Kickers of Elves

Magnificent [Six] Ferengi. On Deep Space Nine. Or Empok Nor. Is this Magnificent Seven or not? The Infinity War of Ferengi episodes? Or is it.. Weekend at Bernies? But who cares? Iggy Pop is in this one! Magnificent yucks all around. The most Looney Tunes of episodes yet? Why is this episode so much fun… for some? What is that special something that Iggy Pop brings that makes this episode so memor...

One Flew Over Asimov's Foundation.  But no sign of Kai Ratched on Deep Space Nine for this one.   Potsie! Who unlike Ralph the Mouth and James Cromwell, Hugh did NOT meet one time.   Why are the augments wards of the state?   Who are their Cuckoo’s Nest counterparts?   Why must the nympho be constantly horizontal, Potsie?   Syndication work: Explaining the Eugenics War.   We get stuck in a Nerd Co...

A mirror universe story without any mirror universe. Bareil is back on Deep Space Nine!  Not quite robo-pope. What words can really describe this episode? Milquetoast.  Stay until the end, it'll be worth it. What to talk about? Bareil’s gun?   What does ISB think is this episode’s problem? Nerd Corner: Who are the gods in the Mirror Universe? Are the prophets trans dimensional? Nipple Corner: Been...

It's wedding time on Deep Space Nine. We've come a long way, baby! Hear us heap praises on Terry Farrel and Dax. Worf and Dax tie the knot. The end destination of a ship? Sirella has quite the pedigree. From Nemesis Romulan to first Pam’s Mom. Is this story quaint? How would Dax’s attitude towards the wedding vary today? What’s this Klingon bachelor party business? But oh guess we gotta talk about...

The six episode arc concludes! Previously on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine… and on, and on... The battle for the station has kicked off. A talk on the nature of fascism vs straight gangster. What is the most problematic part of this story? Is this ending a copout? Does it raise stakes and tension or just thwart everything the characters do? Why doesn’t the crew respond stronger to the events of the e...

So how about that Captain Picard show? In this "Kickers of Elves Special Edition" we talk with author Manu Saadia about Star Trek, "corporate fanfic," and a bevy of additional topics, ranging from fandom fatigue, the fermi paradox, and even the opiod crisis. Go buy Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek !

Retaking Deep Space Nine! Eventually. Lots of characters to cover in this "second act" episode. Less yelling about Odo? Are we getting less or more out of our DS9 than we used to? Hey, but we like this. We promise. Is it not as perfect as we thought? Lets unpack the goo sex. A new Bashir? Well he doesn’t do much here. What Western is this based on?    Is that Creed from The Office? No. It is not....

Get ready for some yelling about Odo. More of the goings on at Deep Space Nine and other starbases are discussed later. Yell at us by calling 917 408 3898 patreon.com/kickersofelves

We said we wanted to hear your Deep Space Nine opinions, and we meant it! Your belated voicemails within: TWIGGY -Odo doin it BUCKY with the Good Hair - on Bashir. Pro Empok Nor. But some of us would rather talk about Risa.  So lets talk sexual mores in the 24th century. State of the Best of Both Worlds challenge? Hugh watched Nanette instead. TWIGGY AGAIN- Boner jams and Frasier. Twincest heebie...

Alexander who? Oh... wait, wasn't he, like, five the last time we saw him? We have some unusual feelings about this episode. Rio Grande? Must every Deep Space Nine episode always also be a famous Western? Sons: The A Plot.  Worf has a failson. Some of the characterization rings true for us, but we can't agree on how much of a mess this story is. Gabrielle Union as Zizek’s daughter?  Matt Berry Kli...

Sisko and his crew have crash landed. Again!  Jem' Hadar are afoot.   A Sequel to last episode, but also a sequel to The Ship? Hope y’all like the Big Lebowski, because for some reason, there’s a lot in this. James didn’t like the pants tearing scene.  We’ll come back to that. Dark matter Nerd Corner. But about the pants. What have they done with Garak? Lets compare the Wolverine from “back in my...

Welcome back to Deep Space Nine, Season 6!   The Dominion War has been waging for three months, DS9 is occupied by the Dominion, and Sisko and his crew have to undergo a dangerous mission... eventually.   But first: Who is Brandon Tartikoff?   Cool your butts everybody, we all love this episode. Oh, but don’t think we don’t have things to talk about. Bashir, for instance. We disagree. Go figure.  ...

Wait, this isn't Star Trek!    We're venturing to another galaxy, far far away.  Rather than just explain to you in a youtube rant that The Last Jedi sucked [it doesn't] we wanted to figure out just why some people walked out of theaters angry about episode VIII. Forget about the misoginist MRA incels and 4chan trolls; what do the non-toxic TLJ haters dislike?  Is there something that people want...

