Antimatter Pod

153. The Cosmic Koala (LD 4.03)

We've updated our operating systems and speedrun the allamaraine game, and now Anika and Liz are sitting down to discuss the third episode of the fourth season of Lower Decks, "In the Cradle of Vexilon"...

• We don't mind a bit of a workplace hierarchy now and then
• Liz has a WHOLE THEORY about how Captain Freeman's command style is why Beckett Mariner is the way she is
• We go off on a tangent about Voyager, specifically about that time Naomi Wildman died and was replaced by a duplicate. So, um, if dead baby chat is not for you, skip from 13:30 to 14:40!
• Ransom the art critic: chef's kiss
• Is a Gorn wedding the solution to ALL problems? Yes

152. Hijinks Bonding (LD 4.01 and 4.02)

While Liz navigates a series of Voyager-themed obstacles, Anika encounters an adorable creature who eats bones. Yes, it's time for the season 4 premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and we're here to talk about...

• "We're not gonna do Tuvix Discourse." We absolutely did Tuvix Discourse
• Voyager as a museum, curation styles and fandom: Liz has a THESIS
• Maybe the real Starfleet is the friends we made along the way
• Friendship ended with Beckett/Jennifer, Tendi/T'Lyn is our best friend now
• We're going to do our very best to pretend to be shocked when it turns out that Beckett and Ransom have been a thing all season
• We have NO IDEA who the mysterious new villain is, but we're cautiously prepared to rule out Boba Fett
• Liz has a recurring nightmare about bananas having bones, and, well. Ep 2 was very difficult for her.
• We already know there won't be Moopsy merch, but what if Paramount releases Moopsy merch? 
• Lower Decks is completely sincere (about Star Trek, about its characters) and that's why it works

Editor's note! Due to audio bleed, it was impossible to edit out all the overlaps and interruptions this week. Yikes, eh? Apologies for all the throat-clearing and overtalk and the whole thing where Anika is substantially louder than Liz…

Very Short Treks: Skin A Cat

It's a Very Short Antimatter Pod! We take two and a half minutes to discuss the first Very Short Trek. Spoilers: it's bad!

151. Working Girl (Nyota’s Version) (SNW 2.10)

Anika and Liz stop off in a small town in the ... midwest? to hang out in a diner? And discuss "Hegemony", the second season finale of Strange New Worlds? Which was definitely an episode of television?

• The Gorn problem (why are the characters so incurious about them?)
• SNW rips off the Alien franchise without understanding it
• Concept: promote Pike early, stash him on Starbase One with April, give Batel the Enterprise
• Do the writers know Erika Ortegas is a regular character? Do they know Sam Kirk is not? 
• Is it because we're both career admin people that we don't vibe with Pike's leadership style? Anika has a whole theory about the 1980s comedy Working Girl and how Pike is the Sigourney Weaver character!
  
• "What if we do the 'Best of Both Worlds' cliffhanger, only … bad?" 
• Anika has a BAD THEORY about La'an's fate
  
• Liz has a WORSE THEORY about Paramount+'s fate and the odds of a third season

150. Extremely Off-Broadway (SNW 2.09)

Anika studied musical theatre at college. Liz outrighted hated musicals until two weeks ago. And they're here to discuss … "Subspace Rhapsody"! And also fight crime. Star Trek crime. Which this episode is not, except when it is.

• Liz did a crash course in musicals, and then "Subspace Rhapsody" kind of does the same thing!
• "It's bad because it's Strange New Worlds, not because it's a musical."
• Liz has some comments about sound mixing, which is PRETTY RICH coming from someone whose podcast sounds the way it does
• We've had a season of characterisation via romance to build up to a musical! It all makes sense! (Except that it's all so straight!)
• La'an and Una are failing the Bechdel test in song!
• We need more Batel, less Pike
• Christine Chapel has never done anything wrong, ever, in her entire life, and Anika has never loved her more
• "It's like the put all the pieces on the board, and then they threw the board in the trash" - the SNW Story
• If you look up "liberal white men who step back and let Black women do all the work of saving the world" you'll find a picture of Chris Pike

150. All Hurt, No Comfort (SNW 2.08)

"Under the Cloak of War" is a really serious, complex episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ... but don't worry, Anika and Liz are here to talk about the sex pollen fic opportunities! And also:

• Looking at fan reactions to this episode, one might almost begin to think people apply a different standard to new Trek compared with the Star Trek of the '90s
• Liz completely misremembers the matter of the Accountant of Auschwitz: it was Germany, not Israel, who put him on trial and sentenced him to prison, and he died before he began his sentence
• Did M'Benga do it?
• It's a real shame Starfleet's only competent admiral/mental health professional got blown up
• The Federation is America (derogatory)
• We are once again asking, whose utopia is it anyway?

