The Ready Room: A Star Trek Podcast
39: A Fistful of T'Pols

Carbon Creek.

Everyone knows that first contact occurred in Montana on April 5, 2063. Or at least that’s what the history books tell us. But is it really true? Enterprise kicked off its sophomore season by ruffling the feathers of many canon purists with the story of an earlier first contact between humans and Vulcans. In this story, which T’Pol tells Archer and Trip over dinner, the first encounter between these two founding races of the Federation took place in 1947, in Pennsylvania. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by Michael Fisher as we discuss the episode “Carbon Creek,” its place in canon, and how it is an excellent example of Star Trek’s exploration of social issues.

In news we cover new fine art prints from Bye Bye Robot, new Star Trek goods for your kitchen, Intrada’s extended Star Trek VI soundtrack release, STO’s “The 2800,” John Tenuto’s March events celebrating Ricardo Montalban and Khan, and some mysterious happenings in London. 

Direct download: trr-039.mp3
Category:Enterprise -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

38: Future Time Cops

Future’s End.

During the third season of Voyager we were treated to one of the more creative stories in the series, a classic time travel tale that took us back to the year 1996. The episode introduced the term Temporal Prime Directive (a concept that also popped up in DS9’s “Trials and Tribble-ations,” which interestingly aired just two days before “Future’s End.”) The story also marked a critical turning point for The Doctor, who became, you could say, “footloose and fancy-free” for the remainder of the series by obtaining his mobile emitter. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by two of the hosts of The Delta Quadrant podcast, JD Onesi and Charlynn Schmiedt (who is also our Voyager editor) as we discuss the ins and outs of Voyager’s trip back to 20th-century Los Angeles.

In news we cover Norman Spinrad’s lost TOS script He Walked Among Us, Dayton Ward’s new TOS novel That Which Divides, TNG Mounted Memories, new Star Trek busts from Titan Merchandise, and lots of movie news and rumors—including our take on the photos recently leaked by MTV and who we now think Cumberbatch is playing. Plus Greg does an unexpected imitation from another franchise. 

Direct download: trr-038.mp3
Category:Voyager -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

37: Stroking Lobes for Profit

Q-Less.

When DS9 premiered in 1993 the writers wasted no time in bringing one of TNG’s favorite characters to the show. Q makes his first—and only—appearance in the sixth episode of the series, and the pairing with Sisko did not necessarily work as well as the pairing with Picard. Couched within this unusual Q story is an interesting commentary by one Star Trek series about its predecessor. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by Brian Finifter and Tristan Riddell as we discuss the episode “Q-Less” as well as Q in general and the nature of the society portrayed in Star Trek.

In news we cover the TNG EXPOsed panel scheduled for the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, IDW’s Star Trek/Dr. Who Crossover Comic, IDW’s other May 2012 Star Trek titles, Hasbro’s KRE-O bricks and KREON figures, and movie news and rumors including Chris Pine’s battle with his former agency, Quinto’s comments about the next film’s story, Cumberbatch’s intensity, and Greenwood’s contentment. Plus we reveal another of our rejected Star Trek IV plots and Greg channels Simon Pegg. 

Direct download: trr-037.mp3
Category:Deep Space Nine -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

36: Group Clicking

Schisms.

When season six of The Next Generation rolled around we started to get some seriously creepy stories, thanks largely to the influence of Brannon Braga. One of the creepiest of the bunch was “Schisms,” in which solanogen-based fish monks began kidnapping Enterprise crew members in their sleep and using them for bizarre medical experiments. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by Larry Nemecek as we discuss the episode “Schisms” as well as Brannon Braga’s influence on Star Trek from late TNG forward.

In news we cover Hollywood Collectibles’ 1:4 Scale Kirk Statue, Greg Cox’s new TOS-era novel The Rings of Time, the lack of social networking in the Star Trek future, the Spring 2012 issue of Star Trek Magazine (and the future of the publication), and our first impressions of the TNG “The Next Level” Blu-ray. And we also recast the missing 13 seconds from “Sins of the Father” with younger actors. 

Direct download: trr-036.mp3
Category:The Next Generation -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

35: Spock's Periwinkle Tights

Errand of Mercy.

The Klingons are perhaps the best-known of all Star Trek villains, and that status is due as much to The Original Series as to their role on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It’s an interesting point since they made only seven appearance on TOS and were not even the main focus of all of these episodes. Still, John Colicos’s portrayal of Kor in the first ever appearance of the Klingons ensured that they would be a long-lived adversary of the Federation. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by David Taylor as we discuss the episode “Errand of Mercy.”

In news we cover the upcoming Broadway run of Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It, a possible Star Trek TV series pitch from Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer, the TNG Remastered Season One trailer and more new surrounding the TNG-R project, and some movie news and rumors. We also dip into our mailbag for some listener thoughts on our recent discussions of “Blood Fever” and “Regeneration.” Oh… and did I mention our mind scanner? 

