We Are Borg: Faction Pack Part Two

The first part of our look at the Borg Faction Pack checked out half of the ships, the captains, Crew and Elite Actions - so now let's analyse the two new pack vessels and the rest...

Trekking out into this new set are two updated Federation/Borg starships in the form of Assimilated Target Prime and USS Voyager.

Voyager is the more expensive of the pair so lets start out there. Costing a chewy 34 points, the Intrepid Class ship is one of those craft that seem to have been forgotten in the later waves of the game - but it's still awesome. Attacking with five dice, defending with two, hulled up with four points and raising six Shield points, Voyager can join a Borg or a Federation fleet with its dual allegiance although it doesn't field a Regeneration Action. This ship carries the expected Target Lock, Battle Stations, Scan and Evade you would find on a Federation ship plus can accommodate two Crew, one Weapon, one Tech and one Borg upgrade. 

For its Unique Action, Voyager can perform a Target Lock as a free action if a green maneuver is performed that round. There seem to be a lot of free actions bobbing about in this set with a fair few cards in the first half of our review providing this option.

The generic Intrepid Class ship (or Federation/Borg Starship...) loses a Crew slot and a Shield point but switches the Scan Action out for the Regeneration Action and is stripped of a unique action for 29 points - that's a big drop in cost to offer up a more Borg inspired starship. It also benefits from having no red speeds, punching to a top of five with bank turns at speeds one, two and three. Certainly this one can get around with hard left and rights at speeds two and three although there are no reverse moves available meaning you'll need to run and turn rather than being able to immediately able to change direction.

As for the model it's a straight silver respray of the Voyager from Wave Six with additional circuitry decals across the surface to display its assimilation. The finish overall seems a little grimier with an apparent dirt wash running into all the panel and shield grid lines. The detail shines through a little stronger against the silver hull with the lifeboat hatches and RCS thrusters in particular standing out.

Now second up is Assimilation Target Prime. The named version can play as either Mirror Universe or Borg and out of the box it's equipped with the Regeneration Action alongside Scan, Target Lock and Evade. Two Crew, one Weapon, one Tech and one Borg upgrade can be outfitted onto this craft which is definitely a more powerful version of the Galaxy Class with five Attack, five Hull and four Shield points although the one Defence stat is a little concerning and might mark this ship out for an early exit. The stats also outweigh the rather feeble Unique Action allowing you to equip anything to this ship and that the single Tech upgrade allowed will cost one point less. I wouldn't be adding this to a fleet for that ability - definitely the stats.

The generic version can be Federation or Borg with a loos of the usual Shield point and a Crew slot. As with Voyager it costs a lot less at only 24 points placing this also as a damn good option for any Borg or Federation fleet. The top speed of this one is a decent six although it will incur the dreaded Auxiliary Power Token as will the reverse one move and the hard turns at speed three.

The bank turns at speed one plus the forward speeds at one to three are green and for one I'd say this is a big step up from the truck that was the Starter Pack USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Shame that Assimilation Target Prime can't be a Federation starship but the generic version might just carry a little favour with the stronger firepower and Borg options.

Again this model's received a shiny new silver coat of paint with painted on Borg circuitry details top and bottom. On both this and Voyager the silver doesn't overpower the hull detail and the lifeboat hatches again standout against the hull. I think these two are a great couple of ships and a step up on earlier finishes but the Borg detailing should be added onto the hull not just painted. I can understand it's down to keeping costs low but there's a sense of disappointment once you get it out of the box to find it's not really much different to the originals.

We've covered the Captains and Crew already so let's load the tubes and discuss the Weapons. The Advanced Proton Beam (Borg faction only) costs three points and can be utilised on a full 360 degree arc at range one. Using the same number of dice as the equipped ship's primary weapon, this ignores Shields and goes straight for the hull, potentially inflicting Critical Damage in the process. Two Drone tokens will be used up and the card will be discarded but it does allow for a rather - cutting - attack early on. I do like this one a lot and it's a unique result for an attack.

Costing the same as the primary weapon of the ship it is equipped to is also the case with Bio-Molecular Torpedo. Able to be plugged into either a Borg or Federation starship, the Torpedo can be reused and attacks with the same number of dice as the carrying ship's primary weapon (same as its cost). Notably this one doesn't need to be discarded or disabled due to the token cost and if it hits then the opposing Captain and Crew onboard receive two Time Tokens each. If it's a Species 8472 ship then all of the cards on that craft are hit with the Time Tokens. 

