The Greatest Generation - Android Splash (S3E16)

Episode Date: August 31, 2016

When Data has a child out of wedlock, the Captain is furious. But when an Admiral from Child Protective Services decides to come take away the bouncing baby android, Picard goes into full blown lawyer mode. What are Riker’s intentions towards Data’s daughter? Can Picard just routinely defy Starfleet? It’s an episode with more Kevin Uxbridge than the Kevin Uxbridge episode.

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 Starfleet. Engage! Welcome to the greatest generation, a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast.

I'm Ben Harrison. I'm Adam Pranaka, then why do we do this? I don't know, we just keep doing it over and over again. We're obligated, both contractually and morally to keep going. Do you think our show would be more popular or less popular if we went to one episode a week? Wow. I don't know. I think it would be equally popular and potentially less popular due to the outrage that that would cause. Yeah, well, I mean, there's definitely some people that wish we would do three a week. They're like, why not?

Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I don't know if those people are our friends first suggesting that. I would love to produce this show five days a week. Like it's not, it's not a matter of will. Yeah, it's a major time commitment. Yeah. I was wondering about that, because I was thinking about it. I don't think I have many podcasts in my feed

that go as often as we do. Yeah. And I was like listening to our fellow Max Fun podcast, the Flap House, and they're like twice a month, I think. Yeah, boy. What a life. Yeah. I know for me, when we first started out, I was like, I wanted to I wanted to build up a bunch of episodes that were that were produced. So that once people eventually found our show, they would see that we were legit and had a nice well to pick from.

Like my only intention was to just build up a quantity that would somehow equal credibility, but now that we are unfortunately more credible than we had ever hoped for, now we're still saddled to that effort and that rate. Yeah, well, I mean who knows who knows what the right thing is, but I feel like we're pot committed at this point. Sure, yeah. I don't know that we can do anything about it, Ben. Yeah. Even if we wanted to. Yeah. You're probably right. This is episode 16 of season 3, The Offspring. Sure is Ben. Not those offspring Adam.

I was not really looking forward to this episode based on what I remembered, but I was pleasantly surprised. Really? Yeah. I found myself getting distracted by my cell phone. Oh no. Well this episode opens interestingly and and we should also note that this is the this is a directoral debut of Jonathan Frakes. Yes. The first time a cast member took the reins of a show. Oh, is it? Yeah.

I think that sounds like a fact that you may have actually read somewhere. Sure. It is, but I felt myself kind of digging Frakes's directoral style. They write the writer character out of the episode right away like in the in the log welcome on the riker's a way of personal leave the card comes on the log record and he's like hey uh... we're just and even a what he says he's like hey we're that we're just cruising around in

rikers out on shore leave uh... now that that's out of the way let's get into the plot yeah i think i think that's actually verbatim i think that's out of the way, let's get into the ploughed. Yeah, I think that's actually verbatim. I think that's exactly what he says. So Wes, the boy, Troy and Jordy have been hold down to date his lab, and they're like, what does data want to show us? Do you have any idea what this is about? Something happened at that cybernetics conference.

Since he's come back, he spent every off duty minute in that lab. No, there's conference trip Do you think that the crew members keep their conference badges like hanging on the back of their closet doors? I bet no one devastates an open bar the way data would One of those Howard Johnson's yeah, he's just got rolled up singles Yeah, yeah, you think you think his abilities and techniques are appreciated in a hotel conference environment? I bet they are.

Yeah, man, are you kidding? Yeah. They do would be a hooded hotel conference. Yeah. Well, they get there and once again, the doors don't lock on the enterprise, so Wesley punches the button and opens the door and Dan it goes like I'm in here and punches it again and it closes.

Yeah, but not before they see him holding a severed foot. That's kind of uncomfortable. Yeah, and so it cuts to the inside of the lab where data is like mushing this foot like there's some like electronic and mechanical crap hanging out the end of it and he like slides it up inside of the stump of a leg and starts like booping on buttons and the leg comes alive and the toes twitch and he hits a button and the whole assembly goes up into the ceiling and he lets everybody in and he's very excited to introduce them to a super weird looking android that he made named Law. Miss your data. As a man who respects the creation of real dolls everywhere, I must tell you, you're

doll frightens me. You take it like many of the sexually appealing features that I think you should consider. For example, most inflatable dolls have large open mouths and there are obvious reasons for this. Your doll has a very small, closed mouth. I thought right away, oh great, Data's made a real doll and it is terrifying. Yeah, it's real like- That is not the reaction that Troy, that Troy, Jority and Wesley have. They are just sort of bemused, aren't they? Yeah, there's a lot of, I think when you are pals with data, there's a lot of just letting him do his thing

and not fucking with him too much about it. So, data introduces Law to Troy and she's like, very pleased to meet you, Law. She's gonna give him the benefit of the doubt for a long time. Yeah, and Law is kind of terrifying We should we should probably try to describe it at this point It's like a it's sort of glossy. It's got like the orange version of data's yellowy greeny skin. Yeah

