Antimatter Pod

Antimatter Pod

By Anika and LizTV & Film
Download on the App Store

Antimatter Pod episodes

  • 138. No Trek Home (Q-Squared)

    While Anika builds a machine that lets her enter the heart of the universe, Liz is reduced to atoms and hangs around the galactic barrier for a few centuries.

    OR ... we got together for part 3 of our deep dive into Peter David's Q-Squared. And we discuss...

    • Tommy Riker versus Jean-Luc Picard
  • Guys, don't send a deeply traumatised former POW off to have a haircut from a stranger without getting his consent and giving him a Xanax first!
  • Track B Worf seems great, right up until you realise he's Qanon Worf
  • Jack Crusher and Liam Shaw: how to build a character
  • Anika explains how Jack Crusher and Jar Jar Binks are the same
  • Beverly and Picard TOUCH HANDS and it's a lot
  • A brief public service announcement: Michelle Yeoh is not Asian-American and should not be the face of AANHPI Month for Paramount+
  • We have very limited tolerance for Q's stream-of-consciousness and also Gary Mitchell
  • There are hints -- they're pretty subtle, but they're there -- that Picard and Q have some sort of … bond? On a profound level? Huge if true
  • WAR GUINAN

    • If you love this novel as much as we do, please consider throwing some money towards the fundraiser for Mr David's medical expenses.

    43 min
  • 137. Dr Howard and the Multiverse of Trekness (Q-Squared)

    Peter David is recovering from a series of strokes, along with a mild heart attack. His wife is raising money for his medical bills, and if you enjoy our coverage of his work, please consider throwing a few bucks their way.

    Also, this episode contains spoilers for the end of Star Trek: Picard.

    Anika and Liz hang out in midair in a turbolift shaft and read pages 106-214 (paperback edition) of Q-Squared by Peter David. Along the way, we discuss…

    • Paranoid readings, ie, Peter David did not singlehandedly invent misogyny out of nowhere
  • Tommy Riker is the Spock. Yes, really
  • Worf/Deanna is a multi-universal constant. Sorry, but it's true
  • So is Worf/Riker. Don't @ us
  • CANONICAL PICARD/BEVERLY
  • This was very formative
  • Track B Picard = Raffi Musiker
  • There's something a bit cathartic about hating Jack Crusher (the first) as much as we do
  • "There's a particular type of masculinity that people associate with the starship captain."
  • Nurse Geordi and Data the human-oid
  • We are taking out a restraining order against the entire Q Continuum
  • Trelane obsesses over something Kirk said but doesn't understand it, making him the ultimate Star Trek fan
  • Fan service and nostalgia
    • 58 min
  • 136. Into the Trekiverse (Q-Squared)

    FIRST: After we recorded this episode, we learned that Peter David is recovering from a series of strokes, along with a mild heart attack. His wife is raising money for his medical bills, and if you enjoy our coverage of his work, please consider throwing a few bucks their way.

    Anika and Liz hop some timelines and read pages 1-105 (paperback edition) of Q-Squared by Peter David, and along the way, discuss…

    • Our first encounters with the novel
  • A brief overview of Picard/Crusher shipping in the official tie-ins
  • They don't make tie-in novels like they used to
  • We come to this with pre-existing opinions about Peter David
  • Getting into the alternate universe set-up of Track A: Captain Jack Crusher, Commander Picard, Dr Howard, Nurse Geordi, POW!Riker and Vigilante!Worf
  • This book gets deeper into Jack Crusher's personality than any other TNG-related material, and, uh, yikes
  • Peter David writes a GREAT Riker
  • Listen to Where's Beverly's Hallowe'en episode for Liz's "Beverly is a space witch" theory
  • The perpetual widowhood of Beverly Crusher
  • Canon timeline Deanna is a punchline and it's not funny
  • "This novel makes me feel things, and I appreciate that."
    • 1 hr
  • 135. Sensitive New Age Terrorist (TNG 3.12)

    As our unofficial Festival of Beverly continues, Anika and Liz hang out in some caves and have very earnest discussions about terrorism. Yes, we're discussing "The High Ground"!

