Casual Trek

Everyone, who’s YOUR favourite Tim? If you said Tim Russ, then THIS is the show for you as Casual Trek goes ‘Tim Time’ with three episodes featuring Tim Russ (including two of his Star Trek bit parts before landing the role of Tuvok in Voyager!)

The first episode is ‘Starship Mine’ where Patrick Stewart (RIP) gets to go Full-JL when a Die-Hard takes place on the Enterprise while everyone else in the case has to deal with small talk, blink and you might miss Tim Russ, then in DS9’s ‘Invasive Procedures,’ Tim Russ plays a Klingon has part of a team ready to help a Trill Incel do a classic Symbiote-Heist on Dax and it almost goes Die-Hard and then finally, in Voyager’s ‘Riddles,’ we get to see Tim Russ as Tuvok undergo a shocking transformation… actually liking Neelix!

Episodes discussed: Starship Mine (15:09) Invasive Procedures (47:34) and Riddles (01:17:44)

Topics Discussed: The novels of Shirley Jackson, Superpocket Evercade, Pong- better or worse than Elden Ring, is Data just making fun of Hutch, Hutch is unmourned, TNG is far more cavalier than Red Shirt deaths than TOS, the many murders of Jean-Luc Picard, how are the makers of Die Hard NOT suing? Patrick Stewart wanting to be an action hero, Picard definitely shot a guy in the dick, superheroes who are cavalier about murder, who would be the best and worst at a Die Hard? Mariah Carey, Paramount’s boring ads, Trill Incels, this almost counts as a Patricia Tallman themed episode, Tim does Good Klingon, the DS9 Crew would be great doing a Die Hard, is this the first time we get some Bald Sisko atittude? Charlie is obsessed with Picard’s saddle, do you think there’s a new replicator smell? Best O-Face in all of TV? If we wrote Star Trek, the Dax symbiote would be an Eraserhead baby, Charlie! Riddle Time! Ethan Phillips once again something to work with, Roxann Dawson’s first directed episode, Tuvok has definatly threatened legal action in case Tuvix is mentioned, Harry Kim’s best day, has there ever been a multiversal incarnation of Cyclops for whom life has never sucked?Pedants Corner: The Poddington Peas was a British cartoon about sentient peas who lived in the garden, what’s that about the British not being well? 80s UK Arcade Machines took 10p or 20p coins for the most part.

SPECIAL NOTE: We don’t talk about the sad news regarding Walter Koenig or Patrick Stewart as we’ve recorded quite a way ahead of time. We’ll be covering them in the near future.

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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Here’s a cut conversation from a previous episode, where Charlie provides an update on his Mario Quest and talks about the current run of 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine.

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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It’s time to re-enter the Mirror Universe and see what campy nonsense they’ve been getting up to!

In a Mirror Darkly shows you how a betrayal-based society managed to keep going for as long as they did… by having several mutinies and finding an alternate future spaceship to loot! Many midriffs are exposed, Tholians are tortured and Scott Bakula desperately makes you want to think he’s evil.

Then we journey with Ben Sisko Through the Looking Glass, where he’s got to pretend to be a merry pirate in order to stop his alternate universe wife from being a centrist! He also punches one alternate staff member in the head and sleeps with another, just for good measure.

What Non-Star Trek Thing We’ve Been Enjoying: The Prisoner & The Most Upsetting Guessing Game in the World

Timecodes:

Talking points include: Age of X-Man, yes Blake’s 7 again, The Prisoner, Miles & Reanna’s 14th anniversary, Aunty Donna, The Most Upsetting Guessing Game in the World, sluts, 50 Cent’s in Jim Steinman’s Mansion, Charlie has no time for Peter Kay, the Amarillo music video noncewatch, a mutiny-based drinking game, did you see this shit Chris Claremont?, Phlox is the Hank McCoy of Star Trek, fascism is a loser ideology, The OC’s alternate universe episode, the final season of Enterprise doing what the last two seasons of Strange New Worlds is doing, Jack Russells, the most 1995 songs, Millennium Vs Willennium, Centrist Jennifer Sisko, Malibu Comics’ Night Man, Mirror Sisko is a Merry Man, voles on DS9, Oh, and occasionally Star Trek.

Next episode, it’s all about Tim Russ!

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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Are you ready to rock?

Well we are and so is Star Trek, with three episodes that feature guest acting turns from musicians. In ‘Manhunt,’ Lwaxana Troi returns while Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac stands in the corner as a giant fish alien.

