Antimatter Pod

189. A Real Rick Berman Kind of Horror (LD 5.04 and 5.05)

Anika and Liz visit the Klingon homeworld and Starbase 80, and Anika does not partake in blood wine or corn dogs because these episodes are not inclusive for vegetarians.

Yes, we're talking about Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes "A Farewell to Farms" and "Starbase 80?!", and we have a few things to say...

• "A Farewell to Farms" was fine
• Mary Chieffo deserves better
• It's time for Liz to admit the truth: she has a soft spot for Dr Migleemo
• Is Migleemo Freeman's Tuvok?
• It's very possible that there are external reasons that season 5 of Lower Decks hasn't been working for us
• The SNWification of Star Trek since 2022
• Starbase 80 is symptomatic of an empire in decay
• What is Mariner's arc in season 5?
• We are here to ship Mariner/Kassia

188. The Humourless Feminist Killjoy Happy Hour (LD 5.03)

Anika and Liz visit a fabulous resort, where we get to sit by the pool and relax while nothing bad happens and no one is weirdly stalked by their ex-girlfriend.

We're discussing Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel", and spoilers, we aren't fans!

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel did not deserve this
• "My shoulders went up around my ears and stayed there for the entire episode."
• Jennifer is abusive, and it's weird how the show (and the fandom!) seems to consider this zany and delightful
• This is not a great season for Tendi's characterisation so far
• It feels like Mariner and Tendi's arcs ended in season 4 and the show doesn't quite know what to do with them now
• But also, less than week to the US election and Lower Decks is like, "How about an episode where a Black woman on the cusp of becoming a leader is mistreated and everyone cheers?" Guys.
• An Apocalypse Now parody? Groundbreaking.
• Anika: "I apologise to people who liked this episode."
  Liz: "I don't."
• How much has season 5 been affected by the industrial unrest across the entertainment industry? There are so many barriers to making good television at the best of times! Also, Liz talks about season 5 of Babylon 5 (sorry, Anika)

187. Free-Range Organic Facial Hair (LD 5.01 and 5.02)

Anika and Liz meet their alternate timeline duplicates, who are exactly the same except Fake Anika is super right-wing and Fake Liz has a luscious beard.

It's time! For the Star Trek: Lower Decks fifth season premiere!

Liz: I don't ship Rutherford/Tendi/T'Lyn
61 seconds later…
Liz: I ship Rutherford/Tendi/T'Lyn

• Remembering Jeri Taylor
• New York Comic Con: Anika has been in the presence of greatness (Carol Kane)
• Is Lower Decks getting tired, or is it Liz who is too tired to feel joy? 
• Beard Boimler and Otherford
• We are learning SO MUCH about Orion culture! 
• INCOMING HUMOURLESS FEMINIST KILLJOY MOMENT: Maybe October 2024 is not the right time for a subplot about controlling what a pregnant woman does?
• Anika has a Bointer for you: always try to avoid anything that makes you sound like J. D. Vance

 

186. Cottagecore Retirement (Prodigy 2.19 and 2.20)

Anika and Liz save the world, and then settle down for some light gardening in a giant midwest McMansion. Yes, the time has come to discuss the season (series?) finale of Star Trek: Prodigy, "Ouroboros" parts 1 and 2.

• Anika was really onto something when she said Rok-Tahk is the new Wesley
• What is a good age to start watching Star Trek with kids?
• "At no point does Prodigy talk down to its audience."
• Anika's two fictional sons (Dal and Jack) in one episode!
• This podcast is tough on Indiana, tough on the causes of Indiana
• Why do so many series captains own property on Earth? 
• Characters from DS9 and Picard we want the Prodigy kids to meet
• Saving Holo Janeway

185. How To Train Your Loom (Prodigy 2.17 and 2.18)

Anika and Liz send a bunch of kids off on a black ops mission, which is a cool and normal thing to do and definitely something a healthy maternal role model would do. Oh yeah, we're discussing the Star Trek: Prodigy episodes "Brink" and "Touch of Gray", including...

• Kids are gonna learn about plausible deniability sooner or later
• It was always going to be Ascensia versus Gwyn
• And Ascencia versus Janeway
• Girl you have too many nemeses, put one back
• Wesley's plan fails because he didn't expect Gwyn to prioritise her father. WHICH SAYS A LOT ABOUT HIM. 
• (A fun question: how much of Picard's relationship with his parents did he replicate with Wesley, and how does that impact Wesley's relationship with the kids now?)
• Like Discovery, Prodigy has a really fluid hierarchy among the kids
• Liz threatens to write a book called Management Lessons from Michael Burnham and Dal R'El 
• We are thoroughly dismayed to find ourselves shipping Holo Janeway/the Doctor

184. Janeway/Chakotay Is The New Janeway/Chakotay (Prodigy 2.15 and 2.16)

Anika and Liz are told to pack it all up and go home, Starfleet Command will be taking care of the podcasting from here on out. And we were absolutely going to obey, but fortunately some plot intervened. We're discussing Star Trek: Prodigy's "Ascension" part 1 and 2, including...

