Deep Space Pride: A Gay Star Trek Podcast

Mike is on vacation, which means that all our listeners are going to be taking a trip back in time (we recorded this episode July 4th weekend)! This time around, we discuss a very talky yet FASCINATING episode, "Return to Grace." It's hard to not recognize Gul Dukat as one of Trek's most memorable villains, and this episode gives us a glimpse into his psyche, way of thinking, and relationship with...

Mike's Hawaii vacation is only a week away, which means that his mind is elsewhere - but that doesn't stop him from focusing on this week's underappreciated DS9 episode, Season 3's "Visionary." Mike and Johnson talk about Miles O'Brien's time travel hijinks, how little the crew of DS9 seems to care about their chief petty officer, and the ways in which Miles O'Brien actually has a lot in common wi...

It's the end of June, which means the end of Pride Month! We wrap up our Pride Prompts with a final question - what should Star Trek do next in terms of LGBTQ+ representation? Both Mike and Johnson think the franchise needs to push the envelope forward, but in different ways. As for this week's underappreciated episode, we chat about "Playing God" in Season 2 of DS9. Mike is less than enthusiastic...

This week, Mike and Johnson continue chatting about underrated Star Trek episodes - but they've moved onto Deep Space Nine! The first foray into this series will be Battle Lines, which features one of Mike's favorite DS9 characters, Kai Opaka. But why the cliffhanger (arguably)?! We then drop by Deanna's where Mike shares some big news going on in his life. We also continue to celebrate Pride by a...

All roads have led to this! Mike and Johnson finally chat about the much maligned - UNFAIRLY - season 7 episode of TNG "Sub Rosa," where Gates McFadden literally throws herself into character. Mike is less than impressed, while Johnson sticks to his guns that this episode fits into the "underappreciated" category. Everyone can also expect Johnson to dress up as an orgasm candle at The 55-Year Miss...

Mike does an impromptu solo episode sharing his own perspective on the 5-year anniversary of Pulse Nightclub shooting, and why we must still have Pride Month. As part of this episode, we are sharing the audio from an IG video from Blair Imani and Brandon Wolf. Brandon is one of the survivors of the Pulse Nightclub shooting and an activist; he started the DruProject in honor of his best friend, Dre...

Our celebration of Pride Month continues, with an in-person recording of the podcast! This week, we discuss: which Star Trek character did we relate to most before coming out, versus after? The answers may be slightly surprising! We then make an awkward segue to discuss this week's underappreciated episode, Schisms! Johnson found this to be a creepy and fun episode, while Mike wishes that the prop...

It's Pride Month! To celebrate, we're going to be chatting each week about how Star Trek affected us as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. This week, we do a bit of an intro, and talk about how Star Trek made us feel about being gay; we then move onto this week's underappreciated TNG episode, Ensign Ro. We meet the Bajora (we'll add an "n" on the end later for DS9) for the first time and we take a...

We're now in Season 4, where we've picked "The Drumhead" as one of the underappreciated episodes of The Next Generation. Despite a Boimler callout in Lower Decks, Johnson definitely thinks that this episode fits the category of being underappreciated, while Mike is less sure. That being said, we both have a great time talking about this character driven episode, and digging into some of the more i...

Next up in our series highlighting Underappreciated TNG episodes is "Tin Man," where we meet Tam "I'm not really a fan of people" Elbrum, whom Johnson relates to on some levels. We then move onto some off topic, where we talk extensively about Andy Weir's new novel "Project Hail Mary," along with all the other random shows and movies we're watching. In other news - Deep Space Pride is going to the...

This week, we chat about "The Icarus Factor" after being inspired by the Season 2 trailer of Lower Decks. Will Worf share his feelings? Will Commander Riker resolve all his daddy issues by the end of 45 minutes? Only this episode holds those answers. We also take a moment to talk about the other things we've been Star Trekking this week - including more TNG, Enterprise, and Star Trek: Beyond. We a...

And it's time for another new series! For the next month and a half, we're going to take a look at some of the underappreciated episodes from The Next Generation - we'll pick one episode from each season to discuss. First off, we have "Heart of Glory" - Mike's pick for season 1. Will Worf choose his fellow countrymen over Starfleet?! It's definitely a nail biter. Mike and Johnson then drop by Dean...