After that, we’re putting a team together in ‘The Magnificent Ferengi’ as Quark, Rom and Nog must rescue Moogie from Iggy Pop and in ‘The Good Shepard,’ Janeway rails against workplace inefficiency and if you blink and miss him, Tom Morello isn’t Raging Against the Machine but instead is a good Starfleet crew member. Good night, listeners, there will be no encore!

Timecodes:

Talking Points include: Coyote vs. Acme, The Backrooms (Charlie Etheridge-Nunn Edition), Miles floats the idea of a Pingu-themed coffee bar, Soul 2 Soul, Miles has strong opinions on the noir inspirations of Dixon Hill, Fleetwood Mac, we were not expecting Worf to point out Wesley’s casual racism, more a comedy of manners (in which Picard has too many and Lwaxana has none) the fish people are very 80s Doctor Who, Lwaxana Troi is far less irritating here, Riker’s shit eating grin, Iggy Pop, Moogie’s going to bring the Dominion, we want to know more about Lekk, Higher Quality Buffoonery, Rom’s finally killed someone but don’t worry, he’s easily distracted by shiny objects, they love a weird gong in Star Trek, there’s a theme here with Charlie’s history of music being related to Rock Band, what happens to the people who wash out at Starfleet? The conversation about diversity hires is sadly very different than when this episode came out, don’t lick the Warp Core, the Window that doesn’t exist, Miles goes on a tired about the American Work Ethic and the phrase ‘If you don’t like your job, just leave,’ mental health on Voyager probably sucks more than usual, hating on the shorthand in fiction that hypochondria is code for ‘neurotic loser,’ is this the most conservative episode of Star Trek not featuring black-face? Miles’ former RS and form master at school Mr. Hickman – RIP Legend.

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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Casual Trek read Chris Claremont’s epic graphic novel Debt of Honor a few years ago, now it’s time to check out the sequel story, set in the era of Star Trek: The Next Generation!

Claremont’s adopted Jame Finney from Court Martial as his favourite Star Trek character and she quickly becomes the cast’s favorite, too! He also gives Alexander the one good day he will ever have.

In addition, we’ve got stories about when Ro Laren did a bad thing, and how Kelsey Grammar’s a real grouch.

05:13 What Non-Star Trek Thing We’ve Been Enjoying: Biscuits and the theatre

Talking points include: Gen13, Sovereign Seven, Miles is the one fan of Dark Horse’s 90’s superhero line, digestives, shortbread, Hove Open Air Theatre, Northanger Abbey, even seagulls can enjoy theatre, Charlie will still not read TekWar II unless you pay us, Commander Waid, very good Riker Expressions, The Topps X-Files comic, actor’s faces in comics, we can’t remember which episodes we’ve seen, Captain Bateman is basically just Kelsey Grammar, breaching doctor/patient confidentiality, somehow Charlie didn’t mention Money Plane, the Frasier sequel, Jame or Jamie Finney, the one good day in Alexander’s life, we’ve still not listened to Star Trek: Khan, the Bionic Woman, Alexander in the IDW Comics, Wolverine, Charlie’s still annoyed about Sherlock’s final series, Doctor Who, do the transporters get rid of human waste, Miles brings an old transporter theory into play, admin issues with Krakoan resurrection, . Oh, and occasionally Star Trek.

Pedant’s corner: Dark Horse’s Alien Vs Predator stars Machiko Noguchi as the protagonist, made by Randy Stradley. Chris Claremont’s Alien Vs Predator: Deadliest of the Species features a genetically enhanced trophy wife called Caryn Delacroix, who works at different times with humans, yautja and xenomorphs.

Next episode, normal service will resume!

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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The post 101. Claremont’s Star Trek: Alexander Rozhenko Has a Good Day first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Welcome to an episode of Casual Trek which is the equivalent of a teacher wheeling the television into the classroom. We’re finally looking at Disney’s first ever PG movie, the weirdly horrific Black Hole.

A spaceship’s crew investigates the strangely empty abandoned ship which has been observing cosmic phenomenon. No, it’s not Event Horizon, it’s Black Hole, straddling the era of classic rocketship fiction and Star Wars type stories.

There’s a robot bin who’s really annoying and somehow one of the most competent people on the ship, several aspirant Darth Vader types of mixed qualities and an odd amount of theological questions. Charlie’s gone into the movie blind, so join him trying to recap it without losing his sanity!

