Rum & Nerdy
Two rambling idiots stumble through Rum, Movies, Television Shows, Theme Parks, and all things Nerdy. With backgrounds in entertainment and theme park design you never know where each show will take you... but there will be booze. how attachments are handled.
Rum & Nerdy
Episode 6.11: Rum Trek
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This week, Greg and Garrick go full Rum Trek, bouncing from real-world travel to deep space and back again.
Greg recaps his trip to Baltimore for the Building Museums Conference, sharing highlights, conversations, and a few takeaways from being in the room with industry leaders (even if technically… not in the room). From there, the guys wrap up their thoughts on the standout first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, diving into what worked, what surprised them, and where the broader Star Trek franchise could be headed next.
The conversation shifts gears with a look at Rush, their return to touring, and the addition of powerhouse drummer Anika Nilles, sparking a discussion on legacy bands, evolving lineups, and what keeps iconic music alive.
To close things out, Greg and Garrick tee up what’s ahead for Rum & Nerdy—including upcoming guests, travel plans to Vegas and beyond, and what listeners can expect in the coming episodes.
It’s another globe-trotting, galaxy-hopping, rhythm-driven episode—so pour a rum and engage.
Now, question number one. What did Michael said? The show's been lofty in there for 15 years. Although I will say it was an awful lot of fun. You know, when Patrick wasn't holly in the limelight.
SPEAKER_02Fifteen years later, you've still got an attitude.
SPEAKER_03Michael, I am already having a fantastic funitude.
SPEAKER_02Hey everybody, welcome to Rum and Nerdy. I'm Greg. And I'm Gary. And this is episode 6.11. Rum Trek.
SPEAKER_00We're running out of Star Trek Rub related things.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, no, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00The encounter at Rum Point.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I like Rum Point better.
SPEAKER_02Right, Rum Point, whatever. Sounds more like a bar, I guess. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Or all nerd things. They go they go either way.
SPEAKER_02Space, the final rum tier. These are the voyages of the Starship Nerdprise. Nerdprise. We are both heading the same direction. Anyway, hey, uh, welcome everybody. Um first off, yeah, this one's uh a couple hours late, and last week we didn't have one. Uh life's been hectic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Greg got a day job and yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um it's uh crazy. Well, it's you know, conference season. It's insane uh for our our our business. Went to uh Baltimore for the first time ever.
SPEAKER_00They have a nice aquarium there.
SPEAKER_02Uh I hear, I hear that. Um it's uh it's funny. I saw a bumper sticker that said, even people from Baltimore don't like it here. Uh Wow. Yeah. But uh yeah, I the hotel I stayed in, like right out like literally right out my window. I was on the fifth floor, is their um their baseball stadium, Camden Field. And then just past that is their football stadium, um uh where that I forgot the name of the team. Oh yeah, loses to the Chiefs every year in the playoffs. Uh anyway, uh they uh yeah, it was um um you know, a cool little town. Lots going on. Um lots of really cool little tiny bars and and uh I had I had a Maryland crab cake, my first crab cake, and I actually ended up having crab cakes two and a half times.
SPEAKER_00I'm sorry, your first crab cake like ever?
SPEAKER_02No. My first Maryland crab Maryland. I'm in Maryland having a crab cake.
SPEAKER_00I was like, did it Oh, it's a whole thing there though. I know I mean crab cares, crab cakes are a whole northeastern Platomic, just yeah, that's a whole deal, but I didn't I didn't know if there was something that made it a Maryland crab cake. It's like, oh no, we make it with Tabasco sauce.
SPEAKER_02Didn't bring it in from New York. It was made there. Okay, okay. Yeah. I don't know. I it was just be I I mention it like that because it was such a big deal on every like, oh you gotta have a go to Boston, get the chowder. Yeah, right? And they they had chowda. I had chowda at one point, but uh uh I have to say the two the two that I had completely different, uh but both of them are two of the the greatest crab cakes I've ever had.
SPEAKER_00Oh, so so one of them didn't come from New York.
SPEAKER_02Neither of them did. They all came from like the river. You know, down the river.
SPEAKER_00The platomic.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, or whatever, down the street. That's a terrible name for a river, by the way. Platomic.
SPEAKER_00That's that's that's a massive inlet brackish waterway.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just but it sounds like it's uh a type of uh ordinance, you know. It's you know what?
SPEAKER_00Hit him with the platomics. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's like, well, you know, especially, you know, because obviously we're gonna start we're gonna talk about the completion of Star Trek uh um Starfleet Academy, but um yeah, it sounds it sounds like oh we're gonna bombard them with the platomics.
SPEAKER_00I yeah, I don't know about that. Usually you're too usually you're you're too close to DC, so everyone or everything that you eat just sort of has that that stink of DC on it.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's funny you say that too, because apparently right after my flight uh well through Atlanta uh took off, immediately after that, the airport was shut down or locked down because there was uh a chemical spill or something that that there was that overwhelming smell of some sort of chemicals. And no no fart jokes there. Oh, you did that before you left here.
SPEAKER_00Um wait, your oh, the airport you left out of or were going to? No, it left out of it.
SPEAKER_02It's like you know, and they locked it down. It's like I I I landed and somebody's like, hey, are you are you are you are you did you did you get stuck? And I'm like, No, I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00Usually you do that when leaving an elevator, you really upped your game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Right. We know what that uh what that happened after that. Crab cake. Two crab cakes in two days, and well, technically it was two and a half because I there was that crab ball appetizer I had for the crab ball.
SPEAKER_00Oh, so like a spherical crab dish, not like a fancy crab ordeal where everybody got dressed up. Are you going to the crab ball?
SPEAKER_02No, no.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Although it was it was kind of funny. It's like one of those so the the building museums for the Mid-America, uh Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums.
SPEAKER_00Man, not the North Atlantic. No. Fuck those guys.
