The Greatest Generation - Boot Tire (ENT S4E9)

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

When V’Las is still warmongering at the Vulcan tactics table, Archer and T’Pau insist they must deliver the Kir’Shara to the High Command personally. But after Shran kidnaps Soval and tortures him for no reason, the Andorians team up with the Entrepreneur to avert V’Las’s war. What do all cults on Vulcan have in common? Which rules are outlined in the first chapter of the torturer’s manual? Who likes to travel with a knife roll? It’s the episode that could have been called Reunification Zero.Support the production of The Greatest GenerationGet a thing at podshop.biz!Sign up for our mailing list!Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Riker - Quantum LeapThe Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaFriends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | JusticeDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | Mastodon | Bluesky | ThreadsAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's to the finest crew in starving. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me. This is a parody. Paramount owns the sun. Welcome to The Greatest Generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys just a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast. I'm Adam Pranica. I'm Ben Harrison.

The way you cut off the end of the word embarrassing. Made me think you were just going to stop right there. We're just embarrassed in general. It's not about having a Star Trek podcast. If you've been paying attention at all, and I'm going to guess you haven't, I try to put a different spin on that open every single time, all half of how many episodes? Is this? 606?

Something like that. 303 episodes. Try to move. pauses around, emphases, spicing it up, you know? Trying to put the right emphases on the right syllables. I don't want anyone to put together one of those reels where they cut together a sequence of all 606 show opens and they sound identical. It's like playing a fucking nickelback song on top of any other nickelback song and like the differences are imperceptible. I don't want that for us.

That would be embarrassing. I remember when we did the mashup of all the different things that we referred to Admiral who uses a beard trimmer to trim his beard, and yet there's never any clippings in the bathroom sink that he does it at. And I was, like, humiliated to discover how many times I had taken the same or similar runs at things to call him. Because I wasn't really keeping track of it. It's not like I had a spreadsheet, you know. Your boy had a spreadsheet. Nothing has ever shocked me less

Your voice still does I should look that up See where that lives Because with the comeback Of that character We're going to need a deep well I mean the time is now To start brushing up on

Things Distinguished Gentlemen Make us think of I know Yeah Yeah man how you doing today Oh I'm great Wife is out of town for work So I'm doing work all the time

I love it getting it done Eating the seafood Rainiest week in ages Which means I don't have the distraction Of any outside activities I just keep it indoors and do the work Very boring Yeah

Yeah your dog loving the rain Not exactly No No Dara is definitely going a little punchy With it Like Doesn't want to go out in the water

but also doesn't want to not get walked. And it's like, man, I can't help you when these two things are mutually exclusive. Yeah, I mean, the schedule gets all fucked up. You're just looking for gaps in the rain. Yeah. To get done what you need to get done. You do. Hey, well, my power has been going in and out a little bit over the last couple days.

So why don't we get into the episode and keep our fingers crossed that everything stays plugged in and going good? what's that like i don't know yeah it's been it's been weird i can't remember a time when it's happened to me in l.a but uh for some yeah the rain i mean it's a city designed around the premise that it will never do this and yeah more and more that proves to have been a terrible choice by our city fathers well for twice a year that is uh deeply incorrect isn't it yeah you know i think that uh the people that run l-a now would do well to go back to the true intentions of the founding father, much like the people running Vulcan,

could use a little brush up on what Surak was all about. Yeah, originalism. Uh-huh. That's what we're after here in the third of a three-part arc. Yeah, it's season four, episode nine, Kershara. Got a free speech and guitar. In case, you forgot what happened last time

on Enterprise. Let's catch you up real quick. Okay. Mrs. T. Dead. RSV. Saval has been fired and is on Team Starfleet now. That's nice. That's weird.

That voice in Archer's head has told him to get the Kashara, which he does, but the orbital bombardment by Vlas's forces is totally laying waste to the compound and they found a little perch. to watch the fireworks from.

The reason for Velas' strategy is revealed to be that he wants the pacifists off the board so he and his henches can pursue a war of adventure against Andoria who they suspect is building a Zindi-like weapon or at least it's just told people that they are. Yeah.

Finally, enterprises en route to Andorria with a certain TripTucker in charge and we are dropped into our cold open in this episode. So we've seen this place before. This is like the Vulcan High Command's tactics table. And it seems to be like there's something projecting the information onto the table from above. But they get their layout of the maps and Vlas is explaining that the Andorians are preparing to defend Pan Makar, which some of these guys are like, why would they defend that?

