A GOOD STORY? That's not something Bryan and his trio of guest co-hosts expected from Star Trek: Enterprise here during Inner Lights month. Jamie, Bill, and Maria have their own show where they explain episodes of Enterprise to one another, and for "Carbon Creek," they're doing a bit of a swap with Trek Marry Kill -- look for Bryan to appear on their show in April. 

You can listen to Enterprisesplaining here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprisesplaining/id1733657074

The grades for this one begin at (39:47). 

HOPE AND DESPAIR walk hand and hand, but that's not the only lesson to be learned from a classic episode of Star Trek and Deep Space Nine. From a technical standpoint, the Star Trek format is malleable and elastic if the story has a point, and the story can be about anything if there's meaningful characterization. But! Is this episode a TREK, MARRY, or KILL? Bryan and Shereese investigate as our Inner Lights theme month continues.

The grades begin at (33:18). 

A FLUTE OCCURRENCE. Captain Picard gets zapped into a simulation where he must live out a whole other life as a man on a dying planet. It turns out this has a profound effect on the captain of the Federation flagship, but it's something the franchise barely revisited after what many consider to be the show's finest hour. Do Bryan and guest co-host Michael Baumann agree? 

The grades begin at (29:03). 

KLINGONS! VULCANS! PROMOTIONS! This month's animated spotlight focuses on the last two episodes of Lower Decks' second season, in which we get the introduction of T'Lyn and Ma'ah and discover that Ensign Sonya Gomez has been promoted from spilling hot chocolate on Captain Picard to captaining her own starship -- which the Cerritos needs to rescue in one of Trek's most thrilling sequences this century. BUT! Are these episodes TREKs, MARRYs or KILLs?

The grades for "wej duj" begin at (21:04). Jump to "First First Contact" at (59:10). 

SAY "CHEESE," TUVOK! When some surly MaQuis crewmembers refuse to conform, it's up to Tuvok to whip them into shape. Meanwhile, Neelix cuts the cheese and it winds up being so nasty that it makes the ship sick.

The grades begin at (34:16).

YEOHING FOR IT. The long-gestating Section 31 TV series finally premieres on Paramount+ as a standalone movie -- or is it? Bryan and TV critic Diana Keng try to figure out just what this actually is and how the wonderful, resplendent, and popular Michelle Yeoh's contributions go insofar as making this a TREK, MARRY, or KILL. 

The grades begin at (33:09).

TIME IS PRECIOUS. It's been 30 years since this episode aired and yet it remains one of Voyager's most indelible hours. Is a random Romulan contacted through a wormhole friend or foe to the ship stranded in the Delta Quadrant and is the episode a TREK, MARRY, or KILL?

The grades begin at (28:27). 

COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE. It's the episode that gave us Captain Kathryn Janeway's most famous line *and* underscored just how much of a charlatan the show's Native American advisor wound up being. Will Bryan & Shereese give it a TREK, MARRY, or KILL? 

The grades begin at (29:05).

LOL (LOSS OF LUNGS). It's the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Voyager's debut. Bryan & Shereese play Trek Marry Kill with "Phage," the episode that introduces us to the gnarly Vidiians, who mark the occasion by stealing Neelix's lungs! Is the episode compelling Trek or a drama set in a carnival? 

The grades begin at (25:41).

MINOR BIPEDAL SPECIES? Captain Kathryn Janeway has a problem: in order to save a childlike race of people called the Ocampa, she must strand her ship and crew 70,000 light years from their home quadrant of space, or else risk the Ocampas' future as slaves to the evil Kazon. What is a Starfleet captain to do?

This week, Bryan and Kristen grapple with Captain Janeway's decision and a lot of the behind the scenes decision that went into creating Star Trek: Voyager along with "Caretaker," its pilot, specifically. Will this episode fit comfortably into any of our three labels: Trek, Marry, or Kill?