Antimatter Pod

30. Well Done, That Goose

To celebrate getting to thirty episodes, we invited listeners to submit questions! And went from worrying we wouldn't get any (so embarrassing) to putting out an 80 minute episode...

We get to talk about the evolution of Star Trek's storytelling after the introduction of the VCR; assembling an all-female-character heist team; Klingon clickbait; genderswaps; our hopes for season 3 of Discovery; and, most importantly, which characters -- if any -- could defeat a goose in single combat, armed with a bat'leth? 

Honk!

29. The Perfect Starter Boyfriend

Having spent their formative years in Voyager shipping circles -- don't worry, we'll define terms -- Liz and Anika talk romance on Voyager. 

(Note: although we are generally family friendly...ish, this episode is definitely more PG-13 than others. And Liz uses the term "bone down" more than once, which is weird, because the words had never passed her lips before the day of recording.)

Pairings discussed: 

• Neelix/Kes (and Paris/Kes)
• Paris/Torres
• Janeway/Chakotay
• Janeway/Paris
• Chakotay/Seven
• Torres/Seven
• Janeway/Kashyk
• Janeway/that hologram dude, ugh
• (we might be biased)
• Janeway/Tuvok
• Other Tuvok ships
• Paris/Kim
• Harry/Seven
• Harry/...anyone? 
• Doctor/Seven
• Carey/Wildman

Also covered: are Discords the new mailing list? AO3 and the Hugo Awards. Wild speculation about Tuvok's prowess. B'Elanna and Seven's romance novel book club. And one wild card shipping option. 

28. Outsourcing the Exposition

Anika and Liz watch "Encounter at Farpoint" and discuss...

• ugly sweaters
• why is everyone on this ship so unfriendly?
• Tasha's backstory
• the state of the world today
• the Federation's failures
• umbrella frames as couture

We managed to get more than 30 minutes in before we even mention Q. Take that, self-appointed judge of humanity!

Check out a compilation of the @TrekDocs posts at Reddit, and see antimatterpod.tumblr.com for links to our personal social media and credits for our theme music.

27. The Ballad of Leslie Crusher

At various stages of TNG's development, the Enterprise's resident teen genius was going to be Leslie Crusher -- a girl. Anika and Liz wonder what it would have been like to have a girl STEM genius on television in 1987. Would she have been well-written? Would audiences have hated her as much as Wesley? Would she have inspired girls of our generation to become engineers? 

We also talk about similar characters and significant female characters in other media, including...

• Doctor Who (Adric, Ace)
• Star Wars (Leia, Padme, Rey)
• Jupiter Ascending
• The Hunger Games
• every single version of Lost in Space, including the 2004 John Woo pilot starring Jayne Brook

See antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes, including links to the production memos quoted.

26. Worf Seders Dot Tumblr Dot Com

We're joined by friend of the podcast Jules to discuss religion in Star Trek, and to interrogate the alleged secularism of the franchise.

You might know Jules as "the woman in the Captain Killy cosplay who asked Alex Kurtzman about the implications of erasing the Discovery crew from the record" at San Diego Comic Con -- and we talk about that, too. But by the end of this episode, you'll also know her as "the woman with elaborate and amazing headcanons about Worf's Seders".

Also covered: 

• Blair Imani, the hijabi fan whose Geordi LaForge-inspired cosplay gave us the idea for this episode
• Roddenberry's evolving beliefs
• What else is lost if humanity "evolves beyond religion"?
• Anika argues that all the TOS movies (including Generations) are full of overt religious themes
• Liz defends Kai Winn, and we have a semi-related discussion about education on Deep Space 9
• Discovery's depiction of religion, particularly in "New Eden" (which is Jules's cue to start drinking)
• Con artists who claim to be deities
• Q as the Jewish devil 
• The false science versus religion dichotomy

AND MORE!

You can find Jules on Twitter at @juleshastweets, and her DS9 rewatch blog at badpajamas.space. Check out antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes and links to our social media.

