The Changing Face of Evil

Episode 73

Friday 14 July 2023

A close up of a Cardassian man's face. It's Damar, and he's looking as bold and resolute (and as handsome) as he's ever looked.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Series 7, Episode 20

Stardate: Unknown (2375)

First broadcast on Wednesday 28 April 1999

After the Breen attack Starfleet Headquarters on Earth, Ben Sisko (Alan Dale), fearing for the safety of his new wife Kasidy (Lisa Armytage), gets all of her upcoming missions cancelled, with predictable results. Elsewhere on the station, Ezri (Annie Jones) and Worf (Guy Pearce) bicker about her budding relationship to Julian (Peter O’Brien). On Bajor, Kai Winn (Vivean Gray) and her new lodger Anjohl (Ian Smith) are planning to unleash the pah-wraiths on an unsuspecting galaxy. Which puts into perspective the plans of Legate Damar (Stefan Dennis), who merely wants to kick the Dominion out of Lassiter’s so that he can look at himself in the mirror without cringing.

Duration: 1:11:12 · Recorded on Tuesday 11 July 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Alliances

Episode 72

Friday 7 July 2023

On an alien spaceship, Seksa, a white woman with Cardassian features,  is smiling and embracing a serious-looking Kazon man, Maje Culluh.

Star Trek: Voyager

Series 2, Episode 14

Stardate: 49337.4

First broadcast on Monday 22 January 1996

When a Voyager crewmember is killed in a Kazon attack, and his colleagues are forced to sit through the most butt-clenchingly clichéd eulogy in television history, a few of them declare that it’s time to forge an alliance with the Kazon, which seems unwise. What seems even more unwise is Janeway’s decision to ignore everything that history has taught us about white people, as she forges an alliance with the Trabe, who talk nicely and know which knife and fork to use. It all turns out pretty much how you would expect.

Duration: 1:01:48 · Recorded on Tuesday 4 July 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Voyager

Genesis

Episode 71

Friday 30 June 2023

Deanna is sitting in the bath, fully clothed. She looks shocked at a uniformed man just off camera. She has her hand pressed to  her cheek and blood is seeping between her fingers.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Series 7, Episode 19

Stardate: 47653.2

First broadcast on Monday 21 March 1994

Well, everyone hates Genesis obviously, but why? It’s silly, of course, it doesn’t attempt to get the science right, and everyone recovers beautifully during the last ad break. But that’s just Star Trek, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

Duration: 1:12:16 · Recorded on Tuesday 20 June 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Preludes

Episode 70

Friday 23 June 2023

A painting or a comic book panel depicts a deadly space war. Phaser beams cross the frame, one of them striking a large hunk of rock in the middle. On the ground below are people and the strange elongated bodies of robots bristling with weapons. On a cliff high above is the silhouette of another of these robots. And in the sky are strange patterns. A clock? A blueprint? It's like the cover of the most stylish and action-packed Nebula Award-winning book of the 1960s.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Series 1, Episode 16

Stardate: Unknown (2384)

First broadcast on Thursday 1 December 2022

In the Neutral Zone, the USS Protostar faces off against the USS Dauntless, unable to leave and unable to contact them to explain their friendly intentions. And so they stop for a moment and tell each other sad, funny and beautiful stories from their pasts. Meanwhile, on the Dauntless, we hear a different story, a story of war and revenge, and a plot whose aim is the destruction of the Federation itself.

Duration: 0:43:01 · Recorded on Tuesday 13 June 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Prodigy

Unexpected

Episode 69

Friday 16 June 2023

It's sunset. Two people are sitting in a dinghy facing one another. On the left, and orange lizard lady in a shiny jumpsuit: on the right is Trip in his Starfleet uniform. There is a bowl of white crystals between them.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Series 1, Episode 5

Stardate: Unknown (2151)

First broadcast on Wednesday 17 October 2001

This week, Enterprise Chief Engineer Charles Tucker III is pregnant, and Nathan and Joe expect to be embarrassed and offended by the result. Instead, they are delighted to find themselves merely bored. (In fact, Nathan thinks the first half of the episode is rather sweet and charming, but he’s an incurable romantic where lizard people are concerned.)

