All Access Star Trek - A TrekMovie.com Podcast

John Billingsley, Kitty Swink, Armin Shimerman, Jonathan Frakes, and Juan Carlos Coto join Anthony and Laurie to talk about the upcoming PurpleStride march to raise money and awareness for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. They talk about why it’s so important, plus key changes in research and funding over the past year. Then the gang segues into Star Trek, speculating on the state of the franchise, what caused the end of Berman-era Trek, streaming TV and the era of shorter seasons, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and Jonathan Frakes’ farting chair.

John Billingsley (Enterprise‘s Dr. Phlox) joins Tony and Laurie to tell everyone about Trek Talks, an all-day marathon of Star Trek panels to benefit Hollywood Food Coalition happening on April 5. John talks about how donations help the Coalition expand its mission, working with other groups to combat food insecurity and offer other vital services, then gets into the details about Trek Talks 4 and what panels and interviews to expect (as well as the superhero underwear he may be wearing for the occasion). He also talks about his time on Enterprise as #7 on the call sheet, his recent roles on shows like Manhunt and Matlock, and the practical jokes he used to play on Scott Bakula.

Brian Volk-Weiss from the Nacelle Company joins Tony and Laurie this week to talk about the new, deep cut Star Trek action figures his company has up for pre-order, as well their other Trek-related projects like Gates McFadden’s podcast and documentaries. He also gives us a preview of what’s next for the toy line and hints at some upcoming Star Trek docs too. Before the interview portion of the pod, Brian joins in to talk about the latest news, including Strange New Worlds going back into production, an actor update from Starfleet Academy, and high Nielsen ratings for Section 31, and the surprise announcement about the Star Trek: Khan audio drama. We also talk about the possible return of William Shatner to the Star Trek franchise. The pod wraps up with Brian taking a shortened version of our Star Trek Questionnaire.

After a quick catch-up on the production status of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and the Inglorious Treksperts’ plans for Star Trek Las Vegas, Anthony and Laurie dig into the questions sent in by podcast listeners. We also get an update from our sister podcast, the original TrekMovie pod, Shuttle Pod.

Anthony and Laurie covered the ‘Section 31’ junket and the NYC red carpet premiere, respectively, so this week they play the audio from their interviews and talk about what the cast and crew had to say, the fan reaction to Paramount +’s first streaming Star Trek movie, and more. This includes a discussions with Alex Kurtzman about the future of the franchise and we also had a chance to talk to Discovery actors Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz and Strange New Worlds actress Carol Kane. From Section 31 we spoke to star Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou), Rob Kazinksy (Zeph), Sven Ruygrok (Fuzz), Humberly Gonzales (Melle), James Liao (San), Omari Hardwick (Alok), and Kacey Rohl (Rachel Garrett).  

Anthony and Laurie are joined by Matt Wright and Denes House. After recapping the NYC premiere event and junket, the group gives an honest review of the Star Trek: Section 31 streaming movie, discussing the movie itself as well as the intention and history behind the creation of Section 31, how the movie fits in to the franchise both story-wise and industry-wise, and more.

For this special podcast—one day early, just for you!—Tony and Laurie are joined by TrekMovie’s Matt Wright and Aaron Bossig (also of the Hungry Trilobyte podcast) plus Tamia Harper of the SyFy Sistas podcast. Together, the group goes through their favorite episodes of the year from Discovery, Prodigy and Lower Decks as well as discussing the Roddenberry Archive “Unification” short film and what it could mean for the future. They also discuss their favorite 2024 Star Trek books, merchandise and events along with some personal memorable moments from the year. The group wraps up with previewing Star Trek in 2025, including the Section 31 movie, season 3 of Strange New Worlds, the 30th anniversary of Voyager (along with the To The Journey documentary) and few other assorted highlights to look forward to. There are also questions and some speculation about how the pending Skydance takeover of Paramount Global could impact Star Trek.

Anthony and Laurie happily welcome Gates McFadden back to All Access Star Trek to talk about season 3 of her podcast, InvestiGates. She talks about her guests, the challenges of interviewing people you already know well, having to listen to yourself, the dangers of over-articulating when Brent Spiner is your guest, her thoughts on the chances of a Legacy series happening, and more. Happy holidays, and see you in 2025!

