number. So now, roll it out.

Jeff (15:55.118)
That's amazing. So Star Wars, you're thinking like 10, 20, 30? $70 billion franchise. Star Wars is 70 billion. So mean, the numbers are there. The merchandise outsells Star Trek merchandise.

Steve Scarfo (16:03.367)
No, it's like eight. Seven.

Steve Scarfo (16:09.822)
Star Wars.

Steve Scarfo (16:18.923)
Well, let's be honest, 69 billion of that 70 billion is merge.

Jeff (16:22.093)
The we have theme parks with Star Wars with

Steve Scarfo (16:28.545)
Wait, are they counting theme park attendance in their 70 billion?

Jeff (16:32.361)
Hey, it's got you got to it's got it's it's all part of the franchise. So and then

Steve Scarfo (16:39.169)
Well, that's another debate for another time. Do you count? Where does the franchise end?

Jeff (16:44.053)
And then, you know, Disney has the Star Wars franchise and the streaming and the streaming numbers are higher for Star Wars than Paramount Plus's Star Trek stuff. So.

Steve Scarfo (17:03.441)
I did just finish watching season five of Star Trek Lower Decks, their animated series. Definitely worth a watch. It sounds like I have to go through it a second time. Apparently, I'm looking, this is the second week in a row I'm talking about having to bring up streaming numbers by myself.

Jeff (17:16.107)
Ha ha.

Jeff (17:21.709)
Yeah, and finally an actual religion.

Steve Scarfo (17:30.017)
All right, now you lost me. This is new news.

Jeff (17:30.253)
That's right. Being a Jedi is an actual recognized religion in New Zealand and you can get kind of ordained online to become an officiant for weddings in the Jedi Order. So it's an actual recognized religion.

Steve Scarfo (17:47.849)
Okay, even I had never heard of this. So this is awesome because I have never heard that you could actually become a Jedi Master. it what? So what is the title? Like I've seen people be become an ordained minister. They use like a generically religious term like minister or deacon like that's a term used by multiple religions and I you know, I actually have a few friends one of the comedians I used to work with Tim McIntyre actually got ordained specifically so he could call himself the Reverend Tim McIntyre.

Jeff (17:54.731)
Yes, it's a recognized religion in New Zealand.

Steve Scarfo (18:18.041)
because he truly was considered a reverend. So do you know, are you doing a live Google? Live Google alert.

Jeff (18:20.951)
Yeah.

Jeff (18:25.269)
I'm doing a look. Jediism, my poster fell. Yeah, I know, so clearly I gotta give it up. So there are the adherents, they're called adherents, but I don't see they're having different titles other than being adherents.

Steve Scarfo (18:31.485)
wait, did your Star Wars poster fall while you were defending Star Wars?

Steve Scarfo (18:40.521)
I think...

Jeff (18:53.837)
and they have 21 maxims, which I haven't looked up, but they're guardians of peace and justice. So there's that.

Steve Scarfo (19:01.313)
I mean, I do like Guardians of Peace and Justice, I'm not gonna lie, but that's a new one for even me, I did not know that. Well.

Jeff (19:07.373)
Yeah. Oh, it's also registered in Texas in, uh, in is IRS text, text tax exempt in 2015. So I think I need to, uh, I need to be.

Steve Scarfo (19:19.103)
Wait, so in Texas, you can be a taxizempt religion of Jedis.

Jeff (19:24.149)
Yes. Yes. So I think I'm to need to, you know, to do that.

Steve Scarfo (19:29.889)
All right, here's a question. Now, this is gonna come long before our real segment on this, but if you guys are interested in going to Texas and starting a chapter of Jedi religions with us, we can buy a ranch and we'll all live tax free. What think? The downside is you have to be on the podcast. I said it before, I gotta go pro-Trek. The hopefulness of Trek, the positivity,

Jeff (19:43.871)
Yep, there we go.

