A Star to Steer Her By

We've made it past the galactic barrier and no one's gotten tinfoil eyes so it looks like the mission is a go in "Rosetta"! But on the way, we spot some neat Dyson rings and a deserted planet, and decide the latter is the more intriguing place to visit. But it pans out when it seems poor atmospheric safety standards may hold the key to communicating with Species 10-C! Also this week: nerfing Zora,...

We have some extra time opening Christmas gifts this week but our episode is normal length because basically nothing happens in "The Galactic Barrier". It does give Chris a glimmer of understanding, though, so there's that? Also this week: the war on Toyotathon, a long translator scene, and Sci-Fi movies! [Gift exchange: 01:29; Barrier: 15:55; Sci-Films: 58:10] [Lights, camera, blog!: https://sshb...

Everyone's favorite crewmate is back in "Rubicon"! No, it's not Tilly. No, not Ash, he's still in the 23rd century. No, not Dr. Pollard. It's Nhan! Nhan. The Benzite security officer? Ugh...the "yum yum" woman. Now you've got it! So, yeah, Michael is going after Book, and Vance figures someone needs to keep an eye on her in case her emotions get in the way of murder, and she's apparently just the...

In "All In", Book and Tarka could have gone ANYWHERE in the galaxy, and tracking them down will surely be...oh there they are. Well, with that done in the first 5 minutes, we're going to have some casino shenanigans. Owo goes sharking while Michael and Book have a poker argument, all in an attempt to get their hands on a powerful Macguffin! Meanwhile, Culber's mad at a Roomba. Also this week: the...

It's a talker this week in "...But to Connect"! The Federation hosts a big DMA to-do and everyone's invited! Including, unfortunately, Tarka. There's all kinds of speeches, including one that's just a thinly-veiled couple's spat being played out in front of a bunch of strangers! Awkward! Meanwhile, on "Discovery", Kovich and crew need to try and figure out how to deal with the fact that they're al...

Podcasting. Podcasting never changes. Except for all the times we break from "Trek" to talk about something else, which we're doing again to discuss "Fallout" season one! With the second season just around the corner, we're talking the very successful video game adaptation that brought Interplay and Bethesda's (and to some extent Obsidian's) wasteland to a wider audience. There's Ghouls, Vault Dwe...

In "Stormy Weather" Zora decides to be a difficult little AI. What's new in sci-fi, though, right? Except instead of evil, she's decided she needs to have crippling anxiety that keeps her from doing her job. Ok, I guess that IS a new one. Meanwhile, Book has gotten zapped and is being haunted by the ghost of his crappy dead dad, or maybe just a hallucination of him? Either way, he's a jerk. Also t...

Hollywood has gone back to the well, or maybe it's the library, with its recent remake of "The Running Man". So we've decided to take a look at both of them! In each dystopian future, life is awful but everyone agrees the best way to get through it is to watch people get hunted down in the titular game show! Arnie's a cop who took a while to realize he was a baddie, while Glen Powell is an ordinar...

The lack of time to tell stories is painfully evident in "The Examples". A plot about prisoner rights and society that would feel right at home in about any "Trek" series has to be squeezed down until it loses all nuance all so it can share space with a new science person who is like all the awfulness of early Stamets with none of the later Stamets charm. Because no better time to run an experimen...

"All Is Possible" as long as you have a team! Like a clutch of cadets who unfortunately remind us of one of the worst episodes of "Voyager". Like that hot Vulcan politician you would violate ANY Prime Directive for. Like that physician/psychiatrist who has his own stuff to deal with but is going to ignore it for now! Also this week: torch passing, military dictatorship, and artificial life forms!...

I really hope you saw season 1 of "Picard" or the right episodes of DS9, because otherwise "Choose to Live" might not make as much sense as it could. In the main plot, multiple poor choices are made by multiple people so a story can happen. In the B plot Stamets meet scientists more stuck-up than he is while Book gets some psychic psychology. In the C plot "Star Trek" again flips death the bird. A...

Happy Halloween! We've transformed into "A Star to SPOOK Her By" this week as we take a look at a cult sci-fi horror classic. But this one has a quite explicit "Star Trek" connection in the form of Jeffrey Combs! But unlike his many "Trek" appearances, he's not behind makeup, just the respectable spectacles of Herbert West, the titular "Re-Animator". It's the film's 40th anniversary, so no better...