Tony and Laurie are joined by the Shuttle Pod‘s Matt Wright this week. They kick off with the latest news including a wrestler added to the cast of Starfleet Academy, more details about the Section 31 movie, and the addition of The Wrath of Khan to the National Film Registry. The trio then digs into their review of the Lower Decks series finale, “The New Next Generation,” and say a sad farewell to the show. Everyone loved the finale , had very few nits to pick, and celebrated all the great moments that tied together the final season and the series as a whole. They wrap up with a look at TNG’s Tamarian language, the history of the Klingon Bird of Prey, and a special about Christmas movies featuring Star Trek celebs.

[Lower Decks review starts at 8:47] Anthony and Laurie start off taking a deep dive into the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 streaming movie. They agree it’s a better trailer and the movie looks like it has good production values and plenty of action, and they hope it can make good on promises to be “fun.” After that, they review the penultimate episode of Lower Decks, “Fissure Quest,” the first part of the two-part season and series finale. Both love the episode were surprised just how many canon connections (and characters) were jammed into it, thankful it had a longer runtime. The podcast wraps up with Tony’s conversation with Garrett Wang where he talks about playing various Kims on Lower Decks, along with how he feels about almost returning for Picard and more.

[Lower Decks review starts at 12:41] Anthony and Laurie talk about Star Trek’s two Saturn Awards nominations, then discuss the Section 31 catch-up video released by Paramount Plus. They chat about Robert Picardo’s praise of Paul Giamatti on Starfleet Academy, Tawny Newsome’s update on her live-action Trek comedy, Kate Mulgrew’s comments to a fan about a Janeway series, Anson Mount’s audition for Lorca, and Michael Dorn’s thoughts on playing Worf again. After that, they review the newest episode of Lower Decks, “Upper Decks,” which puts a spin on the concept of the show itself, then play Laurie’s interview with Jerry O’Connell about playing Ransom and being an expert on parallel universes.

As this is Thanksgiving week, we don’t cover the news except to point listeners to the site to check out Tony’s interview with the executive producer of “Unification” and breakdown of that short film featuring the return of classic Kirk and Spock. Anthony and Laurie review “Fully Dilated,” the newest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, relishing the guest star’s performance and all the meta fun. The podcast wraps up with Tony’s entire interview with Lower Decks supervising producer and director Barry J. Kelly talking about the making of this episode as well as giving us some hints for the rest of the season. Happy American Thanksgiving!

Anthony and Laurie start the week discussing the release of the Roddenberry Archive’s latest short film Unification, which has fandom buzzing over the return of William Shatner’s James T. Kirk. Roddenberry also released some cool new interviews with Shatner, Robin Curtis, and George Takei. They catch up on the latest news on Strange New Worlds and discuss Laurie’s conversation with DS9’s Nana Visitor about the journey she took writing Open A Channel – A Woman’s Trek. [24:07] The podcasters then pivot to Lower Decks’ “Of Gods and Angles.” Both agree it was a lot of fun but also predictable, while the highlight was the Boimler story with Dr. T’Ana. They roll in some audio from Tony’s new interview with Gillian Vigman talking about how she ad-libs T’Ana’s signature curses. [45:55] They wrap with a former NASA official who flashed the Vulcan salute while being sworn into for Congressional testimony, and how to stay in the loop on Trek Talks, which has a growing lineup of star-studded panels for the January 2025 charity event in support of the Hollywood Food Coalition.

[Lower Decks 505 reviews start at 34:05] Anthony and Laurie have a lot of news to cover this week! They talk about Strange New Worlds, drop a few tidbits about Starfleet Academy, and round up the latest intel on Section 31. They discuss Jeri Ryan’s description of a Captain Seven show she turned down and LeVar Burton’s thoughts on a legacy show, the Prodigy season 2 release on physical media, and the latest on the greenlit Star Trek movie and the one waiting in the wings. They also have updates on season 3 of Gates McFadden’s podcast, share the sad news that Tony Todd has died, and talk about the regional Creation cons happening around the country. With all that done, they review the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, “Starbase 80?!,” covering the Enterprise tribute, excellent guest stars, and more. They wrap up the podcast with some tales from their separate event screenings of To The Journey, the documentary about Star Trek: Voyager.

