Shuttle Pod - The TrekMovie.com Podcast

With Discovery on hiatus for a few more weeks, The Shuttle Pod crew examines a handful of news items that have come up since the last episode. The biggest by far were the reports of Quentin Tarantino pitching a story to J.J. Abrams for the next Star Trek movie. Tarantino is known to be an Original Series fan, but the movie could be about any part of the franchise. Is it a Kelvin Timeline movie? A TNG movie? Something altogether new? He’s got a story idea, but what are the chances he will direct it too? We put on our speculation hats and dive in! Back on Star Trek: Discovery news, we chat about the new soundtrack release, and how Discovery has made a number of “shows to binge this winter” lists. We also discuss the official announcement of a new version of The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access. The show is being developed by Jordan Peele (Get Out), Simon Kinberg (X-Men franchise), and Marco Ramirez (Daredevil). Come listen in as Brian, Jared, and Matt discuss. 

With Discovery on hiatus for a few more weeks, The Shuttle Pod crew examines a handful of news items that have come up since the last episode. The biggest by far were the reports of Quentin Tarantino pitching a story to J.J. Abrams for the next Star Trek movie. Tarantino is known to be an Original Series fan, but the movie could be about any part of the franchise. Is it a Kelvin Timeline movie? A TNG movie? Something altogether new? He’s got a story idea, but what are the chances he will direct it too? We put on our speculation hats and dive in! Back on Star Trek: Discovery news, we chat about the new soundtrack release, and how Discovery has made a number of “shows to binge this winter” lists. We also discuss the official announcement of a new version of The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access. The show is being developed by Jordan Peele (Get Out), Simon Kinberg (X-Men franchise), and Marco Ramirez (Daredevil). Come listen in as Brian, Jared, and Matt discuss. 

The Shuttle Pod Crew discusses the pros and cons of serialized and episodic TV, and how it relates to the Star Trek franchise and its newest member, Discovery. Historically, TV shows were told in a narrative where there’s a pilot as the backstory and no particular end in sight, with every story just fitting somewhere in the middle – kind of like comic books.  DVDs, DVRs, Internet resources, and notably streaming services have changed this, to where many shows (including comedies) will only do serialized storytelling over the entire season or series: you can’t just pluck one episode out of order and watch it because you’ll be lost. Listen in as we discuss the finer points of serialized versus episodic Trek.

The Shuttle Pod Crew discusses the pros and cons of serialized and episodic TV, and how it relates to the Star Trek franchise and its newest member, Discovery. Historically, TV shows were told in a narrative where there’s a pilot as the backstory and no particular end in sight, with every story just fitting somewhere in the middle – kind of like comic books.  DVDs, DVRs, Internet resources, and notably streaming services have changed this, to where many shows (including comedies) will only do serialized storytelling over the entire season or series: you can’t just pluck one episode out of order and watch it because you’ll be lost. Listen in as we discuss the finer points of serialized versus episodic Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 9 – Debuted Sunday November 12th Written by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt Directed by Chris Byrne Join us as Brian, Jared, and Matt talk episode 9 of Discovery, and since this is the Fall finale, we discuss our overall feelings about Discovery so far. “Into the Forest I Go” had some very pleasing story lines come full circle, with Burnham retuning to the Klingon “Ship of the Dead” and getting Captain Georgiou’s badge back, while looking like a badass taunting and fighting the Klingon leader Kol. Shazad Latif delivers a compelling performance as the tortured and sexually abused Tyler. L’Rell’s actions continue to intrigue us and Mary Chieffo continues to deliver the most dimensional Klingon character in the series. We all agreed that the Klingon war arc so far has been a little unsatisfying, we really needed more “showing” and less “telling.” Stamets makes a huge sacrifice to make 133 spore drive jumps in rapid succession, and Lorca continues to surprise us and manipulate, not just his crew, but also us the viewer. And of course we talk about that last fateful jump, what it means for the crew and just where they might be now, as we anxiously await for the return of Star Trek Discovery in January.  Listen in to hear our thoughts on the mid-way point of the newest installment of the Star Trek franchise!