BUILDING THE PERFECT WHITE ALBUM Cutting down a 90s show to the length of modern masterpieces, like The OA[?]… 1st we each go through our White Album for season 5. There is a surprising of overlap, but the differences are divisive. Laying to rest the problems with “The Worf Scene” What are the worst episodes of this season? Which do we disagree the most with IMDB about? What’s the season’s best ep...

The Dominion War is afoot! It's the Season finale and Wade has been a victim of gaslighting. Five years of Deep Space Nine come to a head and numerous plots are fit into a pretty great episode. Here are some things discussed: Mine Angry Nerd Corner 1: Why don’t they build starships out of replicators?  Did Jake screw up?  Did he misrepresent his father? Fake News? We have a disagreement.  Sometime...

Watch out, you soulles minions of orthodoxy. Not all of us liked this well beloved episode.   It's the Crying of Lot 48.   The B plot and the A plot are reversed and we get a sequel to stembolts as big things are happening in the background.   Baseball Corner.   Weyoun: That weird guy at church.   Can Jake and Nog complete all the necessary quests to get their loot and make all the villagers happy...

A psychotropic drug? We learn of Deep Space Nine's sister station, and Garak goes a little bit crazy. In the lineage of The Doomsday machine, turn out the lights and you got a new location set. Horror movie meets Lower Decks. Bryan Fuller sold a second story. 3rd acts are tough. Obrien: Engineer or soldier? Uh. Engineer, obviously. Give us a call!  917 408 3898 And check out the patreon if you wan...

Eddington returns! For the last time? The remaining Maquis have done something stupid and so Ben Sisko takes a runabout to the badlands with his best buddy krull. Does this mean more arguing about the Maquis? How bout an argument about the inevibility of war and whether or not its right to just go ahead and let a one happen in the right circumstances? Why wasn’t this episode more about Sisko being...

I Have No Children, but I Must Time. Classic Star Trek "Stuck on a planet" problems. The DS9 crew gets in a time loop and now have to worry about "killing" 8,000 of their descendants.  We have a lot of different ideas for how to blow out and follow some of the ideas in this episode. Time share “LA Swinger” Odo. Let’s talk about Odo and Kira, with a small sidebar to Sex and The City. Poor O’Brien....

Klingon yips. Worf takes a leave to go on a Klingon adventure with his BFF Martok, but Martok has some leftover issues from his two years with the Jem'Hadar. We all liked this one!  What’s ISB’s beef? Bring on the toxic masculinity! But stay for how much we talk about how great Dax is. But don't be too offended   when James calls Bashir names. Go out of your way to scold Wade for his poor pronunci...

Moooogie. Gird your Lobes! Love songs and boner jams. Or not. Scratch that. No Andrea Martin in this one, to Wade's chagrin. Quark visits his mom, could James explain Ferengi weirdness to his dad? Has DS9 taken a step backward into Episodic television after pulling off successful serialized arcs? Bouncing from B to A plot and Rules of Acquisition. Proverbial “Ear massaging” as a relaxing focus tec...

Tekeny Ghemor shows up again [who?] and Kira goes through some feels. Dad's real and fake die. James and Hugh have some serious trouble getting on board for this story. He’s not really her dad! Cardassians are like bulldogs when it comes to syndromes. Ol’ One Arm makes an appearance in the good ol’ cave set. WEYOUN! And Dominion corporate culture. Does Dukat dodge the mug? Is the dress blue or yel...

High af Sisko to Boner Jams and everything in between:  Greg takes us way back to Rapture (1:00)  If you want to understand the Prophets, understand Prince.   Avery Brooks acting, and… no we don’t think David Lynch is racist. We have no evidence to think David Lynch is a racist.   Twiggy! and his season 4 white album. (17:30)   Hugh’s fav David Lynch is Donald Glover…   Warren on Bashir and headca...

Cousin Gaila comes to bail out Quark by selling weapons and introducing some accented guest stars. Does this Quark episode take the character anywhere? Quark and Dax: just like our relationships with our partners. Ferengi stock market shenanigans. How can one person keep losing money like this? How can this even be a thing? Does Star Trek Deep Space Nine have an homage problem? James is starting t...

Bedroom eyes lead to bedroom milestones for Odo! Based on The Narrow Margin... of engagement? Plus: A small Holodeck “hey, we never said James Bond” plot.   What episode was this again?   A problem DS9 has that other Treks don’t?  Odo is over Kira?  What makes eyes “bedroom” and does Odo really have that?  The height of Tarantino-ism.  Let’s talk about LARPing. Different from “creative anachronism...