Re:Engage TNG

Picard and Beverly sitting in a tree, not really K. I. S. S. I. N. G. There's a planet of spies trying to join the Federation, one side is on board, the other is super xenophobic. Picard and Beverly get snatched from the transporter room after a Vulcan breakfast. After being attached - get it, that's the title! - via a psychic implant, they start to talk about their feelings long repressed. Including love and admiration. Sadly, the fire does not ignite beyond the campfire, leaving Jimmie with 4.5 pairs of blue balls. We discuss! In depth! Enjoy!

  Duration: 01:15:24

Deanna had a whole bunch of history they all waited 7 years in to reveal, didn't they? Lwaxana Troi goes to a planet to interview a vampire, but she doesn't want to talk about it, Little One. There is a lot to unpack, and unpack we do! Because the little girl that looks a heckuva lot like Marie Antoinette, Lwaxana is going a little bit out of control. At first we think it's about one thing, but it's actually a whole terrible story that hits a lot harder for us adults. For a comedic character, Lwaxana gets the dramatic sendoff...

There's a lot to love when you've got steampunk dreamscape all up in your sci-fi! This is gonna be a lot of fun, said Star Trek Acid Party. Yes, yes it is. Data has dreams that he tries to unlock through the power of Sigmund Freud from Bill & Ted's and cakes made of Tom Petty videos. Delicious!

Please send us any thoughts on the series to LetsReEngage@gmail.com or on Bluesky, Greg's social media of choice.

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Host: Erik Curry (@erikfallsdown on...

It continues! Apologies in advance for your eardrums, Jimmie's siren call to start this one gets us all fired up. James Worthy boards the Enterprise and starts eating the goddamned scenery. Baran, the space pirate villain, gets a taste of it's own medicine. Vulcan Intelligence officers try to take over an ancient super-weapon. But eventually, love conquers all. At least until Riker gets thrown in the brig. JUST KIDDING!

Please send us any thoughts on the series to LetsReEngage@gmail.com or on Bluesky, Greg's social media of choice.

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The Enterprise crew is in their civvies, investigating the disappearance of the Captain. But he's not just missing, he dead! Riker is acting captain and acting like a dick with Troi telling him what's what. Then they go to a phaser shootout on a planet and Riker gets abducted. Data is in charge once again, but that's only so we can meet a charming group of space pirates that use torture to keep everyone in line. Surprise! Picard is now named Galen, and he's deep undercover with a Romulan artifact conspiracy. I think. It's a little fuzzy, but basically...

We interfaced while discussing this interface-based episode! Geordi plugs into a probe-type thing because of his visor implants but his mom is there to snap him out of it, Cher-style. Actually, she's just an image in his head cause the ship she'd been captaining went missing. But they did save some aliens, so there's that!

Please send us any thoughts on the series to LetsReEngage@gmail.com or on Bluesky. We'd love to answer your question or read your comment on the podcast!

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Jean-Luc Picard gets to the heart of the matter with a little lady. That is, of course, because he crash lands on a planet in which said little lady is the only survivor. Maybe? It's hard to tell honestly. On the Enterprise, Worf and Troi wear dress Federation uniforms to welcome two very different aliens who we eventually are trying to learn how human emotions work. In order to do that, they have to eat a lot of desserts and get into a lot of antagonistic fights. Then Picard comes back and everyone learns what's really happening, except for...

Well, well, well. It's been a long time. Almost too long. What do you remember? Well, Data, Picard and the bunch are with the Borg being led by ... you know who. Mr. Saturday Night Codpiece himself, Lore. He's pit Data against his old buddies after he got a hit of that sweet, sweet emotion juice. There is body horror and evil acting and terrifying conversations with Data. The cavalry comes to rescue them, in the form of Hugh. Not you, Hugh. And there is a happy ending as Mr. Lore gets his comeuppance. Finally.

In any case...

Season's ending, crew, time to bring in the big guns. We got Lore, the Borg, a lot of Hugh mentions, a Federation Admiral, and a slew of dead red shirts. Or Yellow. You get the idea. They might as well have had a saucer separation. Why didn't they? Blew all the budget on Einstein's facial prosthesis? Data is feeling himself. He fights the borg and gets super mad, going so far as to strangle one of them. These aren't normal Borg BTW. They are Brosus. And Torsus. And Daryl. And they follow someone they call the One. The Federation...

TimEscape. Tim's Cape. It's all about getting high on time. Picard draws a smiley face on an exploding reactor blast, proving that graffiti is the same in the 24th century. Troi, Laforge, Picard and Data attend the most boring /slash/ misogynistic science conference on the fanciest shuttlecraft in the fleet. But everybody keeps kitting the pause /slash/ fast-forward button. The fruit got real moldy and Picard's fingernails grew ten sizes that day. Anomalies abound as the Enterprise is found in mid-space battle with a Romulan warbird. What what what? It's timey-wimey and a ton of fun. No notes.

Two Rikers! Holy continuity breakdown! This one is directed by Levar Burton, and doesn't focus so much on the science fiction of meeting your double. Instead, we get a much greater understanding of Troi and Riker's romance before the show even started. It's bold. We get tai-chi over leotard-stretching ladies and cute-sey scavenger hunt ploys from a young Thomas. No discussion of the effects of being alone for 8 years, but you need time to create metallic phaser art with a brand new setting: Love.

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Kahless the great returns after Worf burns a fat one on the Enterprise and gets dressed down /slash/ given a vacation from Picard. Then we talk about religion and governance without really getting at the moral quandary of cloning and free will. Worf confronts the Klingon pharisees, then convinces Gowron to bends the knee. No, it doesn't make sense any more than religion does, but we are made to assume something profound happened to Worf. For me, it was Tuesday.

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Host: Jimmie G (@th...

Sometimes an inner monologue is all you need to discover who the real killer has been all along. Guinan talks to Dr. Crusher about tennis elbow, but Beverly isn't the doctor on this ship anymore. Then through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, she uncovers the killer of a Ferengi scientist for which she was busy getting recognition among a group comprised of a Vulcan, Klingon and Takaran scientist. The Takaran has extra organs, FYI, that might be important! We get some great Nurse Ogawa agency, a little bit of Ferengi razzle-dazzle, and some strange behaviors from Riker and...