SPEAKER_02By the way, whole nonsense. So this this conference is building museums with the Mid-Atlantic Association of Musement of uh Museums next year. The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums conference is in Los Angeles. Err. You suck at geography? No. Anyway, the the tickets were sold out. Apparently it sells out in like a day.
SPEAKER_00Really? Yeah. Um is it hosted in LA every year or no?
SPEAKER_02It's usually like bounds between like Baltimore and Philly.
SPEAKER_00Oh, but it's more like, hey, we're hosting it in LA for the first time. Suddenly all the people are like, I'm not sitting spending five hours on an airplane to go to Baltimore.
SPEAKER_02Well, and they that was one of the questions is is it gonna sell out as fast? But r regardless. The point is, um, it sold out, so we ended up going uh and you've been to these conferences. It's like it's uh you sit in a room for two days and people, you know, thought leadership.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And um people thought leadership in your face, whether you want them to or not.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and um m many of us have to go there and do business development. That's why we that business development budgets pay for us to be there. And and um, so first time ever, I went to a conference without a ticket and had a really successful conference by sitting in the lobby of the hotel where the conference was and just talking to people.
SPEAKER_00Oh. I know some friends that have done that at a TEA functions.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and uh we usually frown on them, but that's only because Well, listen, I I would have absolutely purchased a ticket and done the exact same thing. Uh, you know, but they didn't have any tickets. We got on the waiting list and I reached out to them and they're like, yeah, you're number eighty five on the waiting list, it's not gonna happen. It was a little frustrating.
SPEAKER_00How many people attended the conference?
SPEAKER_02I don't I don't know, a few hundred. Like thirty? Like that's that's a medium-sized ballroom kind of thing. Either way, let's say I like a support, I support it. It's great. Uh we actually talked to one of the people on the organizing committee about maybe helping them in LA because we've got a presence in LA, so we'll interesting. We'll um you know, we will participate and get involved. We only did it because we had no other choice. Yeah. Um and it it's funny. Um it's yeah, we didn't intend to talk about the industry, but here you go. It's uh museums is a hard one to get into.
SPEAKER_00Uh it's it's a I think anything is a hard thing to get into.
SPEAKER_02Well, it I as a trying to be as a vendor in the museum and cultural space, um it there there's there's there's not a lot of companies that just casually participate in museums.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna go ahead and say that all of the things that you did to describe museums just there, you could do the same thing for sports, you could do the same thing for gaming, you could do the same thing for high-end hospitality, you could do the same thing for themed entertainment. It's exactly the same. It's just you're trying to you're trying to move from your bubble to somebody else's bubble. So you're experiencing that pain.
SPEAKER_02I hear you. I'm simply saying that people in our industry, yeah, all verticals generally regarding museums will say exactly what I just said. Oh yeah. That it takes it take like museums specifically, you kind of have to pay your dues before they take you seriously. So um it was the the the point that I'm I'm making on this, and uh you know, it even for me, I eventually get there. The the point I'm trying to make on that is uh one of the reasons we went is because we wanted to be seen, because we know it takes a couple years of consistency before people go like, oh, they're here now. And so we you didn't want to wait a year to start that that timer.
SPEAKER_00You're reliable, you're people that we can go to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And and you participate in the industry and you sh in in that particular practice. So um with uh with us wanting to to play in that space more, we we wanted to do some consistency and and you know we've got some good leads, we're bidding on work in that space, so it's it's cool.
SPEAKER_00Nice. We've been we've been successful in that space mostly from a uh a show lighting standpoint.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Very, very successful in that in that regard.
SPEAKER_02You guys um saw the lighting department.
SPEAKER_00Um world-class amazing lighting department.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's it's yes.
SPEAKER_00Um and you know, um They they get overshadowed by the engineeringness of our of our of our company, but it's like, oh no, there's a whole team of highly skilled creative came from theater and film lighting gurus down there. Oh yeah, oh absolutely.
SPEAKER_02And he's not just good at what he does, he's a he's just like one of those you you start to learn about him, you know, and his and his his kids and like how much he cares. Like he's such an amazing family guy. Like he's the you know, you meet him, and the more you get to know him, you're just like why can't uh like why can't I be more like him? It's like, damn it, damn it.
SPEAKER_00I'd be jealous of you, but you're too cold to have any negative feelings towards he uh he um yeah, he was one of my favorite museum projects that he worked on. He did lighting for what's that that big that big painting in Georgia, the cyclorama, cyclotron. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02If you said big sculpture, I would have said Stone Mountain, but No, it's uh it's in it's in Georgia. The Mona Lisa. No, I say that just because you ironically we were just having a conversation the other day about the Mona Lisa in actuality as a really, really tiny painting.
SPEAKER_00It's not that great. I mean, it like all things good. The only reason it's famous is because it was stolen. Yeah. Literally it. Yeah, the Cyclorama, the big picture exhibitions in Georgia. Yeah, there we go. Okay, anyway. So um he was lighting that, and they upgraded all the lighting to the to this color-changing RGB, and he's and you know, fixtures that are now hitting the thing, and he's spending a lot of time trying to dial in the right wavelengths and things because you know you can radically change a painting with the lighting color that you're hitting it with. Yeah, and this thing is you know, like a hundred years old. It's crazy old. So the people that are restoring it, they're like, Yeah, we know that there was damage due to some crazy fire back in the day or something, and you know, can't really tell. They did such a good job fixing it, we can't really tell where the damage was or what the original scene was because it's been added to over the years, blah blah blah. And Aram is just demonstrating the lighting system uh and how it operates, and he like cycles through like a certain shade of blue and boom, and it hits it almost like a black light. Yeah, and suddenly all of the chain the non-original changes like lit up, and like and Aram is just sitting there like with an iPad, like, oh yeah, here's the color wheel, and you can do this, you can do that, and then all of a sudden, all of the curators just go ape. They're like, Oh my god, yeah, look at that thing. We've been looking for this for years, you can see the thing. He's like, I'll come back later. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Suddenly it looks like a hotel room from Van Nuys in the 1980s.
