Star Trek Wars: It's Not the End?

It could be decommissioning time for one of the greatest Star Trek podcasts to appear for some time.

Star Trek Wars hosted by Jeremy Reed is now heading towards the midst of the second season of all five shows but personal circumstances could mean postponing the show or,  even worse,  cancellation. It's almost like certain events from the late 1960's around a certain popular science-fiction TV series isn't it...?

The show was about to reach its 39th episode and would have been talking about the 16th installment from each show's second year including discussions on The Gamesters of Triskelion,  Meld and the superlative Q Who but plans are currently on hold due to those recent circumstantial changes.

The fortnightly Star Trek Wars podcast is now pulling thousands of downloads per episode and has been making gradual improvements almost in the same way as Star Trek itself did during the 80's and 90's, meaning it's now beginning to really hit its stride.

"The original concept of Star Trek Wars was to bring together people with very different Star Trek backgrounds," recalled host Jeremy, "to watch an episode from all five Star Trek live action series each week to discuss and determine which show was the best."

It's definitely a different, unique format that has, at times, had me shouting out loud, agreeing wholeheartedly or even reassessing my opinions over episodes from the early years of each show. Only a select few episodes have managed to achieve a full score from the team over the last 38 episodes but I'll leave you to find out which. Star Trek Wars is the kind of podcast we fans need - one that encourages debate and does make you want to take part in the next episode. Which is an option as we'll see.

"I have always taken constructive criticism to heart," said Jeremy, "Actively listening to what the community wants in this podcast. I feel the biggest improvements made were sitting down and creating a standardized structure for reviewing each episode. My favorite improvements actually just came in the last few episodes..."

Those improvements came in the arrival of new co-host Jordan Rosenwinkel and the inclusion of a listeners score (aka the Detepa Council) and comments piece within each episode which have meant the audience is being included much more in final score and in choosing the winner.

A great shame that it could all come to an end so soon and so suddenly when the show still has to break ground on the brilliant third seasons of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It may look bleak for the podcast but Jeremy is managing to look at it in a positive way; "One of the main things I have learned while doing Star Trek Wars is just how much Star Trek can get you through even the darkest of times. It has also helped me gain some respect for some of the Star Trek's I didn't much care for when they aired all those years ago; Enterprise especially."

"What is needed now to continue the mammoth project is a Macbook  as Apple Macs come with the editing software I use (MIDI for multiple mics, Garageband for music creation and podcast editing, iDraw for episode artwork, etc..). The mics and audio recording equipment I still possess, it is just that Mac that is still required. 

"A gracious person reached out to me and shown me a place where I can acquire a Mac for a third of the normal cost (with their discount), so I have started a Go Fund Me campaign to raise the money needed to continue on at http://www.gofundme.com/StarTrekWars."

Star Trek Wars had certainly evolved since they took up the challenge on the pilot episodes and the 37 weeks after that. Now the project is a mere $80 off its $300 target and there's still a good amount of time left to hit that figure to ensure the show's survival. I've become a big fan of the show and it's demise would be a great loss as I do feel it has a lot more to give. For those who remember, we did review an early episode of the show and even since then the style has developed, the discussion tighter, the fun facts more...fun and some of the early teething troubles have been long since banished to Ceti Alpha V.

Now all that stands between the show's survival is a few dollars and I would ask fans of Star Trek everywhere to grab a listen to one of the most recent episodes which can be found via their website and be sure to leave a review on iTunes if you can to help spread the word. If it floats your starship then I'd certainly recommend hitting up gofundme and helping keep this entertaining show on the air.

Listened to Star Trek Wars? What other podcasts do you recommend or should get more coverage? Let us know below!!!