So, yes, this.

This is like the literary equivalent of meeting someone who doesn't know Darth Vader is Luke's father.

So they go "I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with this relationship! Yeah he's older and there is a class/power difference but he clearly respects her as a person and it's so refreshing!" and you just cackle, cackle, cackle behind your screen until the inevitable day you get this message.

Anika and Liz don their finest 2017/2257 outfits and go to a party. 

Then they do it all over again.

Then they do it all over again. 

Yes, we are caught a time loop and discussing Star Trek: Discovery‘s “Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad”! 

“This, to me, is like if Strange New Worlds was good.”

Is this Anika’s least favourite episode of Discovery?

Ash is happier and more successful as a human being than he was as a Klingon

Making Harry Mudd spend time with his wife is not a good or suitable punishment for his crimes? It is highkey misogynistic? Do better, show! 

Liz is here to pitch Star Trek: Stella, where Meg Stalter plays Stella Mudd as she roams the galaxy being a sociopathic nepo baby with an amazing wardrobe, who disintegrates people

I made her rewatch that with me and then we moved from star fleet to discovery which answered so many questions I had abt wtf the burn was and then I finished discovery and went onto the aos movies and they were awesome and now I'm watching tos and making my way through it

My journey has been 50% confusion, 30% holy shit that's awesome and 20% omg gay people yay

Anika and Liz take off for a cheeky little diplomatic meeting with some Klingons. What could go wrong? 

We are discussing Star Trek: Discovery‘s “Lethe”, an episode which inspired our friendship, a whole lot of fic and a conversation about whether it is a flawless piece of Star Trek, or if it has merely a single flaw. 

We are not here to be cool or reasonable about Admiral Kat

Normal Human Guy Ash Tyler and Normal Federation Captain Lorca

At any time, it is reasonable to assume that Sarek is disappointed in at least one of his children

Ash Tyler could never appear in SNW because his whole existence is a rebuke to that series’ biological determinism

Anika’s Wonderland Corner: the Vulcans at Michael’s graduation are dressed as chess pieces (Michael, like L’Rell, is a white pawn)

We have. A lot. Of feelings. About Katrina Cornwell

But like...the thing about the settlers on Dorvan V is that they're settlers (i.e., textually not indigenous). They're indigenous in an ethnic American sense only. And, what's more, the text of the episode is that they settled only recently, like 20 years ago (within the lifetimes of most people living on Dorvan), and against the advice of the Federation government, who told them that it was disputed territory with the Cardassians. Moreover, they're not really living under an expropriative capitalist and racist regime like the USA or the British Empire, but under what is, textually, a generally egalitarian post-scarcity society that is entirely willing to let them settle on another perfectly good planet somewhere else. So while the subtext of the episode may be that they're indigenous peoples being relocated by a remote and indifferent government, the literal text of the episode is that they're settler colonialists who are upset that their central government is unwilling to press a war against a rival power so that they're not temporarily inconvenienced. And okay; this is one of the few times that Star Trek acknowledges that how humans react to situations will continue to be informed by history even in the future, and i can definitely see how a people who have centuries of experience being lied to and exploited by various governments would be inclined to tell the Federation to go to hell when they say they have to move again, but this is (a) an extremely contrived situation (and don't even get me started on the Jamake Highwater "we must live here because this planet is sacred to us" bullshit) and (b) doesn't textually apply to any of the other planets in the DMZ.

Anika and Liz are thrown into a Klingon prison, where they are absolutely choosing Lorca’s pain. But no one is having a worse day than that poor innocent tardigrade! 

We’re discussing episode five of Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season, including: 

This is the worst Saru episode of the entire series. It’s rough, man

Overthinking the “five best captains” list

For an awful moment, we start to ask dangerous questions like “how many starships does Starfleet have?”

This episode is a card trick: your attention is on Harry Mudd, but really it’s introducing Ash Tyler

Liz has normal and rational feelings about the historical Buran

We play a fun game called “which other captains would leave Mudd in the Klingon prison” (Archer)

Introducing Ash means we have to talk about Ash, L’Rell and the misguided sexual assault subplot

Antimatter Pod: We aren’t really into m/m ships Also Antimatter Pod: We will die for Lorca/Tyler

Our hot take: Saru did NOT deserve that telescope, this is NOT a sweet scene to be immortalised as a Hallmark ornament, this is REWARDING his BAD BEHAVIOUR

preparing to leave childhood and enter adulthood

family expectations

learning to be responsible to oneself, one's community and family, and learning to be responsible as a citizen of the wider world

developing and applying personal ethics

navigating interpersonal relationships, both in terms of friendship and romance

And there are also tropes that are common to academic settings like schools and colleges:

prank wars

sports rivalries

parties and drinking

challenging classes

Whether you're looking at science fiction (SFA) or horror (Yellowjackets) or whatever genre Riverdale was, these elements are all there to a greater or lesser extent.

And then you have fans who look at any situation where a character under 30 is doing something and go, "This is a teen drama now, and that is intrinsically bad."

Anika and Liz are petsitting a tardigrade while we discuss the fourth episode of Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season, “The Butcher’s Knife Care’s Not For The Lamb’s Cry”. This episode introduces Admiral Cornwell, and we are gonna be so cool about that. You wouldn’t believe how cool and chill we are. 

This is decidedly not one of Discovery‘s stronger scripts

“Lorca is so clearly flagged as evil,” we said back in 2017, “that there absolutely has to be more to it than that.” Anyway…

Michael’s skills and flaws are all on full display here

“I also do not respect Saru.” 

Okay, but why is Saru the first officer? He frankly does not seem up to the job. Is Lorca keeping him around as a snack? 

“Let’s talk about Elon Musk.”

Michael and L’Rell: parallels (parall’rells)

Anika and Liz continue their tour of Discovery‘s first season with “Context Is For Kings”, an episode which introduces a whole lot of new regulars and dares to ask: is it possible to like Saru less? It’s time to go down the rabbit hole as we discuss:  

You are not gonna believe this, but Michael Burnham is the protagonist of Star Trek: Discovery. I know. Huge if true. 

But Gabriel Lorca thinks he’s the main character of multiple universes.

Ellen Landry: one of the all-time worst people to wear a Starfleet uniform, and we are fascinated by her.

Lorca absolutely practised his introduction to Michael in the mirror, possibly while flexing, because he’s a monster, but he’s also a giant dork