Anika And Liz - Podcast Details

Shows

Antimatter Pod 209. The Shape of Star Trek (SNW 3.06)Anika and Liz battle an ancient and unbeatable enemy: grimdark anti-morality in Star Trek. We're discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail", an episode with all the ingredients of Star Trek except its soul... This feels like a backdoor pilot for a series which has been around for nearly 60 years Why are we spending so much time developing James Kirk instead of the regulars? We have had a whole movie trilogy about Kirk learning to be a good captain! Take a drink every time Anika says this should have been an Una episode! SN...

2025-08-1958 min

Antimatter Pod 207. Jaunt and/or Romp (SNW 3.04)Anika and Liz are here, and we hunger for braincells! Unfortunately, before we can celebrate our favourite episode of the season so far, we have to talk about the Spock/La'an of it all... When Anika said she shipped Spock/La'an, she didn't mean in canon! "I want to slut shame Spock, and not in an ironic way." At this point it's gonna look pretty bad if Spock DOESN'T hook up with Uhura This episode has literally the same ending as "Charades" AND NOW on to the rest of the episode, which was perfectly solid and did not...

2025-08-0654 min

Antimatter Pod 206. Her Body, Pike's Choice (SNW 3.03)Anika and Liz go on a nice road trip to pick some flowers, and nothing bad happens to anyone. Okay, fine, we are discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 3, "Shuttle to Kenfori", including... First of all, WHAT IS HAPPENING ON REBECCA ROMIJN'S HEAD Season 3 has a recurring motif where a woman states explicitly what she wants, and her romantic partner decides to do the opposite Batel and M'Benga both tell Pike repeatedly that Batel has the right to make her own medical choices, and Pike never actually agrees "I really have to finish my Tu...

2025-07-3048 min

Antimatter Pod 205. The Girlfriend Edit (SNW 3.02)Anika and Liz put on their cutest wedding outfits and settle in to discuss episode 2 of Strange New Worlds' third season: "Wedding Bell Blues". Liz is gonna try not to talk about Pike. Anika is going to do her best not to implode. It's fun! This episode was engineered in a lab to target Anika personally Is this a mean-spirited commentary on shippers? We did not need a second sequel to "The Q and the Gray". Or a first sequel. Or "The Q and the Gray". Christine: I don't want any big romantic gestures Spock: Big romantic ges...

2025-07-2342 min

Antimatter Pod 203. Hair Trek (part 2)Anika and Liz let their hair down, and as it tumbles over their shoulders in perfect beach waves identical to the hair of every other woman on television in the 2020s, they return to their discussion of hair and hair styling in Star Trek... Liz has a theory about why Janeway's early hair was … like that. And we're sorry, but it does involve Margaret Thatcher and Madeleine Albright Enterprise: the end of the torturous updo WASP beauty standards, "professionalism" and Michael Burnham The Romulans of season 1 of Picard (yes, Anika is going to wax lyrical about the Romulannisters, an...

2025-07-0957 min

Antimatter Pod 199. Arm Day (Star Trek: Of Gods And Men)Anika and Liz don their sparkliest shirts and biggest earrings, and sit down to watch Star Trek: Of Gods And Men, a fan film starring Nichelle Nichols, Alan Ruck, Walter Koenig and more. You can watch it here, or -- in a much smaller window -- watch an unauthorised HD remaster. We're in our Alan Ruck era, but we were not prepared for the unbelievable hotness of Garrett Wang, or the SURPRISE LIBERTARIANISM. We take … issue. With the timeline-changing catalyst. This comment from a Redditor who claims to have worked on the production sets it in cont...

2025-05-071h 00

Antimatter Pod 197. Gel Budget (TNG 3.15)Anika and Liz apply a normal amount of hair gel and step into a grim alternate universe to discuss Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise", including... Is this TNG's best episode? It could be! This story turns on Picard absolutely trusting the word of a Black woman Rachel Garrett was Liz's very first female starship captain The original premise for this episode is FULLY BONKERS "Yesterday's Enterprise" takes a completely novel approach to writing Tasha: what if she's just good at her job? We engage in a bit of Sela Discourse, because why not? "Yesterday's Enterprise" sets t...

2025-03-1151 min

Antimatter Pod 163. Stepford Beverly (Star Trek: Generations)Anika and Liz are joined by guest Jonathan to discuss a movie Jonathan calls "the greatest Star Trek movie ever made": Star Trek: Generations. Our feels run the spectrum: Jonathan loves it, Liz loves everything except the plot and script, and Anika is … not a fan. Everything that happens on the Enterprise B is the fault of Starfleet PR This is a movie that mistrusts nostalgia, but also believes really strongly in heterosexual domesticity, which makes for an interesting internal conflict Generations gives us the very first glimpse of the fourth estate in the world of Star Trek Ani...

2025-02-181h 42

Antimatter Pod 194. Kolinahr Statement Necklace (ST:TMP)Anika and Liz don their gaudiest statement necklaces and medallions and get the band back together for an adventure in Millennial Greige, 46 years before TikTok invented that concept. Yes! It's time to discuss Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and yes, this episode is 90 minutes long, but please note that's still shorter than the movie itself. And we have a lot to talk about! Such as... Content note: In 2014, actor Stephen Collins admitted to "inappropriate sexual conduct with three female minors". We have chosen to talk about his character, but not his performance - as far as...

2025-01-141h 30

Antimatter Pod 192. Chekhov's T'Pol (LD 5.09)Anika and Liz are pretty sure our alternate universe selves are well-rested, organised and completely on top of their lives. But we are here to be tired, messy and talk about the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Fissure Quest"! While Anika was out touching grass, Liz was getting spoiled for every single surprise in this episode (and also getting blocked on Bsky by Mike McMahan) Jolene Blalock, our queen Curzon: why? "I don't mean to make this a carrot podcast, I just think they're a very overrated root vegetable." Jokes about Harry never being promoted are t...

2024-12-1747 min

Antimatter Pod 190. Bluey for Trekkies (LD 5.06)Anika and Liz mediate a war between sentient shapes, and try not to ask awkward questions like, "Why do you even HAVE genders?" Okay, no, we're discussing Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 6, "Of Gods and Angles"! Another round of the "accept what makes you different" moral, which is not bad, but more suited to Bluey than an allegedly sophisticated comedy for adults (Bluey is successful for the same reason that Star Trek is successful! Competence porn and aspirational levels of decency!) "They could do anything, but they have no imagination!" is a BOLD choice of...

2024-11-2631 min

Antimatter Pod 189. A Real Rick Berman Kind of Horror (LD 5.04 and 5.05)Anika and Liz visit the Klingon homeworld and Starbase 80, and Anika does not partake in blood wine or corn dogs because these episodes are not inclusive for vegetarians. Yes, we're talking about Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes "A Farewell to Farms" and "Starbase 80?!", and we have a few things to say... "A Farewell to Farms" was fine Mary Chieffo deserves better It's time for Liz to admit the truth: she has a soft spot for Dr Migleemo Is Migleemo Freeman's Tuvok? It's very possible that there are external reasons that season 5 of Lower Decks hasn't been...

2024-11-1944 min

Antimatter Pod 188. The Humourless Feminist Killjoy Happy Hour (LD 5.03)Anika and Liz visit a fabulous resort, where we get to sit by the pool and relax while nothing bad happens and no one is weirdly stalked by their ex-girlfriend. We're discussing Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel", and spoilers, we aren't fans! The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel did not deserve this "My shoulders went up around my ears and stayed there for the entire episode." Jennifer is abusive, and it's weird how the show (and the fandom!) seems to consider this zany and delightful This is not a great season for...

