EnterpriseSplaining

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 12 “Chosen Realm,” now that Bill and Maria have watched this episode which is actually a thinly veiled metaphor about fundamentalist Islamic terrorism which irresponsibly promotes myths about Islam at a time when islamaphobia in the US was at its peak (yes, in case you couldn’t guess, Jamie is writing this description). Also, we go on a tangent about man soap opera Landman and discuss the memory alpha page on abortion in our Mammary Alpha segment.

A word of warning: If you haven’t...

This week we’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 12 “Chosen Realm,” but only Jamie has actually watched this episode where the Enterprise is taken hostage by religious extremists from the Church of Space Spheretology and for some reason there is a lady who wants an abortion, though she never gets one since the writers seemed to have forgotten about that storyline once it no longer matter to the main episode plot line.

Rikermendations:

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a...

We’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 11 “Carpenter Street,” now that Jamie, Maria, and Bill have watched it. Our guest explainer, A Sigler comes back to get our reactions to time traveling Xindis in Detroit! A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Lions and Tigers and Xindi, Oh My!” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

Enterpr...

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

EnterpriseSplaining is proud to be part of the ESO Network.

The show is produced by K.O. Myers at Particulate Media

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This episode is going to sound and feel different than usual because our crew is leaving Enterprise behind this week to head out on an away mission cross-over episode with the Monkeeing Around podcast, who monkeesplained the entire first broadcast episode of The Monkees to us newbs.

Plus, if you want to actually see us, this episode is available to watch on YouTube

We’ll be back with our regularly scheduled Enterprise episodes next week.

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Po...

We’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 10 “Similitude,” now that Bill, Jamie, and our guest, science-writer Bethany Brookshire, have watched it and have strong opinions on why the clone-based ethical conundrum posed in this episode doesn’t work. And in our Mammary Alpha segment, Jamie does a deep dive into whether there are bathroom facilities in the NX-01 shuttlepods and what they must have smelled like when Malcolm and Trip were stuck in one together for three days.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 10 “Similitude,” but only Maria has actually watched the episode. An accident while testing the warp core puts Trip in a coma and the only way Phlox can save him is to grow a clone of him and harvest its brain matter. And that's just the first of a series of ethical conundrums that the crew has to deal with. Of course, Archer has a thoughtful and thorough analysis of the problem and... oh who am I kidding. All he really wants to do is save his bro. Join us as we attemp...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 9 “North Star,” now that Maria and Jamie have watched it. Also, we’re joined by Ryan Consell, author of the Stealing from Wizards series!

We all agreed that this episode was trying to say… something, but what it was trying to say was weird! We also do a deep dive into the episode name “North Star” and whether it comes from the name of Frederick Douglas’ anti-slavery newspaper, as Memory Alpha claims, or if they actually stole it from a 90s made-for-tv movie of the sam...

Maria and Jamie just got back from Dragon Con and have a ton of stories to share with Bill and all of you about the reaction from other fans to our decontamination cosplay, taking silly photos with Enterprise cast members, singing Faith of the Heart at karaoke, and meeting and talking to so many Enterprise fans and even some of the fans of EnterpriseSplaining!

Joining us to talk about our time at Dragon Con is the voice of the computer, Stephen, and our rikermendation sponsor (and the person who comes up with a large percentage of our...

Giddy-up! It’s our 100th EnterpriseSplaining episode and to “celebrate” we’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 9 “North Star,” but only Bill has actually watched the episode. This week the Enterprise Crew finds a colony of humans, living a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy lifestyle, right down to the horses, rotgut, and hangings! As they sort out the history of these people and the oppressed alien “Skags,” Archer gets close to schoolmarm Bethany, and it all ends in an old timey gunfight. Also, we’re joined by Ryan Consell, author of the Stealing from Wizards series (which we highly rikermend and you can listen to...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 8 “Twilight,” now that Maria and Bill have watched this episode which shows us one of the worst potential future timelines where Archer and T’Pol enter into a romantic relationship and Malcolm grows a goatee (the horror!).

