Podcasts about romulan star empire

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them. This week, Stuart Baird's Star Trek: Nemesis. A mysterious regime change on Romulus presents the Federation with an unprecedented opportunity for peace. The Enterprise is dispatched into Romulan space in the hopes of forging an alliance with a long-term enemy. However, Captain Jean Luc Picard quickly discovers the mysterious new leader of the Romulan Star Empire, Shinzon of Remus, has a very familiar face. Picard's past comes back to confront him. At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

   This week two films about master negotiators.      Small time con, Eddie, can sell anything to anyone. He dreams of one day opening his own store and sees it as his way out from under the ever more controlling grip of local crime boss, John Power. Unfortunately, right when it seems things might go Eddie's way for once, things take a turn toward the horrible as Power's nephew (and Eddie's partner) absconds with Power's young bride and a lockbox full of cash. Is there a light at the end of this tunnel or is there only death waiting Trojan Eddie?     The tenth film overall in the franchise. The fourth and final film with the Next Gen crew. The Enterprise-E is forced to deal with a coup within the Romulan Star Empire when a coup leaves Shinzon, an imperfect clone of the Enterprise's own captain Jean-Luc Picard, as Praetor. A box office disappointment, it led Paramount to declare "franchise fatigue" and put the franchise in a box on a low shelf for a few years. Fantastic ship effects and the always wonderful Patrick Stewart just weren't enough to save Star Trek: Nemesis.    Join us, won't you?Episode 268- Seamy Reman

Check out natpricemusic.com for the latest happenings in Natalie Land, tour dates, and fangirl merchandise, such as the new, limited edition pressing of Natalie's Through the Fog EP, rumored to be available on vinyl very soon. You can watch Natalie's talk show, "20 @ 10" on YouTube, Facebook Live, Twitch, or Instagram Live. Follow @natpricemusic on the Grams to stay in the loop. Natalie was recently selected for the Austin Music Foundation's Artist Development Program. The Foundation chooses 4 to 6 artists every year for specialized consultation. As one of those artists for 2021, Natalie is contributing two new, unreleased songs to a forthcoming compilation album.Here's a link to the official Troubadours on Trek Spotify Playlist, where you can hear all the featured songs from every episode in one playlist (songs will be added as episodes air on Patreon):-Natalie's song pairing for this episode: “Wreck of the Day” by Anna Nalick.-Grace's song pairing for this episode: “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits-Natalie's featured song is "Dreamwalker," from her Through the Fog EP.Corrections:As promised, here's an excellently researched piece about the prevailing and incorrect belief that Ship's Captains get to officiate for weddings: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/fashion/weddings/a-marriage-at-sea-get-me-rewrite.htmlThe treaty between Earth and the Romulan Star Empire was not officially named in any episode of Star Trek.Tor.com's review of “Balance of Terror,” which is mentioned in this podcast: https://www.tor.com/2009/05/21/lemgstar-treklemg-re-watch-balance-of-terror/How close is close enough to fire a space torpedo at a Romulan ship? Does anyone have the answer? I don't.As far as I can tell, the first appearance of the streaky star effect (where all the stars blur into lines streaking past the Enterprise when it goes into warp) was in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, the second Star Trek movie. Wrath of Khan came out in 1982, five years after Star Wars debuted in 1977. Which means Star Wars did it first, as far as I can tell (someone correct me if I'm wrong). In the opening credits for the Original Series, we definitely get a whooshing noise as the Enterprise zooms through space, but no streaky star effect.

In this episode Mark talks about the tenth film in the "Star Trek" film franchise: the 2002 American science fiction film "Star Trek: Nemesis". The fourth film, as well as the final film, to feature the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", sees Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-E be sent on a mission of peace to the planet Romulus - the homeworld of the Romulan Star Empire, a longstanding enemy of the United Federation of Planets - after the Romulan senate is overthrown by a clone of Captain Picard, called Shinzon (played by Tom Hardy), who is the leader of the Remans - a slave race from the neighbouring planet Remus - and who along with some Romulan senators plotted to engineer a coup d'etat to seize power. However, Shinzon - whose body is slowly degeneating - urgently requires a blood transfusion from Captain Jean-Luc Picard in order to stay alive, which leads him to conspire to draw the Enterprise-E to Romulus so that he can capture Captain Picard and use his genetic material, and then wage war against the United Federation of Planets aboard an advanced warship, known as the Scimitar, equipped with a deadly biological weapon capable of exterminating the humanoid crew of a ship or the population of a entire planet. And the film also bids a sad farewell to a beloved character - who choses to sacrifice themselves instead of watching their captain, their crew, their friends perish. The film also stars Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Levar Burton, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Ron Perlman. And the soundtrack of the film was composed by the late great Jerry Goldsmith. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/markthepoet/message

During this current era of Star Trek, novels play a more significant role than in previous years. Ken and Amy discuss The Dark Veil written by James Swallow, the second novel from the Picard series. We delve into the Riker-Troi family dynamics; the mistrust and deceit of the Tal Shiar; and the cooperation between two great captains from the Federation and Romulan Star Empire.United Federation of Podcasts is brought to you by listeners like you. Special thanks to these patrons on Patreon whose generous contributions help produce the podcast! Tim CooperBill SmithSimon De LucaChrissie De Clerck-SzilagyiMahendran RadhakrishnanJim McMahonVera BibleJustin OserVictor GamboaCasey PettittChristopher LutzTom ElliotGreg MolumbyKevin ScharfAlexander GatesFit RogersTom Van ScotterVanessa VaughanJim StoffelChris TribuzioThad HaitAnn MarieJoe MignoneYou can become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/ufpearth