We gave it to them willingly when we did the big treaty. between Vulcan and Andoria because it made us so uncomfortable how similar it sounded to Ponfar. And you know we don't like to talk about that with outsiders. We do not discuss it. I love Vlas's quick thinking when even the slightest curiosity about his weird plan comes up. Like, shouldn't we all be here to review this idea? Blas is like, no, man. No, Andorian agents are all around us.

Yeah. It's necessary to limit access to this information. Minister Kuvak is giving Senate Democrat in a big way, like, wait a second. Hey, man, I'm not so sure. I mean, I'm going to vote for it. But his protestations about the way this dude runs roughshod over the rules don't seem to have much weight behind them. Blas is like we've given them. the impression that we're taking Pan Makar back.

But in fact, our forces are getting ready elsewhere to do other shit. Just in case you were on the fence, like you're in the room with Vloss and you're a little on the fence about his whole plan. And whether or not there's his indie weapon, have I got a visual aid for you? Actually, this is Vloss that has it. He's like, look, I know you may not be ride or die with this whole invade and Doria plan like I'm starting to roll out to you here. but you got to see the footage of this thing in action,

and this is just the test version. It was pretty cool that he got Tocolon Capowal to come out and give this part of the presentation. I cannot tell you everything that we know, but what I can share with you is deeply troubling. They've got footage of actual aluminum tubes being delivered to the Andorians, and also the Zindy prototype weapon getting tested on a moon.

Don't you wish you had visual aids to prove your point anytime something like this came up in your life? Like the words, you're just going to have to believe me. You'd never even have to say them because you would have the visual aids. Right. But what you're failing to anticipate is that the only person I have this kind of disagreement with is my wife. And using evidence to prove my point would not help me, quote unquote, win the argument. it would get me into deeper trouble. That's so weird that a trained lawyer would have a reaction to evidence like that.

Yeah, I mean, I think the issue is more just that I would like be mounting anything like a defense when I'm clearly wrong. We know this. Vlas is doing his best to fight off the questions, fight off the suspicion, from his cabinet. Here's his major point. And if you don't believe anything else, believe this. Why would the Endorians have the technology if they didn't intend to use it? Huh?

Yeah. They're not just going to have this thing and keep it in a barn. No, they're going to take this thing out for a spin. We don't want the smoking gun to be the destruction of Vulcan. Right. That wouldn't be logical. Now, we'll save that for many years later. Yeah.

After the theme, we start on Vulcan. Vulcan, in the caves, where you'd think getting back to Enterprise would be job one, right? Everyone? All three of us agree that it's going back to Enterprise. That would be the best for our safety. Huh? No, we don't, Tepal, says Archer and Tepal. They both agree that, in fact, the priority should be getting the true teachings of Surak to the capital,

because when this book shows up, the high command is going to be so shaken by the, the revelation of its existence, that they'll be like, man, we got to read this book and not do all of the other stuff. If you saw this episode and the episode where Archer got roped on by an insectoid egg, we have to help these children. You might think that he's just not interested in being capped into the Enterprise, generally. He just wants to do cool stuff on planets. We need to get back to Enterprise. Tell Starfleet what we've learned about the embassy bombing. We have a more important mission. We've got to get this to the capital. I don't understand. Yeah. Topal is just as incredulous as you would be if those were the two episodes you had

seen. Like, this is a real Star Trek captain we're talking about here? Like, are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. Yeah, he's in a real freelancing mood here. There is a point to this, though. Like, Enterprise equals safety. Yeah, but Enterprise doesn't solve this problem with the high command. And maybe if we took the Kashara to the folks in the high command, that would stop their attacks on the Syrianites. Yeah, I mean, I think that this is also a little bit of writing for convenience because they've been out of communications with the enterprise this entire time they've been in the forge. And they don't know that the enterprise is nowhere close to Vulcan at this point. So I kind of feel like the fastest way to Capitol City might be beam me up, beam me back. back down.

