Episodes
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Music in Star Trek
From Alexander Courage’s “bright galactic beguine” in The Original Series to Jeff Russo’s churning, Game of Thrones-style theme for Discovery, the music of Star Trek has always embodied the spirit of its time, as much as it looks to the future. Rick Berman famously sacked composer Ron Jones from The Next Generation because he felt his scores drew too much attention to themselves. In his mind, the underscore should be a kind of wallpaper, as unobtrusive as the soft pastel carpet stuck to the walls of the Enterprise-D. And yet the music of Star Trek—in particular the film scores by Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, and others—has become an iconic part of the franchise’s cultural legacy, and of popular culture more broadly.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by musicologists Jessica Getman and Evan Ware. Together with Brooke McCorkle Okazaki, they are the editors of the recently published Music in Star Trek: Sound, Utopia, and the Future. Here, they share some key observations from the 15 essays collected in their book, as well as consider the future of the Star Trek franchise—in music and beyond.
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Blue Skies Thinking (00:09:15)
Beware the Borg Fugue (00:17:00)
Losing Faith … (00:24:45)
Course Correction (00:37:20)
Scoring the Sausage (00:49:50)Host
Duncan BarrettGuests
Jessica Getman and Evan WareProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Half a Decade of Primitive Culture
Star Trek’s original five-year mission was brought to a premature end in 1969. But over the ensuing half-century and more, the franchise has continued boldly going to new frontiers. By the 1980s, when a second generation of fans came to seek out fresh adventures, the voyage had become a continuing mission … with no end in sight.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, recorded earlier this year on our own five-year anniversary, host Duncan Barrett is joined by show co-founder Tony Black to look back on a half-decade of podcasting, and to consider how Star Trek has changed since the good ship Primitive Culture left spacedock in 2017. We also share some news about the future of the podcast. Because, as we know, all good things …
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Tony BlackProduction
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Missing episodes?
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Cardassian war crimes and The Man in the Glass Booth
For many fans of Deep Space Nine, the penultimate installment of Season 1, “Duet,” is also the show’s first classic episode. A bleak exploration of guilt, responsibility, and forgiveness in the aftermath of war, it’s a story that could scarcely have been told on any other Star Trek series. One of Trek’s most popular bottle episodes, “Duet” is built on intense two-hander scenes between Nana Visitor and guest star Harris Yuelin, giving it the air of an intimate theater production. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that the episode’s central conceit—a case of mistaken identity at the center of a potential war crimes trial—is lifted from a stage play, Robert Shaw’s The Man in the Glass Booth, which was later adapted into an Oscar-winning movie.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Clara Cook to discuss the parallels between “Duet” and this enigmatic source material, which in turn borrows from the real-life trial of Adolf Eichmann, the original man in a (bullet-proof) glass booth. Broadening the conversation to include Star Trek’s approach to war crimes more generally, we consider whether the Eichmann trial—as well as the Nuremberg trials immediately after the war—offer a valid precedent for Federation and Bajoran justice.
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Clara CookProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Autistic representation in Star Trek
“Perhaps you’re just different,” Tam Elbrun tells Data in the Next Generation episode “Tin Man.” “Not a sin, you know, though you may have heard otherwise.” Both characters—the emotionally sensitive Betazoid and the supposedly emotionless android—have been seen by fans as allegories of a particular kind of difference, standing in for those on the broad spectrum of neurodiversity.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by autistic Star Trek fan Thad Hait to discuss how Trek has encoded the experiences of neurodiverse people—often accidentally—over the course of its long history. Looking at characters such as Data, Seven of Nine, Reginald Barclay, and Sylvia Tilly, we consider how Starfleet’s approach to difference both mirrors and differs from our own, and ask whether the time is ripe for Trek’s first explicitly neurodiverse character.
