Antimatter Pod

It's the Star Warsiest episode of Star Trek ever, and we are here for it! We're also talking about: Admiral Vance: does he have a drinking problem yet? Michael doesn't really understand the concept of letting others make choices, and it's probably Sarek's fault Misfits, outsiders, and why is piloting "macho" anyway? Saru is not a good captain (which is fine), but fandom won't admit it (which is ba...

Liz and Anika talk "Unification III", an episode practically made for us. Discussed along the way: the academic rigour of the Vulcan thesis defence the latest episode of The Mandalorian false binaries Tilly's career path Michael's quartet of complicated mothers It's the episode where we ask -- just how much of a creep is Grudge? And really? Baby Yoda has a name now?

They had us at "unsanctioned mission". the Luke-Vader heist of Anika's dreams the teams are fracturing and it's AWFUL but also a bit great does Michael actually want to be in Starfleet? Did she ever choose to be in Starfleet? Michael Burnham and the Series-Long Badge Motif Michael/Book: how do we love it? We cannot even begin to count the ways! a Culmets duck family is Grudge a real cat: y/n? We a...

Liz and Anika are shocked -- SHOCKED! -- to learn that Starfleet Command is maybe a bit shady. Also covered: we care as much about 32nd century starship design as we do about the bridge crew how season 3 is structured like a video game Nhan's departure Georgiou's arc Discovery is not an ensemble show and should stop trying to be they really did manage two separate scenes where men tell Michael to...

Liz and Anika return to the Trill homeworld, and also attend an awkward dinner party. It's time to talk about Discovery 3.04, "Forget Me Not"! We discuss: how very 2020 this season feels ... but in a good way? the Adira/Gray romance, representation, ghost stories, YA fiction and Truly, Madly, Deeply Saru's character growth Liz wants you all to know she hated "Calypso" it took three seasons, but Cu...

Discovery season 3 might be Voyager 2.0, but it still only takes them three episodes to get home to Earth. Downside: turns out you can't go home again. Anika and Liz discuss: the narrative language of Star Trek Michael's year on her own Adira: Wesley Crusher but make them non-binary Pronouns! Earth's moral failure in the face of a crisis hugging CGI trees capslocking about Keyla, or, Discovery has...

Like season 3 of Discovery, Liz and Anika are a little bit delayed but totally worth the wait. We hope! We're discussing the first two episodes of Discovery's third season: "That Hope Is You" and "Far From Home". And, along the way, we talk about... Grudge, a good catte Cleveland "Book" Booker, a Jedi and a Disney princess Aditya Sahil, the bureaucrat who waited We ... kind of maybe don't care abo...

Liz and Anika revisit "Balance of Terror" and "The Enterprise Incident" -- the only two TOS episodes to feature the Romulans on screen.  We discuss:  parallels and contrasts honour, duty and espionage Romulan fashion why do we like the Lenard Commander so much when he killed so many people?  And more!

We take a deep dive into episode 8 of Enterprise's third season: "Twilight", and discuss:  how much we love this episode (A LOT) we kind of maybe ship T'Pol/Archer here Rosemary's Baby, feminism and psychological horror the fascinating things this episode does with gender storytelling through costume, hair and make-up the destructions of Earth and Romulus it turns out that JJ Abrams is a hack????...

Halfway through its first season, Liz and Anika revisit Lower Decks. Spoilers, we still like it! BUT... it really is awfully heterosexual and isn't it weird how, out of all the modern Trek series, only one actively pursues queer representation and the others just fall into a heteronormative default? is the solution ... a letter-writing campaign??? But also! this is still a Beckett Mariner stan pod...

Anika and Liz select characters, concepts and ideas which, if copyright law didn't exist (and also they controlled Star Trek, which, for some reason, they still don't), they would bring into the Trek universe. We're talking about... the value of retelling stories Star Trek: SVU a Tal Shiar Red Room (the Black Widow kind, not the Twin Peaks kind, but Liz is actually thinking of Amazon Prime's Hanna...

Hey, remember two weeks ago, when we were like, "Well, maybe Star Trek: Lower Decks won't be for us, and that's okay."  SPOILERS: WE LOVED IT.  This is now a Beckett Mariner stan podcast We want to know a lot more about Rutherford and his prosthesis (Attention mad scientists: if you need a test subject, Anika volunteers) Corridor bunks? Corridor bunks! Liz has a pitch for the season finale Tendi:...

