BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes!

Starfleet is what you get when hippies have no man to rail against, when hippies *are* the man (and woman and antennaed being) but can also bathe and hold down jobs. And in the Hippie Federation, everything is cool. Believe in God, don't believe in God, claim you are God . . . all valid options. But in the rapidly developing theocratic societies of colonial New England, God was your deity, boss, and president all rolled into one and breaking the law, including God's law, meant you had a date with the gibbet and you're buying.

That's the world the characters of "The Crucible" find themselves in as Arthur Miller's play begins. Puritans are, despite all efforts to the contrary, still human, but when lust and lies are capital crimes, some "righteous" citizens are willing to exploit Salem's fear of the supernatural to settle scores, to increase their holdings, and to try and possess someone they think they deserve. On the other side of the equation, the very real Salem Witch Trials also occurred in the Star Trek universe, and the fear and hatred on display in early America cost us a relationship with an alien race who was looking to share their extraordinary gifts, and Kirk and the Enterprise are being put through their own trial over humanity's rejection of "The Magics of Megas-Tu".

It's another long episode but our first recorded in person and our first Star Trek animated series episode! Join us as we examine the chilling real-world events in 17th century Massachusets Bay Colony that claimed 19 lives and set neighbor against neighbor. We discuss the historical details of the witch hunts of the late 1600s, the actual victims and their persecutors, the "spiritual evidence" brought against the accused, the sexist and greedy motives of the accusers, the continued poignance of Miller's play and the author's own courage under persecution, the movie's stellar cast, and the possible chemical causes of "demonic possession."

We also talk about the subtle subversiveness of the animated episode, finishing the 5-year mission, making friends with the devil, being Promethean, Wishbone in space, Jimmy Doohan voicing everyone, tripping on rye, Frank Miller's The Crucible, Punky Brewster's dad, the ultimate Hollywood weasel, dancing with the black man, Paul mf'in Scofield, shooting nets, where toll roads come from, Gooey labels this a "hangout movie", and Kal gets into his theater past!

This is the closest we're going to get to true crime so tune in! Happy Halloween!

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