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Thad HaitProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Star Trek’s Double Troubles
Don’t they say you die if you meet yourself? Our intrepid Starfleet officers had better hope the answer is no, since encounters with doubles, doppelgängers, and duplicates appear to be just part of the job. From the two Kirks in “The Enemy Within” to Lower Decks’s twinned Boimlers, Star Trek has offered up a host of alt versions of our regular characters over the years.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Clara Cook for a look at Star Trek’s doubles, setting them in the context of their literary and cultural forebears, all the way back to Dostoevsky. We consider Sigmund Freud’s work on The Uncanny, Carl Jung’s idea of the shadow projection, and the sinister interplay between doubles and death. We also ponder why some characters seem to get on with their other selves just fine while the very notion that they aren’t entirely unique in the universe is enough to prompt an existential crisis for others.
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Clara CookProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Trans representation in Star Trek.
In 2022, trans characters in Star Trek have become part of the fabric of humanity’s shared future in space. In addition to Adira and Gray Tal in Discovery, we’ve been treated to the villainess Captain Angel in Strange New Worlds and even an explicitly non-binary character, the Medusan Zero, in Prodigy. But a few decades ago, Star Trek’s most direct engagement with trans culture was the truly toe-curling Deep Space Nine episode “Profit and Lace.” That said, a number of stories from both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine had touched on trans issues more obliquely—in many cases unintentionally.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, originally released as part of Tony Black’s podcast The Sanctuary, Tony is joined by Orion Armstrong for a look at the TNG episode “The Outcast,”which was intended by writer Jeri Taylor as an allegory about gay conversion therapy but is open to very different readings today as a trans story. They also discuss TNG’s “The Host,” DS9’s “Rejoined,” and more. And, in a new introduction, Duncan and Tony catch up with developments since the podcast was originally released.
Hosts
Duncan Barrett and Tony BlackGuest
Orion ArmstrongProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
The Alien franchise and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
In space, no one can hear you scream. But for unlucky Starfleet landing parties, meeting a nightmarish alien menace can prove as traumatic as deadly. For La'an Noonien-Singh, who carries the burden of having survived captivity in a Gorn breeding colony during childhood, another encounter with the monstrous lizards proves both physically and mentally challenging. And to make sure the audience is equally freaked out by the terrifying encounter, Strange New Worlds leans heavily on the imagery of the Alien franchise—the epitome of sf horror.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Lee Hutchison to look at the latest episode of Star Trek: trange New Worlds, “All Those Who Wander,” alongside the films that inspired it, from the chest-burster scene in the original 1979 movie to Ripley’s final moments in Alien 3. We also take in reference points from the beloved movies we grew up with, including Predator, Jurassic Park, The Thing, and more. What new life forms are birthed when these iconic stories creep in through the Star Trek airlock? Grab a flamethrower and join us on the express elevator to hell as we attempt to find out.
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Gorn Yesterday (00:09:50)
Strange Newt Worlds (00:23:55)
No Sex, Please, We’re Star Trek (00:31:15)
That Which Survives (00:50:00)
La'an Time No See? (01:04:00)Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Lee Hutchison
Production
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
How Star Trek’s leaders reflect our own.
Young, charismatic, and a bit of a ladies’ man, Captain James T. Kirk was cast in the mould of President John F. Kennedy, the beloved US leader who had been killed just three years before Star Trek debuted. But over the course of more than half a century, Star Trek’s captains have often echoed the great politicians of the day; and sometimes they may even have paved the way for political careers in the real world.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, originally released as an installment of The Sanctuary, Tony Black speaks to guest Mac Boyle about the parallels between Star Trek’s leaders and our own. Where do the likes of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former US President Donald Trump, and current US President Joe Biden find their counterparts in the Star Trek universe? And what kind of characters can we expect in the future to take their cues from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky? With Star Trek: Discovery’s Federation President Laira Rillak taking an ongoing role, has Trek finally managed to marry the military ethos of Starfleet with the business of intergalactic politics?
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Assignment: Earth (00:03:25)
The Maquis (00:16:30)
Strange New Worlds (00:48:30)Hosts
Duncan Barrett and Tony BlackGuest
Mac BoyleProduction
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Star Trek’s backdoor pilots.
