Trek in the Valley

"I can't get the story of Gulliver out of my head; overpowered by Lilliputians." Cue "Evolution" By Edward Vedder and the Pearl Jam Gang! This week, Trek in the Vallites, we are covering the first episode of Season 3 of Star Trek: TNG, "Evolution." Which means this is technically season SIX of Trek in the Valley. In this one, the ship gets taken down a peg by tiny robo space-bugs or something! We...

"How do we know this bug doesn't like androids more than it likes humans?" This week we get our first Star Trek: TNG clip show with the Season Finale of S2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Shades of Gray." This episode tricks you into thinking it is going to be about Riker almost dying from alien infection, but then when the B-Story is supposed to kick in, it turns into a clips show. We touch o...

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life." "Do you want to play a game?"...Is what Starfleet asked Picard. To which he said, "I would rather not, but I guess we need to be ready to fight the Borg so, sure." In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Peak Performance, Riker and a ragtag crew in a derelict ship, face off against the might of Pica...

"Sometimes I feel there's a monster inside of me, fighting to get out." Everyone, quick! Check it out. Adam and Al got together on the computer once again to record an episode of Trek in the Valley for YOU! This week the dudes in the Valley are covering a classic TNG episode which gets some of their highest ratings yet. In, "The Emissary" Worf is faced with a lady from his past and then he presuma...

"What a handsome race." This week the great Lwaxana Troi is back to shake things up on the Enterprise. She is going through Betazoid Super Menopause and she has her sights set on Picard. Picard attempts to hide from Lwaxana in a Dixon Hill story on the Holodeck that absolutely does not pay off in terms of action. Instead, Lwaxana becomes quite taken with a holo-bartender that she thinks is a genui...

"Now that's what I call a wee drop of the creature." We are Looney Toons 2: Back in Action. Meaning, Al is off of his adventure with trying to decide if fish is bad or not (it was), not, we are talking about the Joe Dante Looney Toons sequel. What an episode with which to return to coming back with...returning to! Picard is right in his element solving a space mystery. Hundreds of years ago a grou...

"I'll fix you for that! You cheated! You haven't played the game right! I'll show you!" Happy Sunday, gang. Hope you're all having a good long weekend if you can get it. We've got a bit of a curve ball this week. Al is out sick with some sort of disease. He is waiting on an intrepid starship crew to bring him his medicine but they are delayed by an all powerful what have you and such. Adam went do...

"We are smart." Wowie-zowie, Trek in the Vallites, Adam is incredibly dumb. We know this about Adam. He's funny. He's handsome. He's charming. He's even pretty smart. He's also very dumb. What did he do this time? While, he did put together that, yes the "Snare" in the episode title refers to a trap, however he missed that the "Samaritan" in the title refers to the fact that the Pakleds run this c...

"You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you've encountered so far: the Romulans, the Klingons. They're nothing compared to what's waiting." Listen up, everyone! This is one of the most important episodes of TNG ever. It is a **Top Rated** episode on IMDB for Satan's sake! In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Q-Who?", Q is back and he is up to some even more extreme tricks!...

"Your whisper from the dark has now become a plea. We cannot turn our backs." Well well well. Well. If it isn't another week of Trek in the Valley. I am going to pop on Polymarket or Kalshi and just bet that maybe Adam and Al are going to come zipping in to town from outerspace to walk you through an episode of Star Trek where Data breaks the law! I think that bet would get me fine pile of credit...

"You choose your enemies. You choose your friends. But, family, that's in the stars."  This week Adam and Al are in a bit of a disagreement over if this episode is low mid (Al) or mid plus (Adam) when they discuss Star Trek: TNG, "The Icarus Factor." A lot goes on this episode, gang, but primarily it is about Polaski being gross with Riker's dad. Riker's dad who is an old adult man named Kyle! Get...

"Before we move forward, the cycle must end." Happy 4/20, Trek in the Vallites. I hope you aren't too honked out on that super dank greenage, because if you are, this episode is going to straight to your dome, bro. There is a strong possibility, you will flip your lid. This week, Adam and Al cover the Star Trek: TNG episode "Time Squared". This episode has twice the Picard and not enough Data. We...

