The Shuttle Pod crew was recalled “by a little known, seldom used reserve activation clause” to record a quick update for our sister podcast, All Access Star Trek, to respond to questions about the Shuttle Pod’s current status and possible future. Since we recorded it, we thought we’d also release it in our podcast feed with a small bonus introduction.

After a quick catch-up on the production status of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and the Inglorious Treksperts’ plans for Star Trek Las Vegas, Anthony and Laurie dig into the questions sent in by podcast listeners. We also get an update from our sister podcast, the original TrekMovie pod, Shuttle Pod.

Anthony and Laurie covered the ‘Section 31’ junket and the NYC red carpet premiere, respectively, so this week they play the audio from their interviews and talk about what the cast and crew had to say, the fan reaction to Paramount +’s first streaming Star Trek movie, and more. This includes a discussions with Alex Kurtzman about the future of the franchise and we also had a chance to talk to Discovery actors Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz and Strange New Worlds actress Carol Kane. From Section 31 we spoke to star Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou), Rob Kazinksy (Zeph), Sven Ruygrok (Fuzz), Humberly Gonzales (Melle), James Liao (San), Omari Hardwick (Alok), and Kacey Rohl (Rachel Garrett).  

Anthony and Laurie are joined by Matt Wright and Denes House. After recapping the NYC premiere event and junket, the group gives an honest review of the Star Trek: Section 31 streaming movie, discussing the movie itself as well as the intention and history behind the creation of Section 31, how the movie fits in to the franchise both story-wise and industry-wise, and more.

For this special podcast—one day early, just for you!—Tony and Laurie are joined by TrekMovie’s Matt Wright and Aaron Bossig (also of the Hungry Trilobyte podcast) plus Tamia Harper of the SyFy Sistas podcast. Together, the group goes through their favorite episodes of the year from Discovery, Prodigy and Lower Decks as well as discussing the Roddenberry Archive “Unification” short film and what it could mean for the future. They also discuss their favorite 2024 Star Trek books, merchandise and events along with some personal memorable moments from the year. The group wraps up with previewing Star Trek in 2025, including the Section 31 movie, season 3 of Strange New Worlds, the 30th anniversary of Voyager (along with the To The Journey documentary) and few other assorted highlights to look forward to. There are also questions and some speculation about how the pending Skydance takeover of Paramount Global could impact Star Trek.

Anthony and Laurie happily welcome Gates McFadden back to All Access Star Trek to talk about season 3 of her podcast, InvestiGates. She talks about her guests, the challenges of interviewing people you already know well, having to listen to yourself, the dangers of over-articulating when Brent Spiner is your guest, her thoughts on the chances of a Legacy series happening, and more. Happy holidays, and see you in 2025!

Tony and Laurie are joined by the Shuttle Pod‘s Matt Wright this week. They kick off with the latest news including a wrestler added to the cast of Starfleet Academy, more details about the Section 31 movie, and the addition of The Wrath of Khan to the National Film Registry. The trio then digs into their review of the Lower Decks series finale, “The New Next Generation,” and say a sad farewell to the show. Everyone loved the finale , had very few nits to pick, and celebrated all the great moments that tied together the final season and the series as a whole. They wrap up with a look at TNG’s Tamarian language, the history of the Klingon Bird of Prey, and a special about Christmas movies featuring Star Trek celebs.

[Lower Decks review starts at 8:47] Anthony and Laurie start off taking a deep dive into the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 streaming movie. They agree it’s a better trailer and the movie looks like it has good production values and plenty of action, and they hope it can make good on promises to be “fun.” After that, they review the penultimate episode of Lower Decks, “Fissure Quest,” the first part of the two-part season and series finale. Both love the episode were surprised just how many canon connections (and characters) were jammed into it, thankful it had a longer runtime. The podcast wraps up with Tony’s conversation with Garrett Wang where he talks about playing various Kims on Lower Decks, along with how he feels about almost returning for Picard and more.

[Lower Decks review starts at 12:41] Anthony and Laurie talk about Star Trek’s two Saturn Awards nominations, then discuss the Section 31 catch-up video released by Paramount Plus. They chat about Robert Picardo’s praise of Paul Giamatti on Starfleet Academy, Tawny Newsome’s update on her live-action Trek comedy, Kate Mulgrew’s comments to a fan about a Janeway series, Anson Mount’s audition for Lorca, and Michael Dorn’s thoughts on playing Worf again. After that, they review the newest episode of Lower Decks, “Upper Decks,” which puts a spin on the concept of the show itself, then play Laurie’s interview with Jerry O’Connell about playing Ransom and being an expert on parallel universes.

As this is Thanksgiving week, we don’t cover the news except to point listeners to the site to check out Tony’s interview with the executive producer of “Unification” and breakdown of that short film featuring the return of classic Kirk and Spock. Anthony and Laurie review “Fully Dilated,” the newest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, relishing the guest star’s performance and all the meta fun. The podcast wraps up with Tony’s entire interview with Lower Decks supervising producer and director Barry J. Kelly talking about the making of this episode as well as giving us some hints for the rest of the season. Happy American Thanksgiving!