2024-11-0540 min

Antimatter Pod 187. Free-Range Organic Facial Hair (LD 5.01 and 5.02)Anika and Liz meet their alternate timeline duplicates, who are exactly the same except Fake Anika is super right-wing and Fake Liz has a luscious beard. It's time! For the Star Trek: Lower Decks fifth season premiere! Liz: I don't ship Rutherford/Tendi/T'Lyn 61 seconds later… Liz: I ship Rutherford/Tendi/T'Lyn Remembering Jeri Taylor New York Comic Con: Anika has been in the presence of greatness (Carol Kane) Is Lower Decks getting tired, or is it Liz who is too tired to feel joy? Beard Boimler and Otherford We are learning SO...

2024-10-2951 min

Antimatter Pod 186. Cottagecore Retirement (Prodigy 2.19 and 2.20)Anika and Liz save the world, and then settle down for some light gardening in a giant midwest McMansion. Yes, the time has come to discuss the season (series?) finale of Star Trek: Prodigy, "Ouroboros" parts 1 and 2. Anika was really onto something when she said Rok-Tahk is the new Wesley What is a good age to start watching Star Trek with kids? "At no point does Prodigy talk down to its audience." Anika's two fictional sons (Dal and Jack) in one episode! This podcast is tough on Indiana, tough on the causes of Indiana Why do so many...

2024-10-1651 min

Antimatter Pod 185. How To Train Your Loom (Prodigy 2.17 and 2.18)Anika and Liz send a bunch of kids off on a black ops mission, which is a cool and normal thing to do and definitely something a healthy maternal role model would do. Oh yeah, we're discussing the Star Trek: Prodigy episodes "Brink" and "Touch of Gray", including... Kids are gonna learn about plausible deniability sooner or later It was always going to be Ascensia versus Gwyn And Ascencia versus Janeway Girl you have too many nemeses, put one back Wesley's plan fails because he didn't expect Gwyn to prioritise her father. WHICH SAYS A LOT ABOUT HIM. (A...

2024-10-0848 min

Antimatter Pod 184. Janeway/Chakotay Is The New Janeway/Chakotay (Prodigy 2.15 and 2.16)Anika and Liz are told to pack it all up and go home, Starfleet Command will be taking care of the podcasting from here on out. And we were absolutely going to obey, but fortunately some plot intervened. We're discussing Star Trek: Prodigy's "Ascension" part 1 and 2, including... Dal and Zero's arcs reach their respective climaxes The Voyager crew were also the Rogue Misfit Squadron The Doctor is at his best in a low-pressure environment, but he's programmed to think he thrives under pressure Dal speedruns his own arc in miniature and comes out the other side Zero: they're...

2024-10-0249 min

Antimatter Pod 183. Warlord Janeway (Prodigy 2.13 and 2.14)Anika and Liz stumble through a series of alternate universes, including the one where we like "A Tribble Called Quest" and the one where we're good at podcasting and don't go off on long tangents about shipping. (That's a lie. That universe doesn't exist.) Liz has a hot take: she does not like "A Tribble Called Quest" and thinks it has an accidental forced-birth subtext The three Dad Genders: Girl Dad, Boy Dad, Scientist Dad Maybe we need to stop making tribble episodes MOVING ON TO THE EPISODE WE ACTUALLY LIKED The Jellico In Command Timeline Okona and...

2024-09-2552 min

Antimatter Pod 181. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOMS!!!!!!!!! (Prodigy 2.09 and 2.10)Anika and Liz arrive at an ancient and timeless ziggurat, congratulate themselves on knowing how to spell "ziggurat", and settle down in a nice mid-century modern apartment to talk about episodes 9 and 10 of Star Trek: Prodigy's second season, "The Devourer Of All Things". Including... Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: Picard, "Assignment: Earth" and more Liz drops some obscure Doctor Who lore Why do so many time travel organisations have a mid-century modern aesthetic? Adulthood is about making the hard choices, but youth is about rejecting the no-win scenario Anika wants to know how Janeway knows Wesley; Liz has a p...

2024-09-1144 min

Antimatter Pod Antimatter Pod Flashback - Past TenseAccording to DS9 episode "Past Tense", the Bell Riots took place from 1 to 3 September 2024. Fandom is marking the occasion with, um, homelessness cosplay; we decided to repost our discussion of that two-parter from 2021. Instead of dressing up as homeless people and doing riot LARP, this is a good time to support your local homelessness organisations and vote against politicians whose policies dehumanise and further marginalise the vulnerable. ----more---- Anika and Liz sit down to discuss DS9’s “Past Tense”. It’s one of those episodes where we go, “This is really good!” and then talk ab...

2024-09-011h 17

Antimatter Pod 179. This Race Could Have Been An Email (Prodigy 2.06 and 2.07)Anika and Liz hit a speedbump with their recording schedule (stupid jobs) and then hit a speedbump with Prodigy in the form of ... two episodes that we did not entirely love? Is that even possible? We're here to talk about episodes 6 and 7 of Star Trek: Prodigy's second season: "Identity Crisis" and "The Fast and the Curious"... Both of these episodes are mainly about putting the pieces in place and setting up threads for later What type of characters are allowed to be audacious and ambitious? Does Prodigy have a problem with body diversity and same-face? Zero/Ma'jel and th...

2024-08-2844 min

Antimatter Pod 178. Childless Dog Ladies (Prodigy 2.05) When it doubt, Anika and Liz seek advice from a whale. Yes, we're talking about the Star Trek: Prodigy episode "Observer's Paradox"! Kathryn Janeway pours a shot of espresso into a larger cup of coffee and then gives it to a teenager; she should not be allowed to care for children Murf definitely knows everything about the USS Discovery After thirty years, Chakotay is finally linked to a real Indigenous nation: the Nicarao people of Central America If we're not meant to be shipping Janeway/Chakotay, then why does this episode exist? The Antimatter...

2024-08-1437 min

Antimatter Pod 176. Jankom Pog Politely Disagrees (Prodigy 2.03)Anika and Liz attempt to change the timeline so Paramount never dropped Prodigy and we got to enjoy each episode week by week … but alas, we did not pay attention in Temporal Mechanics 101. We're discussing Star Trek: Prodigy's "Who Saves the Saviors", including… Rok-Tahk knows when to keep her mouth shut and when to tattle, and also has done nothing wrong (ever, in her entire life) Dal has never watched Star Trek and isn't about to start now We have conflicting feelings about birds, and Liz drops some Doctor Who lore Tysses and Noum are the Marri...

2024-07-1739 min

Antimatter Pod 175. Gwyndala's Dad Has Got It Goin' On (Prodigy 2.01 and 2.02)Anika and Liz sign up for an internship, accidentally steal a ship, and … well, we're discussing the second season premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy! (Please note we have seen the whole season, and although we make some very virtuous remarks about sticking to the episodes at hand, we cannot be trusted to respect the Temporal Prime Directive.) The binge model and Star Trek Dal versus the education system Sexualising the Diviner Zero's story is both a trans narrative and a disability narrative The romances in this series are super low key and free of inherent drama … but wo...

2024-07-0950 min

Antimatter Pod 174. The Puzzle is the People (Discovery 5.10)Anika and Liz get all dressed up to attend a wedding. They just have to figure out the meaning of life first. Easy, right? It's a very special episode as we discuss the series finale of Star Trek: Discovery, "Life, Itself"! We thought we were ready for Discovery to end, but we were wrong Liz suffered a finale-related injury and Anika has wine The Sega Star Trek: The Next Generation game (and also Jenny Nicholson's four-hour video essay about Disney's Galactic Starcruiser experience) It feels like they were setting up Primarch Tahal as the big villain...

