The Joy of Trek

Extreme Risk (Star Trek: Voyager, S5 E03) was recommended by James (he/him), who said: I also ‘like’ Extreme Risk. I think Roxann Dawson’s acting is super subtle and she does grief really well. Really resonated with me with my own personal grief. As you probably know it’s after the news all the Marquis are dead and she is grieving. She isn’t her typical angry self (which for her is odd) she’s just numb. She does things like taking silly risks to ‘feel’ something. And she gets riskier and riskier. I was the rock for my family after...

The Elysian Kingdom (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, S1 E08) was recommended by Chief Engineer Greg

The Elysian Kingdom first aired on June 23, 2022, written by Akela Cooper & Onitra Johnson, and directed by Amanda Row

The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)

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Kobayashi (Star Trek: Prodigy, S1 E6) was recommended by Lauren Rivers she/her, who said: When Prodigy first began I did not like Dal. I thought he was arrogant and full of himself, appointing himself captain without having earned the privilege. But this was the first episode that opinion started to shift, with him attempting the famous Kobiyashi Maru. For the first time I found Dal likeable and even a bit hilarious as he gives one of the best renditions of the test in Star Trek history. As a fellow chaos appreciator, this was when I really started to...

Our Man Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S4 E10) was recommended by he/him Crimson like the color, who said: This one is probably pretty well liked already but...man it's just a blast so why not love on it too? Bashir's 60s Action Spy Holonovel is interrupted by a transporter emergency and all the major characters are replaced by runabout crew. We get the utter delight of the crew getting to ham it up in absurd Bond-style roles, all the while Garak snarks on the whole mess as a 'real spy.' The Garak-Bashir interactions are great...

Starship Mine (Star Trek: The Next Generation, S6 E18) was recommended by Royce Day (pronouced like Rolls Royce) he/him, who said: While this episode is safely in the "filler" category, lacking any connection to past episodes and never being mentioned again in the series, I'm fond of it because it's just FUN. It makes no bones (or McCoys) about being straight up "What if Die Hard, but on a Starship?" with Picard alone and rapidly losing his uniform tunic to crawl around in the Jefferies tubes and take on a bunch of terrorists/thieves by himself. Also unless...

Unexpected (Star Trek: Enterprise, S1 E05) was recommended by Hoofburd, he/him, who said:

I would really like to hear from the writer/s if they knew that mpreg was an actual thing on certain password-protected tumblrs before they wrote this episode.

This one goes in the pot because I *didn’t* see it, at least not at first. I was watching on original broadcast, I was 10, and were only a few episodes in before one of the Cub Scout dads (very conservative bunch, my family/scout troop) mentions something hyperbolic about not letting his fa...

Plato's Stepchildren (Star Trek: The Original Series, S3 E10) was recommended by Kaleb, he/him (pronounced 'Kay-lub'), who said: When thinking of which episode to recommend, this one didn't even cross my mind; I was sure it must be universally beloved! However, I found that it seems to be rather divisive, so I'm taking that as an excuse to recommend one of my all-time favorite episodes.

It has some really great Spock character moments- especially in the scene after he and Kirk are humiliated by Parmen and Philana- which I'm always excited about. Really the entire scene...

Night (Star Trek: Voyager, S5 E01) was recommended by Greg (He/him), who said: Night is the first appearance of Captain Proton which gets a lot of points for me right there. But more importantly, seeing the Captain's depression and her struggling with that has been very powerful to me when I've struggled with depression. I thought about this episode a lot during Covid where we were all trapped and feeling alone and isolated, but I knew there was a lively cluster of stars and planets at the end.

Special Effect video mentioned: https://www.youtube.com...

Profit and Lace (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S6 E23) was recommended by Lauren Alexis Rivers She/Her, who said: While I saw this episode long before I knew I was trans, I always love this episode because the Ferengi centric episodes are never afraid to have fun. Exploring the Ferengi culture and the slow march towards equality, we see Quark forced to step in as a Ferengi female after his arguments with his mother reach a boiling point. But not only is it a brilliant performance by Armin Shimerman but it's a really fun look at the Ferengi...

A Matter Of Honor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, S2 E08) was recommended by Rugger (They/Them), who said: I watched A Matter of Honor when I was 13, and had black and white views of good and bad. The Klingons are first presented as repulsive and bad, with excessive violence and moving gagh. But the Klingon aggressive nature saves the day; Riker sees the virtue of its flexible culture. If Picard ever made a mistake like the Captain Kargan, the Enterprise crew would follow him to their death (as they almost do in First Contact, until Lily talks him...