The Bonding.

Few writers played a larger role in shaping modern Star Trek than Ronald D. Moore, but his first foray into Roddenberry’s universe came in the form of a spec script that was turned into the early third-season episode “The Bonding.” It’s a story that is often forgotten, but one that offers the first glimpses of the cerebral, introspective, and philosophical stories that came to define The Next Generation. In this episode of The Ready Room we discuss “The Bonding” and a number of issues that are addressed in the episode including the practice of carrying families on starships, coping with the inevitability of death when exploring the unknown, and why children in Star Trek look like little adults. We also explain the apparently extremely simplistic Klingon ritual known as The Bonding.

In news we cover the third trailer for the TNG Remastered project, George Takei’s casting on Celebrity Apprentice, the new Bandai “Next Phase” expansion set for the Star Trek Deck Building Game, the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain in the next movie, and we preview the final two tracks from Five Year Mission’s Year Two. Plus we reveal yet another of our 1,000 rejected plots for Star Trek IV. 

TNG Season Two.

After completing a successful first season The Next Generation continued to find its identity in season two despite a number of potential setbacks. The departure of Gates McFadden as Dr. Crusher, a writers strike in Hollywood, and continuing struggles to emerge from the shadow of TOS put this new Star Trek series to the test. In this episode of The Ready Room we discuss the good and the bad of TNG’s second season, and how it set up the greatness to come. In news we look at the Comikaze Expo, new names added to the roster for Star Trek Las Vegas 2012, Star Trek: The Exhibition at the St. Louis Science Center, Star Trek’s spookiest moments, and the state of Star Trek fiction and the Enterprise novels about the Romulan War. 

The Best of Both Worlds.

It was the turning point for The Next Generation and perhaps for all of modern Star Trek. The season-three finale left fans wondering for the entire summer of 1990 whether Picard was returning or whether Riker was the show’s new lead. It also brought us one of the greatest villains ever—the Borg. In this episode of The Ready Room we're joined by Brian Finifter of Down In Front to discuss “The Best of Both Worlds” and how it changed the course of the franchise.

In our news segment we discuss new developments surrounding the remastering of TNG on Blu-ray, Marina Sirtis's new role as the Wicked Queen, play with Diamond Select's retro Picard and Borg figures, find out about Star Trek Online's plans to go free-to-play, step inside a real-life sickbay, explore the possibility of silicon-based life, hear from the remaining TOS cast on Star Trek’s 45th anniversary, and reveal the results of our poll “Which villain’s name do you most want to shout in battle?”

Encounter at Farpoint.

When Star Trek returned to television on September 28, 1987, no one knew for sure if this experiment was going to work. Could you really capture lightning in a bottle twice? While the ship still carried the same name, the cast was completely different—and the actors relatively unknown. What's more, the show was syndicated. That doesn't seem like a big deal now, but at the time it was unusual and not known as a recipe for success. In this episode of The Ready Room hosts Christopher Jones and Greg Harbin discuss "Encounter at Farpoint," which turned out to be the seed for all but 86 of the episodes and films in the world's most expansive science fiction franchise. 

In our news segment we wish a happy birthday to J.J. Abrams, say our farewells to composer Fred Steiner, tune in to Michael Giacchino as he talks to Collider about scoring Star Trek, find out what Simon Pegg has to say about Star Trek and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, find out more about the new Abramsverse comic series as The Comic Book Resources interviews IDW Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall, turn the pages of a new Star Trek Trivia Book, and discuss the trailer of William Shatner's new documentary "The Captains."