antimatterpod

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With heavy hearts, Anika and Liz discuss “Four and a Half Vulcans”, the worst episode of Star Trek‘s streaming era, and possibly one of the top five worst episodes of Star Trek ever.

So that’s fun. 

Liz keeps returning to the question, “Is this worse than ‘Code of Honor’?”

“I understand that this is meant to be funny.” 

Genetics and hair don’t work like that

“I felt disrespected as a viewer.”

The whole “feminist career women can’t cook, amiright?” trope was tired when they did it with Janeway in the ’90s and it’s more tired with Chapel and Batel now

Anika: the only person on the whole internet watching “Amok Time” for the Spock/Chapel

Comedy mind control rape (for the second time in a season)

Uhura this season generally has whatever personality is required for the plot, but using her for TERF propaganda about groomers is unforgivable

Romula’an is almost a good storyline, provided you don’t know anything about genetics, Romulans or how “Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow” went

Why is Marie’s professional future wrapped up in a plot from I Love Lucy?

Pike uses Marie’s chronic condition to try to sabotage her career, because apparently their relationship is now a horror story from r/BestofRedditorUpdates

You have to be really incompetent to come up with a dance-off that we hate this much!

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It’s documentary time! Anika and Liz look straight into the camera and share their feelings about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ “What Is Starfleet?”, including…

We have complicated feelings about this episode! It interrogates the documentary as a form of propaganda, but also interrogates the Federation in bad faith? 

SNW is not equipped to deal with Israel/Palestine or Ukraine/Russia through allegory

Liz would like to apologise to the Spanish speaking population of Earth for her pronunciation of “Beto”

This is an episode about journalism that doesn’t want the audience to ask too many questions

Anika appreciates the messiness of this story

Did we not? Have a whole Prime Directive? About not getting involved in foreign wars? 

SNW has a lot of the same problems as Voyager

We did not need a self-harm story from Spock, anymore than we needed an animal harm story from Pike

It’s not enough that now everyone joins Starfleet because of trauma, but now everyone is alone and friendless until they are assigned to the hero ship

It’s so unfair? How people keep bringing up that murder M’Benga did? It’s actually really triggering for him? 

Anika explains how Starfleet is like the spirit of Norway

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Anika and Liz battle an ancient and unbeatable enemy: grimdark anti-morality in Star Trek. We’re discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail”, an episode with all the ingredients of Star Trek except its soul…

This feels like a backdoor pilot for a series which has been around for nearly 60 years

Why are we spending so much time developing James Kirk instead of the regulars? We have had a whole movie trilogy about Kirk learning to be a good captain!

Take a drink every time Anika says this should have been an Una episode

SNW does not understand why people love watching Kirk and Spock together, and we say that as people who don’t ship K/S

It’s weird how Kirk’s characterisation in Strange New Worlds has so little to do with “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. We have never asked this question before, and we hope to never ask it again, but: do we need more Gary Mitchell up in here?

How much was season 3 impacted by the strikes?

Pike sending La’an into danger while he hangs back is not a good look

“I wasn’t sad about killing 7,000 people until I found out they were human” is bad ethics and bad Star Trek

How many NFTs do we think Pelia owned?

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Anika and Liz beam down to a nice planet where nothing bad happens and everyone leaves with the same amount of eyeballs they started with. WAIT, NO, we’re discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ “Through the Lens of Time”…

This once again felt like several unrelated episodes smushed together

Like season 5 of Discovery, this video game is on easy mode

La’an is completely out of character in this episode, being both stupid and mean in a misogynistic way

(NEVER date Spock, he is BAD FOR WOMEN)

Since when was trust a problem between Spock and Christine?

Hey, a queer-coded male character! Wait, nevermind

SNW doesn’t have enough episodes to tell these stories

We are no longer interested in Uhura/Beto

The Gorn, the Vezda, and setting up for an Aliens v Predator story

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Anika and Liz are here, and we hunger for braincells! Unfortunately, before we can celebrate our favourite episode of the season so far, we have to talk about the Spock/La’an of it all…

When Anika said she shipped Spock/La’an, she didn’t mean in canon!