Anthony and Laurie skip the news this week to review two Star Trek: Lover Decks episodes, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” and “A Farewell to Farms.” We also hear a bit from showrunner Mike McMahan from New York Comic Con talking about Boimler’s “growing” arc this season.

Tony and Laurie will be reviewing the latest episode of Lower Decks (“The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”) on next week’s episode along with episode 4. This week we present our season 5 interviews starting with Tony’s chat with T’lyn voice actress Gabrielle Ruiz focusing on this week’s latest episode. The former Broadway and Crazy Ex Girlfriend star talks about taking on the role of a Vulcan and how “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” was a perfect fit for her. Up next is Tony participating in a NYCC remote roundtable interview with other media outlets with Lower Decks voice actors Tawny Newsome (Mariner), Jack Quaid (Boimler), Noël Wells (Tendi), and Eugene Cordero (Rutherford). The cast talks about season 5, emphasizing how much they don’t see it as the end of the stories for their characters. The pod wraps up with Laurie in a roundtable interview with series creator/showrunner Mike McMahan, conducted in the press room at NYCC, so apologies for the background noise. Mike breaks down how he approached season 5 differently, dropping some hints on what we can expect for the rest of the season. Tony and Laurie will be back next week on November 8th to review Lower Decks season 5, episode 3 (“The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”) and episode 4.  

Anthony and Laurie have two new episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks to review! Season 5 has finally begun with “Dos Cerritos” and “Shades of Green.” Before they can do that, they talk through all the news from the panels and our interviews at New York Comic Con about the streaming Section 31 movie, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Strange New Worlds season 3, and Lower Decks. They wrap up with a way to have a Star Trek experience on the Enterprise-D bridge built for Picard season 3 and LeVar Burton’s latest and much-deserved honor at the White House.

It’s the 200th episode of All Access Star Trek, so Anthony and Laurie asked Star Trek: The Next Generation legend Jonathan Frakes to come by and talk about Next Gen, Picard, directing Trek films and TV past and present, his early career, and a whole lot more. The chat spans his career from auditioning for Welcome Back Kotter through to his latest directing gigs, including for upcoming Star Trek shows and more. We also asked him if he thinks he will ever play William Riker again.

Thanks for sending in your questions! Anthony and Laurie asked Star Trek: Prodigy co-executive producer Aaron Waltke our listeners’ burning questions and squeezed in some of our own. He talked about time travel, Gwyn’s hair, convincing Star Trek actors to join the cast (and the ones who passed), connecting the show to the others in the Star Trek Universe, the show’s performance on Netflix, and much more. The podcasters wrapped things up after Aaron left by sharing Seth Meyers’ speculation on the redacted Star Trek comments in the January 6th court filing, Kate Mulgrew’s play in NYC, and Laurie’s upcoming appearance at Parthenon Books in Syracuse, NY, to promote her Gilmore Girls book.

Anthony and Laurie haven’t talked about Star Trek news in a while, so this week is a big news roundup. They talk about the plans for the Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic-Con, a Strange New Worlds production update, the new Lower Decks clip, and the arrival of the show’s season 4 on YouTube & Pluto. They discuss comments from Michael Dorn about being offered a role on Discovery and why he said “yes” to Picard, Zachary Quinto’s thoughts on playing Spock again, James McAvoy’s revelation that he was offered a role in a J.J. Abrams Trek movie, and Scott Bakula’s opinion on the wo sides of Star Trek fandom. They round up the recent political efforts by Star Trek celebs and dig into some of the details from Laurie’s interview with Jonathan Del Arco. They lament the end of Star Trek Explorer magazine and sing the praises of Nana Visitor’s new book. The podcasters wrap up with Star Trek references in The Simpsons season premiere, a redacted section from a Jan. 6th court filing, and a Beverly Crusher cocktail.

Listen to the full audio of Laurie’s interview with Jonathan Del Arco who played the Borg Hugh on Star Trek: The Next Generation and returned for Star Trek: Picard. They start off talking about the Vote Save America fundraiser and live show in support of the Harris/Walz campaign and then pivots to a frank discussion about his time with Star Trek including revealing some new things about the development of ‘Picard.’ Fore more on Trek The Vote visit votesaveamerica.com/trek.

