Re:Engage TNG
134 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 days ago - ★★★★★ - 13 ratingsFour friends return to a sci-fi series we all have a strong connection to - Star Trek: The Next Generation. It debuted in 1987 when we were all young, and now in 2020, we re-engage with the series, one episode at a time, and re-consider Star Trek from a new perspective as grown-up fans.
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Episodes
A Matter of Honor - s2e8
August 05, 2021 18:43 - 52 minutes - 48.2 MBThe Warrior-Poets return! Or are they Warrior-Comedians? The Benzite Mendon - not to be confused with Mordock - joins the Enterprise crew, while Riker joins the crew of the Klingon Bird of Prey Pagh as part of an officer exchange program. Riker is challenged as a fish out of Star Fleet pretty much immediately, and his familiarity with Klingon cuisine only makes him more attractive to the women, of course. There's a space bacteria attacking the hull of both ships, but poor Mendon didn't finis...
Unnatural Selection - s2e7
July 30, 2021 01:49 - 53 minutes - 73.3 MBPulaski gets old. Like real old. With very unnecessary aging makeup and everything. The Enterprise encounters a cargo ship that's still functioning with everyone aboard dead from old age. They had just left the frightfully named Darwin Station, and wouldn't you know it, the eugenicists caused all our problems. Jimmie G hosts this episode! We'd love to receive more feedback or questions we can read aloud and answer on episodes in the future so feel free to email [email protected] or ...
The Schizoid Man - s2e6
July 22, 2021 09:20 - 1 hour - 93.2 MBA great performance by Brent Spiner keeps this episode trucking as the Enterprise goes to Grave's World to meet Dr. Graves. He's a brilliant cybernetician, and he's dying, but it's all good, he's an asshole. But then Data starts acting weird by giving strange funeral speeches and crushing people's hands. The audience is in on the trick the whole time, and it's fun to watch Picard and the crew finally figure it all out. Kate hosts this episode by perfectly portraying the plot details, Erik do...
Loud as a Whisper - s2e5
July 15, 2021 18:51 - 1 hour - 64.1 MBWacky introductions notwithstanding, this episode has a pretty serious tone. The famed negotiator Riva is revealed to be deaf and has three interpreters who speak his words through telepathic communication. Riva's lusty voice keeps crushing on Troi, but Riva acts cocky to everyone else until they get to the planet and loses his interpreter chorus. The rest of the episode is all about how Riva and the crew respond, and our cultural bridge crew has mixed feelings but we all agree the portrayal...
The Outrageous Okona - s2e4
July 08, 2021 01:04 - 1 hour - 80 MBThis Okona is OUTRAGEOUS! The eponymous captain is introduced ass-first and there isn't a more perfect metaphor for this episode. The main plot is cute, and it's cool to see an actor who might have played Riker charm the main cast - and several ladies aboard the Enterprise. But the B Plot of Data trying to find comedy is stretched thin when the holodeck selects Joe Piscopo as the end-all be-all of stand-up comedy to teach him. Especially when Whoopi Goldberg was right there! Jimmie G. hosts ...
Elementary, Dear Data - s2e3
July 01, 2021 00:18 - 1 hour - 73.5 MBWe just can't get enough cosplay episodes! As the Enterprise needs to wait for a rendezvous with the U.S.S. Victory, Data and Geordi have some time to kill and they decide to go to the holodeck. After geeking out over the details of Sherlock Holmes' place, Geordi gets frustrated at the "game" of solving an already written mystery since Data already knows all those details. Pulaski gets in on it by taunting Data's lack of reasoning and the whole game unravels when Geordi mistakenly instructs ...
Where Silence Has Lease - s2e2
June 22, 2021 19:13 - 1 hour - 66.1 MBLife is one surprise after another for Ensign Haskell. Episode 2 of the second season of The Next Generation means it's the second epidode of Re:Engage's second season, too! Despite such tortured syntax, your cultural bridge officers return once more to go where no one wants to go. Kate continues to live for Scrooged, Jimmie takes a Mulligan with Nagilum (what would the extra 'l' have cost them, anyway?), Greg plays One Bridge-One-Riker with Lt Worf, and the whole crew lets you know what we ...
The Child - s2e1 (PREMIERE)
June 16, 2021 22:58 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBEnter Riker's beard. Along with Guinan, Ten Forward, Dr. Pulaski, and Geordi's assignment as Chief Engineer, there is a lot of new stuff to introduce in this premiere of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Marina Sirtis finally gets some well-written dialogue and character progression as she experiences motherhood in the blink of an eye. This episode also features the A and B plots building well off each other, just as newcomers Dr. Pulaski and Guinan immediately have impact...
