Star Trek The Next Conversation - a comedy Star Trek podcast currently about TV's Deep Space Nine DS9 (or TNG) · Matt Mira and Andrew Secunda

DS9 s4e11 "Homefront"

·2 hr 2 min

Matt and Andy open like they always do: halfway into the bit. They treat Homefront as the first episode of a two-part stretch and quickly latch onto the details that amuse them, from Sisko in a TNG uniform to Rom staying the show’s favorite overlooked Ferengi. Then they wander. A quick voice-hail detour, a few puns, and some half-finished corrections later, they are talking about how the show keeps its own chaos in hand and why that works for them. They also pin the airdate: January 1, 1996. From there it turns into a sideways history lesson that somehow includes Oasis, American Gladiators, and whether a band can be too obviously derived and still be good. The answer, naturally, is messy. They fold that into a handful of chart facts, a number-one movie, a number-one TV show, and the kind of week-in-pop-culture trivia that feels like a junk drawer they are happy to rummage through. Listener energy keeps sneaking in. Puns get aired, voicemail energy gets mocked and defended at the same time, and the crew-friendly tone stays front and center. The hosts do not pretend the episode is spotless. They call parts of it a little slow and say the acting feels weirdly theatrical. That criticism lands without souring the whole thing. Brock Peters and Avery Brooks are described as hamming it up without any ham in front of them, which is exactly the kind of sentence this show seems built to produce. Still, the setup gets credit. They can see the shape of the larger story, and they sound more interested in the second half than disappointed by the first. By the end, they land on a 6.5. Not a disaster. Not a rhapsody either. Just a very familiar Trek-and-banter machine doing what it does best: talking itself into the next episode while letting the detours do some of the work.

As heard by us

Loose, funny DS9 talk that wanders a bit but stays lively.

Homefront gives Matt Myra and Andrew Secunda room to do what they do best: zoom in on a few sharp details, spin them out, and keep the conversation feeling like a hangout with some actual point to it.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a Homefront recap that keeps slipping into puns, trivia, and old-show lore.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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