Liam and Matt dissect Chris Pine's directorial debut, Poolman. We discuss where the film fits into the legacy of Noir movies, question why it was this film that Pine wanted to make for his debut, and seek to answer the age-old debate of who is the best Hollywood Chris. As usual you can find SPOCKLIGHT on: TWITTER - @spocklightpod INSTAGRAM – @spock…

The Spocklight crew are reunited with Chris Carr from ‘Homicide: Life on the Set’ and ‘Secrets and Spies’ to cover Family from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We discuss how this episode resulted in a surprising ratings low for the series and why that might have been, examine the structure of the episode and how it conforms to the kind of A, B, C p…

In this episode, Liam, Matt and Paul begin a potentially annual tradition of going round the table and talking about their favourite older film first-time-watches of 2024. As usual you can find SPOCKLIGHT on: TWITTER - @spocklightpod INSTAGRAM – @spocklightpod FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/spocklightpod/ EMAIL - [email protected] Please…

This festive season we unwrap 2015 Anthology movie, A Christmas Horror Story, starring William Shatner as DJ Dangerous Dan. Matt saw this film during the Frightfest Festival many moons ago and awarded it 4.5 stars on Letterboxd…Paul does not agree… leaving Liam to referee a Crimbo battle more exciting than Santa vs Krampus! We discuss the history o…

We're joined by Dave Corkery from the Award winning Cinemile podcast as we take on The Doomsday Machine from The Original Series. Dave grapples with the idea of being known as a Trekkie and tells us why this episode stuck out for him on his lockdown inspired epic mission to watch all of Star Trek from the beginning, Liam pays an emotional tribute t…

In a very special Halloween episode, Daryl Bar from Is Paul Dano Ok? joins us to discuss 1981 cult classic Horror, The Boogens, which counts amongst it’s fans Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino. Then we’re joined by the film’s Director, James L. Conway, who tells us about the film’s origins and its very cold production process, meeting his future W…

The Spocklight crew take the Ecto-1 for a joy ride to nostalgia city as we reminisce over childhood's playing with Ghostbusters toys and discuss 'Russian About, Season 6, episode 8 of The Real Ghostbusters, guest starring Walter Koenig as Vladamir Maximov. We discuss why The Real Ghostbusters became Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters, and what this m…

WARNING: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR STAR TREK: PRODIGY SEASON 2! We’re joined by Star Trek: Prodigy’s Head Writer, Aaron Waltke, to breakdown Season 2 in detail, as we discuss the challenges of balancing writings a Kid’s show combined with a Voyager sequel, Dal coming to realise why he doesn’t have to be Captain, Wesley Crusher’s return, Ma…

Five years after covering the first X-Men film on the podcast and with 'Deadpool & Wolverine' currently in Cinemas and lighting up the box office, we return to the franchise to discuss 2017 entry, Logan, with special Guest, Kobi Omenaka. We talk about Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's performances in the film and how they clearly approached this f…

The Spocklight Crew beam down to The BFI IMAX in London to watch the 4K 40th Anniversary re-release of Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, on Britain's biggest screen. Joined by Agent Scott from the Spy Hards podcast and Chris Carr from Homicide: Life on the Set, we sit down in the bar before the screening for so…

Following Liam's interview with Sonequa Martin-Green on the Pilot TV Podcast, The Spocklight crew reconvene to fully dissect the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery. We discuss Discovery's search for an identity over it's 5 Season run and whether we were happy with what it eventually settled on, analyse the additional scenes that were sh…

We’re joined by Craig Stimson, from the amazing Doctor Who podcast, Around the Console, to discuss an early episode of Star trek: Deep Space Nine, Captive Pursuit. Craig tells us why this episode was the start of his true love affair with Star Trek and highlights the evident political allegories on display, Paul discovers they may have misjudged th…

We’re joined by Helen Sadler from the Flixwatcher podcast, to discuss the Indie Sci-Fi Horror sensation of 1997, Cube, starring Nicole de Boer, who essayed the role of Ezri Dax on Star trek: Deep Space Nine. We discuss the budget limitations of the film and if it would have been better suited to a short film treatment while also praising the innova…

