Antimatter Pod

65. Harlan Ellison’s Angry Ghost (Discovery 3.09)

In which Liz and Anika step through a door.

 • It was so nice of CBSAA to make an episode of Discovery just for us!
 • Saru, Book and Vance are under the impression that they’re in a regular episode. They are very wrong.
 • We strongly suspect Carl is not really a human from the 1930s.
 • If you die in the mirror universe, you die in real life as well.
 • A recurring theme of duty
 • How Saru is Kristy Thomas
 • “And that’s why capitalism is going to destroy us all.”
 • The usual Mandalorian digression

Link Selenak’s review

64. Starfleet Is A Social Construct (Discovery 3.08)

It's the Star Warsiest episode of Star Trek ever, and we are here for it!

We're also talking about:

• Admiral Vance: does he have a drinking problem yet?
• Michael doesn't really understand the concept of letting others make choices, and it's probably Sarek's fault
• Misfits, outsiders, and why is piloting "macho" anyway?
• Saru is not a good captain (which is fine), but fandom won't admit it (which is bad)
• What the heck is going on with Georgiou? Are we building up to her departure?

It's the episode where Book levels up in Disney Prince!

63. Michael and Ahsoka (Discovery 3.07)

Liz and Anika talk "Unification III", an episode practically made for us. Discussed along the way:

• the academic rigour of the Vulcan thesis defence
• the latest episode of The Mandalorian
• false binaries
• Tilly's career path
• Michael's quartet of complicated mothers

It's the episode where we ask -- just how much of a creep is Grudge? And really? Baby Yoda has a name now?

62. Blue Redshirt (Discovery 3.06)

They had us at "unsanctioned mission".

• the Luke-Vader heist of Anika's dreams
• the teams are fracturing and it's AWFUL but also a bit great
• does Michael actually want to be in Starfleet? Did she ever choose to be in Starfleet?
• Michael Burnham and the Series-Long Badge Motif
• Michael/Book: how do we love it? We cannot even begin to count the ways!
• a Culmets duck family
• is Grudge a real cat: y/n?

We also go off on a wholly irrelevant tangent about the ENT episode "Carpenter Street".

61. Fetch Quest (Discovery 3.05)

Liz and Anika are shocked -- SHOCKED! -- to learn that Starfleet Command is maybe a bit shady.

Also covered:

• we care as much about 32nd century starship design as we do about the bridge crew
• how season 3 is structured like a video game
• Nhan's departure
• Georgiou's arc
• Discovery is not an ensemble show and should stop trying to be
• they really did manage two separate scenes where men tell Michael to watch her tone
• Saru's historiography is ... bad
• music: the score and the clue

Remember, statistically there is a high probability that Admiral Vance is evil!

60. Trilling Around (Discovery 3.04)

Liz and Anika return to the Trill homeworld, and also attend an awkward dinner party. It's time to talk about Discovery 3.04, "Forget Me Not"!

We discuss:

• how very 2020 this season feels ... but in a good way?
• the Adira/Gray romance, representation, ghost stories, YA fiction and Truly, Madly, Deeply
• Saru's character growth
• Liz wants you all to know she hated "Calypso"
• it took three seasons, but Culber is finally the fully fledged character Anika always knew he could be
• Buster Keaton, and when the A and the B stories are the same

It's the episode where we reluctantly accept Linus's gift of popcorn!

(See antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes.)

59. It's Just A Really Good Tree, Man (Discovery 3.03)

Discovery season 3 might be Voyager 2.0, but it still only takes them three episodes to get home to Earth. Downside: turns out you can't go home again.

Anika and Liz discuss:

• the narrative language of Star Trek
• Michael's year on her own
• Adira: Wesley Crusher but make them non-binary
• Pronouns!
• Earth's moral failure in the face of a crisis
• hugging CGI trees
• capslocking about Keyla, or, Discovery has a problematic history with trauma stories and we want them to do better this time

Check out antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes!

58.Sexy Neelix (Discovery 3.01 and 3.02)

Like season 3 of Discovery, Liz and Anika are a little bit delayed but totally worth the wait. We hope!

We're discussing the first two episodes of Discovery's third season: "That Hope Is You" and "Far From Home". And, along the way, we talk about...

• Grudge, a good catte
• Cleveland "Book" Booker, a Jedi and a Disney princess
• Aditya Sahil, the bureaucrat who waited
• We ... kind of maybe don't care about the Burn, except to the extent we've decided it's Jonathan Archer's fault
• Nhan/Georgiou: we ship it
• The breakup of Yugoslavia (it's relevant!)
• Westerns, and characters who don't know the genre of their story

 

57. A Tale of Two Romulan Commanders

Liz and Anika revisit "Balance of Terror" and "The Enterprise Incident" -- the only two TOS episodes to feature the Romulans on screen. 

We discuss: 

• parallels and contrasts
• honour, duty and espionage
• Romulan fashion
• why do we like the Lenard Commander so much when he killed so many people? 

And more!

56. At Least One Pon Farr

We take a deep dive into episode 8 of Enterprise's third season: "Twilight", and discuss: 

• how much we love this episode (A LOT)
• we kind of maybe ship T'Pol/Archer here
• Rosemary's Baby, feminism and psychological horror
• the fascinating things this episode does with gender
• storytelling through costume, hair and make-up
• the destructions of Earth and Romulus
• it turns out that JJ Abrams is a hack????

It's the episode where we ask, um, are we meant to find Phlox attractive here? Because, wow, baby!