The Joy of Trek

"Musical Alert" by AxeMeAboutAxinomancy, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/57099433""This is the Captain speaking. Musical Alert. I repeat: Musical Alert. This is not a rehearsal.""The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

Those Old Scientists (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, S2 E7) was recommended by Bryan Love(Blackrain), who said: Time travel, cross over, animate, live action, fan boying or girling over your historical idols. What more can you ask for in a Star Trek episode? When on routine away mission to scan an ancient time portal, Ensign Boimier is sucked in into the portal and sent to the past just at the right time when Enterprise was making it's first discovery of that strange portal. Boimier tries his best not to contaminate the time line, but it's Boimier we're talking about. He's going to mess things up or his bestie Mariner will. Just when the crew of Enterprise has the one and only chance to get Boimier home through the ancient time portal, Mariner jumps through from her side thinking she's saving Boimier, but only stranding both of them in the past. Both Boimier and Mariner fan boy out on different Enterprise crew members.This is a great episode over all. Mixing the humor of Lower Decks with the hard hitting stories of Strange New Worlds. It was also perfect that both the voice actors for Boimier and Mariner both look closely like their cartoon characters. This episode always brings up that question of how would you react if you got to meet with you hero? Someone you never thought you would, ether living or dead.Those Old Scientists first aired on July 22, 2023, written by Kathryn Lyn & Bill Wolkoff, and directed by Jonathan FrakesIn the 24th century, ensign Brad Boimler of the USS Cerritos is assigned to investigate an ancient portal. The portal, which is powered by the rare substance horonium, sends him back in time 120 years where he is taken aboard the Enterprise. Boimler struggles to contain his excitement at meeting his heroes and also to prevent polluting the timeline with his knowledge of the future. The portal is stolen by an Orion ship and Pike trades grain supplies to retrieve it. They attempt to return Boimler to the future with the last remaining horonium, but ensign Beckett Mariner comes through the portal instead in a rescue attempt. Spock and Boimler unsuccessfully try to synthesize horonium so they can use the portal again while Mariner and Uhura work to translate engravings on the portal. Boimler realizes that horonium from the hull of the previous starship Enterprise was incorporated into Pike's Enterprise. They use this to send Boimler and Mariner back to their own time, while the Orions agree to accept credit for discovering the portal in exchange for allowing the Enterprise to continue peacefully.The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

"Our Man Paris (Of Troy)" by SocialPermaDeath, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/41789019"A holodeck malfunction leaves Tom Paris in an "Our Man Bashir" of his own playing the part of Paris of Troy in the 3rd Book of the Iliad and visions of his crew mates as various parts of the Greek epic."The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

Tuvix (Star Trek: Voyager, S2 E24) was recommended by Alex Russet , who said: I'm honestly shocked that this hasn't shown up in the podcast yet. It's the perfect fit for what you're doing.This Episode is fascinating to me. At It's very core is a trolly problem. Save the lives of two for the cost of one, or preserve the one at the cost of two. Both sides have valid points, but equally are both flawed responses to a situation with no truly correct response. But respond Janeway must. And while it was fairly obvious which option would be chosen, (Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips had bills to pay), it still hit hard.Not every option is black and white. How much is a life worth? Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? I think the fandom as a whole settled on Team Tuvix, myself included, but I think this episode is captivating from a series famous for it's moralizing.Tuvix first aired on May 6, 1996, written by story by Andrew Shepard Price and Mark Gaberman, teleplay by Kenneth Biller, and directed by Cliff BoleA transporter accident merges Tuvok and Neelix into a new person.The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

"Hunting Hound" by Leah [archived by Warp5Complex_Archivist], can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/8080225"Tucker and Reed hunt for a hound."The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

Devil's Due (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), S4 E13) was recommended by IronBoomer, and he/him, who said: This episode is pure Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner at their best, and our guest actress of Marta Dubois is so much fun. While it ends up just being a legal drama and half-bottle episode, everyone is bringing their A-Game to this episode.Devil's Due first aired on February 4, 1991, written by story by Philip LaZebnik & William Douglas Lansford, teleplay by Philip LaZebnik, and directed by Tom BenkoA powerful mythic figure from a millennium ago returns to enslave a planet in accordance with a contract. However, Picard is convinced she is an opportunistic charlatan. Guest star Marta DuBois as Ardra.The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

"Faith and Begorrah" by Bruce (PKSP), can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/34170499"Tom Paris and Harry Kim try to repair the Fair Haven holoprogram in time for St. Patrick's Day."The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

Move Along Home (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), S1 E10) was recommended by nazzy (she/her), who said: I cannot believe nobody has asked for this one yet!One of the earliest criticisms of DS9 was that it didn't "boldly go", and in its first two seasons in particular, there were a lot of episodes whose basic synopses read "Weird alien(s) come to the station, hijinks occur." And being a DS9 fan as always meant knowing that criticism is always just around the corner, which meant that for episodes like "Move Along Home", the standard response was an embarrassed shrug and a 'yeah...it hadn't found its feet yet. It got better!'And "Move Along Home" is the ur-example of this type of story. Weird aliens come to DS9, and introduce Quark to a strange board game of chance that traps members of the senior staff in a bizarre game world??? And that's the episode?!But then I read a review of "Move Along Home" that reframed the episode for me in a very meaningful way. "Move Along Home", it said, is basically a TOS episode. And that made so much sense! Is Commander Sisko having to play hopscotch and sing a children's song that different from the crew of the TOS Enterprise being forced to fight in "Plato's Stepchildren"? Or acting strangely to break the brains of the androids in "I, Mudd"? Suddenly, it made perfect sense, and "Move Along Home" is no longer embarrassing.Move Along Home first aired on March 14, 1993, written by story by Michael Piller, teleplay by Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich and Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci, and directed by David CarsonQuark plays a board game with the Wadi, a newly encountered species from the Gamma Quadrant, and the lives of the crew seemingly depend on the outcome.The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

"I Just Might Say it Tonight" by orcamermaid, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/30425253"Five times Garak and Julian didn't voice their feelings, and one time they finally did."The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook

The Cloud Minders (Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), S3 E19) was recommended by Kaleb, he/him, who said: No war but class war baby! I love this episode for being that classic campy trek, while also being a rather good simplification of how environment- particularly an environment caused by oppression in the first place- shapes the way that oppression is justified and continued. Not specifically class related, but that's the medium this episode evokes, and many marginalized identities can be viewed through class structures as well.I can't deny a good “I won't be the bigger man, I'm dragging you down to my level” type story, especially when it's our protagonist doing the dragging.I can't help but love Droxine flirting w/ Spock, bc it just registers to me as the relatable experience of “ma’am please, I'm here w/ my boyfriend, who you clearly haven't clocked as such, so I'm gonna try and find the most non-scene causing way to stop this”. It kills me, I don't think this scene is supposed to reduce you to giggles.Hope you also enjoy!The Cloud Minders first aired on February 28, 1969, written by Jerome Bixby, and directed by Murray GoldenKirk races against time to acquire plague-fighting minerals from a world in the midst of a civil uprising.The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)Send us your recommendations, or support us on Patreon.Find us at joyoftrek.com · Twitter · Facebook