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sshbpodcast · 11 days
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Character Spotlight: Kai Winn Adami
By Ames
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So far, all of the subjects of our spotlight series have been people for whom we’ve had both good and bad character moments to discuss. But what do you do when you’re highlighting an antagonist character? For a villain, being bad is actually very good and that’s so perfectly the case for Kai Winn Adami. So this time A Star to Steer Her By will simply feature a bunch of our favorite moments overall.
Boy, do we love to hate this bitch. Somehow she’s only in 14 episodes even though it feels like she’s always looming somewhere with a passive-aggressive gaze and a “my child” on her lips. Louise Fletcher plays this power-hungry religious icon with such depth and nuance that it was easy for us to come up with a ton of favorite moments. So flip open the Book of the Pah-wraiths below to check them out, listen to our Bajoran chanting over on this week’s podcast (jump to 1:12:58), and walk with the prophets, my child.
[Images © CBS/Paramount]
Favorite moments
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The Bajoran Scopes Monkey Trial Winn makes a big impression in her very first appearance in “In the Hands of the Prophets” when she’s displaying big Karen energy while challenging why Keiko isn’t teaching Bajoran religious ideology in a public school. And she does it with a smile. And also with a can of gasoline since she surely got that school blown up in one smokin’ power move.
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The sacrifices the Prophets call on us to make are great sometimes Somehow there are even more layers to “In the Hands of the Prophets” than teaching religion in classrooms and committing arson. Winn also puts Neela up to assassinate Bareil so that she can work on amassing power. And when Neela fails to secure a getaway plan, Winn straight up declares that’s fine with her. What does she care as long as her hands stay clean?
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We’re a match made by the Prophets Winn continues to keep her hands clean in “The Circle.” Even while covertly supporting the Bajoran extremist faction, the Alliance for Global Unity, and bedding down with Minister Jarro Essa, Winn manages to direct blame away from herself when their plans have been exposed and gone thoroughly sideways. Jarro can only watch his downfall from under the bus.
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You will never speak to me with such disrespect again!! Kai Winn’s “my child” may sound like a catchphrase, but it’s always delivered with such emotion which Fletcher was so good at. When Kira’s been sniffing around how Winn extracted information from Kubus Oak in an attempt to get Bareil out of the kai election in “The Collaborator,” the soon-to-be kai sends chills down your spine with her cold threats.
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He’s more machine now than man When Bareil’s health keeps failing in “Life Support,” Winn pushes to keep him cognizant as long as is convenient for her. All she wants is the credit for his negotiations with the Cardassian Central Command while also keeping open the option to use him as a scapegoat should things fail. This woman plays her cards so strategically that she always comes out on top.
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See ya later, reclamator To make a good political statement by getting some soil reclamators to Rakantha Province, Winn ends up sending in the Bajoran Militia after Shakaar’s resistance cell in “Shakaar.” And what’s more, she’s presumptuous enough to ask Sisko to send in Starfleet security or else she’ll pull out of Federation membership talks! All for farming equipment. Well that escalated quickly.
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You think you’re the only ones who fought the Cardassians We learn just what Kai Winn was up to during the occupation, and it’s surprisingly humanizing. Winn throws in Kira’s face during “Rapture” how she was put in a Cardassian prison camp for five years, and never stopped preaching about the prophets despite the beatings. And per “‘Til Death Do Us Part,” she also sold gemstones from the tabernacle to bolster the resistance.
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No. We are nothing alike. Nothing at all. What could be better than a Louise Fletcher–Jeffrey Combs scene? We get just that in “In the Cards” when Winn is trying to delay the decision between allying with the Federation or the Dominion because in either scenario her backwards little planet will get stomped on. But it’s her short scene with Weyoun that takes the cake when she reads his pagh and judges him hard!
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Please leave your message for the Prophets at the beep There’s plenty for Winn to be judgmental about in “The Reckoning” when Sisko borrows an ancient tablet without asking and then destroys it utterly. But at the core of Winn’s motivation is desperation for the Prophets to communicate with her, which they’ve never done, so she puts an end to the Prophet–Pah-wraith battle because she isn’t the center of attention for once.
