Star Trek Universe

If you cherish Trek canon, get ready to cringe! What could have been a whimsical journey through time and space becomes a hole-ridden nightmare for canonistas! We're talking about the first animated Short Trek (and indeed, the first animated Star Trek since the seventies!) in this episode!Let us know what you thought by e-mailing us at StarTrekUCast@gmail.com or tweeting us @StarTrekUCastStar Trek Universe Podcast #062: Short Treks - "Ephraim and Dot" Review

An abandoned Borg drone evolves to accept his own individuality, throwing Picard's plans to use him as a weapon against his race into a moral quandary. How does this episode fit into the possible threads moving forward in the upcoming Star Trek: Picard? Plus, our favorite quotes, trivia, and Matt's "Just A Drone" song (Liked and retweeted by Jonathan Del Arco himself!)Star Trek Universe Podcast #061: 'Picard' Primer - "I, Borg" (TNG 5x23) Review

Sad news today, December 3rd. Yesterday, we lost Star Trek giant D.C. Fontana. She passed away peacefully at the age of 80, reportedly after a short illness.As a young girl of 11, Dorothy Catherine Fontana decided she wanted to become a novelist. After getting an Associate Degree as an Executive Secretarial major at Fairleigh Dickinson University, she worked her way up through the typing pool to quickly become the secretary to Samuel Peeples of Screen Gems, then to producer Del Reisman of the Lieutenant where she met and became secretary to that show’s creator Gene Roddenberry.Roddenberry encouraged her writing, and in 1964, she published her first novel, a western Brazos River.After The Lieutenant was canceled, Roddenberry started work on Star Trek, and Fontana came with him. She worked on it since the beginning of development. Associate producer Robert H. Justman encouraged Roddenberry to give her more writing tasks, and Roddenberry assigned her the job of writing the teleplay for an idea he had called "The Day Charlie Became God"—the premise of which she wrote into her reworked script for the episode that became "Charlie X". Other Original Series episodes she had a hand in writing or re-writing:"Tomorrow is Yesterday", "This Side of Paradise", "Friday’s Child", "Journey to Babel", "By Any Other Name", "The Ultimate Computer", "The Enterprise Incident", "That Which Survives", and "The Way to Eden" among others…When Steve Carabatsos, the story editor, left the production midway through the first season, she became the new story editor. At the age of 27, Fontana was the youngest story editor in Hollywood at the time, and also one of the few female staff writers. She left the story editor position before the third season went into production: "I had told Gene Roddenberry that I did not wish to continue on Star Trek as story editor because I wanted to freelance and write for other series. I did, however, want to continue to do scripts for Star Trek. Gene was agreeable to this, and I was given a contract in February of 1968 which called for a guarantee of three scripts, with an option for three more. Whenever anyone has asked why I chose to leave Star Trek's story editorship, I have always given this reply." However, Fontana was very unhappy with the rewrites done on her third season scripts, including "The Enterprise Incident" and "The Way to Eden" (originally submitted as "Joanna" by Fontana, featuring Doctor McCoy's daughter). She was unhappy with the way Roddenberry re-wrote the episodes they wrote together. She used the pseudonym "J. Michael Bingham" for "The Naked Now", as she was especially unhappy with the episode.Another of Fontana's contributions to The Original Series was her discovery and introduction to Gene Roddenberry of costume designer William Ware Theiss. She was an active contributor to the officially endorsed fanzine Inside Star Trek, for which she conducted interviews with several key production staffers, most notably the one with Theiss, the only published one on record.Over the years, she maintained a working relationship with Roddenberry, serving as his assistant on The Questor Tapes, Genesis II, and was hired as story editor and associate producer on Star Trek: The Animated Series. "Yesteryear".She would also work on The Fantastic Journey, Logan’s Run, Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers of the 25th Century, The Waltons, and finally back to Star Trek where she worked up the initial concept for the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation: “Encounter at Farpoint” earning a Hugo Award nomination, co-invented the "LCARS" concept, and wrote four other episodes of the season, “The Naked Now”, “Lonely Among Us”, “Too Short a Season”, and “Heart of Glory”, before departing (along with all the Original Series production staff) due to the meddlings of Roddenberry's lawyer, Leonard...