This week on Episode 469 of Priority One --- We ‘Trek Out' what's coming to Comic-Con@Home, and our thoughts on the Lower Decks Trailer! In Star Trek gaming, we share with you which game developers are taking actions for a more equitable future, and we relieve several old favorites - like Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Sir Patrick Stewart Turns 80 As far as Birthday's go, 80 is an incredible milestone -- And when you're Sir Patrick Stewart, everyone wants to recognize your achievements! On June 13th, Sir Patrick celebrated his 80th Birthday and friends, fans, and news outlets did their very best to honor the veteran actor. The Guardian, for instance, interviewed several of SirtPatStew's friends and colleagues to share some of their most memorable moments with the actor. For instance, David Tennant had this to say, "He's fit as a fiddle and so strapping! How many 80-year-olds are the lead in their own science fiction series? There's nothing of the 'old man' about him. He's very virile – I'm sure he wouldn't mind me saying that!" Sir Ian McKellen told The Guardian, "Eighty is, of course, a milestone but he has had so many remarkable achievements in his careering journey from Huddersfield, to Stratford, the West End, Hollywood, to Broadway and beyond, I'm sure there will be no silly talk about retirement." And - of course - many of his co-stars from TNG joined him for a celebration and shared a picture of them together. Fortunately, they were all wearing their masks and maintaining social distancing! Happy Birthday, Sir Patrick! https://twitter.com/berman_rick/status/1282867166321098752?s=21 Robert Sallin & a new Trek Film On July 9th, Den Of Geek's Don Kaye spoke with Robert Sallin -- producer on the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. According to Kaye, during an interview about the film, Sallin hinted that he's currently in the process of developing a script for a new Star Trek Film. I don't have it completely written, but I have a lot of it written. I have a concept for another Star Trek feature that I've had discussions with Paramount about — at least on the phone. This one I guarantee you is unlike anything that has been done in Star Trek, and it will be part of the canon, but they (the studio) don't want to talk about it until they see what Noah Hawley does. -Robert Sallin via Den of Geek Comic-Con@Home w/ Star Trek The pandemic may have put a damper on most of our plans this year --- including the cancellation or rescheduling or re-imagining of convention events. San Diego Comic Con for instance, has shifted their presentations to an online format and Star Trek will be participating in several ways. Generally, the event takes place Wednesday July 22 - Sunday, July 26. However, you don't have to stay glued to your computer all three days for the Star Trek Studded events. Thursday, July 23 @ 10AM PT, The Star Trek Universe Virtual Panel will feature discussions with Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman & Heather Kadin -- Followed by a virtual table read of Star Trek Discovery's episode “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” with many of the episode's featured actors. Later, Mike McMahan takes the virtual stage to discuss the new animated comedy series, “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” McMahan will be joined by several of the voice actors from the series including Tawny Newsom, Jack Quaid and more. It all wraps with a “Star Trek: Picard” panel that includes Sir Patrick Steward himself along with fan favorites like Jonathan Frakes, Jonathan Del Arco, Marina Sirtis, and Jeri Ryan -- among many of the other key actors from the series. During an Instagram Livestream, Mary Chieffo expressed enthusiasm over the prospect of returning as L'Rell in the new Pike Series: “Strange New Worlds” ---- It would be nice to see a discussion about what the world will look like in this series set in the same universe as Star Trek Discovery. Who else could reprise their roles? https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCeW1mtJLdT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Lower Decks - Trailer If you were up early and perusing social media on Sunday, July 12th, your feed may have been flooded with tweets about a leaked trailer for the new animated series, “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” But, before long, Star Trek's official websites and social media channels went ahead and officially released it to the masses. The 2-minute and 15 second video takes us on a wild ride aboard the USS Cerritos and provides a sneak peak of the show's overall tone. We also get a solid peak into the types of characters we'll be following like Jack Quaid's Ensign Boimler and Tawny Newsome's Ensign Mariner. https://youtu.be/V3RkBKedKWw Grant Imahara Before we move on, Captains - we need to take a moment and remember the life of Grant Imahara - who passed away suddenly on June 13th. Imahara - who is best known for his role on Mythbusters and - later, portrayed Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek: Continues. He was only 49 years old. Silence Continues We're still holding our coverage of updates from Star Trek Online but, thought it prudent to share with you a list of other game developers who have stepped up to support social justice, equality, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Blizzard has donated to several organizations Bungie has designed items to sell with all the proceeds going towards Equal Justice Initiative Niantic (Pokemon Go) is donating $5Mil to "Black gaming and AR creators that can live on the Niantic platform" and "US nonprofit organizations that are helping local communities rebuild." EA is donating $1Million to the Equal Justice Initiative, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and other organizations  Ubisoft is making a $100,000 donation to the NAACP This is but a short list of game developers and companies who have taken measurable actions to support Social Justice and Equality. Gamespot has a very extensive list --- links will be in the shownotes.  Star Trek Timelines Event: “Lightbringers”  by Thomas Reynolds After last week's Flashback to Dozaria, Star Trek Timelines returns to the future...present...whatever, with “Lightbringers”. The Galaxy-type Event runs from this Thursday, July 16th, to Monday July 20th for the Romulan Star Empire, Federation, and Ferengi Traditionalist factions, with 5-star Mother L'Rell as the Ranked Reward crewmember. Event crew granting high bonuses for “Lightbringers” include last week's Ranked Reward 5-star Kamin, the new 4-star Traveler Wesley, and the returning 4-star Commander Tomalak. Other Picard and Wesley variants will grant small bonuses. Star Trek Timelines' Offer Wall Comes Tumbling Down on iOS by Thomas Reynolds https://stevivor.com/news/potential-star-trek-timelines-privacy-issue-sees-resources-shut-protest/ Well, that didn't take long. On July 10th Star Trek Timelines developer Wicked Realms announced it was removing its controversial Offer Wall feature from the iOS app indefinitely. Ostensibly this is because “due to Apple guidelines the offers that can be presented on iOS are too limited to be of interest.” Third-party developers taking issue with Apple's App Store constraints is certainly nothing new, and it's significant that the Wall's alive and well on the game's Android version. However, recent player base outcry (and fan resource website outages) protesting perceived privacy threats almost certainly influenced the decision. Wicked Realms acknowledged “ongoing concerns regarding the Offer Wall in general” and their advertising partner ironSource's business practices in particular. The Last Outpost Provides Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Holomatch For Download by Shane Hoover https://twitter.com/Last_Outpost/status/1281447523933093889 Star Trek Voyager premiered twenty five years ago, in 1995. Five years after that, the series debuted its first video game, “Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force”. And now, 20 years later, a community of Trek gamers called The Last Outpost has rereleased the multiplayer platform of “Elite Force” for free download. Called “Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force Holomatch”, the game is available for Windows and Linux PC's. In a tweet posted July 9th, The Last Outpost announced, /QUOTE/  2020 is a milestone year. The Last Outpost is 10 years old today, Raven Software celebrated 30 years, and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force turns 20 this September. Eight years ago, Raven and Viacom CBS graciously gave us permission to distribute the game's code and assets. We at The Last Outpost are eternally grateful to Raven and ViacomCBS for their generosity. In honor of our 10th anniversary, we pass this gift along to the thousands of Star Trek fans who grew up playing this game and loving it as much as we do. /ENDQUOTE/ A link to the download, and to The Last Outpost's website can be found in our show notes. RETRO TREK Join us for a RetroTrek Adventure brought to you by Anthony Cox! This week, we discuss Star Trek: Starfleet Academy!