2024-06-051h 05

Antimatter Pod 173. Progenitor-Aged Whiskey (Discovery 5.09)Anika and Liz put buckets on their head and infiltrate a Breen ship, pausing along the way to have a serious personal conversation. We're discussing the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Discovery (WE ARE NOT READY), "Lagrange Point"! Including... What sort of ending do we want for Moll? We already have a crush on Primarch Tahal Michael and Book parallel Michael and Ash in "Into the Forest I Go" - is infiltrating an enemy ship a date? We are briefly interrupted by an appearance from Anika's cat's butt Paul and Hugh have been sidestepping drama all season and it...

2024-05-2942 min

Antimatter Pod 172. Being Inner Lit (Discovery 5.08)Liz has done it AGAIN: she forgot to move her microphone. She's audible but a little echoey for the first 10 minutes, before she has a horrible realisation. Anika and Liz are spending their vacation AT THE LIBRARY, where they are checking out some books and checking in on Michael Burnham. Every single thing in this episode is Sarek's fault Libraries and archives are never apolitical Primarch Ruhn heard there were drag queens doing storytime at the Eternal Archive, and he is NOT happy about it Anika has been linking Labyrinth and Alice in Wonderland for YEARS A...

2024-05-2245 min

Antimatter Pod 171. Ice Cold Hot Take (Discovery 5.07)It is so awkward when you literally stick a guy in a refrigerator and then his death provides motivation for his grieving partner to go on a rampage. Anika and Liz discuss season 5, episode 7 of Star Trek: Discovery - "Erigah"(!!!). It is DEVASTATING that this is Discovery's last season and we're going to lose Rayner as fast as we got him Liz accidentally talks herself into shipping Michael/Nahn and also Nahn/Ortegas We have unlocked Rayner's tragic backstory Hot take: Michael is now a better captain than (prime) Georgiou Anika is here to make it about Jack...

2024-05-1550 min

Antimatter Pod 170. Kovich Ex Machina (Discovery 5.06)Anika and Liz infiltrate a pre-warp society, where they absolutely do not enter a race, that is clearly a trap. Not because of the human sacrifice, because of the running! Like episode 3, this felt a bit predictable, but ALSO like a rebuke to "Lift Us Up Where Suffering Cannot Reach" and "Who Watches The Watchers", so we're not mad about it What if obeying the Prime Directive is the unethical option? (Caretaker + Who Watches the Watchers) x (Lift Us Up Where Suffering Cannot Reach + Sacred Ground) - Christopher Pike/Evil Ex + Michael "Fuck the Prime Directive" Burnham Hugh Cu...

2024-05-0833 min

Antimatter Pod 169. (Anika's Version) (Discovery 5.05)(Note: our episodes are getting shorter because the screeners are fairly low quality and don't have subtitles, so it's a bit harder to get deep into the weeds of a story than if we were recording as episodes air. But our day jobs are quite busy, so we need to record as far in advance as possible in order to make our self-imposed deadlines. It's a pickle!) Anika and Liz beam over to an eerily familiar starship, steal a locket and a plush gecko, and discuss episode 5 of Star Trek: Discovery's fifth and final season, "Mirrors". ...

2024-05-0136 min

Antimatter Pod 168. Wig Continuity (Discovery 5.04)Anika and Liz are caught in a time loop, which is actually a nice opportunity for a nap when you think about it. We're talking about Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange"! Let's check in with Anika, The Only Person Who Hated "Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad". She thought "Face The Strange" was … good "I don't wanna sound creepy, but I have a pretty good idea of where Jason Isaacs is at all times." This season feels like an intentional final season, even though we know that's not true Michael is the collaborative le...

2024-04-2443 min

Antimatter Pod 166. His Holiness Pope David Cronenberg (Disco 5.01 and 5.02)First, we both have essays out! On Raffi by Anika Dane is in the current issue of Star Trek Quarterly The Diversity Paradox: Star Trek, Star Trek fandom, and the limits of fandom as progressivism by Liz Barr is in Speculative Insight SECOND, it's time. Anika and Liz are being called away from a fancy 32nd century cocktail party to stand in an empty void and discuss the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery's fifth and final season... Compared with the over-the-top emotional drama monarchs of Star Trek: Picard's third season, i...

2024-04-1049 min

Antimatter Pod 165. Hallmark Trek (VOY 5.22)Anika and Liz fire up the ancestry.com subscription and do a deep dive into an episode which does a deep dive into Kathryn Janeway's heritage. Yes, we're watching "11:59", an episode which has aged badly but maybe wasn't ever good to start with. This is ostensibly the sort of filler episode that people now say they want more of, but it mistakes trivia for character development "Small town business owner who hates progress and reveres the past" is a type that hits different in 2024 Henry Janeway voted for Mike Pence Why are so many (white) starship captains from...

2024-03-2746 min

Antimatter Pod 164. The Sito Jaxa Duology (TNG 5.19 and 7.15)Anika and Liz assemble a board of inquiry and examine two episodes which turned out to be significant for Star Trek: Lower Decks - "The First Duty" and "Lower Decks". Are we gonna cry? Oh yes. "The First Duty": Imagine if Beverly Crusher got to parent her son "Anika needs to talk about Jack Crusher" is an item in our outline We get into the really serious issue: who is dating whom in Nova Squadron? Liz's knowledge of American high school life, as gleaned from YA fiction and Archie comics Star Trek is a place where i...

2024-03-1259 min

Antimatter Pod 163. PUA seeks Tradwife (TOS 1.22)Anika and Liz don their finest gold mesh and settle in to discuss a key Star Trek episode: "Space Seed"... It's been said before, but it bears repeating: this episode is super racist (would it have been better or worse if they had renamed Khan and made him Mexican?) Time to ask the real questions: why are there so many women in Star Trek named Marla? Marlene McGivers: aspiring tradwife We've found it. A woman in Star Trek that neither Anika nor Liz can defend Does SNW break "Space Seed"? But seriously, why has La'an not changed her n...

2024-02-2750 min

Antimatter Pod 162. Certain Type of Feminism-CodedLast April, Anika and Liz each bought a copy of the June 1999 issue of the official Star Trek magazine. Then we had ... some other things to podcast about. But we've finally opened it, and we're talking about... Remember when we'd pay US$7.99 -- or AU$15! -- for a magazine that contained a couple of interviews, some facts we already knew about the Klingon Empire and a Bird-of-Prey pinup? The Kate Mulgrew interview: She does not talk about her relationship with Jeri Ryan (but we do) None of the other captains of this era had t...

2024-02-1358 min

Antimatter Pod 161. Holding Hands at the Malt ShopWe're back for 2024! With some genuinely awful sound quality because Liz is so out of practice that she forgot to move her microphone from its place on top of the printer to … you know. Somewhere in the vicinity of her mouth. But the show must go on, and Anika and Liz are pulling the names of Star Trek men out of a hat and deciding whether or not they're any good in bed. Yes, it's the SEX … Now That We've Got Your Attention episode, and decidedly not suitable for children. The hat has us talking about...

2024-01-2359 min

Antimatter Pod 160. Chekov’s Genesis Device (LD 4.10)Anika and Liz do a deal with some Orions and definitely know which Chek(h)ov had the gun on the mantelpiece, it is a joke, we are only accepting criticism if it is delivered via Mark Twain impression. And Anika is not home to Mark Twain impressions. Yes, it's the finale of season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Old Friends, New Planets"! They stuck the landing! We remain, as we have been since episode 1, a Beckett Mariner Stan Podcast You Are Not Special, Bro: The Nicholas Locarno Story Star Trek is bad at romance (but...