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The Password Is: Restoration Winn’s whole arc in the final ten-parter of the series is a work of art, and so perfectly portrayed. Let’s break it down here, because it all starts with getting fully taken in with Anjohl Tennan in “‘Til Death Do Us Part.” All Dukat-in-disguise has to do is drop some buzzwords and the Kai is immediately enamored with the guy, and bedding down with him by the next episode, “Strange Bedfellows.”
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Everything will change once you step down as Kai. You’ll see. When Winn is having a crisis of faith in “Strange Bedfellows” after receiving a vision from the Pah-wraiths, she wisely seeks out Kira. And the Corporal gives Winn the perfect advice to step down as kai so as not to be tempted by power anymore. And for a split second you think Winn will listen to reason. But she’s still Winn, after all, entirely blind to what she doesn’t want to see.
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Catfished by the Prophets Stepping down as kai is not an option for Winn, who doesn’t believe she has too much power. In fact, she believes she doesn't have enough power! So by the end of “Strange Bedfellows,” she fully denounces the Prophets because they’ve never done anything for her. She admits to Anjohl that she’s never felt their presence and has been faking it for years, but blind faith will serve her no longer. Now she wants results!
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Don’t you recognize the face of your enemy? May the Prophets bless Solbor for giving us such a great reveal scene in “The Changing Face of Evil.” He’s found out that Anjohl is actually Dukat, and Adami’s reaction to this news is so layered and cathartic that we love it. But that tippy top layer is a sense of self preservation that can only be maintained by murdering the hell out of Solbor, that gossip hound!
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Hit it and quit it But that isn’t as cold as Winn can get, as is proven in the next episode in “When It Rains…” after Dukat has gone blind from reading the Book of the Pah-wraiths. Winn cruelly kicks the blind Cardassian out on his ass to beg on the streets of Bajor. “You may return when you’ve proven yourself worthy and your sight has been restored,” she mocks, and it’s stone cold!
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The Pah-wraiths demand a sacrifice The whole series culminates in “What You Leave Behind” in the fire caves with Winn casting aside her devotion to the Prophets and summoning the Pah-wraiths. What she hadn’t told Dukat (with his sight returned for reasons) was that she lured him there to use him as the ceremonial sacrifice, and she righteously poisons his ass with absolutely no hesitation.
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Too little, too late Finally, Winn comes this close to redemption in “What You Leave Behind” when she comes to see the error of her ways (or maybe she’s just bitter that the Kosst Amojen picked Dukat’s husk over her). For the hottest of seconds (cause it’s the fire caves, get it?), she tries to get the book to Sisko when at last she has an epiphany moment, but her fate is ultimately sealed when Pah-wraiths toast her in flames.
What a journey for a character that only appears a handful of times, and we were here for every second. Next week, we’re continuing to give in the Pah-wraiths as we recount our favorite Dukat moments, which will surely be a trip. So keep your eyes here for that, keep following us through the Delphic Expanse as we watch through Enterprise over on SoundCloud or your favorite podcast place, praise the Prophets with us on Facebook and Twitter, and practice your “my child”s in the mirror.
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startrekucast · 3 months
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Put the wooden spoon back across the pot, maman. That soup don't taste like nothing but armageddon... and a little like baby food. The butternut squash, maman, the butternut squash. We gonna have orange dooks tonight.
Episode Reviewed: Star Trek 1x24 - "A Taste of Armageddon"
Hosts: David C. Roberson Effie Ophelders
Join Us: Site: http://startrekucast.com Apple: http://bit.ly/StuCast Spotify: http://bit.ly/StarTrekUCast Spreaker: http://bit.ly/StuCastSpreaker
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Can you drop me any good star trek podcast suggestions?
Ty in advanceeee <3
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treklongisland · 8 months
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What is your favorite creepy Trek episode?
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wheresbeverly · 2 years
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New Episode dropping this Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts: Which Star Trek character would come to your Halloween party! And for the first time ever, we've posted a video of our recording on our youtube channel!
