Friends!
There’s this podcast, called the Post Atomic Horror. It reviews Star Trek. Lots of it. In a fun way. And I listen to it, and I giggle. And I steal their greetings 😉
Now, what do you do, when you like a review podcast? You review it of course! So that’s what I’m going to do today.
The short review: It’s great. But that won’t do. We need something longer.
How do you review a podcast with 400+ episodes? You pick a few.
This is the Post Atomic Horror podcast, with Ron “AAlgar” Watt and Matt Rowbotham.
(Click to enlarge.)
Episode #148, “Emissary”
Summary: So, Matt and AAl start out with an impartial and balanced, ahem, intro to this series, Deep Space Nine. A gushing summary of “Emissary” is followed by a brief discussion of spoilers. Then they gush over the pilot, gush over the strangeness of Sisko, gush over the cast, and gush over the number of aliens in the cast. The opening credits disappoint a bit, and Matt loses his train of thought. But you can’t really blame him, he’s about to get married. Gosh!
Good thing: The mnemonic for the quadrants. Which lead me to find this picture. Remember: Good guys in the Gamma Quadrant, dummies in Delta.
(Click to enlarge.)
Bad thing: Women being called “chicks”. Which is weird, because they claim to be feminists.
Drink *:
- The difference between something you hate and something you love to hate.
- Matt not liking religion.
- “Without really spoiling anything…”
- Serialization being new in the 90s.
Quote: This one is better if I don’t set it up. 17:46, AAl: “My house is a bit like [the space station] Deep Space Nine.”
* “Drink” means: You can use this cue in a drinking game.
Congratulations to Matt.
Episode #162, “Second Sight” / “Sanctuary”
Summary: After a short meditation on the badness of bad things, the summary of the first episode is presented: Sisko wants to bang someone. We discuss the happiness of Sisko and the age of Jake, and then detour to Community. Arrogance can be fun and Sisko is a builder. Matt and AAl count their Irish friends, laugh attack #1. The second episode is summarized. The hideous dress was fun. Ingratitude is bad. Don’t look gift horses etc., laugh attack #2. Kira shouts, AAl’s wife shouts, Kira/Dax, Bert/Ernie, John/Paul, segue!
Good thing: So much laughing. But I could say that with most episodes.
Bad thing: So. These aliens show up and say “according to our prophecies, your planet is our new home”, and they are not welcomed, and they are surprised/angry. They should be happy! The Federation found them another planet! – Guys, I know you don’t like the whole religion thing. But saying they should be happy, that’s not cool. – This is related to the bitching about The Maquis. – Sometimes I just don’t agree with Matt and AAl.
Drink:
- Colm Meaney is off making movies.
- “Chose poorly.”
- Noh-Jah Industries.
Quote: Regarding the origin of some very alien aliens. 43:40, AAl: “This is a whole other side of the galaxy.” Said with great enthusiasm.
AAl made a segue, that worked. And then called attention to it. But still. Great! (And I learned how to spell segue. Great!)
Episode #176, “Past Tense”
Summary: We start with some important information: Matt is about to have a garage sale. Then comes the summary: Men are wearing hats. AAl reminisces (not) about seeing this episode the first time. Then we go through all the problems with the episode. The main characters are not characteristic and they don’t learn anything. Show, don’t tell. No solution is presented. Inconsistencies with other parts of the franchise. Oh, and it’s boring and preachy. Interlude: Matt checks his email. We briefly touch on talk of other people liking this episode. (So, this isn’t really a spoiler: This is the beginning of something, that spans many later podcast episodes.) Finally: The news.
Good thing: Apparently “Past Tense” references “City on the Edge of Forever”. Didn’t know that.
Bad thing: Okay, so some episodes fail, because we don’t know the persons in trouble. I’ve heard that particular issue so many times in basically the same (numerous) words. I tire of it a little.
Drink:
- “San Francisco, the only city on Earth.”
- “This isn’t really a spoiler.”
- “Mullety rebels.”
Quote: About the preachy no-solutionness. 9:10, AAl. “I’m pretty sure there’s nobody in the world who’s pro homeless.”. Unfortunately there are.
Let’s never speak about this again. Yeah, right.
Episode #184, “The Way of the Warrior”
Summary: One is excited about Worf joining DS9. One summarizes some of the double episode. One summarizes some more, including a phone call. One can’t tell the difference between Scots and Klingons. One validates and is in turn validated. One produces Star Wars fanfic. One giggles. One Worfs! One nostalgizes about long distance relationships. One plans to kill Alexander. One plays the quotes. One spoils. One signs off wrong. One realizes, that if one wants things done correctly, one has to do it oneself. – One should have thought about the limitations of this format a little longer.
Good thing: There’s a reference to a math/Trek joke I love.
Bad thing: Loving space battles. What to say. I don’t love space battles.
Drink:
- Worf can’t remember Wesley’s name.