Since Mike couldn't peel his eyes away from Enterprise, we decided to make this easy and chat about "These Are The Voyages..." - the series finale. What follows is an exploration of a disappointing episode, the drama behind the scenes, and a pondering of what could have been. We then move into some off topic, where we chat about all the other shows we're watching - including WandaVision, Falcon an...

We wrap up our Women of Trek series with a retrospective on Enterprise - which has in fact inspired Mike to begin a series rewatch! We lament over the opportunities that Enterprise never took to tell great stories with their minority characters, including poor Ensign Hoshi Sato (who had some of her best scenes with a slug, over the entire course of the show). We then move onto Subcommander T'Pol,...

And now we're back to talking about the women of Trek! This week, we take somewhat of a meandering stroll through "Scorpion" and "Endgame," and examine two of Voyager's key female characters, Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine. While Mike and Johnson don't have the emotional connection to Voyager as they do TNG and DS9, they discuss their appreciation for these two characters, and how they've come...

We take a break from our regularly scheduled program to chat about the announcements that came out of First Contact Day - thank you Paramount Plus! We dive deep (maybe a bit too deep) into the teasers from Discovery Season 4, Picard Season 2, and Lower Decks Season 2, as well as our first look at Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Prodigy. We talk about our hopes, dreams, and what we want these shows t...

Though March is pretty much over, we've decided to continue our series - in this episode, we dive into the women of our favorite Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. Mike and Johnson gush for two hours about Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax, perhaps two of the most complex female characters that Trek has ever produced. They then somehow still manage to find time to drop by Deanna's office to share what's g...

It's a very special episode of Deep Space Pride, as we celebrate our 25th outing! We decided to invite a special guest to this episode - our friend Nancy, who is not only a LGBTQIA+ ally, but is also the one that helped us to come up with the name of the podcast. We first chat about how the name of the podcast came to be, before we make up for the last episode by dedicating an entire discussion to...

It's March, which means three things: Spring is around the corner, we've been working remotely for a year, and it's Women's History Month! To celebrate, we've decided to pick some of our favorite (and unexpected!) women from Star Trek: The Next Generation to highlight in this episode. Mike and Johnson reminisce about these characters; while the women of TNG may not have been the most complex, they...

To continue the celebration of Black History Month, Mike and Johnson take a look at "Woman in Motion," a documentary that highlights the lasting impact that Nichelle Nichols played in Star Trek, as well as on NASA's space shuttle program. Afterwards, it's time for some off topic, where Mike talks about his Babylon 5 binge, and Johnson spills some beans on WandaVision. They then explore what's next...

Now that Season 3 of Discovery has come to a close, Mike and Johnson are venturing into some new (but familiar) territory. To start - in celebration of Black History Month, we share our thoughts about the DS9 episode "Far Beyond the Stars." We also chat a bit about what else we've been Star Trekking (now that there is no new Trek), while Mike rambles a bit about his love for pins and FanSets. We w...

We've gone through a lot in the last 23 weeks - from the first season of Lower Decks to the third season of Discovery, we've been spoiled with non-stop Star Trek for almost half a year. Now it's time to take a look back at the ups and downs of Discovery Season 3 - what did we love? What did we really dislike? What do we want out of Season 4 - and will Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise hear our p...

We've finally arrived at "That Hope is You, Part 2," and there are many MANY thoughts. Mike and Johnson share their extremely differing opinions on the Star Trek: Discovery finale, while one of them suffers a bit of an existential crisis. Should Michael be captain - or need to be? How will Saru come back in Season 4? And when will this Discovery technical manual that we've been clamoring for be co...

It's the beginning of the end for Discovery Season 3, as Mike and Johnson give their thoughts on "Su'Kal" and "There Is a Tide..." Is the reveal of what caused The Burn a letdown? Does Tilly do a good job as acting captain? And where is a Discovery technical manual when you need one? After covering these important questions, we then get into Off Topic, where we can't contain our enthusiasm for Bri...

On this episode we say goodbye to Emperor/Mirror Georgiou on "Terra Firma" Parts I and II. Mike and Johnson are both big fans of the Mirror Universe, which serves as a perfect outlet for the Discovery crew to be more over the top than ever - but did these two episodes give a proper sendoff to our favorite Terran? And seriously... is this Section 31 series ever going to happen? We also chat about w...