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7of9ers · 2 years
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Join us! We're getting #SevenRaffiSpinoff trending on December 21st! We need all the artists and planning help we can get too! Reach out to me and RT this please. Let's get this shit going!
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jeandejard3n · 2 months
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youtube
Star Trek TNG Ambient Music
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ashleywritesstuff · 11 months
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This episode of Boldly Go is chockful of info, brought to you by the brilliant Brandi Jackola and the astounding @dramyhsturgis! Don't sleep on their discussion of #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds 2x03 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow."
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mejomonster · 6 months
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Anyone know any star trek podcasts that include acknowledgement of spirk?
Like, Xena Warrior Podcast is a podcast for xwp that goes into the writing and themes and cool information and is aware of the xena x gabrielle element and discusses it in the context of what the show did with it. Something like that, for star trek.
Ive been listening to the podcast Enterprise Incidents and its quite good, lovely in terms of episode plot writing breakdown and character traits and information about the making of episodes, i havent gotten far enough though to quite know if it like. Acknowledges how kirk and spocks relationship has had some vaguely interpretive quotes from roddenberry in terms of love, and t'hy'la, and the wonderful essay mentioning how slash fiction in a way is if you took the end of wrath of khan with kirk and spock and removed the glass, ALL of star trek movies 3 and 4 - as well as again critical importance in star trek 2, and how that subtext/possible reading contributed to conventions and fandom and fanfiction in the community.
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dramyhsturgis · 1 year
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I had a fantastic time talking with brilliant hosts Ashley Thomas and Mike Slamer of the WE ARE STARFLEET podcast about the new anthology STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER, which I co-edited with Emily Strand. Thanks so much for a wonderful chat! 🖖
Listen to the episode here.
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sshbpodcast · 5 months
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Character Spotlight: Katherine Pulaski
By Ames
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We may have only had Dr. Pulaski for one season of The Next Generation, but that didn’t stop her from leaving an impression. Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By are big fans of her character and also of Diana Muldaur’s performance of the cantankerous and brilliant doctor who graced the Enterprise-D’s sickbay during Dr. Crusher’s time away from the ship (more on her next week!). She even made a couple of our top characters lists from TNG!
There’s a lot of negative feelings about the McCoy knockoff in the Star Trek community, and we’ll cover some of those below, but overall we have to give credit to the good doctor for how much she grew in only the twenty episodes we had her. By the end of season two, she was viewing Data as a peer, saving lives left and right, and fighting for the rights of other species. There’s no telling how much better she’d get if she stuck around. So raise a cup of Klingon tea to the best CMO of the Enterprise (I said it!) with our highlights below and elaborated upon in this week’s podcast episode (timestamp for this one is 58:29). Fight us, haters.
[Images © CBS/Paramount]
Best moments
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Crammed full of crumpets We’ve made a running gag on the podcast about how Professor Moriarty stuffed the doctor full of crumpets in “Elementary, Dear Data” but there’s more to this episode than crude jokes and blue humor. Pulaski ran with the Holmesian scenario in the holodeck, proved to be stalwart and brave in a hostage situation, and totally rocked the period attire!
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At least someone still remembers quarantine procedures While the whole thing did backfire on her, Pulaski’s actions in “Unnatural Selection” kept the rest of the crew safe. She was willing to risk her own health on her hunch that the augmented children weren’t carrying any pathogens, but let’s give her credit for taking the child and Data out in a shuttle so that, if (and when) things went wrong, things were contained.
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Knives and bearskins! When the biobeds are on the fritz due to the contagion in “Contagion” and her staff is whining that the bone knitter isn’t working, Pulaski pulls some tried and true methods out of her back pocket – make a splint! It may be archaic medical technology, but it’ll do in a pinch and having that kind of medical knowledge saves the day (or saves someone’s leg at least).
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Generous doses of PCS I just really love the sweet little moment during “The Icarus Factor” when Dr. Pulaski is tending to some crewmember suffering from the flu and says part of her prescription is PCS – Pulaski’s Chicken Soup. It shows how much she cares about her patients and gives the audience that warm feeling of having someone care for you when you’re home sick from school.
