The All Access Podcast Celebrates Having Two New Star Trek Episodes On The Same Day

All Access Star Trek podcast episode 66 - TrekMovie

[Discovery review starts at 06:31; Prodigy review starts at  53:51]

For the first time, Tony and Laurie have TWO new episodes of Star Trek to review in this week’s podcast. They start with the sad news that Star Trek: Discovery has been pulled from Netflix overseas, and the new season won’t be available there until next year. Then they’re joined by Matt from the Shuttle Pod podcast to review Discovery‘s season 4 premiere, “Kobayashi Maru.” After a farewell to Matt and a reminder that Prodigy goes on hiatus after this week until January 6, they review the show’s newest episode, “Terror Firma.”

Links:

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Leaving Netflix For Paramount+ Internationally, Season 4 To Launch Globally in 2022

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Stars Share International Fans’ Frustration Over Last-Minute Netflix Exit

‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Officially Confirmed For Second Season, Beyond The First 20 Episodes

Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and please post your suggestions for topics we should cover in the future as well as guests you’d like us to have on.


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When was the last time there was two new Star Trek episodes on the same day? Probably in 1999, when DS9 ended and Voyager was still on-air.

December 12, 2019. We got Ephraim and Dot and The Girl Who Made the Stars.

Do we count Short Treks like these, though? But it is trivial, and why not.

The series premieres for both Discovery and Prodigy had two episodes because they were two parters, but we were talking about two episodes from different shows obviously.

Yep. The last time new episodes from two Trek series premiered in the same week was May 26, 1999 (Voyager’s “Equinox” and DS9’s “The Dogs of War”). Note that DS9 was syndicated, so it wasn’t always on the exact same day for each market, but same week anyway.

Yeah, I forgot DS9 was syndicated. Where I live in central PA, new episodes of the last season of DS9 were aired at 11:00 pm on Fridays, I think. Good thing I knew how to program a VCR back then.

I think Voyager was on Wednesday nights?

Yeah. It was Monday nights for the first couple of seasons and then moved to Wednesdays.

Great discussion as always, and there was a lot of stuff to discuss this time! One topic that will no doubt be further explored in coming episodes is the role and character of the new Federation president Laura Rillak. Similar to your conversation about the lack of clearly defined roles among to Disco crew, it seemed odd that the Federation president is in the business of vetting future starship captains. Isn’t that properly the job of Admiral Vance? That aside, her diagnosis of the character of Michael’s leadership seemed pretty insightful. But I wonder about her motivations. Is she altruistic or self-serving, or both in some unclear ratio? The fact that she was repeatedly characterized as a “politician” is important. What kind? Time will tell.

She’s definitely a politician, and a new President leading a profound transition.

As I commented on the episode thread, the elected civilian authorities will want to have closer oversight on selection of captains given that they are effectively leading first-in diplomats and ambassadors responsible for establishing and reestablishing relations.

Given the process for Congress or Parliaments to review senior appointments in modern democratic societies, I don’t think that the President’s involvement is excessive in the context of a society that is rebuilding. The Federation Council can’t count on Starfleet captains experience and shared understanding of Starfleet values in the same way it did in thr 23rd or 24th century.

That’s a reasonable approach. Thanks! We’ll see.

Yeah the Federation President selecting Starfleet Captains for certain posts did seem very odd. We never seen a Federation President directly involved in Starfleet’s internal operations before.

Now THAT said, I think a lot of people are forgetting in last season’s episode Die Trying that it was stated the Federation and Starfleet are basically together now due to the Burn. They are still considered separate in one sense but probably not completely separate like what we saw in the 24th century. It seem like the circumstances has forced them to work more closely now. And it has been 800 years. There has maybe been some operational changes in general.

Okay…I couldn’t resist. I did watch the first episode despte saying I’d given up on STD halfway through the last season and….. actually it was pretty good.