This week, listen to our full interviews with Star Trek: Discovery‘s Doug Jones (Saru), Elias Toufexis (L’ak), and Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber) talking about the fifth and final season of the series, now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Anthony and Laurie start with the news that the Skydance/Paramount merger is moving forward. They share the sad news that Deep Space Nine‘s James Darren has died and talk about his eclectic career, then shift to discuss the plans for Star Trek Day this year, which are are all about charity campaigns. Production has begun on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, actor Sam Richardson drops a tidbit about his role on Section 31, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez namedrops Janeway (and gets thanked by Kate Mulgrew), Nicholas Meyer talks The Wrath of Khan ad Elias Toufexis talks L’ak on Star Trek: Discovery. [25:07] Then they get into this week’s interview, where writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe talks about his original pitch (at TNG) for DS9‘s “Past Tense,” the inspiration for the Bell Riots and the society they took place in, the shot they couldn’t get, the current Star Trek shows, and more. [1:22:25] They wrap up with Gene Roddenberry doing Star Trek cosplaying in 1966 and memories of Leonard Nimoy from Tom Selleck and Ted Danson.

One year ago last August, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made history with “Subspace Rhapsody,” the franchise’s first musical episode. To celebrate the milestone Anthony and Laurie are joined by musicians Tom Polce and Kay Hanley, who wrote all the songs for the episode (and Laurie can hardly contain herself). They talk about what the songwriters were asked to do, how it changed along the way, and get into the details on each of the individual songs. Kay and Tom also talk about working with the actors, squeezing technobabble into song lyrics, and play a bit of an early demo. They answer burning questions like “Is Akiva serious when he says he wants to bring ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ to Broadway?” and “Who was the most nervous about doing a musical episode?”

Brian Drew from the Shuttle Pod podcast joins Anthony and Laurie this week. They talk about the latest twist in the Paramount merger (now that another bidder has emerged), round up the news on Starfleet Academy, Section 31, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, that Star Trek workplace comedy Tawny Newsome and Justin Simien are developing, and the Nicholas Meyer audio drama about Khan we haven’t heard about in a while. They touch briefly on the upcoming Blu-ray & DVD releases of Prodigy season 2 and all of Discovery, and then it’s time to dig in to all things Star Trek Las Vegas. The trio discusses the changes this year and goes over the highlights of the convention from panels, to events, to the hotel and much more. They wrap up with some bits of interesting and fun moments from STLV.

Laurie and Tony couldn’t record this week but we still wanted you to have something fun to listen to, so here is Laurie’s recent interview with Kate Mulgrew and Tony’s with Wil Wheaton. Both talk about their roles in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 and what it would take for them to return to live-action Star Trek as Admiral Janeway and Traveler Wesley. Enjoy!

This is a live recording of the TrekMovie.com “Star Trek Status Report: 2024 And Beyond” panel held on Saturday, August 3rd at Creation Entertainment’s STLV event in Las Vegas. This is the biggest Star Trek convention of the year and Tony and Laurie from the All Access Star Trek podcast were joined by Matt and Brian from the Shuttle Pod podcast to talk about the current status of the Star Trek franchise, focusing on TV and film, as well as where things are headed with announced, potential, and rumored projects. They also discuss how the changing media and business landscape is impacting the franchise, and what the pending Paramount/Skydance merger could mean for Star Trek.

Anthony and Laurie pull together all the news and reveals from SDCC, covering Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the Section 31 streaming movie, a new Trek sitcom in development, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, a Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover, IDW’s plans for Lower Decks comics, and Prodigy. They talk about the trailers, the clips, the conversations, and more, and play clips from Laurie’s brand-new interview with Kate Mulgrew. They wrap up with a reminder to come say hi if you’re at Star Trek Las Vegas!

[Review starts at 18:05] Anthony and Laurie kick off this week’s podcast with Chris Pine’s thoughts on the next Kelvin Universe movie and an update on the Voyager documentary. the hype around San Diego Comic-Con, and what to expect at Star Trek Las Vegas next week. They give an update on the availability of Prodigy season 2 in other countries, play a little more of Tony’s interview with Wil Wheaton, then dive into their review of the final five episodes of season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy, talking about the main story, character arcs, relationships, time travel conundrums, and how satisfying it was as a possible series finale. They wrap up with recommendations for a Twitter follow and some great Star Trek books.

