Re:Engage TNG

Is this thing on? Are we recording? Let's go back to the beginning. And when we'll get to the end. Stop. Stunt casting Frasier Crane aside, this one is a fun temporal romp. Crusher plays poker with the gang, then start to see some patterns emerge. Are they caught in a loop? How does that work? Data figures it out at the last moment, thanks to Jonathan Frakes weird ass camera shots. Kate saves the...

After a clunker of Ethics, the TNG writers, producers and performers step it up a huge ass notch. Melissa Nathan, AEA stage manager from NYC, joins to talk about a very special episode. Riker forms a relationship with Soren, a member of the J'Naii who eschews all that silly androgenous stuff. Soren wants to get it on with Riker, as they mount a rescue mission into null space. But their love is not...

It's impossible to tackle a tough issue like assisted suicide for handicapped people in just one episode, but add in evil research doctors with a cavalier approach to experimental procedures, and it's no sweat! Alexander returns, and guilt his father into not killing himself, assisted by Riker. Also Troi and Worf build a connection, somehow. Dr. Crusher absolutely crushes her medical colleague, wh...

A thousand points of light, and we get Buzz, Bruiser and Slash. The Enterprise thinks it's found an old Federation starship from 2 centuries ago and have to send a shuttle down to the surface. There the storm picks up and bodysnatches O'Brien, Troi and Data. Riker is saved by a broken arm. Then those three go berserk screaming something about the Southern Polar Region. (Sorry Erik!) O'Brien threat...

What do we do with a drunken sailor? The Enterprise gets energy beamed - and the crew's memory is wiped. They have amnesia, and a special new crewmember, one Commander Kieran MacDuff. Geordi finds out they have a mission to destroy all Lysians. Riker hooks up with Ro. Worf assumes command because he has a fancy sash. Troi thinks it's all wrong, the mission, all of it. Luckily Picard has a conscien...

The worst thing since sliced bread. The Enterprise shows up at a secret human colony that's super into their eugenics. Troi beams down and tries to save everyone by boning the creepy leader guy while the arbiter Martin SCOWLS. Like, heavily. A lot. Troi smashes but it's Geordi and the hot blonde physicist Hannah who save the day from a star fragment or something. Hannah defects, and that's the A p...

It's remarkable that a early 90s sci-fi show examined the idea of rape. The Enterprise plays host to a race of psychic spelunkers on a quest to catalog the galaxy's memories for history's sake. The father is a flirty fool, saying some inappropriate things to the Dr. Beverly Crusher after he skillfully illuminates a memory for Keiko. But it's the son who is the real monster. He attaches himself to...

Data gets a not-so-secret admirer in the form a little kid saved from a Federation research ship in the middle of a dark cluster. Timothy loves that android life so much that he pretends to be a poseur positronic lifeform to cope with his parents' death and everybody else on the ship. He says it was attacked but then things get weird. Thankfully Troi gets to do more counseling and the kid actor, J...

Fatherhood - that's what brings here together today. Brian Bonsall accepts the challenge of playing Alexander Rozhenko, once again being introduced late into an ongoing series. (He played the kid in Family Ties, y'all.) This B-plot of riding the wave all the way to warp speed doesn't hold a lot of dramatic weight, but Worf transforming into a solid single dad in 47 minutes is quite the feat. They...

M-, m-, m-, mmmmMatt Frewer is the featured guest star, playing Professor Berlinghoff Rasmussen. He shows up in a fancy-looking timepod made of a material even Geordi is impressed by. Rasmussen claims to be there to witness historical events bearing flash drives full of  *gasp* questionnaires! I hate questionnaires. At the same time, the people on Penthara IV may be dying and/or saved by the Enter...

Another writer from the more contemporary Star Trek: Discovery, Eric J. Robbins, joins in a very in-depth discussion of the conclusion to this seminal two-parter while the WGA strike was going strong. Thankfully that work-stoppage is over with most of the demands met, and our very demanding podcast must have been a big part of that. Spock is back and we actually get the highly anticipated scenes b...

One of the writers of Star Trek Discovery joins to discuss their take on Unification in season 3 alongside our discussion of this Next Generation episode. Please welcome Carlos Cisco to our cultural bridge crew! A delicious slow burn leading up to the introduction of one Mr. Spock to this cast. The Romulans are up to something, and have brought Spock there to Romulus for some reason, but his fathe...

