Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

602: What Happened to Star Trek? From Visionary Sci-Fi to Space Therapy Sessions

·44 min·4 clips

Crowhill asks how Star Trek went from Sherry Jackson to gay Klingons in skirts, sparking a debate on its downfall.

The episode begins with Crowhill and Pigweed introducing themselves and the beer they are drinking, Steady Eddie IPA, tying it to baseball's opening day. Crowhill opens the conversation by expressing his disappointment with Star Trek's recent direction, having been a longtime fan who stopped watching new series. Pigweed shares his experience with the original series due to limited TV channels in his youth. They discuss the history of Star Trek, including the original series, animated series, movies, and TV shows like Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. The hosts praise earlier series for their positive vision and moral dilemmas, citing Gene Roddenberry's WWII background as inspiration. They critique modern series like Discovery for focusing on feelings and crying, and Starfleet Academy for its woke messaging and lack of strong characters. Pigweed describes Starfleet Academy as featuring diverse but wimpy characters and preachy themes, contrasting it with traditional captains like Picard. They explore the evolution of Klingons and other aliens, using a quiz to test knowledge of Star Trek characters and villains. The conversation touches on inclusivity in the original series, such as Uhura's impact, and how modern shows have become ham-fisted. Crowhill suggests hiring writers from successful sci-fi shows like Battlestar Galactica and Firefly to revive Star Trek. The episode ends with Pigweed recommending Strange New Worlds as the best recent series, despite some flawed episodes, and a closing cheers.

As heard by us

A blunt, beer-fueled pass through which Star Trek eras still work and which do not.

A beer-fueled Star Trek conversation uses an IPA as a loose entry point for a brisk, opinionated pass through the classic films and television eras into the newer run.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a clear map of where Star Trek went off course, with a beer-fueled fan take that still ends on a real recommendation.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill