Transporter Lock - A Star Trek podcast

The first season of Strange New Worlds is a wrap, with an unexpected retelling of an episode of The Original Series fresh in Ken and Bri’s minds! What character arcs did the scriptwriters manage to cram into just one season, how does it all fit with what we know of these characters, and where do we go from here? Tune in to hear our reviews of all five episodes in the second half of the seaso...

Spock and T’Pring get up to hijinks with Captain Pike and Nurse Chapel as Ken and Sabriel review the first half of Star Trek: Strange New World ‘s debut season. Who are our favorite characters, what episodes have we liked best, and how does the show compare with Discovery and Picard ? Bonuses include praise for Rebecca Romijn , a review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , comparisons to...

Susan Arendt , intrepid writer for Space.com and Channel Surfing , joins Ken to review Pike’s first outing at the helm of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Listen to us discuss mortality and disability, debate how women are portrayed on the show, and swoon over Nurse Chapel. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTube Music , Spotify , Amazon Mus...

After a mediocre middle act, Picard ‘s penultimate season comes to a satisfying, bittersweet conclusion. Some important lessons were learned at great cost, some familiar faces made a return, and some intriguing questions were raised. With most loose ends tied up, Ken and Bri are left wondering: was this season meant to be binged? As Steve Jobs once said, you can’t connect the dots look...

Ken and Bri are shocked by the secrets in Picard’s childhood, but we’re relieved to see Picard, Seven, and the Queen ready to face their fears. There’s still one episode left in the season, though — where do we go from here? This podcast episode comes with a content warning for discussion of self-harm as depicted in Picard . Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or s...

Charlynn Schmiedt joins Sabriel to talk about “Mercy”. From ships to ‘ships, Queen Agnes’ battery-acid Borgification, Picard and Guinan on budget X-Files , to another Soong turning evil—they cover it all! Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTube Music , Spotify , Amazon Music , Overcast , Pandora , Pocket Casts , iHeartRadi...

This episode is ostensibly about Picard, but Chief Engineer Ken and Commodore Mark Thompson felt Teresa and Tallinn stole the show. Forget stepping on a butterfly, though — this show is trampling an entire field of them. Has Voyager ‘s Lt. Ducane arrived to clean up the mess? And where are Q and Adam Soong? There’s a lot of ground still left to cover, and not much time left in the seas...

Our goodness, can Agnes Jurati sing! Her showstopper number crescendos in a terrifying union with the Borg Queen, the two actors playing off each other perfectly. Other subplots leave us a bit uncertain: is Picard grandfatherly or manipulative? Is Adam Soong ostracized or influential? Is Tallinn a Romulan or not? All this, plus our excitement for Picard season 3 as well as Strange New Worlds ! Red...

Agnes and the Borg Queen get closer; Chris, Raffi, and Seven finally decide to join the plot; and Q continues to behave in unexpected ways. Although Ken and Sabriel enjoyed the episode’s humor and Easter eggs, we’re left wanting cliffhangers with significant payoffs and adding more depth to existing Star Trek lore. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Appl...

Although Ken and Bri agree on loving both the new Guinan and the return of Punk Rocker, we’re divided on this episode overall. Why are they ignoring “Time’s Arrow”? And how are Chris, Seven, and Raffi moving the plot forward? We discuss how woke Star Trek is in its critique of modern society’s maladies, we compare Q to a villain from Buffy , and we turn our eyes skywa...

Vice Badmiral Charlynn Schmiedt joins Bri and Ken to reflect on the entirety of Discovery ‘s fourth season: the effect the pandemic had on production, how the characters have grown, where we hope they go next, and how we rank all four seasons thus far. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTube Music , Spotify , Amazon Music , Overcast , Pando...

Stage magician Kayla Drescher joins Ken and Bri all the way from the Chicago Magic Lounge ! Picard and crew have crash-landed on 21st-century Earth. Our highlights were watching Dr. Agnes Jurati spar with the Borg Queen, a budding romance between Cristóbal and Teresa, and an unassimilated Seven of Nine being comfortable in her own skin. We also have five theories as to who the Watcher may be! Stre...