The year is 1968. As Star Trek goes off the air for good, a new show—Assignment: Earth—debuts from some of the same creative team. For dedicated Trekkies, the premise is already familiar and the two leads, Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, have a head start garnering fans of their own. That, at least, is what might have been had Star Trek not been renewed for a third season. As things turned out, the episode featuring Seven and Lincoln was simply the finale of Star Trek’s second-season, not the series, and “Assignment: Earth” was never picked up as a show in its own right.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Tony Black for a look at Star Trek’s most famous backdoor pilot, an episode that lays out the premise for a potential future show, using the budget and production infrastructure of an existing one. “Assignment: Earth” might be Star Trek’s most blatant use of this sneaky approach, but more recent examples include “Point of Light,” “Terra Firma,” and “All Is Possible.” These three installments of Star Trek: Discovery seem to hint pretty strongly at shows that might be coming down the pipe. And then there’s Discovery’s entire second season, which set up not only Strange New Worlds—and introduced new actors in the roles of Captain Pike, Spock, and the original Number One—but the long-awaited Section 31 show as well. What are the benefits—and pitfalls—of taking the backdoor route to a new project? And do such stories inevitably struggle to function as episodes of two different shows simultaneously?
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Tony BlackProduction
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
… it wasn’t the Vulcans who made first contact?
April 5, 2063. In Star Trek’s imagined history, it was on this date that humanity made first contact with an alien race. The event led to societal transformation on a global scale and ushered in a bright future. But what if it wasn’t the Vulcans who happened to be passing by that day? What if first contact had been made with the Klingons or Romulans instead?
In this episode of Primitive Culture, originally recorded for The Sanctuary, but never released, Tony Black is joined by Mike Slamer to imagine how things could have played out differently.
Hosts
Duncan Barrett and Tony BlackGuest
Mike SlamerProduction
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Captain Picard and Indiana Jones.
Wise, measured, and distinctly unromantic, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was conceived from the start as very different from his predecessor, James T. Kirk. But for Patrick Stewart, the lack of physical drama felt creatively unsatisfying. In October 1988, he wrote a letter to Gene Roddenberry outlining his desire for Picard to get some “action”—in more ways than one.
It would be over a year before Stewart’s request was granted, in the third-season episode “Captain’s Holiday.” As writer Ira Steven Behr recalled, the instructions he was given were, “Just get the Captain laid.” This he accomplished, somewhat incongruously, by marrying the normally cool captain with a contemporary action-adventure hero: Indiana Jones. The curious melding stuck, and in episodes such as “The Chase,” “Gambit,” and “QPid,” Picard’s passion for archaeology—along with his swashbuckling heroism—added an extra arrow to the good captain’s quiver.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, recorded last year when the fifth Indiana Jones movie was filming in Glasgow, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Indy super fan Carlos Miranda to compare and contrast these adventuring archaeologists, both returning for their latest escapades well into their golden years. Is the staid life of a university professor—or a Federation diplomat—really compatible with the thrills and spills of derring-do? And what might these two men’s fascination with the lives of their ancient forebears reveal about their relationships with the fathers who went before them?
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Carlos MirandaProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Lisa Klink on Writing for Deep Space Nine and Voyager.
Starting with a short-term position as a writing intern on Deep Space Nine, Lisa Klink rose rapidly through the Star Trek ranks, penning more than a dozen episodes over the course of just three years. In episodes such as “Resistance” and “Sacred Ground,” she proved her skill at handling character-based drama, while “Blood Fever,” “Message in a Bottle” and “The Omega Directive” cemented her credentials as one of the series’ finest storytellers.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett talks to Klink about working in the Star Trek sandbox, from penning DS9’s “Hippocratic Oath” before jumping ship to Voyager, to contributing short stories 25 years later to the new Star Trek Explorer magazine.
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Lisa KlinkProduction
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
How Star Trek tackled the Vietnam War.
Every Star Trek series has engaged with the issues of the time, and perhaps none more so than *The Original Series*. Episodes touching on the hippy counterculture and NASA's bold Apollo program grounded the show as much in the 1960s as the 2260s. But perhaps no contemporary subject loomed over TOS more so than the Vietnam War. Sometimes quite bluntly and at other times more obliquely, over the course of three seasons the show charted a constantly developing view of the conflict, embodying a range of perspectives as diverse as its collective writing staff.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, originally released as part of Tony Black’s podcast The Sanctuary, he is joined by critic Darren Mooney to look at how Vietnam played out across TOS and beyond. Tackling key episodes such as “A Private Little War” and “The Omega Glory,” as well as less obvious reference points including “The City on the Edge of Forever,” they consider the role the conflict played not just in Star Trek but American thought more generally, and in particular how Gene Rodenberry’s own views developed during the run of the series.
