Antimatter Pod

45. Affable Evil and the Chaos Agents

Anika and Liz are joined by Jules (of @juleshastweets and Bad Pajamas) to talk about our favourite villains! Complete with sidebars about Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and a a brief reinvention as an Expanse podcast. 

Topics of discussion include: 

• villains versus antagonists
• redemption arcs 
• the mirror universe
• is Emperor Georgiou the Garak of Discovery?
• maybe Quark isn't a villain, but he should definitely be in jail
• speaking of incarceration -- Garak gets six months for attempted genocide, while Kasidy Yates gets the same sentence for smuggling medical supplies to the Maquis? Really?
• concept: the Prophets are not good people
• #seskadeservedbetter
• the magnificence of General Chang

Finally, going technically off-topic but when did we ever let that stop us, Julia talks about Picard's golem and Jewish myth.

44. Screw You, Rick Berman (Picard 1.10)

Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard has come to an end! What a strange, messy show it's been. 

Special guest Sam (@retconning) joins us for the first thirty minutes to discuss Seven of Nine, queer representation throughout Trek's history, the heteronormativity of this particular series, and THE HANDHOLDING SCENE (the caps are necessary) in the final thirty seconds of the episode. 

Then Liz and Anika talk about...

• golems, squicks and spoilers
• did they ... forget ... Narek?
• it's okay, they also forgot that Soji is the female lead
• was the ending too pat? Or do we simply love space politics too much?
• the TNG characters as desserts
• Liz shares her philosophy of parenting with Anika, an Actual Parent
• but seriously, Maddox and Soong are/were THE WORST
• Agnes has come SO FAR and we LOVE HER

In conclusion, Worf is definitely a caramel drizzle and we will not be taking questions at this moment.

43. #notallorganics (Picard 1.09)

This week on Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew beam down to an idyllic paradise whose scantily clad residents harbour a terrible secret.

No, wait! It's Star Trek: Picard, and any resemblance to season one of TNG is entirely ... unfortunate. This week on Antimatter Pod...

• Anika has a shocking confession
• apparently we are meant to consider Bruce Maddox a great loss to humanity? Really?
• how Picard and Batman are quite different
• why is Sutra ... like that?
• we have so many questions about the depiction of women's sexuality in this show, and none of them reflect well on the writers
• this week, in Anika Ships It: Sutra/Narissa!

Soji can have a little genocide, as a treat.

42. Ask A (Romulan) Manager (Picard 1.08)

Join Liz and Anika as we pick up some "Broken Pieces" -- starting with our own audio: due to technical shenanigans, a really excellent rant was lost. But here's what survived: 

• so many secrets have been revealed!
• did the Borg/Seven subplot need more time?
• does the writing hold up?
• if you have to take to Instagram to explain plotholes, then no, it does not
• we make predictions for the end

Somehow the rant about The Rise of Skywalker did survive, along with spoilers for Game of Thrones (Ned Stark dies!).

Don't forget to rate, review and sign our petition for Picard to never use the word "lover" ever again. 

41. As Organic As A Happy Meal (Picard 1.07)

Take a long, leisurely trip to Nepenthe with Anika and Liz as we discuss: 

• The Riker-Troi family, Kestra the perfect-but-not-in-a-Mary-Sue-way kid character, synths and stem cells and pizza
• Our very, very strong reservations about Hugh's fate, and Anika has found The Worst Take
• The fruitless search for depth in Narissa
• Cris Rios (he is not a clever man)
• Narek (and his collection of fidget spinners)

Anika also outlines the TOS novel The Lost Years by JM Dillard, and how it might tie in to the story here; and Liz is close to figuring out how to blame Sarek for everything, including the fact that she refers to both Elnor and Rios as Narek. 

• Times Anika cries: 1
• Times Liz says, "I'm eager to see what happens next": at least 5

40. Impossible Girls (Picard 1.06)

Just when we had gotten used to the idea that Star Trek: Picard was a bit rubbish, it went and threw a good episode at us! Anika and Liz are talking: 

• redemption and atonement arcs
• Anika has a LOT of feelings about Narek, okay?
• girl-as-mystery-box storytelling (with a semi-relevant interlude of Steven Moffat fangirling)
• Voyager references
• Rihannsu lore is creeping into canon and we are DELIGHTED
• Elnor's unexpected emotional insight
• Hugh and Seven: parallels and contrasts

We also consider Rios's internal decorating, the nature of citizenship in the Federation, and the rights of Romulan refugees. These issues are equally important, shut up. 

39. They Were All Wearing Eyepatches (Picard 1.05)

Put a feather in your hat and put on the silliest French accent you can manage, we're talking about "Stardust City Rag"! 

And maybe it's time to admit that Star Trek: Picard is not a good show ... and that's okay? 

Also discussed: 

• That shocking death in the teaser
• Kirsten Beyer as a writer
• Seven and Bjayzel
• Raffi is doing her best, okay? We love her.
• Star Trek: Picard features the consequences that TNG and Voyager lacked (and that's why we see fewer echoes of DS9)
• The aesthetics of Freecloud
• Picard, like, definitely doesn't really understand money, right?
• Everyone Loves Elnor: the hit sitcom coming to CBS All Access as soon as they start accepting our phone calls!

38. The September Issue of Coloniser Monthly (Picard 1.04)

Episode 4 of Star Trek: Picard raised a lot of questions! Like, does the show want us to dislike Picard? And, when will Elnor get his cat? 

Discussed this week: 

• a Twitter troll accused Liz of having a "heavily misandrist" Star Trek podcast, and yes, we are very proud, thank you 
• Una McCormack's The Last Best Hope, a prequel to Star Trek: Picard (including spoilery chat about one particular subplot; if you don't want to know, skip ahead from where Liz warns of spoilers to approximately 07:21)
• the regrettable racism in this series
• and sexism
• and heteronormativity
• Elnor is a perfect angel who deserves many cats
• we all deserve cats

And more!

37. Proto-Existentialist Sad Boy (Picard 1.03)

The End! Is the Beginning! 

It's season 1, episode 3 of Star Trek: Picard, and we're discussing: 

• Romulannisters! Uh, are we meant to see this much chemistry between the Romulan siblings? [If this subject matter squicks you, skip ahead to about the 03:50 mark.]
• Smoking and space bongs and visual shorthand in Star Trek
• Ego as Picard's besetting flaw
• It's always a mistake to think too hard about the Federation economy, but here we are again
• Does Cris Rios need a baby Yoda?
• Has Agnes Jurati been brainwashed?
• We love our weird new space family and we don't want a single character to die
• Soji's job is more interesting than her romance with Narek
• Storytelling via literary references
• What would Soji read? Hit us up at @antimatterpod on Twitter and share your thoughts!

36. Romulans! Romulans Everywhere! (Picard 1.02)

We discuss episode 2 of Star Trek: Picard, "Maps and Legends" -- an episode which contains very few legends and no maps at all. We're talking: 

• Romulans! (And Vulcans)
• Exposition!
• Women dunking on Picard!
• Detective fiction!
• Classism! 
• And more!