Picard and Data must journey to Romulus in search of a suspected Federation defector: Ambassador Spock! How does this episode fit into the possible threads moving forward in the upcoming Star Trek: Picard? Plus, our favorite quotes, trivia, and Matt's "Unification" song!Star Trek Universe Podcast #059: 'Picard' Primer - "Unification" (TNG 5x07 & 5x08) Review

According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures is in final talks with Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) to write & direct the 4th Star Trek feature film, and it looks like Chris Pine may be involved (though Hemsworth doesn't appear to be). We're talking about our thoughts on this new development! What do you think?

Matt is writing songs about/inspired by the episodes in our Picard Primer series! This one is based on "Family"! Keep an eye out for the song to drop on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6XXFFDtX6IPg5nSJmNwE6i and enjoy your first listen here! Let us know what you thought!

A cadet is put to the test when she alone is responsible for guarding a high-ranking Starfleet mutineer: Captain Christopher Pike!This episode, we delve into the latest Short Trek, "Ask Not"!Let us know what you thought by e-mailing us at StarTrekUCast@gmail.com or tweeting us @StarTrekUCastStar Trek Universe Podcast #057

Matt is writing songs about/inspired by the episodes in our Picard Primer series! This one is based on "The Best of Both Worlds"! Keep an eye out for the song to drop on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6XXFFDtX6IPg5nSJmNwE6i and enjoy your first listen here! Let us know what you thought!

Matt is writing songs about/inspired by the episodes in our Picard Primer series! Keep an eye out for the song to drop on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6XXFFDtX6IPg5nSJmNwE6i and enjoy your first listen here! Let us know what you thought!

In the aftermath of Picard's assimilation, the Captain returns to his childhood home for the first time in 20 years to face his brother, his past, his future, and himself. We're trekking on through our Picard Primer series, talking the episodes that very well may be informing the new 'Picard' series from CBS All Access! We're talking about what's on the screen, how it might relate to 'Picard', favorite quotes, and trivia from the episode in question! Star Trek Universe Podcast #056: ''Picard' Primer - "Family" (TNG 4x02) Review

The Picard Primer continues as we review "The Best of Both Worlds"! As the Federation prepares to engage the Borg, Commander Riker is forced to question his career decisions. But when Captain Picard is taken prisoner and assimilated into the Borg collective, Riker faces his greatest challenge yet!Star Trek Universe Podcast #055: 'Picard' Primer - "The Best of Both Worlds" (TNG 3x26 & 4x01) Review

We continue our 'Picard' Primer series with Star Trek: The Next Generation #1x26, "The Neutral Zone"! The first Romulan encounter in over 50 years, the first hints of The Borg, and some other stuff that didn't pan out quite as well as we'd hoped. We talk our thoughts on the episode, favorite quotes, and trivia, and what it could all mean for the upcoming Star Trek: Picard series!Star Trek Universe Podcast #054: 'Picard' Primer - "The Neutral Zone" (TNG 1x26) Review

We begin our 'Picard' Primer series with Star Trek: The Next Generation #2x09, "The Measure of a Man"! With 'Picard' seemingly tackling the question of the sentient synthetic, we thought the perfect jumping-off point would be the episode that literally puts Data's humanity and rights on the line! Star Trek Universe Podcast #053: 'Picard' Primer - "The Measure of a Man" (TNG 2x09) Review

Tribbles are a lot of trouble, but how exactly did they get that way? What are the odds that the multiplying menace that brought terror to the Klingon Empire was through the fault of one socially inept Starfleet scientist?This episode, we delve into the latest Short Trek, "The Trouble With Edward"!Let us know what you thought by e-mailing us at StarTrekUCast@gmail.com or tweeting us @StarTrekUCastStar Trek Universe Podcast #052

It's Spock's first day on the Enterprise, and he's already having a fascinating time! Star Trek Universe Podcast: Short Treks - "Q & A"