It's a meta-existential threat episode! Riker is an actor in a play written by Beverly Crusher, or is that Jonathan Frakes? Or is it the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? This episode is written in such a delicious way, blending exposition and strange character behavior in a perception-annihilating frame of mind. I am shattered, like the fabric of reality poor Riker is experiencing, each time I watch it. Shades of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Waiting for Godot, and The Matrix collide in a tour-de-force performance by Jonathan Frakes.

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I love doing musical intros! After his old archeology teacher shows up to guilt trip him on a goose chase, Picard fondles some figurines before his teacher is killed. He leaves behind a trail, and Picard ignores protocol to make the DNA tell him and Crusher where to go next. Cardassians show up, then Klingons and Romulans, yet the Captain finds a way to put the petal to the warp metal and piece together the news that one man seeded all the species in the galaxy. That's why the aliens of Star Trek all look the same. Because they...

The Fish and the Rocks! A quiet episode, until it's not. Picard meets a pianist, and she opens up his musician side as well as his heart. Too bad she is under his direct command. She plays the keys and he plays the flute in the sexiest part of the starship, the Jeffries Tubes! There are dolphins, there are non-stop HR violations, there is exquisite chest hair. This is a fantastic episode and we hope you enjoy it. Share and enjoy!

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"The Enterprise is mine!" says Picard when he goes back for his saddle(!) No one grows in this one, including our panel, but that's just perfect for a mélange of 80s action movie moments. Due for a scan for waste particles associated with the warp engines, the Enterprise bridge crew must go to a reception held by Hutch, er, Commander Calvin Hutchinson. Data wants to emulate the art of small talk, but then verges into the actually interesting conversation around interior design and scientific facts about planets. Picard leaves the reception to grab the saddle he apparently always h...

Worf shines in this episode by teaching the town to dance, to hunt, and to sing. Michael Dorn is a true triple threat! The younger generation of prisoners don't even know they are in prison. The much younger lady he saw washing in the previous episode shows Worf the artifacts of an ancient time. The Romulan leader Tokath is generally nice - he even married one of his Klingon prisoners! - but he's pushed to the limit by Worf's presence. Worf kisses a ROMULAN on the mouth, but it's OK. She's half his age. It's time for the firing...

B. Dave Walters returns! We jump into a banger of a two-parter as Deep Space 9 takes center stage. Kind of. On the Promenade, Worf meets Mr. James Cameron, er, Cromwell, dressed up like a naked mole rat named Shrek (no, really) who says Worf's father is still alive. Mogh would be proud of his son breaking a glass table before donning a black caper suit and heading to the jungle to beat up some old people and look at naked lady Klingons. Meanwhile, Dr. Bashir assists Data in accessing his trippy visions and Dr. Noonien Sungh's proclamation that "I...

We've come to see the tapestries! Q returns in an episode that doesn't have Q in the title, and we are pissed about that. Good thing, Erik has got us covered in that department. We start in the media-est of res-es, with Picard injured and rushed into sick bay. He goes into the light and a washed out Q tells him what's up. He's dead, because of the fight he had with the Nausicaans when he was a slick punk right out of the academy. He gets slapped in the face and wham bang! There we are - gone...

Counselor Troi wakes up as a Romulan and must immediately become badass or die. You see, she's been benevolently kidnapped by a Romulan friend of Spock's ... kind of. Meanwhile on the Enterprise, a traitor of the Federation who had defected to Romulus, comes back to deliver a message. They've got to go to some coordinates for a very important delivery. Troi verbally duels with Commander Toreth of the Romulan ship, and together they slay Bechdel in a Test of Tense Space Combat. Troi's best episode, which is something to celebrate.

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The collective sigh of rut roh when Geordi sees Acquiel for the first time ... in that WIG! It's a murder mystery unlike you've ever seen before with a shape-shifting body-snatching thing eating dogs and taking names. The Klingons are here and Gowron's name gets thrown around, which is a nice touch. Levar Burton has to wrestle with a tough script and go to extremes while the guest star has a hard time finding the chemistry. All in all, no one comes out looking great in this one, not even Riker telling Geordi to cool it down a little.

We go where no one has gone before --- into a cube! Bonnie Gordon joins the gang to discuss the Star Trek episode that launched a thousand holodeck programs. Moriarty returns from the clutches of Dr. Pulaski to demand Barclay take him to the Captain. You see, the fictional foil to Sherlock was locked in limbo for nary four seasons. Flimflammery and tomfoolery abound as left-handed people ruin all the double-bluffing by Edward P. Hindenburg. Don't worry - this is one of Re:Engage's most musical episodes thanks in no small part to the awesomeness of a Library Bard...

Hey, got a light? To be continued leads us right into Picard singing like a songbird, as Kate says. He's in the well-lit torture room with David Warner as Gul Madred. Then we move to Cardassians showing their ipads and threatening Picard's life to our crack negotiating team. Riker's pissed Jellyroll won't admit Picard was acting for the Federation, and Jericho relieves him of duty. No really! Picard learn how to eat eggs and piss off torturers by not taking their shit. Riker's shit-eating grin goes into the nebula, plants some mines, and rescues Picard. Jellico's unchanged, but Picard...

It's a mid-season two-parter! Let's jump into an extremely important episode full of editing choices and amazing performances around the horn. Captain Jericho is a real sociopath, and he takes over the Enterprise as Picard, Worf, and Crusher train in secret for the secret mission involving Cardashians. Riker's beard is bristling, Geordi is flabbergasted at Jellico's changes, and Crusher is gassed from running through caves. Captain Jellicle Cat insults Riker straight to Picard's face, then tells Troi to put on a proper uniform when she tells Jellico to cool it down with the crew. The mission goes off, with...

