What The Frock

There is an old rule in storytelling that says if you want to know what a civilization values, pay attention to the stories it keeps retelling. This week on Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod’s “What the Frock?”, the conversation wanders through Hollywood, science fiction, UFOs, bowling alleys, artificial intelligence, and the future itself, but underneath all of it sits one persistent question: have we forgotten how to tell stories that actually mean something?

The spark for the discussion is the upcoming film adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. What begins as excitement quickly turns into frustration as Dave reflects on the growing tendency of modern Hollywood to reshape classic stories into political statements rather than timeless human dramas. The discussion is not merely about casting decisions or studio trends. It is about whether modern filmmakers still understand why stories like the Odyssey mattered in the first place. These were not disposable myths to the ancient world. They were foundational narratives that shaped cultures, governments, philosophy, and even the men who later built the American republic.

From there, the conversation drifts naturally into Star Wars and Star Trek, and that is where the episode becomes something more than another complaint about modern entertainment. Dave and Rod explore why older science fiction still resonates decades later. The original Star Trek looked functional, grounded, believable. The bridge of the Enterprise felt like a place real people could work. The stories respected the audience enough to think through the consequences of technology, government, exploration, and human nature.

Along the way, the pair revisit fan-created Star Trek stories from the 1970s, discuss whether Disney has lost the thread of Star Wars entirely, and wonder aloud whether AI may eventually allow fans themselves to create better versions of the stories Hollywood no longer seems interested in telling. Somewhere in the middle of all this, there is also a lawsuit involving bowling monopolies, absurd lane rental prices, gambling apps, and the transformation of neighborhood bowling alleys into corporate entertainment machines. Because of course there is.

The second half of the episode turns toward the strange modern fascination with UFO disclosure and futuristic predictions. The newly released UAP files become a launching point for a broader discussion about skepticism, government distractions, extraterrestrial life, and the increasingly blurry line between science fiction and reality.

Then comes perhaps the most thought-provoking segment of the show: thirteen predictions about the near future, including AI replacing white-collar professions, autonomous vehicles, universal translators, brain-computer interfaces, orbital data centers, household robots, and a world where human relationships with AI become emotionally normal. Some of the predictions sound exciting. Others sound quietly horrifying. Most feel uncomfortably plausible.

Like the best episodes of “What the Frock?”, this one moves effortlessly between humor and unease. One minute there is a joke about bowling in space, the next there is a genuine reflection about whether technology is making life better or simply making people lonelier and more disconnected. It is funny, skeptical, nostalgic, and occasionally surprisingly philosophical.

In other words, it is exactly the sort of conversation two old friends would have while staring at the future and wondering whether humanity still remembers the stories that made it human in the first place.