In "Anomaly" we pick up where we left off, investigating the mystery THING that sent a space station tuchus-over-teakettle and made Kwejian an ex-planet. Book is really going through it and signs up for a TERRIFICALLY dangerous mission, which is his prerogative, but did he HAVE to bring the cat? He also gets saddled with a holo-Stamets, whose resting mourning face has nothing on Book's unrelenting...

Season 4 of "Discovery" starts with a BANG! Haha, no but seriously a planet gets blown up in "Kobayashi Maru". Meanwhile, Tilly and Adira have to save a space station that's gotten all squiddled and is tumbling out of control during a mission overseen by the Federation's new apparently-micromanager President. But is there something else going on? Also this week: uniform upgrades, tonal shifts, and...

It's the end of Season 3 and the answer to the big mystery that was set up so long ago: where's "That Hope Is You, Part 2"? Oh! Here it is! On the ship, we get some underwhelming action scenes while back on the dilithium planet, Saru gets to have a successful dinner and also play space Dad! How does it all shake out? How did we feel about it? You'll have to listen and see! Also this week: wave aft...

Michael goes full Jean-Luc McClane this week in "There is a Tide...". Never mind whatever was going on with Saru and Co, as that plot is just completely gone this week so we can have some action moments of varying quality. We also meet Osyraa's most valuable henchmen: a dude we thought was dead and someone who is simultaneously the smartest person in the Galaxy and ENTIRELY oblivious to how evil h...

Finally, we get to the root of The Burn in "Su'Kal"! That...that's really what you're going with, "Discovery"? Huh. But on the plus they let Doug Jones out from behind his customary makeup to let him really run free as Saru goes through a bit of an emotional wringer. Meanwhile, Tilly is left in charge and gets to take part in a time-honored "Trek" tradition of losing her ship to pirates. Dang it....

It may not be three ghosts but Georgiou is getting her own little "Christmas Carol" in "Terra Firma, Part 2". Witness what this show seems to think is a redemption of everyone's favorite (?) genocidal maniac as she's kind of nice to Mirror Saru and has her daughter murder a bunch of people in her name. Look, we don't know what they were going for here, either. Also this week: thank goodness for So...

It's another jaunt to The Mirror Universe (or perhaps *A* Mirror Universe) this week as the "Discovery" writers have to figure out a way to get Georgiou into the past for what was then planned to be a "Section 31" series. In "Terra Firma, Part 1" the effects of being away from her universe and time are threatening to strike the Emperor down, and only a man in a funny hat may have the key to save h...

It's that time of year again! We're right around our anniversary so we've cracked open our noggins and brought you more of our trademark fanfics in our trademark styles! It's the "Discovery" crew's turn to be our weird little puppets, and we've not only wound up with a Mudd trio, but our first-ever total character choice overlap! So settle in for some very noncanonical tales by your favorite "Trek...

There's trouble on the (possibly tiny?) world of Kwejian this week, and Book has to book it over there in "The Sanctuary"! Surprisingly convincing the Starfleet powers-that-be to let the "Discovery" and her crew tag along is super easy, barely an inconvenience, and we're all getting involved in family drama that overlaps neatly with the oft-mentioned Emerald Chain its boss Osyraa! Also this week:...

The search for the origin of The Burn continues in "Unification III", and our next step is Vulcan! Wait, no, it's called Ni'Var now. At the home to a still-not-quite meshed Vulcan and Romulan culture, Michael Burnham has to defend her thesis while Saru gets to engage in the ages-old "Trek" tradition of being a captain who makes a pass at a guest star. Also this week: sci-fi pinching from Judaism,...

The "Discovery" crew is still finding their legs and has JUST gained a modicum of trust from Admiral Vance, so of course Michael is going to immediately go rogue in "Scavengers". Book has possibly been taken captive on a hunt for clues to The Burn, so it's up to her and Georgiou to face off against a Nepo Baby in a cement fact...ah, futuristic scrap yard. Plus Stamets chills out a bit. Also this w...

The "Discovery" has found her way to Starfleet in "Die Trying"! A shame everyone assumes they might be temporal agents here to cause Time Shenanigans! In an attempt to prove their trustworthiness they head off to a mission that leads to another pre-departure infodump that could've made a character interesting WAY sooner! Also this week: phreaking with Georgiou, a game changer, and alternate realit...

The "Discovery" crew continues its twofold search for Starfleet and a little inner peace in "Forget Me Not". A trip to Trill seems like it could hold the answers, until "Star Trek" remembers that the Trill government is just...just awful. Back on the ship, Saru asks the computer for help planning a party and it goes as well as one might expect. Never ask an AI for advice, Saru! Also this week: The...