The Neutral Zone - s1e25 (FINALE)
May 05, 2021 18:49 - 1 hour - 86.3 MBWe are back! This season of fraught production comes to a close with an episode that's not sure what its A or B plots are exactly, but at least we get some great-looking Warbirds. Picard is off getting some intel, and Data wants to look at some space trash ... which happens to have 3 Americans from the early 21st century in a cryogenic stasis. They died back then, but then Dr. Crusher wakes them up at the worst possible time as the Enterprise heads into the Romulan neutral zone to investigat...
Conspiracy - s1e24
April 28, 2021 06:15 - 1 hour - 67.4 MBThere are bugs inside me! It's a conspiracy! The stakes for this episode start pretty high and they quickly jump the shark all the way back to Earth to the Federation Headquarters. After three captains warn Picard there's something going on, his friend Captain Walker Keel gets blown the F up and Picard takes his warning seriously. We get the return of Remmick and Admiral Quinn back with the federation, and Remmick gets block the F up, eventually. It's a pretty violent one. Kate hilariously h...
We'll Always Have Paris - s1e23
April 21, 2021 00:59 - 1 hour - 75.7 MBWith nary a mention of the deceased bridge officer, the Enterprise soldiers on into the harder sci-fi of the Manheim Effect. Guest star Michelle Philips from the Mamas and the Papas has a magnificent effect herself on Jean-Luc Picard, after he goes to Paris in the holodeck to indulge himself on Croissants D'ilithium. But her husband has been experimenting with space and time to created a loop through his experiments and it's up to the Three Wise Datas to fix it. Greg hosts this discussion of...
Skin of Evil - s1e22
April 13, 2021 20:53 - 1 hour - 66.4 MBWe say goodbye to Lieutenant Natasha Yar in the most effective, if not very meaningful, way. Our intrepid security officer is part of the away team that goes to the surface of Vagra II in search of Deanna Troi and the pilot of her crashed shuttle. In the way is an oil slick ... that moves and introduces itself as Armus. The slick is a dick, and it kills Yar off hand before having conversations with Troi in the shuttle, sucking Riker into itself and spitting him back out, and eventually argui...
Symbiosis - s1e21
April 07, 2021 00:15 - 1 hour - 66.1 MBDon't do drugs, kids! This episode is all about the dangers of addiction, or is it really just the start of an awesome Star Trek Acid Party. (I swear we'll stop talking about that video soon!) We get the return of two actors who were in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, which is cool, and one of them gets to act like a stoner on a phone call, so that's even cooler. Riker gets to act all frozen ... again. Kate hosts this one like Tasha saying, "Behave yourselves, gentlemen," Erik talks about how t...
The Arsenal of Freedom - s1e20
March 30, 2021 22:12 - 1 hour - 63.4 MBThere are only so many commercials one can stand! This episode is an interesting take on the commodification of war that's still prevalent today, sadly. Guest stars abound, including that scary, subway ghost from Ghost, Vincent Schiavelli, and we get a few tender moments with Picard and Crusher that ultimately don't amount to much more than annoyance at sand fleas. Greg uses his hosting duties to plug Star Trek Acid Party some more, Erik loves the prat fall into the underground bunker, Kate ...
Heart of Glory - s1e19
March 24, 2021 06:12 - 1 hour - 75.6 MBWitness the Klingon Death Ritual! Re:Engage welcomes performer, writer and storyteller B. Dave Walters to the crew to discuss the Klingons being done dirty across the Star Trek franchise, but not in this episode! *shakes fist* Strong performances by Michael Dorn and perennial guest Vaughn Armstrong hold this episode's head high, despite the production issues resulting in the script spending too much time narrating the action. We get to taste Worf's heart in this one, and for that, alone, it ...
Coming of Age - s1e18
March 18, 2021 00:07 - 1 hour - 89.7 MBWe get another Wesley Crusher-centric episode with the acting ensign taking the test to enter the Starfleet Academy while the bridge crew and Picard have to deal with an investigation of their own. Get it? They are BOTH coming of age! Lots of strong co-stars in this episode including the playwright Robert Schenkkan playing Lt. Cmdr. Remmick, and everyone loves to yell at him, especially Riker. (Remmick gets his comeuppance later in Conspiracy.) Kate hosts and wants to fight that Oleanna huss...
Home Soil - s1e17
March 09, 2021 23:08 - 1 hour - 59.2 MBThere are dialogue lines that resonate beyond the context of a TV show or film, and for Greg that was "ugly bags of mostly water" from this episode of Star Trek. That way of describing human beings from an alien source has been rattling around in his brain for decades. The set up for Home Soil is that of a Whodunnit, but the script was difficult and production was strained in this investigation of hard sci-fi ideas. Greg hosts this episode and waxes poetic about the 1988 Winter Olympics in C...
