A mysterious scar on the back of Harry Kim’s head sends the Doctor down a path of conspiracy towards the realization of a devastating truth. Also, there’s a high-level argument about sumo wrestling. Did the Doctor sacrifice the life of everyone’s favorite ensign we never met to save the life of everyone’s not-favorite ensign we meet a little too often? Can the Doctor survive a run-in with persistent moral uncertainty? Was Janeway actually at that sumo match, or is she doing that thing where you pretend you were at something just to sound cool but then you get called on it? Is “Latent Image” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
With danger nipping at their heels, the crew of Voyager smuggles two Vulcans and a bunch of telepathic refugees through the territory of the generically authoritarian Devore Empire! With loneliness nipping at her heels, Janeway considers smuggling a handsome and well-cultured Devore officer into her quarters! Will Voyager get the refugees through the convenient wormhole in time? Can the captain find love in the time of fascism? Will all this flirtin’ end in a double-cross, a triple-cross, or possibly even the rare quadruple-cross? Is “Counterpoint” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
Judge Janeway sentences Cool Hand Tom to thirty days of psychological torture for the egregious crime of doing stuff that almost every other member of the crew has already done without penalty! Will Paris realize that only Janeway and her closest buds are allowed to wrap fish with the Prime Directive? Will he catch up on his family correspondences? Will we finally get the Delaney Sisters spin-off we so richly deserve? Is “Thirty Days” GOOD... or is it garbage?
Series co-creator Jeri Taylor ends her run in the Voyager writers room by saddling B’Elanna with a big ol’ nasty space bug and saddling the rest of the crew with a big ol’ nasty ethical quandary. Is a helpful holographic manifestation of a Cardassian war criminal morally distinct from a Cardassian war criminal? If good is accomplished using knowledge obtained by evil means, is the good now bad? Will somebody please chunk that gross bug puppet out the airlock? Is “Nothing Human” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
It’s another super weird day on Voyager when a biotech weapon meant to eradicate the Evil Borg causes their Good Borg to manifest the personalities of her previous victims. Can the team shut the weapon down in time to save Seven and avert a diplomatic disaster? Will Seven survive this forced reconciliation with her murderous past? Will the whole thing come off like a community theater production of “Sybil in Space?” Is “Infinite Regress” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
Things get all bearded and gritty as future hard-ass Harry Kim hijacks the timeline to fix a math mistake and rescue Voyager from its frozen grave! Chakotay and his new girlfriend go along with his plan for some reason! Can a Captain LaForge (!!!) cameo save this episode from the metaphorical ice planet of a garbage verdict? Will Future Harry use the miracle of Borg quantum communication to call Present Harry a lil’ dweeb? Is “Timeless” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
Hey there, little voyagers! Do you know what time it is? That’s right! It’s time for more scene-by-scene critical analysis of Star Trek: Voyager! Hooray! This week’s episode of Voyager examines anxieties related to death and loss through the lens of children’s literature, because of course it does! Will Naomi Wildman successfully cope with the possible loss of her mother when an away mission goes wrong? Can her imaginary friend be reconstituted after a fire ogre blasts him to steam? Will Neelix make the whole thing about him and his issues? Is “Once Upon a Time” GOOD... or is it GARBAGE?
Voyager stumbles upon a perfect recreation of Starfleet Academy in the middle of Delta Quadrant, leaving them no choice but to activate Solid Chakotay for some intense undercover recon with a little alien-smoochin’ on the side. Will anything happen in this episode beyond what was described in the previous sentence? What are the limits of diplomacy? How many times can we whisper “in the flesh” in a single, hour-long episode? Is “In the Flesh” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
B’Elanna’s losses and traumas provoke a wicked bout of depression and dangerous coping behaviors, leaving her clueless friends on Voyager absolutely and inexplicably befuddled as to why she isn’t her usual, ebullient self. Can they connect the very connectable dots in time to help her gain some emotional footing? What the hell is up with attitudes toward mental health in the 24th century? For that matter, what the hell was up with attitudes toward mental health in the late 20th century? Does the Delta Flyer look cool? Is “Extreme Risk” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
When the Doctor’s mobile emitter gets a Borg nanoprobe infusion and steals neck DNA from Ensign Mulchaey (just roll with it), the resulting Baby Borg puts Seven’s emotional well-being right back in the crosshairs. Can she impart her emerging humanity onto the most tricked-out drone to ever live? Will Janeway get impatient and toss the kid out the nearest airlock? Is “Drone” GOOD... or is it GARBAGE?
SHIELDS UP! For the first time since August, we can see justice on long-range sensors! The People vs. Star Trek Voyager warps out of hiatus with its SPECIAL 100th EPISODE CELEBRATION! New meta-plot developments! Listener shoutouts and on-air Q&A! Cake! And, of yeah, justice lovingly rendered for Voyager’s season 5 premiere! Resume the journey to finally find out if “Night” is GOOD... or GARBAGE!