"I don't believe this dialog. Did humans really talk like that?" The Enterprise gets a tip, from the Klingons of all space people, regarding the remains of a straaaaaange vessel. Adam and Al are here to tell you about it. In the Star Trek: TNG episode, "The Royale", we get another entry in the "Holodeck w/o Holodeck" sub-genre of Star Trek episodes AND the "Crew Finds Some Nasa Crap" sub-genre. Th...

"Fate...protects fools, and little children and ships named Enterprise." You're telling me that they don't have computer viruses figured out hundreds of years in the future? This week Adam and Al cover Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Contagion." The Enterprise crew runs a foul of an ancient computer virus. It seems like the Enterprise's sister ship may have clicked on some questionable pop-ups. T...

"Go to her door. Beg like a Human."  We have another Wesley episode. Adam and Al are able to put a lid on their cliched loathing of Wesley to discuss Star Trek: TNG Season 2 Episode 10, "The Dauphin". The guys never get around to figuring out what a Dauphin is because Adam is too distracted by all the rad bug-eyed costumes.  ***If you hear a couple of audio hiccups, be glad they weren't worse than...

"I am the culmination of one man's dream. This is not ego or vanity. If, by your experiments, I am destroyed, something unique – something wonderful – will be lost. I cannot permit that. I must protect his dream." WOWIE Trek in the Vallites. This one is a double dog doozy. We start with Al discussing how he is in the process of playing the field for a new guru, and then that segues nicely into thi...

"If Klingon food is too strong for you, perhaps we can get one of the females to breast-feed you." "'Dear Trek in the Vallites,  We hope this missive is finding you well. This week we have placed, in this glass bottle you have found on the beach that is your podcast app. The water of...podcasts lapping against the podcast...shores... Time is short and I need to get this message in the water. Pleas...

"Looks like they had a battle with time…" "…and lost." This week, yet another Starfleet crew finds themselves onboard a ship possessed by the beach that makes you old! Rapid aging is an oft visited trope in Star Trek and this episode hits all the right notes; awesome and hilarious old age makeup, using the transporter to fix everything like magic, and illegal genetic experiments that nobody seems...

“When I stroke my beard thusly, do I not appear more intellectual?” Listen, this is very serious. A serious thing happened in this week's episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In "The Schizoid Man", Data proves that he truly has the humanity of a common rube as he basically tells his grandpa how to kill him. Adam and Al will help make sense of this absolutely sick and twisted story of possess...

"They have been killing each other for a long time. Now they want to talk peace. So, something about the situation has recently changed. What's the new piece to the puzzle?" Hey Folks. This one is wild. We are covering a classic Troi-centered episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Loud as a Whisper". The Enterprise transports a very unique negotiator to help warring factions on a planet out t...

"Life is like loading twice your cargo weight onto your spacecraft. If it's canaries, and you can keep half of them flying all of the time, you're all right." We are back in the technological void that is your devices to discuss a fun episode of Star Trek: TNG, "The Outrageous Okona." You are not going to believe this, but in this episode, the Rocketeer and Lois Lane get down! Data learns about co...

"I'll give you credit for your vast knowledge but your circuits would just short out if you were confronted with a truly original mystery." Well well well. Back to the 'ol holodeck. Back the phantasy room. Back to the crazy computer world making machine. This week Adam and Al cover, "Elementary, Dear Data"; in which, Dr. Racist Against Robots Pulaski challenges Data to solve a mystery. After calli...

"Considering the marvelous complexity of the universe, its clockwork perfection, its balances of this against that, matter, energy, gravitation, time, dimension, I believe that our existence must be more than either of these philosophies."  Woah, folks. This one is a hot one that is coming in hot. Silence is having lease in a place and it is going to get wild for the crew of the Starship Enterpris...

"Last night while I slept… something, which I can only describe as a presence, entered my body." Welcome to Trek in the Valley Season 5. Like every season before this one, we are starting with the first episode of a season of Star Trek. I this case, Star Trek: TNG S2 EP 1, "The Child." We, your intrepid hosts Adam and Al, have a fun time talking about what is ultimately a mid/goofy episode of TNG....

Happy Holidays From Adam and Al at Trek in the Valley! Adam here. I just wanted to drop into your feed to say that we are not back up and running with a remote set up since Al departed Los Angeles County! We are both chomping at whatever people chomp at to get back to it. We look forward to coming back at the end of the year or the beginning of 2026 with Star Trek: TNG Season 2. Like, subscribe, d...