25. Your Future Is Historically Inaccurate

We're talking about Enterprise -- specifically the first two seasons:

• Our first encounters with the series, and why it wasn't a great introduction to Trek for Anika's eldest daughter
• Liz unearthed her reviews on the Wayback Machine and was appalled by her attitude towards Jolene Blalock
• In this house, we love and support T'Pol
• Archer is the worst captain (but Anika loves him)
• Trek for the George W Bush era (complete with off-topic anecdote about Liz bringing a cardboard Lucius Malfoy cutout to an anti-war protest for reasons that weren't clear even in 2003...)
• We try not to swear on the pod, but Liz drops an F-bomb and a full rant about "Cogenitor"
• We also talk about the stuff we actually liked, and not all of them are Andorians!

See antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes, including a link to Liz's old review site and the return of the podcast sketch.

[At the end, we claim the next episode will be covering Trek news out of SDCC. That is, of course, a lie; we changed the order around. Like the Prophets of Bajor, we exist outside linear time.]

24. The Tyranny of the Bowl Cut

San Diego Comic Con 2019 was massive for Trekkies, and we're joined by guest Sam (she first appeared way back in ep 3!) to talk about everything. Including:

• Star Trek: Picard - the trailer, the cameos, the new characters, everything. 
• (There WILL be spoilers.)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks - we are ... cautiously optimistic!
• Star Trek: Discovery - well, we're still mad about the finale, but we're also experiencing a flicker of ... excitement? 

You can find Sam online at twitter.com/retconning, and you can find show notes and credits at antimatterpod.tumblr.com!

23. Heart Attack Alibi

As requested by our Twitter followers, we're talking "Journey to Babel". Along the way:

• We provide a recap for viewers who haven't watched "Journey" lately/ever
• Liz attempts to say "pacificism"
• Live headcanon construction
• Considering "Journey to Babel" in the context of Discovery
• Does Amanda buy into the Vulcan patriarchy?
• Tellarites and Andorians and Vulcans, oh my!
• Costume chat: Amanda wears the pants in this family (and the high heels and feather boas)

And finally, we have a NSFW digression about, ummmmmmmmmmm, some infamous 1970s cosplay.

Check out antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes (including a link verifying the whole cosplay story).

22. It's Not A Novel, It's An Experience

We're talking about the Star Trek tie-ins of our formative years -- the ones we read until they fell apart. And it doesn't quite turn into a Diane Duane book club, but... 

Well. Novels we discuss in detail: 

• The Romulan Way by Diane Duane
• How Much For Just The Planet? by John M. Ford
• Survivors by Jean Lorrah
• The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes
• The Devil's Heart by Carmen Carter
• Dark Mirror by Diane Duane (coming full circle!)

You don't need to be familiar with these novels to listen to the podcast! How Much For Just The Planet is a classic, but it's also out of print, and retailing for a couple of hundred dollars on Amazon Marketplace -- or, as it turns out, just a couple of bucks on eBay. (Treat yourself. It's amazing.)

We also talk about the different needs filled by tie-in novels versus fan fiction, and why more recent Star Trek fiction just isn't doing it for us. 

21. Treason. Murder. Bad things.

Problematic faves! Anika and a sliiiiiiiiiiightly hungover (yet award-winning) Liz discuss the characters we love, but can't entirely recommend without a caveat. Or many caveats. 

But first -- we have to define terms. How do you narrow it down when literally every single work of fiction, along with every single human who ever existed, is imperfect?

Discussed: 

• Yeoman Tonia Barrows of "Shore Leave" (TOS)
• Captain Kathryn Janeway of THE ENTIRE SERIES OF VOYAGER have you heard of her?
• T'Pring of of "Amok Time" (TOS) and Valeris  of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Gul Dukat of DS9 (the ultimate Problematic Fave Who Thinks He Is A Cinnamon Roll)
• Seska of Voyager
• L'Rell of Discovery

And along the way, we talk about fandom's attitudes towards characters who do terrible things or represent terrible ideas, fan fiction as a safe place to explore ideas which don't have a place in canon, and more!