So, yes, this.

Liz. 40-something Australian woman. Remembers analogue. Fic, meta, bad fan art. Avatar, Doctor Who, Star Trek, random curiosities. Questions welcome. Co-edited Companion Piece: Women Celebrate the Humans, Aliens and Tin Dogs of Doctor Who with L M...

[antimatterpod]

https://antimatterpod.com/234-mushroom-party-dsc-1-07/

Anika and Liz don their finest 2017/2257 outfits and go to a party. 

Then they do it all over again.

Then they do it all over again. 

Yes, we are caught a time loop and discussing Star Trek: Discovery‘s “Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad”! 

“This, to me, is like if Strange New Worlds was good.”

Is this Anika’s least favourite episode of Discovery?

Ash is happier and more successful as a human being than he was as a Klingon

Making Harry Mudd spend time with his wife is not a good or suitable punishment for his crimes? It is highkey misogynistic? Do better, show! 

Liz is here to pitch Star Trek: Stella, where Meg Stalter plays Stella Mudd as she roams the galaxy being a sociopathic nepo baby with an amazing wardrobe, who disintegrates people

[liz-squids]

Me yesterday: DMing @pixiedane yesterday with the draft of the Insta meme because I couldn't tell anymore whether it was funny

Me now: no, that is legit hilarious

[glam0urix]

I started watching star trek cause my mum was watching star fleet: academy in the lounge room and I was just kinda there and eventually got invested at like episode 2 and kept asking questions.

I made her rewatch that with me and then we moved from star fleet to discovery which answered so many questions I had abt wtf the burn was and then I finished discovery and went onto the aos movies and they were awesome and now I'm watching tos and making my way through it

My journey has been 50% confusion, 30% holy shit that's awesome and 20% omg gay people yay

I still have not watched the first episode of star fleet academy

[sophiaforevs]

One of us! One of us! One of us!

Welcome to the original automated gay space communists. We have snacks but they're replicated and not as good as homemade (except when Sisko's in town).

[liz-squids]

I am so excited at all the ways new fans find their way here!

[antimatterpod]

Anika and Liz take off for a cheeky little diplomatic meeting with some Klingons. What could go wrong? 

We are discussing Star Trek: Discovery‘s “Lethe”, an episode which inspired our friendship, a whole lot of fic and a conversation about whether it is a flawless piece of Star Trek, or if it has merely a single flaw. 

We are not here to be cool or reasonable about Admiral Kat

Normal Human Guy Ash Tyler and Normal Federation Captain Lorca

At any time, it is reasonable to assume that Sarek is disappointed in at least one of his children

Ash Tyler could never appear in SNW because his whole existence is a rebuke to that series’ biological determinism

Anika’s Wonderland Corner: the Vulcans at Michael’s graduation are dressed as chess pieces (Michael, like L’Rell, is a white pawn)

We have. A lot. Of feelings. About Katrina Cornwell

[liz-squids]

I wrote 14,000 words of fic in two weeks after this ep dropped, and here's a nice chat where I try to be normal about that.

[quasi-normalcy]

The other thing that I find with the Maquis is that I think the writers were leaning very hard on the historical oppression of Native Americans to make them seem sympathetic at all. Like the first time we learn anything about the situation in the Demilitarized Zone, it's in the context of a planet settled by Indigenous Americans whom Picard has been ordered to relocate, thus automatically articulating their struggle to the Trail of Tears and other real-life episodes of genocidal colonialism.

But like...the thing about the settlers on Dorvan V is that they're settlers (i.e., textually not indigenous). They're indigenous in an ethnic American sense only. And, what's more, the text of the episode is that they settled only recently, like 20 years ago (within the lifetimes of most people living on Dorvan), and against the advice of the Federation government, who told them that it was disputed territory with the Cardassians. Moreover, they're not really living under an expropriative capitalist and racist regime like the USA or the British Empire, but under what is, textually, a generally egalitarian post-scarcity society that is entirely willing to let them settle on another perfectly good planet somewhere else. So while the subtext of the episode may be that they're indigenous peoples being relocated by a remote and indifferent government, the literal text of the episode is that they're settler colonialists who are upset that their central government is unwilling to press a war against a rival power so that they're not temporarily inconvenienced. And okay; this is one of the few times that Star Trek acknowledges that how humans react to situations will continue to be informed by history even in the future, and i can definitely see how a people who have centuries of experience being lied to and exploited by various governments would be inclined to tell the Federation to go to hell when they say they have to move again, but this is (a) an extremely contrived situation (and don't even get me started on the Jamake Highwater "we must live here because this planet is sacred to us" bullshit) and (b) doesn't textually apply to any of the other planets in the DMZ.

