Whom Pods Destroy

The Original Series second season episode, The Deadly Years is not a classic for the WPD team. It’s a collection of established TOS tropes holding together an interesting story premise of the senior crew of the of the USS Enterprise trying to cure themselves of a radiation sickness that results in rapid aging. But the … Continue reading "So… you’re into older guys – The Deadly Years"

In this edition of Whom Pods Destroy we dive deep into the symbolism and meaning of DC Fontana’s much loved, This Side Of Paradise. Derek, Terry and Graham examine its strong anti communist, pro-capitalist message, question the motivation of Kirk as he wrestles control of his crew away from the clutches of the Spores and … Continue reading "Step into my garden – This Side Of Paradise"

The Whom Pods Destroy team return with another episode of scintillating Star Trek discourse. In this edition we discuss The Trouble With Tribbles: one of the original series most celebrated outings. Written by David Gerrold, The Trouble With Tribbles stands apart because it is a comedy episode. However, once you look past the gags, on-liners … Continue reading "The last days of Vaudeville – The Trouble With Tribbles"

Joy to you friends. May peace and contentment fulfill you. In this episode of Whom Pods Destroy we return to Return of the Archons. An iconic episode, stacked full of allegory and entirely unintentional hidden depths. The story for this epsode was originally a candidate for the pilot but The Cage was selected instead. But … Continue reading "Landau, guide us! The Return of the Archons"

Whom Pods Destroy finally returns home after 5000 years to gather laurel leaves and pay homage to Apollo in the classic Star Trek: the Original Series episode Who Mourns for Adonais. The is episode is a particular favourite in the pod but acknowledge that it’s not perfect. In particular, the relationship between Apollo (Michael Forrest) … Continue reading "Chariots of the Gods – Who Mourns For Adonais"

Terry, Derek and Graham are back talking TOS Star Trek. In this episode of delve deep into the classic story of alien love and body appropriation: Metamorphosis. This story has bags of potential exploring the nature of love, gender and sexuality. Does it fulfill that potentiality or is it just a bunch of twaddle with … Continue reading "A time for luurve and hot baths – Metamorphosis"

Terry, Derek and Graham have recovered from their experience with Star Trek V and now move on Star Trek VI. The final TOS movie outing is popular with the fans and is a marked improvement on its predecessor. But it’s got some decidedly dodgy moments and the film tries to wrestle with some of its … Continue reading "Guess who’s coming to dinner – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"

Terry, Graham and Derek return for another edition of Whom Pods Destroy: A Star Trek discussion podcast. And what better time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country than with a discussion on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. This is a much-maligned film and for good reason. But the … Continue reading "Hangin’ with the Rockman, smokin’ self-lighting cigarettes – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier"

We are back for a full discussion on the classic TOS episode Spectre of the Gun!

We are delighted to be back in the studio for another edition of Whom Pods Destroy. In this episode Terry, Graham and Derek get stuck into Let That Be Your Last Battlefield: an episode from the third season of Star Trek well known for its commentary on contemporary racism. The team examines the messages in … Continue reading "Filthy stinking centrist nark Spock!"

It is not uncommon to come across an episode of Star trek for which we have fond memories but when we come to watch it with fresh eyes, it doesn’t quite have the same appeal. This is certainly true of Court-Martial: a first season courtroom drama with plenty of universe building, peril, and interpersonal drama … Continue reading "Yellow Alert, Red Alert, Jettison Pod – Court Martial"

Terry, Graham and Derek return for another episode of Whom Pods Destroy and after a slight meander return to its core topic: Star Trek The Original Series. And we’ve selected a beauty to discuss: “The Squire Of Gothos” – featuring the seminal character Trelane, played by the immaculate William Campbell. We explore the episodes excellent … Continue reading "Hard to believe it ever happened – The Squire Of Gothos"

Whom Pods Destroy returns after a lengthy break. In this episode, we deviate slightly from the usual Original Series chat to discuss Season 3 of Star Trek Discovery.

