Antimatter Pod

117. Sex and the Starship (SNW 1.04 and 1.05)

Anika and Liz have put on our memorial pins and fishing hats (and briefly considered, then rejected, a body swap) to discuss Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episodes Memento Mori and Spock Amok...

• Everyone says SNW is a good show and we're starting to feel a bit gaslit…
• "Memento Mori" and SNW's whole depiction of the Gorn becomes uncomfortable when you look at "Arena" and realise they were conceived as an allegory for Native Americans
• Liz cites Finding Eliza by Larissa Behrendt as, among other things, an examination of the European preoccupation with cannibalism
• It's weird how Worf, Michael and La'an all have exactly the same backstory
• Anika is explicitly opposed to eating children
• We were promised that SNW would have serialised emotional arcs, so … why is La'an fine now?
• Ortegas will be getting a second dimension to her character any day, right…? 
• It's troubling how sidelined MBenga has been through this season, especially when you consider the racial dynamics and how Uhura gets one whole line in "Spock Amok"
• Clearly Spock/T'Pring is doomed BUT CONSIDER: movie-era Spock/T'Pring! Picard attended the wedding of Sarek's son in the early 2300s! THINK ABOUT IT!

116. La’an Skywalker (SNW 1.03)

Anika and Liz beam up through an ion storm and discuss the third episode of Strange New Worlds, "Ghosts of Illyria". Topics we cover include…

• This is a pretty mediocre episode and the character stuff is very hit or miss
• Do we need a log at the end to tell us what the moral is? 
• We love La'an and we want to know everything about her, but her story makes no sense here
• "I never think of you as a child," in the context of a character first encountered as a child, is a terrible line
• Somehow … Palpatine has returned (to our conversation)
• Has no one told La'an that she can just … change her name? People can do it all the time! Anika did it! 
• Don't sleep in your eye make-up, guys. This is an Antimatter Pod PSA.

115. The Christine Chapel Show (SNW 1.01 and 1.02)

You will definitely need to wear your dress uniform to listen to Anika and Liz discuss the first two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds!

• We are not watching for the plots, which are decidedly familiar, but the characters
• Pike: dealing the burden of knowing he's going to be the subject of an ableist plotline, and also his haircare routine
• We are once again asking the writers to hire a disability consultant
• This is a Pro-Spock/T'Pring podcast
• Did Uhura need a tragic backstory? No, but Starfleet is full of orphans, so what's one more?
• It's Christine Chapel's universe, we're just living in it
• It feels like Sam Kirk is here purely to alienate casual viewers
• La'an feels like a do-over of Tasha, and we approve
• Is Ortegas queer? The show has started out on a pretty heteronormative note 
• Hair Trek
• You can rewrite "Amok Time" and erase "The Menagerie" (please! Please erase "The Menagerie!") but you cannot tell us Spock doesn't have chest hair. That is where we draw the canon line.
• Protect Celia R. Gooding at all costs
• Our new regular feature: Where Is Katrina Cornwell Right Now?

114. Able-Bodied Writing (Picard 2.09 and 2.10)

Okay, team! It's time for the final two episodes of Star Trek: Picard season 2. Anika and Liz exchange awkward hugs, get stabbed a little, and return to the early 25th century as we discuss...

• To be blunt, we did not enjoy these episodes or, ultimately, the season
• CONTENT WARNING: We discuss the Yvette storyline, suicide and mental healthcare from 5:04 to 25:20. If you are vulnerable or simply not in the mood, feel more than free to skip. And if you are vulnerable or affected by this and need help, here are some resources: 
  • https://www.imalive.org/ (international)
  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-TALK (8255), Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime. 
  • Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
• The theme of the season is loneliness
• How do you have Orla Brady in two roles and waste her in both?
• Raffi/Seven is the new Hera/Kanan (in that there is a total disconnect between what the writers think the relationship is versus the actual relationship on screen)
• We do not love Rios's ending (or the way all but one of the original characters have been discarded)
• Anyway, that was a whole THING! That was just super not for us! Even the bits that should have been!

113. Riot Grrrl Borg (PIC 2.07 and 2.08)

Anika and Liz are locked in the FBI's basement to discuss the latest two episodes of Star Trek: Picard, "Monsters" and "Mercy".

