A Star to Steer Her By

The "Discovery" crew continues their trek through the Mirror Universe this week with "The Wolf Inside". Can Burnham retain her core beliefs even while going undercover among some of the worst people ever? What will become of Tyler when his secret comes out? And is there any universe where Sarek is a good father?! Also this week: dramatic reenactment, damn/thank God for spores, and...oh. Phlox. It...

Oh man we are SO back! By which I mean back to the Mirror Universe, simultaneously this show's least favorite and favorite place to visit depending on which host you're listening to! In "Despite Yourself" the Discovery crew needs desperately to blend in to figure out if there's a way for them to get out of this land of impossible doppelgangers and fascist fashion without losing themselves on the w...

Content warning: episode contains depiction of SA and we discuss briefly. After last week's disappointing entry, we're on to something much more interesting with "Into the Forest I Go". It's time for a daring mission onto an enemy ship to protect the weird wisps and maybe win the war! But will it all go wrong when Tyler encounters his torturer? Also this week: modern psych, saying the thing, and T...

We've got three plots this week and somehow almost nothing happens in "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"! We finally have an away mission and Saru goes a bit nuts, which is certainly very "Trek". Meanwhile, Stamets is feeling the strain of being a living navigational computer. And L'Rell meets Cornwell. Yup. Also this week: belated holiday, The Simpsons, and T'Pol! [gift exchange: 01:44; Pretentious Lati...

Inspired by last week's "Discovery" time loop episode, we're taking a look at 2014's action sci-fi time-loop trip "Edge of Tomorrow". Tom Cruise plays a media relations army man thrust into actual battle and lasts about as long as you'd expect...until some alien magic makes it so he gets to try again. And again. AND AGAIN. Can he save the planet AND get out of the loop with the help of Emily Blunt...

Harry Mudd is back and he's out for revenge in "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad"! He's got some inexplicable time magic creating a loop that should allow him to pull off the perfect heist, and a spore-dappled Stamets might be the only person that can throw a wrench into his plans! With a little help from our main character, of course. Also this week: whalebutt transport, tonal dissonance, and....

"Discovery" is expanding the Bad Dad lore; we already knew Sarek wasn't great at the whole father thing, but when his adopted daughter dives into his subconscious in "Lethe", we find out he maybe gives Worf a run for his money. And in the B plot: an inappropriate Doctor/Patient relationship NOT involving Bashir! Also this week: judgy tech, Pokémon (somehow), and the multi-part conclusion! [Lethe:...

This week's episode, "Choose Your Pain", engages in a time-honored "Trek" tradition: the Captain takes a shuttle somewhere instead of his massive starship and gets captured. Who could've seen that coming? What will be worse for Lorca: Klingon torture or sharing a cell with one Harcourt Fenton Mudd? Also this week: the big F, Tippecanoe, and more multi-part chat! [Choose Your Pain: 01:05; Voyager m...

A bit of a detour from our planned "Discovery" watch as OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive threw everyone a bit of a surprise for "Generations" 30th anniversary. Join us to check out a new short, a continuation of work OTOY has been doing for the past few years. We get a final journey for Captain Kirk, (maybe? depending on how you view it?) through the magic of modern CG and body-doubles. And also E...

Brace yourself for the second-longest and probably-goofiest "Trek" title ever as we spend this week looking at "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry". The stakes are higher than ever for the "Discovery" crew to get her spore drive working properly as the Klingons launch an attack on a key Federation dilithium mining facility. Also Landry has really, fatally bad research methodology. Al...

With that pesky, extra-long introduction out of the way, "Discovery" can start proper with "Context Is for Kings"! Michael's on her way to space jail until she's bailed out by the shady Captain Gabriel Lorca. He's got secret plans that involve a grumpy scientists, we meet a chatty roommate, and conveniently enough some of Burnham's old crew is along for the ride! Also this week: a literal friend s...

We're picking up right where we left off last week as the "Discovery" premiere wraps up with "Battle at the Binary Stars"! The Klingons have the advantage and Burnham is in the clink. How on earth will anyone survive long enough for there to be a third episode?! Also this week: T'Kuvma's Playhouse, Vulcan superpowers, and series finales! [Battle: 03:19; finale chat: 1:08:58] [bloggins: https://www...

And we're back! Back to "Trek", back to the (soft rebooted) Prime Universe, but not quite back to normal! It's a new era of TV across the board and between that and introducing a whole new show we somehow ran very long discussing only a single episode of "Discovery," part one of its pilot: "The Vulcan Hello"! Meet Michael Burnham and a whole bunch of other folks you probably don't need to remember...