Steve Scarfo (19:59.137)
in general of the idea of the federation of planets. They always had conflict. course, no show would be good without conflict. But maybe the numbers aren't the same. But I feel like the message is, I mean, if you want to talk a parallel to today, what can we use today in this world in 2025? Positivity, outreach, adventure, exploration.

cooperation between species and different, you know what I mean? The idea that everybody can get along in this one, under this one umbrella of the Federation. It's a beacon of hope. And when you watch, when I watch Star Trek, even the goofy little side, going back to the next generation where every once in a while they'd show them all playing poker around the table, which is another fixation I have.

Jeff (20:42.765)
cute.

Steve Scarfo (20:56.725)
but probably for another podcast. But the idea that they even then could be just human and always looking for the best in each other, it may be cheesy. And I have to admit that Jodie LaForge's banana clip was a little foolish those first couple years. I think they had a really small budget. But well, mean, a lot of the stuff we do today,

You know kind of was predicted Smartphones we have yet to do tap to talk on our chests with communicators But remember the original Star Trek had the flip phone essentially And they you know now they tap

Jeff (21:39.415)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (21:46.153)
And this is a note that came up in some stuff I was looking at. They also had the, on the TV show, between Kirk and Ohora, the very first interracial kiss. So they were breaking social boundaries in the real world.

Jeff (22:01.825)
The very first interracial kiss ever? on TV, okay. All right.

Steve Scarfo (22:04.705)
On TV. On TV. Also, I guess you could consider the first interplanetary kiss, because he kissed a green chick at some point too. I think one that was made of vines. Kirk was sort of a loose captain.

Jeff (22:14.626)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (22:23.157)
But yeah, obviously maybe not the same numbers theatrically, but I like it better.

Jeff (22:29.005)
Yeah. Hey. Yeah. What you're saying is so nice. I got to give you a virtual hug, buddy. It's so cute. It's so cute.

Steve Scarfo (22:33.259)
Tell us which side you believe in.

Don't, don't, no, we're in court, man. Damn you. I'm gonna get judged Yoda. Now that would be a show. Like Judge Judy, but it's Yoda. Guilty or not guilty, you are, no, I can't do a Yoda. Before I get all the comments and emails, I know it was a shitty Yoda, sorry.

Jeff (22:48.535)
Yeah.

Jeff (22:58.637)
Well, there was no try. was do or do not and you did not.

Steve Scarfo (23:04.481)
I do not absolutely You want to take us into the next the next segment here

Jeff (23:10.349)
you

Jeff (23:15.649)
Yeah, I say we dig deep, because let's get some basement treasures.

Jeff (23:24.801)
I do admit, although this is scary to think of, my basement treasure, I didn't have to dig as deep as I've done in the past, because it's more recent. But it is 26 years old, which makes it pretty deep for some of our listeners and viewers.

Steve Scarfo (23:43.745)
So what is it?

Jeff (23:45.825)
Galaxy quest. I know, I know it's a Star Wars Star Trek. I know. is that yours? Okay.

Steve Scarfo (23:48.027)
damn you, damn you. No, but I love that one. That's one of my favorite movies of all time.

Jeff (23:57.518)
So I was, yeah, so it came out in 1999 and I, um, cause I was, I was like racking my brain for something that maybe Star Wars or Star Trek that people didn't know. Um, but what you might not know viewer listener is of galaxy quest. Galaxy quest is a satire on Star Trek and the whole Star Trek conventions and these

Steve Scarfo (23:58.977)
26 years?

Steve Scarfo (24:02.957)
Cough

Jeff (24:26.483)
actors that play essentially the Star Trek characters. Tim Allen is essentially Captain Kirk and Sigourney Weaver is kind of a whore because she talks to the computer, talks to the ship and the ship talks back. And it's all communicated through her. Sam Rockwell is the red shirt. He's just an awesome job. Alan Rickman is basically Spock. It's so good. Anyway, I can keep listening.

Steve Scarfo (24:39.233)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (24:48.66)
my God,

Steve Scarfo (24:54.431)
Rickman's sort of a cross between Spock and later Wharf, I guess, because he had the alien, yeah.

Jeff (25:00.415)
Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so it starts with and basically the concept is that the TV, their TV series, Galaxy Quest, has been sent out into space and eventually this alien race views it and thinks it's a documentary because they don't lie in their culture. They don't know how to tell an untruth. And so what they think they're watching really happened and they

Steve Scarfo (25:27.329)
real.