When the Bough Breaks - s1e16
March 02, 2021 23:54 - 1 hour - 61.1 MBRe:Engage welcomes its first Andorian! Noah Averbach-Katz plays Ryn on Star Trek Discovery and he was gracious enough to join us in discussing this star turn for Wesley Crusher and the children of the Enterprise. Everything is not what it seems on the legendary planet of Aldea, and the powerful beings there capture several of the younger kids against the will of Captain Picard. Wesley leads a hunger strike and figures out the Custodian is just a snarky computer. Kate hosts this episode and, ...
Too Short a Season - s1e15
February 23, 2021 19:19 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MBThe Benjamin Button episode grows a little old. Strong guest star roles like Karnas the warlord on Mordan IV, Hollywood royalty Marsha Hunt as Anne, and Admiral Mark Jameson as her lying husband who takes two doses (!) of a wonder drug to de-age himself. The episode is ultimately about living with the guilt of repercussions from bold actions taken while young, but the plot doesn't necessarily pay off that premise well. Greg believed the makeup was pretty OK, Jimmie doesn't but loved the voic...
11001001 - s1e14
February 18, 2021 21:47 - 1 hour - 70.1 MBIt's Bynar time! Riker has a special moment in the holodeck with his bone, er, trombone, and a woman named Minuet created by the Bynars to distract him. There's something special about this episode as we see the crew in some downtime moments: Worf and Yar play the sport of Parisees Squares, Geordi helps Data paint, and Dr. Crusher gets her motor running for a science talk on Starbase 74. Picard and Riker eventually save the day for the Bynars after spending time in 1920s New Orleans, and all...
Angel One - s1e13
February 09, 2021 22:35 - 1 hour - 63.4 MBIt's all full of Riker's chest hair. It's really hard to get past all that glorious fur to the meat of this episode, but we your cultural bridge crew boldly go there and try to figure out how exactly it has to do with Apartheid, as the writer originally intended. There's something compelling hidden here about objectification of the sexes, as well as the question of intervening in the politics of a world, but it's muddied by a weak, tacked-on, virus B-plot and incomplete theming. Interesting ...
Datalore - s1e12
February 02, 2021 21:33 - 1 hour - 69.1 MBIs it Data? Is it Lore? Double dose of Brent Spiner as double androids and we learn where they come from with tons of backstory (mostly) expertly peppered in the dialogue on Data's home planet. The episode makes use of mirrors as a motif and that certainly hits differently watching now as we collectively realize how much meeting an evil twin version of yourself would mess you up. Kid Trek returns so you get to hear what Greg's daughters have to say about all that, Jimmie G maybe joins the We...
The Big Goodbye - s1e11
January 26, 2021 22:05 - 1 hour - 58.5 MBGotta go BACK in time! There's always something thrilling about taking the odd uniforms and social norms of the 24th century and putting them in modern genre settings like the hard-boiled detective stories we know from Raymond Chandler novels and L.A. Confidential. "The Big Goodbye" puts Captain Picard in the role of tropey Dixon Hill on the holodeck, and introduces another trope Star Trek will visit again and again: holodeck malfunctions. Greg hosts this discussion and loves taking the piss...
Haven - s1e10
January 19, 2021 21:33 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBLwaxana Troi is a treasure! This episode goes full-on rom-com with the impending matrimony of Counselor Troi to Teabag from Prison Break, er, Wyatt Miller. So many guest stars make this episode work as a comedy, especially Majel Barrett the First Lady of Star Trek. It's really funny to see Picard squirm under the ministrations of Lwaxana, and Data working off of Mr. Homn during the rehearsal dinner. BONG! Kate hosts this episode and notes the harp-core porn Riker enjoys, Jimmie G loves silve...
Hide and Q - s1e9
January 12, 2021 21:56 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBWe welcome Tessa Gratton, author of speculative fiction such as the recent Lady Hotspur (available now!), to the cultural bridge crew of Re:Engage to discuss the second appearance of Q in Star Trek canon. After we go into the lyrics of Billy Idol's "Mony, Mony" and Richard Dawson's terrible-ness in "The Running Man," there is talk of Gene Roddenbury's vile behavior around the creation of this episode before we delve into what worked and what didn't, story-wise. John Delancie's performance is...