Anyway, to me, the Maquis seem more like American settlers whining about being denied the right settle beyond the Appalachian Mountains by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 than they do like indigenous land protectors. I find them unsympathetic.

[liz-squids]

Last year I saw an Israeli critic compare the Maquis to West Bank settlers, and honestly Bluesky is still not coping with that, but I think she was onto something.

[innerchildabortionclinic]

my sons ranked from most to least hard to love

[liz-squids]

[orteil42]

been reposting my tumblr posts on bluesky. don't tell those chumps i'm feeding them my leftovers lmao

[spectrumspace]

[liz-squids]

Sometimes I do a Bluesky post and it doesn't do numbers, and I'm like, "Ah yes, wrong audience" and post it here. And vice versa.

I do not apologise to the people who follow me in both places. You signed up for this.

[pixiedane]

[antimatterpod]

We’ve caught up to this episode in the retrospective so here’s my receipts from eight years back.

[liz-squids]

I'm pretty sure this was the post that made me go, "You know, I've been seeing @pixiedane's Good Posts around these parts for years, I need to actually follow her."

[antimatterpod]

Anika and Liz are thrown into a Klingon prison, where they are absolutely choosing Lorca’s pain. But no one is having a worse day than that poor innocent tardigrade! 

We’re discussing episode five of Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season, including: 

This is the worst Saru episode of the entire series. It’s rough, man

Overthinking the “five best captains” list

For an awful moment, we start to ask dangerous questions like “how many starships does Starfleet have?”

This episode is a card trick: your attention is on Harry Mudd, but really it’s introducing Ash Tyler

Liz has normal and rational feelings about the historical Buran

We play a fun game called “which other captains would leave Mudd in the Klingon prison” (Archer)

Introducing Ash means we have to talk about Ash, L’Rell and the misguided sexual assault subplot

Antimatter Pod: We aren’t really into m/m ships Also Antimatter Pod: We will die for Lorca/Tyler

Our hot take: Saru did NOT deserve that telescope, this is NOT a sweet scene to be immortalised as a Hallmark ornament, this is REWARDING his BAD BEHAVIOUR

[liz-squids]

[boophisburnhamae]

I knew already that pre-Reform Vulcan was somewhat similar to modern day Earth and that Surak wasn't like, writing out his teachings on scrolls or anything. But the description of him publishing his writings "on the nets" is taking me out. My man was a blogger. An influencer, even

[liz-squids]

Surak did big numbers on Vulcan Twitter.

[sophiaforevs]

What do people think a "teen drama" is in regards to genre? Because it me, a teen drama requires actual drama. There's Will-They-Won't-Theys, there's cheating, there's stupid misunderstandings, there's all the pitfalls of being children and navigating complex human romantic relationships.

But to listen to a lot of adult sci-fi fans, "teen drama" just means "young adults who are dating." Like, I would not describe Starfleet Academy as a teen drama. There were a couple will-they-won't-they episodes and one (1) episode where Caleb was being afraid of his feelings and not calling Tarima, but beyond that, there wasn't the cheating and they weren't teens. I just saw someone say "I guess For All Mankind is a teen drama now," a show with one episode with very light Will-They-Won't-They that was resolved in the next episode and hasn't had a single other aspect of the genre.

[liz-squids]

I think that "teen drama" as a genre has a lot of common themes which SFA uses effectively, such as:

preparing to leave childhood and enter adulthood

family expectations

learning to be responsible to oneself, one's community and family, and learning to be responsible as a citizen of the wider world

developing and applying personal ethics

navigating interpersonal relationships, both in terms of friendship and romance

And there are also tropes that are common to academic settings like schools and colleges:

prank wars

sports rivalries

parties and drinking

challenging classes

Whether you're looking at science fiction (SFA) or horror (Yellowjackets) or whatever genre Riverdale was, these elements are all there to a greater or lesser extent.

And then you have fans who look at any situation where a character under 30 is doing something and go, "This is a teen drama now, and that is intrinsically bad."

(If there are characters over 30 doing something, they will complain that the show is now a soap opera.)

[chamomile-teabag]

WHAT ARE YALL READING RN you must tell me

[liz-squids]

Liz (@lizbarr.bsky.social)

Starfleet Academy and everything's the same except the tea-obsessed chancellor of the War Academy is General Iroh.