Jeff (25:29.035)
desperately need help. So because they're not fighters and this aggressive alien race is coming to annihilate them. So they need the Galaxy Quest crew. So they go to a convention in Abscon with the crew and they've it's hilarity ensues after that. So highly recommend Galaxy Quest. Even if you have seen it, rewatch it.

It stands the test of time. It's fantastic.

Steve Scarfo (26:02.049)
That's a good one.

I admit I didn't dig because I think this might be a cheat. So I'm sorry if you think this is a cop out because I just finished watching it. I'm going at basement treasure in the sense I don't know that it got a lot of viewership. But the Star Trek lower decks, I avoided it at first as much as I love Star Trek because I thought that's an animated show.

And it's horrible because I'm trying to be a voice over actor. Like that's exactly what I should be watching.

It was charming and fun and lighthearted. And it actually reminded me a lot of the Orville because they took an approach to Star Trek of the, well, literally from the lowest level officer, the Ensigns who slept in a bunk bed in a hallway, who got the worst crap and had the worst attitudes. And if you've never seen it, go watch Star Trek Lower Decks.

I don't know that there's gonna be a sixth season. Last thing I read said it was not, but definitely worth digging up and watching from the beginning. They're only like 25, 30 minutes long, so you can binge, heck, I think they're only 10, 10 episodes. mean, in a couple hours, you can watch an entire season, but it's just a lot of fun. And they very coolly interweave characters from the shows. So Riker shows up.

Steve Scarfo (27:37.089)
The leader from the Deep Space Nine, forget her character, Nana Visitor was the actress. so Will Wheaton comes in as Wesley Crusher, they weave in characters from the real shows. There's even a crossover with the newest Star Trek show with, god, it's like one of the, yeah, new.

Jeff (28:02.253)
Strange New Worlds or Discovery.

Steve Scarfo (28:08.423)
No, the New World with Pre-Kirk, but with like a young Spock. And they do a crossover where the characters who are Jack Quaid and Tony Newsome do the voices, they show up, they do like an animated opening and they jump in to this time vortex and they show up in the time of that crew and to them, they're historical heroes.

Jeff (28:10.497)
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (28:35.755)
but they actually bring Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome, the real people in as their animated characters and they're really on there. It's not like they did a mix. And so it's a very cool episode. So they really blended and you know, I love crossovers. So to me, it was just like the pinnacle. So watch, watch Lower Decks. That's my thing. It's not a basement treasure, but it's definitely, I think an overlooked Star Trek property.

Jeff (28:42.497)
Yeah.

Jeff (28:48.781)
Yeah.

Jeff (29:01.581)
Well, I think that's okay because my basement treasure, although 26 years old, was not Star Wars or Star Trek, which is what this episode is all about, but Galaxy Quest would not exist without Star Trek. And Yor is not in the basement. It's on the first floor, but it's still a treasure. So, that's good. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (29:20.895)
Yes. But things change over time.

Jeff (29:28.151)
Well, and then you did say five seasons. So the first season, that's five years ago. That's in the basement for some people. So I think it works. I'll accept it. I'll accept it.

Steve Scarfo (29:33.961)
Yeah, that's true. Some of these people might live in a basement. don't know. All right. That's all I care about. That's all I care about. We're going to get haters. That's not an old thing.

Jeff (29:46.839)
Well, speaking of haters, think we, it's rant time, right?

Steve Scarfo (29:50.825)
No, no, no, don't jump over. We have to talk about how things have evolved.

Jeff (29:52.844)
What?

Steve Scarfo (29:58.813)
in our geek evolution.

Jeff (30:02.119)
true. I skipped the evolution. Sorry.

Steve Scarfo (30:05.781)
You did. Don't skip evolution. We're all gonna be ancient warfs.

Jeff (30:11.638)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (30:12.35)
so there's this theory that when JJ Abrams rebooted Star Trek with Chris Pine, that it got cooler.

it's still Star Trek. This is true.

Jeff (30:27.831)
Well, I mean, it did have the Beastie Boys sabotage, which is pretty darn cool.