• We have a few follow-ups to our discussion of mental health in our mini-ep, but otherwise we're skirting around the Yvette plotline in "Monsters"
• Liz maybe owes Michael Chabon an apology
• Okay, but it's probably a bad sign when Law & Order addresses the same issues as Star Trek but more progressively
• Raffi? Manipulative? Really?
• Seven and Raffi are both dealing with a LOT, and this episode puts a lot of their recent interactions in context (finally)
• (Again: what IS pacing?)
• Anika had a really outstanding rant about the foolishness of making people chose their career paths at age 18, and it was trimmed down because her cat agreed so enthusiastically that the rant itself became inaudible, but trust us, it was great
• Rios slept through the class on the temporal prime directive
• We're going to be Those Fans about Agent Wills's story, but for different reasons

112. Thanks, I Hate It (One specific subplot of PIC 2.07)

Anika and Liz had such strong feelings about episode 7 of season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, Monster, that they organised a quick out-of-schedule catch-up to rant.

Accordingly, this episode (and its show notes!) contains much fresher spoilers than usual.

We discuss:

• Our concerns about the Yvette Picard plotline came true, with a fun domestic violence fake-out twist!
• Multiple ableist tropes: the tortured artist whose creativity depends on their mental illness; the "having a mentally ill parent is SO traumatic" story
• Imagine being a bipolar Trekkie right now
• Brief mention of suicide from 8:14 to 8:26
• This is not AS egregious, but they got Freud all over our Picard/Crusher

111. A Really Amazing Earthquake (Picard 2.06)

Anika and Liz cut the lights, grab the mike, and discuss episode 6 of Star Trek: Picard's second season: "Two of One".

• The casting announcement! 
• Will we get a Star Trek: Stargazer?
• Poor Kore, and poor Isa Briones, who has to spend every season playing a woman facing an identity crisis
• The pacing on this show is SO BAD, but at least it's bad in a different way to Discovery? Through trial and error, we will eventually get to a place where the pacing is good?
• Someone at Tesla GAVE APPROVAL for their car to be used in scene where it runs over Picard and that is AMAZING
• How much Twilight fic do we think Kore has written?
• We are CONCERNED about next week's Yvette plotline
• Tallinn could be played by Gates McFadden and literally nothing else about the story would change

110. A Girl-Shaped Motivation (PIC 2.05)

Put on a nice dress and bring your imaginary friend, Anika and Liz are here to talk about Star Trek: Picard's "Fly Me To The Moon"!

• We have a bit of a scheduling change coming up!
• Tallinn: is she now or has she ever been a cat?
• Liz is overthinking things like it's her job
• Renee Picard and Kore Soong: not so much characters yet 
• Liz has this whole THING about Persephone, aka Kore, and the Egyptian goddess Isis, and look, she doesn't get to use her Classics degree that often, just humour her like Anika does
• Expositional cleavage
• Stop Possessing Agnes 2k22 Challenge
• Depression, like the Borg Queen, is a liar OH IT'S A METAPHOR

109. Picardsplaining (PIC 2.01-2.04)

Liz and Anika take a trip [a couple of weeks] back in time and into another [section of the] universe: season 2 of Star Trek: Picard.

• We really loved the first two episodes
• Although Liz suspects she may have once said something about Laris and Picard having a father-daughter relationship, which, yikes
• The other two episodes…
• It's hard to be invested in relationships when the foundations are weak
• To borrow a phrase from another podcast: Where's Beverly?
• Do Raffi and Seven actually like each other?
• Having Picard and Seven out here tone policing Black women was A Choice
• We share some dental trauma stories from 34:43 to 36:67 if you'd rather skip that
• Hey, remember when Soji was the main character?
• Picard's mother! Is a person! Who exists! We are excited yet afraid…
• Are we MEANT to be shipping Agnes and the Borg Queen? Because we're not waiting for permission!
  

 

108. Oh Well, Star Trek (Disco 4.13)

We have a finale! Anika and Liz put on a lightshow, blow up a techbro, and discuss…

• We get our nitpicks out of the way first
• Michael is a hard act to follow when it comes to big speeches
• Ndoye has taken the final step to becoming a fully fledged character, and we love it
• We find opportunities to compare TWO characters to Admiral Cornwell #ourbrand
• The "emotions? In my Star Trek?" argument comes up again; Liz makes snoring noises
• Wait, did we know Federation HQ was mobile???
• Anika talks about The Abyss
• Stacey Abrams! Liz has a hot take; Anika has a much better one
• Liz accidentally quotes Ronald Reagan and owes Anika a MASSIVE apology