Antimatter Pod

73. The Rick Berman Problem

Anika and Liz discuss bisexuality in Star Trek -- a topic which has been on our agenda since the only on-screen representation was the Mirror Universe. Thank heavens times have changed! ...Right?

• Because, wow, the MU is not the place to go for good rep!
• Headcanons are not the same as canonical representation
• Pine is a top-tier Chris
• Deniable, erasable and word-of-God queerness in media
• The Trill Problem, part 1: We need to talk about Jadzia
• An unpopular opinion? On Antimatter Pod? It's more likely than you think!
• The Trill Problem, part 2: Beverly and Odan
• Headcanon is not canon, but let's talk about Will Riker anyway
  
• Raffi Musiker and Beckett Mariner: a tale of two showrunners
• "Every Starfleet officer is probably, at baseline, bisexual in a way."
• But why IS Michael Chabon the arbiter of what constitutes "organic" queer representation?
• Biphobia in media and fandom

72. What About Manperson?

Liz and Anika go back to the '70s and discuss a write-up of a panel on feminism in Treklit. "Treklit?" you ask. We young'uns call it fan fiction these days.

Topics covered include:

• Changes in the way we talk about fic
• Reminiscences about mailing lists
• How fic reflects the time it’s written
• Early fandom racism
• Anti-feminism in fic
• The thorny question of content curation, warnings, ratings and acceptable content in fic
• Fic as a valid subject for critical analysis
• Liz makes a confession about her sockpuppet past
• “Again, I don’t wanna be an anti…”
• A brief digression into X-Men, Anika’s Mary Sue marriage to Sarek, and WandaVision
• “Are women people?” (Related: How do you write a good female character? We are still having these discussions?)
• Is it possible to have … too much feminism?!
• “At least a third of Trekfen are male.” Why is fic dominated by women? The ladies of the '70s had some theories...

Please note there's a discussion about incest in fic between 31:08 and 31:02.

71. Edith Keeler in the 23rd Century

Anika and Liz revisit one of the most universally praised episodes of The Original Series ... and it really is that good.

• We have nice things to say about Shatner
• Edith's don't-punch-Nazis attitude is ... challenging in 2021! We hash it out with a little help from The Clone Wars
• How Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is like Game of Thrones
• The Kirk/Spock of it all
• We did not deserve DeForest Kelley
• A digression into CBS procedurals

It's the episode where a psychotic break involves more time travel than most!

70. Clinton-Era Star Trek

Liz and Anika sit down to discuss the Voyager pilot "Caretaker", and end up with a podcast almost as long as the episode itself!

• We are not good at maths
• “It’s a good pilot, but not a good episode.”
• The script has a really complicated relationship with Janeway’s femininity
• Tom Paris is a truly awful character in the pilot (and for a while after)
• Chakotay: stereotypes and racism abound
• Tuvok is magnificent and we love him
• Harry Kim and the completely unsupported idea that he’s bad with women
• We love and adore Kes and hate most of the storylines for her
• (We also love and adore age gap relationships … except Kes/Neelix)
• “Neelix doesn’t know what a boundary is.”
• B’Elanna doesn’t play a big role in the pilot, so we make up for it by discussing her whole arc over seven seasons
• The Doctor is basically just Cranky Siri in the pilot
• The paternalism in this story

Other episodes discussed: 

“Initiations”
“Alliances”
“Basics Part 2”
“Journey’s End” (TNG)

Notes: At one point, Liz refers to Evan Evagora as “half-Maori”. A better term would have been “of Maori heritage”, rather than a phrase which suggests some sort of division or blood quantum. My apologies.

69. She’s A Queen, Motherf****er! (Discovery 3.13)

It’s our 69th episode! Nice. Also, Discovery wrapped up its third season -- and finally stuck the landing.

Notes:

• Season 3 repudiates nearly everything we hated about season 2
• Finally Owosekun gets a moment
• Liz has decided to ship Owo/Zora
• “We are Starfleet”: it’s basically the flipped version of “this is not America”
• The new uniforms are bad and we hate them
• Liz quotes Meatloaf
• Expanding from motherhood stories to parenthood stories
• The Moffat era of Discovery

We're taking a break for a month or so, but if there's a topic you want to hear us discuss, let us know! We're on Twitter at @antimatterpod, and you can also reach us at antimatterpod.tumblr.com.

68. A Little Capitalism, As A Treat (Discovery 3.12)

Anika's back! But where is Lt Nilsson...? (Did Grudge eat her?)

This ep has some audio issues, as Liz learns new software, but we manage to discuss:

• Is this Christmas homage a Die Hard episode?
• Osyraa and Vance level up in characterisation
• Osyraa/Vance arranged marriage fic now pls
• Does Osyraa need to raid Georgiou’s wardrobe?
• RIP Anika’s Andorian
• We EXPLICITLY SAID we didn’t want to know how the replicators work
• Who is the Federation President? Our candidates include Voyager's EMH, and also Grudge

67. The Last Dilithiumbender (Discovery 3.11)

Liz is joined again by Fran as we investigate the cause of the Burn.

• Another haunted house, another recurrence of the season’s theme of confronting fear and ugly truths
• Su’Kal: the most 2020 hero
• The cause of the Burn: a child the Federation failed to rescue
• In fact, the Federation destroyed itself through its own complacency
• This is a story which prioritises emotional intelligence over logic
• Do we need to report Book to the Space RSPCA?
• Osyraa’s costume tells a story 

It's the episode where we absolutely refuse to get into the question of whether the food you eat on the holodeck is real!

66. Ebenezer Georgiou (Discovery 3.10)

Liz is joined by Fran to discuss “Terra Firma” part 2. Where is Anika? Only mirror!Fran knows…

• So it turns out the mirror universe is not a fun place to hang?
• The Terran Empire was always destined to fall
• A redemption arc, or a reformation arc?
• “You don’t fail upwards in the mirror universe.”
• Saving Saru
• Liz spoils the end of The Good Place
• We talk a lot about Gabriel Lorca and Harry Mudd, which is weird since they don’t actually appear in this episode
• VICAR
• Sorry, we really did have to discuss Lorca’s priest fetish and make fun of his screen name
• The return and demise (again) of Ellen Landry
• Vance is oddly inconsistent
• Do we need to see Vance in his jim-jams? For ... character development reasons? 

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!