So I agree. I know it also got criticized by the purists, which, like I said, I used to be. So when Star Trek, the new generation came out of like, it's not Kirk, but I loved it. I thought it was great. It was, and I think I mentioned this, like one of the reasons why Star Wars might be more commercially successful is it's an adventure.

more than a potential commentary on society. Or a thinker, because I think Star Trek is generally more thought provoking, whereas Star Wars, can set your mind aside and just go for the ride. And I think some criticism of the J.J. Abrams was that it was too Star Wars-like, whereas I thought it was awesome. I felt like it really...

Steve Scarfo (31:21.601)
Literally.

Jeff (31:33.982)
It did make Star Trek interesting to a new generation. And I think a lot of the success of the Paramount shows, which I love, are because of that J.J. Abrams reboot. And you can really you can see it. I those the. They I think they were really influenced by that kind of J.J. Abrams look. Because it like they look more like the J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

They're episodic now and closer to that with Star Trek, but classic Star Trek. But yeah, I think that was really an important reboot.

Steve Scarfo (32:12.129)
You know, in Star Trek terms too, you go all the way back to the original, it only ran for a couple years in 63 to 65, I think, with Shatner and Nimoy and all those great actors. But again, on a shoestring budget, definitely, you know, uniforms were...

you know, super basic and the sets were very odd. I remember seeing a Gorn for the first time and it was just a dude in a Halloween mask. But we wanted it so badly to be a real thing. Now I can't say we, I wasn't alive when the first Star Trek came out. But, because I think it was 63, I wasn't born until 69.

Jeff (33:01.365)
Right, but when we were kids watching it, we didn't know we were watching reruns. We thought we were watching, and they didn't, like, those effects were still good until Star Wars came out and Star Wars Industrial Light and Magic talked about, you know, evolution of special effects. Like, I mean.

Steve Scarfo (33:21.065)
of science fiction, yeah. Yeah, we got a duck. We're gonna have a whole episode, I think, at some point about special effects and the evolutions of there at some point.

Jeff (33:28.225)
But yeah, but the Star Trek special effects, mean, even then I was still like, it didn't throw me out of the show, because they weren't, you know, Star Wars special effects.

Steve Scarfo (33:44.321)
No, we talked about it in the last couple of episodes, too. We'll probably refer to it a lot, but there were things that just didn't exist. So the idea of a science fiction show of a spaceship, you know, if if you said to some kid today, hey, there's a new spaceship show coming on TV, they go, oh, Right, because if there's like 100 of them, this battle star and they're all good, like most of them are good. But like the Expans was great. Star Galactica, like there's all these great shows, right? We can talk about them all at some point in time, but.

Jeff (34:02.997)
Yeah.

You

Yes.

Steve Scarfo (34:14.421)
When you go all the way back, in Star Trek, the original Star Trek was only out for three seasons, but it made so much of an impact that it kept running and it brought all of us along. And I really think Star Wars happened the way it did because Star Trek laid the pavement, right? It was really bringing a genre to life.

Jeff (34:14.849)
Yes.

Jeff (34:20.321)
Yes.

Steve Scarfo (34:44.543)
I remember seeing, don't remember if it was a Charlie Chaplin thing, but there was an old, old movie, like a silent picture, and it was like a really bad animation of like a rocket ship hitting the moon. You remember that?

Jeff (34:57.685)
Yes. Yeah, it's one of the first science fiction films actually. Trip to the Moon. It's French though, so whatever the French title would be.

Steve Scarfo (35:01.853)
Right. It's so is that what it was called? Trip to the moon? Yeah. But it's but you know, we didn't have a lot of choices again. We keep talking about it's it's an embarrassment of riches that most people don't understand. There's a reason to appreciate. I don't want to jump on an old rant, but. Yeah, I think they really do dovetail in. And don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars, too. And.

Jeff (35:23.563)
Yeah. Well, now it's.

Steve Scarfo (35:31.061)
The idea that I could walk through, I assume it was supposed to be a village on Tatooine and see the Millennium Falcon and see these suited characters walking around, really immerse yourself. My daughter and I got to fly the Falcon. She got to be the pilot, I got to be the gunner in that ride. But it's evolved from rubber faced Gorn.

