In "Stormy Weather" Zora decides to be a difficult little AI. What's new in sci-fi, though, right? Except instead of evil, she's decided she needs to have crippling anxiety that keeps her from doing her job. Ok, I guess that IS a new one. Meanwhile, Book has gotten zapped and is being haunted by the ghost of his crappy dead dad, or maybe just a hallucination of him? Either way, he's a jerk.

Also this week: robot pain, the healing power of board games, and sci-fi weaponry!

[Stormy Weather: 00:48; arm yourself: 50:18]

[this is my rifle, this is my gun: https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/801937349617549312/it-slices-it-dices-it-juliennes-planets ]

Hollywood has gone back to the well, or maybe it's the library, with its recent remake of "The Running Man". So we've decided to take a look at both of them! In each dystopian future, life is awful but everyone agrees the best way to get through it is to watch people get hunted down in the titular game show! Arnie's a cop who took a while to realize he was a baddie, while Glen Powell is an ordinary guy who wants to do the right thing but forgot to get his anger issues fixed. On the way we'll meet side characters of varying wackiness, hostages of varying acting abilities, and satire of varying levels of focus!

Also this week: should've called Paul, normal man v action figure, and product placement!

The lack of time to tell stories is painfully evident in "The Examples". A plot about prisoner rights and society that would feel right at home in about any "Trek" series has to be squeezed down until it loses all nuance all so it can share space with a new science person who is like all the awfulness of early Stamets with none of the later Stamets charm. Because no better time to run an experiment that there's really no big rush on than during a crisis!

Also this week: potatoes, Frozen, and scientists!

[Examples: 02:13; Give my blog liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife!: 54:06]

[We did plenty of human testing, this blog is 89% guaranteed to be safe: https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/800663062931750913/she-blinded-me-with-scientists]

"All Is Possible" as long as you have a team! Like a clutch of cadets who unfortunately remind us of one of the worst episodes of "Voyager". Like that hot Vulcan politician you would violate ANY Prime Directive for. Like that physician/psychiatrist who has his own stuff to deal with but is going to ignore it for now!

Also this week: torch passing, military dictatorship, and artificial life forms!

[All Is Possible: 00:52; Do the Bender!: 51:42]

[Johnny 5...IS ALIVE! https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/800041514517577728/im-sorry-dave-im-afraid-these-artificial ]

I really hope you saw season 1 of "Picard" or the right episodes of DS9, because otherwise "Choose to Live" might not make as much sense as it could. In the main plot, multiple poor choices are made by multiple people so a story can happen. In the B plot Stamets meet scientists more stuck-up than he is while Book gets some psychic psychology. In the C plot "Star Trek" again flips death the bird.

Also this week: plot swords, Mac and Tilly, and alien characters!

[Choose: 00:52; klatu barada hi there: 59:14]

[No, they're not just humans in rubber foreheads shut up!: https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/799426667740282880/take-these-aliens-to-your-leader]

Happy Halloween! We've transformed into "A Star to SPOOK Her By" this week as we take a look at a cult sci-fi horror classic. But this one has a quite explicit "Star Trek" connection in the form of Jeffrey Combs! But unlike his many "Trek" appearances, he's not behind makeup, just the respectable spectacles of Herbert West, the titular "Re-Animator". It's the film's 40th anniversary, so no better year to check it out! It's a movie that starts spooky and escalates quickly into ever-mounting craziness, culminating in a completely daft and brilliantly schlocky climax!

Also this week: an alternate title, a feline turning point, and trying to stage it.

In "Anomaly" we pick up where we left off, investigating the mystery THING that sent a space station tuchus-over-teakettle and made Kwejian an ex-planet. Book is really going through it and signs up for a TERRIFICALLY dangerous mission, which is his prerogative, but did he HAVE to bring the cat? He also gets saddled with a holo-Stamets, whose resting mourning face has nothing on Book's unrelenting anguish.

Also this week: mentor Tilly, a pair of Captains, and sci-fi horror!

[Anomaly: 01:05; The Blog: 54:47]

[Leave the lights on: https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/798154459721138176/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-void ]

[If you missed our Jason X coverage last year: https://soundcloud.com/sshbpodcast/ten-forward-43-jason-x-spacey-jacey ]

Season 4 of "Discovery" starts with a BANG! Haha, no but seriously a planet gets blown up in "Kobayashi Maru". Meanwhile, Tilly and Adira have to save a space station that's gotten all squiddled and is tumbling out of control during a mission overseen by the Federation's new apparently-micromanager President. But is there something else going on?

Also this week: uniform upgrades, tonal shifts, and the monsters of science fiction!

[Kobayashi Maru: 02:43; the Monster Mash: BLOG: 59:52]

[boys becoming men, men becoming wolves: https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/797497438274551808/the-monster-at-the-end-of-this-blogpost ]

It's the end of Season 3 and the answer to the big mystery that was set up so long ago: where's "That Hope Is You, Part 2"? Oh! Here it is! On the ship, we get some underwhelming action scenes while back on the dilithium planet, Saru gets to have a successful dinner and also play space Dad! How does it all shake out? How did we feel about it? You'll have to listen and see!

Also this week: wave after wave, somehow The Grinch, and the season wrap chat!

[THIYpt2: 01:34; wrap it up: 56:09]

[Another one in the can: https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/796857312356728832/discovery-season-3-do-you-have-some-aloe-for-that ]

Michael goes full Jean-Luc McClane this week in "There is a Tide...". Never mind whatever was going on with Saru and Co, as that plot is just completely gone this week so we can have some action moments of varying quality. We also meet Osyraa's most valuable henchmen: a dude we thought was dead and someone who is simultaneously the smartest person in the Galaxy and ENTIRELY oblivious to how evil his boss is.

Also this week: pooples, literal deus ex machina, and sci-fi tech!

[Tide: 01:23; gadgets and gizmos aplenty: 1:08:16]

[You want thingamabobs? We've got 12! https://sshbpodcast.tumblr.com/post/796225981080846336/thank-sci-fi-we-invented-the-whatever-device]