Yeah, but it's going to be a long wait at the rendezvous point, like you're saying. They're just going to have to walk it. So anyways, Topal is very confident that this is the right move, and Topal is outvoted and outranked, so she has to go along with it. On Enterprise, how at home does Tripp look in the clarinet rental closet on that side of the desk? That's now his chair, and he's fine with it. Yeah. He's sitting right in that thing. Yeah, he's taking a meeting with Reed, which has got to be

worst part of the new job, right? Not only am I the captain now, but that guy is the fucking first officer? Anything else? Permission to speak freely. Yeah, and Reed is piping up about all the doubts he's got about skipping out on the order. Admiral Gardner gave it to them, after all. You're just going to not go back to Earth like we've been asked. Is this Reed playing the role that he imagines a first officer needs to play?

Like, let's, let me play the devil's advocate. Let me try it. Because I was kind of surprised at how turn tail he was in the argument he's making. He's like, let's not get involved. Let's not use our weapons. Let's do anything but stick our nose in it, which seems like the opposite of the mindset, a tactics officer is in most of the time. maybe he's got someone waiting for him back home.

Someone he's been writing letters to. Maybe he's got several dozen someone's. Yeah. Trips like, yeah, we're going back to Earth, Reed. The thing is, we're taking the long way past Andoria. You get it, right? Yeah. I mean, Riedas doubts about this, too.

Like, why would we double cross our closest allies, the Vulcans, to warn Andoria, about this? It's a great question. Saval comes in and as Reid is leaving, Tripp is like, all right, man, so we're doing this. We're going to warn the Andorians, but how do we get them to believe us?

They don't really like us that much, except for this one guy who only really seems to lack my boss. Saval's way of convincing Tripp to proceed with this weird plan. It convinces me if Saval is like, you know, Dark Archer would do this, which is sort of the case that he's making.

He says, sure, in dialogue, he says, Archer would do this too. But I think we both know he's talking about Dark Archer here, right? Yeah, W-W-D-A-D is the bumper sticker that Tripp needs to, you know, put it on the desk and on the mirror in his bathroom, just like he needs to look at that all the time to stay in the right mindset.

That's what I keep telling myself. It's also what the mom tells the misbehaving kids is going to happen when your father comes home from work. I'm talking about World War Dad. Once he goes scorched earth, I'm that behind. Hey, listen, kids, your dad can be the ally or he can be the Axis. If we change the words, then it's fair use all day. Saval thinks he can get Trip a meeting with someone from Andor

who will listen to him. And we cut back to the caves where Topal's like, I mean, even if this artifact is what you say it is, like, does anybody give a shit? Like, Velas planned to go to war. That's his agenda. Like, his agenda isn't, let's see what happens and, like, read a book about it from

1,500 years ago and see if that makes us feel strongly one direction or another. I really like how Topal is so consistent with her skepticism and how not mean it sounds. I mean, of course, it wouldn't be mean coming from a Vulcan. But I just feel like her way of doing this, of articulating what is basically a feeling of who gives a shit about this thing. I'm concerned about real world events and consequences, you know? Yeah.

Yeah. she's also skeptical about the katra and whether that's actually it i mean i feel like that is like a little bit less consistent because she's like you're out of your mind and it's clearly because something happened to you but also i'm waiting to withhold judgment on whether you have sir ex katra it's sort of a related skepticism right like yeah both of these things sound a little woo-woo for Topal. Akam's razor is cutting up all of the things that

Archer is talking about, but especially the fact that he is certain that Vlas intends to go to war because that wouldn't be something Surak knew, and he's like, well, maybe like I got some extra shit with Saran's mind-meld, you know, some of the this always happens with Saran, right?

Like you wrap up a piece of fish and then you take it off and you're like, oh, this is a piece of plastic, I should reuse it, but no, it's permanently fishy, you know. You can't reuse it. You just can't, guys. Archer's defensive things is a lot like Vlosses in that he just keeps coming up with more and weirder excuses for what he's doing.

I was chosen for this. Chosen. Oh, that's not the first dude who's hundreds of years old who's advising me. Maybe there's a, yeah, there's another dude behind a different column I'm getting intelligence from. You don't know him, actually. This is T-Pain behind the car. call him. And he's advising me now. He's so worked up, he almost walked right into a trap.

Yeah. Yeah. Gallicite. Did you know anything about Gallicite? I didn't. Evidently, when you walk in a part of the cave covered in galacite, it's like a turned-on microwave oven. Yeah. Don't bring your knives in there. Don't bring anything metal. Shit will spark. And we get a demonstration of this for later. This is Chekhov's Gallicite Corridor. Thanks for the warning. T-Pow is like, this little show I put on isn't going to come close to how hard this hits when it pays off later, Archer. All right?