Jeff (36:00.482)
Yeah, you know, Star Trek, what I love about its evolution is that it just keeps getting better. it was, the way I saw it, it was always different. Whereas the movies for Star Wars, the original trilogy was basically recreated in the prequels. it's like they tweaked it little bit, but I the formula was pretty much the same. And then really,

Steve Scarfo (36:26.879)
Yeah.

Jeff (36:30.281)
really recreated in this latest trilogy, the rise of Skywalker and all that. It was pretty much the same as the original trilogy, just little tweaks, you know, but very much the same thing. The Star Wars TV shows have gone in some really interesting directions. Andor's awesome. Some of the other like one-off, like Rogue One, which I know is part of the

Steve Scarfo (36:43.583)
A new hero, heroine.

Jeff (36:59.967)
and or experience storyline. Even the Han Solo movie, which I know got ripped, but it's still a good movie and at least it's different. whereas I think Star Trek has always, I love, it's always doing kind of new and interesting things. So.

Steve Scarfo (37:02.581)
Mandalorian.

Steve Scarfo (37:12.672)
Right.

Steve Scarfo (37:24.715)
Well, hopefully they continue to evolve so that we can have new content and new stuff to watch. But I think it's time to get on to our, we were starting to call it a message to the new generation, but it's really just the original Geeks ranting.

Jeff (37:30.913)
Yeah.

Jeff (37:39.745)
Yes, the OG rant. Because some of our messaging, although it seems like it's to the new generation, but I know for a fact that there are Gen Xers out there who need this message too. Maybe some of boomers, I don't know, but certainly Gen X and young.

Steve Scarfo (37:42.143)
Rat Bastards.

Steve Scarfo (37:59.265)
Just go gentle on the boomers, they're frail.

Jeff (38:01.805)
Yes. So do you want to rant first?

Steve Scarfo (38:07.742)
no, the pleasure is all yours.

Jeff (38:10.677)
Okay. All right. So my rant, I already referenced it before, was for the acolyte. and, um, so the acolyte got canceled and it was because of viewership numbers. But now I, you know, so, and I know we said in our, our, you know, one of our earlier episodes, we get to pay with our dollars and, but when it comes on a streaming service, how are we paying for our dollars? Viewer numbers.

They actually, that's the measurement. I just strongly feel that Gen Xers, younger who the people ripping on that show online caused some of that lower viewership. And you know, people did want to see like, it wasn't meant to be a one season show. It was, had some of the best special effects.

really did some really cool and interesting new things with Star Wars. Like we're just talking about how they're always like redoing the same old stuff. Well these were different characters. They were like different sabers. There was different effects that in things that were happening that were different. And unfortunately this is a rant for the me's of I was with the new generation, next generation. Just because it's not

Steve Scarfo (39:13.813)
Yeah.

Jeff (39:34.21)
what you're used to doesn't mean it's bad. Give it a chance. And then even if you were to be a bit critical, which we are, don't discourage other people from watching it. Encourage, if you want another season of something, encourage people to watch it. Tell them, hey, I got some problems with this, but please watch this. I want season two. So I think they just ripped it for the sake of ripping it and then it died. So.

Steve Scarfo (40:03.041)
Yeah, I do feel like this is the get off of my lawn segment of the show. Like, cut the crap, stop being a jerk about stuff. Listen, don't, here's my rant. Own your shit, whatever it is. If you're a Star Wars guy, if you're a Star Trek guy, girl, them, whatever you are, however you want to identify both as a person and a geek fan.

Jeff (40:08.365)
You

Steve Scarfo (40:32.777)
Own it. Don't shy away from, know, part of this for me is this catharsis of I'm not hiding anymore. I did a podcast with a friend of mine probably nine or 10 years ago. He tried a failed comedy podcast and God love him. was two of my buddies at the time, but it was just another

comedy comedians interviewing comedians, right? And it was fun. But at the time, and again, only eight or 10 years ago, he knew I was a D &D guy. And there's a song, I forget who it's by, called D &D, and it's D &D, and the guy's just singing about playing D &D. And I was embarrassed that they played it as my intro. Because I was like, I don't know if I want every, because it was,

It was this thing of, can I really be a comedian and a D &D guy? It's the reason I wrote the original joke we've talked about once or twice that brought us to the place we are today. But it's like, no, be who you are. Don't worry about it. There's too many other stupid things going on. Don't hide your geekiness. Wear it with pride.