02:28 What Non-Black Hole Thing We’ve Been Enjoying: King Sorrow & Odyssey

Talking points include: Event Horizon, Charles Burns’ Black Hole, Miles will never make Blake’s Boys happen, King Sorrow by Joe Hill, Woke Classic “The Odyssey”, Ulysses-31, ODY-C, Circe, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Coming for Jonathan Hickman’s humour comics, Charlie takes real offence to V.I.N.C.E.N.T., another Twin Peaks connection, the novelisations of Black Hole & Red Dwarf, Rise of Skywalker, behind the scenes details, Tron, whether the robot saw heaven. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek.

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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The post 101. Disney’s Black Hole: What if a Bin Was Annoying? first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It is happening again. Miles and Charlie serve themselves some coffee and a damn fine slice of pie to talk about Twin Peaks as we’ve had some crossover between one of the lads’ favorite TV shows and the one they choose to divide their lives podcasting. With that in mind they’re discussing episodes of Star Trek where Twin Peaks regulars have appeared.

We’re back TNG Season One with ‘Haven’ as Lwaxana Troi’s giant servant Mr. Homn (played by Carel Struycken who also plays a giant in Twin Peaks, coincidence?) gets into the wine at a pre-wedding dinner as all the parents fight and Troi is about to get married to an inbred cat of a man who was also in Twin Peaks, coincidence? (yes actually). In ‘If Wishes Were Horses,’ Colm Meaney clearly wants to punch Michael Anderson who is NOT playing a leprechaun, we’re legally obligated to make that distinction and Bashir’s creepy Bimbo Dax fetish is revealed for all to see and in Voyager’s ‘Hope and Fear,’ OH MY GOD- CONSEQUENCES as Ray Wise impresses us while looking like he has a testicle on his head while undertaking a convoluted revenge scheme.

Everyday, give yourself a present and don’t you think my cousin looks exactly like Laura Palmer?

Episodes Discussed: ‘Haven’ (20:30) If Wishes were Horses (53:49) Hope and Fear (01:19:27)

Talking Points include: We do not take enough drugs to do a Alejandro Jodorowsky podcast, Twin Peaks might have made Miles stop watching Star Trek back in the 90s, the movies of Sam Neil (RIP), Citizen Kane, sometimes a big iconic twist in a film or book overshadows how great the film is due to pop-culture osmosis, Wizard: The Guide to Comics, T’Pau the musician feels like a boring duplicate of Kate Bush, Miles pitches a Star Trek spin-off crime show and practices his pretty poor Twin Peaks impressions, if this were Space 1999 this would end VERY differently, Miles has a new head-canon theory about Data, The Virgin Bill Riker vs. The Chad Will Riker, Harp Porn, what colour would the Star Trek ‘Lodge’ be? Colm Meaney looks like he wants to throttle Rumpelstiltskin, Miles has never seen (but wants to see) Carnivale, Julian Bashir’s Bimbofication fetish, Miles (like the Joker) likes the keep the reason for his immigration multiple choice, Will Riker would punch Season 1 Julian, even imaginary Sisko is the best dad, we put more thought into the implications of Baseball Team ‘The London Kings’ than the writers, soccer is probably a much bigger sport in the future because soccer IS international, extreme-frisbee, Ray Wise’s veiny head testicle, Janeway is pretty genre savvy about their chances of getting back to the Alpha Quadrant, Neelix needs a drunk crazy man beard, Torres is probably not going back to prison when they return to Earth (but it’d be funny if she did), the wider geopolitical consequences of Janeway’s earlier actions, Ray Wise sells what might be the bleakest ending of a Star Trek episode… with a bollock on his head, why this one parter is a good season finale when they don’t try and recapture the Best of Both Worlds energy, how many times has Neelix let a con man on board?

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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The post 100. Star Trek X Twin Peaks: Put Your Hand in the Box first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

All Hail Computer Overlord! Our casual adventurers have been tasked by the benevolent Computer Overlord to watch three episodes of Star Trek featuring societies run by computers to make sure Computer Overlord isn’t offended.

In ‘Return of the Archons’, Kirk and the Gang are here for the Festival and for the first time, we get to see Captain Kirk talk a computer to death, then we return YET AGAIN to season One of TNG as Wesley and some of the Enterprise kids get kidnapped by an ancient civilisation led by Deep Throat from The X-Files to be given some new parents in ‘When the Bough Breaks,’ and finally Boimler discovers if he’s going to be a good boss or a bad boss when he’s tasked to lead a repair team ‘In the Cradle of Vexilon.’ All Hail Computer Overlord, the cake is a lie!