The Spocklight crew beam down during the commercial break to cover a fascinating array of television adverts featuring the original series crew & much more. William Shatner cashes in on Commodore computers, Leonard Nimoy attempts to induct viewers into his Magnavox cult, James Doohan flogs some Star Trek themed plates, George Takei rides the bus, a…

The Spocklight crew take the turbo lift down to the Lower Decks once again as we analyse the 4th Season of Star Trek’s adult animated comedy series. Liam surprises by finally being won over by the show despite the return of the dreaded Badgey, Matt makes a fateful comparison to The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy exactly 42 minutes in, while Paul ba…

The Spocklight crew are joined by Sam Clements, host of the excellent, 90 Minutes or Less Film Fest Podcast, to celebrate the stellar sophomore season of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'. Join us as we discuss the political allegories of 'Ad Astra per Aspera' and 'Under the Cloak of War', dissect the format breaking innovations of 'Those Old Scienti…

We're joined by Comedian, Josh Weller, to debate one of the most controversial episodes in Star Trek history, Tuvix. As usual you can find SPOCKLIGHT on: TWITTER - @spocklightpod INSTAGRAM – @spocklightpod FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/spocklightpod/ EMAIL - [email protected] Please Follow, like, share and all that good stuff. Josh can …

They're together again, but on different sides of the law! William Shatner Vs Leonard Nimoy - it's T.J. Hooker in Vengeance is Mine! The Spocklight crew dive into Hookland to wonder if William Shatner's other iconic TV show was actually a Police Academy prequel, praise the episode's sensitive handling of sexual assault for the time, but find themse…

On a special Christmas edition of the Star trek Podcast from a non-Trekkie perspective, the Spocklight crew discuss two festive episodes of Boston Legal (Hired Guns from Season 1 and Green Christmas from Season 4) starring William Shatner in his Emmy Award winning turn as Denny Crane. We're joined for this dive into David E. Kelley's legalverse by …

The Spocklight Crew cover Steve Martin’s definitive City of Angels satire, L.A. Story, featuring a legendary cameo from Sir Patrick Stewart. We discuss the aftermath of Martin being the butt of a cutting joke from Dennis Pennis, if Martin’s Harris K. Telemacher’s was a TikTok pioneer, the pre-Sex & The City career of Sarah Jessica Parker, and celeb…

Our resident Animation expert, David Trumble, returns to the podcast with news of the latest project he's been working on for Netflix, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Twits, and primarily to help us breakdown the second half of Star Trek: Prodigy's triumphant first season. We discuss the importance of having a great Star Trek show on the air that…

Comedian, Dan Thomas (Smersh Pod) returns to the podcast to discuss Star Trek Original Series classic, Arena, as the Spocklight Crew go full Gorn! We breakdown the iconic fight between Kirk and the Gorn, discover what else was on TV the night that Arena was first broadcast in UK, debate whether a lizard man should blink, and much more. As usual you…

In a very special episode, we’re joined by returning Guest, Nick De Semlyen, Editor of Empire Magazine and Author of new book, The Last Action Heroes, the behind-the-scenes story of the movie Action Heroes who ruled 1980s and ‘90s Hollywood, to talk his reasons for writing the book, what made him fall in love with Action cinema and just have a big …

The Spocklight Crew boldly go on one last adventure with the original TNG crew as we finally engage with the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard We discuss the huge difference that excellent writing & direction can make to an Actor's performance, praise Todd Stashwick's brilliant portrayal of Captain Shaw, debate whether Jack Crusher walked…

The Spocklight crew take the turbolift back to the lower decks on a search for justice as Paul defends Bird/Robot sex to the hilt, a search for adventure as Matt seeks to discover if he still “low-key loves” the show and a search for wonder as Liam asks why his most hated character had to make a return... It's the Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Sp…