Duration: 1:09:16 · Recorded on Monday 5 June 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Enterprise

Farewell

Episode 68

Friday 9 June 2023

We are outside: there is a sunny forest in the background. In the foreground, Picard is hugging a man. We can just glimpse his face. It's Q. Picard has his face pressed against Q's chest. He is smiling.

Star Trek: Picard

Series 2, Episode 10

Stardate: Unknown (2024, 2401)

First broadcast on Thursday 5 May 2022

In one episode’s time, Star Trek: Picard will become, for the first time, a television event, but for now, we’ve got some plot to wrap up, some sad farewells to make and a new relationship to start. And a point, however muted, about living an extraordinary life.

Duration: 1:19:07 · Recorded on Tuesday 30 May 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Picard

In Purgatory’s Shadow / By Inferno’s Light

Episode 67

Friday 2 June 2023

Garak is standing in the darkness in a narrow space inside a bulkhead. His face is lit by some bare optical cables. He is looking very stressed.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Series 5, Episodes 14–15

Stardate: 50564.2

First broadcast on Monday 10 February 1997
and Monday 17 February 1997

It’s a soap-opera extravaganza on Deep Space Nine this week, as Garak reconciles with his long-lost father, Dukat abandons his long-lost daughter, and Julian discovers a scheming lookalike that he never knew he had. Meanwhile, there is a shift in the balance of power in the Quadrant, as the show rewrites its own premise in the way that we have come to admire and enjoy.

Duration: 1:58:48 · Recorded on Tuesday 23 May 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The Masterpiece Society

Episode 66

Friday 26 May 2023

Deanna and a young man are standing in a garden in front of a window looking out onto a hostile alien landscape. They are kissing.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Series 5, Episode 13

Stardate: 45470.1

First broadcast on Monday 10 February 1992

This week, the Enterprise crew worry unnecessarily about upending the lives of people living under a weird-ass conservative regime, only to find that those people are desperate to get out and there is no good reason at all to prevent them. Also, Deanna has sex, with unfortunate results.

Duration: 1:08:07 · Recorded on Tuesday 16 May 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Wolf in the Fold

Episode 65

Friday 19 May 2023

A dazed Scotty looks in horror at the knife which is being held out in front of him.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Series 2, Episode 14

Stardate: 3614.9

First broadcast on Friday 22 December 1967

When simple, mild-mannered lackwit Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) stabs three women to death in the space of a couple of hours, the crew of the Enterprise become suspicious enough to start an investigation, which mostly consists of getting Majel Barrett to read them a bunch of Wikipedia articles. But just as we’re all about to nod off, someone claims responsibility for the murders — beloved childhood plaything Piglet (John Fielder), who immediately inputs himself into the ship’s computer and attempts to generate terror by making a series of increasingly unimaginative violent threats. Understandably, the crew respond to all this by taking a bunch of drugs and waiting for the closing credits to kick in. Which is how we recommend that you respond to this episode as well.

Duration: 1:10:46 · Recorded on Tuesday 9 May 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: The Original Series

Scorpion / Scorpion, Part II

Episode 64

Friday 12 May 2023

Seven of Nine stands in Voyager's cargo bay. None of her implants have been removed yet: her skin is mottled, tubes come from her bare skull, and her left eye has been replaced by a spiky Borg sensor.

Star Trek: Voyager

Series 3, Episode 26 / Series 4, Episode 1

Stardate: 50984.3

First broadcast on Wednesday 21 May 1997
and Wednesday 3 September 1997

As Voyager approaches the end of its third year, it’s time for its very own version of The Best of Both Worlds. And here it is, complete with a massive encounter with the Borg, clouds of débris, a terrifying new enemy, dissension among the commanding officers, and the unveiling of an entirely new kind of human—Borg hybrid. But because it’s Voyager, there’s also people doing things for no reason and a central conflict disposed of in an unsatisfying way. But (again) because it’s Voyager, there’s some great weird visuals, a cool new holodeck program, and yet another arresting performance from the Queen of Star Trek, Her Royal Highness, Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Duration: 2:00:37 · Recorded on Tuesday 2 May 2023 · Download · Open in new window

Star Trek: Voyager