SPEAKER_00If you know, you know. Yeah, it was funny. But but I mean, so yeah, most of our work in the museum space is is lighting.
SPEAKER_02I apologize for my previous comment. I'm I'm over here going, why did I just say, God, that's that's disgusting.
SPEAKER_00Um, the people that don't laugh probably didn't get it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh it's it's it it's uh that's almost one of the we used to call them Dennis Millerisms. You know, you'll eventually get it, but it had to soak in for a little while.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna you're gonna Google that later.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's gonna be funny. Why is what's what's so big? What's a big deal about cheap hotel rooms in Van Nuys and I oh I didn't order a pizza?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, usually usually for me it's like some kind of a historical vent or political figure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, oh yeah, was the Emperor of Paraguay in the 1700s like, oh yeah. Do you have the Genghis John uh the Genghis speaking of bad eyes? It's early.
SPEAKER_02Genghis Kongine. Do you have the Genghis Khan gene? Um I I do, by the way. Yeah, like 70% of people on earth have it.
SPEAKER_00I thought it was 85, but sure.
SPEAKER_02Well, it it comes down to the dude was prolific. That is the only way you can say it. Prolific. How do you spell Genghis Khan?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna spell it completely wrong. I'm just gonna fire some words off at you. And this is this is what I would pound into Google to see if it would come back with something useful.
SPEAKER_02Here we go. The Genghis Khan gene refers to a specific Y chromosomial lineage found in about eight percent of men across populations in Asia, about 0.5% of men globally that originated in Mongolia around 1,000 years ago. Uh a 2003 genetic study suggests that this super Y chromosome was spread by Genghis Khan and his male descendants, potentially accounting for about sixteen million descendants today. Uh so we were I don't know, listen by we we have never ever declared this show about accurate math or statistics.
SPEAKER_00Hey, we're supposed to get some uh several things wrong every episode. Yeah. Because we still haven't given away all of our operation clusterfuck.
SPEAKER_02To be honest, like we haven't given away any of them for people who have written and corrected us, so you all are fools, because there's serious inaccuracies to what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, so we were gonna talk about real shit?
SPEAKER_02Hey, I'm just saying that alternative facts are are prolific in the United States.
SPEAKER_00I say that. I've been listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson's podcast a lot, Star Talk.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'm sorry. I just realized I need to get a fourth cat and name him Genghis John. Nobody else would get that though. No, but it would be hilarious to me.
SPEAKER_00Genghis John.
SPEAKER_02This is going to be a lot of fun for me.
SPEAKER_00Genghis John John is Genghis Khan's younger brother. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I need to make a new friend named John so I can start calling him Genghis John. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Are you going to inventory those hordes?
SPEAKER_02At the the uh accounting firm of Superwide Chromosome. Yeah. Anyway, we're gonna talk about Star Trek.
SPEAKER_00We were, and then we got distracted for 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_0217. And really 16 and a half if you count the intro. But uh speaking of the intro, yeah, Stewie uh You know what? You know what's going on right now? We're at now now, you know what's going on right now?
SPEAKER_00There's a lot of shit going on right now. You're gonna have to be a little more specific.
SPEAKER_02There is a nerdcon in Orlando right now. MegaCon. And Weta is there.
SPEAKER_00MegaCon! And what is what is it?
SPEAKER_02MegaCon?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Are our Weta friends at Megacon?
SPEAKER_02No, just people that work there.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_02Well, they've got a booth. Oh, I'm coming out of the booth. But yeah, it's it's like I remember when when MegaCon first started, it was it was a you know, a small uh unremarkable con, and now it's one of the bigger ones. It's they're expected 200,000 nerds.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02We should have planned our episode this week better and recorded from like, I don't know, the Denny's or some shit.
SPEAKER_00We should have not bought a ticket and just hung out in the lobby.
SPEAKER_02It's weird. I met Patrick Stewart by not buying a ticket.
SPEAKER_00He's great. Can't swing a dead podcaster in this place without hitting another dead podcaster.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's like over here, this section of the convention center is just tables for podcasters to record live from.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, podcast hall. It uh I I went my within the first couple of years of me living in Orlando, I went. And I used to go to Gen Con up in Milwaukee all the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which is like the original con. We talked about that when you didn't. Yeah, yeah, we did. And uh freaking amazing. Loved it. Came down here, and I'm like, oh, this is very underwhelming.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I've been to the San Diego Comic-Con, which is the biggest. There's that currently that's the one that Hollywood does all the announcements and you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's like, hey, we can just drive slightly over there and talk about shit.
SPEAKER_02So um I think it was Oh no, no, no. It was um the week after I got back because I was up, you know, they they just had the the one in DC, the big ones in DC where um they had a panel from the cast of Firefly. Oh yeah. And they made an announcement.
SPEAKER_00Cartoon.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. So first off, did you see the um Nathan Fillion on social media doing his little uh I saw I saw I saw bits of it.
SPEAKER_00I saw the the social media rum uh rumblings of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, where he he would like go up to various cast door and knock on it, and they it's time, we're doing this. Are we doing are we and then that's all it was, but it being silly, and yeah, they announced it. So um I I don't hate it. Um I wish it was live action. There's so much I wish that was gonna happen with this.
SPEAKER_00I think it's been too long. I think it's a good one. Well, and that's that's why Cartoon Makes Sense. It's been too long for them. I mean, I I'm curious to see what or how they're gonna do with uh Shepard Book.
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, they'll probably just have to recast that because my understanding because they bring the Wal Wash is in it. He died.
SPEAKER_00So um Yeah, freaking Josh Whedon.
SPEAKER_02They um you know, but he's in it, so it's it, you know, they would either bring it back as like a hologram, you know, something rather that or flashbacks. But it I think they're implying that this is before the movie. This is going to be interstellar.
