The Greatest Generation - An Appropriate Mount (S2E15)

Episode Date: June 13, 2016

When the Enterprise explores a sector full of about to explode planets, the crew decides to put Wesley (the boy?) in charge. But when Data decides to turn the sensors on high, the results interrupt Captain Picard's private "chaps time." Is Worf in a death cult? Where can our listeners send their corrections? Can't Picard do better than a Continental breakfast for his meetings? It's the episode with a very special WiFi password!

Priority 1 message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Hey friends of Disodo. Before today's episode, we just wanted to take a moment to talk about the historic labor actions being taken by writers and actors in the American Film and Television industry. If you're a fan of the work done by the people who make Star Trek, we hope you'll join us in standing in solidarity with the folks who actually bring these adventures to life. Over the past several years, the AMPTP, the organization that represents the American Film and Television Production Studios, have reduced the profit from movies and TV going to workers. And in so doing,

they've attempted to weaken the labor unions that represent those workers. They wouldn't even engage the unions on many issues in their negotiations. And so a strike was the only course of action to take. Adam, Wendy and I have been having a lot of internal discussions about how best to stand with the unions and we are continuing those conversations in a dynamic situation. We're doing our best to understand where the picket lines are in these digital spaces,

and we would never intentionally cross one. With the information we have, we feel like we can do more good talking about and supporting the strike and continuing our show as planned. We'll keep you informed about what all this means for greatest trek specifically. Today we're making a contribution to the Entertainment Community Fund. This fund exists to help all the people whose livelihoods have been put on hold because the AMPTP refuses to negotiate

in good faith with the unions. It provides financial support for writers, actors, and all the thousands of laborers who make the shows that we talk about here and without whom we wouldn't have Star Trek to cast pot about. Those folks are all out of work because billionaires, company shareholders, and the executives of these companies don't want to compromise on the length of their yachts. We hope you'll join us in supporting entertainment workers in a challenging time, especially after they've already endured several years of challenges brought on by the pandemic

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Star Trek Podcast by two guys are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek Podcast. I'm your host Adam Pranica. I'm your other host Ben Harrison. Thank you for welcoming me to the greatest generation

today Adam. I welcome you most of all, Ben. How's your day going? That's all right. I've got to thank you for hanging on here. It is extremely late your time. We had to push off the recording of this set because I had to have internet people over, I was having problems with the internet. Oh, okay. I was picturing like people that want to use slurs about your sexual orientation because you put something on the internet. No, I imagine that'll happen to us eventually as we put enough episodes of this show out there. No, I was having wonky internet, so we had a guy come out and stick a probe in our modem.

And it turned out we needed a brand new one. So, and it actually involved drilling into some walls, like running some cable. It was sort of a thing. But I suffered an indignity I'm wondering if you've ever been through. It's password and dignity. And that, it is not a secret in our household that we have a pretty fun Wi-Fi password that we like to give out to our guests.

Fun Wi-Fi password, that's nice. Yeah, so the guy gets the new modem set up and I'm using the interface on my computer to set it up. And one of the options is, you know, use the same settings as you did before. Right. And I'm like, yeah, that sounds awesome. That's exactly what I want to do, because we have a bunch of machines that connect to this modem.

I don't want to reset my PlayStation and all the other computer hardware in the house, no way. Oh, your eye devices and what have you? It very simply asks me, what is the name of your network and the name of your password? My network is pretty benign, but my password is boob6969. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 69, 69. Hahaha. Hahaha. Which is a password that my wife and I have enjoyed giving to our house guests over

years. But when you're in a professional setting, and you have to transmit that to someone to a guy in a car hurt one piece. Yep. You've described him exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Carhartt guy did not seem to appreciate the humor

and did it at all. Oh. It usually goes over so much better than that. Yeah. So, here's my advice for this problem at him. I've taken a slightly different path to the immense satisfaction that comes from having a silly Wi-Fi password.

And it is this. I made the combination of my network and Wi-Fi password a dad joke so that only I get any amusement out of it and my wife feels shame and embarrassment every time she has somebody over that she wants to give the password to. Because our network is called Dentist Office, and our password is 230. Oh, no. Yeah. That's the level I've incorporated, dad joke, into the way I live my life.