Those little robots are so dang cute! Geordi meets with Dr. Firalalalon... who has a new mining technique she's perfecting on a new planet. The good doctor also made these cool little floating tools with self-replicating circuitry. One of them saves itself from destruction in a mining accident and Data pauses on that bit for a moment. Then he figures out there is life behind their oval-shaped exterior. "Do we think it's alive?" he asks Crusher, Picard and eventually Dr. Frialalalalala. And she is pissed, until one of the Exocomps saves the day by sacrificing itself. Back to the...

Wagon Train to the stars, INDEED! Worf gets cajoled into playing cowboy with Alexander in the holodeck program he wrote with Barclay (who's mentioned but doesn't appear.) Troi gets in on the fun as the mysterious stranger, but then it all goes wonky when Datas start breaking the computer systems all over the ship. Crusher's play gets corrupted by Data's poem, Picard's flute music sucks, and cat food is in all the replicators. Cat food? This Western-themed holodeck-gone-wrong episode is also a slice-of-life one, too. Cicero Holmes, host of Discovery Debrief, rejoins to shoot the shit on this Monte...

The kids are on the prowl and this ain't no Space Camp situation! An accident puts a unique combination of characters into crisis mode as Ensign Ro, Keiko O'Brien, Captain Picard and Guinan all turn twelve to seven years old. Guinan and Ro learn to love jumping on beds while Keiko can't console Miles or her daughter. Picard's young self doesn't get the respect he deserves either, and the Ferengi take advantage of the Enterprise. But it's fine, we're going to get the Alexander's ipad to work and then, ultimately, color with some crayons. Good times.

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The return of Lohn JeDancie as the inimitable Q! This time, he's here to test an intern, but not like that. Well, kinda like that actually in that one scene. Olivia D'Abo, the older sister from Wonder Years fame, does a bangup job as a Q spawn left orphaned on Earth after a freak tornado accident in 24th Century Topeka. It seems the Q Continuum didn't like it when her parents quit the firm and our Q was sent to investigate her powers. Which are mostly puppy-based until he trains her up in an omnipotent game of hide-and-seek and...

Data reads poetry, and Riker is sleepy as fuck! Clicking aliens, this episode is heavy on the horror side of genre. The fishmonks are assholes and have been stealing crewmembers of the Enterprise away from this dimension. We follow Riker's perspective, but it's happening to Geordi, Worf, and that other lady, too. To figure it all out, Troi takes them into the holodeck where they recreate from memory together where they've been abducted to. The climax is a bit of a disappointment, but the premise of Schisms is solid. Just make sure you stay awake for the end of...

We need more development, Scotty! It's the return of Captain Montgomery Scott by way of James Doohan by way of a jury-rigged transporter buffer. The Enterprise encounters a Dyson sphere in the middle of space, and a Federation transport ship crashed on its massive surface. Geordi rescues Scotty from the transporter, but can't rescue him from feeling old. Like a relic from the past, if I may be so bold. The bridge of the Enterprise from the original series - NOT the movies - is visited in the holodeck, and the ambiguously engineer duo of Scotty and Geordi team...

I gotta say, Troi sure knows how to pick 'em! But I blame the writers here. A diplomat comes in hot from an exploding transport ship but it's his mom that steals the show being angry at Troi's existence. Ambassador Alkar forms a bond with her, noting her empathic abilities, before his mom is found dead. Troi and Alkar touch crystals. Then she goes whackadoo: wearing revealing dresses, sleeping with ensigns,  scratching Riker, stabbing Picard, etc. We find out Alkar has got a shit-ton of these receptacles and Picard's not standing for it!

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Lt. Barclay gets waylaid by a phobia of the transporter variety. He tries to shake it, the psychosis, but then he sees floating puppets eating his arm while he's in the matter stream. What if the phobias are true? His arm sure is blue! Geordi and Troi and O'Brien all bond with Barclay the clown before he goes from zero-to-hero miraculously fast.

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Host: Erik Gratton (@erikfallsdown on Twitter & IG) 

Panel:  Kate Jaeger (@jaegerlicious on Twitter and IG) , Jimmie G (@thejimmieg on IG & Twit...

Going to California. The whole gang is here in San Francisco, Guinan, Jack London, and Mark Twain included. There are aliens stealing human mind energies and Beverly Crusher has been crushing it as a nurse in a cholera ward. If there was a way to hide murderous aliens by going back in time, our dear doctor tells us THIS would be the perfect crime. Except Riker the cop who totally respects the law. Twain is a pain in Guinan's actual bonnet, while Picard rents a room from the most Irish landlady in Berkeley as, you guessed it, a traveling...

As both Huey Lewis and his famous News have taught us, we gotta go back in time! It's 1889 S.F. this time around the sun but it takes the Enterprise crew a little while to get there. They find Data's head in a cave, contemplate death in Ten Forward, Guinan drops some plot bomb, and then bang, Data's in San Francisco at the stop of act three. There's some freaky aliens stealing human energies with a black light. There's also a poker game, an anvil gag, and Mark Twain as Hal Holbrook played by Jerry Hardin.

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Picard playing the flute will get me every damn time. So damn good. While investigating deep space, the Enterprise finds a random odd-shaped probe out there. Before they know it, Picard is knocked unconscious by a beam of energy and lays down on the Bridge thanks to Riker gentle hands. He wakes up in a rustic house, being cared for by a woman who says he's his wife. Picard has all the memories of being Picard, but his wife Eline calls him Kamin and says he's a respected iron weaver who's been sick. A whole life goes by, Picard...

There's to say about this phase of life. I mean, you get to watch people exercise, you get to push a nasty Romulan out of a ship, and ruin your own Dixieland funeral party. What's not to love? Ro Laren and Geordi Laforge get lost in the transporter beam while helping a Romulan science ship that's had a horrible accident in space. The Enterprise thinks the pair are dead, but they wake up, talk to each other and eventually figure it's all about mixing clocking devices with a phase invertor. The Klingon special does a number on the digestion...