“I want to slut shame Spock, and not in an ironic way.”

At this point it’s gonna look pretty bad if Spock DOESN’T hook up with Uhura

This episode has literally the same ending as “Charades”

AND NOW on to the rest of the episode, which was perfectly solid and did not deserve this

The show within a show: Sanctuary Moon intensifies

Brace yourself, Liz has nothing but praise for Anson Mount’s performance as TK Burrows

Lucille Ball and Ida Lupino, honouring the women who worked behind the scenes in Hollywood

Everyone was great, but Melissa Navia stole the whole show

“It’s ‘Our Man Bashir’ and it’s ‘The Big Goodbye’, but just for a moment, it was ‘Far Beyond the Stars’.”

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Anika and Liz go on a nice road trip to pick some flowers, and nothing bad happens to anyone. 

Okay, fine, we are discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 3, “Shuttle to Kenfori”, including…

First of all, WHAT IS HAPPENING ON REBECCA ROMIJN’S HEAD

Season 3 has a recurring motif where a woman states explicitly what she wants, and her romantic partner decides to do the opposite

Batel and M’Benga both tell Pike repeatedly that Batel has the right to make her own medical choices, and Pike never actually agrees

“I really have to finish my Tuvok/Azetbur fan fiction.”

RIP Liz’s Klingon wife

Our only beef with Erica’s storyline is that it worked by making Una hold the idiot ball

Joseph M’Benga: the only doctor in Starfleet who respects people’s privacy

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Anika and Liz put on their cutest wedding outfits and settle in to discuss episode 2 of Strange New Worlds‘ third season: “Wedding Bell Blues”. Liz is gonna try not to talk about Pike. Anika is going to do her best not to implode. It’s fun! 

This episode was engineered in a lab to target Anika personally

Is this a mean-spirited commentary on shippers? 

We did not need a second sequel to “The Q and the Gray”. Or a first sequel. Or “The Q and the Gray”. 

Christine: I don’t want any big romantic gestures Spock: Big romantic gesture, got it

It’s weird how we’re being gaslit into thinking Korby is a decent guy

“It’s gonna be really hard for me to not talk about dinosaurs on my podcast.”

We’re so happy for an Orgetas subplot that we’re not even mad it’s the same as Detmer in season 3 of Discovery

Batel is firmly in the Girlfriend Box, not the Captain Box

The snake/garden of Eden/Taylor Swift’s Reputation era styling of Christine’s “wedding dress” was a … choice

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is back, baby! Anika and Liz fight off some Gorn and settle in to discuss the premiere! 

(We did not realise, when we recorded, that “Hegemony” part 2 would be dropping along with “Wedding Bell Blues”, so we’re only discussing that first episode now.)

This is certainly an episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Is Chris Pike the human embodiment of a Democratic Party fundraising email? Are men too emotional to be in command?

Pelia is single-handedly inventing Scotty

Thank God we’ve confirmed that Ortegas is the pilot and flies the ship, we were really confused on that point

We are really optimistic for La’an’s story to keep evolving this season

“They are actively trying to destroy Christine Chapel, and I take it personally.” There’s some worrying stuff in this episode, and even more alarming comments made by Akiva Goldsman at the premiere

We are very much in favour of religion in Star Trek, but Pike praying before telling his girlfriend her consent and bodily autonomy don’t matter is…

The USS Pablo Picasso was … a choice

Concept: Christine and Marie should ditch their boyfriends and date each other

We’re glad Captain Batel isn’t dead; now we’re concerned she’s gonna get the Bix ending

Has SNW killed Pike/Una as a thing people ship?

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is it just me or is hair trek part 2 not playing :(

It's not you at all! I'll pop into Wordpress and fix it, but in the meantime, you can also listen directly via PodBean.

(Sorry it took me a few days to answer you, I have an upper respiratory infection and my lungs are trying to exit my body through my mouth.)

