Here's the second half of my conversation with Robert Meyer Burnett about what's wrong with modern Star Trek - and in a much broader sense, what's wrong with our "Golden Age" of television.

Much of the TV we get today draws on our nostalgia for ideas and themes from decades ago. Why is that? Why do so many sci-fi writers seem to be taking the easy way out and rather than telling tales of the future that require them to understand and think hard about science and culture to extrapolate what life might be like a hundred or a thousand years out, instead they write about the things that really interest them.

Their feelings.

And so we get stories set in a distant time and place, but using allusions and situations faced by the people of today - resulting in sci-fi that isn't aspirational or forward-looking and, instead, is often preachy, ill-conceived and divisive.

If that's the "gold" in our golden age, then it's more likely iron pyrite - a.k.a. "Fools' Gold."

I invite you to listen in on my weekday conversations with my friend and business partner, Robert Meyer Burnett, as we talk about the things we love: great movies, inspiring television programming, nostalgic genre entertainment, and pop culture.

- Mike Bawden, co-host of the ROADTRIPPIN' Podcast

This is an original show produced for the PGS podcast network and was recorded on April 8, 2022.