Trust me. Cut to the Vulcan High Command, where Vlas has given the after-action report of the Syranite bombardment. Fair to say he's a little disappointed by the lack of total destruction and death having occurred. heard there. There are a few stragglers, survivors out in the desert, including a human survivor and the Kashara. Oh, God. This is the worst news for Vlas. Even before you realize that Vlas isn't a believer at all. Right. This is all Sironi propaganda. He is all in on the premise that the Khashara does not exist and like all chips on the table for for that being the case and everybody else is like well I mean like it's really old so like it could be a myth but it could be not a myth

and he's like shut up it doesn't exist I mean are you saying that Sirenites aren't real because it's clear that you just killed kind of a lot of them including the the titular Suren right he's gone Yeah. I mean, you'd think that that would make Vloss pretty psyched about the like overall success of the mission. Like a couple of stragglers and one lump of stone that is allegedly a kershara. That doesn't sound like that big of a fly in the ointment, but he has really worked up. He is short with everybody and very angry about any lapses in effectualness. He's got to catch him all.

And for that, he taps a hench to go find Talak. Talak who will meet later. And this person's going to go mop up the survivors. Which, after describing it that way, it sounds like he's going to do gore-setting stuff with some dust busters. Ben, it was at the end of the scene that I realized what was happening with production.

Did you notice the really nifty oneer this scene was? Yeah, because there's like the country. Contrarian dude, like, marches down the hall and Velas goes out to talk to the person and the, you know, at the desk, the secretary, essentially. Right, but, like, so often you'll get one of these where you're, like, over the shoulder with someone going through the kitchen and Goodfellas, or, like, you're going in one direction pulling away from them as they walk toward the camera. Right. But there's a really fun combination of both of those things here where, like, cameras walking backwards as our characters are walking toward it. and then we do a little spin move in the chamber and then we follow back out into the place where the hench has talked to and there is a lot of dialogue being spoken here i i thought this

is really well done really impressive yeah it's a cool seed and and like you can only do that when your guest actor great call is like really fucking hitting and like robert foxworth is going to knock something like this out of the park yeah he does it's really good it's the reason it works. One of them anyway. On the entrepreneur, we pull up to a nebular and Saval is like, I swear, the Andorians are in there. And they have no telemetry to indicate that this is correct. But they go ahead and throw a face time at the nebula. And Saval is the one on the radio first. He's like, hey, guys, sorry to call like this, but we did decrypt all your shit and we know that you're in there. Tripp has to like lend his voice to it. It's like, hey, we're really mean a lot

to us if you did come out and a bunch of Andorian ships come out and they look beefy as hell. It's kind of amazing how much this episode is about putting your faith in people and things with very little proof just because they have a little power. Like you see it with folks in the way they treat Vlas. You see it with what's happening in the caves on Vulcan going with whatever Archer is going to choose as a plan, even though he's acting crazy, and you get the same thing here with Saval. There are these moments in every scene where you're like, is this guy fucking nuts? What is happening here?

I do feel like this episode, this three-episode arc, but also this show, are really kind of about faith of the heart. You said it. They tell Schran what they came here to tell him, which is that Andoria is getting invaded pretty soon directly. And it's not that place that sounds like Ponfar. It's it's And Doria. It's the homeworld. And he does not like this news.

He does not take it well. He is killing the messengers left and right with the way he reacts to this. Mostly because he feels like the war will be really bad for both. Vulcan and Andoria. Like he's, he's like, what idiot thought this up? I mean, far worse than would even be generally known, I think. Yeah. I mean, what can you say about Jeffrey Combs as Schran that hasn't been said already?