• Dal and Zero's arcs reach their respective climaxes
• The Voyager crew were also the Rogue Misfit Squadron
• The Doctor is at his best in a low-pressure environment, but he's programmed to think he thrives under pressure
• Dal speedruns his own arc in miniature and comes out the other side
• Zero: they're a hero, actually
• Flashbacks to "Such Sweet Sorrow" part 2 had Liz running to Moopsy for support
• Prodigy tells more overt queer stories than SNW, which is actually kind of alarming
• We care about shipping, not ships

183. Warlord Janeway (Prodigy 2.13 and 2.14)

Anika and Liz stumble through a series of alternate universes, including the one where we like "A Tribble Called Quest" and the one where we're good at podcasting and don't go off on long tangents about shipping. (That's a lie. That universe doesn't exist.)

• Liz has a hot take: she does not like "A Tribble Called Quest" and thinks it has an accidental forced-birth subtext
• The three Dad Genders: Girl Dad, Boy Dad, Scientist Dad
• Maybe we need to stop making tribble episodes
• MOVING ON TO THE EPISODE WE ACTUALLY LIKED
• The Jellico In Command Timeline
• Okona and Chakotay: the deadbeat dad and the dad who stepped up
• Did Captain Tuvix murder Janeway? 
• Who would win in a fight between Mirror Janeway and Emperor Georgiou? 
• Chakotay, formerly Hot Chakotay, is at his least attractive ever when he's reunited with Janeway, and that serves a purpose! 
• The best-known Evil Overlord list, as reproduced on TV Tropes
• The Antimatter Pod Shipping News! 
  • Mirror Janeway and the search across the multiverse for the Chakotay with the brain cell
  • Chakotay/Holo Janeway
  • Zero/Maj'el
  • Dal/Gwyn and the parallels with Janeway/Chakotay

182. A Situationship (Prodigy 2.11 and 2.12)

• We promised we'd be normal about Hot Chakotay, but we lied
• An incomplete list of people with whom Anika compares Hot Chakotay: 
  • Wolverine
  • Deanna Troi in "A Fistful of Datas"
  • Russell Crowe
  • Aragon
• Dal finally finds his mentor
• Chakotay: not a girl dad
• Ma'jel is too gay for this. She is here for the girls and the non-binary babes and wants no part of whatever Hot Chakotay has going on
• Gwyn and Dal and sharing leadership
• Chakotay and Hologram Janeway's codependent relationship
• Is it possible the TNG crew didn't try very hard to reach Beverly?
• It took 30 years, but we finally found someone we don't ship with Kathryn Janeway
• Content warning: the Antimatter Pod Shipping News is more than usually not appropriate for kids this week. Yes, when we're talking about the kids show. We're the problem with fandom. 

181. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOMS!!!!!!!!! (Prodigy 2.09 and 2.10)

Anika and Liz arrive at an ancient and timeless ziggurat, congratulate themselves on knowing how to spell "ziggurat", and settle down in a nice mid-century modern apartment to talk about episodes 9 and 10 of Star Trek: Prodigy's second season, "The Devourer Of All Things". Including...

• Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: Picard, "Assignment: Earth" and more
• Liz drops some obscure Doctor Who lore
• Why do so many time travel organisations have a mid-century modern aesthetic? 
• Adulthood is about making the hard choices, but youth is about rejecting the no-win scenario
• Anika wants to know how Janeway knows Wesley; Liz has a plethora of theories
• Don't worry, Anika can explain how Dal is like Anakin Skywalker

180. A Flower Crown Cult (Prodigy 2.08)

Anika and Liz don their finest flower crowns and make an appearance at a feast. What's that? You want us to go for a nice run? No thank you, we will stay comfortably seated, talking about the Star Trek: Prodigy episode "Is There In Beauty No Truth"...

• Star Trek bringing the anti-running agenda for 2024
• Maybe these non-corporeal adrenaline junkies should look into rollercoasters
• It's a really nice bit of worldbuilding that telepaths are bad at consent and boundaries, but accidentally gives rise to a subtext which feels transphobic
• Which is not to say that this is not a wonderful episode or a great allegory about both the trans experience and disability! 
• But it's complicated! We talk about it at length!
• ALSO this Feast of Senses would have been so much creepier if Gene Roddenberry or Rick Berman were around
• Jankom Pog dances like a Bluey character
• Dal and Gwyn and relationships that exist in small moments