[Review starts at 21:13] Matt from The Shuttle Pod fills in for Laurie this week to cover the news with Tony. We cover the latest award news, and speculate about the announced Star Trek collaborations, including the one with Doctor Who. There’s also a little casting update for Starfleet Academy and a story tidbit from the “Star Trek Origin Movie.” Turning to Prodigy the guys discuss our latest interview with the Hageman brothers and roll a preview clip of Tony’s brand-new interview with Wil Wheaton. We then run Tony and Laurie’s previously recorded review of Prodigy season 2 episodes 11-15, discussing how the show takes a bit of a pivot in tone, and takes deeper dives into the characters, with some fun diversions along the way. But we still can’t figure out where the show stands on the whole J/C thing. The podcast wraps up with a brief preview of STLV coming in the first week of August, which will include a TrekMovie.com panel.

[Review starts at 21:14] Anthony and Laurie kick off the podcast with the news that Paramount Global and Skydance have officially agreed to a merger, discussing the next steps and potential implications for Star trek. They also preview what to expect at the Star Trek Universe and other official panels announced for San Diego Comic-Con later this month. In addition, there is a new casting announcement for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and the international chart success of Star Trek: Prodigy. Then they review the next batch of five Prodigy season 2 episodes, covering episodes 6 through 10, taking them to the halfway point of the new season which dropped on Netflix on July 1.   They wrap up with a quick bit about Leonard Nimoy, Katey Sagal and Norman Lear.

[Review starts at 15:48] Anthony and Laurie start with the surprising news that the Skydance/Paramount talks are back on and heating up. They also discuss the latest on Trek movies on the big screen (including Chris Pine’s comments about playing an older Kirk) as well as the small one, Celia Rose Gooding’s thoughts on Uhura in season 3 of Strange New Worlds, Mike McMahan’s tidbits about season 5 of Lower Decks, and Rosario Dawson’s revelation that she had to turn down a Star Trek role to be in Ahsoka. Then it’s time to dig into the very long-awaited season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy. Tony and Laurie review the first five episodes, looking at them individually and as an arc and celebrating that the show is finally back. They wrap up with Neil DeGrasse Tyson on if scientists have discovered Dyson Spheres (like from TNG “Relics”), and Laurie’s guest appearance on the Deep Space Love podcast to talk “Rejoined.”

Tony is off this week but we present the full audio (minus a couple of bigger spoilers) of his new interview with Kevin and Dan Hagemans, co-creators and showrunners for Star Trek: Prodigy. The brothers talk about what’s new in season 2, how it connects to other Star Trek shows, and how they assess what could happen next for the series. All 20 episodes of Prodigy season 2 land on Netflix on Monday, July 1. Check TrekMovie.com next week for discussion from Dan and Kevin of some of those bigger spoilers. Starting next week the All Access Star Trek podcast will begin our “Summer of Prodigy,” reviewing the 2-part premiere of season 2.  

Fresh off the release of the first trailer and more details for season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy, coming to Netflix on July 1, Tony and Laurie are joined by co-executive producer Aaron Waltke. He breaks down the trailer and gives us more insight into how the new season was crafted, what we can expect for our familiar characters and new characters (including the USS Voyager-A), and more. We wrap up the pod pointing fans to some great YouTube vids with Star Trek model mashups and DS9 transformed into the sitcom 30 Rock. We also reveal who won the Master Replicas golden Enterprise-D giveaway.

[Laurence Luckinbill interview starts at 22:07 ] Anthony and Laurie are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier by chatting with Laurence Luckinbill, who played Spock’s half-brother Sybok. But first, they cover the news: the latest on who may or may not be buying Paramount, the addition of Paul Giamatti to the Starfleet Academy cast, Alex Kurtzman’s thoughts on the future of the franchise, the upcoming release of Prodigy on Netflix, the Discovery box sets coming our way, Star Trek at the Peabody Awards, and the new podcast coming from Enterprise‘s Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating. Then they settle in to talk with Laurence Luckinbill about the making of the movie, his feelings about it now, and more. They wrap up with a closeout sale on Eaglemoss ships from Master Replicas—with a chance to win one!—and a poetry book from the Delta Flyers.