148. His Job Is Just … Trek (SNW 2.08)

Anika and Liz get sucked into a vortex and are mysteriously transformed from cartoons into real human beings! Yes, it's time to talk about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 7, "Those Old Scientists"!

• Hi, we loved this episode! 
• Boimler is fandom: he expects things to be a certain way and freaks out that SNW is different
• Mariner is also fandom: she loves Uhura and finds her inspiring, and has more respect for canon than she wants to admit
• Anika has a presentation on how "Those Old Scientists" parallels the plot of Barbie (2023)
• (this episode is also about identity)
• Liz can also make this about Oppenheimer (2023)
• Boimler is not excited to meet Christine Chapel (and he's wrong, but what does that tell us about the history of this era?)
• Stop saying Spirk. This is a callout post (for us)
• Save Mariner from SNW's heterosexual agenda
• It's self-congratulatory references all the way down, but would this crossover work with any other series?
• Does Pike need to be punched in the face by Jonathan Archer for his own good? Our theory is … yes!

147. Star Trek: Microaggressions (SNW 2.06)

Anika and Liz roll up to a cool-looking nebula, only to find it's alive! Hey, are we experiencing deja vu? Does the Federation mining industry need to be stopped at all costs? We're discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 6, "Lost in Translation"!

• Please stop using disabled bodies as monsters, show!
• It's interesting how SNW is reproducing the problems (episodic storytelling, the reset button) that stymied Voyager
• White men and Christine get development through hijinks and romantic adventures; everyone else gets trauma, and a disproportionate amount of it falls on Black characters
• Is La'an jealous because Jim is hanging out with Nyota? Jealousy plots: they're not good! On the other hand, La'an has a pile of feelings she cannot process with anyone else…
• Uhura has been so underused this season, it's great to see her get some focus, but why is she constantly being bombarded with microaggressions? First Spock in season 1 and now Kirk are like, "Hey, maybe you don't belong in Starfleet"? Come on, guys!
• Why does Star Trek keep casting men who are far too old for their roles?
• Modern Star Trek's relationship with subtlety and subtext: "I don't know her"
• Liz is seeking expressions of interest for a new Blorbo

146. Awkward Dinner Party, Vulcan Edition (SNW 2.05)

It's time to discuss Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 5, "Charades". Liz eats a pile of bacon; Anika has a lot of feelings about Christine Chapel, and we discuss...

• This episode is a gift specifically for Anika
• The theme of this season is "identity"
• On one level, this episode is a 60-minute mother-in-law joke with bonus ethnic stereotypes, and that is not great!
• Have short seasons killed slow burn UST?
• The aliens of the week are racist AND acephobic
• Spock, honey, you're a Jewish vegetarian, put down the bacon

145. Whose Utopia Is It Anyway? (SNW 2.04)

Anika and Liz put on their cute away mission hats and, in between high-pitched noises and Liz's neighbour revving his car, discuss the Strange New Worlds episode "Among the Lotus Eaters"...

• Liz had a visceral reaction to this episode: a timeskip-inducing migraine would have been preferable
• WORSE, Anika is indifferent
• Character development for Ortegas: she flies the ship! 
• Hey, space millennials! Don't go wanting career advancement! Don't even put a toe outside your designated box! 
• Speaking of designated boxes, the whole Warrior!M'Benga thing? Yikes
• It feels like Pike is incredibly bad at his job
• Captain Batel, honey, girl, you deserve better. And also a first name
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: for when the Berman Era isn't heteronormative enough
• Pike is a complacent captain for a complacent Star Trek
• Contemporary Star Trek and the American liberal arts bubble
• …so what does it say that Ortegas, the most 'working class' character, is kinda racist?
• "I realise that I'm reading a lot into my favourite character, but that's what I do."

(Liz would like to apologise for the revving sounds in the first fifteen minutes. She has already bought a better microphone that will record less outdoor noises and probably more chair creaks.)