Hugh've got to be kidding me! We get back to the Borg and realize they aren't just the big implacable baddies the Enterprise made them out to be. Following up on a distress signal, Riker, Worf, and Crusher find an injured Borg on a random planet. Beverly wants to bring him on board, and Geordi devises a Borg jail after the Captain reluctantly agrees. Then they get the bright idea to poison this Third of Five borg kid with a shape, before Crusher and Geordi give him the name Hugh. Guinan wants to kill the Borg, but then she...

IFs can be creepy AF. The Enterprise welcomes Ensign Sutter and his daughter Clara on board while we welcome back Shareef Jackson to talk about this kid-centric episode. Checking out a nebula, Clara's imaginary friend she's created to deal with moving around from ship to ship comes to real life. Isabella is played by a fantastic young actor who brings breadth to the role of an alien learning about the rules of being a child on a starship. Guinan's presence is super welcome, as is Shareef's insights into this story that teeters back and forth between light horror and...

Jean Grey is an animorph, I think. Nope, wait she's an empathic megamind. In the triumphant return of the Ferengi, they bumble into birthing Famke Jenson's Kamala. She's the key to uniting two warring peoples, but she can't help but be attractive to every male on the Enterprise. Riker says no as graciously as he can. But Picard has to work with her one-on-one and he hasn't been this tempted since he and Beverly were drunk on water in the first season. Speaking of Bev, she's lets the Captain know over croissants that what they are doing to Kamala...

Lwaxana Troi invented Tinder. You heard it here first, kids! Alexander teaches us all a life lesson on whether to be nude at your weddings. Before that, Lwaxana teaches young Alexander about mud baths and creepy circus performers and the importance of laughing hour. Before that, Troi teaches Worf about the power of signing contracts with your children so that they perform chores like every good Klingon does. It's all bit exhausting, but at least the protocol droid gets a little come-uppance.

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Wesley Crusher returns! He's even more of a man, and is involved in a terrible scandal with Tom Paris, er, Nick Locarno and the rest of Nova Squadron while at Starfleet Academy. Picard reconnects with the gardener Boothby, who is a crotchety old man with a heart of gold or something like that. Nova Squardron was trying to make a galactic goatse when one of their number blows up his shuttle. Too bad goatses have been banned. Wesley comes clean, which makes us all very happy.

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Is this thing on? Are we recording? Let's go back to the beginning. And when we'll get to the end. Stop. Stunt casting Frasier Crane aside, this one is a fun temporal romp. Crusher plays poker with the gang, then start to see some patterns emerge. Are they caught in a loop? How does that work? Data figures it out at the last moment, thanks to Jonathan Frakes weird ass camera shots. Kate saves the best for last.

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Host: Jimmie G (@the...

After a clunker of Ethics, the TNG writers, producers and performers step it up a huge ass notch. Melissa Nathan, AEA stage manager from NYC, joins to talk about a very special episode. Riker forms a relationship with Soren, a member of the J'Naii who eschews all that silly androgenous stuff. Soren wants to get it on with Riker, as they mount a rescue mission into null space. But their love is not to be, for despite Soren's entreaties in court, she's taken away for treatment a.k.a. conversion therapy. Star Trek at its best with fantastic performances...

It's impossible to tackle a tough issue like assisted suicide for handicapped people in just one episode, but add in evil research doctors with a cavalier approach to experimental procedures, and it's no sweat! Alexander returns, and guilt his father into not killing himself, assisted by Riker. Also Troi and Worf build a connection, somehow. Dr. Crusher absolutely crushes her medical colleague, while Picard is a monster. But what scenes is the most memorable is the ridiculous looking spinal cord you've ever seen being inserted into Michael Dorn's body double.

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A thousand points of light, and we get Buzz, Bruiser and Slash. The Enterprise thinks it's found an old Federation starship from 2 centuries ago and have to send a shuttle down to the surface. There the storm picks up and bodysnatches O'Brien, Troi and Data. Riker is saved by a broken arm. Then those three go berserk screaming something about the Southern Polar Region. (Sorry Erik!) O'Brien threatens his baby, the baby screams, and Data wants to fight Klingons in Ten Forward. Don't miss the opportunity to watch a pretty good episode that doesn't follow the sci-fi premise to...

What do we do with a drunken sailor? The Enterprise gets energy beamed - and the crew's memory is wiped. They have amnesia, and a special new crewmember, one Commander Kieran MacDuff. Geordi finds out they have a mission to destroy all Lysians. Riker hooks up with Ro. Worf assumes command because he has a fancy sash. Troi thinks it's all wrong, the mission, all of it. Luckily Picard has a conscience and doesn't want to stab people he doesn't know. MacDuff was in on it from the start! What a bunch of cards!

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The worst thing since sliced bread. The Enterprise shows up at a secret human colony that's super into their eugenics. Troi beams down and tries to save everyone by boning the creepy leader guy while the arbiter Martin SCOWLS. Like, heavily. A lot. Troi smashes but it's Geordi and the hot blonde physicist Hannah who save the day from a star fragment or something. Hannah defects, and that's the A plot eventually. Our favorite crewmembers do and say some fucked-up shit. The end. Forget this one exists, I beg of you.

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It's remarkable that a early 90s sci-fi show examined the idea of rape. The Enterprise plays host to a race of psychic spelunkers on a quest to catalog the galaxy's memories for history's sake. The father is a flirty fool, saying some inappropriate things to the Dr. Beverly Crusher after he skillfully illuminates a memory for Keiko. But it's the son who is the real monster. He attaches himself to a memory of Troi and Riker lingering after a poker game and turns it ugly. He then terrorizes more of the crew until Troi kicks him in the balls...

Data gets a not-so-secret admirer in the form a little kid saved from a Federation research ship in the middle of a dark cluster. Timothy loves that android life so much that he pretends to be a poseur positronic lifeform to cope with his parents' death and everybody else on the ship. He says it was attacked but then things get weird. Thankfully Troi gets to do more counseling and the kid actor, Joshua Harris, is pretty badass playing off Brent Spiner in this episode directed by Patrick Stewart.