It's shorter than data by like a head. Yeah. And it's face sort of looks like, it's really angular. It's sort of like, sort of like, it's wearing a flesh-colored helmet. It's like that guy that hangs out with pizza the hut in the space balls, but fleshier. Hello. Long star.

Sorry, right, switch. Sorry, Ryan. Switching. Yeah, and it sort of speaks and is stilted. I mean, it doesn't sound like a robot, but, um, I don't know. It sounds a little bit childish and strange. Yeah, it's like the whole image is just... It's aridmic. It's not, it's not robo.

It's like the, the, every word kind of comes out as almost like the beginning of its own sentence. Yeah, and data introduces, allow as his progeny, like he has assumed the role of a parent to this individual. The gang is like, wait until the captain hears about this. Yeah. And Picard is not psyched about this. Picard pretty much goes full maddocks at the beginning.

He's like, kill it, kill it now. Like, you didn't have my permission to do this. This isn't the first time the data sort of gone rogue on doing something and not telling the captain. Like, he was sending emails to that little girl last season and Picard was super pissed about that. She was kind of a sparkly orange color too. Yeah, yeah, she might have inspired the look of Lall, at this point. But man, Picard just goes off on him in the ready room and in a way that you'd never see him do that

to a human crumman. Do you think that he feels free to become enraged with data because he knows data can take it? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's definitely the most angry at a crew person we have ever seen Picard at this point. And... What's his beef? Well, his beef is that data went and made this thing without clearing it ahead of time. And data's logic is like, hey, listen, like when Raker sows his oats all over the ship,

nobody's demanding that he file a form in advance of that. Like, I reproduced, you know, I don't need your permission, dog. Yeah. And Picard is like, yeah, but when you've reproduced, it's going to be a baby that can rip holes in the hull because it's going to be super strong and super fast. Yeah. Which is a constant problem with anything data related. So begrudgingly, Picard is like, well, you did this thing.

I guess this is a good opportunity to study the idea of creating ascension robot and sort of onboarding it to living onboard a starship. And the first order of business is making it look less terrifying, right? Yeah, well, before we get to that, the other side of data's argument, which I think is interesting is that... Until now, I have been the last of my kind. If I were to be damaged or destroyed, I would be lost forever. Which sort of maybe hints that his... his ponscheon for her suicidal behavior may be coming to an end. He can see the advantages of backing up his hard drive.

Yeah, maybe he's gotten out of the reckless heyday of his 20s and now he's like 30s like certain to have a more chill lifestyle or maybe this frees him up even more Like if he has a backup around maybe he's even more Death happy. Well, I guess we'll find out in the coming episodes. Right. That remains to be seen, doesn't it? So we go down to the holodeck and the vast data like what why does L'Al have kind of a strange nothing in between its legs? Mr. Data, what exactly are you supposed to fuck? On this particular model of D'Al. None of the holes are big enough for anything. You could maybe slip a pinky into its mouth.

I find your doll literally boring Mr. Deter. The first time I've been tempted to do what I did to the Hushnok to anybody. But you've shown so little respect for the world of real dolls. Yeah, so they're on the holodeck and it becomes clear that the next step for LOW is to select its appearance Because this is a choice a choice that it gets to make for itself Yeah, it's like how I thought that I could name myself Wesley right X-Post facto Whereas you were incredibly wrong about that. Yeah, I wonder where I learned that idea Yeah, yeah.

Definitely watching this show when I came up with it. I'm glad you chose Wesley instead of Lall, as far as as someone to go around introducing yourself as. Yeah, this is kind of a fun idea, right? Lall is a blank person and Lall can choose what physical properties to possess. And so they've narrowed it down to four finalists. And this is a very cool,

like motion control special effect where Lyle is standing in front of sort of a holographic mirror and the camera pans around the entire room as the subject is changing in front of the camera. Like they're blending between four different shots. Law is a cling on, law is an andorian, law is a, what are the options? A human male and a plain looking woman. Right. Human woman. Right. So she's definitely leaning human, like two of the four

human. Yeah. And she winds up going with the female human. And so the rest of the episode is sort of split between two storylines. One is data kind of teaching law how to get along with others and like what it's, you know, like there's a scene in his room where he's like just pointing at objects and naming them. Painting. Painting. Colors produced on a surface by applying a pigment. The rest of the episode feels like Android splash. Yeah.