It's those dang vidya games ya Boomers play all the dang time! The incomparable Wesley Crusher AND Cicero Holmes return for this cautionary tale on the dangers of screwing an alien on Risa. Riker gets introduced to an augmented reality game that quickly controls the mind of the Enterprise crew. But Wesley and engineering darling Lefler played by Ashely Judd make out in the arboretum after saving t...

Disaster Strikes! We remember Picard hates kids, but then loves them. We remember Dr. Crusher knows how to hold on to stuff when being sucked into vortexes. We remember Worf is excellent at midwifery. We remember Data is an android who knows how to keep his head screwed on straight. We also remember Chief O'Brien kicks ass and Ensign Ro is a badass/killer. But who knew Counselor Troi was a Command...

Fractal fuckery abounds! Data has a whole bunch of memories in his positronic brain, and he's going to share it all with our guest star, but before we get to that, Riker's got a hot honey colonist to woo. But dang, she dead. Thanks, Crystalline Entity, for the ultimate cock-block! In comes the expert on crystals and white whales, played by Ellen Geer. She's not here to talk to Data, but ends up ha...

We meet a new friend and crewmember! Ensign Ro originates the Bajoran people who will come to be a huge ass part of the Star Trek canon. Michelle Forbes returns, having been the daughter in "Half a Life" and knocks Ro's dangerousness and fierceness right out of the park. We learn the Bajorans are a proud people who are down on their luck and that Ro has got some crosses to bear. Luckily, Guinan co...

Jimmie; His pants wet. A classic sci-fi premise with a fantastic performance from one of Star Trek's most storied captains (if by storied, you mean twice died to save the white Captain.) Picard is beamed to surface of a planet with the Tamarian captain who only speaks in idiomatic references to myth. The universal translator doesn't jibe with space metaphors. But by uniting their confusion as one,...

The Klingon Way is to fight for podcast supremacy! Our cultural bridge crew returns after a hiatus to pick up the pieces of the Klingon civil war between Gowron of the Large Eyes and the Duras sisters of the Large ... Attitudes. There may be too many storylines to keep track of though, as Picard pitches a tachyon pulse field using what's left of the fleet depleted by the Borg attack. (Canon!) Data...

Mr. Picard, the Klingons turn their lonely hearts to you. Gowron, Worf and Kurn team up for the ultimate showdown vs. the sisters of Duras and his lowly son for the crown of the Klingon High Council. Focusing on Worf, Picard gives really inconsistent advice - "Save your family name like the Klingon you are! No, but you can't use Federation resources." Oh, also, we're not going to protect the legal...

There's a lot to unpack with this episode! Data is working alongside Jenna D'Sora and their friendship blossoms after watching the nebula fireworks. The android incapable of emotion goes on an advice tour with his colleagues before deciding to do something extremely cringey with his fellow crewperson. His carefully crafted program goes awry, as does the fate of certain objects, walls and/or person...

The Romulans did it! Evidence of the glassies, my droogs! Geordi LaForge is ready for some trivia and spanish guitar on Risa, but the Romulans take him hostage and force him to watch bad things using his visor interface. There's a tall shadow calling the shots with a familar voice, but it's not Majel Barrett, who finally gets credited on screen this episode as the ship's computer. The Klingons hav...

This is a spicy one for Dr. Beverly Crusher. Her toes are curling for a hot Star Fleet ambassador, but he's got a secret inside him. No, really inside him. Odan is a Trill - we'll learn much more about them in future Star Trek iterations - and that means he's a bug inside a host body. The bug is important, because he's the only person two warring moons trust to broker a deal. So Dr. Crusher puts t...

Guest stars galore. It must have been sweeps week. David Ogden Stiers from M*A*S*H and Better Off Dead fame is a scientist who's really good at blowing up stars. Err, I mean, shooting torpedoes to make stars not blow up. I think. Lwaxana Troi is hot to trot with Scientist Stimson until he says he's a few days away from turning 60 and on Kaelon 2 that means death. Then she gets super heated. Supern...

Political and precise, this episode is more poignant than ever. Picard participates in a witch hunt, until he realizes he's been the witch all along. Admiral Satie played by guest star Jean Simmons (not the one with the tongue) initially praises and then chews out nearly everyone on the Enterprise while simultaneously chewing on the scenery. References to past episodes abound, and make the Star Tr...

Gotta love it when not one, but TWO guest stars return. Re:Engage, not to be outdone, also has a special guest - game designer and art director Daniel Solis who is working on Star Trek games at WizKids Games . First Vash breaks into Picard's chambers just as he's about to give a speech in front of the Star Fleet architectural, erm, archaeological council. She initiates contact of his Horgon, but s...