– Every time I throw this ball, a hundred different things can happen in a game. He might swing and miss, he might hit it. The point is, you never know. You try to anticipate, set a strategy for all the possibilities as best you can, but in the end it comes down to throwing one pitch after another and seeing what happens. With each new consequence, the game begins to take shape.

– And you have no idea what that shape is until it is completed.

– That’s right. In fact, the game wouldn’t be worth playing if we knew what was going to happen.

It’s the first pitch of the game, and something groundbreaking and historic is about to happen. Which is why we’re still here, thirty-three years later.

This week, Wesley faces a difficult choice. Option A: to help build another fortress of impunity to defend his privileged friends from the demands of justice and kindness. Option B: to tell the truth and expose them all to the consequences of their actions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he chooses the least fashionable option.

This week, the crew of the USS Defiant deploy some exciting new digital video technology to travel back to 1967 and inveigle themselves into a beloved episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It’s a perfect thirtieth birthday present for the franchise, reminding us that Trek isn’t about nerds watching the Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other — it’s about being cool and stylish and funny. In space. With great hair.

This week, Joe and Nathan stare in wonder at an episode of Voyager that gets everything right — a compelling hook, a couple of memorable and significant visuals, a clear and straightforward time loop premise, and a human story of guilt, atonement and forgiveness. One of the best episodes in Star Trek history.

This week, a feculent alien rock-monster decides to make a TV episode to determine which philosophy is stronger — good or evil. To that end, he gets his friends to dress up as Abraham Lincoln and various racist stereotypes, so they can toss sticks and jabolite rocks at each other until it’s time for The Name of the Game to come on. We’ve seen it all before, but rarely with such an impressive lack of conviction.

Oh, Dal, I wasn’t talking about now. The reason the universe needs you all together, that hasn’t happened yet. Things yet to come, wondrous and terrible things. But you’ll have to wait and see.

It’s nearly time to say goodbye to the crew of the USS Prodigy as they fly off in search of new adventures. But before they go, they get to save Earth, Solum and the entire universe, while proving that it was their own bravery and ingenuity that won them the Protostar in the first place. It’s exciting, breathtakingly beautiful, bewilderingly complex and just incredibly entertaining. And we’re sad to see it go.

It’s Series 2, Episode 1 of Deep Space Nine, and so it’s time for the show to set off in a bold new direction, exploring its premise instead of simply being The Next Generation but in a shopping mall. First item on the agenda: rescue a very dull Bajoran war hero from Soledad Canyon. Second: give him Kira’s job.

This week Michael and her new first officer Commander Rayner are caught in a time loop carefully designed by the Krenim to give Michael the chance to prove that her approach to leadership is the correct one, as usual. Meanwhile, Joe gets a surprising present.

Many years ago, Joe and Nathan were offered a contract by a shadowy devilish figure, who promised them 180 episodes of peace and prosperity until her return, when she would demand their eternal servitude, mostly consisting of admiring her smile and the fabulosity of her hair. Honestly, they can both see the upside.

This week, the children of Earth face a difficult and precarious future — one that they didn’t create but that they must nevertheless endure. And now there’s a new Star Trek series where that’s basically happening too. But in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, these kids have hope: some weird and kindly people are here, with patience and empathy, determined to help them find a way through.