Trek Marry Kill

COUNSELOR TROI'S MOM has a problem: she wants to sleep with Captain Picard, only, he's nowhere to be found. So in the meantime, she takes to interviewing all the males on board the Enterprise to see he would be a worthy mate. And just where is Picard? He's hiding in the holodeck playing a Dixon Hill adventure. 

How do Bryan and this week's guests, Tamar and Nathan, feel about this season two adventure? You'll just have to listen to find out. This one was an in-person record, so the sound quality might be a bit different from our previous episodes. And don't worry, Kristen just has the week off, but will be back next week for an all new one. 

This is our second Wild Card episode, where the guest chooses the episode. You'll find out all about why a Lwaxana Troi episode made it on the list. Starting next week, we'll be kicking off 2023 with episodes featuring Data, Lore, Moriarty, and more in preparation for the premiere of Star Trek: Picard - Season Three! Don't forget to check out our social media (@trekmarrykpod on Twitter & Instagram) and website: trekmarrykillpod.com -- Our Star Trek: Voyager - "Caretaker" poll runs through January 31st. Is that episode a Trek, Marry, or Kill? Vote!

And Happy New Year!

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THE ULTIMATE CROSSOVER? UPN decided to attack a two bird problem with a single stone: corporate synergy. Does special guest star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson boost a Seven of Nine storyline in the 6th season of Star Trek: Voyager? According to Nielsen ratings, yes, it did, making "Tsunkatse" the highest rated episode of that season.

With Kristen away, Bryan has on two of his favorite Twitter follows: @andymoney69, now a writer-director of the Award-winning short film TITO, which you can watch on YouTube (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10yvDxNw-x0), and @FanSince09, the greatest Philadelphia Phillies & Eagles fan since 2009. The pair had previously hosted the parody baseball conspiracy theory podcast and are just two massive professional wrestling fans. 

Pro wrestling and Star Trek fandom are a crucial Venn Diagram overlap here as this episode features The Rock just before his stardom ascends into the mainstream. Does all the wrestling stuff work in this episode where Seven of Nine must fight for hers and Tuvok's survival, or do Andy & FanSince see through the Star Trek-ian attempt to give this cynical corporate merging of IP some dramatic heft?

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JEAN-LUC PICARD has meant so much to audiences that his return to TV in Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard was an event, one that this week's guest, Hector Navarro (YouTube's Heroes Reforged) actually attended -- and quite by accident!  Hear his story about being in the audience at the Las Vegas convention where Patrick Stewart made the announcement, and then stick around for not just our usual grades, but also Hector's view on why Bryan and Kristen should pay more attention to Lower Decks and Prodigy. It's an impassioned defense Jean-Luc Picard would admire.

When we catch up with now-retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, both he and the Star Trek universe as we know it have changed. Picard no longer a man at the edge of the final frontier. The Federation no longer interested in preserving life. The destruction of the Romulan homeworld has created an intergalactic incident. Simultaneously, a revolt by androids leads to a 9/11-like incident on the planet Mars, creating a ban on all synthetic life in Federation territory. What's Picard to do, then, when he meets a synthetic woman named Dahj... who happens to be Data's daughter?

If you like this episode, consider rating us five stars and/or liking us wherever you listen. Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay. Find us on Instagram and Twitter @trekmarrykpod and at our new website: trekmarrykillpod.com

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THE FIRST PREQUEL to bear the name Star Trek, and it's incredible that so much of Enterprise has remained canon despite all the changes to the universe following the Chris Pine movies. Bryan and Kristen explore the big 2-hour premiere episode of the last Trek show of the Rick Berman era to see if Scott Bakula works as the first captain of a starship named Enterprise and if humanity's first adventure into deep space lives up to those adventures in the previous pilots. 

Is this the greatest Star Trek pilot ever? Do you wish you could hop into a decontamination chamber with T'Pol or Trip? Of course, the biggest "controversy" of the show's four-season run was its theme song. Is "Faith of the Heart" a bop or a flop? 