Hosts
Duncan Barrett and Tony BlackProduction
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Jack Bauer and Jonathan Archer.
Premiering just after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Enterprise took another two seasons to fully engage with the radically changed real world in its storytelling. When the show did reveal its own 9/11 story in the third season, it followed in the wake of another intensely serialized, monster-hit TV show: 24. Jack Bauer might seem an unlikely model for a Starfleet captain, but throughout the course of the Xindi arch Jonathan Archer found himself repeating many of Bauer’s signature moves—including torture and cold-blooded killing
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by 24 aficionado Lee Hutchison to compare and contrast the two shows’ approaches to dramatizing the momentous events of the time. We discuss how Manny Coto and Brannon Braga went on to breathe new life into 24 once Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled, whether the problematic aspects of both series are, to some extent, explained by the hawkish mood of the time, and whether Archer and Bauer are actually more similar than they first appear.
Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Lee HutchisonProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) -
Naren Shankar on a life in science fiction.
While Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga took the Star Trek: Next Generation cast to the big screen—not to mention reinventing classic space shows Battlestar Galactica and Cosmos—it was another young writer from the TNG stable, Naren Shankar, who would contribute to the most science-fiction TV in his post-Trek career. Over three decades as a screenwriter and showrunner, Shankar has worked on genre classics such as SeaQuest, Farscape, The Outer Limits, and, most recently, the phenomenally successful adaptation of James S.A. Corey’s Expanse novels, currently in its final season on Amazon Prime.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett speaks to Shankar about a life in science-fiction TV—from his early days as a writer-scientist in the Star Trek: Next Generation writers’ room to his current role at the head of one of the most lauded sf shows to hit the small screen in decades. We discuss where the science ends and the fiction begins—from the rather cavalier “teching the tech” of nineties’ Star Trek to the precise physics demanded by The Expanse—and ponder why the current historical moment seems to be heralding something of an sf renaissance.
Host
Duncan Barrett
Guest
Naren ShankarProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) -
Live from Destination Star Trek London 2021.
After the cancellation of last year’s Destination Star Trek (DST) in London, anticipation for 2021 event, billed as Europe’s largest Trek convention, was greater than ever. A slew of last-minute guest dropouts—combined with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic—didn’t stop thousands of Trekkies from descending on ExCel London exhibition and convention center for the three-day celebration.In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett speaks to more than 20 convention attendees—a mixture of guests and fans—to learn their impressions of the con. It may not have turned out to be the grand celebration originally billed, but, for most, it remained a great opportunity to interact with their extended Star Trek family after almost two years of isolation. From Captain Janeway’s coffee mornings to Dungeons and Dragons with the crew of Star Trek: Discovery, DST 2021 seemed to have something for everyone—even Boris Johnson, the improbable Trek fan who is prime minister of Great Britain!
Host
Duncan BarrettGuests
Carlos Miranda, Nick Jones, Rashid Uzzaman, John and Olivia (I Quit Star Trek), Faux BoJo, Drew and Tracy Barker, Sam Darragh, Kate Mulgrew, John Billingsley, Noah Averbach-Katz, Hannah Cheeseman, Elizabeth Dennehy, Wilson Cruz, Andrew Robinson, Martha Hackett, Garrett Wang, and Tony Lee
Production
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
James Bond and Julian Bashir.
Not many film franchises can boast 25 installments over the course of more than half a century, so for sheer longevity the James Bond cinematic franchise certainly gives Star Trek a run for its money. In some ways, the old-fashioned brutal masculine ethos of Bond feels very much out of place in the utopian Trek future, and yet both are properties forged in the cultural crucible of the 1960s that have been forced to reinvent themselves with every passing generation.In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Carlos Miranda for a trip to the Double-Oh Heaven of Julian Bashir’s favorite spy holoprogram. We consider the lasting influence of “Our Man Bashir”—not just on the good doctor’s story arc but on the shape of Deep Space Nine as a whole— and try to answer the thorny question of what our fantasy lives have to say about our innermost character. We also ponder whether Commander Bond of M16 would feel more at home in Starfleet or the Obsidian Order.