Tony has the week off so we are presenting the full audio of his latest interview with Doug Jones talking about Saru and the Star Trek: Discovery season 5 finale and how it was turned into a series finale with the extra “epilogue.” Laurie introduces the interview and points listeners to TrekMovie.com for updates on Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 and the potential Skydance/Paramount merger.

After a brief production update on Strange New Worlds and the latest from Alex Kurtzman on the Starfleet Academy show, Anthony and Laurie are ready to do their final review of Star Trek: Discovery. They play some clips from Tony’s new interview with Doug Jones, then dig into the series finale, “Life, Itself,” to determine how satisfying it was as a season and series finale and discuss character arcs, visuals, performances, connection to the Short Treks “Calypso,” and more. They wrap up with the good news that Gates McFadden’s podcast is getting a season 3 and some great interviews with Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, the songwriters behind Strange New Worlds‘ “Subspace Rhapsody.”

[Discovery 509 review with Lisa Klink starts at 25:59] There’s big news this week! Anthony and Laurie talk about the announcement that Oscar winner Holly Hunter will lead the Starfleet Academy series and reports that Simon Kinberg is in talks to oversee a new era of Star Trek feature films. They discuss the news that Picard’s Terry Matalas is showrunning for Marvel, note that Strange New Worlds season 3 is about to wrap, and try to be patient like the Hageman brothers about when to expect Prodigy on Netflix. After listening to some of Tony’s interview with Discovery’s Blu del Barrio (Adira), Tony and Laurie are joined by Voyager/Deep Space Nine writer Lisa Klink to review the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “Lagrange Point.” They wrap up with a fan-led stream-a-thon to save Lower Decks and a lovely article from Discovery’s Patrick Kwok-Choon about becoming a dad and captaining the USS Discovery on the same day.

[Discovery 508 review starts at 15:17] Laurie’s back from vacation, just in time for Anthony to fill her in on the latest about Paramount’s attempts to find the right buyer. Not a lot of other news this week but they catch up on a comic book milestone and some nominations for IDW. They talk about Star Trek: Discovery‘s first appearances on the Nielsen charts and play some audio from Tony’s recent interview with Doug Jones (Saru), then launch into their review of episode 508, “Labyrinths” with bonus commentary from co-writer Eric J. Robbins. Tony and Laurie agree it was an excellent episode weaving in Burnham’s character deep dive with the Breen plot action. They wrap up with updates on some local Star Trek conventions.

[Discovery 507 review starts at 24:00] Laurie is still away on vacation, so once again Shuttle Pod’s Matt Wright joins Anthony to talk about the Trek news of the week, and again we start with the chaos at Paramount Global as they continue talks with Skydance and Sony/Apollo, with our analysis of what this all could mean for Star Trek’s future. In better news, the Star Trek franchise just won a Peabody Award. We then catch up with the latest from some Kirks: Chris Pine wondering why Star Trek 4 needs yet another screenwriter, and William Shatner pondering the possibility of returning to Trek through the magic of CGI de-aging. Turning to Star Trek: Discovery, they get an update from Doug Jones explaining his mid-season absence (he took time off to promote Hocus Pocus 2) before rolling in some audio from Tony’s new interview with actor Elias Toufexis, including what it was like for him to perform as L’ak in “Erigah” in full makeup in a bed for the whole episode. The avowed Star Trek fan also took on a nitpicky question about the Breen from “Erigah” as well. NOTE: The full interview with Elias will be going up on TrekMovie.com this weekend. We then rolled in our previously recorded review with Laurie for “Erigah” where she and Tony agreed it was a strong fast-paced episode that got a lot done for the season plot and the characters, with a lot of fun from Reno and more. Matt sticks around for bits of the week, where we take a look at Michelle Yeoh’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a recently unearthed film from one of the fist Star Trek conventions in the 1970s.

