The Mirror Universe Star Trek podcast

Episode 16: After the Fall

One of the precepts of Star Trek was always that it was going to get worse before it got better. In Trek's imaginary future history, the near future is supposed to be very bleak indeed, with nuclear war, genetically engineered overlords, and near-complete societal collapse on its way before we finally get our act together and build the Federation. That progression has been sketched out in a number of ways over the years, and makes for an intriguing, complex, and seemingly--but perhaps not actually--self-contradictory timeline. For this episode, Adam and Douglas, joined once again by guest Dylan Roth of the Are You Afraid Of The Dark Universe?  podcast, boldly take it upon themselves to imagine what a Star Trek show set during this tumultuous, very un-Trek like time period would look like.

Episode 15: I’m Not A Miracle Worker, Captain!

One of the biggest appeals of Star Trek is the advanced technology to which the characters have access--some of which has, famously, influenced inventors and engineers in the real world. It seems like there's rarely a problem that a Starfleet engineer can't solve with a bit of technobabble and some time puttering around in the Jeffries tubes. But Trek's fetishization of technology raises a lot of issues...in particular, does the franchise promote the idea that technology can let us skip over more awkward and complicated social and cultural issues and "cheat" our way to utopia? On this episode, we're joined by Dylan Roth of the Are You Afraid Of The Dark Universe? Podcast for a deep dive on Trek's answer to the question, "Will Tech Save Us?"

Episode 14: Voyager vs. Enterprise

This podcast was born partly out Douglas and Adam both commenting on Carl Garcia (@carlinspace)'s twitter livetweets of Star Trek, and as he moved into the late Rick Berman era we made a bet to see which of the two "bad" Star Trek shows Carl would like more: Voyager or Enterprise? This blew up into a larger discussion, with Douglas defending Voyager and Adam defending Enterprise. While we don't think either show is particularly great, figuring out which is the least bad makes for an interesting peek into what makes Trek work and what doesn't....

Episode 13: Especially the Lies

Appropriately enough, this 13th episode turned out to be fairly cursed, with technical and scheduling issues delaying it until 2023. Nevertheless, we enjoyed taking this look at one of the most well-regarded Star Trek spinoff novels, A Stitch in Time, which tells the story of one of Trek's most well-realized characters, Elim Garak. For an extra layer of veracity, it was written by the actor who played him, Andy Robinson, and as well as (somewhat controversially) expanding on Garak's backstory, it offers us a glimpse of the post-DS9 order. Is it canon? Is it even meant to be? Garak wouldn't want us to know!

Episode 12: Exploring Strange New Worlds

The latest Trek series boldly goes where many of them have gone before. Is that a bad thing? Douglas and Adam dissect their thoughts on Strange New Worlds in this episode.

Episode 11: Beneath Lower Decks

With multiple Star Trek shows on the air right now, they've had to do something to distinguish themselves, and it's hard to think of a harder let turn than doing an animated comedy. But Lower Decks has quickly become one of the best Trek shows--not just funny and irreverent, but true to the spirit of Trek in surprising ways. With Douglas finally having seen the show, we take a look at this oddball entry in the Trek canon.

Episode 10: The Masterpiece Society

Funny how Star Trek's all about creating an ideal society...but every time the Trek heroes encounter a supposedly ideal society other than their own, it's usually a mess and needs to be destroyed. We've returned for an episode dealing with Trek's recurring theme of social engineering, either via well-meaning but restrictive laws, or a literal all-powerful god computer controlling everything.

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Episode 9: "...And Sky's the Limit"

All Good Things must come to an end...even Star Trek. But as of this moment the future still looks bright for our favourite sci-fi franchise, with many more Trek shows in production. In this final episode (for now?) of Mirror Universe we look at what the future may hold for this story of the future, what's likely to change and what hopefully never will. And Douglas talks a lot about Kpop for some reason. 

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Episode 8: The Savage Curtain

As we may have mentioned a few times on this podcast, Star Trek is a TV show. That means that its concerns, themes, and storytelling have been heavily shaped by the medium of television, and that's one of the things that sets it apart from many other science fiction stories. In this episode we look at how Star Trek makes use of the medium of television, or whatever other medium it happens to find itself in, and take a meta-look at how Trek itself is bolted together...

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Episode 7: Infinite Diversity?

Star Trek is the most progressive Science Fiction show of all time! Right? 

That's certainly how it presents itself, and it may be true, but Trek's supposed progressiveness has run into bumps from time to time. While it's certainly a mostly well-meaning show, and it certainly has accomplished some significant milestones from a left-wing perspective, there are plenty of issues that come up over the course of a fifty-year-long franchise, as there would have to be. In this episode we look at the progressive nature of Star Trek and its failures and successes in that regard.