We’re joined by Cosplayer and D&D Player, Linda McGarrigle, to discuss new Blockbuster release, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, Starring Captain Kirk of the Kelvinverse himself, Chris Pine. Matt praises the stand alone nature of the film and Pine’s ability to laugh at himself, Liam has a breakdown regarding the state of modern movies, whi…

The Spocklight crew celebrate Star Trek’s return to episodic television as we examine the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Paul praises the ensemble cast of the show but questions the casting of Paul Wesley as Captain James T. Kirk, Matt is impressed by the reintroduction of a classic Trek alien race, while Liam asks if there could be…

Our long delayed Discovery Season 4 episode is finally here! We discuss all aspects of the Anomaly/Ten-C storyline and if this season long arc worked to the show’s benefit, debate whether Michael Burnham is a good Captain or not and where we stand with the Discovery crew four seasons in. Then, we reconvene and bring things bang up to date by poring…

In the light of her recent Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination, we go back to where it all started for Hong Kong Action Queen, Michelle Yeoh, with her first leading movie role, Yes, Madam then go straight into the sequel, Royal Warriors, for a In The Line of Duty double bill. That's right, for the first ever time we're covering two movies on one …

We pay tribute to the late, great Nichelle Nichols as we’re joined by Daryl Bar from Sudden Double Deep and Is Paul Dano Ok? to cover one of her few starring movie roles outside of the Star Trek franchise, playing vicious Madam, Dorinda in 1974s Truck Turner. We discuss our own personal histories with Blaxploitation and how Truck Turner, with its E…

In a very special Christmas edition of the podcast, the Spocklight crew discuss the 1996 TV movie adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost starring Sir Patrick Stewart as suggested by one of our listeners (and if any of you Spocklighters out there have suggestions for future episodes we'd love to hear from you!) We crack open a bottle of t…

Regular guest, David Trumble, returns to the podcast fresh from completing his work as a Story Artist on new Henry Selick stop motion animation, Wendell & Wild (now available on Netflix), to discuss Star Trek’s first foray into Children’s Animation in many a year (almost 50 in fact!), Star Trek: Prodigy. We praise the show for being the boldest ent…

For the 50th episode of our main mission we return to where it all began for our little podcast - Star Trek: The Motion Picture! This time the Spocklight Crew beam down to The Prince Charles Cinema in London to watch the 4K restoration of Robert Wise’s Directors Edition of the film, giving their thoughts before and after the screening. We discuss t…

We're joined by returning guest, TV Writer extraordinaire, Sophie Petzal (Blood, Hollington Drive), to discuss (and in Sophie's case - tear apart) the second season of Star Trek: Picard as we play the game again, analysing everything from Jurati's sudden bout of non-consensual singing to THAT hug. All this, a pre-prepared statement on the season fr…

Together again with two returning Guests as we’re joined by Muppets Superfan, Professor Elemental, and Muppets Sceptic, Hattie Snooks, to dissect The Muppets Take Manhattan starring Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Rizzo the Rat, Gonzo and more importantly Star Trek alumni, Gates McFadden! We outline our personal histories with The Muppets before discu…

In the latest edition of ‘Spocklight at the Movies’ we examine Danny Boyle & Alex Garland’s 2007 Sci-Fi epic, Sunshine, featuring Star Trek: Discovery’s Michelle Yeoh, as just one of the glittering ensemble cast, that also includes Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Mark Strong, Rose Byrne and Benedict Wong. We discuss the fact that Danny Boyle was willi…

For our very special 100th Podcast, Liam and Matt explore Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry’s various attempts to move away from Starfleet during the 1970s with four sadly unsuccessful Pilot episodes: Genesis II (1973) The Questor Tapes (1974) Planet Earth (1974) Spectre (1977) We review the shows and decide whether we would have given the greenl…

We’re joined by Agent Scott from the Spy Hards Podcast to declassify Star Trek: Voyager 2-Parter, Year of Hell. Scott tells us how he was a Star Trek fan from birth and why he’s fallen out of love with the franchise in recent years. Then we break down this iconic 2-Parter, as we praise Kurtwood Smith’s guest Villain performance and Janeway’s consta…

