A Star Trek Podcast
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,...
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...
READ MORE S01E03. The Vulcan Hello and Battle at the Binary Stars
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...