Well, Carhart guy might have laughed at that one. I tried to study what I've. My Carhart guy just stood in silence, awkward, awkward silence. It's really beautiful the picture Let's go ahead and begin season two episode 15 Pen pals and before we begin I think I need to use some podcast fluid. Why do you have podcast fluid and not me? I don't know, man. This is one of those episodes.

I didn't need a lot of fluid. Thank the maker. This is an episode that starts with the enterprise entering a new sector that is unexplored by the Federation. Is it the Dremes sector? Can we remember that correctly? Sure is. Yeah.

I love that Dremes sector. A lot of crazy geological shit going on with all the planets in this sector. Yeah, a lot of red marbles in this one. Yeah, and I feel like I don't really understand what a sector is at them. Do you? No, not at all. I'm the wrong person to ask.

So I know what a quadrant is. Quadrant is like one-fourth of the galaxy. And I know what a system is. That's like a series of objects orbiting a star or pair of stars. Well put both times. But a sector is like they talk about sectors all the time in this show. I don't know what a sector is. A sector's got to be pretty big because later on in the episode they jump forward in

time like six weeks. Yeah. Like they're really putting the scans down on the sector. They're charting the shit out of it. Yeah. So I guess it's just like one of the many techno babbles that we use in this show, that it can kind of stretch to fit whatever the plot needs.

It needs it to be. It's a Kessel run and parsec argument. Like. And before you send us an 800 word, do you mail about this? Just fucking save it, all right? I don't know what I don't want to know. Don't Jordan and Jesse of Jordan, Jesse go have people send their corrections to Ted Cruz or something?

Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah, yeah, he would love that. Yeah. Send your corrections wrapped around a can of soup to Ted Cruz. Yeah, he loves soup. This is an episode that really messes with your expectations because you see Nikki Cox in the credits and you think you're getting one thing. And brother, you are not.

Yeah. Well, it starts with Picard wanting to go on a horse ride, right? This is the most on Tundra-filled episode you've seen yet. Some creatures have the capacity to fill spaces and never knew where to empty. I couldn't concentrate. The way I write my notes for the show He's I always my first note is always like what is happening in the show when it starts yeah my second note

so much Shlucky in you endo and I was looking at that and I was like what was I talking about oh yeah all that horse stuff that was going on I'm here that program the holiday for a wooden setting all that horse stuff that was going on. There'll be a program to holiday for a woodland setting with a bridal path and an appropriate mount. So they get into this sector and they've got some busy work to do

and they decide this might be a career growth opportunity for West. The boy. And so the senior staff assembles and they're like, well can the guy take it? Can you take it real hard? We'll need a fine edge that won't dull at the first touch of resistance. At some point Picard talks about the possibility that there might be too much weight on a yarnback. We don't want it to break under pressure. Like holy mackerel. And rakers like, the game isn't big enough unless it scares you a little.

Well, what do we do out here with this kid? If we aren't trying to like grow them and make them stronger, like we should really test his limits. Like after a few minutes, you start to wonder what they're talking about. And if you've listened to this show for any length of time, you lose the thread entirely. It's the only thing you can think of. We've ruined the show.

We've ruined this episode in particular. Yeah, I think this may be the episode in which all of our Wesley sex puns have really paid off. What the show ostensibly claims they're talking about, though, is Wesley heading up the team that's doing the geological surveys while the planets in this sector. The challenge is given to Wesley that he will be assembling a team and he'll be leading this team as they run all the geological service. And this is kind of our first below decks characters. Like these are people that work and do science and live on the enterprise, but are not main cast characters.

So Wesley is like, is all geeked out about going around and selecting him and he's worried about, oh, like what if they have interpersonal conflicts? How can I solve that? I'm just a boy. Yeah, I mean, he's initially concerned about assembling the right team, and then secondarily he's concerned about like,

well, how do I lead a team when I'm a kid and everyone else is both an older and outrank me? Well, I think he's an acting ensign. So I guess technically has all the rights and responsibilities of acting ensign, so I guess technically has all the rights and responsibilities of an ensign, which I think the people and the team all are unless I'm mistaken. But I think at least most of them are ensigns. But they've actually gone to the academy.