[Discovery 506 review starts at 21:39] With Laurie away on vacation, Shuttle Pod’s Matt Wright joins Anthony to talk about the Trek news of the week, starting with the chaos at Paramount Global with the CEO leaving and competing bids to buy the company. They also catch up on Toronto’s new “Star Trek Stage,” get an update on TeakTrek from PanCAN PurpleStride, and consider the value of Star Trek teaming up with World of Tanks. Matt and Tony also take a look at fan efforts to support (and maybe even save) Star Trek: Lower Decks. Turning to Star Trek: Discovery, they play some audio from Tony’s new interview with Mary Wiseman talking about Tilly’s adventure in this episode and her potential future. The podcast then rolls in Tony and Laurie’s previously recorded review of “Whistlespeak” where they agree it is a rich episode that is a bit of a throwback to classic Trek. Matt sticks around for bits of the week, where we take a look at Laurie’s European adventure with Little Riker and wish veteran Star Trek director Ralph Senesky a very happy 101st birthday.

[Discovery 505 review starts at 17:00] Anthony and Laurie start with a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds production update, then round up the latest on the William Shatner documentary, a new Discovery coffee table book, and IDW’s “Star Trek: Celebrations” comic. Then they play some audio from Tony’s recent interview with Carlos Cisco, co-writer of this week’s Star Trek: Discovery episode, “Mirrors.” After that, they give “Mirrors” a full review; Tony liked it more than Laurie, but they both enjoyed the Moll and L’ak backstory. We also have a quick reminder about the PanCAN Purple Stride walk happening this weekend, which you can hear all about in our supplemental interview released on Monday. They wrap up with two podcast recommendations: first a deep dive into the competing Paramount bids on The Town, and a recent interview with makeup legend Michael Westmore on The 7th Rule.

In this supplemental edition of All Access Star Trek, Anthony and Laurie are joined by Armin Shimerman, Kitty Swink, Jonathan Frakes, and Juan Carlos Coto (Manny Coto’s brother) to talk about the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the Purple Stride walk on April 27th, the importance of early detection and family support, the improvements in detection and symptoms to watch out for, why there’s hope for the future, and the power of Star Trek fans to do good in the world as a group. They also talk Trek, covering topics like Ferengi makeup new and old, the cancellation of Lower Decks, the definition of “filler episodes,” the differences on set between Star Trek in the ’80s and ’90s vs. now, and more. John Billingsley was going to join the group, but was unable to make it at the last minute. He will be at the Purple Stride walk! If you can, please join Purple Stride, donate to the cause, or both. If you can’t, please spread the word via social media and word of mouth. purplestride.org/TeamTrek

[Discovery 504 review starts at 26:00] Anthony and Laurie start with the good news that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for another season and the bad news that Lower Decks will end after its fifth. The Trek on TV talk continues with Alex Kurtzman’s description of the challenges of making Trek for streaming networks and the benefit of shorter seasons, plus Martin Quinn’s comments about being the first actually Scottish actor to play Scotty. Then they start talking movies: the announcement that the origin movie has been officially added to Paramount’s production slate and a cryptic conversation on The View about Whoopi’s potential involvement in a Trek film. Next up, the return of the original Enterprise model to the Roddenberry family and the latest on Star Trek: Discovery—and then it’s time for a full review of Discovery episode 504, “Face the Strange,” which Tony and Laurie consider the highlight of the season so far. They wrap up with the invoking of Star Trek at a White House State Dinner and the Trek-adjacent series The Librarians.

[Discovery 503 review starts at 23:00] Anthony gives an update on the Star Trek prequel movie, then he and Laurie dig in to the latest on the Paramount/Skydance talks, talking about why shareholders aren’t thrilled about Shari Redstone’s plans and what that could mean. They discuss the new offerings from the Roddenberry Archive and new Star Trek-branded coffee, then turn their attention to Star Trek: Discovery. They talk about showrunner Michelle Paradise’s reasons for using TNG’s “The Chase” as an inspiration for the season, plus Mary Wiseman’s (not-so) cryptic comments about the Starfleet Academy show, and play some audio from Laurie’s recent interview with Wilson Cruz on the same topic. They briefly chat about the “This season on…” trailer and then dive into their review of Discovery episode 503, “Jinaal,” talking about Wilson Cruz’s strong performance, Trill mythology, the challenges of juggling multiple stories where some are less compelling than others, and more. Then it’s time for their bits of the week: Ernie Hudson’s description of auditioning to play Deep Space Nine‘s Ben Sisko and a podcast about Leonard Nimoy and the early days of Star Trek fandom with Bonnie Moss.