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Fatherhood - that's what brings here together today. Brian Bonsall accepts the challenge of playing Alexander Rozhenko, once again being introduced late into an ongoing series. (He played the kid in Family Ties, y'all.) This B-plot of riding the wave all the way to warp speed doesn't hold a lot of dramatic weight, but Worf transforming into a solid single dad in 47 minutes is quite the feat. They even saved some puppets along the way! Alexander is a welcome addition to the family, despite being scolded by the blonde schoolmarm on the Enterprise.

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M-, m-, m-, mmmmMatt Frewer is the featured guest star, playing Professor Berlinghoff Rasmussen. He shows up in a fancy-looking timepod made of a material even Geordi is impressed by. Rasmussen claims to be there to witness historical events bearing flash drives full of  *gasp* questionnaires! I hate questionnaires. At the same time, the people on Penthara IV may be dying and/or saved by the Enterprise, which gets us into some time quandaries. Each castmember has time with Frewer, but he loves Data a little more than Dr. Crusher. The abduction goes wrong, and they trap Max Headroom a...

Another writer from the more contemporary Star Trek: Discovery, Eric J. Robbins, joins in a very in-depth discussion of the conclusion to this seminal two-parter while the WGA strike was going strong. Thankfully that work-stoppage is over with most of the demands met, and our very demanding podcast must have been a big part of that. Spock is back and we actually get the highly anticipated scenes between Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner. Fascinating, indeed! Denise Crosby returns as well, and she's nasty, except when it comes to the startegizing as she goes full Bond villain by...

One of the writers of Star Trek Discovery joins to discuss their take on Unification in season 3 alongside our discussion of this Next Generation episode. Please welcome Carlos Cisco to our cultural bridge crew! A delicious slow burn leading up to the introduction of one Mr. Spock to this cast. The Romulans are up to something, and have brought Spock there to Romulus for some reason, but his father Sarek passed away off screen after a touching last scene with Picard. The Klingons make an appearance, and the captain sets up some fine comic relief in the form of...

It's those dang vidya games ya Boomers play all the dang time! The incomparable Wesley Crusher AND Cicero Holmes return for this cautionary tale on the dangers of screwing an alien on Risa. Riker gets introduced to an augmented reality game that quickly controls the mind of the Enterprise crew. But Wesley and engineering darling Lefler played by Ashely Judd make out in the arboretum after saving the day from the dastardly plot hatched by Riker's fuck buddy. Cicero still likes this game after all of that. Check out his modern Trek podcast Discovery Debrief!

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Disaster Strikes! We remember Picard hates kids, but then loves them. We remember Dr. Crusher knows how to hold on to stuff when being sucked into vortexes. We remember Worf is excellent at midwifery. We remember Data is an android who knows how to keep his head screwed on straight. We also remember Chief O'Brien kicks ass and Ensign Ro is a badass/killer. But who knew Counselor Troi was a Commander? We sure didn't! This is a fun one that gives us more of that slice of life on the Enterprise.

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Fractal fuckery abounds! Data has a whole bunch of memories in his positronic brain, and he's going to share it all with our guest star, but before we get to that, Riker's got a hot honey colonist to woo. But dang, she dead. Thanks, Crystalline Entity, for the ultimate cock-block! In comes the expert on crystals and white whales, played by Ellen Geer. She's not here to talk to Data, but ends up hanging out with him the most anyway. She realizes he's got her son's memories and then almost makes out with our fully functional android friend. We...

We meet a new friend and crewmember! Ensign Ro originates the Bajoran people who will come to be a huge ass part of the Star Trek canon. Michelle Forbes returns, having been the daughter in "Half a Life" and knocks Ro's dangerousness and fierceness right out of the park. We learn the Bajorans are a proud people who are down on their luck and that Ro has got some crosses to bear. Luckily, Guinan comes in to guide Picard to trust Ro against the Cardassians, and then she gets a job on the Enterprise. Done and done!

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Jimmie; His pants wet. A classic sci-fi premise with a fantastic performance from one of Star Trek's most storied captains (if by storied, you mean twice died to save the white Captain.) Picard is beamed to surface of a planet with the Tamarian captain who only speaks in idiomatic references to myth. The universal translator doesn't jibe with space metaphors. But by uniting their confusion as one, Picard and the Tamarian overcome a phase beast and their frustration to learn one another's tongue. It's a wonderful episode for which our panel and the Trek community at large has an...

The Klingon Way is to fight for podcast supremacy! Our cultural bridge crew returns after a hiatus to pick up the pieces of the Klingon civil war between Gowron of the Large Eyes and the Duras sisters of the Large ... Attitudes. There may be too many storylines to keep track of though, as Picard pitches a tachyon pulse field using what's left of the fleet depleted by the Borg attack. (Canon!) Data experiences android racism from the guy sniffing nasal spray in Ghostbusters, and Worf repulses the advances of Romulan-backed boobies. Oh, and we learn how the heck Tasha...

Mr. Picard, the Klingons turn their lonely hearts to you. Gowron, Worf and Kurn team up for the ultimate showdown vs. the sisters of Duras and his lowly son for the crown of the Klingon High Council. Focusing on Worf, Picard gives really inconsistent advice - "Save your family name like the Klingon you are! No, but you can't use Federation resources." Oh, also, we're not going to protect the legal leader of our allies. We get some badass scenes from Guinan, and Worf does the ultimate sacrifice ... until the next season. Enter Denise Crosby!

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There's a lot to unpack with this episode! Data is working alongside Jenna D'Sora and their friendship blossoms after watching the nebula fireworks. The android incapable of emotion goes on an advice tour with his colleagues before deciding to do something extremely cringey with his fellow crewperson. His carefully crafted program goes awry, as does the fate of certain objects, walls and/or persons in the B plot of this episode directed by Mr. Stewart himself. And what a typist, he is! Kate hosted and edited this episode like a boss.

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The Romulans did it! Evidence of the glassies, my droogs! Geordi LaForge is ready for some trivia and spanish guitar on Risa, but the Romulans take him hostage and force him to watch bad things using his visor interface. There's a tall shadow calling the shots with a familar voice, but it's not Majel Barrett, who finally gets credited on screen this episode as the ship's computer. The Klingons have an unruly colony and they accuse the Federation of aided the rebels. Turns out it was Ambassador Kel the whole time! What a dick! Greg hosts this episode which...