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Jettison the emotional baggage you’re still carrying around Also I have to give my girl some props later in “The Icarus Factor” when she’s flirting with Kyle Riker right in front of Will. We find it a nice character inclusion that she and Kyle used to be down to clown, and even that she would have married him in a heartbeat, and she tells his son off in the most “oh no she didn’t!” way and then proceeds to drop like fifty mics all over Ten Forward.
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Take your Prime Directive and shove it up your hatch! We on this podcast (who am I kidding; it’s mostly Chris) have a certain skepticism about the Prime Directive sometimes, and it’s usually the CMOs of their respective shows that get to question it most blatantly. Pulaski sure does in “Pen Pals” because screw the prime directive in this case! When a whole planet is on the line, Pulaski is the conscience that we all need!
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Forget me, forget me not This is one that could have gone in either the Top Moments or the Worst Moments list because, face it, mind wipes are horrifying. But I’m gonna give Pulaski the win for erasing Sarjenka’s memories in “Pen Pals” because it’s impressive as hell. And she uses it to kinda-sorta stay within the Prime Directive that we just shat on. Plus she let Sarjenka keep the singing rock!
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You’re still the Captain. Invincible. I’m still not certain what Chris was getting at about Pulaski’s letting Picard avoid the heart treatment he’s been neglecting out of sheer vanity in “Samaritan Snare,” but I’ll do you one better: she winds up fixing his stupid ticker for him in the end anyway! And is the grouchy little man thankful afterwards? Not even a little bit! Pulaski gets no respect, I tells ya!
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Quote me a little of that poetry While you’ll see in just a moment that Pulaski’s views on Klingons were initially unkind, by “Up the Long Ladder,” she’d bonded with Worf enough that she was willing to engage in some Klingon rituals. She goes out of her way to concoct an antidote so she can take part in a poisonous tea ceremony with him, which is above and beyond (and also fuels some shipping), and she also keeps Worf’s measles a secret!
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Bust him up, Data! In “Peak Performance,” it’s Pulaski who sets up the Strategema match between Data and Sirna Kolrami, and she ends up feeling really bad for goading him when he loses to that smug Zakdorn prick. So it’s that much sweeter that she’s there cheering him on when Data thinks outside the box causes the stalemate, telling him that in that way, he did indeed beat him!
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Feelings of warmth and friendship What a shame that the last episode we got with this amazing character was one of the most infamously bad. But none of that is on Pulaski because she’s actually on full display in “Shades of Grey,” partly because she’s one of few characters in the non-clipshow scenes. But she (and Troi, as I brought up last week) pulled out all the stops to save Riker’s brain from certain doom.
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Pull your head out of your ass! Okay, this last one’s not canon, but I just couldn’t help including this plug to go read Caitlin’s fanfic “The Pulaski Maneuver”!!! Or listen to it on the podcast back when we wrapped TNG with our episode “Tales from the Holodeck.” Pulaski finally telling Geordi everything that he’s deserved to hear might be my favorite moment, and it’s so in her character that I say it counts!
Worst moments
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The cold hand of technology Most of Pulaski’s negative personality traits are going to circle around her treatment of Data as a piece of equipment and not an individual. In her introduction episode, “The Child,” one of her early interactions with Data is to tell him he’s not wanted in the delivery room because he lacks the human touch. Lucky for us, Troi sticks up for him and he gets to watch her whelp an alien baby.
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One is my name; the other is not Shortly afterwards, still in “The Child,” we get one of the fandom’s most hated moments from Pulaski when she not only mispronounces Data’s name, but doesn’t seem to understand that doing so is rude and problematic, instead deciding to put the onus on him for being capable of offense. It’s a tough moment for fans to accept, and if that were the level of bigotry her character stayed at, I’d understand why so many Trekkies dislike the character.
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I’m not accustomed to working with non-living devices More growing pains come from Pulaski in “Where Silence Has Lease,” in which she refers to Data as “it” and Picard has to gently correct her. We’re two episodes into the season at this point, and Pulaski is still finding it difficult to accept the personhood of this fan-favorite character, something viewers pretty much got on board with in episode one. At least she apologized.
