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For episode 30 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is back and we discuss Season 2 Episode 5 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, Saints of Imperfection. It was written by executive story editor Kirsten Beyer, who is said to be one of the creators of the new Picard series, and directed by David Barrett. He previously directed S1E7 Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad.

We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post.

We begin the podcast with feedback from previous episodes, and Ruthie's take on last week's episode, since she was out sick. Then, we finally get into this wonderful episode a little over 18 minutes in.

A very cool looking episode!

From the Section 31 tech to the partial spore jump, to the beauty of the mycelial network, this episode was beautiful. This show just keeps outdoing itself visually!

STDP 030 - Discovery's Partial Jump

STDP 030 - Bridge In The Network

Taken to the mycelial network to kill a monster, Tilly has yet another tough episode, but one that she comes through in the end with support from her friends. This may be the end of that connection with May, but I have a feeling that those two will meet again. One thing I said during recording was that I didn't feel that the emotional connection between Tilly and May didn't seem earned, but I have rethought that stance. I can see it now.

STDP 030 - Discovery In The Mycelial Network

One of the worst kept secrets in Star Trek history, Culber has returned, although it is a new Culber, reconstituted in the mycelial network. How much of the old Culber is in this new Culber is hard to know, but if you think this is far fetched, remember Star Trek III: The Search for Spock! Is this anymore far fetched than if it was his katra?

We got another long glimpse at what the Section 31 series may be like in this episode. With Georgiou, Tyler, newcomer Leland and (possibly) Admiral Cornwell, who showed up near the end of the episode, we could definitely see those characters in that show. To me, it's looking more and more interesting.

Sparks fly when the Discovery captures Spock's shuttlecraft, only to find that Georgiou is piloting it. We think Pike may put two and two together about Georgiou if he knows where Lorca came from. There were some interesting scenes between Georgiou and Burnham and more interesting actions by the former Mirror Emperor that will keep us guessing. What are her true intentions? We'll have to keep watching to find out!

STDP 030 - Georgiou Hands Up

We'll be back in a week with our next episode. As always, your feedback is essential to this podcast! We'll be having a short feedback deadline most weeks this season, due to scheduling issues. We'll c

On this episode 91 of The Walking Dead Talk Through, Mark and Brian discuss The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 9, which is titled Adaptation. This was written by Corey Reed, and directed by Greg Nicotero.

Henry!!! What else needs to be said? I am kind of fed up with this character, and as such, Brian didn't care for the episode.

This week, TWD got a 2.00 in the 18-49, with 5.156 million, up from 1.96 and 5.089 million for the mid-season finale. That's not much, but we'll take it! Charts below.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we have decided to go to a Wednesday night recording schedule for the rest of the season. Please leave your feedback for The Walking Dead, Season 9 Episode 10, titled Omega by 6 PM Eastern/5 PM Central on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. Check the Facebook group for any deadline changes.

Brian has decided that he will be stepping back a bit from the podcast, and will not be hosting the show every week. Part of it is due to scheduling with The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, partly due to some fatigue, and partly because the show is not doing it for him like it was, and he wants to focus more on Star Trek. Rest assured, you'll hear from Brian every week, even when he's not hosting. He's not leaving the podcast, but he will take a few weeks off.

If you want to help pay for the editing of this and other podcasts, I mentioned a while back that you can donate credits to my Auphonic account, which I use to make these episodes sound so good! That link is https://auphonic.com/donate_credits?user=bmeloche. Please remember to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. Subscribing to us helps us move up in the rankings, so it'll help us out tremendously! You'll also get new episodes when they're released. And while you're in there, leave us a rating or review! It only takes a few minutes and it helps others to find us!

For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but I was able to get emergency guest co-host Wes Huntington from the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to fill in, as we discuss Season 2 Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The teleplay was written by producer Alan McElroy (I got his name wrong during the recording - it's Alan, not Adam) & co-executive producer Andrew Colville, the story was written by co-executive producer Jordon Nardino & showrunners Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts (who were still showrunners at the time). It was directed by Lee Rose. She also directed S1E5 Choose Your Pain.