EPISODES DISCUSSED:

Talking Points Include: The Princess Bride, the Evercade Superpocket, Jeff Minter, classic computer games, creepy vibes right from the get-go, what is Festival actuallY for? These guys are the crappiest resistance movement, Lindstrom- the hot new Star Trek character find of 1966, Kirk being the most Internet Guy here in talking a computer to death, that one guy wants to use Festival to jump through windows, I think we’re going to run out of S1 episodes of TNG before anything else, Kylie Minogue, TNG needed more freeze-frame endings, we hate AI, you might have guessed, we really needed an episode of TNG which was basically Chopping Mall on the Enterprise, the whole ‘families on the Enterprise’ thing sometimes just feels weird, Wesley has definitely called Captain Picard ‘dad’ by accident, nice to see Jerry Hardin here pre-X-Files, koala, we just have a soft spot for ‘Move Along Home,’ have you ever been a Boimler? T’lyn is here to eff with Boimler, would people in the 24th Century haze others?

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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The post 99. I Have No Archons and I Must Scream first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Abracadabra!

Prepare your magical runes and put on your pointiest hat because we’re going to be talking about Magic (without a ‘k’) and three different episodes where Magic is believed to be involved. Of course, unlike ‘The Magicks of Magus-Tu,’ we’re not delving into ‘so magic is actually real’ territory and instead, magic is more inferred.

In ‘Spirit Folk,’ Tom Paris’ weird obsession with making Harry kiss a cow gets the crew of the Voyager into trouble on the holodeck while in New Eden, Pike, Michael Burnham discover a planet of people descended from survivors from World War III who have renounced all technology and Owosekun was there as well and then, in ‘The Elysian Kingdom’, M’Benga gets to play out his daughter’s favourite fantasy novel while in the real world, Anson Mount has way too much fun playing a cowardly cad! Are we sure this nebula isn’t evil? Alakazam!

Time Codes:

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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Right, everyone quit Oo-moxing for two minutes because we’ve got another episode talking about those hyper-capitalist scamps, the Ferengi; literally one of the few times here on the show where we can say without doubt that it’s a metaphor for capitalism!

Our brave casual explorers watch three Ferengi-based episodes of Star Trek without any Quark-based antics, first up is probably TNG’s most successful attempt to try and sell these guys as the Big Bad as Captain Picard is forced to face his past as a revenge attempt leads him to relieve ‘The Battle,’ after that, Trip gets to do a Home Alone/Die Hard as the worst trio of Ferengi try to pull an ‘Acquisition’ on the Enterprise NX-01 and finally, the Lower Decks get to see what Ferengi TV and Miles’ AO3 account is like as ‘Parth Ferengi’s Heartplace’ makes us ask… do Rutherford and Tendi like each other… in a sexy way? Please send us two strips of Gold-Pressed Latinum for reading the show notes. Wait, you wanted to know the price up-front? THIS IS WHY YOU READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, GUYS!!!

Episodes discussed:

TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: Bioshock, Saturday Night Live UK, US Advert Breaks are the devil, the Ferengi did just as well as being the Next Klingons as the Voord did as being the next Daleks, it must be a World Cup year because Miles makes a football joke, TNG Season 1 has a naff charm, some great prop-acting from Patrick Stewart, its no surprise why Denise Crosby quit, Miles also wants to wear the Wesley-sweater and the male miniskirt from S1, Miles should not travel back in time to meet his 14 year old self, one day, we will cover the episode where Wesley Crusher nearly pulls. Why DO British people find the name ‘Jeff’ funny? Ethan Phillips clearly relishes playing Evil Season One Neelix, we’re right back to the TNG Season One idiot Ferengi, is this meant to be a comedy? Miles and Charlie discuss their Home Alone-style traps and just how badly they’d go, for an episode with a Darkplace homage title, there are very few Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace references, Miles misses binging television, Lower Decks shipping, even the best writers have done naff work, Mariner’s depressingly relatable character development backslide and what Ferengi TV show would Charlie get addicted to?

[Charlie’s note: Miles kept spelling Ferengi wrong in this recap, as he’s just that casual, but I’ve changed it for your sanity and my own]

[Trae from the network’s note: Charlie missed a couple of “Ferengi” misspellings, and apparently neither know how to spell “Tendi.”]

[ Additional Show Notes ]

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.

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The post 97. Ferengi: I Apologise for the Amount of Times I Say “Capering” in this Episode first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.