SPEAKER_00Like in between the two, yeah. Because in between the two, you they have a kind of a Clone Wars opportunity to tell a ton of stories in between those those two chronological events. But I mean something that I've always wanted to explore is Shepard Books' backstory.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because he's got a crazy freaking backstory that's only hinted at. Yeah. And it's like, I I need to know more. I need to know more about that character. Thank you for killing him.
SPEAKER_02Well, part of that that's really, really interesting is um so they've got permission and they've got the agreements to do the show. The show doesn't have a home. And in uh the announcement, uh Phillian says, you know, like, you know, hey, um we're uh we're putting it together and we're gonna go out and start shopping it for a home.
SPEAKER_00So uh you know, which is funny because they should start their own streaming service for$3.95 a month. You can subscribe to Well yeah, and and that's it.
SPEAKER_02So it's it's technically it's a Disney property.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, Disney does own it. Um so But it it's probably gonna depend on on who gives them money to make it. That's that's probably gonna have a lot to do with it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, maybe. Man, I wish I I w I wish that I wish that I could get like maybe Nathan failing to speak at a conference so that I could bribe him. into letting us participate in a show. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00We get yelled at. Isn't that oh just that would be that would be that that works that's an inside joke for that works on like three or four amazing levels. Yeah. The Venn diagram of that joke is only fully understood by like four people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh and all four of you.
SPEAKER_00And one of them's in the room. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02So uh oh God that made me happy happier than it should have been. So yeah. Moving on. So start right. Jesus, are we ever going to talk about the 20 minutes late there? Yeah, so so uh Starfleet Academy ended and it's good. Oh my God. So I'm gonna say this. So all of you motherfucking haters uh go you know go uh transporter yourself into the buffers and stay there.
SPEAKER_00Transporter yourself into the buffers and stay there. Yeah uh you know the the the the hate haters are getting shows canceled and like we have the power to cancel bad shows and like yeah but you're using it on you're using it on good ones. So just because you don't understand it doesn't make it bad. Here's the hope right um the hope is that Seth McFarlane gets it picked up on because of the DVD sales.
SPEAKER_02That would be great but they already filmed season two. They had Greenlight two seasons they released season one while they were producing season two. So we get a season two at least for anybody who thought season one started oh is too like refer to like five episodes ago when we told you you guys were all a bunch of fucking asshole dummies that didn't understand Star Trek or Gene Roddenberry or the origins of what this show is. But um outside of all that um the the slow pickup of the character development in your opinions um turned into some really great stories and I would argue that you know the way they brought those teams that those those those students together to form a team and a close relationship and save the day is some of the most Star Trek Star Trek that you can imagine.
SPEAKER_00Like the most Star Trek to have ever Star Trek.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if it's the most Star Trek to have ever Star Trek but it is certainly an appropriate amount of Star Trek.
SPEAKER_00It's an appropriate amount of Star Trekking yeah and the way and I I almost wonder if part of the hate I think part of the hate may deal with these shorter seasons. So like maybe and I I mean I think we may have touched on this in the in the past where you'd ha you don't have time for filler. You don't have time for f well but shows like the next generation deep space I mean deep space nine uh got into more of the longer arcs the more season wide arcs. Yeah but um definitely Voyager and and uh next generation they're very just episodic so you you were completely fulfilled in your story arc all in one sitting and and you were hey look I'm content I here here's here's the problem here's the bad guy here's the solution boom that's one hour of my life check. Yeah and what they're doing with most of these these limited release streaming shows with ten episodes if it that are released weekly you really have to watch them in you have to wait and you have to wait you have to wait for the payout you have to wait ten weeks for the payout of that show. And you watch the first two episodes and you're like this is dumb. Where's it going? I don't get it's like wow you've you're not even gonna give the conclusion of this story a chance it's a ten part story not ten episodes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah and the the way that concluded fantastic that the the so smart they stuck the landing on the story arc so well and and again it's it it goes back to so many tropes and storyline like you know you've got this here's this group person or organization that absolut or race that absolutely hates the Federation because of XYZ and uh you you know hey spoiler alert you get to the point where it's like oh no no no you grew up hating the Federation for something your dad did a misunderstanding about yeah yeah it's yeah you were that was phenomenal you were dabbling in powers you just didn't understand and you blew yourself up. Yeah it reminds me randomly from uh Frank Zappa's book um um oh I forgot what is I want to say braindroppings yeah but uh Frank Zappa wrote an autobiography and he was talking about when he was kid a kid the plastic that you uh that they made ping pong balls with was incredibly flammable and he used to file down ping pong balls into dust to make an ex an accelerant kind of by a lot and uh apparently at one point because you know he was do like he was like sitting on the ground in his garage filing these things so there was a powder of this dust basically between his legs and it went off and it blew his paws off but not literally I mean that's but there was a a section in there I believe that if I'm remembering it it's from his I'm pretty sure it's from Frank Zappa's book his autobiography but uh yeah it reminded me of that for some reason anyway back to the show so the show we get an extra season out of this and you know so at least the haters hated it and whatever and I'm hoping that it's just fucking I hope it's brilliant one. I hope uh I hope that they can wrap up the story of what's going on and not linger uh let it linger uh well but at the same time I hope that as strong as season one ended they reevaluate I I don't know I don't know if it the the state of the industry where it is I don't know how much reevaluation no is going to be put into things and and isn't there a new a new uh production team on board kind of leading it how how much you think that's gonna play into it so um it's not that there's a new new production team it is expected that the current production team is uh wrapping up and yeah you and I had um talked about this a little bit the uh so there's there's been the three eras did we talk about this on a show or is that just you and I talking about it I think it was just you and I talking which is really sad because we've reached the point where I can't differentiate between something that we've recorded or like us just talking at lunch. Yeah if um if if you've