They're probably in their mid-twenties, where he's in his team. They've all been hazed. Yes. And they know how to big dog they've gone through big dogging 101 through 301 at Starfleet Academy, so when when Wesley shows up and tries to like ask them to run an icon gram or whatever They know what to do. Well, Wes, there's being thorough and then there's wasting time. Yeah, they know what to do They just don't want to do. Well, Wes, there's being thorough and then there's wasting time. Yeah, they know what to do. They just don't want to do it. Yeah. So that's, that's, that's plot B, but it is sort of set up is going,

it's going to be plot A. Meanwhile, data is dicking around with the computer and what introduced to this in a very funny shot that kind of like tracks along the floor of the bridge, which has got a bunch of like computer chips and scanning equipment and gigas and whatnot scattered all over it. Any time you've got isolation in your chips on the floor, shit's about to go down. Yeah, well, yeah, and you're hoping it's gonna pan up and Jim Shremot is gonna be sitting there, you know.

I know, it's kind of a nice callback. Nursing a buzz. Yeah. And sitting into your style on the ground. Right. Rather, it is our friend Lieutenant Commander Data, the second officer of the Enterprise. And he's goofing on the computer and worth like almost trips

over one of the circuit boards that he has out. And- If he was wearing official Klingon boots, he would have just stomped the shit out of that, right? Those boots do not fuck around. No. Yeah, big toe spikes. Yeah.

And this is an interesting scene because Worf gets kind of mouthy with data. He's like, he's like, when are you gonna clean your shit up? What the fuck are you up to? And data explains like, oh, I'm like testing the, I'm testing our scanners to scan for things that we don't normally scan for. And then Worf was kind of interested. testing our scanners to scan for things that we don't normally scan for.

And, you know, then Wurf was kind of interested. He's like, like, what about enemies? What about people we could go to war with potentially? Could you scan for that? And then it's like, yep, we could even scan for that. What about people who could kill me? I so want to die. Yeah, Wurf is a committed member of the Klingon Death Cult?

Yeah, okay, it sounds like a pretty good idea he's hatched. Right. He wants to make the sensors more powerful, boosting the range, much like those satellite dishes that are shooting out into the cosmos trying to pick up alien transmissions, right? Yeah, exactly. Sort of that kind of project. Yeah, data is running a little, a little setty type of deal.

And that's sort of like the setup for this storyline. And then it kind of, it, like, they just kind of leave it at that. And then it's a lot of, like, Wesley following people around and hallways asking them questions about how to be a good leader. Can I walk with you? I need a little advice. And like, you know, he'll like, tag along with Riker and Troy for a while.

An injured vice. This has more hallway than almost any episode that we've seen so far. I feel like they just like built a bunch of new hallways. So it's like, hey, like, we finally finished all the hallways. So if you guys could write some hallway shit into the, into into the into the next Script that would kind of like help us justify this as a line item

I do want to talk about How this episode looks production wise Because while there are a ton of hallways and we do get a new setting, which is the setting where they're doing the geology, sort of a geology lab there that looks pretty cool. It's got a ton of glass cylinders. It's darkly lit. I feel like at any time we see a science lab in the ship, it's like a one-off set that looks great.

Yeah, yeah, they did a great job. They also, I believe for the first time since the episode with the Edo, they went outside and they did a field trip because the scenes where Picard's riding the horse, just are very bright and verdant and great looking. We'll not to get too mission log with this, but I mean, I think this is good trivia to

know. The director of this episode also did Darmak and the series finale. He's kind of a, he's kind of an all-around guy. He did a ton of Star Trek. That's a heavy hitter right there. Yeah, and I think you see some really interesting compositions here too. Like he shoots through stuff a lot, like foreground objects, background people.