    • Star Trek: Picard spoilers from 00:00 to 00:59
  • We are deeply unqualified to talk about the Troubles. Of course, so were the TNG writers… (Book credits: Just Another Kid by Torey Hayden and Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. If you want a review of "The High Ground" from an actual Irish person, please see this post by the always excellent Darren Mooney.)
  • As a character study of Beverly Crusher, "The High Ground" is amazing. As an episode with something to say about terrorism, it … exists.
  • Melinda Snodgrass was particularly good at including female characters in roles that otherwise tended to default male, and not worrying about whether or not they were "likeable".
  • When Finn talks about the moral cowardice of the Federation, he probably just watched "Lift Us Up Where Suffering Cannot Reach".
  • "The High Ground" does avoid the common American trope of romanticising the IRA.
  • Yes, Beverly and Deanna are both in feminised "caring" professions, but, um, how many female CMOs have been regulars in Trek? 
  • The nameless boy who becomes Beverly's apprentice
  • Picard spoilers from 31:28 to 32:16
  • The Beverly/Picard shippiness in this episode is OFF THE CHARTS
  • Finn feels like a first draft of Chakotay
  • Just gonna put this out there: the Prime Directive is bad, actually
  • Picard spoilers again from 41:11 to 44:30
    • 52 min
  • 134. Android Butt (TNG 1.13)

    "Hey, someone left a naked disassembled android lying around! We should definitely rebuild him!" Anika and Liz, minus their evil twins, discuss "Datalore" … with some Picard spoilers along the way. 

    • Skip to 00:49 to avoid the big spoiler and also Liz singing
  • (Liz actually pronounces French words even worse than she sings, so, um, apologies to France)
  • "I apologise to everyone for comparing Beverly Crusher to Darth Vader, however…"
  • This is an episode about family, and not just the Soongs
  • Breaking down the "Shut up, Wesley" scene
  • Picard spoilers from 26:03 to 26:15
  • And again from 27:05 to 27:32
  • If you are a Wil Wheaton who was forced to participate in the "Shut up, Wesley" scene, you may be entitled to compensation
  • But seriously, fandom's treatment of Wil was NOT OKAY and it's alarming how little has changed (from alt.wesley.die.die.die to Facebook comments complaining that Bella Ramsey isn't playing a sexy 14 year old)
  • Very, very mild spoilers for Picard from 41:49 to 42:11
  • Bigger spoilers from 45:06 to 50:24
  • "It's almost like they can't understand women as something that are unrelated to men." THIS APPLIES TO EVERY ERA OF STAR TREK (except Discovery)
  • "I mean, just because something is bad doesn't mean you can't love it. We're Voyager fans!"
  • #SynthIntensifies

    • Extra credits: this episode uses a drop created by Adam Ragusea for The Greatest Generation (go listen), and portions of compositions by Ron Jones. We're calling it fair use since we were discussing those pieces.

    1 hr
  • 133. Fandom Unicorns

    It's Valentine's Day! Or close enough. Anika and Liz settle in with chocolate, champagne and a list of their favourite OTPs. And OT3s. And … look, we have so many ships, we're practically a navy. 

    • Picard/Crusher: our first OTP
  • Gwyn/Dal: #OTPCatboots
  • Fifty years and all it took to make Anika ship Spock/Chapel was letting Christine have a personality
  • Anika's favourite Star Trek rarepair will SHOCK and SCANDALIZE 
  • Janeway/Kashyk shippers: there were dozens of us in 2000!
  • Has Janeway/Paris become a rarepair? That's definitely not going to stop Anika from shipping it! (We respectfully disagree with this essay.)
  • Janeway/Chakotay: Liz knows she shouldn't ship it but she cannot stop
  • "Speaking of war crimes…" (Or, how to segue into Cornwell/Lorca)
  • Anika has a LOT of femslash OTPs
  • Janeway/Seven has gotten more complicated now we're adults
  • Sometimes, shipping problematic things is … good
  • Vulcan polyamory is logical
  • Big shout out to the Captain Georgiou/Commodore Paris shippers
  • Please go and read Anika's Palpatine-as-the-sex-candle-ghost fic, it's so much better than the premise deserved
  • We can ship Kathryn Janeway with everyone, and we will ship Kathryn Janeway with everyone
  • (We will also ship Katrina Cornwell with most people and we are not sorry)
    • 1 hr 5 min
  • 132. In A Hole (TNG 1.21)

    Anika and Liz get chased by some drones, fall down a hall, and take the opportunity to discuss the first season TNG episode "The Arsenal of Freedom"...