This week on Episode 469 of Priority One --- We ‘Trek Out’ what’s coming to Comic-Con@Home, and our thoughts on the Lower Decks Trailer! In Star Trek gaming, we share with you which game developers are taking actions for a more equitable future, and we relieve several old favorites - like Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Sir Patrick Stewart Turns 80 As far as Birthday’s go, 80 is an incredible milestone -- And when you’re Sir Patrick Stewart, everyone wants to recognize your achievements! On June 13th, Sir Patrick celebrated his 80th Birthday and friends, fans, and news outlets did their very best to honor the veteran actor. The Guardian, for instance, interviewed several of SirtPatStew’s friends and colleagues to share some of their most memorable moments with the actor. For instance, David Tennant had this to say, "He’s fit as a fiddle and so strapping! How many 80-year-olds are the lead in their own science fiction series? There’s nothing of the 'old man' about him. He’s very virile – I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying that!" Sir Ian McKellen told The Guardian, "Eighty is, of course, a milestone but he has had so many remarkable achievements in his careering journey from Huddersfield, to Stratford, the West End, Hollywood, to Broadway and beyond, I’m sure there will be no silly talk about retirement." And - of course - many of his co-stars from TNG joined him for a celebration and shared a picture of them together. Fortunately, they were all wearing their masks and maintaining social distancing! Happy Birthday, Sir Patrick! https://twitter.com/berman_rick/status/1282867166321098752?s=21 Robert Sallin & a new Trek Film On July 9th, Den Of Geek’s Don Kaye spoke with Robert Sallin -- producer on the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. According to Kaye, during an interview about the film, Sallin hinted that he’s currently in the process of developing a script for a new Star Trek Film. I don’t have it completely written, but I have a lot of it written. I have a concept for another Star Trek feature that I’ve had discussions with Paramount about — at least on the phone. This one I guarantee you is unlike anything that has been done in Star Trek, and it will be part of the canon, but they (the studio) don’t want to talk about it until they see what Noah Hawley does. -Robert Sallin via Den of Geek Comic-Con@Home w/ Star Trek The pandemic may have put a damper on most of our plans this year --- including the cancellation or rescheduling or re-imagining of convention events. San Diego Comic Con for instance, has shifted their presentations to an online format and Star Trek will be participating in several ways. Generally, the event takes place Wednesday July 22 - Sunday, July 26. However, you don’t have to stay glued to your computer all three days for the Star Trek Studded events. Thursday, July 23 @ 10AM PT, The Star Trek Universe Virtual Panel will feature discussions with Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman & Heather Kadin -- Followed by a virtual table read of Star Trek Discovery’s episode “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” with many of the episode’s featured actors. Later, Mike McMahan takes the virtual stage to discuss the new animated comedy series, “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” McMahan will be joined by several of the voice actors from the series including Tawny Newsom, Jack Quaid and more. It all wraps with a “Star Trek: Picard” panel that includes Sir Patrick Steward himself along with fan favorites like Jonathan Frakes, Jonathan Del Arco, Marina Sirtis, and Jeri Ryan -- among many of the other key actors from the series. During an Instagram Livestream, Mary Chieffo expressed enthusiasm over the prospect of returning as L’Rell in the new Pike Series: “Strange New Worlds” ---- It would be nice to see a discussion about what the world will look like in this series set in the same universe as Star Trek Discovery. Who else could reprise their roles? https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCeW1mtJLdT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Lower Decks - Trailer If you were up early and perusing social media on Sunday, July 12th, your feed may have been flooded with tweets about a leaked trailer for the new animated series, “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” But, before long, Star Trek’s official websites and social media channels went ahead and officially released it to the masses. The 2-minute and 15 second video takes us on a wild ride aboard the USS Cerritos and provides a sneak peak of the show’s overall tone. We also get a solid peak into the types of characters we’ll be following like Jack Quaid’s Ensign Boimler and Tawny Newsome’s Ensign Mariner. https://youtu.be/V3RkBKedKWw Grant Imahara Before we move on, Captains - we need to take a moment and remember the life of Grant Imahara - who passed away suddenly on June 13th. Imahara - who is best known for his role on Mythbusters and - later, portrayed Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek: Continues. He was only 49 years old. Silence Continues We’re still holding our coverage of updates from Star Trek Online but, thought it prudent to share with you a list of other game developers who have stepped up to support social justice, equality, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Blizzard has donated to several organizations Bungie has designed items to sell with all the proceeds going towards Equal Justice Initiative Niantic (Pokemon Go) is donating $5Mil to "Black gaming and AR creators that can live on the Niantic platform" and "US nonprofit organizations that are helping local communities rebuild." EA is donating $1Million to the Equal Justice Initiative, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and other organizations  Ubisoft is making a $100,000 donation to the NAACP This is but a short list of game developers and companies who have taken measurable actions to support Social Justice and Equality. Gamespot has a very extensive list --- links will be in the shownotes.  Star Trek Timelines Event: “Lightbringers”  by Thomas Reynolds After last week’s Flashback to Dozaria, Star Trek Timelines returns to the future...present...whatever, with “Lightbringers”. The Galaxy-type Event runs from this Thursday, July 16th, to Monday July 20th for the Romulan Star Empire, Federation, and Ferengi Traditionalist factions, with 5-star Mother L’Rell as the Ranked Reward crewmember. Event crew granting high bonuses for “Lightbringers” include last week’s Ranked Reward 5-star Kamin, the new 4-star Traveler Wesley, and the returning 4-star Commander Tomalak. Other Picard and Wesley variants will grant small bonuses. Star Trek Timelines’ Offer Wall Comes Tumbling Down on iOS by Thomas Reynolds https://stevivor.com/news/potential-star-trek-timelines-privacy-issue-sees-resources-shut-protest/ Well, that didn’t take long. On July 10th Star Trek Timelines developer Wicked Realms announced it was removing its controversial Offer Wall feature from the iOS app indefinitely. Ostensibly this is because “due to Apple guidelines the offers that can be presented on iOS are too limited to be of interest.” Third-party developers taking issue with Apple’s App Store constraints is certainly nothing new, and it’s significant that the Wall’s alive and well on the game’s Android version. However, recent player base outcry (and fan resource website outages) protesting perceived privacy threats almost certainly influenced the decision. Wicked Realms acknowledged “ongoing concerns regarding the Offer Wall in general” and their advertising partner ironSource’s business practices in particular. The Last Outpost Provides Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Holomatch For Download by Shane Hoover https://twitter.com/Last_Outpost/status/1281447523933093889 Star Trek Voyager premiered twenty five years ago, in 1995. Five years after that, the series debuted its first video game, “Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force”. And now, 20 years later, a community of Trek gamers called The Last Outpost has rereleased the multiplayer platform of “Elite Force” for free download. Called “Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force Holomatch”, the game is available for Windows and Linux PC’s. In a tweet posted July 9th, The Last Outpost announced, /QUOTE/  2020 is a milestone year. The Last Outpost is 10 years old today, Raven Software celebrated 30 years, and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force turns 20 this September. Eight years ago, Raven and Viacom CBS graciously gave us permission to distribute the game's code and assets. We at The Last Outpost are eternally grateful to Raven and ViacomCBS for their generosity. In honor of our 10th anniversary, we pass this gift along to the thousands of Star Trek fans who grew up playing this game and loving it as much as we do. /ENDQUOTE/ A link to the download, and to The Last Outpost’s website can be found in our show notes. RETRO TREK Join us for a RetroTrek Adventure brought to you by Anthony Cox! This week, we discuss Star Trek: Starfleet Academy!

