Before the Future Came

S01E04. The Sword of Kahless

Let this moment be remembered! Gregory brings “The Sword of Kahless,” the ninth episode of the fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, written by Hans Beimler and Richard Danus and directed by LeVar Burton. Like the Discovery premiere, this episode is concerned with the legacy of the Klingon cultural figure Kahless. We discuss ancient fallen societies, philosophical skepticism,...

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S01E03. The Vulcan Hello and Battle at the Binary Stars

Content Warnings: discussion of war and war crimes, cannibalism, traumatic brain injury resulting in disorientation, untreated PTSD, desecration of corpses Spoiler Warning: From 1:18:30 to 1:23:34, we discuss a plot point that is revealed in Discovery S01E11, “The Wolf Inside.” We come in peace! Lucy brings “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle at the Binary Stars,” the two-part premiere of Star...

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S01E02. Relativity

Content Warnings: discussion of mental health, incarceration, and sexual harassment; excessive use of mild profanity It’s time! Melissa brings “Relativity,” the 24th episode of the fifth season of Star Trek: Voyager, written by Bryan Fuller, Nick Sagan, and Michael Taylor and directed by Allen Eastman. Like First Contact, this episode features time travel and the Pogo Paradox. We talk about...

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S01E01. First Contact

Content Warnings: body horror and self-injury; alcohol; frank discussions of sex, caste oppression, misogyny, and misogynoir. In honor of our first episode, Gregory brings Star Trek: First Contact, written by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore and directed by Jonathan Frakes. We discuss Star Trek’s views on exceptionalism vs. collectivism, the idea of destiny and the “right timeline,” and the...

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S01E00. Welcome and Programming Note

Welcome to Before the Future Came, a Star Trek podcast! Now that Hollywood producers have come to their senses regarding labor negotiations with writers and actors, we’re returning to Star Trek! If you’re just joining us, you can start with episode S00E01: “First Contact.” If you’re interested in hearing us talk about other utopian science fiction, you can go back...

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S00E04. SCP-6001: Avalon

Content Warnings: death and grief, horror themes, excessive but mild obscene language. Our last episode of the Strike Era has us reading “SCP-6001: Avalon” by T Rutherford! We talk about queer phenomenology, pacifism, the incarceration mindset, grief, and epistolary works. We also talk about unifying works of fan fiction, the joy of cats, and explicit vision statements. A glossary to...

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S00E03. The Collapsium

Content Warnings: discussion of sex, torture, self-mutilation, misogyny, body horror, brief mention of suicide. With the AMPTP still refusing to pay actors properly, we discuss The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy! We talk about hard and soft science fiction, wealth and labor, and the book’s strange use of appendices. We also touch on wizard battles, robotic freedom, princesses, cloning via teleportation,...

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S00E02. The Wild Robot

Content Warnings: discussion of defecation, animal injury and death, misogyny, enslavement. With Hollywood strikes ongoing, we discuss The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. We talk about community and ownership, philosophical wildness, and Object-Oriented Ontology. We also dip into practice, found families, refrain, robots in science fiction, individuality, and cheerful pooping. For images discussed in this episode, visit the episode page...

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S00E01. Binti

Content Warnings: blood and injury; frank discussions of racism and xenophobia. We’re not yet a Star Trek podcast! Instead, we open with Binti, written by Nnedi Okorafor. We discuss the tension between violence and empathy, the nature of magic and mysticism in science fiction, and how it feels to be ostracized by every inch of your skin and finding a...

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00b. Programming Note – Binti

There’s a actor’s and writer’s strike going on in Hollywood, and SAG-AFTRA recently clarified their guidelines on fan podcasts. We support the strike, and while the unions have not called for a general boycott, they’ve requested that folks not promote “struck work.” That includes Star Trek, and we want to abide by that request. Lucy and Melissa have been out...

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S01E13. Qpid

Blood will be spilt! Gregory brings “Qpid,” the 20th episode of season 4 of The Next Generation, written by Ira Steven Behr and Randee Russell and directed by Cliff Bole. Like “Captain’s Holiday,” this episode features the recurring character of Vash (and a lot of misogyny). We discuss historical fantasy, amatonormativity, the ideal woman, power, pedagogy, and Q. We also...

S01E12. Captain’s Holiday

You’ve fulfilled your destiny all too well! Lucy brings “Captain’s Holiday,” the 19th episode of season 3 of The Next Generation, written by Ira Steven Behr and directed by Chip Chalmers. Like “Inquisition,” this episode revolves around an attempted holiday that goes awry. We talk about vacations, misogyny, bodies, liminality, archaeology, and antisemitism. We also discuss pre-trip research, amazing costumes,...

S01E11. Inquisition

I can assure you: this is no game. Melissa brings “Inquisition,” the 18th episode of Season 6 of Deep Space Nine, written by Bradley Thompson and David Weddle and directed by Michael Dorn, the actor of Worf; one of only four episodes of Star Trek he directed. Like Elite Force, this episode contains a lot of questionable military ethics. We...

S01E10. Elite Force

Content Warnings: mention of motion sickness and vomiting Consider this your personal Kobayashi Maru. Gregory brings Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force, a video game released in 2000 by Raven Software. Like “In a Mirror, Darkly,” this episode involves the denizens of the Mirror Universe. We discuss first contact, video games, military orders, courtesy, romance, and canonicity. We also chat about Jefferies tubes, stealth, and technobabble.

S01E09. In a Mirror, Darkly

Love never fails. Lucy brings "In a Mirror, Darkly" Parts 1 and 2, episodes 18 and 19 of Season 4 of Enterprise. Part 1 was written by Mike Sussman and directed by James Conway. Part 2 was written by Mike Sussman and Manny Coto and directed by Marvin V. Rush. Like the 2009 film Star Trek, this double episode explores an alternate history. We talk about compassion, misogyny, dehumanization, censorship, and torture. We also chat about the ongoing story of the mirror universe, biblical references, and these episodes' special intro sequence.

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