2023-11-0741 min

Antimatter Pod 158. The Vendorians Work For the Bourgeoisie [LD 4.08]Anika and Liz beam down to a cave, get trapped, and record the shortest regular episode of Antimatter Pod yet! But that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy Lower Decks season 4 episode 8, "Caves", or that we're not going to discuss important issues such as... It is not, in fact, time for Lower Decks to break up the band (But it is time for them to see other officers, and that's okay!) Are Vendorians real? Anika has doubts Liz has THREE VERY SPECIFIC BONE SQUICKS and so far this season Lower Decks has hit two of them This is an...

2023-10-2517 min

Antimatter Pod 157. The Three Laws of Evil Robotics [LD 4.07]Anika and Liz grow some tomatoes and share some feelings in Evil Podcaster Therapy. Specifically, we're sharing feelings about Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "A Few Badgeys More", including: This episode was made for Anika, except it's about characters she doesn't care about The birds in Liz's neighbourhood were extra loud just for us The evil AI trope We're getting all Asimovian up in here Like and subscribe to Badgeycast, the new podcast hosted by Badgey and the Cosmic Koala! Er, how many times has the Federation almost been destroyed by an AI using its subspace network? Guys...

2023-10-1737 min

Antimatter Pod 155. The Overthinking Podcast (LD 4.05)It's Romulan ale o'clock! Anika and Liz fill their yard glasses with something brightly coloured and alcoholic, don their finest diplomatic bicycle shorts, and discuss Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "Empathological Fallacies"! This episode is truly a gift for Star Trek Las Vegas cosplayers Anika's Totally Spies theory Liz's Daria theory Here on the Taking Things Too Seriously Podcast, we are curious about the evolutionary implications of Catians hunting Betazoids "Shaxs, man. Shaxs." HOLISTIC SECURITY

2023-10-0428 min

Antimatter Pod 154. Hijinks and Bad Sex Ideas (LD 4.04)Faced with a choice between attending a wedding or dressing up as Mark Twain for conflict resolution via roleplay, Anika and Liz will DEFINITELY take the open bar. We're discussing season 4, episode 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Something Borrowed, Something Blue"! ORIONS! LIZ'S BELOVED! Are the Orions really all that secretive about their culture, or is it just that the Federation never asked? The Orions need a gender equality movement Liz: "I don't know why I'm so unfocused." It's because she was coming down with covid. Anika is not a fan of Mark Twain We are familiar with yo...

2023-09-2741 min

Antimatter Pod 153. The Cosmic Koala (LD 4.03)We've updated our operating systems and speedrun the allamaraine game, and now Anika and Liz are sitting down to discuss the third episode of the fourth season of Lower Decks, "In the Cradle of Vexilon"... We don't mind a bit of a workplace hierarchy now and then Liz has a WHOLE THEORY about how Captain Freeman's command style is why Beckett Mariner is the way she is We go off on a tangent about Voyager, specifically about that time Naomi Wildman died and was replaced by a duplicate. So, um, if dead baby chat is not for you...

2023-09-2028 min

Antimatter Pod 151. Working Girl (Nyota’s Version) (SNW 2.10)Anika and Liz stop off in a small town in the ... midwest? to hang out in a diner? And discuss "Hegemony", the second season finale of Strange New Worlds? Which was definitely an episode of television? The Gorn problem (why are the characters so incurious about them?) SNW rips off the Alien franchise without understanding it Concept: promote Pike early, stash him on Starbase One with April, give Batel the Enterprise Do the writers know Erika Ortegas is a regular character? Do they know Sam Kirk is not? Is it because we're both career admin people that we d...

2023-08-301h 16

Antimatter Pod 150. All Hurt, No Comfort (SNW 2.08)"Under the Cloak of War" is a really serious, complex episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ... but don't worry, Anika and Liz are here to talk about the sex pollen fic opportunities! And also: Looking at fan reactions to this episode, one might almost begin to think people apply a different standard to new Trek compared with the Star Trek of the '90s Liz completely misremembers the matter of the Accountant of Auschwitz: it was Germany, not Israel, who put him on trial and sentenced him to prison, and he died before he began his sentence ...

2023-08-091h 02

Antimatter Pod 148. His Job Is Just … Trek (SNW 2.08)Anika and Liz get sucked into a vortex and are mysteriously transformed from cartoons into real human beings! Yes, it's time to talk about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 7, "Those Old Scientists"! Hi, we loved this episode! Boimler is fandom: he expects things to be a certain way and freaks out that SNW is different Mariner is also fandom: she loves Uhura and finds her inspiring, and has more respect for canon than she wants to admit Anika has a presentation on how "Those Old Scientists" parallels the plot of Barbie (2023) (this episode is also about i...

2023-08-0247 min

Antimatter Pod 147. Star Trek: Microaggressions (SNW 2.06)Anika and Liz roll up to a cool-looking nebula, only to find it's alive! Hey, are we experiencing deja vu? Does the Federation mining industry need to be stopped at all costs? We're discussing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 6, "Lost in Translation"! Please stop using disabled bodies as monsters, show! It's interesting how SNW is reproducing the problems (episodic storytelling, the reset button) that stymied Voyager White men and Christine get development through hijinks and romantic adventures; everyone else gets trauma, and a disproportionate amount of it falls on Black characters Is La'an jealous because Jim...

2023-07-261h 03

Antimatter Pod 145. Whose Utopia Is It Anyway? (SNW 2.04)Anika and Liz put on their cute away mission hats and, in between high-pitched noises and Liz's neighbour revving his car, discuss the Strange New Worlds episode "Among the Lotus Eaters"... Liz had a visceral reaction to this episode: a timeskip-inducing migraine would have been preferable WORSE, Anika is indifferent Character development for Ortegas: she flies the ship! Hey, space millennials! Don't go wanting career advancement! Don't even put a toe outside your designated box! Speaking of designated boxes, the whole Warrior!M'Benga thing? Yikes It feels like Pike is incredibly bad at his job Captain Batel, honey, gi...

2023-07-1246 min

Antimatter Pod 144. Rom(ulan)Com (SNW 2.03)Anika and Liz find themselves stranded in 2023 Toronto, and over some Tim Hortons and poutine, catch up to discuss the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"... FIRST we are very angry and sad about the cancellation of Star Trek: Prodigy SECOND, we were extremely nervous going into this episode, and then … we loved it? Introducing Paul Wesley's Kirk via a set of AUs is really smart Is this the best episode of Enterprise or the sequel to "Time and Again" we didn't know we needed? Yes. Is it a problem that SNW keeps rev...

2023-07-0554 min

Antimatter Pod 143. Star Trek: JAG (SNW 2.02)Anika and Liz don their dress uniforms and stand trial for the crime of ... oh, something. Background bird noise and that helicopter, probably. But ALSO we are here to talk about season 2, episode 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: "Ad Astra Per Aspera", including... Gene Roddenberry would be SO MAD there's a civil rights lawyer in Star Trek! Which is not the ONLY reason it's great, but it's one! Utopias are hard work and civil rights progress via litigation is incremental, and this episode gets that This is a Neera Ketou Stan Podcast HOWEVER Liz thinks the writing...