You know, like fish out a water story. She's learning how to eat and drink and and and be with people. And then the other side is that the the word has gotten back to Starfleet command about this new Android and they've gone fully ape in. There's like an admiral that's breathing down Picard's neck to ship the Android back to the Dacerim Institute so that they can pull it apart and Maddox the shit out of it. Yeah and this ad-mural is totally Maddoxing, isn't it? Yeah, it's kind of peculiar that they did not select the character of Maddox to play this role. Sure, but it's another interaction between Picard and an admiral that goes less than good.

Yeah, and feel sort of adversarial from the jump. Yeah, you sort of wonder how much leeway Picard has to just directly defy what an admiral is asking him to do. I mean, like he's the captain of this flagship, but it does do a lot of like, I'll take that under advisement, Admiral, but fuck you. Yeah, yeah, I think I don't think you can let go the whole bug episode of Conspiracy, you know? Yeah. I think that's gonna be a going concern. Show me that neck admiral. Then we can talk. Yeah, you got any nubbens? They show Laos advancement through some scenes here. Most of them occurring in 10 forward and Gainen makes an interesting foil for Laos growth as a human.

Right. Much, much like data was a terrible person to put in charge of telling Q how to be human. Gainin is like the awesomeness person to put in charge of telling Lowe how to be human. There's a lot of fun stuff going on in 10 forward. There's people holding hands on a date. There's people making out in the corner. Ben, I've long always been able to tell, like when you go out with someone socially,

you can tell the people who have worked in a service industry job by how they treat other people. And this is sort of another version of that, right? What better way to learn how to become a good human being than to work a service and industry job? And that's what they stick loud with. They make a server and 10 forward. Yeah, and it's like, man, it is like,

it's like going to the show for your first day at the ball game. Like she's there, like, you know, trying to mimic people. At some point, Riker's shuttle comes back. He like wanders into 10 forward and she starts trying to like mimic the flirtatious behavior that she's been observing. And like really does a great job of looking shocked

and appalled when data calls him on, putting the moves to his daughter. She uses her super strength and like, rips him over the bar and makes out with him. It's sort of great. You know around here, aren't you? Yes. Low, low! Put him down. Riker was unable to grant consent in that exact moment.

Right, but you know, she's learning. Yeah, but this demonstrates a problem, right? Yes. She's mimicking human behavior without really being able to understand its context and when it's proper to demonstrate those behaviors and when it's not. Yeah, and at certain point, the Admiral Half-Telk, it's so pissed off with Picard. He's like, just stop your ship where it is. I'm coming out there. Hopps on his own starship, catches up with the Enterprise.

And he comes aboard with the intention of grabbing this android and booking it back to Starfleet science and Picard is in full full-tron lawyer mode for the rest of the episode You know have to like steps into his ready room, and he's like he's like Admiral half-tailed you're supposed to come here to form an opinion, not to back your own goddamn opinion up, Theo! He's fucking great. He's like, hey, guess what?

Like, there are laws about this, and I wrote them. So, what do you think of that? Like, his dog gets super big by Picard in that scene. It's great. Yeah. I mean, Picard in that scene. It's great. Yeah. I mean, Picard's making good points. He's like, if we've established that data has rights, then it's so too does law.

And data has rights as her parent. And there's nothing that you can do unilaterally here. And so half-del, at some point, he goes down and sees that she's working in 10 Ford and gets really freaked about that. He's like, this is not appropriate. She's gonna see people. She should have a better job than this.

She's better than this. It gets all up to you about her being too good for a service job. This is your idea. Propright guidance? Fuck you, Admiral. Yeah. Your kids, Admiral. Yeah. Your kids all get sweet internships that pay super well. Yeah.

Yeah. Rest of us have to fucking work in restaurants. Fuck you. So things finally get to a head when half-tools like, check it out. I'm just gonna make it in order. Like, get ready to send Lyle to me. I'm taking her back home.

Or I'm taking her to get science. Right, it's gonna be like an interview, but he's like going to break the news there at the end. And so they sit her down and it's a pretty rugged scene because like, data's not there. So Picard has to sort of be her advocate, but he doesn't wanna like be openly defined of the admiral in a way that's going to get him in trouble.

