Ceti Alpha 3: A Star Trek Podcast

Revisiting "Enterprise" Live-action "Star Trek" has been successful in all its incarnations ... except for "Star Trek: Enterprise." Fans do enjoy the series, so it maintains success there - but it is the only Trek series to be cancelled prematurely since The Original Series. During its four season, there were many shows - the exploration and strange, new worlds of seasons one and two, the Xindi Wa...

Character Profile: Lore He's back! ...maybe? Definitely. Er, we think, based on a few seconds in a trailer! Brent Spiner (possibly!) returns as Lore in season three of "Star Trek: Picard." The trio examines Lore and his relations with the Next Gen crew - how evil is this evil twin? He only appeared in three (or four, depending on how one counts) episodes: "Datalore," "Brothers," and "Descent" (Par...

New Trek! New Trek! New Trek! Season three of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" comes to an end as ... part 2? ... of season one of "Star Trek: Prodigy" kicks off. The trio looks at the first time two animated Trek episodes have aired concurrently. How did one season end and another ... first season? ... re-begin? We let you know everything going on for animated Trek.

Picard Season Three Preview: Beverly Crusher Dr. Crusher served as the chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D (most of the time...) and the Enterprise-E, creating relationships with her fellow officers and moving forward various stories. We will soon revisit the character once she arrives in the next season of "Star Trek: Picard," but what exactly do we know about her? From her role as doctor,...

Season Three Picard Trailer A new trailer dropped - and we're here to explain it all. Well, by explain - we mean "madly speculate." The third and final season of "Star Trek: Picard" begins in 2023, but a new trailer revealed what audiences can expect for the final television adventure of Jean-Luc Picard. Old friends, new enemies ... as well as old ... await the former crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise...

Spooky Trek Episodes It's October! Let the "spooky season" begin! The Star Trek franchise has its share of "bone-chilling, scream-inducing" stories. Well, some more than others. The trio goes through all the series to pick their Halloween recommendations. From "terrorising" TOS and TNG, to the horrors of DS9, VOY, and ENT, to the darkness of "into Darkness" and other 21st Century Trek, you'll be s...

Picard Character Review: Geordi La Forge Season three of "Star Trek: Picard" will return our favorite TNG-characters to the small screen. When did we first see them? How did they change in seven seasons of Next Gen? What about the movies and beyond? The trio will be examining the character arcs of each Enterprise-D crew member - starting with Geordi La Forge. How did this young lieutenant junior g...

Pitching Star Trek Toys The Playmates line of Star Trek action figures and other playsets/ships/fan stuff was the height of Trek toys in the 1990s. This year Playmates has revived an initial small offering of Trek action figures, leading the trio to ask, "What Trek toys should be made for the current series?" Join us in the proverbial board room as we pitch what would work to capitalize, er, enhan...

Deep Space Nine's version of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" As the animated series "Lower Decks" continues its third season, the trio asks: What would be the Deep Space Nine version of a "Lower Decks"-type crew? We've seen examples of the other series in (titled appropriately enough) "Lower Decks" (TNG) and "Good Shepherd" (VOY), but what about everyone's favorite space station? We examine life on the "...

A New Star Trek: The Experience For Trek fans in the late 90s and early 2000s, there was a chance to experience our favorite franchise in person. From 1998 to 2008, "Star Trek: The Experience" lived at the Las Vegas Hilton, allowing visitors to walk through a Trek "museum", visit shops, and have drinks in a recreation of Deep Space Nine's promenade, including chatting with Ferengi, Borg, and other...

Creating a Trek "After Show" The concept of an "after show," a panel discussion following a specific episode, became popular during "The Walking Dead" with "The Talking Dead." The concept would continue in various genre shows, eventually culminating in the current era of Star Trek with first "After Trek" and then the "The Ready Room" on Paramount+. Does that format work? And how are they different...

The Continuing Character of Nyota Uhura Nichelle Nichols died in July 2022, leaving a legacy in both Star Trek and in the real world of space exploration. The documentary, "Woman in Motion," captures Nichols' legacy - which the trio explored previously in Ceti Alpha 3 - 222. In this episode, the trio examine the character of Uhura, from The Original Series, The Animated Series, the TOS-era movies,...

