PADDING THE RUNTIME. It's been five years since the premiere of Star Trek: Picard and the first season was a bumpy ride for all involved. Patrick Stewart trying to capture Jean-Luc Picard at a different point in his life. A host of executives, producers, and writers being largely unfamiliar with the character or episodic TV; and a first-time showrunner trying to figure out how to pace out an incomplete story. Bryan & Kristen revisit this experiment in brand extension to see how well it's held up.  

The grades begin at (20:55).

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It's been five years since the first season of Star Trek: Picard concluded, and here in the month of March, Bryan & Kristen will be revisiting the episodes they didn't get to when they first kicked off coverage of the series. Back in 2022, Trek Marry Kill began by grading all the live action pilots, including Picard. We were joined by Hector Navarro from YouTube's Heroes Reforged, so rather than make you search through your feed for it in order to sync up with our new episodes this month that will complete season one -- here it is refreshed! 

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PARK AND RECREATIONS. This month's animated spotlight judges the kickoff of Star Trek: Lower Decks' third season, which include a pair of episodes that pay homage to iconic moments from throughout the franchise. One *could* say that about every episode of Lower Decks -- do Bryan and Katie do that? You'll just have to listen. 

The grades begin at (15:09). Jump right to "The Least Dangerous Game" at (41:27).

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KIRK'S UNPLANNED VACATION. An alien obelisk gives Captain Kirk amnesia and strands him among indigenous people transported from Earth to an alien planet in the direct path of a world-ending asteroid. Our Inner Light Month concludes with this look at Kirk basically getting a chance at a normal life but still becoming the captain of a tribe. Is it a TREK, MARRY, or KILL?

The grades begin at (15:49).

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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). 

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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). 

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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). 

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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). 

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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).

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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).

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