2023-06-2857 min

Antimatter Pod 141. Fake It Til You Make It (SNW 2.01)Anika and Liz are left unsupervised for a moment, so what choice do they have but to steal the Enterprise? Yes, season 2 of Strange New Worlds has begun, and we are here to discuss: This was a solid B+ of an episode! Why does The Algorithm want us to think everyone hated it? We know more about Pelia from two scenes than we've learned about Ortegas in a whole season The algorithm keeps bringing us the Bad Spock Takes But seriously, we can criticise the heteronormativity without being biphobic and/or misogynistic Anika makes the argument f...

2023-06-2159 min

Antimatter Pod 141. The Ninth Episode Curse (Star Trek: Picard season 3 - part 2)Anika and Liz put on their most stylish Starfleet tactical vests and walk right into a trap. And along the way, we finish our discussion of season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, including... We are not impressed by Captain Shaw The Jack and Seven relationship is a HIGHLIGHT Worf treats Raffi better than literally anyone else in the whole of Star Trek: Picard, which is … bad. Like, it's great! But it's bad Liz hijacks the podcast to talk about Succession, and how Terry Matalas is like Logan Roy "Vox" is better than previous penultimate episodes of the seasons, but st...

2023-06-141h 05

Antimatter Pod 140. The Main Character Of The Federation (Star Trek: Picard season 3 - part 1)We're putting on our old uniforms, hijacking a starship and stealing a shuttle to rescue Beverly Crusher, and we have NO REGRETS. Yes, it's finally time for Anika and Liz to talk about Star Trek: Picard... There is a strong possibility that this was … bad In Star Trek: Picard, Borg nonsense is always on the horizon Is Terry Matalas mirror!Anika? The signs are there! A lot of our problems with this season are actually with season 2, ie, the discarding of the original cast Some TNG characters were incredibly well-served in season 3. Others… Returning female characters, fridging, and men w...

2023-06-0748 min

Antimatter Pod 139. Every Trek Everywhere All At Once (Q-Squared)Anika and Liz confront their alternate universe selves (who are them but with more trauma and different hairstyles). Along the way, we discuss... Toxic masculinity spoils the party again Track A is trauma all the way down The entire multiverse ships Picard/Crusher, which, honestly? Feels right! We shouldn't have to say this, but infidelity does not justify murder Like Come on guys Content warning: we discuss real world family violence and the murder-suicide in this book from about 7:25 to 15:00 (The specific details of the murder-suicide run from 11:42 to 15:00) (Also Liz's cat started walking acoss the desk and...

2023-05-2450 min

Antimatter Pod 136. Into the Trekiverse (Q-Squared)FIRST: After we recorded this episode, we learned that Peter David is recovering from a series of strokes, along with a mild heart attack. His wife is raising money for his medical bills, and if you enjoy our coverage of his work, please consider throwing a few bucks their way. Anika and Liz hop some timelines and read pages 1-105 (paperback edition) of Q-Squared by Peter David, and along the way, discuss… Our first encounters with the novel A brief overview of Picard/Crusher shipping in the official tie-ins They don't make tie-in novels like they us...

2023-04-0559 min

Antimatter Pod 134. Android Butt (TNG 1.13)"Hey, someone left a naked disassembled android lying around! We should definitely rebuild him!" Anika and Liz, minus their evil twins, discuss "Datalore" … with some Picard spoilers along the way. Skip to 00:49 to avoid the big spoiler and also Liz singing (Liz actually pronounces French words even worse than she sings, so, um, apologies to France) "I apologise to everyone for comparing Beverly Crusher to Darth Vader, however…" This is an episode about family, and not just the Soongs Breaking down the "Shut up, Wesley" scene Picard spoilers from 26:03 to 26:15 And again from 27:05 to 27:32 If you are a Wil W...

2023-03-0759 min

Antimatter Pod 133. Fandom UnicornsIt's Valentine's Day! Or close enough. Anika and Liz settle in with chocolate, champagne and a list of their favourite OTPs. And OT3s. And … look, we have so many ships, we're practically a navy. Picard/Crusher: our first OTP Gwyn/Dal: #OTPCatboots Fifty years and all it took to make Anika ship Spock/Chapel was letting Christine have a personality Anika's favourite Star Trek rarepair will SHOCK and SCANDALIZE Janeway/Kashyk shippers: there were dozens of us in 2000! Has Janeway/Paris become a rarepair? That's definitely not going to stop Anika from shipping it! (We respectfully disagree with...

2023-02-151h 04

Antimatter Pod 131. Fortune Cookie TherapyAnika and Liz don their blue shirts and do a deep dive into depictions of depression in Star Trek. (Please note this includes discussions of suicide and self-harm.) The early years: Dr Elizabeth Dehner Badmirals Spock's stories can be a metaphor for a lot of things, but the emotional repression to depression pipeline is definitely one of them (Anika has a whole THING about The Motion Picture and Spock's arc, it's amazing) The 90s: A counsellor on the bridge Stories that are explicitly about mental health Lwaxana Troi Sometimes the problem is not the depiction in the ser...

2023-01-181h 15

Antimatter Pod 129. Classic Hijinks (Prodigy 1.17 and 1.18)Anika and Liz swap bodies and invade some holonovels as we discuss the Star Trek: Prodigy episodes "Ghost in the Machine" and "Mindwalk". And along the way, we touch on... Into the holo-verse Where is the Zero-as-Dixon-Hill story we need and deserve? Jankom Pog is NOT OKAY and we're into that Seriously, just a few weeks ago, we were like, "Jankom is the flattest character?" HOW WRONG WE WERE Murf. Just. Murf. What? It is OUTRAGEOUS that Paramount hasn't released Delta Heart: Magical Veterinarian as a phone game We do not dislike Dal's pirate game, but it doesn't...

2022-12-2044 min

Antimatter Pod 127. Meta-Murf-osis (Prodigy 1.14)Anika and Liz don their cutest Starfleet-issue hooded coats and beam down to an icy outpost in search of some fugitives, and along the way, we discuss Star Trek: Prodigy's fourteenth episode! "We have a plan but everything goes wrong" and "this could all be resolved if people talk to each other" are classic plots going back to Shakespeare and beyond, BUT that doesn't mean we have to like them! Liz spends an episode talking about Xindi Insectoids even though they are clearly Reptilians Stop! Don't split up the landing party! Don't leave Rok-Tahk unsupervised! Honestly, these teenagers...

2022-11-2339 min

Antimatter Pod 126. Shatner Voice (Prodigy 1.13)Anika and Liz answer a distress call and wind up on the planet of the Strange New Worlds fans. We had some audio issues in recording and sound a bit like we're under flawlessly animated water, but we discuss things like… how Liz is explicitly banned from using her Shatner voice for the whole episode We have decided to ship Chakotay/The Diviner When entertainment becomes the entirety of one's culture How to be Starfleet (you don't need a uniform or a hashtag) Galaxy Quest, "Muse" and "Far Beyond the Stars" What better way to introduce young viewers to...

2022-11-1534 min

Antimatter Pod 125. Woke Borg (Prodigy 1.12)Hey, that's a nice cube. Let's steal their stuff! What could possibly go wrong?! Anika and Liz discuss Star Trek: Prodigy's "Let Sleeping Borg Lie", including… Nodding to past Borg stories while also doing something new There's a fantastic synchronicity between Lower Decks's second contact concept and Prodigy's foundation being the Federation's apparent failure to follow up after a first contact All of Janeway's assumptions are wrong, and it's GREAT We take a few minutes to be a Tolkien podcast (Rings of Power spoilers) It turns out the real collective is the friends we made along the way An...