if you've heard us talk about this just quickly email us real fast at uh show at rum and nerdy and we'll stop talking about it. But yes I get I get the joke is that uh yeah um anyway uh so wow what is it Alex Kurtzman I I I think it's yeah Alex Kurtzman is um the show creator for this show that has kind of been um the guy yeah he's this he's the Star Trek guy so um there's been three eras of Star Trek first one's Gene Roddenberry uh obviously the original show the motion pictures uh he handed it off to uh Rick Berman Rick Berman was Star Trek Next Generation and on and um and then he handed it off to um Alex Kurtzman. Now Alex um Alex came in uh I he I think he the the movies the the new movies the uh Christopher Pine movies yeah uh but then did uh Discovery and um the uh the the Strange New Worlds and uh this section 31 the the lower decks all of the prodigy like he's he's been the guy for a lot of those the this most recent wave of Star Trek content. Yeah now um you know again we you know we already did a little touch in politics a couple uh a couple episodes ago so but you know at the end of the day Paramount was purchased Paramount CBS was purchased by uh the Ellison family uh and a very conservative uh organization now uh they're in the process of buying Warner Brothers and and everything else and um so in that process it is expected that um there's going to be a shift in approach to something like Star Trek the so so um Kursman's time is probably coming to an end so they there's likely going to be somebody else brought in to helm the the the the not the series but the uh the universe uh you know but it it it it brings up the debate it's like where what is next do they continue in that future timeline do they go back and do like early Kirk days or you know they do they go way back and talk about that World War III and the you know the fall of humanity and the rise of uh well it wasn't Starfleet at the time but you know the um like there's a lot of places they can they can go further back and further back they can do interstitial uh we haven't gotten a lot on like you know they they've basically covered the Enterprise Enterprise A you know and then you know there there's been a limited amount that we've gotten from some of those interstitial before we get to D. Yeah yeah you've we've seen them at some point or another but we've not gotten a lot of that story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah and part of that part of that ties into um what are you really what are you really looking for out of the show? Because to capture the intent of the original Star Trek stay in the future look forward invent new things you know because right now hovering I don't want to say it's played out but if we stay within the the Kirk Spock era anytime between anytime between Archer and Picard Yeah anytime in that realm it's you're you're missing the point of Star Trek and you're just rehashing old tropes and you're cramming fan service into explosions and it's like hey if you if you want to if you want to if you want to hand that to Michael Bain and go make a a Star Wars movie that's fine. I will watch it I will enjoy it it will be good. But that's not that's not what I want out of Star Trek.
SPEAKER_02I I I see where you're going with it but I don't necessarily agree that it's default to that um because you know and we've talked about this quite a bit so one of the like Star Wars is about placemaking in a universe and they bounce all over the place in Star Wars within a set I mean by and large within a set parameter of time. You know they've gone back Acolyte was like a hundred years before and then there's you know the in other Star Wars canon the old republic and other things that they touch on but primarily most Star Wars content takes place with um between say um the birth of Anakin and the death of Palpatine you know the most everything fills within those nine movies. All the ancillary content you know they they have legitimately found places to tell stories all over yeah um and I think Star Trek can do that but I do agree that uh you you have to approach it without the inherent fan service and say you know like Bicard you know Bicard they went back and told more Bicard story was that fan service they at first it was accused of it by the end of the third season it was unbelievable like that third season second season third season fucking breathtaking yeah it was perfect yeah um they can do that um I think you know but it's they have the technology they yeah we can rebuild them but but there's I think that there are some you know would I hate seeing a six episode single season limited release series or limited series for um the Spox origin that really covers um him like from uh effectively like that that 20 year old before he goes into Starflight like you know like to I would I want to see something that kind of gives perspective on who he is as a character. Yeah I mean is that the right answer that's that's just me you know spitballing off the top of my head but the I I'm saying that there's places in there where you have beloved characters that you can uh you can do that with um you know or you can just simply go completely outside the box and do characters that you you don't know much about. I don't want to say Q because Q's really played out but you know if you look at s all of these different races um you know what if it's um kind of like um you know the what's the the they just did they did three seasons of a Star Wars show Tales uh Tales of the Empire Tales of the Republic and Tales of the Underworld I think it was the third one. Yeah um and what if they did like an animated uh six episode 30 minute thing where they revisited some of the most iconic like tribles you know like like they never really explain where tribles of the tribles you know but it if they do you know Star Trek Tales of Strange New Worlds or you know whatever that is it you know it it to be worked out I think that there's content that is that interstitial filling the gap um filling holes you know it's like every fandom with this much content uh people start to fill you know oh well there's a hole in this and uh you know there's there's all of these different things that they I think they could go back and revisit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah but I mean part part of that part of that uh feeds into my gripe about um the term plot hole being or hole being used incorrectly because a lot of people say holes or they're hole that like no just because they didn't explain it doesn't mean it's a hole. Those lines connect. I I saw the bus jump on the ramp on this side and then I saw it land on this side I don't need to see it fly through the air to understand that that's what happened. Yeah. Well how do you how do you how do you know that you know a helicopter didn't come by with a giant magnet and carry it to the other ramp. Like it it is after all a uh Faster furious movie but uh yeah no I uh heroes in space I I think they could do that but I'd like them to branch out a little bit. Oh yeah because there's there's a lot of stuff that you know like Spock's backstory.
SPEAKER_02I'm using it as low-hanging fruit because to me um I you know it it's the the placemaking I'm not that I don't want them to continue on with what's going on in the current universe with Discovery and um and uh Starfleet Academy like I not that I don't want them to carry on with what's going on there and then they've certainly set the stage I would like if they made another show in that era I would want it to exist in that era not another 200 year jump. Yeah um the serious jump through time into this new place I don't want them to do that again.
