Episodes
Star Trek: The Next Generation "Ménage à Troi" Rewrite
After taking a forced two weeks off due to illness, Punch It is back and we are tackling Ménage à Troi from season three of TNG. An episode that was not as good we remembered it but was chock full of fun parts.
We open the show with a Star Trek: Discovery season two wrap up. Mild spoilers.
Published 04/25/19
The Adventures of the U.S.S. Kelvin
We know so little about the U.S.S. Kelvin but it's impacted the Kelvin-Verse immensely. Hell, it's the reason it exists in the first place. But what about Kelvin Prime? How did this ship continue on in the Prime Universe? We know George Kirk lived to see James T. Kirk become the captain of the Enterprise but not much more than that.
In this episode, we explore how this ship could have been built, how George and Winona met, and why Captain Robau is a badass.
Published 04/04/19
We most likely won't get a Star Trek 4 so we wrote our own
Completely on-the-fly we write our own version of a fourth Kelvin Star Trek film. As stated above, it most likely won't happen so we didn't want this prime opportunity to go to waste. We ask ourselves what kind of bad guy do we need? Where is Jaylah? Does it need to be another world ender?
We open the show with our reactions to Star Trek: Discovery's "Red Angel" and the likelihood of a Quinton Tarantino Star Trek film.
Published 03/28/19
What is Star Trek V featured the Voyager crew?
Some of you might have already started to roll your eyes, but you only need your ears to hear this amazing tale! We take the template of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and alter it to fit the Voyager crew.
Who breaks Janeway, Chakotay, and Tuvok out of jail? Does Neelix need his pain? Listen to find out.
Published 03/21/19
What If Discovery's characters were transplanted to other shows?
We love our "What If" scenarios but we've purposefully left out Discovery until now. We always felt like we need more episodes under our belt to get to know the characters better. Now that season 2 is more than half over, we felt we could pursue it.
What would Michael look like on DS9? Would Saru fit on Voyager? Listen in and let us know what you think.
Published 03/15/19
Almost everyone is excited about the new Picard show, but what comes after?
We know that there are a few things on the docket, Lower Decks, Section 31, and maybe even a few more. But what shows would come out if we were pitching them to the studio?
This week, we discuss what type of shows we would like to see produced on CBS All Access. Some are limited events, some are Short Treks, some are episodic. Listen and lets us know what you think.
Published 03/07/19
Part three of our Star Trek Voyager: The Next Generation movie trilogy
The last two episodes we have grafted the Kelvinverse movie framework onto the Voyager crew. What ended up happening was the next generation of Voyagers commanding the Voyager-A. We have already done Star Trek 09 and Star Trek Into Darkness. This week Star Trek Beyond is added to the adventures of Miral Paris and Naomi Wildman.
Published 02/21/19
What if the Voyager crew was in Star Trek Into Darkness?
Last week we did a "what if" with the Voyager crew and Star Trek 09. Long story short it ended up being a kick-ass Voyager: The Next Generation. Miral and Naomi are commanding the Voyager-A and Admiral Harry Kim is there instead of Pike. We won't spoil anything but you should listen to last week's episode before this one.
We open the show with a quick opinion on Star Trek: Discovery and the current state of fan interaction online.
Published 02/14/19
What if Star Trek 09 had the cast of Voyager instead?
This is a way out there idea that was a lot of fun to talk about. The concept is simple and followed the same idea as last week. Take a Star Trek movie and replace the crew from another show. How on earth were we going to adopt 09 to Voyager?
Would it be a Kelvin version of the Voyager crew? Would it take place in the 24th century? Do we try to make it fit within established canon? This episode took a lot of twists and turns and we can't...
Published 02/07/19
What if Star Trek The Voyage Home was a Next Gen movie?
We love our “what ifs” on Punch It: Writing in #StarTrek so we asked ourselves the above question. Star Trek IV is a movie beloved by millions and is instantly recognizable. Even non-Star Trek fans know “the one with the whales.”
So, who goes and gets the transparent aluminum? Who winds up in the hospital? Does Picard hit it off with Dr. Taylor or does someone else? We answer all these questions and a whole lot more in this very fun...
Published 01/24/19
What if Picard, Sisko, and Janeway were all in a movie together?
You read that right. Tristan and Char develop the movie we all wanted after Nemesis ended to celebrate their 100th episode. Taking place after Nemesis but before the upcoming Picard series set in 2399, Tristan and Char write, on-the-fly, what would bring these three amazing captains together.
What new thread is lurking? Who will make a cameo? How will it end? Listen to find out.
Published 01/17/19
Rewriting Wesley Crusher for Star Trek: The Next Generation
Wesley is not exactly a fan favorite. In fact, he was voted just below Jar Jar as sci-fi's most annoying character. On this show we have the supreme gift of hindsight so what could have been done differently?
On the previous episode, we punched up Beverly Crusher so how would that effect Wesley's development on the show? We start with Farpoint and work our way all the way up to Nemesis.