Right. So he winds up finding a good angle, which is like nobody has actually asked Lyle what she would want in the event that two different options were placed in front of her. Sure. And half-tell is not persuaded when she's going to stay. So he tells her that, like, what his plan is,

and she fully loses it and runs to Troy of all people. And she has, like, what can only be described as an emotional meltdown in front of Troy. And Admiral from Starfleet has come to take me away, Troy. I am scared. You are scared, aren't you? Which is, you know, Troy is like completely freaked out because she's not expecting Laal to be sending emotions her way.

Her expression of her feelings is to like place her hand over her, her sternum and to like hit it over and over again. Yeah. Which I found it a really like that really hit close to home to me for some reason. Like how do you how do you physically express that that you're scared or that you've had your feelings hurt? Like that it seems to me as is that could be is as good as any any demonstration of that. Like if you're unable to articulate it like that's how you do it. is that could be as good as any demonstration of that.

Like if you're unable to articulate it, like that's how you do it. I think this actress did a great job with a very, very challenging part. She goes from being essentially a tabula rasa at the beginning to an emotional character with fears and hopes. Yeah. And at the end, and it's a pretty seamless transition. Like she definitely like ratchets that up,

like seen by scene to the point where this is pretty plausible, pretty well done. I thought a lot about this as I was watching the episode. It has got to be so much harder to act a little bit robotic than to act fully robotic. Like, she's super nuanced in her performance in a way that made me appreciate Brent Spiner's performance even more as well. Like, to just barely be off enough to where you can just sort of read artificial without being totally camp robot. Yeah, that was just great.

Acting in the uncanny valley. Yeah, intentionally. And that seems so difficult. Cool, big talk about baby, go talk baby. Quietly, not a big, not a big, not a big, not a big, not a big, Louse trucked it back to her quarters. Like she so upset that she runs back there with Troy and Toe and Troy radio's data and says, hey, you better get back to your lab. Your daughter's

really upset. Yeah, and she's like, she's like had a meltdown. It's fused her circuits where she's not really present anymore. She's just kind of like can respond to very basic increase. And uh... We're really lucky her meltdown didn't manifest in such a way that like she tears Troy's arms from her body. Right, her like punches a hole in the window or something. Yeah, like she's incredibly dangerous at this moment. Yeah, they do some diagnostics and they find that there's like a cascade failure and there's a way that they could maybe

reverse the the damage, but it's it's like gonna be some shit and Half-del to his credit offers to help data and he Graciously accepts that offer of help and they like kick everybody out of the lab and go to work and then like There's a scene where West Jordy and Troy are like standing outside in the hallway and half-dale comes out like the You know the surgeon that has lost a patient He's like pulling off the rubber gloves and he's like there's nothing we could do personally I hated when any real doll dies.

I feel like it's a larch for the entire universe. When the rubber wears out, there's just no hatching it up. You can send it back to the factory, but there's only so much they can do. Every time you do it, it adds seams around the growing area, for example, and just becomes quite unsightly. Those seams do not look natural, and they, they chave. They're very uncomfortable. This is terrible. I didn't feel like this scene worked for me, in particular, because Half-Tel didn't

earn any sympathy at all. He was an asshole the entire time and so he pulls him 180 and turns into concerned surgeon and... Well, I don't think that the script was asking us to have any sympathy for him. I think it was like his redemption moment. Like, wow, like even though he was an asshole, I guess he was coming from a place of, like, genuine concern. He was just wrong in his decisions surrounding that concern. Yeah, I guess so. Not to defend this episode or anything. Oh, not to defend an indefensible episode.

Yeah, and so, uh, so half-dils, like, uh, if you want to go say goodbye, I think these are the remaining moments. So they go in there and witness her final words to data. You can tell that mentally she's kind of spooling down, and in a way, like, kind of working backwards through her intelligence. Like, she grows less and less sophisticated, and until finally she just steers into the middle distance. And that's it. Yeah. And, uh, dado comes out out of the bridge and announces that, uh, Lawll is no more, and, uh, Picard's like, hey, at a boy, like, that's, that's, that's, uh, but we're all, we got your back.