Things get serious in the 5th episode of Star Trek Picard. There's a lot to talk about, I dig deep. What a fascinating mixture of brutality, darkness, and light-hearted adventure. We get to spend some time with Seven of Nine, and finally catch up with Bruce Maddox. But there's a lot lurking in background here. This episode has it all. Laughs, triumph, drama, and heart-break. ----more---- ----more----Transcript   Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd.   This is episode 15 of the podcast. Today, we’re discussing the fifth episode of Star Trek Picard, Stardust City Rag.   The description on Memory Alpha reads The La Sirena crew begins an unpredictable and lively expedition on Freecloud to search for Bruce Maddox. When they learn that Maddox has found himself in a precarious situation, a familiar face offers her assistance.   This episode was written by Kirsten Beyer,  directed by Jonathan Frakes And it first aired on the 20th of February 2020.   Make it so.   In America, CBS All Access have been showing little “Next week on Star Trek Picard” clips. We don’t see those in Australia on Amazon Prime, but a few screen captures usually make their way to the internet. I’d seen images of Picard wearing an eye patch and Rios in a silly hat. I was prepared for this to be a very silly cheese-fest. I was prepared to not like it. Well, imagine my surprise when we were served up what is probably the darkest episode of the show so far. Notice also that we didn’t once cut to Soji and Narak on the cube. Last week, they spent some time over there, but that plot wasn’t really advancing. This time, I think they made the good decision to just focus on Picard and crew. IF nothing is happening with the other plot right now, then let’s just not cut over there. And there was plenty happening with Picard and his new crew.   The episode begins, as always, with a flashback. A former borg drone is having his implants rather violently removed from his body. And surprise surprise, it’s Icheb! I picked it up from the shape of his nose. I said to my wife, “I think that’s Icheb.” Then, when we saw the shape of the implants that had been removed from around his eye, it was confirmed. I had such mixed emotions during this scene. I was so excited to see Icheb back. Great to see that he fulfilled his dream of becoming a Starfleet officer. I’ll bet he was a fantastic one. But then the very real sorrow when he died. That was so sad. I always liked Icheb, so it was heart-breaking to see his story end this way. But what a powerful scene. It had so much more emotional resonance because it was a character we knew and loved. Icheb was like a son to Seven. She calls him “my child” as he dies. We just know that she’s going to get some payback for this heinous crime. And it sure was heinous. They did all this to him without anaesthetic, and then left him to die slowly. Seven is left with little choice but to put him out of his misery with a phaser. For them to be that monstrous is almost cartoonishly evil.   It was a pretty bold move to kill off a beloved character in such a brutal way. And while, he was never in the opening credits, Icheb probably got more character development in the year and a half he was on Voyager than Harry Kim and Chakotay together.   It wasn’t the original actor playing him. That’s a shame, but it worked for me anyway. We’ve already seen another actor play Icheb at around this age in the Voyager episode Shattered. We can be sad that Icheb came back for a few seconds only to die like this, but I think it makes me appreciate his journey up to this point all the more. Iheb was assimilated as a child, because of uncaring parents who wanted to use him as a weapon. He was doomed to spend his entire life as a drone. But then Voyager rescued him. And because of that, he got to have a life. He got to grow up. He got to pursue a career in Starfleet. He got to make a difference. And most of all, he got to know what it’s like to be loved. He had a family. He had a mother-figure in Seven. His life may have been short and it may have ended badly, but he had a full life, one he never would have had if Voyager hadn’t rescued him from that cube.   Also, did you notice the line where the doctor asks “Where’s your cortical node, Buddy? Gotta be in there somewhere.” That was a very nice touch, and is of course, a reference to the Voyager episode imperfection.   I’m talking about this first scene a lot because it had a big impact on me. And honestly, I’m still sorting out all the emotions it has made me feel. But that means the writers did their job well. This made me feel deeply, and that’s what a writer is supposed to do. That’s their job.   But before we leave this scene, we need to acknowledge that this has got to be the most violent scene we have ever seen on any Star Trek. It was graphic. It was horrific. If the swear words weren’t enough of a hint, we have no doubt now that this is firmly an adult show.   Then we jump to almost present day. We meet up with Bruce Maddox. Finally. Again, it’s not the original actor, which is a tremendous shame. But I’m sure they tried. He’s played here by John Ales. It’s been a long time so I guess I can accept that a much older Bruce could look like this. He’s been in hiding and his meeting with a woman called Bjayzl. If you had a keen ear you’d have noticed the evil doctor in the previous called out the name Bjayzl when she heard Seven entering the room. And they’re drinking Tranya. Nice TOS reference. So Bjazyl is the loan shark Maddox went to, but he can’t repay her since the Tal Shiar destroyed his lab, and almost killed him. So, I guess that’s why he disappeared after the Mars attack. So Picard better get to Freecloud quickly, because Bzayzl is gonna sell Maddox to the Tal Shiar.   So Deven is awake and comes to see Picard in his holographic ready room. It seems she’s moved on from the purely practical nutrient supplements. She drinks bourbon now. And it does kind of suit her harder, more world-weary personality.   Seven is a member of the Fenris Rangers. Self-appointed police officers, trying to keep the peace in the power vacuum left behind by the Romulan Star Empire. That’s why she came to Picard’s aid at the end of last episode. Picard sees them as vigilantes and is a little uncomfortable about their role and self-appointed judge, jury and executioner. But as Seven points out, they are the only law that region of space knows. Seven’s motivation is to help people, the little people, one at a time, as best as she can. She represents what Picard could have been if he hadn’t given up. Something she points out rather bluntly. So when she hears Picard is on a mission to help someone who has nobody else to help them, she’s interested.   We get confirmation, through a holo-recording, that Agnes and Maddox were together, romantically. I wasn’t surprised by this, because I’m reading the Picard novel, which seems to be setting things up in this direction.   