Boldly Going Where One Woman Has Never Gone Before
April 14, 2020 9:27 AM Subscribe
Rachel Lackey, voice actress and therapist has a husband, Chris, who does a podcast (The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast). Chris loves Star Trek, and wants to share it with Rachel, who doesn't really like science fiction (although she likes musicals). Chris does what any normal guy podcaster would do, and asks Rachel to do a podcast with him where she will watch Star Trek with fresh eyes and talk about her reactions. Thus, Rachel Watches Star Trek boldly set forth.
Over the last few years, the two of them (with the occasional guest) have worked their way through The original series, the animated series, and the first 6 movies. They are poised to begin the Next Generation with Rachel a little bemused how much she is enjoying the project.
Rachel fairly quickly began spicing up the episodes with songs, including Class M Planet, Obey! (The Prime Directive), and many others without videos. Chris (and regular listener Rafe Ball) made their own video to celebrate the arrival of the new series with the mildly epic Star Trek: The Next Generation is The Greatest Show. The YouTube channel has a few other videos for the interested.
While they have a fair amount of Patron-only material on Patreon, all of the show and movie episodes are available through your usual podcast options, although the first 10 episodes seem to be hosted only on the website.
Over the last few years, the two of them (with the occasional guest) have worked their way through The original series, the animated series, and the first 6 movies. They are poised to begin the Next Generation with Rachel a little bemused how much she is enjoying the project.
Rachel fairly quickly began spicing up the episodes with songs, including Class M Planet, Obey! (The Prime Directive), and many others without videos. Chris (and regular listener Rafe Ball) made their own video to celebrate the arrival of the new series with the mildly epic Star Trek: The Next Generation is The Greatest Show. The YouTube channel has a few other videos for the interested.
While they have a fair amount of Patron-only material on Patreon, all of the show and movie episodes are available through your usual podcast options, although the first 10 episodes seem to be hosted only on the website.
Heh - we have been doing this and theoretically tweeting about it. Mr. Bee was not so into TOS, but has enjoyed TNG. The tweets were funnier before my husband knew I was tweeting the funny stuff he was saying, but that's just the Observer Effect.
posted by honeybee413 at 10:13 AM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by honeybee413 at 10:13 AM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
A straight plug here: CheesesofBrazil and I are co-helming a FanFare rewatch of TNG. We just started. The third episode was just posted by CoB today, and we are posting on Tuesdays and Fridays.
posted by mwhybark at 10:27 AM on April 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 10:27 AM on April 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
(although, fair warning, the episode posted today, Code of Honor, is terrible.)
posted by mwhybark at 10:44 AM on April 14, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 10:44 AM on April 14, 2020 [10 favorites]
Yeah, we can follow along in FanFare! Bad news, 3 episodes in so far...she’s going to get off to a bumpy start.
(But we all kind of remembered that. Collars and Riker’s Beard are your signs of quality.)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:12 AM on April 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
(But we all kind of remembered that. Collars and Riker’s Beard are your signs of quality.)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:12 AM on April 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
To do TNG justice, one really should only watch select episodes from the first season or two.
posted by kokaku at 11:21 AM on April 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 11:21 AM on April 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
Consensus seems to be that it is a kindness to start with Measure of a Man from season 2, with the optional amuse-bouche of the first episode of season 1, the Q-featuring Encounter at Farpoint.
posted by mwhybark at 11:34 AM on April 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 11:34 AM on April 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
The absolutely-can't-miss All Good Things calls back to Encounter at Farpoint iirc, so it's probably good to include it.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:39 AM on April 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:39 AM on April 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Partner and I have been watching DS9 and Voyager in airdate order lately and it's a first watch of both for me. TNG took us nearly seven years to get through but we're tearing through its successors now because of circumstances. I can really recommend it as a way to pass the time. The abundance of good-looking folks on both shows only adds to the enjoyment.
posted by terretu at 11:47 AM on April 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by terretu at 11:47 AM on April 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
See also Newcomers, the podcast where Lauren Lapkus and Nicole Byers watch the Star Wars movies for the first time.
posted by chrchr at 12:11 PM on April 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 12:11 PM on April 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
This is a pleasant surprise! Rachel and Chris are my former roommates. I took over the lease on the apartment (rent control, baby!) when they moved from California back to England (where Rachel is from). I’m currently sitting in the room where Chris used to record the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast.