Happy Halloween, everyone! We decided to take advantage of the fact that the holiday is on a Thursday this year and sat down to watch the low-budget campfest that is "Jason X"! It looks like it cost roughly $12 and starred every Canadian actor that wasn't working on a "Stargate" or other syndicated early-2000s sci-fi series over a weekend off, which honestly just adds to its bizarre atmosphere. Tw...

Well. We weren't sure what exactly to expect going into William Shatner's other foray into "Trek" documentary making, "The Captains", but we definitely weren't expecting THIS. Join us as The Shat turns everything into a self-serving therapy session, especially with Patrick Stewart! Gape in horror at the mind-numbing misogyny he spews in front of Kate Mulgrew! Be pleasantly surprised by how darn pe...

With JJ off to work on his beloved "Star Wars" and Simon Peg on writing duties, we come to the (as of writing) end of the Kelvin Timeline. They're going out on a high note, though, featuring the best of their outings and one of the better big screen "Trek" experiences overall. With a better understanding of the characters and world, and a really great new character, the Kelvin crew deliver a fine...

So the 2009 reboot actually did pretty well, the Kelvin timeline has been established, time to really go out there and oh never mind it's a lame "Wrath of Khan" rehash. With a white Khan. And an ultra-objectified Carol Marcus. And Kirk and Spock are mad at each other for...reasons? Still a better 9/11 "Trek" than "Enterprise", tho. Also this week: simply confusing, the hero's journey (?), and the...

Well the whole prequel thing wasn't great with "Enterprise", so Paramount went to the next "we're out of ideas" phase: REBOOT! Yes, they've dumped Berman but brought in Abrams to bring his "Star Wars" flavored touch to "Star Trek". Time gets warped, Kirk gets drifted, and everyone gets significantly younger in 2009's "Star Trek"! Also this week: Kelvinizing ourselves, gross relationships, and scal...

Somehow we've made it: after a little over 8 years and hundreds of episodes we've covered all the "Trek" that aired on broadcast TV from 1966-2005. Before we jump to the next phases of the franchise, we thought we'd take a little time to have a more general discussion about everything that got us here. It's a broad overview where we re-cover the camp and cardboard sets of the 60s, the renaissance...

"Enterprise" might be over, but she has one last outing...sort of. If its finale was HORRIBLE fanfiction, how about you step right up for some, if we do say so ourselves, much better fanfiction! Yes, your stalwarts are at it again, putting their own unique spins on the "Star Trek" universe with the crew of the NX-01. This time: contests, crossovers, tantalizing tubers, and gettin' PRANKED! Timesta...

Our collective dislike of "Enterprise" is hardly a secret, but even your hosts (and our guest) agree this show deserved a better sendoff than "These Are the Voyages...", or at least a sendoff that was about itself. Rather than simply wrapping things up with the preceding two-parter, the talentless hacks in charge decided to sideline the cast of this show in favor of tacking a horrible B-plot onto...

We're in the home stretch and "Enterprise" sure is cranking up the stupid to 11! What's the dumbest twist you could have? The two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime" has a good chance of using it. RoboCop himself has dropped into "Trek" to unleash a scheme that really only makes sense if you're already a deranged xenophobe who got his hands on some loose DNA. The Romulans would look askance at this...

It's the moment one of your hosts has been waiting for and the others have been dreading! It's time for the "Enterprise" take on the Mirror Universe in the campy two-parter "In a Mirror, Darkly". Watch as we and a guest struggle to tell the difference between Prime and Mirror Archer and wonder if other people weren't allowed to be evil ENOUGH. Also this week: prop comps, Shatner, and Seven of Nine...

Oh, boy, time to get some new "Trek" lore! No, not the android kind, the backstory kind! Also I guarantee it's a kind no one sensible wanted, needed, or ended up liking! First up, it takes two terrible episodes to find out why the Klingons are so darn different in TOS with "Affliction" and "Divergence"! After that, brace yourself for what a misogynist thinks female empowerment is in the absolutely...

Well now the Romulans have gone and done it! In their convoluted attempt to destabilize the region they've just gone and helped lay the groundwork for the eventual United Federation of Planets! Maybe there was a better use for their super psychic powered self-repairing ships than this? Also Trip and T'Pol's relationship takes a decidedly teen drama turn in the 11th hour because why not? Join us fo...