Star Trek Phase Two Rewatch - A Star Trek Phase II Podcast

Original air date: Friday, February 17, 1978

The Enterprise is dispatched to the border world of Shadir, where a controversial philosophy known as “peace through war” has taken hold. The planet is governed by a network of androids designed to regulate conflict, maintaining stability through carefully controlled, continuous warfare.
From orbit, the system appears to function. Large-scale war has been eliminated. Casualties are limited. Order is maintained.

On the surface, Kirk, McCoy, and Xon discover a society that has surrendered its future to a system built on perpetual conflict. The android network is no longer simply managing viol...

Original air date: Friday, February 10, 1978
 
The Enterprise responds to a drifting Klingon battle cruiser discovered near disputed space along the Federation border. The vessel appears abandoned, heavily damaged, and running on minimal power  but scans reveal a single life sign aboard.
Kirk leads an away team and discovers the lone survivor is not Klingon, but a human calling himself

Lord Bobby, an eighteenth-century aristocrat who claims to have been abducted and brought aboard the ship. Polite, articulate, and strangely at ease in the alien environment, Lord Bobby quickly ingratiates himself with the crew once he is...

Original Air Date: February 3, 1978

After several weeks off the air during the winter break, Phase 2 returns with one of the season’s most intense and physical stories.

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from the Federation colony on Karsia Four, where communications have suddenly ceased following reports of violent unrest among the settlers.

When Captain Kirk leads an away team to the planet’s surface with Dr. McCoy and Xon, they discover the colony in chaos. Longtime neighbors have turned on one another, families are divided into armed factions, and the once...

Original Air Date: December 23, 1977

The Enterprise arrives at the world of Neuterra just as a terrifying prophecy appears to be coming true. According to ancient legend, centuries earlier the planet’s leaders struck a bargain with a mysterious entity who promised peace and prosperity in exchange for the world itself at a later date.

Now that entity — appearing as a powerful, shape-shifting “Devil” — has returned to claim the planet.

While the population descends into fear and panic, Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew must determine whether they are witnessing a genuine supernatural phenomenon...

Original air date: Friday, November 18, 1977

The Enterprise escorts a Federation delegation to Meridian Colony, a world that appears to have solved conflict, crime, and political unrest. But beneath the surface of Meridian’s peaceful society lies a system of subtle neurological conditioning designed to suppress dissent and eliminate emotional instability.

As Kirk weighs Federation ideals against practical stability, divisions form among the crew. Decker and Scotty view Meridian’s engineered order as a potential solution in a volatile galaxy, while McCoy and Xon question the moral cost of tampering with free will. Ilia senses a deeper fear...

Star Trek - Phase II continues its exploration of sensory experience and self-control in an episode that deepens character relationships while raising questions about the show’s future.When a Federation listening post falls silent near a world emitting powerful harmonic fields, the Enterprise crew discovers a phenomenon capable of overwhelming consciousness itself. As Kirk balances caution and responsibility, the crew’s internal alliances become clearer, revealing how Phase II’s new dynamics are taking shape.O

On The Phase II Rewatch, Greg Westlake discusses the solidifying Decker and Scotty partnership, the evolving McCoy and Xon relationship, and subtle...

With tensions rising aboard the Enterprise, Star Trek - Phase II delivers one of its most effective bottle episodes by turning uncertainty itself into the enemy.While escorting a diplomatic convoy, the Enterprise becomes trapped in a phenomenon that fractures command authority and undermines trust in data, procedure, and decision-making. As Kirk and Will Decker arrive at opposing conclusions, the crew divides along philosophical lines, forcing Kirk to act without the assurance of certainty.On The Phase II Rewatch, Greg Westlake breaks down a fan-favorite episode that helped restore confidence in the series, highlights the emerging Decker and Scotty alignment...

Star Trek - Phase II leans fully into cerebral science fiction with an episode that places perception, identity, and individual autonomy at the center of the story.When the Enterprise investigates a research outpost where scientists have fallen into a shared catatonic state, the crew uncovers a neurological experiment that blurs the boundary between individual consciousness and collective experience. As the phenomenon begins to affect the Enterprise itself, Kirk, McCoy, and Xon must confront a threat that cannot be fought with weapons or diplomacy.On The Phase II Rewatch, Greg Westlake examines one of the most introspective early Phase II...

Phase II turns outward with an episode that radically expands Klingon culture and challenges everything Starfleet thinks it knows about its longtime adversaries.

Dispatched to a Klingon-controlled world governed by ritual and symbolic authority, Kirk and the Enterprise crew find themselves navigating internal political tensions rather than open hostility. As Xon and Ilia observe a society built on honor, perception, and tradition, Kirk and Decker are drawn into a conflict where diplomacy, not force, determines the outcome.

On The Phase 2 Rewatch, Greg Westlake explores the most Klingon-focused story Star Trek had ever produced at the time...

A distress call brings the Enterprise face to face with Cassandra, a woman convinced she can see the future and determined to hold Starfleet accountable for a disaster she believes is inevitable.

As Cassandra’s predictions begin to come true, Captain Kirk is forced to confront uncomfortable questions about responsibility, guilt, and whether belief in fate can become a danger in itself. Xon’s cautious analysis clashes with Cassandra’s certainty, while Decker represents the institutional voice of Starfleet as Kirk grapples with the personal weight of command.

In this episode of The Phase 2 Rewatch, Greg Westla...

Star Trek - Phase II delivers its first true character spotlight with a deeply uncomfortable and ambitious episode centered on Ilia.

When a powerful non-corporeal entity uses Ilia as a conduit to experience physical existence, the Enterprise crew is forced to confront questions of consent, identity, and consequence. As Ilia undergoes a rapid and unexplained pregnancy, Kirk, McCoy, and Xon struggle to understand an intelligence that does not share human values, while Will Decker’s personal connection to Ilia complicates an already unprecedented situation.

On The Phase 2 Rewatch, Greg Westlake examines one of the most controversial ea...

A damaged transporter and a burst of temporal radiation send Captain Kirk back to Earth on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, forcing him into a familiar Star Trek dilemma with uncomfortable new wrinkles.

As Kirk struggles to survive in nineteen forty one Honolulu, he forms a relationship with Elsa Kelly, the wife of a United States Navy officer, while the Enterprise races to correct the transporter malfunction and retrieve their captain. With history bearing down and war imminent, Kirk must once again choose between personal happiness and the integrity of the timeline.

On...

Star Trek Phase II launches with a restrained, thoughtful premiere that reintroduces the Enterprise and quietly resets the rules of the galaxy.

While investigating the unexplained destruction of Federation probes near Klingon space, Captain Kirk and his crew encounter a massive artificial intelligence attempting to understand humanity by studying it directly. As the situation escalates, Kirk must find a way to resolve the crisis without turning curiosity into catastrophe.

In this episode of The Phase Two Rewatch, Greg Westlake breaks down the new ship, the redesigned bridge, and the reconfigured crew. With Spock gone and a...

In nineteen seventy seven, Star Trek returned to television.

The Enterprise was refitted. Starfleet felt bigger and more formal. Familiar faces returned alongside new ones, and the galaxy felt slightly less romantic and a little more complicated.

Hosted by Greg Westlake, The Phase 2 Rewatch treats Star Trek Phase 2 as the television series it was meant to be. Episode by episode, the show revisits the stories, characters, and production choices of Phase II as it aired in the late seventies, without hindsight from the films.

Each episode begins with a detailed story summary, followed by...