And he also broke the 180 a lot, which was the first time I saw it was really jarring because that was a move that I don't think has been done on this show up until now. Yeah, and just like, if you don't know, like the rule of 180 degrees is the camera typically stays sort of on one side of a scene like If you're in an audience at a play like you obviously see like everything that you're sitting facing towards but you never see it from reverse and

like typically like If you cut and and you've crossed the 180 line, the characters will be on opposite sides of the camera and it can be jarring and it can be used to good effect. I think it is used to good effect in this episode, but in the wrong hands is often a mistake. Yeah, exactly. Initially, it looked like a mistake to me but it clearly wasn't I mean the guys are pro. No one cares about this let's move on. Some people tweet us and say they like when we go all film school on their on their ass. Some sort of brave production.

Well so anyways the T's about Data's project is that, oh, he's, uh, he's upping the reception of the radio on the ship. Uh, what do you think's going to happen? Yeah. Well, at a certain point, he walks into the captain's office and says that for the last eight weeks, he's been on internet relay chat with a with a young girl on one of the planets in the Dremas sector. And this is how we are introduced to this episode of To Catch a Predator data edition. I'm Chris Hansen with Deepline NBC and we're doing this story on computer predators. They just like, I'm gonna bring some Mike's hard lemonade.

Yeah. I'm gonna step at the pizza hat on my way. This is like a real record scratch moment for Picard. He's like, you've been doing what? On who's ship? You need to fucking stop that shit, cause this is my house. Yeah, it's almost like he goes beyond angry.

He just cannot comprehend how data has done this. And what's going on here seems pretty pervy, doesn't it? And data sort of pulls a Mordok about it too, like he's been doing a thing for a long time and hasn't told the captain about it. Yeah, and so data's justification here is like I have not been, you know, I've been vague about like who I am or where I'm broadcasting from. Like this girl has been telling me a lot of stuff, but I've been kind of keeping personal

stuff light and, you know, her people are not aware of the fact that they are not alone in the universe. So I've been glossing over that fact. She's been doing a lot of you up and he's been doing a lot of new number who does. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, to put it in modern terms that the kids can understand, that's basically what's happening here. Yeah.

And this becomes maybe the biggest prime directive episode yet. Like, there's a big scene where like all of the bridge officers are basically sitting around debating the prime directive and like where and if it applies here. You can tell it's an important meeting because there's muffins. Did you notice the, there's sort of like a buffet spread in the cards quarters? I mean, it's like when the C-suite

at a small to mid-size company gets together, they have it catered and then when they're done, they put the food out in the lunch room for everybody. Yeah, the cards, like you're invited to a meeting in my quarters, Continental Breakfast will be provided. Yeah, there's a couple times's like, you're invited to a meeting in my quarters. Continental breakfast will be provided. Yeah, there's a couple times where like, Juryd is trying to make like an impactful point

that is really undercut by the fact that he's pouring himself an extra cup of coffee. And Polasky is trying to get a word in edgewise, but she's, I mean, the muffin is so dry. It's really difficult to get out. This might be a good opportunity to talk about the prime directive as a thing. Sure. I disagree with it.

Just as a rule? Yeah. I think that the Federation is a moral entity that is founded on objectively good principles. And I think that it is crazy that they would be willing to stand idly by as a intelligent species was wiped out of existence because of a preventable ecological catastrophe or a war or something like that. That's just my personal feeling on the prime directive. I disagree with it. I mean, I think that's a totally sound reason. My take on it is a little different. I think it's a great

starting point for a lot of things. If your resting space is the prime directive, I think that's a good spot to be. I sort of feel like it is more about efficiency than it is about anything else. Because if you don't have the prime directive, you are stopping at every single fucking planet and trying to fix it. And you're never going to go out exploring if you do that. Like this way, it gives every ship an excuse to just fuck off. Like, like get out there, get out as far as you can and go exploring.

And if you don't have the prime directive, everyone's gonna feel obligated to stop and stay and fix. And I don't think you can be an efficient space-faring, exploration organization without that. Yeah, I just think that like when you encounter without that. Yeah, I just think that when you encounter gross injustice,

like it is a totally convenient way to, you know, like, I mean, they kind of talk about it in the scene, like, oh, this is like here to protect us from having to feel obligated to do anything, but that's like the opposite of what's actually moral. Like they should feel like they're obligated to do something because there's a planet and we should say, like data has been communicating with this girl

that's on this planet that is like about to collapse because of some like dilithium blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like her whole species is going to be wiped out. And they're like a bunch of, you know, pampered idiots sitting in a room, eating muffins and drinking teal gray hot, talking about whether they should lift a finger to do anything about this fucking horrible moral catastrophe. Yeah, there's nothing more godlike than this conversation that they're having.