If you want peace, prepare for this week’s Shuttle Pod podcast. Matt, Jared, and Kayla assemble a landing party to discuss the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 8 – Debuted Sunday November 5th Written by Kirsten Beyer Directed by John S. Scott Join us as the Shuttle Pod crew dive into episode 8 of Discovery. Writer Kirsten Beyer’s first foray into writing for television was definitely a success. She was able to bring together a nice story, where we learn more about Saru and get to follow some of the other narrative threads as they weave through the central plot. There were a couple of nice Trek moments in this week’s installment. Our resident audiophile Matt immediately picked up on a familiar sound effect from “The Cage” (listen to the podcast to hear the effects compared). We also got a shout out to the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. As Matt points out, it’s about time he had his own ship! The Klingon stuff this week felt a bit more exciting. Perhaps because scenes between Mary Chieffo’s L’Rell and Jayne Brook’s Admiral Cornwell were nothing short of fantastic television. Kayla says Cornwell might be her new favorite character, which makes her death(?) an interesting talking point. As always, we are left with lots of questions in this episode that felt very much like part one of a classic two-parter. What’s the deal with the Pahvoans? Will there be repercussions for Saru, who revealed he was in his right mind during his breakdown on the plant? Is Admiral Cornwell dead, or… not? What is L’Rell really angling for? And, of course, what will happen between Discovery and the Klingons!? Listen to the podcast to hear our thoughts.

Activate your time crystals; it's time, once again, for the Shuttle Pod crew to assemble and discuss Star Trek: Discovery episode 7.

This week, Kayla and Jared assembled at the mic to discuss the sixth episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “Lethe”. Listen to the podcast below to hear our thoughts on the latest installment, which is full of character development, growth, and additions (and tweaks) to Star Trek canon. Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 6 – Debuted Sunday October 22nd Written by Ted Sullivan and Joe Menosky Directed by Doug Aarniokoski Reactions from the Shuttle Pod crew were a mix. Both Kayla and Jared agree that so far much of what we have seen on Discovery has been stellar. Episode 6 really resonated with Kayla; she notes that Burnham’s story arc in this episode reminds her of some of the personal journeys she has taken in her life and how real the story felt. Jared liked “Lethe” but admits that he still finds Discovery‘s Vulcans (including the not-so-vulcan Burnham) a bit stiff. In any event, a lot of canon-shaking events occurred in this week’s episode, including a new insight into the backstory of Spock, a character who only barely made it into the episode, by name only. In a world of serialized television, the Shuttle Pod crew agree that “Lethe” felt like the most “stand alone” episode we’ve had so far, with the story arc of all of our characters nicely bookended with scenes between Tilly and Burnham on the jogging track. In the end, we got to see a ton of character development and growth. We were shown Burnham’s old wounds and the process she went through to start on the path to healing them. At first, Burnham is trying to be her old self, Sarek’s ward, while carrying her burdens with her. At the end of the episode, she has shed some of those burdens and is starting to become her own person — and gets a permanent placement on the USS Discovery, as granted by her new “father figure” Captain Lorca.

A trio of the shuttle pod crew (Kayla, Brian, and Matt) beamed in to discuss  the newest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “Choose Your Pain.” Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 5 – Debuted Sunday October 15th Written by Kemp Powers Directed by Lee Rose The Shuttle Pod crew all felt like the the fifth episode was a strong entry, and one of the most satisfying as far as plot structure goes. We learn the fate of our new pal Ripper the tardigrade, follow Burnham as she fights the good fight on Ripper’s behalf, butts heads with acting captain Saru, and in the second plot line, we learn new facts about Lorca, and we get to meet Harry Mudd as brought to life by Rainn Wilson, who the Shuttle Pod crew all really liked. Also we speculate on what that creepy second Stamets in the mirror means. Listen in to hear our thoughts on the latest installment of the Star Trek franchise! That’s Some Good Fan Service We agreed that the fan service this week was nicely done, with an excellent look at the Klingon/Federation bordering areas on a map filled with goodies like Space Station K-7, Rura Penthe and even Khitomer (hiding at the top, partially cut off).  The list of decorated Starfleet captains including not just the obvious captains who had their own shows, but also Matthew Decker (who would soon become Commodore, and we’ll see in TOS “The Doomsday Machine”), and it pulled Robert April out of the grey-area of canon to make him totally official.  

A full contingent hops aboard the Shuttle Pod this week for a look back at the newest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For The Lamb’s Cry.” Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 4 – Debuted Sunday October 8th Written by Jessie Alexander and Aron Eli Coleite Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi The fourth installment of Star Trek: Discovery feels like our first “real” episode of the show, with episodes 1 and 2 acting as prologue and episode 3 being our de facto pilot. In “The Butcher’s Knife” (I think I’m allowed this abbreviation for Trek’s second longest episode title), we finally get to sink our teeth into the plot of season 1. We learn more about the mysterious spore drive, get to know our characters a tiny bit better, and perhaps most importantly we meet an instant fan favorite: Ripper the tardigrade. Listen in to hear our thoughts on the latest installment of the Star Trek franchise!