And, dado's like, no, no, like, law is still here. I downloaded her into my own mind. So she's, she's, she's going to be around. Yeah. Which in a weird way, like, like the way that he describes it is, like, all of her experiences are my experiences now. Like I have, I have all of it. Like, we are now, we're like two people living in me,

which also means that data has kissed Riker, which I thought was a fun thought. It was a fun thought. Yeah. So data is made out with two bridge crewmen. Yeah, pretty cool. And that's the end of the episode. I mean, the bridge crew rises and

Offers their condolences to data and data is like no, I appreciate that but you know a lot lives it. Laugh lives on. Yeah And that's our end. That is our end. What do you think of this episode then? It doesn't sound like you liked it. I think there's a lot to like about it. It's just boring to me. I feel like the central drama- This is a 20 minutes of story stretched into 40. Yeah, and the central drama is just a retread

of the Command or Maddox episode where they establish data's personhood. They didn't really add to that argument at all. the Command or Maddox episode where they established data's personhood. Right. You know, like they didn't really add to that argument at all. And the like there is a small amount of interest in the idea of an Android first becoming aware of its surroundings and learning how to plausibly interact with humans. But it's not interesting enough to build half the episode around it. Yeah.

Yeah, like I think from a performance standpoint, I thought that like the acting in this episode is as good as needed to be, if not a little bit better, and there's some fun Lawyer Picard, there's some fun stuff with the admiral like like data did great, the featured performer did great, I don't have her name here but that was Hayward Todd as Lail. Yeah and but that did not add up to an episode that I was like on the edge of my seat watching or even thinking about a lot, you know? Yeah. Data had never expressed an interest in reproduction until now. I guess outside of fucking Tasha Yare, like this really sort of came out of nowhere.

Yeah. I mean, how often have you ever gone to a business conference and actually came back inspired? That never happens. That's a good point. I didn't think about that way, but. That may be the most unrealistic part of this episode. I thought Freak's direction was pretty deft

for a first timer. Like, he did a lot of this episode. I thought Freak's direction was pretty deft for a first timer. Like he did a lot of steady cam, I noticed. He chose a lot of scene opening shots from different angles, angles we hadn't seen before. He got to play with a set that we've never seen before, which was the Laal lab. Yeah, and the scene where the Admiral meets data is in that lab and

it's really, really smart shooting like really great directing the camera and that scene everybody is shot in a single that's kind of closed in on all sides by stuff in the foreground. Yeah, and they it really like establishes a feeling of they're all kind of dead set in their point of view, which is a better, like a more artistic choice than you get in a lot of these episodes. But I don't know. It just didn't quite add up to a fun one for me. He God shot a conference room scene as the establishing shot that was like really interesting.

And I don't remember ever seeing a shot like this on the show and I don't know if we ever return to a shot like that again. But it's neat to see rooms that you've seen a bunch of times from different angles like that. Yeah, he had to just be like in that set a million times and looking up at the catwalk and going like Why don't we ever just take a tripod up there, right? Yeah, pretty cool. I hope that means we get more More visuals like this down the road. Yeah Adam, why don't we check in with the subspace radio and see if we have any Messages coming on over it. I'm gonna mess with the dials and see if we get anything.

I'm gonna mess with the dials and see if we get anything. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Need a supplement on it. A supplement? A supplement. A supplement. Yeah, it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship.

We only have one message on the Prior one subspace today Adam and it's a personal message. It's from Captain Josh and it is to Clint quote John Bene Ramsey Weisman. What does it even mean? I don't know. Is Clint missing? Missing and presumed dead? She was like a little mishun shine type, right? Clint must be a very special girl. A pageant girl? Clint, pageant, queen, wise men. So here's the message.

Thanks for all the dope porch hangs. While you do take me to lead South Dakota for weeks, leaving me in that shit condo while you seek dark matter in the science minds, I know it brings us closer to first contact. Next, can we try mango tango and quit the boring strawberry licious? Also, my atomizer needs replacing. Your beloved vape pen, Captain Josh. This is, to be clear, this is all untundra right? Yeah I feel like a little bit like Picard in in Darmach you know. Yeah sure all of this means something but it's metaphor.

Why are they drinking mango tangos and strawberry elitious when a cocoa no-no is sort of available? Oh yeah that's a good point. Dark matter in the science minds. What do you think that means? I get the sense that this is a very special relationship and I'm glad that we have viewers that have close personal relationships, you know. Yeah, me too. I'm glad they I'm glad they use all this jargon. You're beloved vape pen. Yeah, the imagination really runs wild with the idea of somebody being a vape pen of somebody else. Is Captain Josh the the ferryboat captain that you're familiar with? Is this the same guy? I think that's what the what the reference is, yeah.