Liz

(ETA two minutes later: Uh, yeah, I tried to embed the website in the audio link instead of the mp3. Sorry about that, I was already sick that day. It all works now.)

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Anika and Liz let their hair down, and as it tumbles over their shoulders in perfect beach waves identical to the hair of every other woman on television in the 2020s, they return to their discussion of hair and hair styling in Star Trek…

Liz has a theory about why Janeway’s early hair was … like that. And we’re sorry, but it does involve Margaret Thatcher and Madeleine Albright

Enterprise: the end of the torturous updo

WASP beauty standards, “professionalism” and Michael Burnham

The Romulans of season 1 of Picard (yes, Anika is going to wax lyrical about the Romulannisters, and you WILL like it)

Every single woman in season 3 of Star Trek: Picard except Raffi has American Girl Doll Samantha hair (Anika will explain American Girl Dolls and Samantha) (Una and Batel have The Hair too)

Tasha’s hair did not necessarily signify queerness in the 1980s, but Ortegas’s hair absolutely does today, and so it’s weird that they don’t … you know … 

We actually don’t have much to say about Pike’s hair, save that it looks … sticky

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Anika and Liz put their hair up and settle in to discuss the most pressing topic of our time — hairstyles in Star Trek. 

We talked for so long that we wound up splitting this into a two-parter, which is PEAK Antimatter Pod, but in this first half, we discuss…

Janice Rand, Marie Antoinette and Sabrina Carpenter

Pavel Chekov, The Monkees and appealing to girls

WASP beauty standards, “professionalism” and Deanna Troi

Tasha Yar and the changing meanings of short hair on women since 1987

“I’m sorry, I’m thinking of Reagan again, and it makes me angry.”

Beverly’s hair is always changing, but without much intentionality behind it

Sisko’s hair tells a story (sometimes that story is about racism)

Kira’s “busy suburban mother of a toddler” hair

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Anika and Liz put on their least comfortable lounging clothes and settle in to discuss Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 6, episode 22, “Suspicions”.

Why is Beverly Crusher hosting an astrophysics conference? And other questions that will forever go unanswered

However, this episode, which makes no sense in the context of TNG, makes a LOT of sense in the context of Star Trek: Picard, and its theme of marginalised people doing SCIENCE is resonant in 2025

You’re not gonna believe this, but you can’t actually just substitute Beverly for Geordi and Worf and not make any other changes to a story

Breaking down the Star Trek monocultures

This unremarkable episode has one of Picard’s best speeches in the entire franchise

Beverly Crusher puts on heels and pantyhose to lounge around at home, because athleisurewear had not yet been invited in 1993

PITCH: the next streaming movie should be about Philippa Georgiou and Guinan DOING A HEIST

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http://antimatterpod.com/200-performative-femininity/

It’s our 200th episode! A victory for quantity over quality and our small, chill audience of friends!

To celebrate, Anika and Liz are talking about Star Trek: Open A Channel – A Woman’s Trek, Nana Visitor’s book about women in Star Trek. 

Open A Channel is much more substantial than just girl power feminism.

How Lucille Ball was erased from Star Trek‘s narrative

The throughline of mentorship

We gently interrogate Nana Visitor’s second wave biases

We also have two separate (but related) rants about Janice Rand and the “glorified secretary” concept

Hair Trek

Marina Sirtis versus … a lot of people

Bodyshaming from fandom. “The idea that fat people should not exist in your utopia is really horrible and RFK Jr coded.”

The editorial decision to exclude Michelle Hurd

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Anika and Liz don their sparkliest shirts and biggest earrings, and sit down to watch Star Trek: Of Gods And Men, a fan film starring Nichelle Nichols, Alan Ruck, Walter Koenig and more.

You can watch it here, or — in a much smaller window — watch an unauthorised HD remaster. 

We’re in our Alan Ruck era, but we were not prepared for the unbelievable hotness of Garrett Wang, or the SURPRISE LIBERTARIANISM.

We take … issue. With the timeline-changing catalyst. 