2022-11-0836 min

Antimatter Pod 123. The Very Slow Tiger Of Anxiety (Prodigy 1.11)Anika and Liz are rolling up to a starbase in a stolen starship, putting on our un-earned cadet uniforms and discussing the new episode of Star Trek: Prodigy and children in Star Trek in general! The chase is on! Lieutenant jg Barniss Frex is THE WORST Starfleet needs to start recruiting career bureaucrats who LIKE being assigned to sit in an office in space and do paperwork. Like … us! We don't actually think Dal is a Janeway/Paris salamander baby, but we have a lot of thoughts about how it would be great if he was It would be...

2022-11-021h 00

Antimatter Pod 122. Girlboss, Gaslight, Gatekeep (Kai Winn deep dive, part 3)Anika and Liz are letting their hair down and ... giving themselves to the Pah Wraiths? This seems like a bad idea... Remembering Louise Fletcher All Star Treks should end before they have a mediocre seventh season that undermines everything that came earlier We do not care for the Pah Wraiths as a concept Make sure you're sitting down because Liz has something nice to say about Rick Berman Kira is a Jewish Bajoran and Winn is a Christian Bajoran It turns out that if you watch all the Winn episodes in a short space of time, her season...

2022-10-1254 min

Antimatter Pod 120. Live, Pagh, Love (Kai Winn deep dive, part 1)Put on your best Opera House hat and join Anika and Liz as we dive into the first of a three-episode deep dive into Kai Winn Adami. This week, we're looking at her rise to power -- covering the episodes "In The Hands Of The Prophets", "The Circle", "The Siege" and "The Collaborator." And along the way, we discuss... If you only watch the Winn episodes, and maybe even only the Winn scenes, DS9 is a really amazing show about two women fighting about religion and politics "In The Hands Of The Prophets" - just because Winn is...

2022-09-0757 min

Antimatter Pod 119. Balance of Error (SNW 1.08, 1.09 and 1.10)Anika and Liz put on some fancy costumes, murder some Gorn babies and agree: that was definitely a season of television. But did we actually like season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? Erm. Well. Remember when we were afraid this would be the Pike, Spock and Una show? It's definitely not the Una show, and we have different opinions on whether or not it's a Spock show! It's fascinating how season one of SNW shares a lot of problems with season one of TNG, but no one is out there arguing that TNG's...

2022-07-231h 31

Antimatter Pod 118. The Ones Who Warp Away From Omelas/Talk Like A Space Pirate Day (SNW 1.06 and 1.07)Content warning: We discuss school shootings, gun violence and child death a LOT in this episode, but specific time stamps are as follows: Conversation about the Uvalde massacre from 4:30 to 6:26 The coronavirus death toll: 8:42 to 9:01 but also Liz is very mean about the British to 10:04 Back to school shootings, and also Kenobi, from 25:41 to 31:38 Anika and Liz don their finest catsuits to plan a jail break and discuss episodes 6 ("Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach") and 7 ("The Serene Squall") of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Is it possible we are being punked? Is everyone else getting a...

2022-06-221h 11

Antimatter Pod 117. Sex and the Starship (SNW 1.04 and 1.05)Anika and Liz have put on our memorial pins and fishing hats (and briefly considered, then rejected, a body swap) to discuss Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episodes Memento Mori and Spock Amok... Everyone says SNW is a good show and we're starting to feel a bit gaslit… "Memento Mori" and SNW's whole depiction of the Gorn becomes uncomfortable when you look at "Arena" and realise they were conceived as an allegory for Native Americans Liz cites Finding Eliza by Larissa Behrendt as, among other things, an examination of the European preoccupation with cannibalism It's weird how Worf, Mi...

2022-06-0849 min

Antimatter Pod 116. La’an Skywalker (SNW 1.03)Anika and Liz beam up through an ion storm and discuss the third episode of Strange New Worlds, "Ghosts of Illyria". Topics we cover include… This is a pretty mediocre episode and the character stuff is very hit or miss Do we need a log at the end to tell us what the moral is? We love La'an and we want to know everything about her, but her story makes no sense here "I never think of you as a child," in the context of a character first encountered as a child, is a terrible line Somehow … Palpatine has r...

2022-05-2533 min

Antimatter Pod 113. Riot Grrrl Borg (PIC 2.07 and 2.08)Anika and Liz are locked in the FBI's basement to discuss the latest two episodes of Star Trek: Picard, "Monsters" and "Mercy". We have a few follow-ups to our discussion of mental health in our mini-ep, but otherwise we're skirting around the Yvette plotline in "Monsters" Liz maybe owes Michael Chabon an apology Okay, but it's probably a bad sign when Law & Order addresses the same issues as Star Trek but more progressively Raffi? Manipulative? Really? Seven and Raffi are both dealing with a LOT, and this episode puts a lot of their recent interactions in context (finally) ...

2022-04-271h 03

Antimatter Pod 110. A Girl-Shaped Motivation (PIC 2.05)Put on a nice dress and bring your imaginary friend, Anika and Liz are here to talk about Star Trek: Picard's "Fly Me To The Moon"! We have a bit of a scheduling change coming up! Tallinn: is she now or has she ever been a cat? Liz is overthinking things like it's her job Renee Picard and Kore Soong: not so much characters yet Liz has this whole THING about Persephone, aka Kore, and the Egyptian goddess Isis, and look, she doesn't get to use her Classics degree that often, just humour her like Anika does Expositional c...

2022-04-0656 min

Antimatter Pod 108. Oh Well, Star Trek (Disco 4.13)We have a finale! Anika and Liz put on a lightshow, blow up a techbro, and discuss… We get our nitpicks out of the way first Michael is a hard act to follow when it comes to big speeches Ndoye has taken the final step to becoming a fully fledged character, and we love it We find opportunities to compare TWO characters to Admiral Cornwell #ourbrand The "emotions? In my Star Trek?" argument comes up again; Liz makes snoring noises Wait, did we know Federation HQ was mobile??? Anika talks about The Abyss Stacey Abrams! Liz has a ho...

2022-03-2252 min

Antimatter Pod 107. Pondering the Orb (Disco 4.12)Anika and Liz meet the 10-C, shout enough to scare Grudge, and contemplate… What can Book's fate possibly be? Liz has a theory! Tarka is WORSE THAN GUL DUKAT, YOU GUYS A VERY brief digression into matters Picard related (note spoilers) "Why is Star Trek about feelings all of a sudden?" We cannot believe this is even a point of discussion, but since it's come up, we have a rant we prepared earlier! We do enjoy a nice puzzle… Some WILD SPECULATION about the possibilities for season 5 Wait, why haven't they just chucked a spacesuit on T'Rina and sent...

2022-03-1557 min

Antimatter Pod 106. Anthropology Speedrun (Disco 4.11)Trekapalooza begins! Anika and Liz put Picard on hold to talk about episode 11 of Discovery's fourth season: Rosetta. Join us as we visit a new planet, huff some feelings dust and discuss… It's been a while since we had a nice landing party on this show! Star Trek should never, ever try to be cool If you are tired of hearing Liz complain about Detmer, good news: she has completely changed her opinion! 10-C, anthropology 101 and the elephant's graveyard in The Lion King Sometimes a little knowledge about reality can impede one's enjoyment of Star Trek, which is app...

2022-03-0846 min

Antimatter Pod 105. The Fourth Doctor Walks Into A Ridley Scott Film (Disco 4.10)Discovery enters the Galactic Barrier, and while real world physicists weep, Anika and Liz turn down the saturation and discuss: Just when we thought Disco had mastered pacing... The Tarka problem endures Saru! T'Rina! Their love! "Insecurity is universal." Discovery is a deeply insecure show. Is MURF Species 10-C?! Translation, alteration and unconscious bias Liz's next door neighbour does a bit of yard work, which is great… We have started shipping Vance/Rillak, which means we are also VERY concerned that Rillak's gonna go get herself blown up or something And more!