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The mystery of the lack of any mystery Here we are, three episodes in when we reach “Elementary, Dear Data” and we see more of Pulaski judging Data for being incapable of thinking creatively when he solves Holmesian riddles. We may have blamed Geordi for accidentally creating Moriarty when we covered his character spotlight, but it was definitely Pulaski who goaded them on in the first place.
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Medical research is sometimes a risky business While we may have praised her above for not putting everyone else at risk when she released the augmented child from his wrapper in “Unnatural Selection,” Pulaski was still dead wrong about the experiment being at all safe. She still got contaminated by the fast-aging disease and was resigned to her fate until Picard and O’Brien were able to transport her back. Speaking of which…
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I’m a doctor, not an original character One rather understandable complaint we can see in the Pulaski character is that she’s just Dr. McCoy in a skirt. Which may not be a bad thing, per se, but when we see her racism against the outsider character, her Bones-like irascibility, and even her specific fear of transporters in “Unnatural Selection,” we start to wonder if the writers couldn’t have been a little more original.
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I’m just glad that humans have progressed beyond the need for barbaric display We get a couple glimpses that Pulaski is a little repulsed by Klingon culture throughout the show. First, in “A Matter of Honor,” she’s grossed out by Klingon cuisine and calls Klingons barbaric, and not in the way Klingons would probably like. And she also gets a little smug after watching Worf’s Age of Ascension ceremony in “The Icarus Factor,” which she seemed pretty judgey about (but hey, at least she went!).
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Quit cloning around! We gave Riker some guff for this as well in his character spotlight, and there’s enough guff to go around to give to Pulaski as well for their actions in “Up the Long Ladder.” Sure, the clones were made of them without their consent, but to take matters into their own hands and murder these people without discussion is not the Starfleet way.
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Never to be heard from again… Obviously the worst character moment for us is Pulaski leaving the show after just one season. Notice how most of the bad moments come from earlier and the good moments are mostly from the latter half of the season. That shows how much the character was getting better, even in the rough first couple seasons of the show (you’ve heard our coverage of Chaos on the Bridge, right?). And while many celebrate the return of Crusher, we still have to wonder what the show would be like with more Dr. Pulaski.
And just like that, she’s gone and so is this blogpost. Keep following along because we’ve got another doctor of the Enterprise-D to discuss next week, and it’s not Selar! We also hope you’re making the schlep through Enterprise with us as we cover the whole thing over on SoundCloud or your podcast platform of choice. Wave your medical tricorders over our Facebook and Twitter pages, and get the pronunciation right: It’s Data, not Data!
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startrekucast · 1 month
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Jump through the time hole, but beware policemen and mechanical rice pickers, maman! McCoy's gone mad, but Kirk is madly in love with Edith Keeler -- too bad she has to die to save the future, maman. It's a real sad situation.
Episode Reviewed: Star Trek 1x29 - "The City on the Edge of Forever"
Hosts: David C. Roberson Effie Ophelders
Join Us: Site: http://startrekucast.com Apple: http://bit.ly/StuCast Spotify: http://bit.ly/StarTrekUCast Spreaker: http://bit.ly/StuCastSpreaker
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thedurassisterspod · 1 year
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Us watching a random episode of Star Trek
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Us watching “Resolutions”
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treklongisland · 9 months
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Happy Star Trek Day!
I can't think of a better way to celebrate other than to support the actors that bring us Trekkie joy 🖖🖖🖖
Get involved and spread the word on what WE can do as FANS to help our heroes to #LLAP
https://www.sagaftra.org/get-involved/solidarity-wga
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jeffpennington · 1 year
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Star Trek: Lower Decks style art for the Trek podcast M-Class Podcast!
I’ve been sick since days before New Years Eve so this is my first piece of art of the year - episode art for my own podcast that I wasn’t even on, again, cause sick.
I got straight up exhausted halfway through making it but had to finish it for the release today so I hope you still dig it!
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wheresbeverly · 2 years
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Mick Fleetwood, bargin bin hollogram Frank Sinatra, my son...
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