Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at The Brookings Institute and the author of eight books, including Kindly Inquisitors: the New Attacks on Free Thought and my favorite mini memoir, Denial: My 25 Years without a Soul. Jonathan is a friend, the father of the introvert liberation movement, and one of the reasons our country has expanded marriage rights to the LGBTQ community. I brought Jonathan on to talk about the 2024 election, one month later.
Jonathan’s film recommendation: Network (1976)
Ken’s recommendation: Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode “The Inner Light”
Jonathan’s list of good Star Trek (1966-69) episodes
Devil in the Dark. Second episode to air, revolutionary in its day; inverts the usual story about monsters and aliens being the bad guys
Balance of Terror. Two commanders struggle to out-psych each other and develop professional respect. (Based on a movie about WWII submarine battle
Amok Time. Ultra-logical Spock has a dark side…as does civiliation (a recurrent theme). Written by Theodore Sturgeon, one of the sci-fi Golden Age greats
The Doomsday Machine. Great performance by William Windom as Commodore Decker as the Enterprise confronts a planet-destroying robot
The Ultimate Computer. Computerized warfare gets out of hand. Imagine this on network TV in 1968!
The Enemy Within. Kirk can’t command without his sociopathic side.
The Trouble with Tribbles. The lightest episode, a fan favorite. An alien species takes over the ship…but not the way you think
The City on the Edge of Forever. By critical consensus, probably the greatest episode. Grapples with the contingent and tragic nature of history. Ends on a deeply ambivalent note (and includes TV’s first use of a cuss word, “hell”). Written by the sci-fi great Harlan Ellison. Again, amazing to imagine this on prime time in that era. (The guest star is young Joan Collins, no less.)
Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here and here.
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