When Rachel Watches Star Trek first premiered I thought about posting it here but at the time MetaFilter was not quite as chill about posting things the poster’s friends had made and I forgot about it once the restrictions were relaxed. Thanks, GenjiandProust; I’m glad to see it here now.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:45 PM on April 14, 2020 [24 favorites]
When Rachel Watches Star Trek first premiered I thought about posting it here but at the time MetaFilter was not quite as chill about posting things the poster’s friends had made and I forgot about it once the restrictions were relaxed. Thanks, GenjiandProust; I’m glad to see it here now.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:45 PM on April 14, 2020 [24 favorites]
Had this really not been posted before? I listened to a few of the first episodes back in 2016 or so and I don't know where else I would have heard of it. Maybe it was mentioned in a FanFare thread.
They're really good and I'm pleased to learn they've continued this.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:05 PM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
They're really good and I'm pleased to learn they've continued this.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:05 PM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's a great podcast, for whatever reason I stumbled on it (presumably through hppodcraft) on episode 1 and enjoyed listening to Star Trek through a novice's eyes. They started doing a thing where Rachel tries to guess the plot based on the teaser blurb.
It didn't take long for her to catch on to the conventions and tropes, including the entire bridge crew going on landing missions or the lip service only "prime directive." I have noticed the episodes I think stand out tend to be the ones where her guesses are way off--it's almost as if good writing doesn't just rehash old cliches and setups.
As a marginal Star Trek fan, here's also been the added bonus of finding out how slow some of the concepts that are now considered "true" Trek were to evolve. Including the Federation, which was first mentioned late in the first season.
Love seeing this on the blue, though not sure what I'm going to do now that they're on TNG, which I didn't like all that much until many seasons in.
posted by mark k at 1:05 PM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
It didn't take long for her to catch on to the conventions and tropes, including the entire bridge crew going on landing missions or the lip service only "prime directive." I have noticed the episodes I think stand out tend to be the ones where her guesses are way off--it's almost as if good writing doesn't just rehash old cliches and setups.
As a marginal Star Trek fan, here's also been the added bonus of finding out how slow some of the concepts that are now considered "true" Trek were to evolve. Including the Federation, which was first mentioned late in the first season.
Love seeing this on the blue, though not sure what I'm going to do now that they're on TNG, which I didn't like all that much until many seasons in.
posted by mark k at 1:05 PM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Had this really not been posted before?
I thought it had, too! It's only mentioned in a few comments, though, so maybe it was erased by a transporter accident.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:12 PM on April 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
I thought it had, too! It's only mentioned in a few comments, though, so maybe it was erased by a transporter accident.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:12 PM on April 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
To do TNG justice, one really should only watch select episodes from the first season or two.
My only exposure to TNG was from video recordings that my friend had made of the show (this was a while ago). He gave them to me with strict instructions about which episodes were worth watching (there were, IIRC, a couple that were not, but that had important plot points for later episodes, and thus were mandatory viewing).
As a result, I think that TNG is one of the greatest TV shows in history. That's what you get for seeing only the highs and (almost) none of the lows.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 1:26 PM on April 14, 2020 [10 favorites]
My only exposure to TNG was from video recordings that my friend had made of the show (this was a while ago). He gave them to me with strict instructions about which episodes were worth watching (there were, IIRC, a couple that were not, but that had important plot points for later episodes, and thus were mandatory viewing).
As a result, I think that TNG is one of the greatest TV shows in history. That's what you get for seeing only the highs and (almost) none of the lows.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 1:26 PM on April 14, 2020 [10 favorites]
I really want to urge people to listen. Rachel and Chris are delightful, and it’s a real pleasure to hear Chris’ enthusiasm (and sometimes disappointment or irritation) with the series and Rachel’s growing fondness and reasonable mockery of the same. They are treasures.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:20 PM on April 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:20 PM on April 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
Psht, ebody noes teh ony gud strtrk is pcrd! noobz!
posted by evilDoug at 3:38 PM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by evilDoug at 3:38 PM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
As a quick follow up to my previous comment about being their former roommate:
The Star Trek: The Next Generation is the Greatest Show song is what living with Chris was like all the time. The two of us are both easily amused by our own antics and we would constantly make up lyrics we thought were funny to sing over pretty much any song that was ever played in the apartment.