I'd play this one if I had a captain with the maximum Drone Token amount just to use this as much as possible and close down your opposing fleet as soon as possible. 

There's a lone Tech upgrade with Integrated Borg Technology (Borg faction). The one point cost lets you drop another Borg upgrade onto your ship and with this pack there are five that can be packed onto your ship or fleet.

The five point Borg Multi-Adaptive Shields let you cancel a Damage result when defending and is only discarded when you run out of Shields. Best application for this has to be on one of the Borg craft without the ability to defend. Technological Distinctiveness (three points) is powered up with Mission Tokens which can be added once per round as your Action. These can be traded in to add attack dice to your turn. It doesn't specify if you have to use all in one go however the point that it rolls one extra for each Mission Token on the card does suggest this. Nor does it suggest discarding after use - potentially you could have a huge amount of tokens on here - and then add in a Target Lock...boom.

Assimilation Tubes gets discarded but for three points you do get to steal a Crew upgrade from an enemy ship up to range two and there are no restrictions to add it on to your own Borg vessel. Note this is one of those hugely situational cards requiring you to target a ship that has no Shields or a Cloak in operation.

Interlink Transceiver is a classic card for the under-defended Borg by increasing their defence by one - as long as they are within range one. Two points is a menial cost for this upgrade and I would have this onboard alongside the Integrated Borg Technology to add in another Borg option. 

Annoyingly these Borg upgrades are damn good and even a one point Distribution Nodes card is a winner. During Activation you can target a friendly ship at range one, deal a Damage point to that vessel so that one of the Hull points on the card carrying vessel is repaired.

The Borg Faction Pack comes with two new missions to play out as part of an Uneasy Alliance arc. Part One sees each player in this two player scenario picking a Federation ship and a Borg ship each. The Federation ship of each player is out to collect mission tokens from the planet while the Borg ships are there to try and prevent their opponent's Federation ship from getting within range two to complete scans (and thereby gain mission tokens). The winner either destroys their opponents ships or gets the most mission tokens when they are all collected.

Part Two follows a similar vein with each player once again fielding a Borg and a Federation ship. This time your objective is to collect Mission Tokens from the Objectives set around the board which are set as wrecked starships.

Again either destroy or conquer in order to find out who has been destroying these craft. For those with some background knowledge  you'll spot that both of these scenarios are loosely based around Scorpion!

Federation ships can collect tokens by rolling five defence die and achieving at least two Evade results. Borg ships can target the Federation ship of their opponent to steal away those tokens as long as a five defence die roll includes two Evade results.

The Borg Faction pack might not be the most impressive when it comes to new models but the cards, especially the captains and Borg upgrades are extremely useful. As always the Borg are ridiculously overpowered and under defended but you can at least face off Federation Borg versus Borg Borg with some level of fairness on the table. I tend to use the Borg more for practice in one player set ups and now there's a decent spread of options to set out.

Playing straight from the box the two missions are a little too samey although they do offer some new gameplay elements with the defence rolls and use of Objective tokens. In the deck there aren't any revolutionary new moves however the inclusion of Locutus outside of the oversize Cube will keep fans happy - perhaps more surprising is the choice to put three high skill captains in one pack. 

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The Ship of Future Past and Fluid Flights: The Official Starships Collection Issues 42 and 43

It's a lot longer than I thought.

No euphemism here, merely an observation on the shape of the USS Pasteur from All Good Things... which marks the first of this month's Eaglemoss starships.

Built and devised by ILM's Bill George, the Pasteur was notorious for being a homage to Matt Jeffries' original design for the USS Enterprise in The Original Series but was partially modified from a sphere to a saucer along the way to the now-iconic ship design.

With Issue 42 we get one of Starfleet's more diverse concepts with the Olympic Class hospital ship which, as I've already said, is a lot longer than I recalled. In fact on screen it looked a lot more squat. In reality the Pasteur seems a bit spindly with that oversized golf-ball primary hull, thin secondary hull and dwarfed warp nacelles capable of the miraculous warp 13.

On this occasion the lower half of the sphere and the secondary hull as a whole are in metal while everything above the top deck line of that secondary hull are in plastic. The detail - and for once the windows - are all in alignment; even my nacelles point in the same direction so no complaints on build quality from that side. Nor are any of the joint lines evident here between the two build materials. 

