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

It's "Apocalypse Now"; what else do you need to know? It's possible that more ink has been spilled over this movie than the war it depicts, with documentaries like "Hearts of Darkness", stacks of books, and endless interviews with Francis Ford Coppola himself all revealing the same fact: this was a movie made recklessly by assholes. Or to quote Willard when faced Kurtz asks for an evaluation of his methods: "I don't see any method at all." That doesn't mean it's not an all-time classic, it just means you don't have to risk insanity, bankruptcy, heart attacks, or seven years of bad luck just to make art.

The chaos of "Apocalypse Now"'s production is obviously nothing compared to the chaos of the war in Vietnam or even the now historic chaos of the Belgian Congo, the subject of the 1902 novella, "Heart of Darkness", which "Apocalypse Now" was based on. The themes of Joseph Conrad's story of European colonialism are frightening recognizable in both the military interventionism of the 1960s and unceasing belief in American exceptionalism in the 21st century. Conrad's "based-on-real-experiences" story is concerned with vicious mercantilism while Apocalypse Now follows a proxy war where the fight against communism becomes increasingly abstract. But both works are a study of the universal evils of devaluing a populace and putting economic or political profit over human lives.

The Federation of Star Trek is supposed to be above these kinds of problems. After all, no money means no economy (at least one we can recognize) and no economy means no economic exploitation. However, the self-professed enlightenment of many a Starfleet officer has a tendency to melt away when vital resources like dilithium or unobtanium or territory are threatened. In "The Wounded", a Kurtz-like Starfleet captain named Maxwell is convinced that the Cardassians are using cargo ships to ferry war supplies, and he begins a one-man war on Cardassia that the "bureaucrats" have no stomach for. The Enterprise is given a mission to terminate his command and O'Brien, a man who has seen the same horrors of war that Maxwell has, must be the one to confront his former captain. On this episode, we discuss the tortured process of making the film, the enduring resonance of "Heart of Darkness", the Scramble for Africa, world-class f*ckface Leopold II, the societal inability to countenance atrocity, the serendipitous creation of many of the film's great scenes, the value of creative limits and obstacles, cuisine exchange, trusting Michael Bay, a disappointing hypothetical 4th season of TOS, Martin Sheen freaking out TSA employees, and never getting out of the boat unless you're going all the way.

It's just guys being dudes!

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