Best in Star Trek - Tournament Bracket, Part 2 For the second time, the trio decides (for good!) who's the best character in Star Trek! This time, we debate and choose "the best" in two categories: Best first officer and best conn officer. Once again, the trio uses tournament brackets (aka March Madness) to winnow down the "best" characters by their jobs. We begin with an "elite eight" from across...

Comic Con - Star Trek News The 2022 San Diego Comic Con brought us two Star Trek series trailers, as well as the announcement of the boldest crossover to ever take place in the franchise. The trio talks about what is coming up for Trek in 2022-23. "Star Trek: Lower Decks" launches its third season in August, with the promise of more comedy and adventure. The news of a "Lower Decks"/"Strange New Wo...

Best in Star Trek - Tournament Bracket, Part 1 Who's the best character in Star Trek? Any fan forum can debate endlessly about it - but the trio has decided to use tournament brackets (aka March Madness) to winnow down the "best" characters by their jobs. In this first entry, we look at who is the "Best Engineer" and who is the best "Tactical/Security" person? We begin with an "elite eight" from a...

Earth in the Future. The Star Trek franchise presents, if not a utopian future, a better future for humanity. Earth of the 24th Century is supposed to have conquered war, poverty, and disease. We catch a few glimpses of our home planet, particularly in "Deep Space Nine." The trio talks about how our home planet will work in the Star Trek future, from Phlox's treatment in "Enterprise," to the two-p...

Fatherhood in Trek In recognition of the recent Father's Day holiday, the trio examine the dads in Trek - both the characters who were actual dads and the ones who had parental (or grandparental) qualities. Which Trek dad would you like to have taken you to a ballgame? Or have an adventure with? Which Trek dads would take part in the local Starfleet branch of a dad's group, and what would they tal...

Short Treks Pitches. Short Treks lasted for two "seasons" and presented a variety of ways to tell Trek stories in a condensed format. From small tales from "Star Trek: Discovery" to prequels to "Star Trek: Picard" to smaller slices of life from Pike's Enterprise. In 2022, what could be other stories told from the current series? The trio pitches their ideas for Short Treks episodes that come from...

Prequel Madness. The success of "Strange New Worlds" begs the question - what other prequel possibilities are there in the Star Trek franchise? The trio has some fun pitching ideas for other prequel series set 10 years or so before the other Trek series. How would a pre-Voyager Maquis series fair? What about Terek Nor, the Occupation-based show set on the Bajoran space station? How many prequels c...

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It's here! The Trek franchise continues to expand with its newest entry - a series focused on the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike and his crew, exploring and having adventures preceding the events of The Original Series. The trio talks about the first episode, what it establishes for the familiar characters of Pike and Spock...

Selling Trek, old and new. It's easy to critique Star Trek - whether from the dated sets and attitudes of The Original Series to the convoluted storylines of the recent series. But we are Trek fans, so it's time to celebrate what we love about this franchise. The trio takes turns "selling" each series of Trek to a hypothetical new viewer: Why should you begin with TOS? Or the Animated Series? Wher...

Picard Season Three: Hopes and Wishes As "Star Trek: Picard" closes its second season, fans are already clamoring for season three which promises to reunite the main actors/characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The trio looks at where season two has taken us and where we can go from there. What do we want to see from Worf, La Forge, and Crusher? Where will Riker and Troi go from where...

Crossover with old episodes. During '90s Trek, there was the occasional use of crossovers - the Enterprise-D goes to Deep Space Nine, Riker shows up on Voyager, Riker (Thomas) shows up on Deep Space Nine, Riker shows up on the NX-01 ... and some other non-Riker examples. Then a crossover happened that blew fans' minds - the crew of DS9 visits station K-9 and the NCC-1701 in "Trials and Tribble-ati...

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition (2022/4K) When it comes to feature films, the 1979 "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" keeps getting revisited and re-released. Paramount Plus released the newest update to the first ever Trek film this year, so Drew Stewart (@StarTrekVisComp) joins the trio to share the history of the troubled film and its history (and need) for updating. What's...

The Many Timelines of Trek. Time travel can be confusing. Okay, very confusing. And it's not just the "mirror" universes, parallel timelines, alternate futures - it's also the "regular" timeline that Star Trek series revisit on occasion which then changes and ... look, we need a corkboard and lots of yarn to keep track of it all. The trio looks at the recent episode of "Star Trek: Picard," its imp...