Published 01/10/19
Rewriting Dr. Beverly Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation
In another example of a fantastic character where the writers had no idea what to do, we bring you Beverly Crusher! In this episode, we take a look at the character of Crusher and try to figure out what works and what doesn't. We even go down the path of punching up her relationship with Wesley. Could this mean that they have to have ... the talk?
Listen to find out.
Published 12/20/18
Ayala was Chakotay's right hand man back in the day. What did that look like?
This week we take a listener suggestion and develop a story on-the-fly talking about the first time Chakotay and Ayala met. We don't know much about Ayala but we had his name mentioned often in Star Trek: Voyager. He even had more to do than our beloved Lt. Jae.
Listen and subscribe to hear our story of intrigue, espionage and escape.
Published 12/13/18
What is daily life like in the 24th century?
We don't have a lot to go on with this question. Star Trek focuses on adventure in space and not so much the 9-5ers back on Earth. Sure, we've had some glimpses from a New Orleans restaurant and Harry's apartment in San Francisco but not too terribly much beyond that. So we try to postulate what transportation, housing, and work might look like in Gene Roddenberry's utopia.
Published 12/06/18
What if Kes stayed for all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager?
No Seven of Nine, no writing off Kes. What if she stayed and finished the entire run of the show? This is something that we're sure many a Star Trek: Voyager fan has pondered. We ended up rewriting Scorpion as well as Endgame (making it better in the process) as well as everything in between on a high level.
What would Kes' life be like on the ship post Scorpion? How would she age? Would she find companionship in someone other...
Published 11/29/18
Star Trek: Enterprise was a great show. Some of its characters were not.
We all know the walking void that was Travis Mayweather but what about the lack of personality coming from Malcolm Reed? While we love these actors, we also realize that they weren't always given enough to work with. But what if they did?
In this episode, we take a critical look at Reed's character and try to tweak, change, and even sometimes erase certain aspects in order to get a fuller and more interesting character.
Published 11/22/18
What if Janeway was the commander of Deep Space Nine?
A few weeks ago we asked about Sisko on Voyager. A few weeks before that we talked about Archer on the 1701-D. This week we discuss what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would have looked like if there was no Sisko but in fact Captain Kathryn Janeway commanding the station.
As always, this was a fun exercise and allowed us to explore the different types of relationships she would have with the crew.
Listen to find out what is different and...
Published 11/15/18
Where's Carol Marcus?
This week's Punch It started with searching for a story. Where are the gaps? Where are the areas to expand? We began looking in the original series movies but ultimately ended up in the Kelvin universe.
Where did Carol Marcus go and would things end differently than in the Prime universe? Listen to find out.
Published 11/08/18
Can we treat Troi from Star Trek better than the writers did?
That's the main question. Troi is by no means a bad character but she didn't have the best start and even after she was developed, not enough time was devoted to her. Char and Tristan explore her character, her backstory, her traits, and see if they can be altered or enhanced with hindsight being 20/20.
How would you change the approach to Troi?
Published 10/25/18
What if Sisko was the captain of Voyager?
Last week we asked that question and just focused on Caretaker. This week we were able to expand that to his relationships with his crewmates. How would Chakotay work with him? Would he tolerate Neelix? Would Tom be able to foster a paternal relationship with him? We ask all these questions and a whole lot more.
Published 10/18/18
What if Sisko was the commander of USS Voyager?
Star Trek is the perfect testing ground for "What if?" questions. Last episode we discussed what Star Trek: The Next Generation would have looked like if Jonathan Archer was the captain of the 1701-D. This week we tried to answer the question of what Voyager would have looked like if Benjamin Sisko was the commander of USS Voyager.
We mainly discuss what Caretaker would have looked like and logistically how Sisko would have ended up on the ship...
Published 10/11/18
What would Star Trek: The Next Generation have looked like if it was captained by Jonathan Archer?
We love our "what if?" scenarios on Punch It and this is one of our more exciting ones. If Archer existed in the 24th century and captained the 1701-D, what would TNG have looked like? Nothing else is different other than no Picard. Riker is the XO, Data is the science officer, etc. We explore that and hopefully many more scenarios like this one in the future.
Published 09/27/18
What makes a Star Trek episode a guilty pleasure?
We all have them but some are easier to admit than others. Are we convinced that an episode is bad because of peer pressure? Or deep down do we know it's bad but we just don't care? Is it the premise, the writing, the story, the acting, the directing, or all of the above? In this week's episode we try to find out what it takes to be considered a guilty pleasure Star Trek episode.
Published 09/20/18
We tackle rewriting Star Trek: Enterprise's series finale: These are the Voyages
This is not a beloved episode of Trek. Some say it's hated on too much but you'll never hear "I love this! What a great ending!" Enterprise was robbed of further seasons and Rick Berman once described the episode as a "valentine to the fans". This was the end of 18 years of consecutive Star Trek on television and the showrunners felt the need to incorporate Trek outside of Enterprise to give the franchise a send...
Published 09/13/18