Except maybe this. I feel like we're closer to his face in this scene than maybe we ever have been. Great job with the prosthetic and the makeup and all that. But also, I've never noticed before how blue his teeth and tongue are. they're so blue they definitely gave him like a blue popsicle before shooting this stuff you people are so used to lying

you don't even tell the truth to each other you ever have to chew on that tablet as a kid that the dentist gives you to prove that you are like hey kid you want to know how tough it is to brush your teeth and like get everything chew on this tablet and it'll illuminate all the spots that you missed brushing I feel like a lot of kids are given

this at a very young age to kind of prove the dentist's point. It's a terrible tasting pill, but it stains your teeth in a way that looks a lot like this. I mean, combs will do anything for verisimilitude to get the part right. He'd even go to a children's dentist to nail the teeth. No, they're not going to sue. They got no case. Because parody and damn it protects me. So he's like, eventually calms down enough to be like, okay, well, assuming this new intelligence that you're giving me is right and isn't some devious Vulcan trick, I have to run this up the flagpole to, you know, make sure that my superiors agree with it. And Tripp is like, well, you don't have a lot of time because these

Vulcans are fucking crazy. Something rarely said about the Vulcan people, I think. Yeah. I mean, it's been revealed that they have chem trails on Vulcan at him. And we see them in the next scene. No wonder they're going nuts. All these like flights over the forge to see what's happening, dusting them with chemicals. It's another moment where Topal has to prove that she is more of a real doctor person than a do your own research person. Like dots and prayers are not going to help archers dissent into madness, right? Shouldn't we take him to someone professional to deal with this? And because they can't get on the same page, it really means that to Paul and Tapau are at Archer's Head, Archer's heads.

They're talking this over while Archer is having a little nap because humans are not as rugged and durable as Vulcans. Tapau is like, this dude needs a priest, not a politician. And they start to talk about, you know, the way he is reacting to his mind meld and then how Tepal is extra emotional in the wake of the death of her mother. And Tepa was like, oh, man, you know, I melded with her so you could like experience a little bit of TELAS if you want to with a meld with me. And Tepal is like, no.

I, you know, once melded twice shy, I got that disease from the other time I melded. and it completely scrambled me. Can't do it. I thought this scene was trying to tell me something visually that it wasn't. Like, Tapao is in the shadows for all of this. Like, she might as well have, like, tinted fingers under her chin, like, talking about this idea of a meld transmission of a disease and how she could easily clear the whole thing up with her own meld.

Like, I thought this was a good character turning bad, simply because Tappal is in the sunlight and she's in the dark this way. Yeah. No. It's just that Tapao really wants to help and is a much more experienced melder. And an experienced melder can fix Pinar syndrome before they really talk. It's like, it's almost like two characters kissing before they really realize that they like each other. Like, it's just like, oh my God, this is happening. we're really doing this

our minds are merging the minds are one in the nebular on Shran's ship in what can only be an interrogation room we get a scene where Shran orders the kidnapping of Saval

and he is beamed right into this torture recliner that's in front of him and if you look close on the headrest you can actually see what branded has been it's a torture boy. Hmm. Leans back just right.

It's got some clip show stuff for the head. Looks like you could easily get shishamed in this chair. It's so weird. You go to so many, like, you go to a major city, but then you go to, like, towns outside the city, and you'll run into just a bunch of strip malls full of torture boy stores. Yeah. Next to other, like, interior design places. Never see anyone in them.

How do these places stay open? I mean, our generation has vape stores. Like, who is doing all the, like, financing to open all these strip mall vape stores that nobody ever seems to be patronizing? Like, boomers had this. This was their vape store, and they're still there. You know how the vape store just has way too much light coming out of it? It's oppressive. It's so sharp and hot and bright.

Yeah. Maybe that's what the Torture Boy showroom needs. Right. Turn up the lights. If you're trying to sell furniture. I want to see how clean those torture boys are, you know? Exactly. Yeah.

So he explains to Saval, who is in the process of getting clamped even more into this chair, that the Andorians have figured out some information extraction techniques, W-S-R-S-T, the unique challenges of the Vulcan mind. This is not a pain kind of torture. This is a turn-off your emotional regulation. kind of torture. They've got like a big dial and he's going to start turning it up

and what he would like Saval to reveal is the real location of the Vulcan fleet. And Saval's like, you don't need to torture me for that. I came to you with that specific information.

That is not necessary. I already told you. Were you not paying attention in that scene? Shran? Shran is like, I wish I felt like I believed you, but I don't.

