It’s that time of year where we try and delve into the strange and scary for our Halloween episode and this time, we’ve hit upon altered states (not the Ken Russell film) where our heroes undergo a strange transformation, in TOS ‘Wolf in the Fold,’ Bones’ obsession with getting Scotty laid ends in a lot of mysterious stabbings that date back to Victorian London while in Voyager’s ‘Darkling,’ the Doctor’s attempt to improve himself by adding bits of other people into him starts making him very large in the tooth and a little too psychosexual towards Kes while in DS9’s ‘Empok Nor,’ O’Brien, Nog, Garak and a collection of clearly important side characters go to a deserted Cardassian Space Station to steal some wiring ends with psychotropic drug-induced violence. Typical. Happy Halloween!

Episodes Discussed: A Wolf In the Fold (13:19) Darkling (42:06) Empok Nor (01:11:42)

Talking Points Include: The European cut of Kubrick’s ‘The Shining,’ Horror Movies, We HATE Pan and Scan, Weird UK Film edits, Bones clearly wanting to get laid, my God, they do a seance, Robert Bloch and Harlan Ellison’s twin Ripper stories in ‘Dangerous Visions,’ censorship and no Kirk shirt rip for drugs this time, Jack the Ripper in other SF franchises, no walk of shame for Kes, Picardo’s make-up leads to a lesson about old special effects, the Civilization Gandhi glitch, does Kes actually grown over her four years, CSI Tuvok, Jeremy Renner-gy, when romantic comedies have to make the rival partner an utter jerk, Robert Picardo with hair is amazing, MMMbop, Tom Waits covering Disney, ‘Cardies’ does not work as a derogatory slur, what Brighton sounds like, Garak Bashir and O’Brian probably don’t hang out at the same time, the original plan with Worf vs. Garak would not have been as fun, Nog trying too hard, ‘Bolian Dies First,’ there’s probably a meeting about Garak being a spy.

Welcome to spooky season and we're horrifying Miles specifically with a crossover between Star Trek and his favourite fandom! Can you hear the finger of a monkey's paw curling?

Assimilation Squared has been a threat on this show for a while, but why is that? Listen on and we'll explain the story and the many questionable art choices.

04:09 - What Non-Star Trek Thing We’ve Been Enjoying:

10:32 - Preamble and talking about licensed comics

31:09 - What is Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 actually about?

Talking points include: Transformers Vs GI Joe, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, TV-21, Charlie didn’t hold a cat hostage (said mainly to appease Emma), TekWar, Alien: Isolation, Hollow Knight, Absolution, the works of Tony Lee and the various other creators, Charlie & Miles’ history with Star Trek comics, Saga, Buffy comics, the unnecessary final boss level in Bioshock, the TARDIS enters Data (non-sexually). Miles’ Star Trek/Doctor Who fanfiction, All-Star Superman, Sanji’s eyebrow, Star Trek and Doctor Who’s acknowledgement of each other, The Multiversity, our recommendations for tie-in comics. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. And Doctor Who.

Pedant’s Corner:

• Tony Lee’s X-Men Unlimited story is about Sage stealing a painting from an old Hellfire Club guy

• Miles means Charlie Adlard

Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn

Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network

https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek

Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com

Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

Insert all your tired 2025 jokes here because after the last nine months, we’re pretty much out as this episode, we go All-Voyager, All the Time with a slate of episodes concerning ‘The Year of Hell,’ one of Voyager’s more infamous wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey moments. In ‘Before and After,’ we see the writers try and tease out what never comes to pass as a time-displaced Kes discovers something horrifying, Harry Kim married her two-year old daughter! Then we go into two-part territory as we enter ‘The Year of Hell’ and a lot of bad things happen to Voyager while Kurtwood Smith makes us ask ‘Is Annorax Star Trek’s best villain?’ But seriously… Harry Kim married a two year old and I don’t care if she’s a short lived alien race, that’s real weird, especially considering who the father is!Episodes Discussed: Before and After (08:29), Year of Hell Parts 1 and 2 (38:25)Talking Points Include: Miles has a quota of Ed Gein jokes per year. Weird Al, The Devils, One Piece, Harry Kim marrying a 2 year old, Tom Paris asking for time off to have sex, the Voyager Homecoming comic, Miles requests Charlie do a Planet Wales for his next Star Trek RPG campaign, Annorax might be the best Star Trek villain, Miles doesn’t platinum video games, Kurtwood Smith might play Trek’s best villain, Chakotay actually getting to do something, Year of Hell failed so that Battlestar Galactica could soar, would it have worked as a year long season? How sometimes, compromises and failures can make a great TV show, probably for the best Tuvoy didn’t lose a leg, does Harry ever get a promotion? History changing stories usually have one set ending and the much needed keyfabe of ongoing media.