Cyrano de Bergerac on Deep Space Nine.

From seventeenth-century France to mid-1980s Washington State to a twenty-fourth-century space station, Edmond Rostard’s classic play Cyrano de Bergerac has proved eminently adaptable to new settings. Its timeless theme of unrequited love has resonated with fresh audiences with each interpretation, while the central tragicomic set piece—in which a man woos his beloved on behalf of a friend—never fails to hit the dramatic high notes.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett look at Ronald D. Moore’s loose adaptation of the Cyrano de Bergerac in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places.” We compare this version with both the original 1897 play and the 1987 Steve Martin comedy Roxanne, while considering the rituals of romance—in real life and on screen—and what happens to consent in such tales of comedic deception. We also ask whether, at the end of the day, all love is unrequited.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Enter Cyrano (00:03:50) Ménage a Quatre (00:08:15) Informed Consent (00:20:00) Identity Crises (00:33:55) Unhappy Endings (00:48:58) From Mythic Romance to Messy Hookups (01:05:00) In the Friend Zone (01:12:00) Final Thoughts (01:19:40)

Hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett Production Clara Cook (Editor) Duncan Barrett (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)