So it’s Episode five of Season Four and the boys manage to bring music videos from the 1980s and 90’s into Trek. It makes sense, the episode features a vortex after all, anything could get sucked into it. 

Andrew: The Vortex Effect, they do it with lasers and dry ice  The first time I saw that.

Dave: It’s like a fog machine.

Andrew: And laser lights. It immediately reminded me of music videos. No one out here in the universe except me seems to remember the Belle Stars and the Song “Sign of the Times” from 1983. Do yourself a favor and watch the video on Youtube, you can see it.

Dave: It’s a good song.

Andrew:  They absolutely use the fog and the lasers…(Andrew sings) “Sign of the times…blah blah blah blah blah”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOJMU6pnGLE

Picard: You’re nailing it!

Andrew:  You’ve seen that effect a million times.

Dave: On all kinds of shows.

Andrew:  Whoever was watching MTV and saw that effect and was like Oi! We gotta use that in Next Generation, we do! 

Dave: I was looking for more videos with that effect – I went online after you got so excited about this music video…

Andrew:  I really did. 

Dave: I was looking at 80’s music videos trying to find other ones because I know this effect was just everywhere. I swear to God, I thought it was in this Stevie Nicks video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwS9BIqbffU

Andrew:  Stand Back!

Dave: “Stand Back” that she famously – she loved Prince and wanted to get a Prince sound in one of her songs and I love that song. Prince came in and did some work on it with her. Do yourself a favor everyone. Watch the video for “Stand Back” with Stevie Nicks. I love Stevie Nicks but this thing is so dated! I was laughing out loud watching it. 

Andrew:  It’s pretty funny.

Dave: To me Stevie Nicks is cool, she’s a cool person. She’s on a treadmill at one point – Running on a treadmill, going backwards. There’s neon lights going all around her. It’s the height of silliness. It’s the epitome of an Eighties music video. For a song I really love – it’s just so silly.

Andrew:  You know what is also a silly video in that same vein – there’s a bunch of goofy dancers in it, which made me laugh. It’s “Love is a Battlefield” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGVZOLV9SPo

by Pat Benitar. It’s hilarious because it’s one of those videos that tries to tell a story. The story is that Pat Benitar and her girl gang are sex workers…

PICARD: WE ARE YOUNG!

Andrew:  They turn on their pimp or the guy who’s exploiting them, and they dance him to death.

Dave: The guy with the shiny teeth!  

PICARD: Look at these girl! They’re dancing now! What’s a pimp to do?

Dave: I love that era! I don’t know who started this, the dancing like that, but it’s hysterical. It was in every music video – this troop of dancers and their dancing is all coordinated together. The Stevie Nicks one, the “Stand back in the middle of the room, I will not think of you”. The dancers that are dancing with her, they dance and then they do this freeze from with each cut at the end of each dancer for no reason other than to make me laugh hysterically up here in the Twenty Twenties. It’s so funny, it was like comedy therapy watching it.