This is a spicy one for Dr. Beverly Crusher. Her toes are curling for a hot Star Fleet ambassador, but he's got a secret inside him. No, really inside him. Odan is a Trill - we'll learn much more about them in future Star Trek iterations - and that means he's a bug inside a host body. The bug is important, because he's the only person two warring moons trust to broker a deal. So Dr. Crusher puts the bug in someone else, her friend Riker, and all of the feelings of love and infatuation are there still, kinda...

Guest stars galore. It must have been sweeps week. David Ogden Stiers from M*A*S*H and Better Off Dead fame is a scientist who's really good at blowing up stars. Err, I mean, shooting torpedoes to make stars not blow up. I think. Lwaxana Troi is hot to trot with Scientist Stimson until he says he's a few days away from turning 60 and on Kaelon 2 that means death. Then she gets super heated. Supernova mad, in fact. Erik hosts this one that goes from comic relief to dramatic tragedy with two fantastic actors. Jimmie just wishes the...

Political and precise, this episode is more poignant than ever. Picard participates in a witch hunt, until he realizes he's been the witch all along. Admiral Satie played by guest star Jean Simmons (not the one with the tongue) initially praises and then chews out nearly everyone on the Enterprise while simultaneously chewing on the scenery. References to past episodes abound, and make the Star Trek world richer, while firmly placing the "utopia" of the 24th century on blast. Along with our world. The Crucible of Star Fleet, Kate hosts and edits this week!

Note: Greg can't...

Gotta love it when not one, but TWO guest stars return. Re:Engage, not to be outdone, also has a special guest - game designer and art director Daniel Solis who is working on Star Trek games at WizKids Games. First Vash breaks into Picard's chambers just as he's about to give a speech in front of the Star Fleet architectural, erm, archaeological council. She initiates contact of his Horgon, but she ends up getting pissed Picard never told anyone about her. Then Q shows up to do something nice for Picard and all hell breaks loose at the...

Barclay is back, and he's bitchier than ever! The return of Lt. Reginald Barclay is a deep and often dark commentary on each actors' trials and tribulations concerning wigs and prosthetics. Well, not really. Instead, we get a super-smaht brainiac who takes over the Enterprise's computer all in the name of efficiency due to Reg being infected with a mind virus. I won't ruin the ending of this floating head of an episode, since it is a fun laser- and Einstein-filled romp hosted by Jimmie G. Share and Enjoy!

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There's a metaphor in the Mummenschanz! Erik Curry returns to host this very special episode of Re:Engage where we witness Geordi LaForge transform from a creeper into a little brother to a purple vein monster and back again. Lieutenant Commander Leijten (pronounced as in "Lighten up, Francis") has found some footage of an away team she and Geordi were on five years ago. The rest of the team have abandoned their posts to return to that planet, and Leijten starts feeling funky once they get there too. Suprise! She's a blue-veined prey animal - until the viral creche...

Let's get horror up in our Star Treks! We really need to take more naps, you know, as a society, and that is proven true here in this episode as the Enterprise is stuck in a Tyken's Rift along with a ship of death. The starfleet officers went all murderous on each other on the USS Brittain, gruesomely so, except for a catatonic Betazed. Troi's dreams start to get as funky as her nightclothing, while the rest of the crew starts acting wonky, except for Data. He's the hero of this one, as everyone know androids don't dream of...

Hoo boy, this one's a doozy. Kate keeps us laughing and loathing nearly everything Geordi LaForge does and says in this episode. Dr. Leah Brahms returns as her not-holodeck self and Geordi tries to date her at every turn. The problem is not that Dr. Brahms is married, which takes a Jeffries tube conversation to get that factoid out there, but that Geordi violates nearly every privacy law we have. This may be the first acknowledgement the franchise makes that the holodeck can be used for sexy times, and it doesn't get better from there. Good thing we have...

There's something funny about this one. Star Trek always focuses on the bridge crew of the Enterprise, according to Mean Gene Roddenberry, but the producers successfully switched up the POV to the Malkorians. The cultural bridge crew of Re:Engage also gets some new POVs as Geoffrey Zatkin (@GeoffreyZatkin on Twitter) and Matthew Krol (@EmperorMSK on Twitter) from the YouTube channels Extra Credits and Extra History join to dish on Riker's lies. There was a lot to unpack - including amazing guest star Bebe Neuwirth from Cheers and Chicago fame, a bona fide Not Ready for Primetime Player as...

If it wasn't for that dang moss, those Paxans would have gotten away with it! So Picard asks for the chance to do it once more, with feeling. Special Guest Shareef Jackson returns to talk about this unique Star Trek episode, and as a new father, he's also never sure if he was unconscious for 30 seconds or much longer. Whoopi Goldberg is woefully misused in the Dixon Hill re-visit, but we're glad the secretary stays consistent. Data is sus, but he gets a sweet voiceover. Greg hosts this episode and talks himself out of liking it by the end.<...

Is this real life? Or is this just fantasy? We go down to Georgia, er, Ventax II to visit with Ardra, who's apparently a devil-like figure that's come to collect on a thousand-year-old debt. She's got earthquakes, she's got riots, and she's got camp bleeding out of her eyeballs! Picard wants nothing to do with her flim-flam show, and he assembles a crack team of investigators to try Ardra in the court of Data. They salvaged this script from the failed Star Trek series Phase Two to become something of an anomaly this season, a comedic romp more suitable...

Meet the Cardassians! We welcome a very special guest to Re:Engage with his own performance introducing this culture to the Star Trek canon. It's incredible how much impact one drink of danar in 10 Forward with O'Brien has on the franchise. The accomplished actor Time Winters joins and delights with stories from the set filming "The Wounded," an extremely on-the-nose episode investigating Captain Ben Maxwell's lingering animosity for one's former enemies. The fact that this episode aired when the Gulf War began doesn't feel like an accident. Erik hosts our bridge crew and we collectively make Time blush for...

