Bri and Ken finish the fourth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks with its final four episodes: “A Few Badgeys More”, “Caves”, “The Inner Fight”, and “Old Friends, New Planets”. Plenty of loose ends are tied up, spanning the breadth of Lower Decks as well as The Next Generation. We offer answers to the season’s hardest questions: How is Badgey like Lex Luthor? What connection does the Cerritos engineering crew have to the Uncharted video game series? And how would Captain Picard and Seven of Nine react to seeing Robert Duncan McNeill? Tune in to find out! Stream the audio edition of Transporter ..read more

Tendi and T’Lyn take turns in the spotlight in the Lower Decks episodes “Something Borrowed, Something Green”, “Empathological Fallacies”, and “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”, with the last featuring the return of two beloved Deep Space Nine characters. Ken and Bri analyze the dynamics these new and old characters bring to the show before proceeding to be both amused and disgusted by the final three Very Short Treks — I kid you snot. Also check out Star Trek-inspired soaps from Bold Bubbles, courtesy former podcast guest Charlynn Schmiedt! Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above ..read more

Strange New Worlds‘ second season concludes with familiar faces of friends and foes! Also familiar are plenty of tropes, from A Quiet Place to Alien 3. Ken and Bri clash over the the introduction of a legacy character, but we agree that objects in motion tend to stay in motion — a basic Newtonian law the directors forgot this week. Nonetheless, we’re uncertain how the third season will resolve this cliffhanger… or when it will do so, with the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strike! Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts ..read more

Strange New Worlds continues to demonstrate its range with the darkest and lightest episodes of the season. First, Ken and Sabriel review “Under the Cloak of War”, which deals with PTSD, murder, and forgiveness. What is in M’Benga’s past, and how do we relate to him? In sharp contrast is the season’s penultimate episode, “Subspace Rhapsody”, the long-awaited musical episode which also moves forward several characters’ plots. What are our favorite songs? Do we even like musicals? Is Chapel’s arc believable? And must we be seeing so much of James T. Kirk this season? Stream the audio edition of ..read more

Strange New Worlds continues to demonstrate its range with the darkest and lightest episodes of the season. First, Ken and Sabriel review “Under the Cloak of War”, which deals with PTSD, murder, and forgiveness. What is in M’Benga’s past, and how do we relate to him? In sharp contrast is the season’s penultimate episode, “Subspace Rhapsody”, the long-awaited musical episode which also moves forward several characters’ plots. What are our favorite songs? Do we even like musicals? Is Chapel’s arc believable? And must we be seeing so much of James T. Kirk this season? Stream the audio edition of ..read more

“Lost in Translation” sees the return of Hemmer and the first prime-universe appearance of James T. Kirk, each of which give Ken and Bri the opportunity to reflect on how we process love and loss. It’s then a tonal shift — but a pitch-perfect one — as we see Boimler and Mariner from Lower Decks cross over onto the U.S.S. Enterprise. The physical manifestation of our animated characters, the self-aware humor, and the touching moments of Pike’s and Una’s futures make this unlikely union one of the best episodes of Trek ever. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscr ..read more

Ken and Bri review two Strange New Worlds episodes. Ken felt “Among the Lotus Eaters”, based was this season’s weakest episode to date, but even he was surprised to hear Bri call it one of the worst episodes of Trek ever! It’s reminiscent of the Enterprise episode “Twilight” and the Apple TV+ series Severance, all while being based on a passing line from the TOS pilot “The Cage“. We then enjoy a round of “Charades”, which dips back into the “Vulcans are funny!” well by giving them their own form of Festivus — yet the main plot for Bri was the heartbreaking romance between Spock and Nurse ..read more

Captain Sabriel Mastin rejoins the crew to review the latest two episodes of Strange New Worlds. “Ad Astra per Aspera”, an episode that’s been hinted at since the Short Trek “Q&A”, is hailed by some as the best Trek in decades, harkening back to the social commentary of TOS and TNG by providing an allegory for today’s discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community. Meanwhile, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” pairs two unlikely characters in a timeline gone amok that Sabriel helps Ken make sense of. It’s the best of both worlds! Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subs ..read more

David Volante of Volante Design joins Ken to review the second season debut of Strange New Worlds. We have a new chief engineer in Carol Kane, a new trauma for Dr. M’Benga to process, new emotions for Spock to grapple with, and a new war threatening the Federation. More than just a humble tailor, David brings a unique sartorial perspective to the podcast as president and lead designer of Volante Design, which produces authorized jackets based on popular franchises such as Star Trek, Mass Effect, and Lord of the Rings. Check out Volante Designs’ Star Trek collection — and use discount cod ..read more

Sabriel and Ken bid farewell to The Next Generation cast in a thrilling climax that weaves action, suspense, and humor — even as it undoes some of the hard decisions from previous seasons. Still, we’re eager for the show’s inevitable spinoff, as well as for Michelle Yeoh’s Section 31 movie and for Strange New Worlds Season 2. Stream the audio edition of Transporter Lock above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. (The post Picard S3E10: The Last Generati ..read more