If you like this episode, consider rating us five stars and/or liking us wherever you listen. Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay. Find us on Instagram and Twitter @trekmarrykpod and at our new website: trekmarrykillpod.com

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WEIRDEST TREK EVER. That's the only way to describe Star Trek's return to television after a thirteen-year hiatus since the end of Enterprise. Bryan and Kristen tackle the first two hours of the show that helped launch Paramount+ (née CBS All Access) and try to figure out just what the adventures of Michael Burnham are supposed to be about. We don't even get to the USS Discovery by the end of these first two hours. Bold choice or shaky planning?

This is the five-year anniversary of Discovery's debut, making it the perfect time to revisit it and see if the show has been unfairly maligned during its run. Do the first two hours combine into something Star Trek fans would want to Trek, Marry, or Kill?

If you like this episode, consider rating us five stars and/or liking us wherever you listen. Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay. Find us on Instagram and Twitter @trekmarrykpod

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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? 

If you like this episode, consider rating us five stars and/or liking us wherever you listen. Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay. Find us on Instagram and Twitter @trekmarrykpod

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GRIEVOUSLY SAVAGE RACE? Join Bryan and Kristen as they decide whether or not the pilot of their favorite Star Trek, The Next Generation, deserves to be Trek'd, Married, or Killed. 

Patrick Stewart steps into the role of Jean-Luc Picard, which would eventually set off a pop culture debate as to who's the best captain: Kirk or Picard? In the 2-hour premiere episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard and the crew of the new Starship Enterprise are tasked with discovering the "mystery" behind the improbable success of a new space station, Farpoint, situation on planet Deneb IV. On the way, the Enterprise is intercepted by an omnipotent being named Q who warns the Enterprise to turn back and stop exploring space or else be put on trial for the crimes of humanity. 

In order to stave off summary judgment against the human race, Picard and crew must uncover the mystery of Farpoint Station to the satisfaction of this Q fellow. Does this episode, which kicks off the most popular Star Trek series of all time, satisfy our hosts? Listen and find out!

If you like this episode, consider rating us five stars and/or liking us wherever you listen. Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay. Find us on Instagram and Twitter @trekmarrykpod

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THERE'S YOUR WORMHOLE! Writer-Producer J. Holtham (The Handmaid's Tale, Supergirl, Pitch) joins Bryan and Kristen to decide if Deep Space Nine's 2-hour premiere warrants a Trek, Marry, or Kill. And where does Benjamin Sisko, Star Trek's first black captain, land on their list of favorite captains? 

Michael Piller is responsible for bringing Star Trek: The Next Generation from pale spinoff of a cult TV show to pop culture phenomenon. And he got first crack at a post-Gene Roddenberry Star Trek future. Meet Sisko, Kira, Dax, O'Brien, Quark, Odo, Jake, Bashir, and many more as the Star Trek format shifts from deep space exploration to strong character and cultural work in a show that paved the way for the turn of the century Golden Age of Television. That's right! Your favorite serialized shows owe some thanks to what has long been considered Star Trek's "middle child"! 

Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay.

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The galaxy's newest Star Trek podcast has rules! 

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A SECOND PILOT? Star Trek spent three seasons defying the odds, and it all started here in this second pilot, a rare occurrence by TV's standards even today. What did NBC see in this show? Why, the promise of action adventure and solid science fiction, of course. They get all that and more  with William Shatner as Captain James R. Kirk of the USS Enterprise and a script by novelist-turned-TV writer Samuel A. Peeples. 

As the Enterprise probes the edge of the known galaxy, they encounter an energy field that gives Captain Kirk's best friend, Lt. Gary Mitchell, the power of a god. In order to save his ship, Kirk must choose between stranding his friend on a distant world or killing him. 

Check this one out to hear how Bryan first saw it and why both he and Kristen think Gary Mitchell is a piece of sh**.

ALERT! We use strong language when talking about the character of Gary Mitchell!

Our theme music is "70's Synth Funk Jam" by Phill_Dillow on Pixabay.

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