Also, in our Mammary Alpha segment, we learn about Star Trek makeup artist Michael Westmore and the legacy of the Westmore family in Hollywood.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Archer's Got Brain Worms!,” go listen to t...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 8 “Twilight,” but only Jamie has actually watched the episode. Archer gets timey wimey brain worms leading to a terrible future where earth is destroyed, humanity is nearing extinction, and Malcolm has a goatee. But don't worry, it's not all bad! T'Pol wears normal clothes for the first time ever!

Jamie and Maria are at DragonCon! Look up Jamie’s panels in the DragonCon app by searching for “Jamie Bernstein” on the speakers tab.

Rikermendations:

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This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 7 “The Shipment,” now that Bill and Jamie have watched it.. A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Free Shipping with Xindi Prime!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

Memory Alpha Shirt & Pant reference

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

EnterpriseSplaining is proud to be part of the ESO Network.

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 7 “The Shipment,” but only Maria has actually watched the episode. Tipped off by last week's Beast-incel, the Enterprise heads to a planet where they believe the Xindi are manufacturing parts of their superweapon only to find a weirdly chill Bigfoot Xindi planet where nobody is aware there's a war on. Also, Trip and Phlox mess with a Xindi weapon to see how it works and it goes exactly as poorly you'd expect. Plus, Guest Raychelle Burks joins us to marvel at the weird science the many safety and security protocols that everyo...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 6 “Exile,” where we get into a rare argument over whether the episode’s lack of romance rendered it narratively inert or was a clever twist on Beauty and the Beast.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Hoshi and the Beast!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appr...

We are taking a short break from Star Trek Enterprise this week to bring you an away mission! Infamous as the lowest-rated Star Trek project on Rotten Tomatoes, the TV movie Section 31 was a huge disappointment to many Star Trek fans, and more importantly, to Maria who now has to attempt to explain this nonsense to Jamie and Bill. Enjoy!

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

EnterpriseSplaining is proud to be part of the ESO Network.

The show is...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 6 “Exile,” but only Bill has actually watched the episode. Hoshi is packed off to a rain-swept castle inhabited by a creepy loner! He promises to use his telepathic powers to help the Enterprise if she'll pretend to be his Canadian Girlfriend for a week. Meanwhile, Trip and Archer accidentally strand themselves in space. Why not enjoy a single bite of pizza and Be... our... guest!

Rikermendations:

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It’s Vombie time as our crew heads out on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 5 “Impulse,” (the one with the Vulcan zombies!) now that Bill and Maria have watched it.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “iVombie!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

EnterpriseSplaining is proud to be part of the ESO Network...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 5 “Impulse,” but only Jamie has actually watched the episode where the Enterprise crew investigates a ship filled with Vulcan zombies, or as we like to call them, Vombies! That's right friends, World War V has commenced because the Enterprise has to deal with an honest to god Vombie apocalypse, and unfortunately for them, T'Pol has already started to turn.

Photo that Jamie takes ~1:25ish (We would like to point out that Jamie took a photo of the screen rather than an actual screenshot)

Rikermendations:

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 4 “Rajiin,” now that Bill and Jamie have watched it. Jim Tigwell joins us once again because he's apparently a sucker for punishment. A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Commotion at the Lady Stall!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

Reference: Screenshot of Archer’s dinner table.

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation S...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 4 “Rajiin,” but only Maria has actually watched the episode. While looking for a way to manufacture the space asbestos that will protect them from the weird anomalies, Archer "rescues" a beautiful and mysterious slave girl. In keeping with his taste in women, she turns out to be spying for the Xindi (at least she wasn't actually a slug?) to get information about human physiology to help them build a bioweapon. Oh, and Trip and T'Pol nearly blow up the ship and themselves trying to manufacture trellium-D.