Funny how we see her tear as she watches, and think she’s just missing him. Not realising there’s a lot more beneath the surface.   The holographic pop-up ads as they near freecloud were …. Interesting. Very much targeted advertising. Rios gets the offer of ship repairs from a Red Bolian. I wonder, does this suggest that there are red Bolians? Humans have different skin tones, so it’s possible. Picard gets an offer of high tea in a classy restaurant.   Agnes gets a job offer from an entertainment robotics company and has to behead the thing to make it go away.   And Raffi gets an offer of snake leaf, the drug she was smoking back in episode 2.   And Elnor, poor Elnor doesn’t get any, because he’s lived in isolation with the nuns, so he has no presence on the space internet. He seems almost disappointed. I’ll admit, that got a laugh out of me. Anyway, this whole targeted ad thing was very topical for the present day. But it doesn't feel completely out of place in the 24th century. It reminded me of the jingle Quard had programmed into Deep Space Nine’s computer.   Seven’s ears prick up at the mention of Bjayzl. When Picard says “Options” to his new crew, well, it felt like the old Picard we knew. He’d often say that to his Enterprise crew.   So they’re gonna pose a go-betweens to put Bjayzl in touch with the Tal Shiar. And they have to perfect bait. Seven. She’s more than willing to help them, of course, but not for the reasons they think. The exterior context shots in this show all look great. I’ll bet there’s a few easter eggs hidden amongst the los vegas lights of freecloud.   And I just spotted one. It seems Mr. Mott has gone into business here. He was the hair-dresser on the Enterprise. He now has a shop here called Hair Enterprise. And right next door is a bar called Quark! Is this actually our favourite Ferengi? He’d likely have more lucrative business on Freecloud than he ever had on Deep Space Nine. Or is it just a place called “The Quark Bar” named after the elementary particle?   This show loves to do this thing where it intercuts two scenes jumping backward and forward through time every sentence, or just cutting to a different location entirely. Most of the time, it has been jarring and annoying. This time, it works. Because it makes this whole thing feel like a heist movie. It’s been a negative every other time they’ve used it, but this time, for me, it’s a positive.   So now we get to see the costumes.And, they do look silly. There’s no denying that. And yet, when you see them down on the planet, they fit in a lot better than I’d have thought. It actually works for me, a lot better than I thought it was going to. And Raffi gives a good practical reason why they’re dressing this way. Rios especially sells it. Did you notice the guy in the bar with holographic angel wings? That was …. Different. Why are there so many translucent holograms about? It’s well established that in the 24th century, they have opaque holograms that you can feel and touch. Anyway, At least the EMH is opaque.   Rios’s contact is Mr. Vup. A Beta Annari. They’re a reptilian species that can smell a lie. IS there any scientific basis to such a concept? I’m gonna guess…  probably not. Maybe some species give off different endorphins when they lie vs when they tell the truth. I dunno. I’ll go with it.   And we get an actual name drop of Quark. Which was very welcome. I still want more. There’s plenty of TNG and Voyager, but I need me some Deep Space Nine. Anyway, the fake references they created for Rios include him assisting Quark with some trouble relating to the Breen. Interesting.   So, Rios is gonna offer Bzayzl an alternate buyer for Maddox. The payment being Seven of Nine. A dangerous game. Bzayzl is not gonna want to go back on a deal with the Tal Shiar. Honestly, Seven is probably the only bait that would ever entice her to consider it.   It’s a good thing Rafi’s medications can fool his senses.   Which only goes to strengthen Rios’s position more than if Mr. Jup hadn’t been able to smell truthfulness and deceit.   I love how through all of this, Elnor is trying to get his head around their deceit. Remember, he’s grown up with the doctrine of absolute candor. The never concept of a lie is a concept more alien than anything he’s encountered. When it finally clicks for him and he says “It’s a lie.You’re all behaving as someone other than who you are.” I had a good laugh. But then he realises “everybody except me.” Elnor’s inability to be dishonest may be a danger on this mission. I laughed again when he said “I don’t know how to not be Elnor.” So Picard and Seven give him good advice. “Then be Elnor. An Elnor that doesn’t talk.”   And can I point out that Patrick Stewart’s idea of a French accept is so stereotypical it probably borders on insulting. He sounded like Inspector Cleaseu from The Pink Panther. Again, it got a little laugh from me, but I’m not sure it’s truthful for Picard, who is supposed to actually be French.   Why is Agnes so afraid of operating a transporter console? She’s a blooming robotics engineer. And not knowing how to operate a transporter is probably the equivalent of not knowing how to drive a car. Sure, not everybody can drive, but it’s a fairly normal everyday activity. I’m just not buying that somebody as technologically minded as her would be so anxious about having to beam somebody aboard.   You’ll notice they’re putting a reasonable amount of humour in here. Now, I am not one of those people who say “you’ve gotta put levity in everywhere, or that everything has to be made light.” I like a serious story. But I’ll admit, the humour they add to this episode is useful. It does help to balance out the really heavy darkness and brutality we also see. I’m not saying that darkness always has to be balanced out in a story. Often, I find it’s impact is lost when you try to do that. But here it worked for me. And I think one of the big reasons is that the humour comes naturally out of the characters. You’ll hear me say that a lot. Humour needs to come believably and naturally out of the characters. That’s where I think the Marvel movies often fall flat (and I love the marvel movies, don’t get me wrong) but they have characters cracking jokes in the middle of tense situations that is totally unbelievable for me.  I n my opinion, this episode did it well.   And now we get to see what Rafi’s business on Freecloud wa sall about. She’s beaming down to see somebody called Gabriel Hwang So I’ve mentioned before that Picard is setting up a lot of mysteries. And I’m not the only one who’s been wondering if the payout of those mysteries would be satisfying. Why do they have to keep Rafi’s business on Freecloud secret? Now we get the payoff. And to me, it was satisfying. Because it’s a character beat. We learn something about her, and we have a very emotional experience with her. And honestly, this is something she probably wants to keep private because it’s so personal.   