A Star to Steer Her By

Storylines come to a head this week on "Voyager", and boy oh boy it sure is an unsatisfying conclusion! First up, though, we get a delightful love story between the EMH and the show's first nice Vidiian alongside some useless drek in "Lifesigns". [content warning: there is more talk of end-of-life choices related to this episode] After that: is Tom really leaving and will Jonas finally be exposed...

CONTENT WARNING: one of this week's episodes is about suicide, so lots of talk of that sort. Choices are key here this week on "Voyager", though in quite different ways. First up: an old decision of B'Elanna's comes back to haunt her in the form of a Cardassian doomsday device in "Dreadnought". After that, Janeway has to play judge in a trial for a Q (no, not that Q, but he's also here) who wants...

It's the moment at least SOME of you have probably been waiting for...SSHB has made it to not only the most infamous "Voyager" episode, but possibly one of the most infamous "Trek" episodes in general. Yes, we're talking "Threshold" this week! What do we think about Tom Paris's adventure into Infinite Velocity that leads to some really junky evolutionary science? Listen to find out! After that, we...

Whoops! Looks like we took a bit of a side-trip and forgot to warn you it was coming! Inspired by "Prototype", we decided to take a look at James Cameron's "Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" (so the only movies from that franchise that matter). Relive the classics that spawned a franchise that is harder to kill than its titular robot man with tales of time travel, paradoxes, and an ete...

Rough week for the Prime Directive on "Voyager". First up, Torres isn't willing to die OR let her crew be killed over it when murderbots ask her to help them reproduce in "Prototype". Then in "Alliances", Janeway has to balance the needs of her ship against the strictures of the Prime Directive. Also this week: suffocating actors, Square One Television, and alien uniforms! [Timestamps: "Prototype"...

People just keep getting caught and abused this week on "Voyager"! First up, Seska's back with another Cardassian scheme and Chakotay decides to take it personally in "Maneuvers". After that, a deal for some space gas or whatever goes awry, landing Torres and Tuvok in jail while Janeway hangs out with Broadway's own Joel Grey in "Resistance". Also this week: hitting the T on sects, local boy Neeli...

We've got former and future Vulcans guesting this week on "Voyager"! First up, Admiral Savar of TNG is dropping by to play Dad to young, annoying Chakotay's "Tattoo". After that, a pre-"Enterprise" Ambassador Soval is playing a DIFFERENT smug, superior jerk – with a whole extra dose of creepy – when he gets caught up in "Cold Fire". Also this week: Doctor Flu, desecrating a corpse, and dress unifo...

Kes continues to be the unluckiest woman in space, as she finds herself at the heart of conflict twice this week. First up: Tom and Neelix's audience-upsetting conflict comes to a childish head and then they bond over a middling puppet in "Parturition". After that: can Kes's powers-ex-machina save the day from a mighty psychic villain in "Persistence of Vision"? Also this week: the alleged end of...

You want to fully know what's going on this week in "Voyager"? Well TS, kid! We're only getting a very vague explanation as to how Harry Kim's reality has been supremely altered in "Non Sequitur". We then get even LESS of an explanation behind the ship going all MC Escher in "Twisted". Also this week: Bird headcanon, too many Sandrines, and crushing on Wilson Cruz. Wait, no, duty uniforms, pt 2. [...

Could extra (or any) pockets have solved the major issues this week in "Voyager"? We'll let you decide! First up: is everyone's favorite hologram actually a hologram or his creator gone mad in "Projections"? After that: space shenanigans put the ship in an uncomfortable position and cause Kes's mating cycle to kick in too early so everything just gets gross in "Elogium". Also this week: defining t...

We're starting "Voyager" s.2 and...ah...it's not the best start. We're down a body but that doesn't stop us from discussing some truly underwhelming stuff. First up: humans from the past have been brought across space for REASONS and tempt the "Voyager" crew with a new home in "The 37s"! After that, the brutally dull Kazon are back but have brought DS9's Aaron Eisenberg along for the ride to liven...

Executive meddling means we've come to the very sudden end of "Voyager" season one! First up, we learn more about Neelix and his people when the designer of a super-weapon that devastated a Talaxian moon drops by for a visit in "Jetrel". After that, get the cheese to sickbay and brace yourself for a crappier version of TNG's "Lower Decks" in "Learning Curve". Also this week: rappin' "Trek", the Ed...

