Transporter Lock - A Star Trek: Discovery podcast

S2E06: The Sounds of Thunder

February 25, 2019

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The USS Discovery violates an alien homeworld, circumvents the ruling government, and conducts an unauthorized medical experiment on a pre-warp civilization. But it’s cool, because Saru can fire needles out of his head now! We debate the ethics and legality of this gross violation of General Order One, aka The Prime Directive. Sabriel also has a theory about the identity of the Red Angel that absolutely blows Ken’s mind. All this and more on this week’s Transporter Lock!

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S2E05: Saints of Imperfection

February 17, 2019

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Tilly is kidnapped into the mycelial network, where a crewman thought lost is very much alive. But how does it all work?! This episode’s pacing issues left us with questions, but we’ve conjectured some pretty solid answers! And while Section 31’s communicators and tractor beams are pretty cool and all, we wonder how they’re going to put the cat back in the bag in time for this intelligence agency to be forgotten by the time of Deep Space Nine.

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S2E04: An Obol for Charon

February 9, 2019

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A living sphere ensnares Discovery and forces its dying memories on it, causing Saru to enter his own death throes and Tilly to become possessed by a malevolent fungus. It’s just another day on Discovery! Bri and Ken fawn over Jett Reno and Number One, ponder the nature of the Kelpian life cycle, and wonder what James T. Kirk would look like in a Discovery uniform — all on this week’s Transporter Lock.

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S2E03: Point of Light

February 7, 2019

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It’s three — three — three plots in one! The third episode of the season has Michael and Lady Amanda on the search for Spock; Ensign Tilly is tripping on mushrooms; and L’Rell and Ash Tyler’s rule of the Klingon Empire is threatened. What did Burnham do to hurt Spock so badly? What tropes are the writers borrowing from Days of Our Lives? And was all this thrown together just to set up a Section 31 spin-off? We raise these burning questions and more before taking a side trek to Carpool Karaoke — all on this week’s Transporter Lock!
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S2E02: New Eden

January 26, 2019

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Discovery is trapped in a giant video game, where they must acquire an item at one red pulse to solve the puzzle at the next! Can they recruit Kratos to defeat Ares, who helped World War III survivors start a new religion on a distant planet? Director Jonathan Frakes directs this latest iteration of a classic Star Trek trope that leaves us curious about Earth’s religions, what’s on Tilly’s to-do list, and her connection to the mycelium network. All this and more in this week’s Transporter Lock!

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S2E01: Brother

January 20, 2019

Podcast: Download (Duration: 38:09 — 21.2MB) | Embed

Season 2 of Discovery debuts! Captain Pike assumes control of the ship to investigate a new interstellar threat — but where’s his damn red thing? And where is Spock, who was a terrible foster brother to Burnham? Can Tilly convince Stamets to stay aboard the ship? Will we see comedian Tig Notaro again? And will the red shirt die?? The most humorous and action-packed season premiere of Star Trek ever sets us up for a new adventure, and Captain Sabriel and Chief Engineer Ken are here are your guides!

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Short Treks: The Escape Artist

January 5, 2019

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After escaping Discovery in Season 1, Harry Mudd is back! While en route to be handed over to Starfleet authorities by a Tellarite bounty hunter, Mudd tries every con in the book and experiences a few flashbacks that give us insight into this devious miscreant. It’s the funniest Short Treks of them all — but is that what we wanted? And being the final Short Treks, how well has this experiment in short-form storytelling worked? Bri and Ken reflect on and rank the four vignettes in anticipation of Discovery‘s second season later this month!

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Short Treks: The Brightest Star

December 13, 2018

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A young Saru makes his way off his pre-warp home planet in this uneventful, nondescript Short Treks. It’s not that it left us wanting more so much as it felt incomplete. But Captain Sabriel and Chief Engineer Ken have plenty of news of the Picard series, and we fondly revisit Patrick Stewart’s appearance on Frasier and Kelsey Grammer’s appearance on Star Trek.

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Short Treks: Calypso

November 11, 2018

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Star Trek Discovery offers a 33rd-century retelling of the Greek myth of Odysseus and Calypso in this serving of Short Treks. In this week’s podcast, Ken and Sabriel confuse Funny Face with Funny Girl, discuss the history of science-fiction popcorn, question whether the V’Draysh are human, and ponder the ultimate fate of the starship Discovery.

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Short Treks: Runaway

October 12, 2018

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Tilly and Po are runaways in the debut of Short Treks! This episode features the Discovery‘s ensign encountering a teenage alien from the planet Xahea. They meet, bond, and part as efficiently as the 15-minute episode will allow. Transporter Lock co-host Sabriel warmed up to the story after a second viewing, while it left Ken cold. Was this episode a bridge to season 2, or a prequel to season 1? Will we see more Xaheans in the future? And what does it mean to recrystalize dilithium? Find out in this week’s podcast!

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