We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post.

It was a tough episode for Commander Saru. It looked like we would be losing the first and only Kelpien in Starfleet during this episode, and they sold that death. I had myself questioning it. Could they kill him off? Would this be the right time to do that? I knew we see his sister Siranna in the last trailer, but I thought that maybe it could end up being a flashback or a hallucination before death. When it looked like he was going to die, though, he didn't die. He evolved. One of his most problematic traits, his threat ganglia, are gone for good, and he feels like he's never felt before.

I loved the Burnham/Saru scenes, showing that the bickering we had seen early on was the behavior of brother and sister. It took a tragedy for them both to admit it to each other, and to themselves. So, what will become of Saru, and the Kelpiens, who were being culled, seemingly as a part of a big lie. Time will tell.

This was also a tough episode for Tilly, and looks like the next one will be, too. The blob formerly seen as May has attached itself to Tilly, and isn't going to easily let go. Tilly gets a drill to the head to facilitate communications, which had to hurt. At the end of the episode, we see Tilly's been consumed by the blob. For what purpose, we cannot know.

Speaking of Tilly, this episode marks the return of Jett Reno, Tig Notaro's character from the season premiere. I had predicted that Stamets and Reno would make a good combination, and I was right! There were some great insults, barbs and comic lines exchanged. I look forward to seeing her again, but WHO IS THE CHIEF ENGINEER, anyway??? With the spores in the air, mushrooms abound and make Stamets and Reno high. Very trippy!

Rebecca Romijn makes an appearance as the legendary Number One, from the TOS pilot, "The Cage" and the two-parter, "The Menagerie". It was a short appearance and one that did not yield what many of us thought it would, including me: Her name. That said, it was a good performance by Romijn. We're pretty sure we'll be seeing her again, and if you believe me (Brian), we'll see a lot more of her soon. By the way, you

For this supersized episode 28 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, Point of Light. It was written by co-executive producer Andrew Colville (his first writing credit on Discovery, but he's got a long list of shows he's worked on) and directed by executive producer Olatunde Osunsanmi. Unfortunately, his name was misspelled in the credits. See for yourself.

We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post.

We start this episode with A LOT MORE feedback for our last episode that covered Season 2 Episode 2, titled New Eden. We received more feedback for last week's episode than we have ever gotten for any podcast episode before!

The seven signals search reaches a bit of an impasse, but Discovery gets an unexpected visitor from Amanda, Spock and Burnham's mother. She has stolen Spock's medical records.

What did Burnham do to hurt Spock??? Amanda hears this and decides she must find Spock on her own. It can be interpreted a few ways how to take this point, but it's a powerful moment.

The haunting of Tilly by May, which seemed to be a harmless thing in the last episode, has taken a turn to the strange and for the worse. May becomes more insistent and demanding. Tilly appears to lose it on the bridge at the worst time. I loved the sense of humor shown by Pike here, by the way. Mary Wiseman is great as usual in this scene.

Later, we see her confer with her best friend (and still roommate, it seems?) Burnham, who makes her realize she is not going insane. There's some nice work, all the way around.

We see a pretty amazing scene with Stamets pulling May out of Tilly.

We return to Qo'noS to find Chancellor L'Rell in a fight to keep her position from a challenge from Kol-Sha, leader of the House of Kor (where is Kor?) and father of the deceased General Kol. Torchbearer Tyler is still by her side, but his human side is causing issues for L'Rell.

We learn that L'Rell's keeping a secret from Tyler. Before his transformation, L'Rell became pregnant with Tyler's child. Tyler sees a "baby Voq", as the child has that same translucent skin Voq had.

We see an interesting scene with Burnham having a "holographic Skype" session with Tyler. Here are some visuals.