Our most frequent Guest, Netflix Animation Story Supervisor, David Trumble, returns to Spocklight once again, this time to discuss everyone’s favourite Radio Psychiatrist, Frasier, specifically Season 11, Episode 3 - The Doctor is Out, guest starring Sir Patrick Stewart. David opens up as to how he and his own Brother, related to the Frasier/Niles …

We're joined by Tom Salinsky of the wonderful Best Pick podcast to explore a film that almost definitely didn't win any Academy Awards, 2001 Cop Action Thriller Satire, 15 Minutes, starring Robert De Niro, Ed Burns and our focus Captain Benjamin Sisko himself, Avery Brooks. We discuss the abundance of Star trek connections within the film including…

In a very special episode dedicated to new Star Trek Fan Production, Ambush, we’re joined by the Writer/Director of the film, Greg Lock, alongside Cinematographer, Editor and visual effects supremo, Thomas Saville and David Trumble who plays Terik in the film. We discuss the origins and inspirations behind the film, the pre-production and filming p…

Good News Everyone! This episode, the Spocklight crew take a deep dive into the world of Matt Groening's Futurama as we tackle Star Trek Original Series reunion episode, Where No Fan Has Gone Before. PLUS! Stick around at the end of the episode for a special sneak preview of new Star Trek Fan Production, Ambush. As usual you can find SPOCKLIGHT on:…

The Spocklight crew go back to where they belong - Lower Decks, as we review the second season of the adult animated comedy of the Star Trek Universe. We trace the various character arcs over the season and discuss that cliffhanger in-depth whilst speculating what awaits for Season 3 and the future of the show but will Liam make good on his threat …

Liam and Matt are joined by Writer of Channel 5’s Blood and ITV’s Hollington Drive, Sophie Petzal, to discuss Star Trek Voyager episode, Macrocosm Sophie tells us why this was a pivotal Trek episode for her growing up, Liam makes the case that Kate Mulgrew deserved a better action adventure after clearly spending plenty of time in the gym for the e…

Singer/Songwriter and Star of one-woman musical, The Geek Shall Inherit, Hattie Snooks, joins us to discuss all things Reginald Barclay as we analyse Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Hollow Pursuits. We discuss fan reaction to the episode and the character of Barclay, examine the psychological reasons behind his Holodeck fantasies and pick a…

Liam, Matt and Paul reunite round the mic for the first time since March 2020 for this very special Star Trek Draft episode of Spocklight as we each pick our own Starship, Crew and Villain to create a brand new Trek movie/TV Pilot storyline. BUT who will emerge victorious?! Dear Listener, it's up to you! Once you've listened to the episode, head st…

In a special Halloween episode of Spocklight, Empire Magazine stalwart, Chris Hewitt, returns to the podcast to examine Jeremy Saulnier’s 2015 Horror-Thriller, Green Room, starring Patrick Stewart and Anton Yelchin. We break down the movie asking the big questions - Did Tad deliberately send The Ain’t Rights to their doom? Would Darcy and his Neo-N…

For our 5th anniversary travel back in time with us to the first year of Spocklight as we present a selection of the best moments from our Star Trek movie reviews and ranking with special guests Adam Johnston (The Composer of our theme tune and Host of The Pretending with Dice podcast), Greg Lock (Director of Star Trek Fan Film, Ambush), Tom Stock …

As part of our tributes to legendary Filmmaker, Richard Donner, who we had the honour of interviewing on the Podcast in 2017, we make good on our promise to him to watch and discuss what he considered to be one of his most unfairly overlooked movies, Inside Moves. We explore this 1980 hidden gem from Donner's filmography, praising the incredible le…

With Paul waylaid by the possibility of football coming home, Liam and Matt welcome Cam Smith from the Spy Hards and Subspace Transmissions podcasts to discuss one of his favourite episodes of the often overlooked Star Trek series, Enterprise. Cam tells us the origins of his Star Trek fandom and his own experiences of hosting panels at the Star Tre…