I got to feel it in here. so he starts turning it up and is like tell me the location of the fleet and so if all repeats what he has already said also you better turn my headphones up even more if you want to be sure because this is the same song i'm going to be singing the entire time baby i have to admit i'd forgotten that gary graham had more than just like forward and reverse for the actor's gears because he is in here stirring the gearbox with all that he's feeling he's feeling in this torture boy chair. I thought he was incredible. Yeah. Really well done. He really sinks his teeth into this. And I think it's important to say that it feels like Soval losing

it, not just like whatever Gary Graham is thinking of doing next. Great distinction. Yeah. Yeah. He never stops acting. On the entrepreneur, they notice that Saval has gone missing. And they at first try internal sensors to see if they can locate them. That doesn't work. So then they try external sensors. And they realize that there's a Vulcan aboard the lead endorian ship. You skipped the step where Tripp tries radioing him, just to be sure? You got to do that, right? You also have to radio? Yeah. Oh, I don't believe the sensors. Nobody picked up the phone either? Yeah. Damn. Okay, Tripp. We're sure now. Thanks. Yeah. Tactical alert, Trip starts rattling the saber, yelling on the hail at the Andorians. And the Andorians run for it. They like head into the nebular. And they're like, fuck, we better chase them. And they do. But that immediately scrambles their ability to navigate. So Tripp has to leave the bridge to fix that down in engineering. And that's going to take a while.

What a great place to hide out if you're the Andorians. Really well chosen. Flawless spot. Not so great are the caves on Vulcan. T. Paul tells Archer to take a break because the atmosphere is different in here. T-Pow fucks off for a second, too, right? Leaving Tepal and Archer to chat. They talk about his meld with Siren, and I was like, I want to hear about what happened with Tepal's meld with Tepau.

Like, obviously, Archer is different, and this is like centered him or whatever, and he's acting different. But what about her? Do you feel like we sometimes get an action interstitial to clear the chamber on story the way we got here? Because I, too, was missing that scene, the aftermath of that. Yeah. They don't even come back to it, do they? Like, I don't feel like I got any resolution.

Maybe you'll be addressed in a future episode about Topal or something. There's no, like, mental cold sore that has been there for DePaul for ages since that one bad meld that is now gone. Thanks to T-Pow There's no change in her at all Yeah Legally it's just a fart joke You will never take the greatest chin alive Ben would rather die

Rather die Archer is like I don't know why you're like so against these syrinites Like they're just trying to follow the true path of Surak Like that's laudable isn't it And she's like all of the crazies on Vulcan are claiming that Like, they all say, we're doing what Surak really wanted us to do.

That's, like, one of the first things you do when you start a cult on Vulcan is you claim that this is what Surak really wanted Vulcans to be up to. It's really light proselytizing by Archer here. Like, the whole, like, religious tourism of, like, you know, I've started meditating. Maybe you should start meditating, too, as kind of an in-road to his new lifestyle. Tepal's not falling for this. No. I may have had disagreements with the High Command, but that doesn't mean I'm going to join a radical faction.

Tepau interrupts their argument, and Tepal goes off with her. He cut back to Saval, who still has not convinced Sran of the truth of the location of the Vulcan Fleet, and he's really getting extreme with his reactions now in the chair, so volatile.

I'll turn the antenna from your skin. He starts telling this story about a guy named Narak, who was a soldier on Vulcan and, like, saw a cloud, but that cloud was actually an army, and they invaded, and then they, like, left Narok alive to live with the shame of having thought the army was a cloud, and now his name means fool in their language. That's the coolest fucking story I've ever heard in my entire life.

That's insane. Can I hear it again? Do you have time? Yeah. I mean, he's the drunk Shomod. of Vulcan culture, this Nureak guy, right? Yeah, he really is. This is like some

fucking Captain Dathan shit, I felt like Nurak, when the cloud came to the wall. Yeah. Shran's like, cool story, bro. Turn it up! And more torture is rained down on Saval.

Speaking of more, some commandos show up and start fighting our away team in the forge, and there's this big old Star Trek fight. I guess there's no phasers because they wouldn't work in the forge, presumably. They're doing pretty good against these guys, even though they came with big-ass Vulcan stick weapons. But Topal goes down, and Archer is telling Ta-Pow about how he, like, refuses to leave Topal behind. But the fight starts to turn in the favor of the commandos, and De Pauch throws Archer down a crazy hole,

and they both slide down it. There's like a seed like this in Goonies, right? The distinction, crucially, is that in Goonies, the water slide is wet. Yeah, this one is dry. And this is a dry water slide, which doesn't look pleasurable for anyone involved. No.