Captain Georgiou is back, only she's not a Captain anymore, and she's not that Georgiou. Yes, it's the former Emperor Georgiou! She's "retired", and a "Starfleet Security Consultant". She makes a spectacular entrance, saving L'Rell and Tyler from certain death at the hands of Kol-Sha.

This episode serves as a kind of a back-door pilot for the new Section 31 show. We get a good look at the tech, uniforms and how they wor

For episode 27 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, New Eden. The teleplay is by Vaun Wilmott & Sean Cochran, with story by Akiva Goldsman & Sean Cochran. It was directed by someone who should need no introduction, Jonathan Frakes, who of course played Commander William T. Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and is no stranger to directing Star Trek, directed Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection, and a total of 17 episodes of TNG, DS9, VOY and Discovery (including S2E9 later this season).

We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post.

We start this episode with some feedback from our last episode. The talk about the spore drive seemed to hit a nerve. We explain our thoughts about it… or mine, at least, that the spore drive needs to be explained away, especially with respect to what happens with the Voyager a century later. Although I won't detail it here, we go through our thoughts here, and I explain a theory that would explain the spore drive and everything we are seeing so far this season at the end of the episode. If you want to know much, you'll have to listen!

This episode advanced the Red Angel plot while feeling like a classic Star Trek story that we all remember! We start with Burnham showing Pike the drawings made by Spock that predict the seven signals months before they ever appeared.

The source of the next signal appears far away in the Beta Quadrant, 51,450 light-years from Discovery's present position. Pike orders use of the spore drive to get there. Like before, when they get there, the signal has gone away, but Discovery finds an M-class planet that we later learn is called Terralysium, which is much like Earth, but with a radioactive asteroid belt.

Like many stories before it, the crew finds a human colony broadcasting a signal over 200 years. It appears the Red Angel had brought a group of 200 that were hiding from the bombs in a church during World War III, just before nuclear bombs were about to be dropped on them.

So far, Tilly's Short Trek has been the one with the most ties to the season. Her eagerness to do well in the Command Training Program causes her to take unnecessary risks to capture a piece of the asteroid to create an interface to interact with the spore drive.

We meet May, wh

For episode 26 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss the Season 2 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery - S2E1, which is titled, Brother. It was written by Ted Sullivan & Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts (the latter two were the showrunners at the time this was filmed), and it was directed by the current showrunner and co-creator, Alex Kurtzman. We both loved this supersized movie-like premiere! If you haven't given Discovery a try, this epic episode is one you can jump right in!

If you've seen TOS ("The Cage" and "The Menagerie") or the Kelvin Timeline films - specifically "Star Trek" (2009) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013) - you are probably aware of Captain Christopher Pike, who captained the Enterprise before Kirk took command, but we didn't know about his stint as the captain of the Discovery, while the Enterprise underwent extensive repairs after suffering severe ship-wide system failure. Pike takes command of the Discovery to investigate seven red bursts throughout spread out across more than thirty thousand light-years, but he considers it "shared custody" with Saru. Pike makes this episode, and if this episode is any indication, Pike will quickly become a fan favorite, if he isn't already!

This episode looks like a blockbuster movie! It looks every bit as good as the three Kelvin Timeline films. There have been reports that Berg & Harberts lost their showrunner jobs in part because the first three episodes went way over budget. I was skeptical of this report until I saw this first episode. When I said it looks like a hundred million dollars was spent on this episode, I wasn't exaggerating. I know it wasn't, but the quality of the visuals has far eclipsed what we saw in Season 1, which was already made it one of the best looking TV shows going.

In addition to our cover image, Fred from The Netherlands also provided us with some images from Brother! Thanks again, Fred!!!

If you watched the first Short Trek, Runaway, you may have noticed a resemblance between Po and Commander Nhan. I know I did, enough that I had to check to see who played Nhan. Well, Fred thought Nhan was a Xahean, like Po. However, it's been determined that she's a Barzan, the aliens who tried to sell rights to the Barzan wormhole in TNG's Season 3 episode, "The Price". This first couple of images focus on Nhan, and how she compares to the Xahean leader, Po and the Barzan leader, Bhavani.

