TrekCore is excited to announce the launch of a second podcast to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Star Trek – Warp Factor 5: A Star Trek Rewatch Podcast. Launching alongside our longrunning WeeklyTrek news podcast, every two weeks on Thursdays host Alex Perry will be joined by a guest to discuss and rate the next five episodes of Star Trek in in-universe chronological order beginning with Star Trek: Enterprise and traveling forward from there.
In each episode, Alex and his guest will discuss and rate five episodes of Star Trek, and then pick from across those five episodes the Best Series Regular Performance, Best Guest Performance, Best Production Design Element, Best Quiet Moment, and Best Loud Moment. They'll also discuss how these five episodes contribute to the larger Star Trek narrative across more than 900 episodes, and share memories of the first time they watched the episodes – was it live on UPN? BBC 2? WPIX Channel 11? Sky One? CIC VHS tapes? DVD? Netflix? Paramount+?
There are two things that make Warp Factor 5 distinct from most Star Trek rewatch podcasts: discussing five episodes at a time, and moving through the franchise in in-universe chronological order. Examining five episodes at a time gives space to compare episodes in blocks, examining in greater detail differences in character and themes. And beginning with Enterprise and moving in in-universe chronological order gives a new way to enjoy the Star Trek story, as an inter-connected narrative spanning 60 years of real history and over one thousand years of narrative history.
The show will begin with Enterprise, followed by Discovery's first two seasons, Strange New Worlds, Star Trek, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Picard, Discovery's last three seasons, and Starfleet Academy. Where will the Kelvin Timeline movies fall? What about the Short Treks? The TNG movies? How will you handle the period during the 1990s when two Star Trek shows were on at once? You'll just have to listen to find out!
This is a rewatch podcast, and we'll be discussing full spoilers for past and future Star Trek as we make our way through the shows. But you don't have to be a Star Trek expert to enjoy Warp Factor 5. Each episode discussion will include a synopsis of the episode we're talking about to jog your memory, with plenty of audio clips from the episodes so you can hear for yourself the moments that are being discussed.
If you've always had the desire (like Alex has!) to rate every episode of Star Trek and figure out which episodes are your favorites (or least favorite!), we hope you'll join us at home, watch the episodes with us, and submit your ratings. Also make sure to let us know your picks for Best Series Regular, Best Guest Performance, Best Production Design Element, Best Quiet Moment, and Best Loud Moment! Alex will be gathering all the ratings and feedback received and at the end of each season will have a special episode discussing feedback and the final definitive ranking of that season's episodes.
Warp Factor Five is available now on all your podcast platforms so make sure to subscribe to ensure that you don't miss an episode. The first episode of the show, covering the Star Trek: Enterprise season one episodes "Broken Bow," "Fight or Flight," "Strange New World," "Unexpected," and "Terra Nova," will debut on Thursday, June 18. Join us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more!
