First Contact: The Next Generation Introcast

Andrew and Alex take a break from watching Star Trek: The Next Generation to discuss  Star Trek Beyond , the latest in the new film franchise featuring new interpretations of the original crew. In their rambling chat they discuss the marketing, the use of characters as well as the plot and the villain. It also seems like the perfect opportunity to chat about Star Trek’s 50th anniversary. War...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE PRICE’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 8 Any idea that money doesn’t exist in the 24 th century is quickly abandoned with the discovery of the first stable wormhole which apparently leads to the Gamma Quadrant.  A number of parties come on board the Enterprise to negotiate for the rights to maintain the space bridge including a creepy dude called Devinoni Ral who for some reason Troi falls i...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE ENEMY’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 7 An away team comprising the First Officer, Head of Security and Chief Engineer beam down to an inhospitable planet close to the Neutral Zone to investigate a Romulan distress signal. With poor visibility and heavy interference they can barely see in front of their faces but they don’t operate the buddy system and Geordi wanders off on his own and fall...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘BOOBY TRAP’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 6 In this week’s exciting instalment of First Contact: The Next Generation Introcast, the Enterprise investigates the debris of a battle 1000 year old space battle. Picard gets a boner for an abandoned ship and so leads the away team. Meanwhile the Enterprise starts acting a little funky, losing power and not moving anywhere, almost a...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE BONDING’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 5 In this week’s Star Trek: The Next Generation podcast retrospective, Andrew, Alex and James look back at season 3 episode ‘The Bonding’ An Enterprise away team is investigating an apparently uninhabited planet when disaster strikes and a big explosion goes off right in their faces. The team are successfully beamed up but Lieutenant...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 4 In this week’s exciting Star Trek The Next Generation podcast: The Enterprise is on course to deliver some supplies to a remote outpost who are spying on a proto-vulcan settlement. Everything goes wrong though and there are explosions and some of the indigenous population witness the advanced technology and believe Picard to be a...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE SURVIVORS’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 3 The Enterprise sets off to investigate a Federation colony after receiving a distress call. Upon arrival they find the entire planet destroyed like some desolate matte painting, except for one house where a nice old couple live. Troi senses something isn’t right but is then driven made by the jingle of a persistent ice cream van outside her window...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE ENSIGNS OF COMMAND’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 2 The Sheliak Corporate gets in touch with the Enterprise and they never, ever call so the crew know that something’s up. They want some humans cleared off a planet, that’s belongs to them thanks to a hundred year old treaty. Turns out the humans are the descendants of some colonists who got lost 90 years earlier. Due to the radiation on th...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘EVOLUTION’ SEASON 3 EPISODE 1 Because no one demanded it, First Contact returns to cover season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation starting with ‘Evolution’. Just like the show that inspired our podcast we’ve made some changes…okay, not really, it’s still Andrew, James and Alex talking about the show in more detail than you’d like, but we all w...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS’ SEASON 2 OVERVIEW It’s been over a year since the First Contact team started watching season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Before this stage of the experiment, Alex had never seen any of this before, but what can he remember now? Pretty much nothing as it turns out but it’s good to listen to him struggle. Listen to the previous episode &...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘SHADES OF GRAY’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 22 During a geological Survey Riker gets struck by a thorn which releases a virus into his body. If it reaches his brain, it will kill him, so Pulaski puts him into a magical memory machine to try and stimulate his neurons. It turns out Riker may be some kind of sleeper agent as he remembers nothing prior to his adventures on the Enterprise but no...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘PEAK PERFORMANCE’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 21 The Enterprise is ordered to participate in a War Games scenario in order to assess the crew’s readiness for a Borg attack. The exercise is supervised by famed strategist Sirna Kolrami who’s really good at Battleships and beats Riker and then Data. This gives Data a crisis of confidence because he’s usually really good at Battleships. Picard c...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE EMISSARY’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 20 The Enterprise is diverted on a secret mission to pick up a special Emissary, K’Ehleyr, a half Klingon who has a history with Worf. They must stop a Klingon sleeper ship who think they are still at war with the Federation and look set to destroy a number of colonies. Picard plays cupid and makes Worf work with his former lover to come up wit...