This comment from a Redditor who claims to have worked on the production sets it in context. 

Of Gods and Men is in conversation with the other science fiction of its era (2006-2008) in an interesting way.

Nichelle Nichols carried this movie, and it is tragic she never got a showcase like this in official Trek

Alternate Universe Chekov is a LIBERTARIAN FREEDOM FIGHTER with an unspeakable wig

Alan Ruck and Chase Masterton have great chemistry

The costumes are … hmm. Well.

You should know that the entire time Anika is talking about Alien Nation, Liz was thinking of Coneheads

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Liz takes a deep dive into Usenet archives and tells Anika about fandom’s earliest discussions of Star Trek: Deep Space 9! (Please note, we are still having audio problems — despite literally nothing changing in our set ups, Liz’s feed is echoing on Anika’s channel. This means Anika had to be muted for a lot of the time. At this point we may have to get two tin cans and a really big ball of string to record…) 

What was Usenet? (Please do not fact check Liz on the technical details.)

And who was using it?

The initial response to DS9 before “Emissary” aired…

…and after. Here’s Roger Tang’s 5 January 1993 post with his impressions: “EMISSARY betrayed far too many of the storytelling flaws that have plague[d] TNG over the last two-three years.”

The very gendered language of the era: Picard and Bashir are “weenies”, Dax and Kira are “chicks”, but Dax is also a “bimbo” or “airhead” and Kira “has balls”. And that’s before we get to the slurs…

Anika defends Terry Farrell from the Trekkies of 32 years ago.

We may not be a Pittcast, but we ARE ride or die for Trinity Santos, thank you for asking.

Michael Lee Jacobs’ commentary on “Emissary”: “It was almost painful to watch TNG right after the two wonderful hours of DS9 this evening.” How much are these Usenet posters representative of the wider fandom? Where were other conversations taking place? 

Babylon 5 was The Orville of the 1990s, in terms of its fans coming into Star Trek spaces to say, “Stop watching that new Trek with the Black lead, this show with the white dude is way better!”

A really fascinating (and incomplete) debate about whether the Garak/Bashir interactions in “Past Prologue” were intended as a homophobic depiction of queerness. A bunch of straight men say no! 

The one thing from this era (and the years following it) that we would like to bring back is people sharing their long-form thoughts on new episodes of TV. Like this post on “Duet” which Liz didn’t get around to talking about!

Finally, shout out to this prediction, a week after “Emissary” aired, which was completely wrong but also … kind of right?

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Anika and Liz apply a normal amount of hair gel and step into a grim alternate universe to discuss Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, including…

Is this TNG’s best episode? It could be!

This story turns on Picard absolutely trusting the word of a Black woman

Rachel Garrett was Liz’s very first female starship captain

The original premise for this episode is FULLY BONKERS

“Yesterday’s Enterprise” takes a completely novel approach to writing Tasha: what if she’s just good at her job? 

We engage in a bit of Sela Discourse, because why not?

“Yesterday’s Enterprise” sets the template for Discovery

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Anika and Liz are joined by guest Jonathan to discuss a movie Jonathan calls “the greatest Star Trek movie ever made”: Star Trek: Generations. Our feels run the spectrum: Jonathan loves it, Liz loves everything except the plot and script, and Anika is … not a fan. 

Everything that happens on the Enterprise B is the fault of Starfleet PR

This is a movie that mistrusts nostalgia, but also believes really strongly in heterosexual domesticity, which makes for an interesting internal conflict

Generations gives us the very first glimpse of the fourth estate in the world of Star Trek

Anika argues that Picard’s arc in this film is necessary for season 3 of Star Trek: Picard to work

Liz and Anika have a LOT of feelings about Rene Picard

Jonathan suggests that modern nostalgia-driven franchise media is the Nexus. “The ’90s are something that everybody wants to go back to, and I promise you, you do not want to go back.”

It’s funny how Kirk’s fantasy life is basically cosplaying as Chris Pike (SNW edition)

Is the Nexus the real villain of this movie?