- Sisko can’t count.
- Worf always takes vacations.
- “I don’t give a damn!”
Quote: Imagine Gowron getting his head stuck in a bannister. 10:43, Nate: “Somebody get the blood butter!”
Lots of laughing, giggling and happy improvisation. This can’t go on.
Episode #207, “Soldiers of the Empire” / “Children of Time”
Summary: After some talk about drinking and a little summarizing we get to the existential questions: Are Klingons boring? How do spaceships work? Would Harry Mudd be friends with Penguin? Further summarizing leads to further questions: Is Lost bad? Did Old Odo go quietly crazy? Is Dax a timelord? Are freestanding ladders important?
Good thing: A short discussion finds, that Sisko is adorable with kids. I like guys understanding that kind of thing.
Bad thing: The chick thing. Sigh.
Drink:
- Worf needs a vacation.
- “We’ve said before…”
- Sisko can’t count.
- Worf can’t remember Alexander.
- “This isn’t really a spoiler…”
Quote: An old Klingon being atypical. 3:54, Flonk: “He even let a Jem’Hadar baby keep his candy.” Just a tiny bit of a funny and energetic summary.
Will AAl and Matt recover from the reset button in that episode?
Episode #219, “In the Pale Moonlight” / “His Way”
Summary: Greatness ahead! Summary! Wonderment! Squeeing! Quoting! Crying at this climax! Historicizing! Batmanning! Defining principles by their absence! Summary! Punning! Improvising! Music appreciating! Fanficcing! Quoting! Plugging! Disclaiming!
Good thing: Breaking the rule of always having a bad thing. They are your rules, break them if you want to.
Bad thing: A lot of this episode is jubilation that Sisko and Garak lied and cheated. While I find that kind of stuff fascinating, ultimately I condemn lying and cheating and couldn’t wholeheartedly like an episode, that depicts it as necessary.
Drink:
- “Major.”
- “Wesley has killed a guy.”
- “Who says there is?” (Or isn’t.)
- Shipping Garak and Bashir.
Quote: Garak intimidates a guy by saying “I’ll come by your quarters to check on you later.” 18:03, Gav: “Imagine how Julian feels when he says that to him.”
The hosts certainly didn’t cheat out of recording that episode.
Episode #235, “What You Leave Behind”
Summary: AAlgar Productions! We just have time to debate this being the end of DS9, and then we get a summary from Speedy AAl and Musical Matt. There’s also a poem. Ship porn leads to drooling. Of course Bashir and Garak are shipped. (A different kind of ship porn.) (If they do it on the Defiant, space ship porn.) Oprah hands out ambassadorships. We learn through punning that kanar is made from (bespooned) eagle juice. Is that spunning? Pooning? Weyoun apparently died a million times. I just think AAl can’t count. Oh, there should have been more Jack and Sisko. Quick, what’s the difference between the Gorn and the Breen? Between Garak and Bashir? (And if you can’t tell the difference, is Garak just a narcissist?) Is Dukat the best villain ever?
Good thing: That poem is just superb.
Bad thing: The podcast has already covered Nemesis. I would’ve done the podcast in chronological order. I think.
Drink:
- Shipping Garak and Bashir.
- “I don’t give a damn!”
- “Honey.” (Like “muffin”, rare, take 2 drinks.)
- Sisko can’t count.
- Keeping an open mind about Voyager. (Without the jingle, only half a drink.)
Quote: 1.03.00, AAl: “I will say, I do love, all of the listeners, and I’ve heard this a lot, the listeners who are like, yeah, I’ve just never watched that one, but you guys are so enthusiastic about it, I gave it a shot and it’s great.” Hurray for more Star Trek being watched! Hurray for people watching stuff, before dismissing it!
So, that’s 7 episodes for 7 seasons of trek, right? I don’t know, I can’t count.
So. What else to say? There are some memorable episodes spread out over the whole run. The ones where AAl was jingling an open mind about Voyager (maybe episode 225 was one of them?). The one Matt did while being dead (episode 64). The one AAl did from a bucket (episode eh). The one where Matt simply wrote a fanfic instead of a summary (episode hm). All the episodes with a live audience, and among them I especially recommend this one:
Yeah, that’s video! Although I really could use a good video interview as well.
And then I haven’t mentioned the supplementals. I’ve just discovered I’m mentioned in #28. Squee! Surprise! ETA: And in #43, at 0.52. And #46, at 32.30. (Woohoo!)
Maybe you have a burning question now. Cup and mouse? Listen to episode 148 and on, just a few episodes, and you’ll get it. For those who haven’t listened to a lot of PAH, this review is also a pastiche of their style. And the shield above is fanart. And of course there’s the beginning of a drinking game. And a review!
And some more of my stuff:
See you, folks.
Stuff from ommadawn.dk (Lise Andreasen) 
(About chicks.)
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