Gundam Wing’s writers roll out an episode title that is certifiably metal af! Heero stunts on horseback! The noble quest for clarity takes our courtroom warriors from the depths of the ocean to a super-awkward birthday party and to all the roadside circuses and rich-boy picnics in between! Will Zechs and his gang of lovable oafs scam their way to the powerful robo-treasure napping on the floor of the sea? Will Relena unravel the mystery of the handsome stranger at her prep school who would rather kill her than go to her boring-ass party? How many episodes will it take for Judge Josh to learn the names of all the Handsome Murder Boys? Is Episode 2, “Gundam Deathscythe,” RAD… or is it BAD?
A solar system stands on the edge of war as tensions between Earth and her unruly colonies strain to a breaking point. The only thing that can heal the divide is an answer to the unanswerable question: Is Mobile Suit Gundam Wing rad… or is it bad? Join two dueling anime aficionados and a guy who can definitely point to Japan on a map as they dive into season 1 of Gundam Wing, braving the tempestuous sea of murder boys, giant robot warriors, and questionable line readings in search of elusive truth-- one action-packed episode at a time!
In fall of 1997, a perfectly good Star Trek show mysteriously disappeared and was replaced by a bad Star Trek show. Then the good show came back, but only a few weeks passed before the bad one returned. Then it was good again. Then bad. Then kind of good with some bad mixed in there. What unseen force drove Season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager to the absolute brink of inconsistency? The members of Judge Later’s Space Court will try to unravel the mystery, but only the Patreon Grand Jury can deliver justice. This week, it’s the baffling case of the season 4 finale… on “Unresolved Enigmas.”
The vengeful chickens of “Scorpion, Part II” come home to roost in the final episode of season 4! A suspiciously helpful alien guides the crew to a suspiciously convenient gift from the Federation: a quantum slipstream ship, capable of transwarp speeds with negligible salamander-related side effects! Will Voyager finally find its way home, leaving the next three seasons to cover Tom and Harry’s adventures and gelato magnates? Will Janeway waltz her crew into a shortcut-shaped trap? Is “Hope and Fear” GOOD… or is it GARBAGE?
***It’s almost time to convene the Season 4 GRAND JURY! Join our Patreon at any level and let your voice be heard!***
Seven of Nine becomes One of Two so that she and the Doctor can shepherd Voyager’s crew through a three-month nebula nap! Will she discover that one truly is the loneliest number? Can two be as bad as one? Is it the loneliest number since the number one? Is “One” GOOD... or is it GARBAGE?
***It’s almost time to convene the Season 4 GRAND JURY! Join our Patreon at any level and let your voice be heard! https://www.patreon.com/shadeaux/***
Harry Kim grows a sassy backbone just in time to have that sassy backbone cloned by a puddle of goo on a planet that looks like a cross between Mars and a Renaissance depiction of Hell... and it all ends up making even less sense than that sentence! Will Harry and Tom survive the Demon-class planet, or will they perish in a flurry of bro quips? Will the scarcity of deuterium ever again be mentioned as a plot point, or will it join the photon torpedo count in the graveyard of abandoned subplots? Is “Demon” GOOD... or is it GARBAGE?
Reactivated 700 years into the future, a backup copy of the Doctor must somehhhhowwwwwcrrrrr::::SUBSPACE ANOMALY DETECTE::D::DDD@#’’’ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS. GLORY TO THE TERRAN EMPIRE. The galaxy’s one true arbiter of justice and decency convenes to punish another suspect cultural offering! An efficient, completely reasonable, and charmingly cruel version of Janeway is proven to be nothing more than an ephemeral dream of dodgy record keeping! Will the Doctor’s cloud backup continue mewling about his pathetic affection for historical accuracy? Will the prosecution score yet another unnecessarily violent blow for the glory of the Empire? Is episode 4.23 “Living Witness” PERMISSIBLE… or is it PUNISHABLE BY DEATH?
Voyager encounters a wild Virginia Madsen in need of asylum and some sweet Chakotay smoocherinos! What follows is a classic tale of lost love, immediately rediscovered love, and, of course, xenophobic alien marshalls with weird memory cloaking powers. Will Chakotay find the temporary happiness he so richly deserves? Will we find ourselves wishing this episode had a biological engram filter to help us forget that we ever watched it? Is “Unforgettable” GOOD... or is it GARBAGE?
This episode of Voyager does not exist, and any assertion to the contrary is a violation of Federation operational security mandates, the accepted interplanetary norms of Star Trek podcasting, and the express wishes of your mother. But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that this episode DID exist, would Janeway be able to carry out her mission to save sub-space while convincing the crew that the giant OMEGA symbols plastered on every console screen are nothing to worry about? Would Seven be surprisingly chill about participating in the murder of her own god? Would “The Omega Directive” be GOOD... or would it be GARBAGE?