The Battle - s1e8
January 05, 2021 23:35 - 59 minutes - 54.9 MBCaptain Jean-Luc Picard had an illustrious career before he joined the Enterprise, and we get to see it in all its glory aboard his old ship, the USS Stargazer. "The Battle" also features the second appearance of the Ferengi in this voyage of the first season of TNG, and we all (mostly) agree it's much better than how they come off in "The Last Outpost." Riker has some good scenes with the Ferengi first mate, but the episode is definitely carried by Patrick Stewart's illustrious acting chops...
Justice - s1e7
December 22, 2020 21:56 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBIt's come-uppance time for Wesley! Your cultural bridge crew returns to dissect the Edos and their twisted idea of justice. Hint: It doesn't involve tight jeans, but does include revealing white under-garments. Riker is far too eager to enjoy this planet, but it all goes awry when Mr. Crusher falls into a forbidden flower zone and Picard straight-up ignores the Prime Directive just as it's introduced. Kate Jaeger hosts this discussion, while Jimmie G. reminisces about Weird Al Yankovic shove...
Lonely Among Us - s1e6
December 15, 2020 19:59 - 1 hour - 63.3 MBRunning a spaceship is a simple job, really. Sometimes you just have to pick up some delegates and transport them to a secure location. Easy peasy, right? Except it gets way more complicated when the delegates are from two feuding species, the ship accidentally picks up a weird energy being, and the doctor/captain gets possessed by said being turning the ship off of its course. Then when the entire meat body of Captain Picard is replaced from a backup data set, it all seems to end in good fu...
Where No One Has Gone Before - s1e5
December 08, 2020 22:46 - 55 minutes - 50.9 MBWesley Crusher rules the world, er, all space & time! Jimmie G leads the discussion of one of the best hard sci-fi episodes of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation with Kate, Greg and Erik chiming in with nothing but love for the Traveler. Great character work from guest actors and the visualization of a location far beyond human understanding at the heart of the galaxy makes this episode an early standout. The plot was actually adapted from a novel set in the original series, ...
The Last Outpost - s1e4
December 01, 2020 17:45 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBThe arrival of the Ferengi in The Last Outpost is quite a thing. Kate Jaeger hosts the discussion with Jimmie G, Erik, and Greg Tito going into this whizbanger of an episode. The introduction of this new species was touted as being as important as the Romulans or the Klingons in Star Trek lore but the Ferengi never mustered that level of antagonism, despite their distasteful behavior in this episode. Unbridled capitalism was a big theme in the late 80s America with Black Monday occurring the...
Code of Honor - s1e3
November 25, 2020 21:21 - 1 hour - 66.3 MBIt doesn't take long for the Enterprise to reach it's first clunker. Host Greg Tito welcomes Cicero Holmes as the first guest on Re:Engage to join Jimmie G, Kate, and Erik in discussing the issues behind "Code of Honor." The casting of an all Black ensemble from the planet Ligon II was a strong choice in 1987, but the production of this episode didn't land for us looking back on it with 2020 hindsight. Re:Engage would like to apologize to the spiked gauntlet industry for how much we didn't l...
The Naked Now - s1e2
November 17, 2020 23:34 - 52 minutes - 48.1 MBKate Jaeger hosts this one as Greg Tito, Jimmie G, and Erik Gratton go deep on the second episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation to see if it's still "fully functional." We cover the sexism behind the scenes that led to the writer removing her name from the credits, the clowning from Data and Picard, and what it meant to abandon the character norms before they were even established. Host: Kate Jaeger (@jaegerlicious on Twitter and IG) Panel: Jimmie G (@thejimmieg on IG & Twitter), Gr...
s1e1 Encounter at Farpoint - Re:Engage TNG
November 03, 2020 03:16 - 1 hour - 67.6 MBWelcome to Re:Engage! Episode: Encounter at Farpoint s1e1 In this first episode, we introduce listeners to Greg Tito, Jimmie G, Kate Jaeger and Erik Gratton and learn about their history with the series before diving into a discussion of the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The smashed-together two-parter does a lot of heavy-lifting introducing the new crew and fan favorite Q while making it clear this isn't your parents' Star Trek. We also debut the Kid Trek segment where ...
Encounter at Farpoint - s1e1
November 03, 2020 03:16 - 1 hour - 67.6 MBWelcome to Re:Engage! Episode: Encounter at Farpoint s1e1 In this first episode, we introduce listeners to Greg Tito, Jimmie G, Kate Jaeger and Erik Gratton and learn about their history with the series before diving into a discussion of the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The smashed-together two-parter does a lot of heavy-lifting introducing the new crew and fan favorite Q while making it clear this isn't your parents' Star Trek. We also debut the Kid Trek segment where ...