Star Trek: Deep Space Nine broke the mold on Star Trek series. It was a Star Trek series that stayed in one place. The emphasis was placed not on exploring strange new worlds but on developing characters and relationships over time. As a result it was also the first Star Trek to pioneer the development of long-term story and character arcs that would build both within a season and across seasons. In this episode we discuss this series. We talk about how it differs from other Treks and what we think about those differences. We discuss the different characters and talk about who our favorites are. We also get into our favorite stories and scenarios within the series. Along the way we’ll talk about problematic characters, adding culture, the importance of side characters, and whether the ending did everything that it needed to do.
Due to time constraints there is no five-minute controversy this week.
This week Stephanie is cohost and Juliette, Miranda, and Mark join the cast.
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Last week we boldly went so far that we needed a whole other episode to come back. As a result this episode gives you the second part of our exploration of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In this episode we tackle such questions as “does a legal procedural work in space?”, “how many times can you bust a series’ format before it’s too many?”, and “how many original series characters do you need to have before it’s too many?” Along the way we discuss musicals, genetic augments, and relationships. We also talk about missed opportunities and what we hope to get out of the third season. 
Star Trek: Discovery relaunched the Star Trek franchise on TV after a hiatus of over a decade. Set before the original Star Trek series, Discovery’s slick look and darker tones evoked polarization in fandom as some gravitated towards the update and others rejected what they saw as an affront to Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future. In this episode we talk about those issues as well as the decision to market this on streaming service, CBS All Access instead of on network or cable television. We’ll also discuss the casting, storylines, and themes. We’ll also ask that ephemeral question, “Is this Star Trek”?, before we finally finish up with speculation on the future.