Oh, it burns, it burns, a bird, a bird! Hey, Ben, did you clock Talek being played by Todd Stashwick? I did. It's a very young Stashwick. I didn't clock him until later when he, like, actually was interacting with the characters. The fight scene, he got past me. But yeah, Stashwick's first time on track, I guess. I barely recognized him without facial hair. I know. I feel the same way about you. It's the voice, you know? Yeah. The voice was what did it for me. I was like, I was writing notes and I was like, wait a second. This isn't your world human. This being separated thing is going to be a problem with the water slide escape having separated them from DePaul on the other side.

It's no good. She is not the perfect captive from Archer's perspective because when she wakes up and they start asking questions, she's like, oh yeah, those idiots are taking that artifact to Mount Saleh because they think it's the writings of Surak and they think that a priest translated for them. I wonder if in some real backburner way, in the back of Tepaul's mind, she sees this as a way to once and for all disprove the Syranite business entirely. Like, Talek finding them at Mount Saleh actually achieves a couple of goals here, right? She is definitely not covering for her boss in this moment in a way that I found a little bit troubling. But I guess that's what it is. Yeah. She's been captain before.

She claims to be a serenite, though, in this interaction. I guess compared to Todd Stashwick, she is. I think she's plausibly serenite, given the condition of her hair. Or the unconditionedness of her hair, should I say. I think you should. Things are looking a little flyaway to my eye, aren't they? She's like, oh, man, I'm fucking exhausted, and now I'm a prisoner. Can I, like, sit down and hang out?

And he's like, I mean, you're lucky I haven't killed you. Yeah. I really used to have a lot of respect for you. You know, I served under you. You don't remember me. But back when you were in the Vulcan military, we did the to med mission together. Look at you now. So sad.

I mean, Tepal would never show what or say it. It's got to hurt to hear this, right? Yeah. It was like a student finding you in the grocery store when you're like shopping late at night for your single French bread pizza and depression wine, you know? Yeah. Like, you don't want a student calling you out like that. Well, especially if this student has been led to believe that you are the perpetrator of, like,

one of the most heinous terrorist attacks in the history of your planet. Yeah, that hits pretty hard, too. Schran is still trying to melt Saval's brain back in the torture chamber. when Saval starts laughing and Tran's like, we got more levels we could go up. Like, this has got further settings. We haven't gotten to 11 yet, Seval. Do you think that like,

you know how there's like a manual for negotiating, right? And I don't mean in business, I mean like negotiating with someone who's standing on the edge of a roof or like who's taken hostage or something. I feel like one of the first things said in that book is like get on the side of that person. like try to find some commonality and logic or reason, like try to make the case that, yeah, like, bad shit has happened to you specifically, but I'm here to help you, like, to establish that sort of relationship.

You want to be Sam Jackson, you don't want to be knee bomb, let's just say. Do you think there is also a torturer's manual where one of the first chapters in that book is like always say that you regret what you're about to do and that the thing, the device, the instrument, or whatever that you're using, has many more settings than one could possibly imagine, many more settings, even greater and harder and more painful than the one that you're using at that exact moment. Is this before or after you unroll that thing that you carry around with like all the hammers and knives and pokers and things in it? The dentist roll.

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. That's also in that book. Hey, this is just me, but why don't we figure out who made? manufactures that role, find out who their customers are, arrest those guys. Oh, geez. You know? I don't like that.

I like traveling with a little knife roll when I go to cook at my parents' house. Oh, yeah, you're going to go torture some people over your mom and dad's house. It gives me something to do. No, sir, this meat tenderizer is, I use it to tenderize meat. And this fingernail polar outer, I use it for, you know, when they don't get all the quills out of a hen. We got to ask this. I mean, eventually, we have to adjudicate it.

We love Tran up to this point, but now he's a torturer. Yeah. Of a guy that we came around to being a big fan of in Saval. Does this episode change your feelings about Tran going forward? Like, what would it do to your relationship with a close friend if you went over to their house and saw that they had a chair that they'd taken the cane out of the bottom of. A torture boy. And then there was like a very heavy rope with a huge knot in it right next to it.

You realize that they use it to inflict sack trauma on their victims. It would have to change the relationship, right? Just as it kind of changes how I feel about Tran in a way that I'm sad about. I like liking Tran. I like liking Tran too. But I think we've always known that Tran is out for number. Number one, number one being Schran. And I've got faith of the far heart.