[Discovery 501 review starts at 24:32; 502 starts at 57:35] Anthony and Laurie are joined by Matt from the Shuttle Pod this week! They start with the latest news on a potential Paramount sale to Skydance, Alex Kurtzman’s hopeful statements about Trek “surprises,” the addition of a Deep Space Nine channel to Pluto TV, and Hugo nominations for Strange New Worlds. They also speculate on new info about the Section 31 movie and talk about the “First Contact” score heard at a NATO ceremony last week. After that, they take a deep dive into the first two episodes of season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery (“Red Directive” and “Under the Twin Moons”), discussing the refreshing pace of the show, character arcs, best moments, nitpicks, and play a clip from Sonequa Martin-Green’s interview at the NYC premiere about the Burnham/Rayner relationship and what it means to her.

Anthony and Laurie have a lot of news to go through from the recent Star Trek cover story in Variety! They give updates on the Section 31 streaming movie, Starfleet Academy, and the Star Trek movies that are still moving forward (or in development), as well as the latest on season 3 of Strange New Worlds. They discuss the release of Prodigy season 2 on French TV. The bulk of the pod is devoted to clips from their Star Trek: Discovery season 5 junket interviews. Co-showrunners Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman and actors Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, David Ajala, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, and Blu del Barrio all talk about what to expect in season 5, which arrives next week. They wrap up with 3 Body Problem interview with Rosalind Chao and one of Laurie’s birthday presents: a USS Enterprise-D Bluetooth speaker.

Anthony and Laurie are joined by Brian Drew from the Shuttle Pod podcast this week. They start by looking at the latest competing offers to buy Paramount Global, what else is on the table, and how all these high-level business dealings might impact the Star Trek franchise on TV and the big screen. And in other business news, we hear what some executives had to say about the future of Trek on the big screen and why Star Trek: Legacy has not been greenlit for the small screen. There is also some production news to catch up on for the Section 31 movie and Strange New Worlds and a few Discovery season 5 tidbits. The trio then moves on to talk about the new William Shatner documentary You Call Call Me Bill and the NYC premiere event (that Brian and Laurie attended) where Shatner and his director, Alexandre O. Philippe, did a Q&A with Neil deGrasse Tyson. All three offer their thoughts on the doc and how it fits its subject perfectly. They wrap up with a Star Trek prediction update from the BBC, a look forward to Adam Nimoy’s new memoir about his father, and a look back at Gene Roddenberry’s The Lieutenant.

Anthony and Laurie start with the latest intel on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. They talk about the Critics Choice Super Awards nominations for Strange New Worlds and Picard, then dive into Terry Matalas’ comments about choices made, ideas abandoned, and production challenges on seasons 2 and 3 of Picard. Then it’s time to get into the latest live events: Tony talks about his experience at Star Trek San Francisco and the podcasters talk about panels with Melissa Navia, Robert Picardo (about Prodigy), and Lower Decks cast members. Then it’s Discovery time! Laurie and Tony play clips from TrekMovie’s red carpet interviews with Sonequa Martin-Green, Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Wilson Cruz, Doug Jones, and Blu del Barrio, who talk about what to expect in season 5 as well as the legacy of the show itself and what might come in the future. They wrap up with their own spoiler-free thoughts on the first four episodes of the new season.

Tony is busy this week headed to the ST-SF convention in San Francisco so we are bringing back an interview we did last summer when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was waiting to start production on season 3 due to the strikes. The show is now half way through production and so we thought it was a good time to hear what Chris had to say… ORIGINAL EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Laurie and Tony have a lengthy, engaging conversation with Chris Fisher, producing director and co-executive producer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. His enthusiasm for the job and the show is infectious as he talks about hiring and working with directors, working with Paul Wesley, collaborating with the creative teams, using the AR wall, combining practical with virtual effects for the Gorn, what he knows (and doesn’t) about the Section 31 movie, and much more. He also gives his take on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes (and how long it would take to get production rolling again once they’re over) and talks about being mentored by Star Trek behind-the-scenes vets Merri Howard and Marvin Rush.