Don’t get me wrong, the things that still annoyed me were present (1) Burnham desrespecting all the authority figures around her and getting away with it (2) The overly famliar friendly/family vibe among the bridge crew shown by constant glances at each other and forced emotion (3) The only white straight male being in the show needs to be the only one who fails the personality test…although he wasn’t portrayed quite as bad as others in the past (4) Flame throwers on the bridge… I mean… at least Yesterdays Enterprise Rocks can be forgiven due to budget constraints but a show that looks as beautiful as STD really can’t fall back on that excuse (5) End of the world stakes again (6) Introducing characters to set up some fake emotional end to them later on

HOWEVER…The writing in this episode was quite good. There was a cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end with a suffcient link to the next episode which suggests an arc without beating us over the head with it. The actors and actresses in the show are doing the very best they can do with material they have – particularly the President. The visuals, especially Kaminar (sic) look fantastic. The Archer theme music…. *wipes away a tear* … the pacing of the show was also pretty good. I think some of the key emotional scenes were given enough time to ruminate, the Book character is growing on me and although the scene with him on his home planet was shoe horned in so we would feel sadder at the end, the scene itself was well shot, well acted and looked great on screen.

I’d like to finish by emploring the moderators to let me comment be posted even though I made a complaint about how straight white males are portrayed in the new star trek shows. Let me be clear, that people in the past had legitimate complaints about the under representation of certain groups (although Star Trek has ALWAYS been diverse and that STD did not break any barriers that hadn’t already been broken by other Star Trek characters in the past) and how other groups were poorly represented like always being the bad guys…etc. My complaint is simply in a similar vein. My straight white male son also deserves to have characters in Star Trek he can relate to… and if we are saying that this isn’t important and that “he can relate to anyone” I totally agree… but that also means we shouldn’t be complaining about under-representation in other media. Let’s have a balance that works both ways?

Enjoyed both episodes and your discussion. It’s a great time to be alive! 😁 Did they ever give us the name for the technology Ni’Var developed before the Burn and their departure from the Federation? Now that Michael vindicated them (and they’ve most likely returned) maybe the Pathway Drive is based on that. I kind of like the idea that the Discovery plus the Sphere Data combined with its time-traveling crew equals something unique that cannot be recreated for mass production. I’m in no rush for them to restore the Federation to what it was too quickly and missing an opportunity to explore why it failed.

Good point. I hope they dig into that a bit… what went wrong and why the Federation failed at a time it was most needed.

As usual a great discussion TM! A lot of people seem confused that Prodigy only had a few episodes before it took a break. Well I think it’s been resolved why. According to the administrator at the site which starts with ‘Trek’ and ends with ‘Core’ the reason was simply the other episodes were still being worked on. They just weren’t ready yet and had to be delayed awhile until then. If true, obviously understandable. But it also means both shows probably would’ve been airing together the whole time if not for that. Kind of disappointing but at least it’s an answer.

It also sounds like why there is yet another delay of the second half of the season but hopefully those will be ready when SNW is done.

the reason was simply the other episodes were still being worked on

Bingo. Our review screeners were coming later each week, which tells you they’re working on them right up until the last minute.

If you recall DSC S1 took a winter hiatus for production reasons as well.

But it also means both shows probably would’ve been airing together the whole time if not for that. 

Yes that was the plan, Tony and Laurie were bracing for a few really busy months until this hiatus happened.

It also sounds like why there is yet another delay of the second half of the season

Actually that has been the plan since February. There’s two batches of 10 episodes. The idea is that the first 10 episodes debut on Paramount+ then go to Nickelodeon while the next 10 are prepared for streaming, and the pattern repeats. My hunch is this was a way to give Nick a bone since it was changed from being on standard Nickelodeon linear channel to Paramount+ after the CBS Viacom merger.

The 20-episode order will be split in two parts, with Nick securing the first half ahead of the streaming launch of the second.
Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/how-the-star-trek-universe-will-fit-into-and-expand-on-paramount-4137472/

Yes, we knew that. Discovery did the same thing in its first season (to a lesser extent), adding a mid-season break to give them more time for post-production.