Host
Duncan Barrett
Guest
Carlos Miranda
Production
Duncan Barrett (Editor, Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Tony Black’s new book: *Star Trek, History and Us*
From 1960s hippies in “The Way to Eden” to the War on Terror in Enterprise Season 3, Star Trek has always reflected the cultural moment from which it springs. In his new book, Star Trek, History and Us, Tony Black brings the Primitive Culture approach to print, taking a long view of the past half-century through the prism of Star Trek's 800 episodes and films.In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Tony to discuss the book’s journey from idea to publication. We look at how—from the 1960s up to the 2020s—Star Trek has continually shifted with the times, reflecting and interrogating the various eras of its production. From the religious right in the 1970s to Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, Tony draws on some surprising sources of inspiration in a book that is always illuminating and sure to appeal to Primitive Culture listeners old and new.
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Genesis (00:01:20)
The Lost Era (00:11:05)
Faith in the Future (00:21:05)
#WeAreWokeTrek (00:32:25)
Above the Law? (00:43:15)
Don’t Walk, Run! (00:49:00)
Host
Duncan Barrett
Guest
Tony Black
Production
Tony Black (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) -
Robert Duncan McNeill on Star Trek's Directors' School.
To Star Trek fans, he is Tom Paris, the cocksure pilot of the USS Voyager. But in Hollywood, Robert Duncan McNeill is better known as a different kind of helmsman. From his first day of filming on the Voyager pilot "Caretaker," McNeill declared his intention to take a shot at the director's chair, following in the footsteps of fellow Trek such as stars Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, and Leonard Nimoy. Two years later, when Frakes was forced to pull out of shooting the third-season episode "Sacred Ground," McNeill got his chance. It was to be the first of eight Star Trek episodes he directed, four on Voyager and four on Enterprise, and would lead to an illustrious career working on everything from Dawson's Creek to The Orville.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by McNeill to look back on his time at the Star Trek Directors' School, and to consider how those early experiences helped shape his career. We discuss the limited scope for auteurist flamboyance when playing within Trek's strict sandbox, the varied approaches that hired guns brought to the Voyager set week by week, and how the deftly handled comedy of "Someone to Watch Over Me" helped prepare him for his most recent work on Resident Alien and Turner & Hooch.
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Eyeing Up the Chair (00:02:27)
In Berman's Box (00:12:15)
Voyager (00:27:25)
Enterprise (00:45:50)
Tom Paris Returns? (00:58:49)Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Robert Duncan McNeillProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) -
Twenty Thousand Leagues across the Delta Quadrant.
Throughout Star Trek: Voyager’s seven seasons, Tom Paris repeatedly proved his credentials as a mid-20th-century history buff, with his replicated TV set, black-and-white B-movie holonovels, and even his own 3D cinema. But in the fifth-season episode “Thirty Days,” he reveals a boyhood fascination with a much earlier period of history and literature: the age of great nautical exploration. In particular, young Tom was obsessed with Jules Verne’s 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a pioneering work of science fiction that—in its vivid depiction of the wonders of the ocean—anticipated much of Star Trek’s fascination with another vast unknown: space.
In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Lee Hutchison to discuss Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (and the popular 1954 Disney adaptation) in relation to “Thirty Days” and the fourth-season Voyager episode “Year of Hell,” which borrows much of its plot from Verne’s novel, transposing the action from Captain Nemo’s submarine Nautilus to Annorax’s temporal weapon ship. Join us for a deep-dive into the murky depths of this remarkable book, in which madness, monsters, and mutiny are never that far from the surface.
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Diving the Starry Sea (00:05:00)
“Year of Hell” (00:20:55)
Temporal Psychosis (00:51:00)
Mutiny (01:07:00)
Final Thoughts (01:13:45)Host
Duncan BarrettGuest
Lee HutchisonProduction
Duncan Barrett (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) - Show more