We have both been fortunate beyond telling to eventually land with partners who are by varying degrees delighted by or indulgent of our lyrical efforts; at least one of my exes did not care for our bullshit at all.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:25 PM on April 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
The Star Trek: The Next Generation is the Greatest Show song is what living with Chris was like all the time. The two of us are both easily amused by our own antics and we would constantly make up lyrics we thought were funny to sing over pretty much any song that was ever played in the apartment.
We have both been fortunate beyond telling to eventually land with partners who are by varying degrees delighted by or indulgent of our lyrical efforts; at least one of my exes did not care for our bullshit at all.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:25 PM on April 14, 2020 [6 favorites]
Rachel Watches Star Trek is delightful. I'm enjoying the TOS movie episodes (even, or especially, their recent Star Trek V episodes with Bechdel Cast host Caitlin Durante).
I started listening while also listening to The Greatest Generation. In an odd coincidence, both podcasts make comments regarding the odd vagaries of door locking (or lack thereof) on their respective Enterprises (e.g., Rachel Episode 5 & Greatest Episode 37).
posted by audi alteram partem at 5:45 PM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
I started listening while also listening to The Greatest Generation. In an odd coincidence, both podcasts make comments regarding the odd vagaries of door locking (or lack thereof) on their respective Enterprises (e.g., Rachel Episode 5 & Greatest Episode 37).
posted by audi alteram partem at 5:45 PM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
As a result, I think that TNG is one of the greatest TV shows in history. That's what you get for seeing only the highs and (almost) none of the lows.
That's sort of me with the X-Files. My aunt lent me some of her personal favorite episodes on VHS which turn out to be pretty much the consensus best standalone episodes of the series.
posted by atoxyl at 8:57 PM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
That's sort of me with the X-Files. My aunt lent me some of her personal favorite episodes on VHS which turn out to be pretty much the consensus best standalone episodes of the series.
posted by atoxyl at 8:57 PM on April 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
This is precisely the kind of comfypasta I've been needing to go along with the Fanfare rewatch. I'm so excited!
posted by meese at 9:53 PM on April 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by meese at 9:53 PM on April 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
I had some fun watching the face journeys on a couple episodes of We Watch Warp Drive - a Trek fan and a newb watch TNG together. A sequel / parallel to We Watch Who - that same newb is a Who fan and the Trekker has never seen it.
It's fun watching someone conversant in one set of tropes encounter another set that's new but also familiar.
posted by bartleby at 12:22 AM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's fun watching someone conversant in one set of tropes encounter another set that's new but also familiar.
posted by bartleby at 12:22 AM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also fun, from an old genre: Irish People Watch Star Trek for the First Time
posted by bartleby at 12:31 AM on April 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by bartleby at 12:31 AM on April 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
While I make (made) lunch for my kids at 5:30 in the morning, I put on an episode of a show and listen/occasionally watch the episode. A couple of years in, I'm through Enterprise, TOS, TNG and into the back half of the second season of DS9. As charming as this sounds, I do not think I could watch another rewatch of shows I've just rewatched.
To be clear, there are no bad episodes of TNG... but if you don't want to watch every episode - more power to you.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:37 AM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
To be clear, there are no bad episodes of TNG... but if you don't want to watch every episode - more power to you.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:37 AM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
I love this show! I hate the singing, but that's just me. It really is a delight.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 4:53 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 4:53 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
I hate the singing, but that's just me.
How very dare you!
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:13 PM on April 15, 2020
How very dare you!
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:13 PM on April 15, 2020
Today when I tried to switch to the next episode I instead received a message that their account is suspended. I'm hooked and hoping it gets sorted soon. These are a delight to listen to.
posted by meinvt at 8:48 AM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by meinvt at 8:48 AM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Were you on the website or Patreon? Both seem to be working now, as is the RSS feed....
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:09 PM on April 16, 2020
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:09 PM on April 16, 2020
Yes, it was apparently a brief disturbance in time-space. All systems nominal.
posted by meinvt at 1:02 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by meinvt at 1:02 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Chris loves Star Trek, and wants to share it with Rachel, who doesn't really like science fiction (although she likes musicals). Chris does what anyGotta admit, I'm a little disappointed this sentence didn't conclude:normal guypodcaster would do, and
wrote a Star Trek musical.posted by Zed at 3:03 PM on April 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
It’s happened before (it was glorious)!
posted by mwhybark at 5:44 PM on April 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 5:44 PM on April 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
They did do a musical episode for Patrons this last holiday season. They might do a full musical someday....
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:47 PM on April 18, 2020
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:47 PM on April 18, 2020
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