Yeah, and I think that a lot of good points are made on both sides, but I personally really fall on the side of the Federation with all of its advanced technology, and all of its like moral advancement should be a more explicitly interventionist organization. I think that they should be spreading the uh... the principles of freedom democracy and post scarcity as far as they can that's my personal opinion

uh... uh... and jell-on and and agra and a greatest and live show is something you don't want to miss. Why?

Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre and post-show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it! The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it. The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places.

Go to greatestgentour.com to get more info. That's greatestgentour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Sherry Reembarishment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris. And I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure, delightful nonsense. We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level. We got stupid with Judy Greer.

My friend Molly and I call it having the spaceweards. Pat Noswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Nanjiani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes, which is impossible to use. Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps are already open. Just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse go try.

Being smart is hard. Be dumb instead. Well, rats, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line and boy, what do I? These giraffes do not smell good. No, they do not and they've such short neck. But I'm hearing we need to get on this all. Gotta get on the art. Yeah. It is about terrain. Gotta spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually we're podcasters. We are podcasters. So it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Kerry? We investigate actually, we're podcasters. We are podcasters, so it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Carrie?

We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal, stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end, so seem like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boat. We came two by two. What do you think? Ono Ross and Carrie, available on MaximumFun.org. [♪ Music playing in background, sounds of the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind, and the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind blowing in the wind blowing in someone who doesn't feel emotions, pulls the most

manipulative move, emotionally manipulative move, anyone could possibly do, and basically plays the Sarah McLaughlin pet adoption commercial for the rest of the senior staff because Picard's like, all right, Dada, kill the feed and Dada's like, whoops, and he turns on the radio transmission and there she is. Dada, Dada, where are you? Why would you ask her? And everyone, like basically, like, they can't eat anymore at that point. Yeah, yeah,

the last- The last reality. Let's some muffin just fall from her mouth onto the carpet. Yeah, it tumbles in slow motion like the mug at the end of the usual suspects. Yeah, before we move on from the scene, we should talk about the fact that the doctor almost had our head ripped off in this scene, because she, she, Danes to call Worf a coward at one point when they're debating their differences of opinion

on this prime directive shit. And the captain basically like tosses himself on the grenade. He's like, boom, boom,bo. Okay, let's move on. That's cool. Cool our jets here. Right? This is sort of a great Polasky episode, I thought. Yeah.

She had that scene. She had some great points in the room. She was also super metronally with Wes when he was running around the ship trying to get advice about being a leader like. Yeah. Good Polasky times. Look, I understand all the Polasky hate. I started from a point good Polasky times. Look, I understand all the Polasky hate. I started from a point of Polasky hate. I'm coming around. I like it.

Just starting to win us over. Yeah. And before we get off of the Wesley side of this episode, I do want to call Wesley out for being a pretty cool guy. At one point he comes and asks, like, Riker for some advice about Ensign Davies, the guy that tries to big dog him. And he's like asking for advice on how to deal with a situation where somebody basically defied what he asked him to do, but he doesn't talk shit about Davies. He doesn't really throw him under the bus with the first officer. Like, it was cool of him.

Like he, like, you know, I feel like there's a lot of temptation when you're going over somebody's head to talk shit in a workplace environment. And it's not always a good look. And I think Wesley did a fine job avoiding that temptation in this episode. And he winds up kind of coming up with the scheme to fix the planet,

which Picard eventually grudgingly decides that they're going to do. I was really surprised at how... here we are over halfway through season two and like I'm recognizing the things that I liked about Wesley as a child like things that I don't know like when you're a kid you see Wes is the youngest one on the ship and you're like yeah I want to be that kid like that's awesome like that's aspirational but as an adult watching the show, this was the first time that I saw something