2022-03-0141 min

Antimatter Pod 102. Everybody Lives! (Prodigy 1.10)Prodigy comes in for an almost flawless mid-season finale! Anika and Liz take a good, long look at Zero, and the discuss: The sheer joy of watching a carefully planned story, competently told If Lower Decks and Picard are sequels to TNG, and Prodigy is a sequel to Voyager, will the Section 31 series be a sequel to DS9? (Liz has suggestions and they involve casting Alexander Siddig…) We talk a lot about how the Diviner is a child slaver, but he also has the regular kind of slaves AND THAT'S NOT BETTER! How the Diviner is like one pa...

2022-02-0857 min

Antimatter Pod 101. Save the Cat(ian) (Prodigy 1.09)It is the PENULTIMATE episode of Prodigy for now, and we LOVED it! Anika and Liz plan a reverse heist and discuss: Drednok: the Swiss army knife of henchmen (henchdroids) We love our fictional children We also love terrible dads in fiction and we don't apologise (HOWEVER, Anika has been accused of being a Gul Dukat apologist, and she wants us to know SHE WOULD NEVER) Maybe the Diviner has really good reasons for hating the Federation, but the CHILD SLAVERY makes it a bit difficult to sympathise… New uniforms means we have OPINIONS! Does Anika have to ex...

2022-02-0139 min

Antimatter Pod 95. The Tragedy of Darth Greg the Wise (Disco 1.05)'Twas a few days before Christmas, and here on Discord, Anika and Liz got together to talk about Star Trek and politely overlook Liz's total and absolute inability to use rhyme or meter. It turns out we were onto something thematically relevant with our calls for prison abolition! "The Examples" feels like TNG or Voyager, and this time we mean it as a compliment (It feels so much like a Voyager episode that we have to debate whether or not the character played by an First Nations actor was an ethnic stereotype…) Ruon Tarka is a great foil fo...

2021-12-2147 min

Antimatter Pod 94. Anika‘s Green Son (Disco 4.04)Liz and Anika put on their dress uniforms and turn up to sit quietly and look official at a diplomatic event. …but we're not very good at that, so instead we talk about: The departing character, our feelings and our hopes This is an episode about Michael using her middle child powers Vulcans love drama almost as much as they love logic, and we are HERE for it Anika is delighted to see Hugh in action as Discovery's therapist Are we due for someone else's planet to asplode? Could this be Discovery's final season? Liz has an i...

2021-12-1450 min

Antimatter Pod 93. Illogical Real Estate Scams (Disco 4.03)It's a Qowat Milat road trip! Pack your sword, moisturise your hands and join Anika and Liz as we talk about "Choose to Live"! Actually we did not love this episode and feel slightly bad about it (but maybe the writers should feel worse?) PRESIDENT RILLAK DID NOTHING WRONG, Liz has a powerpoint presentation and an interpretive dance to persuade you if you disagree We are once again calling for the abolition of the carceral state We don't know enough about the Federation OR Ni'Varan justice systems to understand why Michael disagrees with Rillak, and that's kind of...

2021-12-0749 min

Antimatter Pod 92. Greg! The Anomaly!! (Disco 4.02)Paramount is an extremely clever and foresighted institution, which is why now part of the world has Discovery (sort of), while Americans get to squeeze it in alongside Thanksgiving. But Anika and Liz overcame the logistical challenges! And we are here to talk about... The anomaly's name is Greg now We talk a lot about grief in this ep, but also how Liz thinks Michael and Book should have a baby, which is a totally legitimate solution to any problem Michael Burnham is allowed to cry, it is good that she is capable of crying, and the logic...

2021-11-3055 min

Antimatter Pod 89. Clippy Nostalgia (Prodigy 1.03)Anika and Liz are here to drink holographic coffee and talk about episode 3 of Star Trek: Prodigy ... and they're all out of coffee. Long Janeway is Clippy, and we're sort of into it The kids who choose their roles and the kids whose roles are given to them It's wild that (adult) viewers are criticising Dal for mistrusting authority and not being a perfect Starfleet cadet, and there are also some racial undertones Likewise, Gwyn has done terrible things and has bad opinions, but she is also at the beginning of her journey to learn better The Federation...

2021-11-0952 min

Antimatter Pod 88. Murf Slime Possibilities (Prodigy 1.01)It's time … for brand new Star Trek! Anika and Liz sit down to talk about Star Trek: Prodigy, and discuss: It's a little bit Star Warsy … but we think that's a good thing Star Trek has a reputation for being extremely serious, and its fandom for being utterly humourless, and Prodigy is taking Star Wars and MCU fans and showing them that's not true Save the cat (no, please, save that poor kitten!) We love and adore Gwyn, a character who was practically made for us The darkness of children's stories How did all these alpha quadrant species end u...

2021-11-0250 min

Antimatter Pod 87. Boimler‘s EverythingAnika and Liz catch up on New York Comic-Con and the second half of Lower Decks season 2. Which … we loved! We talk about: Anika's NYCC experience A new Discovery trailer! Gosh, people have awfully strong opinions about the Ferengi make-up… Serenading the cast Liz loves the Federation president and has pre-forgiven her for any war crimes she might do. Prodigy's goal is to welcome new people to Star Trek without making them watch hundreds of hours of TV and movies, and we are HERE for it. We wound up LOVING the rest of Lower Decks season 2 ...except...

2021-10-261h 06

Antimatter Pod 84. The Boimler Who Became The Other BoimlerAnika and Liz check in on season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks. And ... maybe it isn't for us? And that's okay! Along the way, we talk about: Walking the line between responding to fans versus pandering We have feelings about the depiction of Orion women in Lower Decks … and, in fairness, most of Trek We have even stronger feelings about the Ferengi here. "Why???" is a feeling, right? We're also not into the Pakleds! This remains a Beckett Mariner stan podcast Liz is still lukewarm on Boimler, but Anika finds him charming and appreciates the me...

2021-09-1549 min

Antimatter Pod 83. Saved by the Tech MillionaireAnika and Liz sit down to discuss DS9's "Past Tense". It's one of those episodes where we go, "This is really good!" and then talk about its problems for an hour. Everyone knows "Past Tense" is a great two-parter, but what our theory presupposes is … maybe it's deeply flawed? But seriously, "This is a great episode" is the beginning, not the end, of the conversation The great man theory of fake history The neoliberalism of DS9 Anika's big Reagan rant finally makes it through editing into an episode! Empathy versus apathy This is a really bad episode fo...

2021-08-311h 12

Antimatter Pod 80. A Really Great PersonalityAnika and Liz watch the TOS episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty". And wow, we have a LOT to discuss: Liz attempts to summarise the episode and we learn an important lesson about taking notes A Medusan character in Prodigy As a story about disability, this is … interesting. There's a lot to unpack. Including Kollos, because he lives in a box We only want the best for Miranda Jones "Both the Spock stuff and the Miranda stuff are actually all about how you present yourself versus who you are to yourself." Telepathy and mental health professionals in Ge...

2021-07-141h 05

Antimatter Pod 79. #OwnVoices Fan FictionAnika and Liz take a trip back to 1995 and the first three stories in the Talking Stick/Circle fic series by Macedon and Peg Robinson, and discuss: Usenet memories Decolonising Star Trek Chakotay, the significance of a Native American writer handling a Native American character, and the … notable lack thereof in the show itself Another round of religion in Star Trek “People need to understand that Chakotay/Seven was not endgame.” Fandom, homophobia and het that's not heteronormative It's the episode where we look back and go, "Oh, YIKES."