There are a couple of discrepancies between the plan views and the model in that there's a red stripe near the deuterium fuel port which is missing on the pics and there are also two black circles on the bottom of the sphere which don't appear on the very same image on pages eight and nine of the magazine. Those details missing in the pictures do turn up on the original studio model a few pages later however so we'll take that as the best source material!

That aside, even the number of lifeboat hatches mirrors the views and while it's only a small thing, I am impressed with the recessed deflector strip which I'd always thought was a phaser emitter. A couple of the hull details such as a "greyed" panel at the front of the sphere and the dashed line around it's centre aren't absolutely perfect but they're so tiny it's easy to forgive.The only thing that the pictures or studio model don't really give you a good comparison for however is the colour of the Pasteur which looks a lot more duck-egg blue than white.

The thin nacelles do feature our favourite red translucent plastic bussard collectors as well as the ship's registration. Notably the NCC-58925 emblazoned on the nacelles at four points is in The Next Generation title font rather than Starfleet ship standard you might have expected. Taking a glance at the model images in the magazine though you can see that this was how she was seen on the TV episode.

This is one of the models that I was pressing to see in the series and it's come earlier than I thought it might. I like the end result but perhaps I was hoping for something a bit more weighty and maybe just a slight bit larger. Just me probably but as  an end result the USS Pasteur passes muster for accuracy and will be one of the key ships fans will have been waiting to tick off their lists in 2015.

Issue 42 of the magazine does provide us with a superb CGI rendering of the ship on the opening profile section which concisely retells the story of The Next Generation's finale to the point where the Pasteur ends up in small pieces thanks to the attacking Klingons. As we've said, there's some nice plan views in here followed by a six page overview of the seventh season from The Next Generation and not a single picture from Gambit, Phantasms, Parallels or The Pegasus; oh the shame - but at least they are covered in the text. 

Why this takes over six pages when we get six paragraphs on Bill George's studio model is anyone's guess because I would have liked to see more of this vessel in detail. No other ship in Star Trek history looks like her and a few close-up shots of the hull would have been great as well as something on how they filmed her since there's a degree of 3D flying in that final episode. Maybe we could have even had some bits on the refitting of the "D" as well? We know that Doug Drexler turned up the third nacelle recently as part of a clean-up but what about the reasons all the bits were added for the finale? Perhaps for another issue...

Jumping from 1994 through to 1997 and the leap in technology is made very evident with the Species 8472 bioship which only ever existed within the framework of a computer. It's also the first organic ship we've had in the collection and there's every possibility that Gomtuu from Tin Man will be along at some point as suggested in a recent Twitter Q&A held by collection guru Ben Robinson.

This one's 80% plastic with the three fins cast in metal but this in no way detracts from the simple, slender design of the bioship which may also be one of the smallest and lightest models produced. Each panel bears the samel grey/brown "living" pattern surrounding the weaponised core  Eaglemoss have nailed the markings but the lack of lighting evident on the magazine cover does take something from the presence of the ship.

It's design is perfectly symmetrical along each fin which does remind me of the (later realised) Xindi Insectoid ship we had a while back but carries it off a little better (and that wasn't precisely symmetrical). Given it's small size - and a similar criticism I levelled at the Pasteur - this could have done with being just a little bigger to pick out some of the smaller detail on the tips of the forward prongs or in the centre module detail. It's nice but in comparison to the Starfleet ship from the previous issue there's not a lot to look at or investigate. 

In fact it's not been that easy to review given the repeated nature of the design. We can say that it's of a good build quality without question and that the precision taken to make each of the panels is very precise with no poor edges or, fortunately, sharp points on those fins. It's also incredibly sturdy but then the stabilising fins are metal so they will take a decent battering if the floor makes an attack. It's also mounted by those very fins in a stand which isn't the best of fits if I'm honest and on a couple of occasions the bioship has easily popped out of the grips which I've done a close up shot of here.

In the magazine the bioship looks a heck of a lot more exciting and way more cool than the model even if the pic on the profile page is a bit grainy. There's a good level of background on the ships and their most significant appearance in the two-part Scorpion story from Voyager. Split into two sections, this is comprehensive when it comes to the creation of the bioship which does make up a little for the disappointment of the model. The story of the craft is just as much a departure from the norm as the first Star Trek CGI aliens were when they took to the screen against the Borg. Certainly the text reflects the individual and instantly recognisable nature of the bioship at least making it one of Voyager's most impressive and notable enemies.

As with the Pasteur, the key moments for the bioship are limited to the one story it featured in and we round off the issue with the upcoming Intrepid in all it's blank-hulled glory.