Word is that Paramount+ will be launching here in Sweden late march. I can guarantee that those who don´t want to wait will be using alternative methods, if you know what I mean. For the bigger picture I´m still not sure this was a smart move. From what I can tell people aren´t very keen on having to subscribe to yet another streaming service which could mean that the ST shows loose viewers. And I´m pretty confident that this will mean fewer people just happen to stumble onto an episode or series the way you so easily do on for example Netflix. Paramount+ just isn´t that big here in Europe which could potentially mean fewer fans of the shows.

Wil Wheaton brought up the exact same point as you regarding the similarities between Kirk and Burnham. He said that she is a mix of Kirk and Picard which was interesting.

Sure, some people will pirate the new season of Discovery now instead of waiting until Paramount Plus comes to their countries. I’m just not sure how many people we are talking about here. As someone pointed out in a previous thread, many people in non-English speaking countries usually watch the shows dubbed into their native languages. So ignoring the legal risks of getting caught, an English bootleg copy may not even be an option for many international fans because they simply can’t understand it.
After season 4 of Discovery is done, I think Star Trek Picard will be released next. And Strange New Worlds probably after that. So even if international fans have seen Discovery already, ViacomCBS is probably counting on that there will be some new Trek on their platform once it is rolled out in more international markets.

I do agree that it’s a risk for Paramount Plus because it will probably take a long time until they can expand their international subscriber base enough to compensate for all the money they won’t be getting from Netflix now. Paramount+ is probably completely unknown in most parts of Europe for now simply because the service isn’t even available there. They will need a big marketing push once they expand to new territories.

Hi,

Great podcast!

I’m not sure I agree with the Michael/ Kirk comparison. I never saw Kirk as reckless, like Michael was in this episode. Now Chris Pine’s Kirk, maybe, but even he grew out of it by Beyond.

I think Janeway would be a better fit. She was often reckless and was obsessed with getting the crew home, often with questionable decisions. (Remember invading a Borg Cube for the transwarp coils or running into a star to kill invisible aliens) Burnham is also reckless, obsessed with saving everyone and making questionable decisions.

But, I do love Sonequa as captain. I’m going to be sad for her when she has to make that fateful decision someday….please don’t be Tilly….

One thing that occurred to me when watching the season four opener, is that Discovery really is keeping with the idea of bringing the “action and adventure of the Kelvin movies to streaming” as Kurtzman put it in that promo piece for Paramount+ during the Super Bowl.

While the pitch for Lower was misleading at best, I guess we should believe Kurtzman when he pitches the show he runs. Burnham is the traumatized captain on her hero’s journey with mummy issues instead of daddy issues.

Burnham is also the television Star Trek captain who would go for the dune buggy or that motorcycle in Beyond. Instead her thing is pods and worker bees.

At this point I can accept that there needs to be one of these in the menu, but I find it interesting that our kids aren’t excited by this stuff at all.

Hi! I don’t think Michael is reckless. She shouldn’t have gone off in that worker bee, but only because she’s captain… she knew she was the most qualified to do it and had the best chance of success. I have this Janeway argument all the time, but I don’t think she was reckless either. (The running into a star was after they increased her dopamine levels to test her behavioral restraints… basically pushing her to see when she’d lose it. So that wasn’t really normal Janeway.) But Kirk took HUGE leaps, huge risks, when he thought it was the only way to get what he wanted. A Taste of Armageddon, Gamesters of Triskelion, The Squire of Gothos… Space Seed! Big crazy risks. His choice in Space Seed would cost him his son. I don’t think any of them are reckless but I think Kirk took the biggest leaps.

I agree, not reckless but definitely trusting their Luck.

Lucky commanders who lead from the front garner the trust of their subordinates, but Kirk and Burnham can stretch credibility.

My problem with Burnham and Kelvin Kirk to some extent is that they are shown to get into situations of personal danger that are unnecessary, and that put the ship at risk.

TOS Kirk often went into situations in a classic landing party of 5-6 scenario with 3 senior officers and supporting security and specialists. The red shirts became a trope but they made sense.