that Wesley did that made me think that, like, he was admirable in a contemporary sense. Like, a lot of the issues that he's going through in this episode are ones that I, that I go through almost every day, like as a video producer and director, like I am often the youngest person on a crew. I am so often working with lifers on a set. Right. And the issues that he comes up against about like the discomfort of being a leader in those

situations and like what and then like how do you think that you're right when these people are so much more experienced than you or older than you like I totally get that dude I get it and he gets good advice from people also like it all ranked true to me in a way that you know as a kid I was I wasn't sophisticated enough to get, but as an adult, I do. One of the really unsung wonderful things about this show is how well it depicts a well-functioning hierarchy. People, and they explore why it functions well, and come up with completely compelling ideas about how you can be a good boss that isn't a dickhead that commands the respect of the people working under you. What other show ever does that? The top guy is always haunted and fucked up in every show. And like, you know, like Picard,

you can't have anything but respect for. And everybody that works under him is also working under somebody else that is also like somebody you can invest a lot of respect in. For the leadership figures on the show to not be profoundly flawed and also to remain interesting. I don't know how you do that in today's television. Yeah, you can't sell that to a network executive.

Yeah, where's the conflict? Yeah. Yeah, anyway, I thought that's just really ranked true as a production person. A production person who personally, the way I get through times like that, is always like making the job the boss. Yeah. We're all here to do the thing. The thing is the boss. I am its mouthpiece, but that's it. Right.

I am a beautiful, there are more lights. There's some funny stuff where Picard indicates on his body how deep and shit they are to riker. Several times. But the plan is this. They are going to use some probes to stabilize the fucked up geological shit going on in the planet. Meanwhile, data is going to beam down to the planet to save his radio pen pal, Sarjanka, from the horrible, dionetics-looking destruction that is befalling her planet.

And so data beams down to her family house. And Outlock's Chris Hanson, who says, Data beams down to her family house and Outlooks Chris Hanson He says sit down data and Watch you have a seat right there. Data says I don't think I want to and he says listen the Fresno police department is outside But I think you and I should have a quick chat before you go into their custody So what are you doing? Why are you wearing a towel? Where'd you even get Mike's hard lemonade?

And you and you drove 28 hours from Minneapolis to be here tonight? And you drove 28 hours from Minneapolis to be here tonight? Um. I don't know. She seemed nice. And with that, I've alienated an entire state from our listenership. Pfft. Pfft.

With that one pronunciation of the word no. Eventually we'll be left with nothing. But they save the planet. It goes great. They do wind up having to beam Sarjanka up to the enterprise because shit's getting too real in the area where her house is. Oh man, and Picard goes so apeshit when data brings her onto the bridge.

He was acting like someone who has accidentally been within a no-contact perimeter. He's brought a child into my ship and on my bridge. He basically loses it in the same way as when Wesley first starts sneaking onto the bridge and eventually they end up deciding that Sir Jankas' brain is going to have to be wiped of her memories of even talking to data on the radio. They go surgical with this shit. They're gonna save her planet,

but they can't have her knowing how that happened. It's pretty amazing. They've had men in black technology on the ship the whole time, and this is the first time we're seeing it. Right, like, she is a totally alien species to them. So, like, Polesky's like, you know, like if her brains anything like ours,

I'll have to like isolate certain like memory endgrams by doing certain chemical whosy watsits to them. Totally looks out, her brain is just like ours and uh... You don't say she speaks perfect English, her brain's just like ours. She's got a Tina Turner glitter wig. Yeah, she's got a real look. That's her Janka. It is a look that is not at all like the Nicki Cox that you would know later. It shows like Las Vegas.

Yeah, it's more like a look that would show up at like the 2019 Eurovision Song Awards. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Um, but uh. Welcome to the stage, Sarjaka from Poland. Yeah, right, right down to the extra long ring and pinky finger. Yeah.

Like the whole thing. Yeah. Got weird hands. Yeah. So they, uh, they send her back to the her thing. Yeah. Got weird hands. Yeah. So they send her back to her planet and I think she's like a sleep and data like drops her off and he leaves with her this weird rock that Dr. Polaski gave to her. I think it's called a singing stone.