SPEAKER_00Oh no no no no no no I I think you're I think you're completely right and I and I I think the jump was important to kind of get away from the JJ Abrams. They needed a clean canvas. Exactly and I think dynamite way to do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah but uh for you know and there's problematic things that even us like both of us are kind of like iffy on the programmable matter uh I think it's cool and you know maybe the technology will totally exist one day in two thousand years but I think they relied on it too much with the ships and you know yeah yeah there there's some things that I just I don't I don't appreciate but it's not a show killer for me. No, no it's it's it's just like eh I wish they would have told that story a little different. But my concern is like we're gonna jump even further and now we have programmable flesh and we can just you know giggity yeah whatever you know my point it is it's just like are you doing the jump so that you can introduce something that's not important to the story you've the the time period is like a character. You know you've you've done character development now tell more story with that character. Yeah um is is kind of where I'm ooh I did a whistle um but yeah tell more story with that particular character or go back to other characters characters being time frames yeah um that you know I really enjoy um you know they jumped 800 years there's a lot of story you can tell in between there you know you could you can go back and tell a story of immediate post burn and the Federation falling apart and being trying to have any semblance of rebuilding.
SPEAKER_00There's that that actually would be I would love to see that show a burn centric show where the entire show is just like it starts off with the burn and the entire show is just frantically trying ships exploding everywhere. Yeah because you can panic.
SPEAKER_02Like the just the the the whole thing is panic the whole thing is you know triage the whole thing is yeah because that's a good idea in in really what Star Trek is about you know where you talk about the effect on catastrophe to a society that's what Star Trek is about is those those things like so you can explore you know the lack of a better way to put it with in sp the human condition. But you know that's not a bad way to put it yeah there's just not just human. I didn't want to make it human centric but that idea of of how do societies um behave and reflect like what happens when something like this occurs.
SPEAKER_00I I I did hear somewhere that all the entire cast of the new series will be entirely human. So take that as you will which new series they're all human what new s like there's an No it was a joke meaning meaning that when you go down to the fucking film studio you're not you're you're you're not sending out uh call sheets to Zig Zigzorgs like it's just human beings are going to be the only people both making this and consuming it. Yeah. So I'm okay with it being human centric.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh gotcha so um anyway yeah so there there's lots of places you can play. All that said I want to shift gears. Okay because I am getting quite excited for something. Do I need to leave the room and we're still no don't be gross uh what are we coming up uh in March March so we got into April May June so about three months about 90 days out give or take. Damn uh Rush is back on tour. That's right.
SPEAKER_00Um this is a big show for you this is this is kind this is kind of the I missed my chance redemption show.
SPEAKER_02Well in and again I think there was like we've told this story and there was some misconception. I have seen Rush play many times uh which is funny to me because the last time I saw them they were in Tampa and they didn't have an opening act and they come out and they play a song and everybody cheers and after the song they go we are rush and everybody goes on and we're gonna play many many many many many many songs and they did like a three and a half hour set with an intermission and it was just hours of Rush concert and it was fucking glorious. Uh but um yeah the last tour that they did was in 2014. It was right before Green Get's bank had opened Digon Alley which I was working on And I was so everybody was just so caught up in those final months of getting that finished. And I didn't pay close enough attention. Uh and rush being one of my favorite uh acts ever, um I didn't get to go see it. And the day after um our Tim, uh who was our lighting vendor uh was there and he was talking about that he went the night before and I was like, Man, I was so jealous. I was like, man, I really wanted to go. And he says to me, he's like, I wish you would have known that. We had somebody bailed, we had an unused ticket. I would have just invited you. And so I I I didn't go. That uh that tour culminated at a show in Los Angeles at the it was called something different at the end, but it was like the Staple Center or whatever it is that's the big arena downtown Los Angeles. Is that Staple Center? I think it's Staple.
SPEAKER_00I think it's Staple Center.
SPEAKER_02Um it's the you know Order Foodforyour Dog.com. All of them are just like weird names for arenas. But uh it it ended down there and it's the last concert. Now Neil, Pert, the the drummer, is is famously known for being an introvert. He he doesn't um he doesn't want stardom, or he didn't really ever want that. He just wants to be a dude and he loves his music. Uh and he loves a lot of other things, his motorcycles and everything. So uh you know, generally, um uh Alex and Neil um or Alex and uh Getty would would um you know be at the end of the concert and down the end of the stage waving to people and thanking the fans and blah blah blah and they would all go and Neil would get up and leave. And that last concert of that tour, they were waving to the fans and they looked across the stage at each other, and standing between them was Neil waving to the audience, and they were famously interviewed as saying they knew that was the last time he would ever play again in their heart. They uh unquestionably he was saying goodbye. That's crazy. And um if there is one concert that I could like out of any concert, if there was one concert, that's definitely like in the top three or four that I would pick that I would want to be there at that concert at that moment. Um but missing that tour uh stung and then he he he passed away um um not too long after that, and you and and basically it was always assumed he's irreplaceable. You can never replace Neil Purt. Yeah. Uh and you wouldn't want to, so um but but they did. They found this uh I I thought I was I previously said this young woman, uh Annika Niles. Uh but uh turns out she's 42 years old. I thought she was like in her twenties. Uh she's 42 years old, uh a German drummer. Uh she's an educator, a musician educator, and acclaimed YouTube drummer known for her technical proficiency. Uh and she toured with with uh Jeff Beck and um but uh here's the thing what what Rush could have done, because there's a lot of really good drummers out there. Yeah. Um and whether he was an invert or not, Neil was a personality. He was a you know, he was uh an icon, he was a character, you know, like you know, shy or not, yeah, uh music lovers of of any genre. If if if you're a musician and a music lover, whether you like the band or not, you would acknowledge Neil was pfft pfff he was a god, and you know, he's he is he's Neil. You know, if you say drummers in Neil, you know who you're talking about. Yeah. Um so as a band, could you go like, hey, yeah, you know, Lars from Metallica or or uh even um uh uh I don't know what it's about. Sounds like the first word you know, it I don't know. Any drummer from any major rock band, uh, or even like Dave Grohl, you know, whatever. Like Dave's a great drummer, and uh he you know, that's not what he focuses on, but you know, they they could have done something like, well, Dave's got his own fan base and he loves the music. He would totally pick up some shows and play drums because he's gonna they there's a lot of ways they could have just thrown in a stand-in drummer. Someone that knows how to drum, but that is a personality, and they they didn't do that. They found this person who has their own fans and but they're more obscure. They went for talent and just finding this opportunity, somebody that could play at that level uh and and be respectful of the memory of him without trying to recast the memory, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00Not recast the memory. I think that is a very elegant way of s of putting that.
