Star Trek: Asterisk "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

Vital Information
Series: The Original Series
Episode: S01E03
Air Date: September 22, 1966
Written by: Samuel A. Peeples
Directed by: James Goldstone

Premise
After passing through the galactic barrier, Gary Mitchell, Kirk's life-long friend, becomes imbued with god-like powers and learns that with great power comes great ego.

Review
As Kirk explains in his log, the U.S.S. Valiant traveled out to the edge of the galaxy and ran into the galactic barrier. "Galactic barrier??" one might say, "But I thought the galaxy just faded slowly into space! What's this about a barrier??" Well, that's exactly what Starfleet said, so they sent the Valiant to find out! Whatever it was, it caused the captain of the Valiant to order a self destruct after looking up information on psionics.

Star Trek: Asterisk "The Cage"

Vital Information
Series: The Original Series
Episode: S01E00
Air Date: October 18, 1988
Written by: His Royal Highness, Gene Roddenberry
Directed by: Robert Butler

Premise
Captain Christopher Pike battles a race of perverted voyeur aliens on Talos IV by channeling his inner Angry Archer while the Talosians feed him holodeck-like illusions. Truly an episode before its time.

Review
In the beginning of this episode, it takes a long time for the crew of the Enterprise to decode and respond to a distress call. Nothing against them; I mean, they have to verify everything, but at some point you just want them to get going already. And then Pike spends a lot of time in his room regretting being in Starfleet and complaining to his doctor about how tired he is with command. It's probably a good thing that Pike was only in one episode. You get the feeling he just couldn't handle much more stress.

Star Trek: Asterisk "Weekly Aftermath - The Cage Where No Man Trap Has Gone Before"

And now, for something completely awesome!

Steve and I have finished going over this week's episodes from The Original Series ("The Cage," "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and "The Man Trap"), and the resulting podcast is now available for you, our faithful viewers! Plus, we've got a special treat this week. We're now recording from the bridge of the Enterprise! That means we have brand new recording equipment and a great atmosphere for which to blather on about our favorite series - just listen for the beeps in the background.

But wait - there's more! Wanna subscribe to the podcast? Good, because you had better. Just go to your favorite media player, subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheGreenAsterisk, and you'll be able to follow along in our audible adventures.

Have fun!

Star Trek: Asterisk "Officer's Lounge - The Cage Where No Man Trap Has Gone Before"

Greetings, programs!

This week, the Captain and I begin watching The Original Series. This week, we tackle the unaired pilot episode, "The Cage;" the AIRED pilot episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before;" and a special Bones episode, "The Man Trap." This week, thanks to the magic of computers (and the programs on them actually NOT dying), we are proud to bring you the live audio from us having fun during the viewing session. Oh, and just, um... ignore the technical issue or two in the middle. These things, they happen. Plus, remember that this is about 3 hours of audio. That means it's roughly 80MB of awesomeness. Don't be scared - just forewarned.

And hey, you can join in on the fun, too! Every Thursday, stay tuned to the #StarTrekAsterisk hashtag on Twitter, and you can watch along with us starting at 6PM Eastern.

Also, be sure to follow @GreenAsterisk so you can be the first to know about the updates right here! Stay tuned later this week for our wrap-up podcast, and Steve's written reviews of each episode.

Enjoy!

Star Trek: Asterisk "On Stardates"

When I first set out on this journey, I determined to go through all of the Star Trek canon in chronological order according to mission stardate. Upon reviewing the stardates of the Original Series episodes, something came clearly to light: These numbers are completely random.

Star Trek: Asterisk "In Defense of Abrams"

It has come to my attention through various channels that some people have problems with Star Trek (2009) because certain aspects of it don't comply with standard Star Trek canon. This is complete and utter bunk.

You do not complain about canon when a Borgified Romulan mining vessel slips through a singularity and creates an alternate universe. If alternate universes had to comply with canon, then the Mirror Universe should be utter nonsense to you. But as I say this, I can just hear some of the arguments coming from people who insist that because all prequels are bad (see: Star Wars) that Star Trek's prequel also must suck. So let me go over a few things for you.

Star Trek: Asterisk "Star Trek (2009)"

Vital Information
Series: The Alternate Universe Series
Episode: MovieXI
Release Date: May 7, 2009
Written by: Alex Kurtzman & Robert Orci
Directed by: J. J. Abrams

Premise
A crazed Romulan bent on revenge goes back in time and changes everything while a young James T. Kirk finds his destiny aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Review
To say that the opening scene of this movie is a tear-jerker would be like saying the Enterprise is an alright ship. Here we see, for the very first time, George Kirk, the father of the soon-to-be-born future captain of the Enterprise. He is first officer of the U.S.S. Kelvin which has just come under attack by Nero, a Romulan with a mining vessel the size of a small moon which has been modified with Borg technology to support weapons and the ability to survive passage through a rip through spacetime. This is very inconvenient because, after letting his pregnant wife leave on a shuttle, George is forced to save the life of the crew by ramming the U.S.S. Kelvin into the Romulan ship like a hammer and subsequently dying. That's right. I just made an obscure Thor reference.

Star Trek: Asterisk "Weekly Aftermath - Star Trek (2009)"

All you Trekkies and TV addicts - zunderscore here with your weekly dose of shenanigans and review from this week's "Star Trek: Asterisk" viewing session. Steve and I have put together a nice review and slightly in-depth look at J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" film, and it was so nice a podcast, we thought we would share! If you're reading this on TheGreenAsterisk.com, you can click here to download the naughty audio bits.

Be sure to leave us a comment below or tweet at us with the hashtag #StarTrekAsterisk. We wanna hear from YOU!

Star Trek: Asterisk "Enterprise"

A Summary


Since its inception, Enterprise had faced criticism from many angles. For one thing, it seemed to be capitalizing on the prequel trend that had been popularized by traditional franchise rival, Star Wars. For another thing, it seemed to take what most believed to be established canon and completely stood it on end. Add to that the fact that there "wasn't supposed to be" any other ships named "Enterprise" and most Trekkies built up a pretty solid defense against watching it. But forcing myself to go through this series was a surprising and educational experience.

Star Trek: Asterisk "These Are the Voyages..."

Vital Information
Series: Enterprise?
Episode: S04E22
Air Date: May 13, 2005
Written by: Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Directed by: Allan Kroeker

Synopses
After four years of hearing fans complain about Enterprise, Berman and Braga decide to make a Next Generation episode. In which Riker consults the final mission of the Enterprise NX-01 to help him make a decision.

Review
It's ten years after the Enterprise NX-01's first mission and Archer and the crew is getting ready to put the ship in proverbial mothballs. Or... rather... wait, no, it's hundreds of years after the Enterprise NX-01's first mission and Riker is in the holodeck reviewing the Enterprise NX-01's final mission. Because of reasons. After HoloArcher goes over a speech he's writing, Riker is called to the bridge. He pauses the holoprogram and leaves, thus blowing everyone's minds.