But first we have a touching goodbye between Rafi and Picard. It seems they’ve kind of repaired their relationship. Which is nice. And this point, I’m invested as much in their relationship as I am with Picard’s relationships with Riker, Data, and all the TNG characters.   So Gabriel is Raffi’s estranged son. Agin, he’s been mentioned in the book. When Rafi took the job as Picard’s first officer on the Verity, she had to leave her husband and son back on earth for an extended period of time. But we get the impression that even when she was back home, she was a mess. Her drug addiction may have been a bigger problem than we realised, and she became obsessed with her conspiracy theories about the Federation and Romulans working together to allow the synth attack on mars, making her an absent mother even when she wasn’t away. I’m still keen to find out if Rafi is correct with her theories. Gabrial wants to know if she’s really changed, or if she’s still obsessed with what he considers a crackpot theory. So he tests her by bringing it up and calling it nonsense. And of course, she immediately defends it. Kinda proving that she hasn’t changed as much as she wants to make him believe. This is all powerful character stuff. Gabrial is carrying a lot of resentment. He’s not going to let go of it easily. We learn that Raffi’s name is actually Rafaella. Gabe is married to a Romulan named Pel and they’re expecting a daughter. I really hope that over the course of the show, Raffi and Gabe can work out their differences, for the sake of the baby if nobody else. She deserves to have a relationship with her grandmother. And how heart-breaking would it be to have messed up with your child, and then not even have a chance with your grandchild. Of course, Gave is worried that Rafi will let down his daughter as she let him down. Anyway, let’s hope they can all get it together.   I’ve been hoping we’d hear the Rios EMH says “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” We almost get there in this episode. It says ‘What is the nature of your psychiatric emergency.” This scene makes so much more sense on second viewing. We think Agnes is just panicking about using the transporter console. But no. She’s frantic about something else she knows she has to do. She’s so worked up it automatically launches the EMH. I guess it is programmed to monitor the crew’s vital signs when it is turned off. Which actually makes perfect sense. We get confirmation of something I’ve long suspected as head-canon. If you reclaim a borg drone quickly, there is much less technology that needs to be removed. You can more fully restore them. But when they’ve been assimilated for a long time, since childhood, they’re so riddled with it, you can never get it all out. That’s why Picard is so much more Human than Seven and Icheb ever were. It’s why Janeway, Tuvok and B'elanna, who were all assimilated, seemed to come back from that with no lasting consequences. Heck none of them even got their eyes replaced.   Picard and Rios realise that Seven and Bjayzl know each other. She even calls Sevan Annika. Her original human name.   Picard drops the act and returns to his normal accent when he asks Seven what the hell is going on. And then Elnor says “Are we still pretending?” I laughed out loud at that line. The way Evan Evagora delivers that line, I think it’s a bit of the self-deprecating Aussie humour coming out there. I love it.   Picard points out that murder is not justice. He pleads with Seven not to squander her humanity by killing Bjayzl. And he’s right of course. This is classic Jean-Luc Picard. And yet, the way that set this up at the beginning, the way we saw Icheb treated, I find myself rooting for Seven to take revenge, dare I call it justice, against Bjayzl. I agree with Picard, but I find myself still wanting Seven to kill that monster. This is why it kind of had to be Icheb, It wouldn't have worked any other way.   Seven listens more to the practical argument from Rios than she does to the moral argument from Picard, but she beams up with them all, leaving Bjayzl behind. There’s a nice moment when Seven asks Picard if he ever felt he regained his humanity after being reclaimed from the Borg. He answers yes without hesitation. But when pressed ,he admits, not all of it. But it’s something he and Seven are still working on.   As seven beams away, there’s a hint of the Voyager theme. I didn’t pick up on it the first time, but a friend brought my attention to it.   So Seven wasn’t as willing to leave Bjayzl as she lead Picard to believe. She beams right back down. Picard still thinks there’s a place in the galaxy for mercy and Seven didn’t want to disillusion him. And I believe her when she says that.  So seven gets her revenge and then walks out of there shooting two phaser rifles at once.   So Maddox explains to Picard some of what he doesn’t know. We get confirmation of what I’ve long believed, that Dahj and Soji’s mum is an AI built into them. As maddox tells Picard where to find Soji, we can’t help but wonder what’s going on with Agnes. Why is she off to the side looking so sad. Why isn’t she by Brice’s side? So Bruce sent Soji and Dahj to the cube and earth respectively, to find the truth behind the synth ban. It seems the Romulans aren’t the only ones after Soji. The Federation is involved somehow. Seems Rafi might be right.   Speaking of Rafi, after failing to reconcile with her son, she’s back on board the ship. I guess she’s got nowhere else to go.   And then we get the shocking final scene. So Brue has fulfilled his life’s work. He has replicated Soong’s work. We still don’t know where he got one of Data’s neurons. Agnes clearly regrets her role in helping to create the androids. She calls it one more thing she has to atone for. And then …. She kills him. Agnes Jurati kills Bruce Maddox. I didn’t see that coming. Some people have been talking about Agnes since Episode 3. Commodore Oh went to meet her, then she signed on to Picard’s mission. Some felt she wasn’t entirely what she seemed. It appears they were right. “I wish you knew what I know,” she says, as he chokes. “I wish I didn’t know what I know. I wish they hadn’t shown me.” She kills the man she not only respected, but loved. What would drive her to do that? I must know! Things are getting real now. And that’s two classic Star Trek characters this episode has killed.   Wow. I don’t know what to think about all of this. To me, Agnes was always the nice kindly, somewhat awkward character we could all relate to. But she’s just become something very different. I don’t think any of that was a lie, but whatever Oh showed her, it was serious.   I guess we’ll find out more next week on the episode “The Impossible Box.”   So, in the tradition of shows like The Walking Dead, I’m not going to play any outro music this time. Let’s just have a moment of silence for Icheb. And for Bruce Maddox. And, well, for Jurati’s innocence. See you next week.