Special guest...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 3 “Extinction,” now that Jamie and Maria have watched it and inexplicably enjoyed this very weird episode where a bunch of members of the Enterprise were turned into ape-like aliens. We're also joined once again by guest Stephen Granade this week.

Special thanks to Topher and Bee Brookshire who answered all of our very silly science questions about this episode (psst you should read Bee’s book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains).

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened t...

Hey hey, they’re the monkeys! We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 3 “Extinction,” but only Bill has actually watched it and will explain to Jamie, Maria and our special guest Stephen Granade what happened on this episode, where in a quest to track down the Xindi, Archer and co. land on a planet that immediately rewrites their DNA into inarticulate savages who think only of their own species. So, yeah, big change. But then aliens with flamethrowers show up and once again it’s T’pol’s job to save these simians before everything goes burney-burney!

Rikermendat...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 2 “Anomaly” now that Bill and Maria have watched it and have lots of opinions on how much we all hate that torture storyline. Plus, in our Mammary Alpha segment we discuss the curious case of the two Crewman Fullers.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Spaceballs: The Star Trek Episode!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

Here's Maria's drawing of Archer's hair.

...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 2 “Anomaly,” but only Jamie has actually watched this episode where Archer goes full war criminal and the crew discovers their first large round thing of season 3.

Rikermendations:

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

EnterpriseSplaining is proud to be part of the ESO Network.

The show is produced by K.O. Myers at Particulate Media

Follow...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3, Episode 1 “The Xindi,” now that Jamie and Bill have watched it so they can provide their opinions on every single one of T’Pol’s new season three outfits. Plus, in Mammary Alpha we discuss a big miss on the Memory Alpha page for “intermix” and in Read Alerts we go over who would win in a fight between the Enterprise crew and the Rocinante.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “So long, Suliban,” go listen to that fi...

We're back after a short break to kick off Enterprise ... sorry, STAR TREK: Enterprise Season 3 with episode 1: The Xindi but only Maria has actually watched the episode. The Enterprise crew are in the Expanse lookin for some Xindi. A trip to a mining planet to gather information goes predictably awry when Trip and Archer are captured and have to escape with the help of the only live Xindi they've ever met. Meanwhile, Trip is having trouble sleeping and Phlox decides to trick him into getting T'Pol to help him.

Rikermendations:

It's been a loooooong road, but we've finally reached the end.... of the halfway point of the series! In this episode, we discuss our overall thoughts on season 2 and our hopes for season 3. We also went back and rewatched the series pilot Broken Bow to see how our feelings on it have changed now that we know the show and characters better. Lastly, we have an extra special Two Truths and a Lie about the first half of season 3 brought to us by our friends Abby and Chris from the other Enterprise podcast First Flight Podcast.

We...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting the Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 26 “The Expanse,” now that Maria and Jamie have watched it and have a lot of thoughts on the 9/11 allusions that were a huge part of this episode.

We also discuss this lovely print by artist Amir Abou-Roumié, which Maria had on her wall for years without realizing it contained a spoiler for this episode.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Space Bermuda Triangle!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow u...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 26 “The Expanse,” but only Bill has actually watched the episode. It’s the end of the second season of Enterprise and it’s a disaster! On Earth, we mean! A mysterious new race attacks the earth, and it’s up to the NX-01 crew to head into Space Bermuda Triangle (or Spermuda, if you will) to exact revenge in the name of great justice! Meanwhile T’pol considers if risking being turned inside-out is worse than going back to her Vulcan fiance, Trip gets the bloodlust, and Duras has a very, very bad day.<...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 25 “Bounty,” now that Maria and Bill have watched it. Plus, our guest from last week, Jarrah from the Women at Warp podcast, is back with us to talk about this episode, which seems to consist mostly of T’Pol writhing around on the ground and walls. We also discuss in depth every baffling part of this screencap of Trip’s bookshelf.