It sings a different song for each person. So she's going to have a little token of this memory that you won't have. But you know, there are great pains to not ruin her life with kind of this, you know, like you can imagine being like a nine-year-old and growing up and being like, yeah, like our planet was saved by inner stellar aliens that didn't want anybody to know about them. You know, like I think the only person that we know that could go through life knowing something like that and stay more or less stable to who they are is John Roderick. Sure.

All I could think about was if I were a nine-year-old and I woke up and there was a weird rock in my room, I'd probably just throw in it at the active volcano that was right outside my window. Like, there would be no reason for me to hold onto it. And so the idea that he would give her something to remember him by, quote unquote, remember him by is, I don't know, he's

doing that for him. And if he doesn't have feelings, why is he doing it fair enough? I just totally took the hard out of that scene. I totally ruined Christmas on the end of this episode. It's what you're here for Adam. Sorry. That was hardly two scoops of sunshine. I liked this episode though. How about you? Sort of the running bit that isn't a bit on the show is you asking me what I remember about an upcoming episode and me saying I don't really remember. Most of the time I remember a little bit of it and this episode I remembered no nov and it really made it great because it read as new to me the entire time. It was a new one on you. It was like seeing a brand new episode,

and that was fun. That's cool. I think that was the best part of it for me. I liked it fine. This was just, this was an alright episode. Did you know that, Ensign Hildebrand was the female counterpart to Wesley's lab scene.

Did she look familiar to you? Uh, she was like the kind of curly blonde hair lady. Yeah, yeah. Uh, she didn't look familiar to me. No. Did you, at any point in your life, watch Beverly Hills 90210? I did not. Uh, I think my wife was a big fan of that program.

Here's what you need to do. You need to talk to your wife and tell her that Ann Gillespie was on this episode. TV's Jackie Taylor from 90210, Kelly Taylor's mom, and PS. Adam wants to do a 90210 podcast with her as soon as she's ready to start. Okay, I'll pass that along. I'll have to come up with a TV show that your wife watched that you didn't, that I am

also interested in doing a podcast. And I guess we'll do some sort of podcast key party That sounds great. I mean I get to tell you and this is no joke I know 21O is probably this show that I know as much as I know next generation I watched that show obsessively And it was on what about Dawson's Creek it was on syndication all the time. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Dawson's Creek too I would do a Dawson's Creek show watched every episode of both of those dozens of times now Big fan

Hey, Ben yes Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda in this episode? I did. I feel like it's a little bit of a copat. I couldn't come up with one in watching the episode because I was sort of like to wrap up and being worried for Sarjanka and hey, the prime directive. But in going back over it with you, I realize that my drunk's amount

it has to be wharf because he really gets like lippy with data. Yeah. Data is like three guys over wharf. Like wharf is in no place to get lippy with the fucking second officer of the ship. Data's never gonna get what heard about that though. No, but like, but like, worth his piss that data has all his toys strewn around on

the bridge and like, have you ever stepped on a Lego? That's basically what he does. Yeah. And he's in one of those like light, gossipery, starfleet boots. He's not in a big tough, barely barely Lego-proof Klingon boot. Yeah, it's true. So it hurts. War gets the Drunk Shemota for me. And we should say, since we haven't in a while, that Drunk Shemota is our word for a character displaying characteristics of being

displaying characteristics of being drunk, hilarious, not making a lot of sense or just being all out great, much like Jim Shemota, our favorite character from episode two of this series. Our favorite. My Shemota nomination for this episode goes to Sargentka's parents. Yeah, where'd they go? What's up with your daughter just talking to space people for six weeks, six months? How much time had passed? Yeah, on that like Peewee Herman computer that she had. Come on, mom and dad, like I think you need to, I mean I'm not advocating for them to be just all over her about who she talks to,

but I mean, she was carrying on a relationship with someone much older than her. Yeah. And then sort of invited him over. Like sets, sets of healthy limits with your children and how they use the internet. Absolutely. That is what I'm advocating, and for that reason, Sir Jankus parents are my drunk Shimoda. What are we watching for the next episode?