Here's a great pic of Captain Pike, just as Discovery is about to be taken out of warp.

Lastly, here's a split-screen of the four pod pilots getting into their craft.

Discussion about the look and feel of Star Trek: Discovery vs. TOS and the TNG era came up again a couple of times during this episode, though it was discussed in the roundtable last week. I was going to elaborate here what was said, but I'll just say you should listen. I'll also say that I had a lot more to say about it the previous episode. Ruthie got to say her piece in this episode since she fell off the call last week before we got to this topic.

We'll be back in a week - hopefully, less - with the next episode. As always, your feedback

As we get ready for Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, Ruthie and I sat down for a marathon preview session with Steve Brown of the Panels to Pixels Podcast (Steve's third roundtable), Wes Huntington of the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast (Wes' second roundtable), and new panelists John McGrail of GSM's Maid of Steel Podcast and Martin Donison of GSM's Arrow Squad Podcast, Tomorrow's Legends (@tomorowslegendsFacebook Group), and Sibercast (@Sibercast and Facebook Group) to discuss the Short Treks, news about the Picard series and Lower Decks, discuss other possible shows (including one that has since been announced) and then discuss what we expect for Season 2.

Opinions were varied between the six of us as far as which Short Trek was our favorite and which was our least favorite of the Short Treks. I would call that in and of itself a success, as they appealed to us differently.

Sorry, that was a line from The Drumhead... Most of us are really waiting in great anticipation for the new Picard series, with one of us more tepid in our reaction to it. We react to all of the news that's been coming out about the show, especially within the last week.

The reaction to the animated comedy series Lower Decks was a little more reserved than the Picard reaction, though generally positive. Some felt better about it after the Harry Mudd Short Trek, as that Short Trek was written by the creator of the animated show. We talk a little here and there about the Section 31 series with Georgiou, which was just a rumor at the time. Since we recorded this on Friday, January 11th, CBS All Access has announced that the show is a go! Some of us look forward to it, and others aren't too thrilled. We also talk about other shows that have been rumored but not

Ruthie and I are back with the fourth and final Short Trek before Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery! This Short Trek is titled The Escape Artist. It was written by Mike McMahan, who is the showrunner of the new Star Trek: Lower Decks animated series, and it was directed by Rainn Wilson, who also starred in this short.

I didn't have a lot of expectations for this Short Trek, but with a brilliant teleplay and Rainn Wilson's incredible performance both behind and in front of the camera by Rainn Wilson, I will have to say that this was my favorite Short Trek of the four! We both loved it!

Ah yes, jipper!!! If you haven't been able to see this Short Trek, you may wonder what the deal is with jipper. Well, it's a drink, one that doesn't exist yet, but I predict we'll hear of someone inventing a jipper soon! Sipping jippers on a beach somewhere was the punchline of this story and a big part of what made this short one of the funniest Treks ever!

We have a comparison image from Fred from The Netherlands this time around. This compares the android shots in I, Mudd, using three sets of twins, and this episode, with the many versions of Rainn Wilson.

We also covered some news that is not being reported by the other podcasts or news websites yet. It appears that After Trek is not coming back for Season 2. It was announced back in June that it was being "reimagined" for Season 2, but After Trek has been removed from CBS All Access, both in the standalone app/website and on the CBS All Access Channel on Amazon Prime. If you're watching internationally via Netflix, and if you're watching on CraveTV in Canada, you still have access to it, at least for now.

Matt Mira, the former host who hosts the popular Star Trek: The Next Conversation podcast, announced on his show that the show is not returning and for Season 2, and that he is not under contract with CBS at this time. He's offered to return should they need him. It may come back later in Season 2, or for the Picard show, but for now, it's canceled. Matt implied on his podcast for Patreon subscribers that the budget overruns that caused (at least in part) former showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg their jobs were probably the reason why After Trek was canceled. Also, he didn't find out about getting the hosting job until the Thursday before his first show just a few days later. That explains a lot.