Jeff (41:44.896)
Yeah.

Jeff (41:49.197)
I

Steve Scarfo (41:55.713)
We are so out in the world about everything else, but it somehow seems geekiness still seems to get covered up I don't want to try to compare it to anything too real or too big but the idea of Living who you are. I said it about Dave. I think in our D &D episode You got to be who you are. Don't worry about it. So that's my rant. Don't hide share your opinions Be strong in them And if people don't agree with you, that's fine. They don't have to

You know what mean? We can just be who we are. Jeff and I are the best friends. Like I think you said earlier on in one of the episodes, we've been friends for more than 45 years, something like that. We met when we were teenagers. We don't always agree on everything, but we have fun and we are who we are. So that's my rant to you. Don't be weak. Be an OG. Even if you're 15, be an OG. Be strong. It's okay. Maybe you're an old soul G.

Jeff (42:26.093)
Nice. Yeah.

Jeff (42:32.25)
Ha

Jeff (42:49.911)
Nice. Nice. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (42:55.701)
Maybe an OSG. That's too many letters.

Jeff (42:56.653)
you

Steve Scarfo (43:00.277)
All right, so we're jumping into more things we love and hate real quick. Critical hits.

Jeff (43:00.875)
Nice.

Jeff (43:05.997)
Critical hits

Jeff (43:10.893)
Epic fails.

Steve Scarfo (43:11.574)
All right, hit me with a critical hit.

Jeff (43:16.277)
All right, so you actually kind of referenced it with the crossover with Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds. For anyone that was like me, where you loved the original Captain Kirk and those episodes, and maybe you haven't gone back into Star Trek since then, maybe you're like me, like, no, it's not the original. Make this your entry.

Steve Scarfo (43:42.913)
I'm not gonna watch.

Jeff (43:45.652)
Start the the strange new worlds brings that back. It's that it's that those classic This was pre Kirk takes place. So this is Captain Pike Those if you're a fan of the original, you know, Captain Pike is He was in the first episode and became like this melted thing in a wheelchair And this lump in a wheelchair and it's his so it's a prequel

but it's amazing and highly recommend. So that's my critical hit. Do you got one?

Steve Scarfo (44:21.921)
Yeah, I mean, I won't dig too deep because I've talked a lot about it already, but Lower Decks, was such a surprise. I really went into it. As you guys will probably find out, and Jeff already knows, my family are early to bed folks. I have two daughters and a wife. They're in bed by 8.30, nine o'clock most nights. I stay up till midnight, so I have a lot of time on my hands. So I will just start watching stuff just to be like passing the time. Like I'd ran out of a show I was watching.

And I said, screw it, I'll start watching lower decks. And I was completely blown away, obviously, I've talked a lot about it today. But completely won me over. Super, super fun, simple, light watch, easy watch. There's no deep meanings, it's just fun, and fun characters, and great acting, you know, which, more than you would expect for an animated show, how about that?

Jeff (45:20.695)
gonna give it a shot.

Steve Scarfo (45:22.187)
Gonna watch it. I'll jump on fails first and I said it earlier, man, friggin' Jar Jar Binks. I couldn't, he looked rubbery, he talked weird. I don't even know who the actor was who voiced him, that poor bastard. But, who's Amisa? Like, it was just a sing-song-y, I don't even think I need to say more than that. I couldn't do it, I wasn't a fan.

Jeff (45:49.65)
Yeah, yeah, I get that. The for me, and I'm very glad that this didn't end up really destroying the franchise, but it destroyed for a time the original Star Trek, the final frontier. So the last the last movie made with the original cast without the next generation cast as part of the as part of it or them joining.

the next generation cast in movies, that did happen after and they were, they'd pop up into the next generation shows and other TV shows, but the final frontier ended with their encountering God who needs a space show. what I, so what I read later about this, it, it basically, it was so dumb that it just,

Steve Scarfo (46:32.243)
Yes.

