The Ready Room: A Star Trek Podcast

Scientific Method. Aliens performing experiments on the crew without their knowledge is nothing new for Star Trek. The Next Generation did it to very creepy effect in “Schisms.” Enterprise also did it—in a somewhat different way—in “Observer Effect.” But Voyager delivered perhaps the most entertaining lab rats-in-space story in the Season Four episode “Scientific Method.” In this episode of The Re...

Civil Defense. On a Federation starship, you pretty much know what to expect from your surroundings. But what happens when you move into a Cardassian-built ore processing facility? One of the fascinating aspects of Deep Space Nine was the idea that our characters were living in borrowed space. They could never be sure what they might find in the bowels of the Station—or the computer. They found th...

Emergence. One of the stated missions of the Enterprise is to seek out new forms of life, and over the course of seven years Picard and his crew encountered a number of unusual ones. From the exocomps to the Crystalline Entity to Gomtuu, TNG showed us that life comes in many flavors. But perhaps the most unexpected discovery came near the very end of the series when the Enterprise itself began to...

Star Trek Continues. As any Star Trek fans knows, the original mission of the Enterprise 1701 was to span five years. Unfortunately, the television executives of the 1960s had other plans as Kirk and his crew sailed off into the darkness after just three seasons. But that doesn't mean the mission didn't continue. What happened after "Turnabout Intruder"? The independent series Star Trek Continues...

Inside The Apple with Marc Cushman. Computers controlling humanoid populations is a common theme in The Original Series, as is the association between these situations and the worship of God here on Earth. In “The Apple,” the two were brought together in a most obvious way as Kirk and his landing party find themselves in the Garden of Eden. To drive the point home, Kirk is even cast in the role of...

Damage. Things began to look desperate for Archer and the NX-01 crew near the end of their mission in the Expanse. “Damage” begins with the Enterprise in the middle of battle, nearly destroyed, and Archer still missing. With the fate of Earth (and the future Federation) hanging in the balance, the likelihood that the crew will succeed is dropping rapidly. At the same time, the pressures of the mis...

Message In a Bottle. Ever since the Doctor got his hands on a 29th-century mobile holo-emitter, he had been itching for more away-mission action. And he finally got his chance to get far away from the ship—really far away—in the fourth-season episode “Message In a Bottle.” Thanks to Seven’s discovery of an abandoned alien relay network, the crew found a possible link to a Starfleet ship in the Alp...

The Wire. One of the most fascinating characters in Star Trek is the Cardassian tailor Garak. From the moment he was introduced in the second episode of DS9, “Past Prologue,” it was clear this was going to be a special character. There are many great episodes featuring him, but one the most telling is “The Wire,” a second-season episode focusing on his near death from a malfunctioning brain implan...

Remember Me. Beverly Crusher was an underused character on  The Next Generation . So much so that the few episodes in which she did play a leading role go largely forgotten—or are remembered for some other aspect or character’s part. Such is the case with the fourth-season episode “Remember Me,” a story that mixes science, philosophy, and perhaps a little romance, then swirls it around in a magic...

Inside Amok Time with Marc Cushman. One of the most famous afflictions in Star Trek is the pon farr—also known as the Vulcan Seven Year Itch. And one of the most famous episodes of TOS is the one that introduced us to the pon farr, “Amok Time.” We’ve discussed this episode on  The Ready Room  before in our show titled “All Roads Lead to Stonn.” But In this episode of  The Ready Room  we take an in...

Affliction/Divergence. Few subjects in Star Trek have caused as much controversy as Klingon forehead ridges. A simple lack of resources in 1967 and a big movie budget in 1979 worked together to create one of the greatest debates of our time. Why do some Klingons have ridges while others do not? Deep Space Nine chimed in on the topic in a humorous way in “Trials and Tribble-ations,” but Enterprise...

Relativity. Time travel has always been a mainstay of Star Trek storytelling. Starting with “The Naked Time” on TOS all the way to “Storm Front” on  Enterprise , our crews have brought us no fewer than 50 flavors of temporal treats.  Voyager  is tied with TNG for the most time travel outings, and half of these were named to Star Trek 101’s list of Ten Essential  Voyager  Episodes. In this episode...

The Ship. We don’t often see our DS9 heroes in bright sunlight nor do we see ships buried in the side of mountains. But early in the fifth season of  Deep Space Nine  we got both rolled up into one as part of a story that would deliver both a tough character moment for O’Brien and a tool the Federation would use late in the Dominion War. In this episode of  The Ready Room  we’re joined by Michael...