In other related Collection news, Ben Robinson took part in a Twitter Q&A, revealing that there are some great plans ahead for the collection which suggest there's a ton of ships waiting to get their own issue.

Definite models include the NX-01 refit (never seen onscreen however) which is destined for the sixth special after the Klingon D-4 and the USS Kelvin. Ben also suggested that we'd get to see the K-7 space station, the glimpsed USS Enterprise-J and the Scimitar at some point although the latter is causing some headaches due to all those fins (note that he was even discussing this or a large scale Enterprise-E for a special release). The Romulan shuttle from In the Pale Moonlight was also alluded to and talking of shuttles, that set of four currently available in Europe will be heading to the UK but marketed differently.

Two of Ben's dream ships for the collection were mentioned. One being the Fesarius from The Corbomite Maneuver (which was listed on the back on the Issue Two promo pack) and the Breen warship from Deep Space Nine's final season. Apparently we'll be seeing the Breen ship first. Pushed further on upcoming issues Ben confirmed that there will be a mirror version of the Enterprise from Mirror, Mirror too. If that is the case I'd like to think we'll see the Avenger and the NX-01 mirror version at some stage. We will get to see the Enterprise-A dressed in an aztec paint scheme that was tragically missing from the refit right at the start of the collection.

Little additions of information did drop that Ben would think of adding the smuggler ship from Unification as well as Gomtuu from Tin Man, the Tamarian cruiser from The Next Generation's Suddenly Human as well as the Batris from Heart of Glory, the Merchantman from The Search for Spock and various Borg cubes.

And finally....Ben is now on Twitter and dropped a stunning pic last week that showed off some of the yet-to-be-released ships. I could four here - personal favourite the Steamrunner Class, the Sabre Class, the Romulan Bird-of-Prey from The Original Series' Balance of Terror and in the background a pair of nacelles that might well be attached to the NCC-1701. Then today we got an additional shot of the USS Appalachia close up which kinda made my weekend of Star Trek complete. Note with this one the rear stand - must not be a lot of weight in the front of the Steamrunner Class model to make that work.

And that's it for March's editions. Good but we've had better double selections and the teases we're getting indicate some stellar models to come - and even the possibility of USS Defiant and USS Voyager dedication plaques. One last point, apparently those annoying back issues we're missing will be resolved in the near future and seeing as it came from Ben Robinson I tend to believe it's true.

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The Starfleet Escape Podcast: Listen Up!

If it wasn't for the rather excellent Google+ Star Trek community I would have missed out on a gem of a podcast.

Now up to their 17th installment (with number 18 coming soon),  the SF Escape Podcast looks set to become one of my must listen to Star Trek audio shows of 2013. Hosted by Aaron, Marty and Eric it's informative,  funny and exceptionally accessible to fans both new and well-established.

You might ask how that's possible considering the amount of material that's out there (and what you're reading!) but Trek Trio manage it with ease. I like to think I have a fairly decent understanding of the subject however I even realised a couple of things during the Borg show that I hadn't noticed in the TV shows after several reruns. That, for one thing really impressed.

It's a straight forward format to the podcast; 90 minutes (approx) of chat and banter separated into distinctive sections. For a starter in this Star Trek audio restaurant there's news and opinion followed by a main course of good wholesome and filling debate into the topic of the podcast.  Once that's been cleared then you get to enjoy a dessert of subspace comments from a range of social media channels where a question of the podcast has been asked.  Bringing it all together as the coffee and mints at the end are a few moments to air some grumbles they may have over the subject which just helps to remind us all that it is a work of fiction and open to the wonders of human error and almost 50 years of attempted continuity.

Due to a bit of a hectic home, blogging, work life recently I'm combining my reviews of The Borg and The Romulans podcasts into one piece.