A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “What Happens in Decon Stays in Decon!,” go li...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 25 “Bounty,” but only Jamie has actually watched the episode. Jarrah from Women at Warp is back with us this week to discuss this episode that involves T'Pol going through pon farr, which for some reason mostly seems to involve rubbing her body on every wall. Also, perpetual damsel-in-distress Archer is kidnapped again, which may seem familiar since it happens in every third episode of Enterprise (seriously -- we checked!).

Mentioned: The Women at Warp episode that inspired our “Where is HR?” segment is called “Labor Standards in Star Trek”

Rikermen...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 24 “First Flight,” now that Jamie and Bill have watched it. Plus, astronomer Nicole Gugliucci joins us once again to see if watching the episode can help her make the dark matter make sense. A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “The Wrong Stuff!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

Photo References:

We now have merch! Show your love for Enterpr...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 24 “First Flight,” but only Maria has actually watched the episode. Archer finds out that an old colleague, A.G. Robinson, has died and this prompts him to tell T'Pol the story of how he, AG, and Trip committed serious crimes back when they were test pilots trying to get past warp 2. As they explore a dark matter nebula, Archer confesses to stealing a prototype ship because of his daddy issues. Astronomer Nicole Gugliucci joins us to help us make sense of the nebulous dark matter references.

Rikermendations:

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 23 “Regeneration,” now that Maria and Jamie have watched it. We all generally liked this borg episode but just couldn’t turn off the portion of our brain that wouldn’t stop whispering the word “continuity.”

We discuss the Truck Nutz pin that the infected alien is wearing. And in our Read Alerts section, we discuss our feelings about Scott Bakula in response to a listener question and talk about a cool drawing of Starfleet Academy that listener Bill sent us.

A word of warn...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 23 “Regeneration,” but only Bill has actually watched the episode. Plus, we've got the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait, joining us this week to talk about this episode and his personal connection to it.

This week Enterprise breaks new and innovative ground in the canon of Staaaaaahp -- just kidding, it's the Borg. Scientists discover the shattered remains of Star Trek: First Contact in the Arctic Circle and decide to desecrate some corpses. Of course, the revived Borg decide to escape on a route that takes them right into the path o...

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 22 “Cogenitor,” now that Maria and Bill have watched it and can tell us all their opinions on Trip’s relationship with the cogenitor, Malcolm’s sensual cheese-eating, and the shocking decision Archer makes at the end of the episode. Plus, returning guest Dax joins us this week to discuss the episode’s handling of nonbinary gender identities.

We also watched and discuss the parallels between Cogenitor and the Next Generation episode “The Outcast” and the Alien Nation episode “Three to Tango.”

A word of warning...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 22 “Cogenitor,” but only Jamie has actually watched the episode. During a first contact with some new aliens, Trip learns that their species has a third gender that is institutionally marginalized called "cogenitors." He strikes up a friendship with one of these cogenitors and attempts to convince them they have innate rights to dictate the course of their own life. Meanwhile, Archer is off on a romantic getaway with the captain of the alien ship and Malcolm.... well, the less we say about what that man was up to in this episode, the be...

71: Second Contact: Denobulan Spiders-Man!

This week, we’re on a second contact mission, revisiting Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 21 “The Breach,” now that Jamie and Bill have watched it. A word of warning: If you haven’t listened to the episode before this one, “Denobulan Spiders-Man!,” go listen to that first because this is a follow up to last week.

We now have merch! Show your love for EnterpriseSplaining and the cutest beagle ever with a Porthos Appreciation Society shirt!

EnterpriseSplaining is proud to be part of the ESO Network.

The show is prod...

We’re watching Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 21 “The Breach,” but only Maria has actually watched the episode. Bill was originally going to host this episode but there was a cave involved so Maria had to step in. Trip, Malcolm, and Travis try to save some Denobulan geologists lost deep in a series of caves. Geophysicist and disaster researcher, Mika McKinnon joins us to help explain what exactly is going on with these caves, rocks, and geologists. Meanwhile, on Enterprise, Phlox deals with an ethical conflict when a patient refuses his treatment because his race and the Denobulans were at war...