In "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", Section 31 recruits Dr. Bashir to aid them in making sure that the Romulan Star Empire remains on the righteous" side of the Dominion War. Special guest Darren joins Wes and Clay to discuss the final "regular" episode of Star Trek: DS9. Plus! The three discuss pushing Star Trek to its moral limits, making a fashion statement with leather, and beaming out in the nick of time! Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

In "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", Section 31 recruits Dr. Bashir to aid them in making sure that the Romulan Star Empire remains on the righteous" side of the Dominion War. Special guest Darren joins Wes and Clay to discuss the final "regular" episode of Star Trek: DS9. Plus! The three discuss pushing Star Trek to its moral limits, making a fashion statement with leather, and beaming out in the nick of time! Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

The war against the Dominion is going poorly. The Federation is suffering defeat after defeat, and the death toll is rising. One last hope remains: to bring the Romulan Star Empire into the war effort against the Dominion. But the Romulans are hesitant to commit to the war, as they've cozied up to the Dominion in the hopes that the war eliminates all of their enemies. In "In the Pale Moonlight", Captain Sisko must decide how far he is willing to go to save the Alpha Quadrant. Are the values of the Federation sacrosanct, or must he prove Section 31 correct? The war has taken many lives, and it just might take Sisko's soul. In this podcast, Wes and Clay discuss the critically acclaimed episode and try to measure the RPM of Gene Roddenberry in his coffin! Plus! The guys talk about the ethics of "the needs of the many", the joy of seeing a Romulan, and the problems with the final scene! Support Clay's Kickstarter at bloodyhel.com! Website: https://thepenskypodcast.com Subscribe: https://wavve.link/pensky Patreon: https://Patreon.com/thepenskyfile Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/the-pensky-file Twitter: https://twitter.com/PenskyFile Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_pensky_file/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepenskyfilepod/ Discord: https://discord.gg/DU4hthX YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRUQ6GnjEtxm1vcvVw0t7HA E-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

The war against the Dominion is going poorly. The Federation is suffering defeat after defeat, and the death toll is rising. One last hope remains: to bring the Romulan Star Empire into the war effort against the Dominion. But the Romulans are hesitant to commit to the war, as they've cozied up to the Dominion in the hopes that the war eliminates all of their enemies. In "In the Pale Moonlight", Captain Sisko must decide how far he is willing to go to save the Alpha Quadrant. Are the values of the Federation sacrosanct, or must he prove Section 31 correct? The war has taken many lives, and it just might take Sisko's soul. In this podcast, Wes and Clay discuss the critically acclaimed episode and try to measure the RPM of Gene Roddenberry in his coffin! Plus! The guys talk about the ethics of "the needs of the many", the joy of seeing a Romulan, and the problems with the final scene! Support Clay's Kickstarter at bloodyhel.com! Website: https://thepenskypodcast.com Subscribe: https://wavve.link/pensky Patreon: https://Patreon.com/thepenskyfile Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/the-pensky-file Twitter: https://twitter.com/PenskyFile Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_pensky_file/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepenskyfilepod/ Discord: https://discord.gg/DU4hthX YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRUQ6GnjEtxm1vcvVw0t7HA E-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

In this episode of Hip Squared, we beam into two different sci-fi worlds. Troy talks about the recent Netflix series, Love, Death and Robots. This is an anthology series with 18 different stories that are about 10 to 20 minutes long. As you may have guessed from the title, each episode involves love, death and/or robots. Each episode also has its own animation style. Troy warns us that some of the episodes can be intensely sad, but that didn’t take away from his enjoyment of the series. John says that for his own emotional well-being, he wouldn’t want to end on one that’s a “downer”. Listen for some specifics about a few different episodes. If you enjoy anthology series and sci-fi, this may be one for you. Then John talks about the novel Star Trek Section 31: Rogue written by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin. This novel follows the Next Generation crew of the Enterprise on a diplomatic mission to the planet Chiaros IV. Seemingly in the midst of an election to choose to become a part of the Federation or Romulan Star Empire, this world soon becomes the setting of espionage and adventure. Did these last two sentences make little sense to you? We get it. That’s why John breaks it down for the initiated and uninitiated alike. The novel draws parallels between the Star Trek universe and our own world’s rule bending and rule breaking intelligence agencies. Dive into this book at warp speed if you’re a Star Trek fan or like science fiction spy stories. Produced by Maplex Monk. Thanks for listening to Hip Squared! You can now subscribe to Hip Squared on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts (please subscribe, rate, and review). To help the show, you can share this episode with a friend (or enemy), like us on Facebook, share us on social media and become a member on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Toodles…

On this episode of PoliTreks, Shashank and Barry discuss three infamous civilizations in the Star Trek Universe: the Q Continuum, The Romulan Star Empire, and The Terran Empire. We look to their connections to societies, religions, and regimes in contemporary and historical contexts.

On this episode of PoliTreks, Shashank and Barry discuss three infamous civilizations in the Star Trek Universe: the Q Continuum, The Romulan Star Empire, and The Terran Empire. We look to their connections to societies, religions, and regimes in contemporary and historical contexts.