Our latest podcast focusses on the classic, franchise saving Star Trek film – Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. This low budget classic remains a fan favourite and contains some of the most memorable scenes in all of Star Trek. Terry, Derek and Graham examine its themes and place in Star Trek lore. We … Continue reading "Episode 57 – The Wrath of Khan"

Graham, Terry and Derek are back for another episode of Whom Pods Destroy – A Star Trek discussion podcast. For this episode, we focus our attention on Space Seed. Little did they know at the time that the story of Khan Noonian Singh would turn out to be one of the pivotal episodes in the … Continue reading "Episode 56 – Space Seed"

Whom Pods Destroy – A Star Trek discussion podcast returns with another episode of blistering takes about the original series of Star Trek. Balance of Terror maybe half a century old but it still has a lot to tell us. Not just in relation to its story and messages but also in how to craft … Continue reading "Episode 55 – Balance of Terror"

Whom Pods Destroy is back for an extra length special podcast reflecting on Star Trek: Picard. This ten-part CBS All Access series had more plot points than a Romulan attack fleet has torpedo tubes. Some of them stuck, some were planted presumably for Season 2 and some just didn’t really make sense to us. That … Continue reading "Episode 54: What are little girls made of? – Star Trek Picard"

Scriptwriter, script editor and script doctor. Dorothy Fontana was one of the founding talents of the original series of Star Trek. Without her vision, skill, creativity and talent, Star Trek would not be what it is today. In this episode of Whom Pods Destroy, Graham, Derek and Terry mark her recent passing with a discussion … Continue reading "Episode 53 – The Enterprise Incident. A tribute to DC Fontana"

We are delighted to present our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A film that, in many ways, only a Star Trek fans could love. Robert Wise’s epic proved to be something of a false start for the Star Trek franchise. It is a mid-70s sci-fi film made in the … Continue reading "Episode 52 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture turns 40"

The build-up to the our 40th-anniversary celebration concludes with an exploration of Star Trek in the 1970s. This decade saw a lot of social changes. The transforming science fiction genre that started with Soylent Green but ended with Close Encounters challenged Star Trek and Paramount as they tried to figure out the best way to … Continue reading "Episode 51 – Dreaming of a Ken Adam Star Trek"

As close in on our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture we take some time to discuss one of the all-time great movies of the science fiction genre with a direct influence on the revived Stare Trek film made eleven years later: Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. Derek, … Continue reading "Episode 50 – A Space Odyssey"

Whom Pods Destroy continues its build-up to the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture with a discussion on the second season original series episode which gare many similarities to the Motion Picture without having been acknowledged, The Changeling.

In the first of our series marking the 40th anniversary of Star Trek The Motion Picture, Whom Pods Destroy goes back to when Star Trek was but a glint in Gene Roddenberry’s eye and explore the 1956 science fiction masterpiece, Forbidden Planet. It is an established fact that the MGM classic directly informed Gene Roddenberry’s … Continue reading "Episode 48 – Forbidden Planet (Star Trek -1)"

We are delighted to return with another edition of Whom Pods Destroy – A Star Trek discussion podcast. In this edition, Terry, Graham and Derek discuss the big dog himself. James T Kirk. The discussion reflects on the origins of the character, the journey he took throughout theOriginal Series and movies and they discuss the … Continue reading "Episode 47 – Kirk"

Terry, Graham, and Derek are back after their brief hiatus with another episode of Whom Pods Destroy – A Star Trek Discussion Podcast. In the episode, we discussed a much loved and much memed but very controversial episode fro the first series of the Original Series: “The Enemy Within”. This is the story of how … Continue reading "Episode 46 – James & Tiberius"

Whom Pods Destroy returns with another episode, taking a deep dive into the original series. In this podcast we discuss the late third season episode “All Our Yesterdays”. The episode where Spock regresses and er… gets back to basics, so to speak. This episode threw up all manner of side topics, about contemporary storytelling formats … Continue reading "Episode 45 – Turtle Wax"