So, that's it for this mini-episode! We both loved it! We'll be back with our Season 2 Preview Roundtable in a few days!

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Ruthie and I are back with the third Short Trek! We recorded episodes for the first three Short Treks on Tuesday, December 18th in back to back to back fashion, and this is the final episode that we recorded that night. This Short Trek is titled The Brightest Star. It was written by executive story editors Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, and directed by co-executive producer Douglas Aarniokoski.

This is the first Short Trek that I would consider an origin story. This one focuses on our favorite alien commander, Saru! Well, he's at least the favorite alien for one of us. As such, Ruthie didn't care for this episode as much as I did, as she's not a big fan of his character and/or species, which she finds confusing. I understand that sentiment, as I was expecting more backstory on the prey aspects of his species, and his height, super speed, strength and especially his threat ganglia. I came up with a theory on how this evolved. His species was hunted, probably by the Ba'ul, but that Mirror Universe saying about scared Kelpiens make tough Kelpiens plays in here.

The hunt made Kelpiens less tasty, so a system evolved to make them live in a more idyllic surrounding, and that they didn't live with that fear their whole life. As I've said on the podcast many a time, I HATE the term "headcanon", so I'd prefer to consider this speculation and not anything that can be used as "gatekeeper" material. Speaking of an origin story, are we to believe that the reason why Saru's species are called Kelpiens because they eat and/or harvest kelp? Really? That's a little on the nose, don't you think?

I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Lieutenant Georgiou was the one that rescued Saru from Kaminar, and that totally fits the Saru/Georgiou/Burnham dynamic, and why he was so hurt that he didn't get to serve as the first officer under her. The appearance of Michelle Yeoh was very unexpected in any of these Short Treks, so I was very happy to see her. However, with that in mind, I did not understand part of that aspect of the story. Was there a reason why she took a shuttlecraft down to pick up Saru and not beam down to get him? This seems like the Prime Directive is under effect here, as the Kelpiens are not a warp-capable species, and we see Siranna see the shuttle as it leaves the planet, so this didn't make sense to me.

As promised, I've included images Fred from The Netherlands sent us from his trip to Toronto last year, which showed scenes used in this Short Trek!

So, that's it for this mini-episode! I loved it, but Ruthie just thought it was fine. We'll be back in the first or second week of January with the final Short Trek, which is titled The Escape Artist. Send in your feedback!

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We're finally back! Ruthie and I are back with the Short Treks! We recorded episodes for the second episode covering one of the three so far released Short Treks on Tuesday, December 18th in back to back to back fashion. We will have one more coming in a few days! Calypso's story was by Sean Cochran and Pulitzer Prize award-winning writer Michael Chabon, who is also one of the executive producers of the new Jean-Luc Picard series, who also wrote the teleplay. It was directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi.

This Short Trek gives you an idea of what might be possible within this type of story. We see no characters from Star Trek: Discovery, except for the USS Discovery itself. Instead, in a story similar to one in The Odyssey, we meet a new character, Craft, rescued by the sentient USS Discovery computer in the 33rd Century, or so it suggests. She calls herself Zora.

Zora wants to keep Craft there, a character we may never see again, but later realizes she has to release him so he can go home to his wife and child. It hints of an enemy called the V'Draysh. Many people, myself included, have speculated are The Federation. It was an interesting short, with many questions about how the ship got there, who ordered it there and how long it has been there. Why has it been undisturbed all this time, and how did Zora evolve? Perhaps it's later than the 33rd century? Maybe Discovery was sent there by Section 31? We may never know. The performances of Aldus Hodge and Annabelle Wallis, who played the voice of Zora were great, and both of us enjoyed this Short Trek very much!

So, that's it for this mini-episode! We'll be back in a few days with the next Short Trek, titled The Brightest Star.

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