This episode inspired both the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life" and the entire run of the sitcom of the 90s "Seinfeld." And that's canon! Data's voiceover diary entries written to Dr. Bruce Maddox are the wrapper of the slice of life episode, the first of its kind for the franchise. But this nothingburger day is nothing but - so many things happen! Including the wedding of O'Brien to Keiko Ishikawa, a birth, a Sherlock Holmes reference, a hair coloring, and a fake death ... of a Salesman in the original Klingon. Truly one of the funniest episodes of...

Marina Sirtis pulled the short straw on this script. What should have been a great vehicle for her to show her chops ends up falling a little flat. GET IT!? The Enterprise is pulled along in the wake of what the bridge crew discover to be two-dimensional beings. At the same time, Counselor Troi loses the ability to feel others' feelings and to have any rational response to those things happening at the same time. She resigns as counselor - until she gets a great talking to from Guinan and saves the day by coming up with the moth...

Let's all sing "Say Goodbye to Wes Crusher" to the tune "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" by Billy Joel. Or not. The meter doesn't really match up, kinda like how this episode's plot doesn't match the gravitas of Wesley's final episode. Picard wants Wesley to come with him on some cockamamie miner's quarrel mission right before the boy is to ship out to Starfleet Academy. They've been dangling this for years, but now he's finally out of the picture. Jimmie couldn't be happier. But then the shuttlecraft they're on crashes in the desert and Wesley has to tricorder his way...

Riker will have to grow old eventually people, let's get it over with. Here the crew jumps 16 years into the future but Riker's son recreates the Enterprise slightly imperfectly. Peace with the Romulans? Ferengi ensigns? Marrying a simulation? Well, in sci-fi, anything is possible. The writing here goes out of its way to feel original, and the performances by Frakes and guest kid Chris Demetral as Jean-Luc Riker. Too bad Tomalak couldn't figure out what to do with his hands.

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Host: Greg Tito (@gre...

Spoiler Alert! Worf had a secret baby with K'Ehleyr and thought right before a tense moment of negotiation between the Klingon Empire and the Federation was the best time to lay it on him. Then she has the gall to be murdered for figuring out he was discommendated because of something Duras' father did. How rude! Picard is asked to pick the next leader of the Klingon Empire for some reason, and everything works out in the end with a nice cold plate of revenge. Isn't interstellar politics grand? Thanks to Erik for calling back his little kid voice...

Remember Tasha Yar? And the failed colony she came from? Well it's gotten even worse now, and Tasha's sister is there to make sure it stays that way. A pair of Federation crewmen are held in captivity, and the Enterprise crew has to get them back by working with one of the factions. Ishara Yar lures them in with some fancy bluffing, action moves, and the smooching of Data's cheek. Then she shows her true colors and skill in wearing sci-fi costumes to the nines. Kate hosts this one and edited the audio to boot!

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Quoth the raven, remember more! Dr. Crusher brings her acting chops to this episode as she welcomes on an old friend to the Enterprise before - bloop! - he straight up disappears. Worf ain't having it and neither is Picard, as they try to figure out the missing people problem. Turns out Wesley's to blame, sigh, again, as he created a rogue worp bubble in engineering. There's only one person who can phase in to take care of this problem, and it's Majel Barrett as the computer wrestling with the fact that Dr. Crusher doesn't have the skills to...

Suddenly Human, is in my head now! Kate sings us in on the dreamy blonde locks of our Tiger Beat Cover Boy for this episode. Adopted by the Talarians, a human teen is discovered to be the grandson of a Star Fleet admiral won in battle. Troi makes Picard adopt him, again, and the Odd Space Couple argue about everything from music, misogyny, the removing of one's gloves. Just when everything is about to be resolved, the boy murders his father figure. Freedom! Jimmie hosts this one AND does the audio editing with aplomb.

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Data has a wonderful family, doesn't he? There's something funky going on with the android commander and he silently commandeers the Enterprise to go to a nearly abandoned planet. While the crew tries to figure out how to get control of the ship back in order to save a little brother from some terrible prank, he beams himself down. That's where Brent Spiner meets Brent Spiner, before another Brent Spiner shows up. It's a continuation of the contrast of Lore with his counterpart, with a dash of eccentric dying dentist, er, cyberneticist for good measure. That's what brothers do...

It takes a while to really figure out what this episode is about - oh wait, it's FAMILY. Largely considered a quieter part three to the previous two bombastic episodes around the Borg invasion, Picard goes back home to his family's vineyard in France to cope. He meets his brother's wife and their son Renee for the first time, and reconnects with an old friend who's attempting to raise Atlantis, or something. The brother, Rober, is kind of a dick to his younger sibling, and makes fun of his fascination with starships. But Picard seriously toys with the idea...

The culmination of the longest wait in TV (and Re:Engage) history! Dr. Erin MacDonald joins as our very special guest for this premiere of the fourth season that follows on directly after the events from the finale of season three. Dr. Erin makes the "Trek-no-babble" happen on modern Star Trek shows and she learns up our cultural bridge crew on deflector dishes, graviton particles and anti-matter spreads. Riker takes over the chair by talking to it, Data jacks into the Matrix and Locutus teaches us all the value of a good nap. This episode had a lot to...

This is it! This is the big one! For many Start Trek fans, this episode is what cemented our love of this series and this franchise. The terrifying enemy of the soulless Borg are back, and the top brass sends in the Shelby. The commander is introduced as an expert in Borg tactics and a foil to one Will Riker. They are at odds from the start, but they learn how to trust each other when the Enterprise needs them most. Abducted Picard transforming into Locutus of Borg is quick and dirty, and the crew needs to fight tooth...

Everyone love John Doe! Well, except for Worf's neck, but we'll get to that. Geordi hasn't figured out how to talk to women yet, but he gets a little yellow mojo from a mostly dead alien's brain. Dr. Crusher saves said alien, and falls for him like Florence Nightingale, but he doesn't remember who or what he is. Erik hosts this one and is non-plussed by the X-Men Jesus storyline plus the glowing yellow body suit practical effect at the end. Spoiler: John Doe is the confidence we had inside Geordi all along!

