Out of Contreks

Not a very good episode of Star Trek, but one that opens up a variety of questions about the Star Trek universe, including the following: "Do offices go back to looking like they did in the late '90s in the future?" "When did the Starfleet fighting style change from 'actual fighting' to 'pretend karate chops'?" "What were the other cast members doing the week that Scott Bakula, Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock shot this?" "What is the Temporal Cold War, and why can't we ever watch an episode about that instead?"

We talk about nuclear proliferation and the unified Torres theory of the Delta Quadrant in another Voyager episode. We also neglect to mention that this episode takes place one episode previously than the last episode we talked about. Isn't that weird? The random number generator works in mysterious ways!

Brady's computer crashed while he was editing this one, so the audio might be a bit wonky at times. Still, we think the conversation about this episode, one of the best we've yet watched for the show, is worth it. We talk about Q, mortality, bureaucracy, and how a guest star choice almost made this episode much, MUCH worse.

Is Lower Decks the best Star Trek put to screen since Voyager? Ryan and Brady think so. Join us for our overview of the first season of the latest CBS All-Access Trek offering.

 

*As with the Picard special, the Lower Decks special was recorded one day before air and consequentially received a somewhat looser edit. We still think it's a fun hang, though!

OK, look. I (Ryan) was editing this episode and realized that we spent the cold open talking about whether Brady looks like Spock, a conversation that no listener would have context for. Thus, the image for this episode: At left, Brady when he was 16 (I have cropped out his mullet). At right, everybody's favorite Vulcan. Now you can decide for yourself if my wife was correct. 

 

Or, you can skip ahead and listen to the rest of the episode, about a pretty goofy, weirdly capitalist episode of TOS.

 

I did not ask Brady if I could use this picture, so it might change later and you'll be left wondering whether any of this was worth it. The internet, like life itself, is an ephemeral being.

This is one of the best episodes we've talked about yet. It has one of the best names, one of the most fun plots, and one of the best one-shot guest stars either of us have seen. It's a rollicking good time; why not join us?

It's a tale as old as time: Bad A Plot, Good B Plot. On our first DS9 episode in a while, we talk adorable Worf, the engineer who's bad at math, and how misconceptions about mental health sadly continue to exist in a socialist utopian future.

 

Also, here's the unfortunately relevant article mentioned on this episode on the sexism in Star Trek during this and other time periods.

OK, folks, seriously... Why don't people like Voyager? It rules! This episode is really good! There are ethical dilemmas and bad Doctors and Slimer aliens.

Tuvok gives a kid a gun in this one, but it's very good, we promise! We reflect on mortality, misunderstandings and the durability of the Star Trek episode format.

It's our first Reginald Barclay episode, but oddly enough, it's not a TNG episode! As sometimes happens in Voyager, "Pathfinder" is a compelling episode for the first 35 minutes or so before falling apart in the denouement. Hopefully you don't feel the same way about our recording.