I'm glad to have him as a viewer of our show. You think he's up there laughing as he drives you to work every day? Yeah, it looks back at me like. Okay, I think he's playing tower defense games on his phone, but really he's getting boated around by Captain Josh. Wink, finger gun, giant cloud. That's how he disappears. Well, thank you so much for sending a message using our airwaves. If you'd like to send a message, Fair Viewer, you can go to MaximumFund.org slash Jumbo

Tron. It's $100 for a personal message or $200 for a commercial message, and it helps keep the lights on around here. So thanks. A Greatest Gen 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 Share Your Embarrassment 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 Share Your Embarrassment 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 get stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the spaceweirds. 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, Nauseewalt. Can I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you.

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Whoa, Russ. Hey, 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 nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this off. We've got to get on the art.

It is about terrain, about a spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually, we're podcasters. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans, but we're 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 same like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boats. We came to by two. What do you think? Ono Ross and Carrie, available on MaximumFun.org Hey Ben. Yeah Adam.

Shemotas, do you have one? I'm gonna put you on the spot this time actually. You're gonna turn the Shemototable on me? I'm gonna make you take the first isle in your chip out of the stack. The purest expression of a drunk Shimoda in any episode is the individual having the most fun. I thought the tone of this episode was especially serious, except for the scene in 10 Forward when Laal kisses Riker. Yes.

And just the look on his face of joy and panic and titillation. That was really broad freaks right there. Nonverbal, nonverbaly communicating about a thousand different emotions at that exact moment. I thought it was great. And he's only on screen for like 30 seconds, but he contained multitudes in that moment. And so my vote is for Freak's performance as Riker being sort of rape-kissed, I guess.

I don't, he said what I was gonna say, but so much better than I could have ever said it. I'm sorry. See, that's what you get for turning the Shimoda on better than I could have ever said it. I'm sorry. See, that's what you get for turning the Shimoda on me. I stole your Shimoda Thunder. I think that I would have given a light thunder in the distance, and you gave us a full blown overhead thunder clap.

And I really appreciated it. Really zoost that Shimoda this time. Yeah. Do we have a better episode coming up next time? We do! And next episode is season 3 episode 17 Sins of the Father. When his long lost brother appears on the Enterprise, Wharf is thrust into a life or death battle for his family's honor. Do you remember that episode, Adam?

I feel like this is the first of many episodes where War Femte card truck it back to the Klingon home world and do some loyering, right? Yeah. And it's hard to distinguish this one from the many of those that follow. So I will just say that that this is the beginning of a longer story arc that I do remember. Nice. Well, I can't wait to watch it with you. Yeah, me too. Let's forget about the offspring.

Much like we've forgotten about the band. Ben viewers far and wide can support our show by going to Maximumfund.org slash Donate and making it something they contribute to either one time or every month. We also really appreciate people going and reviewing our podcast on whatever podcast aggregators that they use. There's a number of them out there. There's the iTunes, there's the Overcast. Those are the only two I know actually, but I know there's more. Yeah, there's a recommend button in Over, and I think it links to your Twitter account so that other people that follow you on Twitter

will see our show in the recommend section. Sure. If they're looking for something new. You know, I always think it would be cool to see our show in the Onion AV Club at some point. I know that they write about podcasts, and I think that we're at the level to get mentioned there from time to time now.

So much of our press has been unsolicited though, it just happens. And now you're, now you're conjuring something, aren't you Ben? Well, it wouldn't it be nice if we were on the AV club. I agree. I'm not saying, I'm not saying anything, but if you like are out there and actually actually know a way for that to happen, we'd love for that to happen. I have no idea how they pick those things or whatever. Don't irritate the people that pick them. I think it's just fun talking about our show with interested people. Yeah.

Wherever they are. That's true. Well, we're also on the Twitter using the hashtag hashtag GreatestGen. You can talk to us about the show and all of our other viewers who participate on there. It's really lively. A bunch of people making funny pictures and funny references. We're on Facebook in a number of places. We've got a group and a page that you can follow and like. We're on Reddit. The maximum fun Reddit is the

official Reddit of the show and we have an unofficial page at our slash greatest gin that a couple of our listeners put together and they did a real fine job on it. Yeah, did you see that there's like Kevin Oxbridge with an inflated doll on the banner of that now? Yes, I did. We should thank Dark Materia for our music and Adam Ragusia for our other music. And with that, we will be back at you next week

with another great episode of Star Trek, the next generation in a super great episode of Star Trek, the next generation, and a super honorable episode of the greatest generation. Make it sound. Maximumfund.org Comedy and culture, artist owned Listener supported