    • For a first season TNG episode, this is … not bad at all
  • Is season 1 of TNG really season 4 of TOS?
  • TNG went all-in on the anticapitalism in season 1 (it's just a shame they brought the antisemitism along for the ride)
  • Riker's whole job is to keep Picard out of danger. He's gone for LESS THAN AN HOUR and Picard is beaming himself down to the death planet.
  • hurt/comfort dynamics
  • Beverly, that's not how xenobotany works
  • Tasha was killed off just as they were figuring out how to write her
  • Deanna Troi singlehandedly invented the "let's stop in the middle of a crisis to talk about your feelings" scene
  • Is Logan the worst chief engineer of every single Enterprise ever? Yes!
  • "The Beverly that came back isn't the same as the Beverly that left."
  • (Yes, it's because no one was left in the writers room from season 1, but LET'S SPECULATE WILDLY REGARDLESS)
    • 52 min
  • 131. Fortune Cookie Therapy

    Anika and Liz don their blue shirts and do a deep dive into depictions of depression in Star Trek. (Please note this includes discussions of suicide and self-harm.) 

    • The early years: 
      • Dr Elizabeth Dehner
  • Badmirals
  • Spock's stories can be a metaphor for a lot of things, but the emotional repression to depression pipeline is definitely one of them
  • (Anika has a whole THING about The Motion Picture and Spock's arc, it's amazing)
  • The 90s: 
    • A counsellor on the bridge
  • Stories that are explicitly about mental health
  • Lwaxana Troi
  • Sometimes the problem is not the depiction in the series, but the (ableist) reaction of fans
  • Anika presents a very strong argument for B'Elanna having an anxiety disorder
  • Post 9/11 (ENT and the Kelvinverse films)
    • Liz says T'Pol was the first female Vulcan character when clearly she meant first female Vulcan regular, don't @ us
  • ENT reverts to a very masculine type of story: men deal with feelings through avoidance and sex, while T'Pol is literally too emotional
  • ENT and the AOS era: a time of magical healing vaginas as substitute for mental health care
  • The Trek Renaissance
    • Discovery and Picard tell explicit stories about mental health, with varying levels of success
  • Prodigy and Lower Decks tell implicit stories
  • SNW takes us back to the manly man stories of the ENT era
  • Harmful and helpful depictions
    • fandom ableism
  • Liz has an UNPOPULAR OPINION about the depiction of Seven in Picard
  • "I'm gonna say something mean about Katrina Cornwell."

    • Specific episodes we talk about include:

    • "The Loss" (TNG)
  • "Dark Page" (TNG)
  • "Emissary" (DS9)
  • "It's Only A Paper Moon" (DS9)
  • "Night" (VOY)
  • "Extreme Risk" (VOY)
    • 1 hr 16 min
  • 130. Adopt, Don’t Shop (Prodigy 1.19 and 1.20)

    Anika and Liz replicate a shuttle without seats and settle in to discuss the two-part finale of Star Trek: Prodigy's first season…

    • Prodigy loves a Vulcan/Tellarite/Andorian trio
  • COMMUNICATION is THE THEME
  • Holo Janeway fulfills the dream of all Janeways everywhere
  • Gwyn's big hero moment
  • ALSO the Dal/Gwyn, we have been shipping it since episode one and we feel VERY GOOD about everything!
  • Everyone should get a puppy (but especially Rok-Tahk)
  • No offence but Zero looks like an iPod now
  • What next for season 2?
    • 50 min
  • 129. Classic Hijinks (Prodigy 1.17 and 1.18)

    Anika and Liz swap bodies and invade some holonovels as we discuss the Star Trek: Prodigy episodes "Ghost in the Machine" and "Mindwalk". And along the way, we touch on...

    • Into the holo-verse
  • Where is the Zero-as-Dixon-Hill story we need and deserve?
  • Jankom Pog is NOT OKAY and we're into that
  • Seriously, just a few weeks ago, we were like, "Jankom is the flattest character?" HOW WRONG WE WERE
  • Murf. Just. Murf. What?
  • It is OUTRAGEOUS that Paramount hasn't released Delta Heart: Magical Veterinarian as a phone game
  • We do not dislike Dal's pirate game, but it doesn't really tell us anything new about him
  • Liz is here to ship Control/The Living Construct. And also Zora/The Living Construct. Enemies to lovers but make it AI.
  • Any time you can put Kate Mulgrew in a scene with herself, you get something good
    • 45 min

About Antimatter Pod

From the publisher's feed

The Star Trek podcast where we talk fashion, feminism, subtext and subspace.

More shows like Antimatter Pod

Star Trek: Khan by Star Trek

Star Trek: Khan

411 Listeners