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From the Uncanny Treks Vault — this episode was originally released on Patreon and is now available to all listeners. Bob and Matt introduce their newest podcast endeavor: a head-to-head showdown between X-Men: The Animated Series (1992) and Young Justice (2010). They lay out the rules and what to expect as the two beloved shows go episode versus episode. 🎧 Listen to Uncanny Treks: https://media.rss.com/b5ds9/feed.xml

Bob and Matt continue their Legion of Super-Heroes read-through with Adventure Comics #316–330 (1964–1965). The Time Trapper emerges as the slow-build Big Bad, Dream Girl joins the team, Lightning Lass becomes Light Lass, and the Legion faces mutiny, a wig, and an android identity crisis. Covered in this episode: Adventure Comics #316, #317, #318, #319, #320, #321, #322, #323, #324, #325, #326, #327, #328, #329, #330. 🎧 Listen to Uncanny Treks: https://media.rss.com/b5ds9/feed.xml

Now we're in the real Silver Age weirdness. Bob and Matt tackle the first regular Legion of Super-Heroes run — sixteen issues of Adventure Comics starting at #300, where the Legion takes over the slot vacated by Tales of Bizarro World. Lightning Lad's shocking death, Mon-El the amnesiac lost brother, the Legion of Super-Pets, and a villain reveal that blew Matt's mind. Matt's keeping up with the roster better than expected — credit the cartoon homework. The trek through Silver Age Legion continues.

Bob has been threatening this for literal years. The Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes journey begins with the pre-history: Adventure Comics #237 and #247, Action Comics #267 and #276, Superboy #89, and Adventure #293 — the scattered early appearances where three teens from the future keep drafting Superboy. Matt gets dragged into space-superhero weirdness (it's like space X-Men, but less hated), Supergirl gets brutally rejected, and Lightning Lad commits carnival-ride sabotage. Next: sixteen straight issues from Adventure #300.

Season four: the gimmick season. Bob and Matt wrap Strange New Worlds' fourth year — a trip, by any measure — by sorting the episodes into the categories they've used since season one and arguing about which ones actually worked. Bob did the homework, mapping every episode to its thematic engine; Matt brings the skepticism. Also: the hijinks-to-substance ratio, the finale's big swing, and Bob's Seattle video store, which Matt is totally not jealous of. (He's jealous.)

One last gimmick: what if they just made a Next Generation episode? Bob called it, and the Strange New Worlds season-four finale delivers — classic-series looks wrapped around plots riffing on TNG favorites, under a title borrowed from one of Trek's best hours. Bob and Matt savor the finale, count down what's left (a season-four recap, a series recap, maybe 'The Cage'), and get a little wistful. Eight episodes to go, and then it's over.

Not the finale! Matt's brain — broken by X-Men '97's nine-episode season — insists 'Once La'an a Time' must be the end, but Strange New Worlds has one more to go. Bob and Matt dig into the penultimate episode, take stock of a hijinks-packed season, and detour into their Star Trek comic-book woes (Red Shirts: read it, Last Starship: still waiting). Plus: what their Picard coverage clarifies for the curious. The finale's next.

The Bat gets broken. Bob and Matt kick off their look at the DC animated adaptation of Knightfall — though the film calls itself 'Nightfall,' a title neither host will forgive. It's the landmark '90s saga where Bane empties Arkham Asylum and does what no villain had ever done, and Matt has been waiting since 1993, having played it out with action figures as a kid. Part one covers the fall and sets the stage for Jean-Paul Valley's rise. How does it stack up against the comics they grew up on?

No more hijinks. 'Orders of Magnitude' — what a pun — is Strange New Worlds getting serious, and the internet thinks it's turned the season around. Bob and Matt air their accumulated grievances, praise the steadier hand, and debate the crew's least favorite regular (the Rom of Strange New Worlds?), who finally gets a legit showcase. After weeks of gimmicks, a straight Star Trek episode feels like an event. Two episodes left, then the recap.

Cue the soft music: it's the soap opera episode. 'Like Chronitrons Through the Hourglass' — yes, the overlong, pretentious title is the point — sends Strange New Worlds full melodrama, and Bob and Matt are here for it. They revel in the soapy excess, celebrate the return of mad-scientist Chapel (secret brain backups of the whole crew in the closet!), and render a verdict: better than the Muppet episode, if only because there's no stupid cop-out ending.

Crisis on the Enterprise — and it's freaky. 'Off Hour' puts the ship through a gory wringer and nearly kills M'Benga, which prompts Matt's big text-message thesis: the prequel problem. When you know Spock, Chapel, and M'Benga all survive, can the show still make you sweat? Bob and Matt argue it out, wince at the gore, and get fully caught up — episode seven is next, and they'll have it to you by Christmas. Probably.

True Lantern — sorry, Lanterns. Bob was so angry about episode three of HBO's Green Lantern series that he demanded a podcast about it, so here it is: the first three episodes, from True Detective comparisons to whatever that ending was. Matt plays defense, Bob plays prosecution, and the notes folder is still labeled 'True Lantern.' They'll probably check back in at season's end — but don't expect weekly coverage. Plus: their full James Gunn DCU catalog.

It's the Muppet episode. Bob and Matt confront 'Level Five Transporter Accident' — Pike as a Muppet, childhood nostalgia weaponized, and the most controversial Strange New Worlds episode yet. Matt revisits his Muppet Babies-and-Fraggle-Rock youth; Bob defends the chaos. Their verdict: it could have been the best episode of the show if not for that stupid dream ending. Controversial, but not for the reasons the haters say.

Bob butchers Italian so you don't have to. 'A Case of Chiaroscuro' gets the full pronunciation-meltdown treatment before Bob and Matt admit it: this may not be the most interesting Strange New Worlds episode. The internet half-agrees — one viewer's plea, 'can the bit be what if we did a normal Star Trek episode?' sparks a debate about what normal Trek even means anymore. Planets, adventures, ship talk: they litigate the formula and fuel the outrage machine.

The stoner comedy episode. Bob and Matt return to Strange New Worlds with 'Human Best Friend,' catching up after a busy stretch in the real world — and letting the dust settle on the season's most controversial episodes first. Is it cringe? One viewer's verdict: 'It's like a Voyager level cringe episode. I'd eat up a whole season of this.' They debate whether the silliness betrays Trek or continues its proudest tradition, from TOS through Voyager.