SPEAKER_02You're welcome. Anyway, so um not recasting. So Annika, so they announced that they were gonna do this. Uh we got ourselves set up for pre-sale tickets. Our good friend Dan was able to get a good space in line, and I remember because you know your schedule is quite complex on uh, you know, the Rush wasn't coming to Orlando. In fact, they weren't even coming to Florida, they added dates and now they are, but no regrets. They um they weren't even gonna come to Florida. So I had done a very elaborate spreadsheet that combined um all of the cities and dates, um, them playing, like, okay, when are they playing? One on a day you don't have your daughter, on a day that's a weekend. So it's basically like what are the ideal dates where we could go not affect our job schedules, not affect our family schedules, not affect blah blah blah. And there were two dates. Uh they are playing four days, most cities are either playing two or four dates. Los Angeles, they're playing four dates in Los Angeles to kick off the tour, they're starting in Los Angeles. The third night is a Saturday night, Saturday, July 13th. And that's where we because it was that or Toronto, which also would have been really good. It's like their hometown to go like literally YYZ baby? Yeah, they the airport code for Toronto is YYZ, and if you're a Rush fan, you know that's one of their most famous songs. It's in an instrumental song, but it's it's a a very famous instrumental rush song uh named after the airport code.
SPEAKER_00Uh but uh yeah, so well it was the the airport code in Morris code is like the beat to the song.
SPEAKER_02I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, really? Whoa, really? Right? Oh my gosh, this is like watching you get uh beaten out on Lord of the Rings trilogy. Right? Uh yeah, no, they were the band they were flying in to to YYZ like in just a small plane. Yeah, that's that's YYZ in Morris Code. That's they they heard it over the radio because it was just like the beacon transmitter, and the pilot's like, yeah, that's just that's what that is. And they're like, oh well, we're using that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um the uh but yeah, it was a great song. Anyway, um so we picked we picked Los Angeles, we we uh were able to get tickets. It it came up to me again because um we got four tickets. We had uh somebody who was going to go and they had to drop out, so it's you and I and Dan. We have a fourth ticket. Um and we're gonna give away the fourth ticket on the ship. No, we're not. We're not doing that.
SPEAKER_00Um but um um But we might if you write us uh explanation of everything we screwed up in this episode.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I'm not even promising that because some asshole will do it, and then they're gonna expect I'm suing you for that fourth ticket. You can't have it. It's spoken for.
SPEAKER_00Um If you send us an email no later than March fifteenth, twenty twenty-six. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no later than.
SPEAKER_00Actually, I'm gonna go ahead and say that if you shoot shoot us an email before March fifteenth, twenty twenty-six, I will give you that fucking ticket.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Given the fact that it's after that date, then sure. But we're posting on the twentieth. That's the that's the joke. So the um anyway, so I I purchased that ticket uh as a gift to uh a dear friend of mine who did something pretty remarkable for me uh this last year. And so I I paid for that ticket this week. And really? Yeah, I paid for it, and it is a gift to our friend Andy. So our friend Andy will be joining us on that night. And um and uh yeah, so it was uh you know how I like to do things for people.
SPEAKER_00You love to do things for people. That's that's great.
SPEAKER_02The uh uh yeah, so so that was my thanking him for doing uh something pretty remarkable to help uh uh help refocus my my life this last year, and it was something that I you know, you know. Yeah anybody that knows me is like I kinda had a rather shit year uh in 25. It was kind of shitty. So uh ended in a good note, and this year has been fantastic. So that's my appreciation to my friend Andy, who's been on the show. And I think he's gonna be on the show next week. Uh yeah, he's because he's in town. He's in town. It's actually his birthday week. Really? Yeah, yeah. So um I have uh I have got him something to give him as a birthday present when we record. Oh, well that's gonna be fun. It's a dumb thing. It's like five bucks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You'll uh you'll know what it means, T, but we'll explain it after he opens up next week. Uh looking forward to that. Anyway, um, yeah, so Rush, we're gonna go see them.
SPEAKER_00I really need to put that on my calendar because I don't have it on my calendar. Yeah. Um it's like I know that at some point in time this summer, I have to go to LA. Oh. And I'm gonna see Rush.
SPEAKER_02And um we're also because I had that um companion pass with Delta. Uh so uh it's booked. Uh we're gonna be visiting demo Dave and Shannon in Las Vegas. We're gonna be uh we're gonna do a Las Vegas weekend with them. Uh looking forward to that already. That's in just a few weeks. That's that's like in three, maybe four weeks. We're gonna, it's uh uh Friday through Monday.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was another one of those fun hey, I have to commit to this airplane ticket by this time, this day. Like, what do you think? It's like, oh shit. Yeah, yeah, Vegas.
SPEAKER_02And it it all worked out. And actually, uh our our friend Demo Dave is involved in the Highland Games in Las Vegas. Uh, so we're going to join him in attendance for the Highland Games.
SPEAKER_00Which I've I've never been to.
SPEAKER_02No? No. They're great, you know, where they like throw this keg and throw this tree.
SPEAKER_00I am the cabertoss. I am absolutely familiar with Highland Games in general. I just have never participated.