TNG switched it up by having the first offer lead away missions in completely unknown situations.

For the 32nd century situation of Federation rebuilding, one can see that it would need to be a full Captain representing the expanding Federation as it tries to bring back planets and species into the fold. What makes no protocol sense is why Burnham is doing that with Book as her support.

The worker bee thing bugged me because it suggests that the remaining crew of Discovery still haven’t got good piloting experience other than Detmer and Burnham.

They smartly had Rhys, the other senior officer established to be a pilot, off ship. However it does stretch credibility. If Burnham is a good captain, she should be making sure her crew are actually developing the skills needed so she doesn’t have to be the one to do it herself.

But think about it… Kirk would often beam down with Spock and McCoy… so the CMO and First Officer were with him. It made sense for a TV show but not for a starship. I do think Burnham shouldn’t have been the one in the worker bee, but I stand by my Kirk comparison. He often went with his gut and took risks, and that’s part of what made him a great captain. I think Burnham does the same a lot of the time!

I’m wondering, though, if they also had her make that choice to learn that she needs to assign those tasks to others in the future, and risk losing those others. Her conversation with the President was about that… then again, it was the President herself who said SHE couldn’t ask others to take risks if she wouldn’t take them too. I do think at some point this season, Burnham will have to send someone to do something instead of going herself, and that person will die, and she’ll have to deal with that.

Very good points. I like your analysis.

Laurie, it’s not just the risk of sending someone into danger.

With the exception of leaving Tilly to lead the ship at the end of season three, Burnham has always assumed she knows best and hasn’t trusted to delegate. In fact, she has mutineed when she felt she knew better than her CO.

Putting faith in subordinates and accepting the consequences of their failures small and large is a key development point for leaders.

Otherwise she’ll be a micromanager and set her officers up for failure when they do have to take the center seat or otherwise make command decisions. Which is exactly what she and Saru did to Tilly.

Part of that is listening to the command team as Pike did, not only to have more fully informed decisions but also to develop their command thinking. The hardest thing is letting go of the reins a bit and giving her officers the chance to learn.

Burnham will likely most often have the most experience, except in narrow specialties. That doesn’t mean she’s always best for the job.

I think it is a second Golden Age of Star Trek. Paramount Parks is making Star Trek a centerpiece attraction in its newest theme park. There may be new movies in production. There are five new Star Trek series in production. Some time in the future, there may be a sixth, if a Section 31 series is greenlighted, starring Michelle Yeoh. Star Trek is in the public consciousness as rarely before, with the recent trip into space by William Shatner. A newly invigorated franchise magazine, Star Trek Explorer, is regularly published. In addition to well-received fan video productions, there is no shortage of interest in making new ones (which is acceptable to Paramount as long as they do not attempt to monetize, are 15 minutes or less in length, and a few other things). The mix of series is an appeal to viewers of all generations. There is even an ongoing documentary series about the whole phenomenon, “The Center Seat.” A Star Trek-themed pleasure cruise in its fifth iteration. There is a traveling Star Trek exhibition. And, to top it all of, there are many actors, writers, and production people who are enthusiastic about a thriving convention scene, in which they perennially participate. And lest we forget, literary Trek is still a thing. So, I am happy about Trek’s present and foreseeable future. And thankful.

I have to say, I agree with you 100%. It is an amazing time to be a Star Trek fan, especially when I think of all those years when there was nothing, or almost nothing.

I find that Disco not clearly telling us who is in what position frustrating too.
Here’s my head cannon:

Chief Engineer,/Spore Drive Specialist : Cmdr. Stamets…..he has to be…..Reno is not there most of the time….

Chief Medical: Dr. Pollard….it seemed she was running sickbay in the last few seasons, even though Culber was featured more….I never got the vibe he was in charge…but I could be wrong…

Acting FO: LTC Rhys

Chief Science: Lt. Tilly

Lt. Nilsson: Spore Drive Operator.