Want more Star Trek goodness, but don’t want it to be from the minds of ViacomCBS? Well, how about a Gates McFadden podcast?
Star Trek: The Next Generation lives on in the hearts and minds of Trek fans due to the fact that it’s viewed as the best series of them all, mostly because of the cultural impact it had and the number of spin-offs and films it produced. That cast is seen as royalty and still, in 2021, those actors and actresses have a legion of fans waiting for them to do more projects. Enter Gates McFadden’s new podcast.
The podcast, which remains untitled so far, is loosely set for a January release. The series will feature McFadden interviewing numerous Star Trek actors, with the crew of the Next Generation and the Enterprise-D being the first one’s up to bat.
So far it appears that Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Brent Spiner (Data/B-4/Lore/etc), Michael Dorn (Worf), LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) have all recorded their talks with McFadden. Though, McFadden does note that more are still to come.
so far have episodes with Frakes, Wheaton, Spiner,Dorn, Burton, Sirtis, and more to come. hoping some with drop in January. will let you know for sure!!!
— Gates McFadden (@gates_mcfadden) December 22, 2020
There aren’t a lot of great Star Trek podcasts, at least not ones that dive into the history of the shows and the actors who played on them. Arguably the two best are Delta Flyers, which is hosted by former Star Trek: Voyager actors Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris). Each week the duo review an old episode of Voyager, talk about some stories, their thoughts on the episode, and add some funny little quips.
There’s also the 7th Rule podcast by Cirroc Lofton (Jake Cisco), which reviews past Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. The show, like the Delta Flyer, routinely does guest spots of actors from the series. Unfortunately, though, the 7th Rule Podcast was created with Lofton and his friend and fellow DS9 alum Aron Eisenberg (Nog) originally, who has since passed away. Even though Eisenberg has passed on, Lofton still continues the show.
Both podcasts borrow something from their show to name their podcasts. For Delta Flyers, it was the ship that Tom Paris and others helped create in order to help replace the shuttles they kept losing. For the 7th Rule podcast, it took one of the Rules of Acquisition, a Ferengi law, and used it as their name. The seventh rule of acquisition states to “keep your ears open”. Since Eisenberg played a Ferengi, and the idea of a podcast is to listen, it was a fitting name.
There’s even a review series that Wil Wheaton hosts called The Ready Room, though that’s less a podcast and more of a streaming show.
So perhaps McFadden will follow suit?