I got a freakish amount of weird reply guys (welcome to the block button, fellas!) from this extremely good and true observation on Bluesky, so I'm bringing it over to Tumblr where people will be normal.

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Anika and Liz are petsitting a tardigrade while we discuss the fourth episode of Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season, “The Butcher’s Knife Care’s Not For The Lamb’s Cry”. This episode introduces Admiral Cornwell, and we are gonna be so cool about that. You wouldn’t believe how cool and chill we are. 

This is decidedly not one of Discovery‘s stronger scripts

“Lorca is so clearly flagged as evil,” we said back in 2017, “that there absolutely has to be more to it than that.” Anyway…

Michael’s skills and flaws are all on full display here

“I also do not respect Saru.” 

Okay, but why is Saru the first officer? He frankly does not seem up to the job. Is Lorca keeping him around as a snack? 

“Let’s talk about Elon Musk.”

Michael and L’Rell: parallels (parall’rells)

[liz-squids]

Key quote: "We've all done our time in the Tilly/Landry mines."

[antimatterpod]

Anika and Liz continue their tour of Discovery‘s first season with “Context Is For Kings”, an episode which introduces a whole lot of new regulars and dares to ask: is it possible to like Saru less? It’s time to go down the rabbit hole as we discuss:  

You are not gonna believe this, but Michael Burnham is the protagonist of Star Trek: Discovery. I know. Huge if true. 

But Gabriel Lorca thinks he’s the main character of multiple universes.

Ellen Landry: one of the all-time worst people to wear a Starfleet uniform, and we are fascinated by her.

Lorca absolutely practised his introduction to Michael in the mirror, possibly while flexing, because he’s a monster, but he’s also a giant dork

[liz-squids]

It didn't actually occur to me until a few days after we recorded that season 1 of Discovery is, in part, a gothic novel. But I did say something about the horror vibes of these early Discovery episodes, and the USS Discovery as a haunted house, so. Like. Pretend.

[socialmurderer]

Best ice cream flavor that ISN’T chocolate, strawberry or vanilla

Mint

Cookies and cream

Cookie dough

Butter pecan

Moose tracks

Salted caramel

Coffee

Cotton candy

Birthday cake

Pistachio

Peanut butter

Something else

Voting ended onApr 30

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Remember 2017? Taylor Swift released Reputation. Kendall Jenner fixed racism with a Pepsi ad. And Star Trek returned to the small screen with the launch of Discovery. 

Anika and Liz go back in time to revisit the series which led us to become friends and launch a podcast … and we are excited! We’re starting with “The Vulcan Hello” and “The Battle at the Binary Stars”, in which Michael Burnham has a very bad day. 

“I am one of the first 500 people to sign up for CBS All Access. Which is a dubious claim.”

These episodes are not bad, but they are a terrible introduction to the series, both in terms of its ongoing tone and themes, and in terms of making people want to see more

“Can I just say? T’Kuvma could get it.”

We are not opposed to subtitles, but the specific “Klingon” font used by CBS All Access was straight up hard to read

Does the premiere ask too much of the audience? Both in terms of asking them to empathise with complex characters they’ve just met, and also in having basic media literacy?

(Michael Burnham Did Not Start The War.)

Saru’s relentless negativity makes him a difficult character to like

Returning to our roots as The Sarek Podcast

The Klingons are MAGA, but they’re also very Brexit-era Britain

We are once again criticising the Federation’s carceral state

[liz-squids]

We are BACK on our ORIGINAL BULLSHIT (objectifying Sarek)

[liz-squids]

For that writing ask list you reblogged:

10. Top three favourite fic tropes.

33. Give your writing a compliment.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

10. Three favourite fic tropes:

Not babyfic, not kidfic, but Parents To Young Adults Fic

That Character Canon Killed Off? They're Mine Now

You've Heard Of Fake Dating, Now Here's The Fake Break Up

33. Giving my writing a compliment:

I think I'm good at plot. I wish I was faster at plot, but I think I can tell a good story with nice prose.

19. A snippet without context:

When the doors had closed behind the <I>Cayuga</i>'s officers, Batel rose from her chair, planted her fists on her desk and leaned forward, eyes blazing. 

"With respect, Admiral Cornwell," she said, "what the fuck?"

"You don't have to answer that, Katrina." 

I finally noticed Neera Ketoul. Some bodyguard I was. 

"I'm letting you sit in as a courtesy," Batel told her. 

"And I'm very grateful, but I'm not going to let my client incriminate herself if I can avoid it."