The fourth season finale brings hope and closure for Book, Tarka, Discovery , and Species Ten-C. Ken and Bri love the emotions and sincerity of the cast, crew, and plot, considering it one of the show’s better season finales thus far. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTube Music , Spotify , Amazon Music , Overcast , Pandora , Pocket Casts...

If you liked the Amy Adams movie Arrival , you’ll love this episode of Discovery ! Bri and Ken enjoy get to see the science and linguistics behind first contact with a level II civilization , accentuated by some fancy camerawork directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. The decisions of certain characters within and without the Federation continue to disappoint us, though, as does some sluggish detect...

Picard goes through a mirror darkly into a temporal divergence of Q’s own creation. What is wrong with Q (aside from the usual), to what does Picard owe penance, and who is awaiting them in the year 2024? Commodore Mark Thompson joins Ken and Bri as we weave appearances of TNG and Voyager with references to DS9 and TOS , theorizing how it’ll all come together. Stream the audio edition...

Despite ranking this episode as her least favorite of the season, Sabriel draws some neat comparisons between species 10-C and the saurials of the Forgotten Realms, while also approving of queers mentoring the next generation. Meanwhile, Ken ponders the roles of Jett Reno, Zora, and Grudge in the upcoming season conclusion! Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple P...

Dr. Steven Weyhrich joins us to review Picard ‘s return, in which we learn more about Picard’s childhood, setting the course for the rest of the season. Will the final frontier be… time? The Borg? Q? Love? Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTube Music , Spotify , Amazon Music , Overcast , Pandora , Pocket Casts , iHeartRadio , TuneIn...

To boldly make connections where no one has connected before! Discovery may be departing the Milky Way, but this episode is about relations: Kelpian to Vulcan, captain to president, scientist to scientist, father to child. Ken and Sabriel like what we’re seeing — but will it give the crew the strength they need to face species 10C? And, as an aside, what if Man of Steel had been in color ? S...

Book and Burnham finally realize what Ken and Bri have known since our first episode: mutual understanding is where the real fun’s at! We start to like Ruon Tarka a bit more, and we love seeing Nhan back in action. We also theorize about a fourth Star Trek movie in the Kelvin universe — though there will be plenty of Picard and Strange New Worlds to review in the meantime. Stream the audio e...

Discovery returns to the airwaves with its own casino episode! It’s not The Royale, and Vic Fontaine is nowhere to be seen, but we do get clever teamwork between Michael and Book, indecipherable banter from Karma Barge proprietor Haz Mazaro, a surprising brawl featuring Joann “Oh Wow” Owosekun, and the return of a race last seen on Deep Space Nine . Nonetheless, Ken was surprised...

First Officer Tiffany Bridge joins the show to review Prodigy episodes 6–10! We admire Dal’s growth, empathize with Gwyn’s individuation, ponder what would happen if the Borg assimilated Murf, analyze Orange is the New Black , and wonder if the show can or will continue without the USS Protostar . Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTu...

We know the measure of a man; this week Ken and Bri learn the measure of a Zora. Was Stamets the right person to lead this charge against artificial intelligence? And is there anything Kovich can’t do? We also celebrate the return of Star Trek to its roots, with lots of talking and diplomacy over action! We’re suspicious of Tarka and disappointed in Book, but we suspect things will res...

An insecure artificial intelligence and a crew that doesn’t know how to use space probes or transporters are the source of this episode’s fatalities. But Ken and Bri are excited to see Zora join the crew and be respected as such. We also remember a lesson from The Princess Bride about living with anger, and we ship two favorite characters we see reunited this week. Stream the audio edi...

Hey, you know what’s a great idea? Performing a destructive scientific experiment right next to the spore drive during an evacuation! Bri and Ken find much of the tension in Ruon Tarka’s visit to Discovery to be incredibly contrived, and we have to dig to determine how a prison break develops our heroes. We are however intrigued by how two “struggling” crewmen are each hand...

What do Tilly, Wil Wheaton , Ken, and Bri all have in common? We have parents who put us on paths we didn’t want to be on. We commiserate over being seen, and we value seeing Book and Culber demonstrate how men can work through difficult emotions in a non-violent way. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts , YouTube Music , Spotify , Amazon Music ,...