Death in Winter. Following the film Star Trek Nemesis, novels in the Star Trek literary universe were given more of a free reign to play with the familiar characters and situations, creating what has been termed the "novelverse." Without any more televised or filmed adventures for the crew of the Enterprise-E on the horizon, authors could take the story in new and exciting directions. One of these directions involved the culmination of the "will they/won't they" romance of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher, as well as a new source of turmoil for the Romulan Empire. In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson discuss Death in Winter. We talk about Beverly's transfer off the Enterprise, the state of the Romulan Star Empire, an undercover mission into Romulan space, Worf and Geordi's role in the story, the love between Picard and Crusher, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings. At the top of the show, we discuss your feedback from the Babel Conference on Literary Treks 258: Inaccurate Operas Will Be Performed of This Day! News Listener Feedback (00:03:36) Feature: Death in Winter Post-Nemesis Novels (00:10:13) Beverly's First Assignment (00:13:34) Sela Strikes Again (00:20:54) The State of the Romulan Empire (00:24:34) A Stargazer Reunion (00:31:56) Worf and Geordi's Role (00:40:56) Love Comes Around (00:45:45) Ratings (00:53:22) Final Thoughts (00:59:03) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)

Our full panel of STAR TREK franchise explorers — Chris Clow (Movies.com, Comics on Consoles), Rachael Clow (Biology PhD candidate), Zaki Hasan (Zaki's Corner, MovieFilm Podcast), and Cicero Holmes (Spawn On Me Cast) — returns to discuss the re-emergence of a major series character to the cast of the show, while also diving deeper into the 23rd century machinations of Stafleet's covert intelligence agency, Section 31! In addition to all the issues surrounding the mycelial network coming to a head, Section 31 takes its most active role yet in the affairs of the Discovery and the Federation in the second season's fifth episode, "Saints of Imperfection!" Plus, the panel discusses some of the latest STAR TREK franchise news, including new nuggets of information concerning the return of JEAN-LUC PICARD, as well as whether or not we could be seeing the fabled ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE either in DISCOVERY itself, or the Picard series. Music by Bensound.com. STAR TREK trademarks and related elements are owned by CBS Studios Inc., and are used expressly under "fair use" guidelines.  

The inaugural episode of the Defection Collection is probably the obviousest choice - The Defector! There's a defector from the Romulan Star Empire! ....or is there? Also both of our hosts prove they're big ol spacists towards Romulans but hey w/e right SUPPORT US ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/mclasspodcast This episode is part 1 of Ben Beuhler's Defection Collection Send us an e-mail at mclassemail@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @MClassPodcast See all the episodes you missed at mclasspodcast.wordpress.com/ Or just follow one of us if you hate the other one: @_JeffPennington @henderson1983 M-CLASS PODCAST IS ON ITUNES! - itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/m-cla…d11591

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.  Enterprise 02x03 - Minefield Directed by James Contner Written by John Shiban Guest Stars: None? There Are Four Mics is a weekly Star Trek podcast discussing the Star Trek episodes and movies in stardate order. Join Anna Heiser, Jason Allen, Joe Heiser, and Joshua B. Jones as we discuss the 3rd episode of season two of Star Trek: Enterprise, Minefield. Subscribe, rate, and review us on iTunes and Stitcher! Music credits: Faith of the Heart/Where My Heart Will Take Me - Written by Diane Warren, performed by Russell Watson, Jerry Lubbock, and the New York Trek Orchestra Archer's Theme - Dennis McCarthy and New York Trek Orchestra

To Brave the Storm. John Jackson Miller in News. The Romulan War: a pivotal conflict in the history of the Star Trek universe. This clash of civilizations would bring humanity to the brink of destruction and lay the groundwork for the formation of the Federation. This week, we look at the definitive chronicle of that momentous event and discover how the crew of the NX-01 faced down the existential threat of the Romulan Star Empire. In this episode of Literary Treks hosts Matthew Rushing, Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson talk about Star Trek Enterprise: To Brave the Storm. We discuss if the book covers enough, the pacing, Mayweather returning, T’Pau’s change of heart, Romulans, Trip and T’Pol, what might have been and ratings. In a very special news segment we are joined by John Jackson Miller to preview his new trilogy Star Trek Prey as well as the news that Kirsten Beyer is shepherding the Star Trek Discovery books and comics. News: John Jackson Miller Very Special Guest (00:02:18) Previewing Prey (00:03:16) The Book Cover (00:19:25) Things’s He’s Excited For (00:22:49) Release Dates (00:24:50) Find John Online (00:30:30) Discovery Books and Comics (00:32:14) Feature: To Brave the Storm Does This Cover Enough (00:47:34) Strange Pacing (00:54:31) Mayweather Returns (00:57:23) T’Pau Goes to War (00:59:58) Slow Motion (01:05:05) The Romulans (01:09:28) Trip and T’Pol (01:12:21) What Might Have Been (01:19:06) Ratings (01:19:06) Final Thoughts (01:22:25) Hosts Matthew Rushing, Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest John Jackson Miller Production Matthew Rushing (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Bruce Gibson (Associate Producer)

After an away mission to Alpha Onias III interrupts Commander Riker’s birthday party, the first officer suddenly awakens in sick-bay sixteen years in the future where he is the captain of the Enterprise and about to negotiate a peace treaty with the Romulan Star Empire. Today James and Lou discuss (Future Imperfect) and what we […]

The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor’s Wing. The Romulan War, for much of the history of Star Trek, this early conflict between Earth and the Romulan Star Empire lay shrouded in mystery. It was hoped that Star Trek: Enterprise might give us a glimpse of that momentous event, but alas, the series ended too soon. As is often the case, the novels came to the rescue! Now, finally, Star Trek fans could find out what exactly happened during the bloody years of the Romulan War! In this episode of Literary Treks hosts Matthew Rushing and Dan Gunther are joined by Bruce Gibson to talk about The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor’s Wing. We discuss the expansive scope, Columbia’s disappearance, character work, media in wartime, war - what is it good for?, losing the NXs, ratings and final thoughts. In the news segment we judge The Jackel’s Trick by it’s cover and then talk about the blurb for it as well as Headlong Flight, The Long Mirage, Architects of Infinity and Section 31: Control. News Another Cover to Judge (00:02:15) Headlong Flight Blurb (00:07:29) The Long Mirage Blurb (00:10:19) Architects of Infinity Blurb (00:14:17) Section 31: Control Blurb (00:19:01) Feature: Beneath the Raptor’s Wing Continuing the Enterprise Relaunch (00:25:01) Expansive Scope (00:26:13) Columbia Disappears (00:39:48) Character Work (00:41:52) Media in Wartime (00:52:02) War, What is it Good For? (00:58:39) Losing the NXs (01:07:52) Ratings (01:12:11) Final Thoughts (01:15:37) Hosts Matthew Rushing and Dan Gunther Guest Bruce Gibson Production Matthew Rushing (Editor and Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Will Nguyen (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Bruce Gibson (Associate Producer)