Jeff (46:47.597)
killed it. And what I read, and there's this ancient device in Greek theater, because in Greek theater, a play had to be resolved in a 24 hour time span. And sometimes they did what is called, do us ex machina, god in the machine. They had a little like god coming down, swinging from the rafters and pointing and finishing it, everything up.

Steve Scarfo (47:05.587)
Mm-hmm. The God Machine.

Jeff (47:17.301)
So solving the problem or ending the problem some way. essentially this is what. And so so what I read was that they ran out of budget, like they were spending way too much and they hadn't finished the film. So in a rush, they essentially do us ex machina literally because they will refer to this sometimes when some thing magical or amazing happens.

Steve Scarfo (47:21.535)
We would call it the cop out today.

Jeff (47:44.962)
That's unbelievable. And it resolves the problem. This is literally God coming in. And, and so what I, yeah, that's what I read is that they, the budget just wasn't working out. So they didn't get to end it the way they wanted to. So, you know, I always wonder like, would have happened if they.

Steve Scarfo (47:51.289)
I heard that.

Steve Scarfo (48:01.601)
All right, now I have to ask, did you find out what the ending was supposed to be?

Jeff (48:06.765)
No, I, you know, I, you know, it just to give epic fails and for me that was an epic fail and just to remember that small detail. But no, I didn't do a deeper dive. I know, I owe you all to do my research next time, sorry.

Steve Scarfo (48:15.083)
Okay.

Steve Scarfo (48:20.971)
Well, we'll have to find out.

Steve Scarfo (48:26.505)
No, that's okay. I didn't know if in what you found you had seen the alternate, because maybe if I can find it, we'll post it. So we're wrapping up the end of another episode. So if you're still with us, if you've been with us through the first couple, thank you. We are stacking these up. If you've done or been talking about podcasts, we're a few weeks ahead, so these will come out in the next couple of weeks for us.

So thank you for listening, thank you for interacting, sending emails. But we're at our Ask an OG, our final segment for the night.

Jeff (49:05.94)
Ask it.

Steve Scarfo (49:07.337)
So I mean, I think the pretty obvious question is which side here are you on? Are you a Star Trek fan or are on the wrong side of things? I think that's pretty.

Jeff (49:08.695)
Do it.

Jeff (49:18.637)
Or do you hate life? Do you hate joy?

Steve Scarfo (49:22.209)
And because I love them so much, how do you guys feel about crossover episodes? Whether it's a character crossover, whether it's a whole world, Jeff just talked about how the original cast jumped into, you know, the next generation. I talked about it a little bit on the lower decks. I love crossovers, obviously. You've said it like nine times. What do you guys think?

What do got, Jeff?

Jeff (49:55.276)
Yeah, so I agree. It's and I just and I know it's not ask, but I just a plea that you don't have to decide. You can love them both. I know. I know Steve wrote on me earlier because I said I love them both and I do. I do. But I mean, as far as influence Star Wars.

Steve Scarfo (50:22.667)
Yeah. Well, once again, thanks for joining us. Check us out across all social media. We'll be putting links and bios. We will have the web page up. Like, subscribe, tell your friends, join the conversation. Something you want us to talk about that we haven't hit. We hit some pretty broad topics in the first few episodes. We're going to be going back to each genre over time. We'll probably go back to fantasy for the next.

episode, but we'll dig into some other topic a little more deeply rather than a generic D &D intro. We had a great conversation, but we'll start digging into other topics. Something you want to hear about? Let us know. We'll chat. And then I'll tell Jeff why he's wrong about it.

Jeff (51:10.861)
Exactly.

Steve Scarfo (51:12.385)
All right, have a great night from me, from Steve Scarfo.

Jeff (51:14.558)
All right.

Jeff (51:19.839)
and Jeff Shaw.

Steve Scarfo (51:21.697)
See you on the other side.

Jeff (51:23.233)
May the force be with you.

Steve Scarfo (51:37.855)
I can't dance.

Jeff (51:44.033)
Nice.