It's no secret there are plenty of Star Trek: The Next Generation fans around Ars. Your humble correspondent himself grew up on a TNG-infused diet, replete with Picardian ideals and Rikerian manliness. So we were ecstatic after discovering a new podcast—The Greatest Generation—that is re-visiting, episode by episode, all of TNG. As of this writing, the show is just five episodes in, leaving plenty of time to catch up. Thus far it's been a lot of fun to re-visit some of these early episodes, most of which seem quite silly in retrospect.

In many ways, TNG's storytelling style—episodic—feels so ancient in the bingewatching culture of today. By comparison, it's rather vital that you watch something like The Expanse (seriously, go watch) in order to fully grok its exposition. So with TNG and other series of the 1980s and 1990s, you can easily hop around for the most part and watch them in essentially whatever order you like. Sure, hardcore fans will know that by Season 3, Cmdr. Riker grows a beard, but details, details.

That brand of storytelling lets anyone jump right into TNG and the podcast regardless of prior knowledge. And make no mistake, The Greatest Generation is solid whether or not you self-identify as a full-fledged Trekkie. The show is hosted by two guys who not only love TNG, but they love to make fun of it. (The URL for the show is: gagh.biz.) Ben Harrison, in his day job, runs a media company, Bad Character, out of New York City. His co-host, Adam Pranica, runs a production company in Seattle. Together, they are the peanut butter and chocolate of Star Trek podcasts.

Above is Episode 5, the most recent episode ("Generally Human") that discusses "Where No One Has Gone Before." And after the jump, we've got a Q&A with Pranica and Harrison discussing the show, the podcast, and essential Trek topics like "Darmok." (The transcript is lightly edited for clarity and flow.)