Anika and Liz discuss the news out of this year's virtual San Diego Comic Con. And ... there's not much of it!  We understand the reasons, but we're still disappointed at the lack of release date for season 3 of Discovery (three days later: 15 October!) We're keen for Star Trek: Prodigy Maybe Star Trek: Lower Decks won't be for us ... and that's okay! The All The Star Trek Ladies panel, which has...

It's almost unheard of for a network to reject a pilot, only to request a new one. But Star Trek always was a bit special. Anika and Liz are here to discuss "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second -- and successful -- Star Trek pilot. And we have to ask -- is this real Star Trek, or just a generic action-adventure story wearing a Starfleet uniform, a shameless money grab, a blatant jumping of t...

It's our 50th episode! And we're celebrating with silliness: we've come up with 25 questions each, and given the other 60 seconds to consider important issues like:  why does Anika blame Jonathan Archer for everything that's wrong with the Federation? can Liz narrow down a single favourite violation of the Prime Directive? whisky-flavoured chewing gum: yes or no? And that barely scrapes the surfac...

When we planned this episode, we thought we were just going to talk about the newly announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. But real events took over, and so we encourage our listeners to donate to the ACLU, Black Lives Matters groups, FreeHer and other organisations raising money to fight systematic racism, injustice and police brutality. Check out antimatterpod.tumblr.com for specifics. It's ve...

We're talking about the medical professionals of Trek, including:  the changing prominence of doctors and medicine in Star Trek uh, does Phlox actually have a medical degree? our favourite doctor (and the good characters versus the ones we'd want actually treating us) Liz's nursing rant and Anika's related ER rant (it's on topic! We promise!) we have ... questions about Klingon medicine mental hea...

Anika and Liz discuss the classic TOS tie-in novel My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane, particularly:  Duane's take on Roman culture, and its ties to canon, especially in the wake of Star Trek: Picard Romulan language -- and how the heck do you pronounce "Mnhei’sahe"? Ael: a character we adore beyond reason Liz's elaborate headcanon about Romulan culture and politics in the 24th century Anika's etern...

Anika and Liz discuss the DS9 episode "Things Past", in which Sisko, Dax, Odo and Garak find themselves at the centre of an ugly incident during the Occupation. While Garak demands to see the manager, Odo has some guilt to work through. It turns out the Occupation was ... bad. Along the way, we discuss:  Odo's place in the hierarchy of the Occupation (and his claim to not have a place at all) how...

Anika and Liz are joined by Jules (of @juleshastweets and Bad Pajamas) to talk about our favourite villains! Complete with sidebars about Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and a a brief reinvention as an Expanse podcast.  Topics of discussion include:  villains versus antagonists redemption arcs  the mirror universe is Emperor Georgiou the Garak of Discovery? maybe Quark isn't a villain, b...

Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard has come to an end! What a strange, messy show it's been.  Special guest Sam ( @retconning ) joins us for the first thirty minutes to discuss Seven of Nine, queer representation throughout Trek's history, the heteronormativity of this particular series, and THE HANDHOLDING SCENE (the caps are necessary) in the final thirty seconds of the episode.  Then Liz and Anika t...

This week on Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew beam down to an idyllic paradise whose scantily clad residents harbour a terrible secret. No, wait! It's Star Trek: Picard, and any resemblance to season one of TNG is entirely ... unfortunate. This week on Antimatter Pod... Anika has a shocking confession apparently we are meant to consider Bruce Maddox a great loss to humanity? Really? how Pi...

Join Liz and Anika as we pick up some "Broken Pieces" -- starting with our own audio: due to technical shenanigans, a really excellent rant was lost. But here's what survived:  so many secrets have been revealed! did the Borg/Seven subplot need more time? does the writing hold up? if you have to take to Instagram to explain plotholes, then no, it does not we make predictions for the end Somehow th...

Take a long, leisurely trip to Nepenthe with Anika and Liz as we discuss:  The Riker-Troi family, Kestra the perfect-but-not-in-a-Mary-Sue-way kid character, synths and stem cells and pizza Our very, very strong reservations about Hugh's fate, and Anika has found The Worst Take The fruitless search for depth in Narissa Cris Rios (he is not a clever man) Narek (and his collection of fidget spinners...

Just when we had gotten used to the idea that Star Trek: Picard was a bit rubbish, it went and threw a good episode at us! Anika and Liz are talking:  redemption and atonement arcs Anika has a LOT of feelings about Narek, okay? girl-as-mystery-box storytelling (with a semi-relevant interlude of Steven Moffat fangirling) Voyager references Rihannsu lore is creeping into canon and we are DELIGHTED E...