The next episode is season 2 episode 16. Q. Who? The crew is hurtled into the future by the malevolent Q who sets them up for destruction by a race of half human, half robot aliens known as the Borgs. He's a Borg. Oh no. There's so much wrong with that synopsis that was copy and pasted from the Amazon Prime episode

description. Yeah, they pluralized the Borgs. And I also don't think anybody ever gets hurtled into the future in that episode. I think they just get hurtled into like the Delta Quadrant or whatever. Is the malevolent Q his full name because I feel like that's all that's all he's described as in any episode capsule. Yeah. We like download the the short and long synopsies

of these of these episodes for every podcast and like the fucking like you will you thought that there were serious Star Trek nerds out there patrolling the internet for this shit. There are not. Like all of these things have tons of fucking inconsistencies with what actually happens in the actual episodes. Like Wikipedia has full of fucking problems.

Like I'm not gonna fucking read Wikipedia about like Franklin Roosevelt after this. You know what I'm seeing on Wikipedia a lot is is other shows reviewing the episodes and I'm excited to see some poll quotes from us. That is when Wikipedia really starts to get good is when our listeners start going back through some of these episodes and dropping in one lineers that we had about the episodes in the reception sections because every single episode of DNG has Wikipedia entry. You know, like, when we got more than 30 listeners an episode, you asked me, have we made it? I said no.

When we joined in network, you asked me, Adam, certainly we've made it now, haven't we? I said no. When we sold our first ad and started doing ad reads, you were like, Adam. Surely we have arrived. And I was like, no, no, you know, when we've arrived, when people start editing Wikipedia entries to include our descriptions, that will be the day, Ben. And I'm looking forward to it. I mean, so, so your two action items, your standing action items are tweet at Star Trek Room and get us jobs as writers on the new Star Trek series.

And go to Wikipedia, find your favorite episode that we've already reviewed, put in a quote from Adam or me or both of us in the reception section so that people know that we're out here cracking wise about your favorite show. Yeah, send us a screen drive of that because there's no way that's going to last. God, we give our listeners so much to do. Sorry guys. I love them. They're the best.

Just to gloss over this part, I'm not going to veto. This is the foundational episode. We got to watch this. Yeah, as much as I hate watching Q episodes, I don't think we can skip the reveal of the Borg. How do you hate Q? I don't hate Q. I hate Q episodes. I don't like supernatural bullshit.

I like Q episodes. If I wanted supernatural bullshit, I would watch like a game of Thrones or whatever. Oh, you don't like supernatural shows, but I know for a fact you like Charmed. I don't think I've seen a single moment of it. Oh man, I watch Charmed as much as I watch Dawson's Creek. If you ever want to reach out and talk to us, Twitter is probably the best place to do it, but there's so many places been, so many.

You can use the hashtag GreatestGen on Twitter and you can find Ben and I there. Ben is at Benjamin R. A. H. R. and I'm at Cup for time. You can go to reddit.com. There are two reddits that you can find us on. There's two. There's a good news and bad news reddits. Yeah, there's the maximum fun subreddit and then there's the greatest gen reddit and We're also on Facebook at Facebook group greatest generation Both the both the greatest gen subreddit and the greatest generation Facebook group were made by listeners and we really appreciate that We should say maximum fund is our network. You can go to maximumfun.org slash donate if you'd like to support our show. We really appreciate all of the folks that have been tweeting

at us that they've changed their donation scheme to include us, or especially people who have upgraded their donation scheme, because maximum fun keeps adding cool shows like ours. And you know, check out all the other shows on Max Fun. You got your my brother, my brother and me's. You've got your shmanners. You've got your trends like these. You've got your saw bones. And there's also podcasts that Maclroy brothers are not involved with, which are also great. that Maclroy brothers are not involved with, which are also great.

It's true, it's true. I think my favorite podcast ever is Jordan Jesse Go. Yeah, that's my, I love that show. That's my tip top. Yep. I posted on Twitter when Jordan Jesse Go played the promo for our show that it felt like the scene and that thing you do when they hear their song on the

radio. And they're like running around their little home town. Like I was like at work and I just wanted to like run up and down the fucking open office space screaming my head off. That is how you know you've made it, Ben. We've arrived. Yep. We'll be back at you next time with another episode

of Star Trek, the Next Generation. And also this. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound.

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