2021-06-3057 min

Antimatter Pod 75. It's Ruined Childhoods AgainWe're joined by friend of the podcast Tim, who tells us about the IMDB ratings system and how it reflects fandom's biases. Sounds dry? No, it's fascinating! At least to us… [Note: we had some audio challenges with this episode, and Tim is not always as audible as we'd like -- apologies.] What is the IMDB ratings systems and why should Anika, specifically, care? The short answer: sexism That is, certain Treks (you can probably guess which ones) are rated higher by women than men (the IMDB system is purely binary), and far more men rate thi...

2021-04-1457 min

Antimatter Pod 73. The Rick Berman ProblemAnika and Liz discuss bisexuality in Star Trek -- a topic which has been on our agenda since the only on-screen representation was the Mirror Universe. Thank heavens times have changed! ...Right? Because, wow, the MU is not the place to go for good rep! Headcanons are not the same as canonical representation Pine is a top-tier Chris Deniable, erasable and word-of-God queerness in media The Trill Problem, part 1: We need to talk about Jadzia An unpopular opinion? On Antimatter Pod? It's more likely than you think! The Trill Problem, part 2: Beverly and Odan Headcanon is not canon...

2021-03-161h 13

Antimatter Pod 71. Edith Keeler in the 23rd CenturyAnika and Liz revisit one of the most universally praised episodes of The Original Series ... and it really is that good. We have nice things to say about Shatner Edith's don't-punch-Nazis attitude is ... challenging in 2021! We hash it out with a little help from The Clone Wars How Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is like Game of Thrones The Kirk/Spock of it all We did not deserve DeForest Kelley A digression into CBS procedurals It's the episode where a psychotic break involves more time travel than most!

2021-02-161h 12

Antimatter Pod 54. It's The Dark 'n' Gritty ZootopiaAnika and Liz select characters, concepts and ideas which, if copyright law didn't exist (and also they controlled Star Trek, which, for some reason, they still don't), they would bring into the Trek universe. We're talking about... the value of retelling stories Star Trek: SVU a Tal Shiar Red Room (the Black Widow kind, not the Twin Peaks kind, but Liz is actually thinking of Amazon Prime's Hanna) Star Trek: Scandal Daria Morgendorffer on the USS Cerritos Beastars, whose anthropomorphic animals would be equally at home on Deep Space 9 or the Cerritos Miles Vorkosigan (and an accompanying rant a...

2020-08-2653 min

Antimatter Pod 52. 2020 Keeps On 2020ingAnika and Liz discuss the news out of this year's virtual San Diego Comic Con. And ... there's not much of it! We understand the reasons, but we're still disappointed at the lack of release date for season 3 of Discovery (three days later: 15 October!) We're keen for Star Trek: Prodigy Maybe Star Trek: Lower Decks won't be for us ... and that's okay! The All The Star Trek Ladies panel, which has some tie-in novel news we found very exciting And, in the spirit of our traditional digressions, we also talk about Hanna (the movie and the Amazon Prime s...

2020-07-2940 min

Antimatter Pod 51. James Riberius KirkIt's almost unheard of for a network to reject a pilot, only to request a new one. But Star Trek always was a bit special. Anika and Liz are here to discuss "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second -- and successful -- Star Trek pilot. And we have to ask -- is this real Star Trek, or just a generic action-adventure story wearing a Starfleet uniform, a shameless money grab, a blatant jumping of the shark? But seriously, this is a strangely violent and callous episode! Anika points out the ways it revisits ideas from "The C...

2020-07-1553 min

Antimatter Pod 47. Pride And Prejudice In The Original RomulanAnika and Liz discuss the classic TOS tie-in novel My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane, particularly: Duane's take on Roman culture, and its ties to canon, especially in the wake of Star Trek: Picard Romulan language -- and how the heck do you pronounce "Mnhei’sahe"? Ael: a character we adore beyond reason Liz's elaborate headcanon about Romulan culture and politics in the 24th century Anika's eternal grief at not getting to learn Romulan, when Klingon is on Duolingo Fancasting Ael Liz pitches a loose adaptation for season 2 of Picard The sequels Is Ael a Mary Sue...

2020-05-131h 02

Antimatter Pod 46. #MeToo: Terok NorAnika and Liz discuss the DS9 episode "Things Past", in which Sisko, Dax, Odo and Garak find themselves at the centre of an ugly incident during the Occupation. While Garak demands to see the manager, Odo has some guilt to work through. It turns out the Occupation was ... bad. Along the way, we discuss: Odo's place in the hierarchy of the Occupation (and his claim to not have a place at all) how are Odo and Quark even allowed to be part of Bajoran society now? #decoloniseBajor somehow Dax's storyline is both peripheral AND the most c...

2020-04-2959 min

Antimatter Pod 41. As Organic As A Happy Meal (Picard 1.07)Take a long, leisurely trip to Nepenthe with Anika and Liz as we discuss: The Riker-Troi family, Kestra the perfect-but-not-in-a-Mary-Sue-way kid character, synths and stem cells and pizza Our very, very strong reservations about Hugh's fate, and Anika has found The Worst Take The fruitless search for depth in Narissa Cris Rios (he is not a clever man) Narek (and his collection of fidget spinners) Anika also outlines the TOS novel The Lost Years by JM Dillard, and how it might tie in to the story here; and Liz is close to figuring out how to blame Sa...

2020-03-101h 15

Antimatter Pod 40. Impossible Girls (Picard 1.06)Just when we had gotten used to the idea that Star Trek: Picard was a bit rubbish, it went and threw a good episode at us! Anika and Liz are talking: redemption and atonement arcs Anika has a LOT of feelings about Narek, okay? girl-as-mystery-box storytelling (with a semi-relevant interlude of Steven Moffat fangirling) Voyager references Rihannsu lore is creeping into canon and we are DELIGHTED Elnor's unexpected emotional insight Hugh and Seven: parallels and contrasts We also consider Rios's internal decorating, the nature of citizenship in the Federation, and the rights of Romulan refugees. These issues a...

2020-03-031h 17

Antimatter Pod 05. Disco 2.02 - So Spock all the timeFans are calling "New Eden" 'the Trekkiest episode of Discovery so far' -- but is that a good thing? Anika and Liz talk tropes, religion, and that weird feeling you get when you're only feeling lukewarm about something everyone else loves. Also covered: Worldbuilding Spock: the most dramatic (he gets it from his parents) When do we cut off Tilly's coffee supply? Things we totally called: Saru mentoring Tilly! Pike, Spock, Michael, and relationships of trust Anika has extremely strong opinions about Starfleet hospital gowns through the years See antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed s...

2019-01-2952 min

Antimatter Pod 04. Disco 2.01 - He's Not Like A Regular Captain, He's A Cool CaptainAnika and Liz are talking about "Brother", the season 2 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery. This episode contains spoilers for "Brother", obviously, along with the whole of season one, and also the Short Trek "The Brightest Star". Discussed: Amanda Grayson's around-the-house tiara Sarek's take on human children: adopt, don't shop Sylvia "All Too Relatable" Tilly (and The Way to the Stars, the just-released tie-in novel by Una McCormack which explores her teenage years) Is Chris Pike too charming? We know we can't keep Tig Notaro on as a regular, but what if we did anyway? A...

2019-01-2357 min