Everybody needs stuff put back this week on "Voyager"! First up, Chakotay's very being is shoved out of his body by weird aliens that want to eat everyone's neural energy in "Cathexis". After that, B'Elanna's been split into human and Klingon forms and they DO NOT get on in "Faces"! Also this week: we'll always blame Paris, a drowned-rat Talaxian, and title sequences! [timestamps: "Cathexis": 01:1...

Folks are trying something new this week on "Voyager". First up, someone has been doing some under-the-table diplomacy, otherwise known as treason, but WHO could it possibly be?! Find out the obvious answer in "State of Flux". After that, The Doctor has to leave his comfort zone and the only part of the ship he's ever known to pop into the holodeck to try and save vanished crewmembers. Find out if...

It has been suggested that all literature, at the end of the day, is about sex, death, and/or religion. And we've got the lot this week on "Voyager"! First up, the Prime Directive is getting destroyed along with a new species' concepts of mortality and the afterlife in "Emanations". After that, a bunch of creepy hedonists have insanely powerful tech and their own Prime Directive in "Prime Factors!...

You can't always rely on the past in "Voyager" this week. First up, a seeming chance to get home is revealed only to be a chance to get a message home, until some science-fiction nonsense reveals that time might be an issue in "Eye of the Needle". After that, recollections are thrown into question, as is the talent of whoever designed this week's aliens in "Ex Post Facto". Also this week: Boston V...

We're robbing bodies this week on "Voyager"! First up, Neelix has his lungs stolen by a dying species that it's kind of impossible to have any sympathy for in "Phage". After that, the crew unwittingly invades an alien being in a desperate search for a power boost and has to undo their own damage in "The Cloud". Also this week: butt breathing, Harry Kim is too weird, and posters! [timestamps: "Phag...

It's two time travel stories this week where a lot of stuff doesn't actually make a lot of sense. But it really doesn't matter in "Parallax", since it's really about Janeway and Torres becoming best friends. And it doesn't matter in "Time and Again" because ultimately the episode never happened! Also this week: Ocampa issues, inexplicable Arabic numerals, and kerning! [Timestamps: "Parallax": 01:1...

After stomping through several desert planets and other, more interesting space environs for the past few weeks, it's so very nice to be home for "Star Trek"! Too bad we're then INSTANTLY lost in the Delta quadrant when the USS Voyager and the Maquis they were chasing are yoinked across the Galaxy by an alien who probably should've come up with a better plan. We think. Aspects of it are kind of va...

We're on our way home from our extended "Star Wars" shore leave but have decided to spice up our lives with a little stopover on Arrakis, a world without which George's fictional universe might've looked VERY different. We're mostly talking the Lynch/Smithee 1980s "Dune" and Villeneuve 2021 "Dunc", with a few forays into Herbert's novel and brief glimpses towards Jodorowsky and the Sci-Fi miniseri...

And so "Star Wars" ends for us, at least for now. Maybe we'll be back when more "Mandalorian" rolls around or something, no promises. But we sat back and were all pleasantly surprised by how good "The Force Awakens" actually was, before the discourse nightmare of its sequels came along and retroactively ruined it. Really a fine way to finish off this sub-project. Also this week: the Force as an ex...

And so it ends. Well, so we thought. But for a while, anyway, the "Star Wars" films ended here with "Revenge of the Sith", an ungodly mix of overlong action AND overlong scenes of people just TALKING. It's the worst of all worlds as Lucas tries to cram together epic laser fights, what he thinks romance is, and endless, perplexing politics. Good riddance to bad rubbish, the prequels. It's been awfu...

The awful sure does get everywhere as we make our way to "Attack of the Clones"! Little Ani's all growed up, but he has game so cold Hoth would call him chilly. Despite that Amidala is ALL ABOUT his deadpan, town-murdering self. It makes about as much sense as anything else in this endless, dreary pile of a picture. Also this week: a better Force battle, subcontractors all the way down, and Obi-Wa...

So this is where it all begins, twenty-two years after it began: "The Phantom Menace". Come see Darth Vader as you've never seen him before - and never wanted to, really: as a precocious scamp who races electric chariots and says "yipee!" Meet a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, who's really kind of a jerk about locals, and his well-established master, Jedi Knight Y...oh...Qui-Gon Jinn? Anyway, sit back and r...

It's where it should have ended as we come to "Return of the Jedi"! Before the prequels and the sequels this was where the universe was left off (if you were one of the normal folks that ignored the reams of books and comics, video games, bad animated TV series, made-for-TV Ewok movies...). The Empire makes a daring stand as the Rebels make their make-or-break attack, even while Luke tries to undo...