Now I really enjoyed Episode 16 and the Borg discussions,  possibly because I was fortunate enough to get my comment on the cyborg nemeses read out (sorry it was only slightly shorter than War and Peace gents,  I'll be concise next time!)   but it's great to get some clever,  witty and genuinely entertaining words on Star Trek even when you might think think that everything there is to say has been said. The news section was good although I would have liked to hear a bit more opinion than news fact which we can pick up at the newsagents or off the web. When there is, it lifts the show and makes you listen because it's absolutely worth taking in. I would say for newer Trekkers and those who are just getting into the franchise with the most general audience friendly reboots it's an excellent avenue and devoid of technobabble I can assure you. As you would expect there's talk If of the new JJ Abrams movie but also fan productions such as Star Trek Continues, the Green Girl documentary and Star Trek Renegades. Upcoming releases such as the timeline video game are also covered but there does seem to be an absence of printed Star Trek be it novels or comics. The good thing is with this piece of the show is that if you're not keen on trying to sieve your way through the internet the news section will help you out admirably. Also there's a great bit where our hosts consider whether or not they would purchase a chosen Star Trek product. Have to agree that the Bye Bye Robot posters are very good but I've got very little wall space opportunity to display them ! While it took a few pauses to listen to,  I was still surprised to find an hour and a half had warped by.

So what did I get out of listening to their take on the Borg? Running through their appearances in Star Trek universe chronology rather than episode transmission order does help realise how there was an attempt to tie everything together, and even the perhaps poorly conceived Enterprise story, Regeneration. What you become aware of is how Picard and co effectively are the reason the Borg become aware of humanity with an ending similar to TNG's Conspiracy. There's of course a good deal of discussion on the seminar two parter,  The Best of Both Worlds (is it now the most overrated episode of all time? As well as Q Who and I, Borg but yet there's a Descent shaped hole only touched on during a reflection on the Borg ship designs we've seen over the years. I was always of the thought that this was a captured ship however the distinctly non geometric design and does suggest their more fragmented and individualistic nature as portrayed in the double-hander. While not classed as one of The Next Generation's stronger installments I would have liked more opinion on where this might have led in the future.

The majority of of the discussion does end itself more towards Voyager and by default everything that comes after Seven of Nine's arrival on the ship at the beginning of its fourth season. What you do get from the chat is how inconsistent Borg history is. I tend to distinguish between Borg Version 1 (TNG) 1 and Borg Version 2.0 (First Contact and later)  but even then flashbacks in Voyager and the Next Generation movie aren't correct on wardrobe for starters. Then there's consoles, backgrounds...Picky but noticeable. While it was noticeable that Descent was sidelined, the podcasters did manage to spend some time looking at the variations that appeared in Star Trek: Voyager ranging from the future-Drone, the Borg children, Seven's former associates in Survival Instinct and the wonders of Unimatrix Zero from the final two seasons. There's a lot of information on the Borg meaning certain episodes such as Blood Fever and Unity were skated over in favour of some of the later, larger stories such as Dark Frontier and Endgame. This also meant curve-ball angles such as Hope and Fear didn't even get a look in when they deal with the effect of life after an attack on Borg survivors. Even some conjecture on their origins was played out citing non-canon novels and the story of the NX-02, the Columbia. I would have enjoyed some more non-canon moments within both of the podcasts but I get that time is limited and for the sake of the audience who will be more aware of the televised material this is probably a good choice although it might be a good suggestion to do something non-canonical in the not so distant future? Or maybe even something on the library of excellent Star Trek reference materials that exist? (I know a good guest host you could get for that...runs a blog....English....) 

The additional comments from Twitter and Google+ mean we're not restricted to the views of our hosts - although I they are pretty varied anyway - and I'm going to have to add a disclaimer because they had the patience to read out my Borg essay. Thanks guys! It showed there's a lot of love for TNG's first two parter as well as for I, Borg and Scorpion which is interesting as there's a lot more love for Janeway and crew than I thought.

What is good is that this podcast is just like getting a group of your mates round for a couple of beers and having a chat over an episode. It's informal, relaxed and very easy to listen to. I also didn't feel that I was getting an opinion forced down my throat, only provided with a few more angles to see the series which can only enhance future viewings - especially now I realise that Geordi is the one who starts up the deflector dish and not Worf as Riker requested at the end of The Best of Both Worlds, Part I! Never spotted, but another example of Worf getting neglected. There's also the good old subject of the Borg Queen and the drones from Star Trek: Enterprise that don't seem to fit too well with the space/time continuum but that kind of discussion is probably best left alone until a few more cans are drunk. What I had forgotten until this side of fandom came up was the potential Borg/V'Ger link that's been banded around for some time. Kudos for picking this one up as it's always been an interesting concept (although it goes out the window in David Mack's Cold Equations trilogy). However disappointed Peter David's classic Vendetta didn't get a mention - now that's how to deal with the Borg!