Direct download: trr-035.mp3
Category:The Original Series -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

34: Borg School Dropouts

Regeneration.

As a prequel series Enterprise had to perform a delicate balancing act. While on the one hand it had to serve as a lead-in to everything we knew from TOS onward, it also had to be entertaining and not be so rigidly locked into the vast canon of Star Trek as to cripple the writers. The appearance of the Borg on the series in the second season set off a firestorm even before the episode aired. The move is easily dismissed as an attempt by writers devoid of new ideas to grab a popular element from the 24th century for their own benefit. In reality, however, this was a case of Enterprise fulfilling its purpose of tying up loose ends from other series. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by Michael Fisher as we discuss the episode “Regeneration” and how it fits into the bigger Star Trek universe.

In news we cover Levar Burton receiving the Tufts University Eliot-Pearson Award, Patrick Stewart’s appearance on BBC “Hard Talk,” Scott Bakula signing on to Star Trek Las Vegas 2012, Jordan Hoffman’s One Trek Mind Top Tear-jerking Moments, and a bag full of movie news and rumors. Plus, we go where no dog has gone before. 

Direct download: trr-034.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

33: Vorik Ex Machina

Blood Fever.

The Original Series episode “Amok Time” established the Vulcan mating ritual known as pon farr, the effects it has on male Vulcans, and the rituals surrounding it. When Voyager launched in 1995 it was the first series since TOS to feature a Vulcan as part of the main cast, and so it was inevitable that the writers would revisit this biological trial. When the time came, however, they threw in an unexpected twist. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined by our Voyager series editor Charlynn Schmiedt as we discuss the third-season episode “Blood Fever” and how Voyager handled the touchy subject of the pon farr.

In news we cover Priceline killing off Shatner, the ThinkGeek Electronic Door Chime, real-life transparent aluminum, Star Trek Who Wants to be A Millionaire?, updates on the TNG Remastered project, and IDW’s Star Trek Ongoing #5 “Operation: Annihilate!” Plus we take another dip into our bag of rejected Star Trek IV plots and Greg auditions for the role of “Sound Effects Guy” on Star Trek: The Original Series. 

Direct download: trr-033.mp3
Category:Voyager -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

32: The Albino On the Mantel

Blood Oath.

Jadzia Dax may be a young Starfleet Lieutenant, but she is also one of the wisest members of the Deep Space 9 crew. Thanks to the seven lifetimes of experience carried by the Dax symbiont, Jadzia is both young and old at the same time. She is Starfleet and yet not Starfleet. The writers of DS9 played this up in the second-season episode “Blood Oath,” which also marked the return of three famous characters from The Original Series—Kor, Koloth, and Kang (and the actors who originally portrayed them). This is a story that played a key role in the early development of the Jadzia character by giving us a look at how Dax had deep roots within the larger Star Trek universe and how Jadzia was tied to that past despite being only 29 years old. In this episode of The Ready Room we’re joined Brian Finifter as we discuss “Blood Oath,” how DS9 looks at the world differently from other Star Trek series, and how this story affects how we see Jadzia.

In news we cover the arrival of Star Trek Online Free-to-Play, ThinkGeek’s plush Enterprise, Shatner’s response to George Takei, Scanadu’s Real-life medical tricorder, plus lots of movie news and rumors including the start of shooting, upgrades to engineering, J.J. Abrams’s thoughts on 3-D, Thor Actor Joseph Gatt joining the cast, and whether Benedict Cumberbatch might be playing Sybok? Plus Greg serves up the official show drink—a G&T. (It’s not what you think.)

Direct download: trr-032.mp3
Category:Deep Space Nine -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

31: Brought to You by Brylcreem

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. 

Direct download: trr-031.mp3
Category:The Next Generation -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT

30: Holographic Vaporization

Worst Case Scenario.

When Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor set out to create the third live-action Star Trek spinoff they were faced with an enormous challenge. The franchise had become so weighted down by more than two decades of stories that it was difficult to find a new way to approach things, and Gene Roddenberry’s no-conflict rule was proving more and more difficult for the writers. Throwing the ship to the other side of the galaxy was one way of starting over with new worlds to explore and new aliens to encounter. But in addition to this an effort was made to break the shackles of the no-conflict rule by forcing Starfleet officers to co-exist with outsiders—the rebel Maquis. It was a good idea in theory, though the success of the approach is certainly questionable. In this episode of The Ready Room we discuss the third-season Voyager episode “Worst Case Scenario” and how the Starfleet-Maquis relationship played out in reality.

In news we cover Nichelle Nichols’s 79th birthday, Avery Brooks and Sir Patrick Stewart confirmations for Creation’s 2012 conventions, IDW’s Star Trek Ongoing #4, clues about the next movie that have been hidden in the comics, and we preview two more tracks off of Five Year Mission’s Year Two. Plus Greg sings in Klingon and an unexpected musical guest pops in. 

Direct download: trr-030.mp3
Category:Voyager -- posted at: 8:00pm MDT