Trekabout: A Star Trek Podcast

I came to Trekabout in their coverage of DS9 and immediately loved their insider/outsider approach to discussing the episodes. They always had thoughtful, or at least honest, feedback. Of special delight was their personal critical lenses for seeing the franchise. Besides their nerdy take, they also gave occasional insight as gay men. It’s a valuable perspective that is lacking among my circle of Trekkie friends. I listened religiously, looking forward to every week’s release and was deeply saddened when the slog through Voyager ultimately ended their run. I’m delighted that they’ve returned these last few weeks in some form by posting their Patreon specials. It’s good to hear them again and have these weekly postings, even if only for a while.

I can appreciate the premise of this podcast in which two friends (one self proclaimed Trekkie and one not) watch every single episode of Star Trek. Most of the time they are picking apart our beloved show pointing out all of its faults through character analysis while poking legitimate holes in the plot. That I guess I can get on board with. While these two gentlemen are no doubt intelligent, I can’t imagine how or why they feel the need to go rogue every few episodes and start preaching their self righteous leftist views. At first I was watching every single episode right along with them, but I had to take a break because of their anti-trump rants. We get it. You hate the orange guy and can’t understand how Star fleet could possibly exist in the same universe as capitalism, individual thought, or competitive innovation. It’s unfortunate, because I enjoy their friendly banter, their snotty politics, not so much.

I've tried a lot of Star Trek podcasts, and Trekabout is the only one that's ever consistently held my attention. Unreservedly pointing out as many flaws as joys, listening to Richard and Eric is like discussing Trek with old friends long after your real friends have gotten sick of listening to you speculate about Bolian physiology. Thanks, guys. I'll miss you.

The first Star Trek podcast I've subscribed to and exactly the kind of podcast I enjoy listening to. Love the dynamic with one host being a fan and another being new to the shows, which brings two unique perspectives to start interesting and fun conversations. I started with the Voyager episodes and was bummed to find out that it's been put on hiatus because I'm liking their commentaries on it so far, but there's the four previous Trek shows they've also covered so I'm just getting into those. Looking forward to those and more!