The Romulan podcast (Episode 17), which followed a couple of weeks later trod a similar concept in it's setup. Kicking off with the news section as before, the topic quickly turned to the Star Trek isolationists and conspirators extraordinaire, the Romulans. In comparison to the Borg I actually found this to be a better  structured discussion focusing on sections of the species rather than chronological appearance. Leading with subjects such as technology, clothing, footwear culture and ships it was great to reflect on how the Romulans have been portrayed since their first sighting in The Original Series episode, Balance of Terror. 

Now I just want to take a second here actually because I was perusing Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block's Star Trek 101 this week but couldn't get this podcast far from my mind when flicking through it. While it's designed as mini reference and ideal for the Star Trek new starter I would say that the SF Escape Podcast is a better and more comprehensive way to understand the series and what is all about. As with the Borg for example, if the introduction to the Romulan discussion kicks off with some useful background which would help newbies. Take note Mr Erdmann, sans-serif this is a much better way to break in some new fans. Aaron, Marty and Eric ensure that the scene is clearly set for discussion and then we're into the "good stuff". Gets a big gold star from my box of reviewing badges, gents. 

I really enjoyed this different approach and while it made me reconsider how the structure of the Borg episode had been crafted I also realised that this meant these guys are more than aware of the need to keep their audience awake and listening not turning for the stop button. There are certain things that will be heard on each installment but it's how those sections are made which provides the interest. The Romulans as a podcast was much more about their subject as a people and its portrayal over the various films and series; reuse of wardrobes, the difficult and yet managed appearance of their technology in Star Trek Enterprise when it has been made clear that they were not seen until Balance of Terror. A lot of time is given over to Enterprise in particular because of how things might have progressed into the now mythical season five and how the Romulans had infiltrated the Vulcan High Council.

My particular area of interest here was the ship designs over the course of Star Trek history - how they altered, how models got lost along the way and all the variations in between including the Nemesis revamps and the Next Generation scout ship version. 

While The Borg virtually stepped over Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to talk about the Delta Quadrant residents in Star Trek: Voyager, the space station saga got its fair share of air time here, most notably in reference to the classic and much revered In the Pale Moonlight. This seemed to be a much more comprehensive and flowing discussion with very little, but if anything being overlooked. From their origins through female commanders, the shoulder pads of the 80's, cloaking technology, peace treaties, neutral zones and even up to the destruction of Romulus itself in the 2009 reboot, then there's an opinion to hear on it all backed up with more subspace thoughts from fans on social media. Interestingly no mention of the fact that Denise Crosby's Sela is the only ever blonde Romulan within Star Trek but with the onslaught of information contained within Episode 17 this is such a minor detail that I can let it go. For those of you who do find there's a lot to take in during the SF Podcast then there's also a handy show notes download available. It helped a lot when covering these reviews it's a nice touch to add to the overall experience and for fans of all ages. Great to see the listeners comments included too.

I've got to applaud these guys for their enthusiasm through out the 90 minutes of run time. There are no uneasy silences, nothing too much and a very focused agenda that keeps the conversation and topics flowing. I didn't know whether I would get anything out of it as a long term Trekker but I was pleasantly surprised, sans-serif maybe because my 'specialism' doesn't lie in Star Trek: Voyager where we get the most information around the Borg so I got a lot from the reviews of that time frame. I have to agree with one thought at the end - the Borg have had their day and a decent run now on the big and small screen. They ended up being the main nemesis in Star Trek: Voyager by default and held their own until the end. In conclusion though the Borg could have probably managed another 30 minutes to look at some of their lesser appearances and references but when you have a broad audience to satisfy it once again comes down to ensuring common and referable ground is covered and covered well. 

The balance of understanding across the franchise is well proportioned with no particularly overwhelming part of this Trek Trio holding all the cards. I indeed I having the varied experience with the franchise makes it all the more accessible, sans-serif importantly reassuring us that Star Trek fans are human and not just huge memory resources of fictional information. As I've mentioned above though it would be good to hear more on non-canon material out there and perhaps even a section that allows listeners to air their though ts on the previous installment and anything contained therein. While one can always point for things that could be done differently this is still a supremely enjoyable production and clearly a lot of work goes into producing the information to fill the show. I'd guessing that all three hosts aren't in the same location either (?) for the production which must take some level of co-ordination just to manage that. The audio is crisp and there's not a moment wasted throughout either podcast.  I have to say this is well worth listening to and has helped me refresh my mind on some pieces of Enterprise and Voyager I'd completely forgotten about in respects to the two races featured in episodes 16 and 17. Good work gents - you're managed to secure my time and I look forward to your next recording!