All Access Star Trek - A TrekMovie.com Podcast TrekMovie.com editors Anthony Pascale and Laurie Ulster

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.