The Game. Robin Lefler only made two appearances on TNG, yet became a fan-favorite thanks to a charming performance by Ashley Judd in “The Game.” When Riker’s Risian escapades endangered the  Enterprise —and indeed all of Starfleet—someone had to lay down the laws and put things right. So we’re all lucky Lefler was there. In this episode of  The Ready Room  we’re joined by the crew of our TNG show...

Five Year Mission: Year Three. At long last the wait is over. It’s been two years since Five Year Mission, the Indianapolis-based TOS tribute band, launched their sophomore effort,  Year Two . Building on the great success of  Year One , the second album highlighted the growth in sound and took FYM in new creative directions. So anticipation has been high for the band’s third album; and at last th...

The Squire of Gothos. Dealing with powerful aliens, computers, and the temper tantrums of children are all in a day’s work for Kirk and the  Enterprise  crew. But how about rolling them all into one? That’s what happened when the mysterious planet Gothos found its way into the path of the  Enterprise —or vice versa—in the “The Squire of Gothos.” In this episode of  The Ready Room  we’re joined by...

The Catwalk. One of the goals in writing for any series is to tell stories that can’t be told anywhere else. With its early technology and proximity to our own time,  Enterprise  had an opportunity to put characters into situations that the other series couldn’t. One great example is the idea of a ship lost at sea facing a terrible storm, and this challenge of early exploration was examined in the...

Faces. We all have different sides that make us who we are.  The Original Series  explored this masterfully in Richard Matheson’s story of Kirk’s struggle to live with only his good or evil half in “The Enemy Within.” When  Voyager  rolled around nearly 30 years later, the writers once again took us to the realm of Jekyll and Hyde incarnate with “Faces,” the story of B’Elanna’s struggle between he...

For the Uniform. We knew from the start that Benjamin Sisko had a temper. After all, he punched Q in the face in the sixth episode of the series. But if you really make Sisko mad he’ll do more than just punch you. He’ll chase you down in a broken ship and then try to punch a holographic projection of you. That’s what happened to Michael Eddington when he decided to escalate the Maquis-Starfleet co...

Relics. Generations  officially passed the baton from TOS to TNG on the big screen, but the relay began long before The Nexus swept away Kirk and Picard. Doctor McCoy appeared in "Encounter at Farpoint," Spock played a central role in "Unification," and Scotty was found hiding in a transporter buffer in "Relics." In this episode of  The Ready Room  we're joined by Larry Nemecek as well as Phillip...

The Man Trap. After "The Cage" was rejected by NBC, Gene Roddenberry was given an unprecedented second chance to bring  Star Trek  to the screen. Three new pilot outlines were written and finally one was chosen. The public's first glimpse of Star Trek was to take place on planet M-113—a world left deserted by a civilization with an apparent salt and stacking fetish—and tell a story that the studio...

Home. Following the successful destruction of the Xindi weapon, Archer and the  Enterprise  crew returned home just as Picard and his crew did after defeating the Borg in "The Best of Both Worlds." Unlike Picard's crew, however, the men and women of the NX-01 returned to a world that was not entirely happy with what they represented. Hailed by many as heroes and by others as a threat to Earth's se...

The Voyager Conspiracy. Alcoves have many uses. There's the obvious one—regeneration—but there are less common ones as well, like playing Matlock. When Seven decided she could analyse data better than the crew or the ship's computer, she found herself being pulled down a rabbit hole infested with photonic fleas. In this episode of  The Ready Room  we're joined by Charlynn Schmiedt, Phillip Gilfus,...

Homefront / Paradise Lost. In the 24th century Earth is a paradise. At least that's what we've been led to believe. But paranoia can drive even the residents of paradise to begin burning down the house, and that's what happened at the heart of the Federation when the Changeling threat reached Earth. In this episode of  The Ready Room  we're joined by Michael Fisher, Max Hegel, and Mike Schindler t...

A Matter of Honor. One way that TNG showed us the passage of time was to bring together the Federation and Klingons as allies—at least uneasy ones. It was a great opportunity to delve into cross-cultural issues, and that's what they did when Riker became an exchange student aboard the Klingon vessel Pagh. In this episode of  The Ready Room  we're joined by Phillip Gilfus, Daniel Proulx, and Darren...