SPEAKER_02You'll appreciate this. The first one that went, there's Lake Highland Games here in Central Florida. Yeah. Uh and um when Riley was very, very young, I think it was right after Layla was born, we went up to them, and he had to have they had those wooden practice swords, and he had to have it. He just, like, please, please. So I got them. And there was a I got him one, and there's all these kids in this field kind of running around, just like one of those no strangers. When you're a little kid, other little kids are your and when they have a wooden sword.
SPEAKER_00Do we just become best friends?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you start sword fighting, and of course, my son, he's a little boy, doesn't have a right hand, born without a right hand, and all the other kids are like, Oh no, what happened? And I'm like, be careful with those swords. He's already had an accident once, what really?
SPEAKER_00No, no, not really. Yes, by by a lot, yes.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, kid. Anyway, um, so that was fun. So I'm looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_00Um children also quite gullible.
SPEAKER_02One other story I want to I want to throw this out there. Um and you know how I am and I always black out and forget names, and this is a guy I met once. Um there is a gentleman who is a new listener, and he's just going to get a kick out of the fact that I am uh throwing his name out there. Uh he is a salesperson on um also a guitar player, because he's talking about this.
SPEAKER_00Uh oh you yes, you you were so Israel. Yeah. His name is Israel. Uh he You were so excited about whenever you make a new friend.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just this this random guy. He was having a bad day. It was like sadly, it was the anniversary of I think his daughter passing away or something like that from but we had met him and he was just at a hotel bar. Um and uh he he said this and I just got up out of my still walked over and gave him a big hug. And he was like, What you hugged me and says, Yeah, you needed it. And he was like opened up and it was great. Uh anyway, so he sells uh like F F and E, like equip like furniture and different things, but specifically his the product is 3D printed wood products that is then milled into like Adirondack chairs and stuff, whatever, but it's 3D printed to where there is an interior grain. So when when you mill this pl I mean it's it meets fire code, it's plastic, it doesn't rot, but it's got interior good.
SPEAKER_00So when you manufacture out of this wood when you cut into it, yeah, it's got side grain.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's like all of that stuff. So he's he's been trying to find time to show us his catalogs and stuff. So uh he's there's this text with with um with Andy, him, and I and and the other day he he or like last other week ago or whatever, he goes, you know, hey, are you in town? Yeah, like really sorry. Um I'm recording tonight. He goes, Oh, you like you're banned? Or like, no, no, I have podcast. Oh, what is it? And then he goes immediately and listens to that episode and then comes back and says, Dude, this is my new fucking favorite show. I love this show. And he started, he's like, Do you take call-ins? I'm like, we we because we don't, yeah.
SPEAKER_00We could if you can like Ben do our schedules.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like you know, we it would be scheduled, we've done Zoom recording, like we've got to set up the equipment. It's not like on our phone we can just set the phone next to our microphone, although we probably could. It would sound like shit, but we we can do stuff. Yeah, we're like, I want to call in, I want to be on your show. And um, so uh I'm like functionally, it's a little bit different. The other thing is like we love having guests, but it's we've never just had a complete stranger.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it'll be fun. We have, we have one of our Halloween episodes. That might have been the old show, but we had we had a Halloween episode where we had the director from that horror movie. Okay. Wow. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but that was a zoom. Yeah, okay. I kind of remember. Yeah, so we we we we did we did it through Zooms. So yeah, yeah, we can absolutely do that.
SPEAKER_02It was a little different. Anyway, um he is in Orlando often um for his little sales calls.
SPEAKER_00So then we should totally just have him in the studio. That's the same thing.
SPEAKER_02Or either that or just take the mobile set to the you know the hotel downtown.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's either way, way more way more drinks there.
SPEAKER_02He's just gonna get a kick out of the fact that I I mentioned him on the show. Uh but uh hey Israel, hope you're doing well. Um welcome to the Fandomit uh but Andy's gonna be on, should be on next week, unless something else comes up, which often does with him. Um we'll be in Vegas this month in April, mid mid-April. So well, and then it'll be the following week that we'll release.
SPEAKER_00But we'll do something special for the LA trip.
SPEAKER_02Um April, we've got Inspire Week, which will be a special episode. Special episode, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh also talking to our friend Denise, we have uh uh a home tiki bar tour that we're gonna be doing as well.
SPEAKER_02Billy does want to host us. He's got a Dungeons and Dragons room in his house.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02Uh so he he wants to host us there.
SPEAKER_00We have to we have to just sit down and we need to arrange times to do you need to stop flying places.
SPEAKER_02That's yeah, right. Uh I will in mid-July. No, mid-June. Until July. Jesus. Because now uh I might have something on the 7th of July to go to Europe. Uh more info to come. And then um uh yeah, uh, and and then I'm going to Hawaii the end of July for my sister's wedding.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, that's right. That's gonna be cool.
SPEAKER_02We just we just booked our our accommodations. Um so uh yeah. Anyway, um all that said, let's wrap up. Listen, um uh thank you for listening. Uh sorry, uh don't forget to uh check out our friend Dave Martin. DemoDave Pro.com. You can check out our website, rumandnerdy.com. That's rum and dnerdy.com.
SPEAKER_00Uh socials at rum and nerdy, most platforms.
SPEAKER_02Uh you can email us again as previously mentioned, show at rumandnerdy.com. We'd love to hear from you guys.
SPEAKER_00You don't have a book you want to plug?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's fine.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_00Go on.
SPEAKER_02I need to plug in the vacuum and vacuum in here. It's kind of that's the only thing I need to plug is the vacuum. Can't land the ball. Anyway, moving on. Stay nerdy, my friends.
SPEAKER_01Uh jammed out to Hello Isn't that Tom Sweet. And uh we you know, we couldn't do the drums. No one can do the drums like you. But we did um it's like uh What did you call that song? Oh, I know it's Tom uh you it's called Tom Sawyer, but I love it uh in the song when you go, uh mean means from me. Today's Tom Sawyer, mean mean pride. I don't think I say it like that. I'm pretty sure you say Tom Sawyer.