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The hostage nobody wants is none other than Lwaxana Troi in Majel Barrett's triumphant return to the role her husband Gene described as the Auntie Mame of the Galaxy. The Ferengi don't put on too good a look here, with Damon Tog capturing mother and daughter Troi and chess club boy toy Riker before any nookie can occur. Lwaxana distracts with the Ferengi version of oral while Wesley Crusher trains for his own oral exam, if you know what I mean. Everything works out in the end when Picard professes his love of his big ole warp engines and...

Who's got worse daddy issues than an aging Vulcan? Sarek does! Mark Lenard returns to go toe-to-toe with Patrick Stewart and it's illogical (ILLOGICAL! ILLOGICAL!) to assume anything other than a throw-down master class in acting is about to occur. Ambassador Sarek is onboard with his wife to complete a 97-year diplomatic mission, but he's so old that he's psycho-actively making the crew of the Enterprise collectively lose their tempers. Beverly beats Wesley, science officers beat up Riker, Worf and O'Brien and Geordi says some shit he can't take back. But a mindmeld fever dream scene straight out of...

Perhaps the creepiest portrayal of an abusive relationship on Star Trek. Saul Rubinek gets called in to guest star with aplomb and embodies an evil that's all too real. Data gets captured by malicious trader Kivas Fahjo, and put on display in his collection of unique items. At least 50% of the artifacts are from Earth, except for the knock-off Salacious Crumb. Data pulls the trigger on his Chekhov's varon-T disuptor and escapes with another captive, but there's always another Varria. Fahjo should receive more praise as a Star Trek villain, which special guest Susan Arendt (@susanarendt on Twitter) makes...

One of the best portrayals of social anxiety before we even had a term for it. Lt. Barclay is, um, well, you see, one of the engineering crew of the Enterprise. Or IS HE? Special Guest Lucian Khan comes on to explain his insightful theory that this entire episode is on a holodeck WITHIN a holodeck, and honestly we're all kind of sold on the idea once you factor in some of Barclay's forthcoming appearances in Star Trek Voyager. This is a thinky one about the nature of reality, so put a sock on the holodeck door and come...

A personal favorite episode for Erik. We've got Romulans chasing after a living ship, and a telepath that puts Troi's abilities to shame. Tam Elbrun played by Harry Groener does annoying parlor tricks of reading Picard's mind, and Riker hates him for it, as well as for getting his friend's killed in some kind of massacre. Data bonds with Tam, because he has no mind to be read, but Tam's love and empathy teaches Data something too: How to get Troi to give him a backhug.

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There's only so many horgons to go around. Upon request from Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard goes on a vacation to Indiana Jones Country by way of the Romancing the Stone Express. Vorgons travel back in time to mess up his plans for relaxation, as does a Ferengi named Stankowski, we think. But it's really Riker's shit-eating grin that serves as the backbone of this episode, and not the gratuitous shots of copious butts covered in the most transparent raincoats you've ever seen!

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Host: Erik Gratton (@e...

Come hang out in the No Exit room with all your buddies. Doppelganger Picard is a little more impressive as a gregarious host in Ten Forward and a lot more randy with Dr. Crusher, while the real Jean-Luc Picard (please stand up!) is eating prison Apgar jelly. It's all a grand scheme to test the boundaries of authority by Jay Leno aliens, but at least Greg gets to mention Star Trek Acid Party three times in a single episode. Oh, and Irish from Red Dead Redemption (aka voice actor Kaius Harrison) gets beamed in fashionably late to make the...

There's more to these Klingons than meets the eye! Tony Todd drops in and drops a major bombshell - he's Worf's brother and their father Mogh was a traitor to the Empire. Maybe. Picard does some Kilngon Shakespeare on the home planet, including bad stunts as Worf's Cha Deech (cha'DIch if you nasty.) But the real star of the show was the matte painting and the fat-shaming. Still this episode is excellent from the top to the quiet, tragic close. One of the best of the series.

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  Duration: 01:16:17

Data has a baby girl! And ReEngage returns with another special guest star, video game enthusiast Shams Jorjani to wax poetic on fatherhood and the "memnoir" by Brent Spiner heavily referencing this episode. Admiral Asshole wants to take Data's daughter Lal away from him after the crew has grown to love her. (Perhaps in Riker's case, a little too much.) Guinan has a significant part to play, as does Picard, but the episode is stolen by Spiner's Data and Hallie Todd's performance as Lal. This is a landmark episode too launching the careers of writer René Echevarria and Jonathan F...

Fantasy and sci-fi illustrator and artist Tyler Jacobson joins us to talk about this truly great episode of Star Trek. From the cinematic blue lighting to the Emmy-award winning sound design to Guinan's courage and Wesley's head, everything pops in this one! A temporal rift brings the Enterprise C forward 22 years and changes the timeline to keep Tasha Yar alive and well at tactical - which they need because the Federation is fighting the Klingons in a devastating decades-long war. Wartime Picard listens to his only friend Guinan and sends "Mild Texas Accent Shooter" McGavin back through the rift...

Three characters tell three very different stories when Boom goes the space station. Commander William T. "Harp Porn" Riker doesn't look good in this episode, no matter who you believe. Even Troi thinks he was up to something stanky with the doctors wife. The science dream team of Data, Geordi and Wesley save the day with some holodeck tomfoolery, but the real star of this episode is the truth. You can't handle it!

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Host: Kate Jaeger (@jaegerlicious on Twitter and IG) 

Panel: Erik Grat...

The inscrutable Q gets his power took away. The impish John Delancie appears naked on the bridge of the Enterprise to appeal to Picard's human generosity, and defend the former omniscient being from predators. Everyone tests Q, including Guinan, Data and Dr. Crusher who all find out he's a pain in the neck while in human form. But a change of heart, and a visit from another Q named Corbin Bernstein makes everything right. Jimmie hosts this one with the energy of a Mariachi band.

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