There Are Four Mics: A Star Trek Podcast

Trip has a not so friendly encounter with an Arkonian pilot named Zho'Kaan while testing the shuttlepod's autopilot, leading to a short camping trip on the surface of a moon. Not so bad on its own, but turns out it can get to well over 250 degrees in the daylight and both ships were damaged in the descent. Leading to Enterprise's very own Darmok/The Enemy episode. Trip.. And Zho'Kaan.. At.. some moon.

The new Seth MacFarlane joint, The Orville, premiered with what ended up feeling like a pretty strong episode.. At least to our tastes. While it isn't perfect, there is a lot to be excited about in this first episode. If they can hammer out some of the dings as the series progresses, this could be a wonderful and much needed addition to the landscape of science fiction television. 

The Catwalk ended up being a pretty good Enterprise episode! The neutronic storm gives us some stellar phenomena for the crew to interact with, which is always fun. And there were a number of "Oh crap" moments that were very satisfying.  We ended up a bit disappointed and perhaps confused that the writers established the Takret as thoroughly as they did, especially the leader of the Takret Militia we met.. but then we never see the character again. Bummer. 

During a daring escape, Trip once again winds up in some adult situations when he's forced into close-quarters with a kidnapped Kriosian monarch. Back on Enterprise, Archer and T'Pol have a good laugh by dabbling in some light torture.

After an emergency situation forces Hoshi to use the transporter for the first time she begins to feel something is a little off. Turns out she's phasing--wait, no she's dying--wait, it's all Hoshi's dream? At least we learn something about Hoshi and she becomes a stronger character in the process, right? Oh, turns out that part was a dream I had. Huh.

This episode feels much like an homage to the Original Series and The Next Generation episodes, Naked Time and Naked Now. We get to see a few characters act out of character, and some perhaps a little too in character? Either way it ended up being a lot of fun, and really, can you rate an episode that features the phrase "Reed Alert" very harshly?

While investigating a pre-warp civilization, Reed loses his communicator. He and Archer return to the surface to search for it before it can disrupt the natural progression of this society, but are instead captured and interrogated as potential spies. Our ratings for this episode were all over the place, as were our feelings on Archer's strategy to minimize cultural contamination..

T'Pol is contacted by the Vulcan High Command concerning unfinished business with the Ministry of Security. Archer gets a bit shitty with her about it, but eventually agrees to help her catch the rogue Vulcan agent, Menos. Our ratings for this episode were all over the place. There were some strong moments, some weak moments, and a little bit of nonsense scattered about.

The latest Star Trek Discovery trailer released only a few short days ago. In it we see and hear a bit more about the Klingons, find Lieutenant Commander Burnham running through the darkened corridors of a ship, and see her sealed inside a set of forcefields. 

This episode felt a little off now and then. We attributed some of that to the fact that it was inspired by the 1960s film, The Magnificent Seven, itself inspired by the 1954 film, Seven Samurai. The format didn't fit perfectly into the Star Trek universe but it still made for a pretty fun ride. 

Name a few characters on Enterprise you love. I'd wager Phlox and Porthos are among them. Well this episode features lots of Phlox and Porthos! Though it ended up mostly ok. :( Archer's character kind of falls entirely apart this episode! There are some good lines, some fun scenes, and by the end, maybe we see some character development on Archer's part. But every poor quality Archer has shown over the last 30-some episodes is magnified 10x this whole episode.

After limping away from the minefield from last episode for the past four days, Captain Archer decides its time to do something he'd hoped would never be necessary. Send a distress call.  Salvation comes in the form of rumors of an automated repair station nearby. While the crew thank their lucky stars, Archer finds this whole thing a bit fishy.

The Enterprise finds itself with a mine stuck to its hull after accidentally stumbling into a minefield placed by something calling itself the Romulan Star Empire. Before long, Reed soon finds himself skewered through the leg by said mine, and really begins to test the patience of his captain (and the audience) with his mournful "woe is me" attitude. 

T'Pol tells Archer and Trip a story about the true first contact between Vulcans and humans on Earth, way back in 1957 in the small mining town, Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania. An episode that ended up delighting each one of your hosts! 

Archer and Daniels are poking around a library in the 31st century while back in the 22nd, the crew of the Enterprise is desperately trying to survive a Suliban occupation of their ship. Shockwave Part 1 was one of the strongest of the series so far, will part 2 keep it going?