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘MANHUNT’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 19   The Enterprise is on a mission to deliver Antedean delegates to a conference when Lwaxana Troi arrives on board ship. She’s experiencing the Betazoid version of the menopause meaning her sex drive is increased. Upon realising he’s the object of her affections, Picard decides to hide on the holodeck. Then they arrive at the conference and everyon...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘UP THE LONG LADDER’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 18 While on the way to a mapping mission we know it will never get to, the Enterprise receives a mysterious distress call which could easily be mistaken for a game of space invaders. It turns out to be an ancient beacon from an Earth Colony long since lost. On arriving at the planet,the Enterprise crew find an inexplicably small group of comedy...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘SAMARITAN SNARE’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 17 Wesley prepares to go to a Starbase to take some more Starfleet exams when he’s surprise to be joined by Picard, who needs to go get some maintenance on his artificial heart, and he doesn’t want anyone in the crew to know. Meanwhile on the Enterprise, Riker proves himself to be the most inept Captain in the world when he allows Geordi to...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘Q WHO’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 16 Q arrives on the Enterprise revealing he’s been ousted by the continuum and asks to join the crew. After Picard rejects his offer, Q sends the ship 7,000 light years away. There they encounter the Borg, a life form enhanced with cybernetic implants who function as a collective. The Borg fire on the Enterprise killing 18 crew members. The Enterprise attem...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘PEN PALS’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 15 In a metaphor for the BBC in the 1970s one of the senior crew starts using the radio to start talking to an inappropriately young girl, and forms a special bond. She asks Data for help as her world is dying but as she’s from a pre-warp planet, giving assistance will break the Prime Directive. This leads to some really important debates. Meanwhile Rike...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE ICARUS FACTOR’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 14 The Icarus Factor is an ITV gameshow hosted by Gordon Burns…..wait that’s not right. It’s an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation . Those are so easy to confuse. In ‘The Icarus Factor’ Riker gets offered a promotion again, and this time it’s personal. Why is it personal? Well, because it’s his fat...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘TIME SQUARED’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 13 As the title reveals, this is a time travel episode, or at least it appears to be. It might be an anomaly episode too. Really it’s not very clear. The Enterprise finds Picard on a shuttle but it can’t be him because Picard is already on the ship, and actually so is the shuttle. What sorcery is at work here? The other Picard is disorien...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE ROYALE’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 12 When is a holodeck episode not a holodeck episode? When it’s ‘The Royale’. Andrew, James and Alex take an in-depth look at one of the more unusual episodes in season 2 which excites at least one of the team and fails to engage the others.  An away team visits a planet that seems to be based on a trashy 20th century novel set in a h...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘CONTAGION’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 11 First Contact reaches the halfway point of season 2 with ‘Contagion’, an episode that’s…basically fine. After answering a distress call from sister ship the USS Yamato, which then promptly explodes, the Enterprise starts experiencing some weird system failures. The problems could be connected to an ancient race that once ruled...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE DAUPHIN’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 10 If you’ve ever wanted to know what a Wesley Crusher love story would be like then ‘The Dauphin’ is the episode for you. This is Star Trek: The Next Generation at its very best demonstrating depth in writing, dynamism in performance and some spectacular visual effects and costumes. Andrew, James and Alex sit in almost silent revere...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘THE MEASURE OF A MAN’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 9 What does it mean to be a man? Can a machine have rights? How many off switches does Data have? These are just some of the questions being asked by the First Contact team as they review season 2 episode ‘The Measure of a Man’. Those are pretty difficult so they resort to cheap gags about Tasha Yar instead. Some people regard thi...

FIRST CONTACT : ‘A MATTER OF HONOR’ SEASON 2 EPISODE 8 Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be First Officer on board a Klingon ship? Well wonder no more as Commander Fantastic, Will Riker becomes the first human to attain such an honour. There’s going to be some bawdy banter, beard comparisons and perhaps even some hijinks. Listen to the previous episode,   ‘Unnatural Select...