All posts filed under “Star Trek

Episode 317: The Undead A-Team

The word is camping. The nerds discuss their love of camping trips and Andy mentions that Camping Fluxx just went to the printer. Then they talk about Keith’s latest appearance on the Six Sides of Gaming livestream, and Keith talks about games he plans to run at GameHoleCon. Andy then talks a bit more about his big Across America road trip and the living souvenir he returned with: a new kitten, named Neko. Then the nerds start talking about Star Trek and Star Wars, again. Keith gives his high-level thoughts on Ahsoka season 1, then after they drop the spoiler curtain, they talk at length about Season 4 of Lower Decks. Keith also talks about Loki, Bluestar, and Byzantine History.

Episode 316: The Zone of Truth

The word is remix. The nerds recorded this episode live when Andy visited Keith during his big Across America road trip, and they start by continuing discussions they were having over breakfast about alternate-timeline-20-years-later remixes for Battlestar Galactica, Brooklyn 99, Rick & Morty and Firefly, all inspired by this Breaking Bad 2 video: https://www.cbr.com/breaking-bad-2-fan-video/. The word being remix, Andy plugs Fluxx Remixx, and provides updates on his Across America Fluxx Roadtrip. Keith describes his livestream GaryCon character, how he found real giant silver wings, and reviews the Switch game Disco Elysium. Haggis the cat sits on Andy’s lap. They chat about Ashoka, how much we love our phones, and how disappointed they still feel about the Star Trek musical episode. Lastly, they duck behind the spoiler curtain briefly to discuss the cliffhanger of SNW season 2.

Episode 315: The Musical Episode

The word is musical. The nerds talk about special musical episodes, musicals in general, and the new musical episode of Star Trek. Then Keith mentions the sad news that his mother passed away, and spends some time eulogizing her and celebrating the many ways she encouraged his creativity. One example they both get nostalgic about are the giant Icehouse pieces she made out of cloth & stuffing back in the 80s. This also leads to an extended story from an early LARP game called Recon-5. Then Keith reports on his experiences at GenCon. After dropping the spoiler curtain, they discuss Star Trek SNW S2 Ep 8-9 and also Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

Episode 314: “This is a Time Portal.”

The word is well. The nerds have a surprising amount to say about wells. Then they talk a bit in non-spoilery terms about the stuff they’ll be talking about after they drop the spoiler curtain, which they do pretty early in the episode because they have so much media they want to discuss, namely the Star Trek Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover episode, Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse, and the final episodes of The Leftovers. Other topics include Keith’s grandmother’s involvement with the Manhattan Project, Ketih’s mini-reviews of games he’s been playing lately on his new Switch, vintage videogames (including the terrible classic Night Trap), and of course, wells.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

Episode 313: Panama!

The word is Leila since this is episode 313 and Leila’s birthday is 3/13. (They forgot to mention it on the show, but Leila provided all the vocalizations for this podcast’s opening.) Andy tells a few Leila stories, including the reason why her Burning Man nickname is Panama. Then Keith has stories from his recent trip to Origins, and talks a little about the newest Spiderman movie. They also talk about Secret Invasion (and its AI-generated title sequence) and other new Marvel shows, pinball machines, Thunder Road, Set, and Keith’s current D&D campaign. Lastly, after dropping the Spoiler Curtain, they discuss the Leftovers and Star Trek Strange New Worlds.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

Episode 310: Is it the 12 of Clubs?

The word is masks and it turns out the nerds have very different views on these. Andy detests wearing a mask, while Keith actually enjoys it. They discuss their own views and also discuss the Mandalorian and its always-masked characters. Keith provides a little recap of the stuff he talked about last week that was lost in transmission. This leads to a discussion of some memorable magic tricks. Then they drop the Spoiler Curtain to discuss at length the season finales of Mandalorian Season 3 and Picard Season 3.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

Episode 308: A Very Very Dark Comedy That’s a Little Light on the Comedy

This week the word is Sonder, so the show starts with a discussion of what that word even means. Then Keith talks about his recent trip back to Maine, visiting the Bates Discordians, which led to discussing the history of this college organization Keith help launch 30 years ago. Next, Andy mentions a few more things about Disney parks, and also talks about the real-life versions of the games from Star Wars, notably Dejarik, the holographic chess game. The nerds talk a little about work and life and stuff, then they dive into media discussions, starting with The Last of Us, The Menu, Midsummer, and then, after dropping the Spoiler Curtain, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Star Trek: Picard.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers!

Here’s the definition of Sonder, as read by Keith during the show. Sonder is the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worried and inherited craziness – an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

Episode 307: Bring Me the Head of R2-D2!

This week the word is Disney, since Andy has recently returned from Disney World and has a lot to say about Star Wars Land and other things that have changed since his last visit 15 years ago. He also talks at length about an event he attended in Miami called Love Burn. Then Keith talks about what he’s been doing lately, including appearing with several other famous game industry folks in a series of televised D&D sessions called Destiny of Worlds. Moving on to media, they discuss Poker Face, Ghosts, Kaleidoscope, and after dropping the Spoiler Curtain, the first episode of season 3 of Star Trek Picard.

Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers!

Episode 303: The Sad Clown of Life

This week the word is Swamped, since Keith just has too much stuff going on right now. He reports on various projects, including the coin for the new version Illimat, the issue of guns in Eberron, Hero Forge minis wearing his hat, and a new micro RPG called Snow Globe. Moving on to other business, they discuss again the Dream Apart / Dream Askew games, how time used to work in D&D, social media upheaval, and Puddles singing Royals. Movie on to media, topics include Bullet Train, the Weird Al Movie, the board game about Rear Window, and movies that only make sense if you’re dreaming. After dropping the Spoiler Curtain, they discuss Andor season 1 at length, along with an episode of Star Trek Prodigy called “All the World’s a Stage.”

Spoiler Warning: contains spoilers!