Legally, it's just a far joke. He doesn't get to go up any more notches on the torture chair because a banger gets dropped on his ship. Schran orders them out of the nebula. And the ambassador returned to the entrepreneur because he has been satisfied for some reason that Saval wasn't lying this entire time. that's the most fucked up thing is like I feel complicated

about Schran now and also he didn't get any new information out of this yeah kind of a waste of a torture boy really I mean you gotta get that thing cleaned and set up for the next guy so I guess not

too much time to think about it Tepau and Archer come out of the cave and discover tracks and Tepau can read the tracks and tells Archer that they the commandos have to Paul and they're headed east which is not toward the capital city Archer would like to first rescue to Paul then get the Kashara to the capital city

but Tapao disagrees I mostly noticed this in science fiction movies but also like in any movie that takes place in a desert environment do you think the reason people wear robes. One of the reasons, anyway, why people wear robes or some sort of cape-like garment is to cover the footsteps up as you walk in the sand. Oh, like they wipe them away. Is that it? Hmm. Because I feel like the Syranites know better. They know about this technology. They're probably real cape wearers out there. But a person like the Vulcan High Command troop, he's not going to know that. He's just out there doing mop-up duty. Yeah. He's just, He almost has like a still suit on, like black rubber thing that he's wearing.

Yeah. Walk without rhythm. I don't know. I just think it's very convenient to see footsteps in the desert this way. Yeah. Maybe they left them on purpose. Like it seems like they, like based on the previous scene where they were asking to Paul where they went, like they got a head start on getting to Mount Solaa, basically. Do you think anyone has ever invented a rubber vehicle type?

that instead of treads just looks like the bottom of boots like boot boot boot boot as as the tread all the way around so that when you drive it in in dirt or mud or sand you're giving the impression of like lots and lots of people on the march

instead of just four people in a Jeep that's a great idea right this is good for you know tricking your enemies I should sell this idea this is good yeah this is really good Get out of the business of selling roles of torture implements and into the business of boot tire. My hands are clean with boot tires. The Imperial Guard are redeploying because Shran talked to the bosses and said, yeah, like, you know, Seval didn't tell me what I wanted to hear.

And that just impressed the hell out of me in a torture context. So I believe him now Oh God The ball's on Shran To walk into Six Bay With the floppy arm walk Like he didn't just tortures of all How is he

You've got a lot of nerve pretending you give it to him And to be like satisfied with With what led him to this moment It's great And everybody's like Yeah Shran Like that was so fucked up and uncalled I mean he's gonna recover

but what the fuck, man? Shran, if you were only paying attention in that very first scene when Seval told us where the fleet deployment was going specifically instead of just like going off in your own world

staring out the view screen again, this could have been avoided. Anyway, Shran would love it if they would tag along to help at the intercept. It'd just be good to have a referee on the field for this one,

somebody outside the action. I mean, didn't you get the tingle about this? about instead of it being a referee, they would instead be interference. It just felt like a setup from the start. It really did. I mean,

all bets are off with Fran at this point. What would Dark Archer do? Trips like, fuck yeah. We're going for it. On Vulcan, Talakin Company, here's the cries of the Salat. But it's not a Salat. It's not. Oh, hey, Johnny,

what's up? It's just Teapow doing the Salat call. Those Sera Nites, they all know it. And this causes a couple of these guys to run right into the Galasite trap. I know we both saw one battle after another. A lot has been made about Leonardo DiCaprio's Mexican whistle and how authentic it is. I feel like the Salat call is the Sera Knight Mexican whistle. Sure.

They all know it. I mean, when you're down in the desert for two years, what else do you have to get up to, aside from this and, like, getting really good at melding, you know? Yeah. I wish I could do any impression as good as T-Pow or the other Sera Nights do Salat call. Yeah. It's great. I mean, they could, like, do a whole routine for late night, like, Kevin Pollock, like, you know. Oh, this is a Salat running for, you know, a Senate seat in Georgia.

I think that would sound a little something like. Pollock's one of the greats. Love that. Great guest. At this point, we get the big showdown between Archer and Todd Stashwick. The prowess of the Vulcan Commandos has been, I think, overstated. If they sent their best, not super impressive. And also, their numbers are always obscured due to the bends in the cave, right?

I never had a grasp of whether or not dozens of troops were down there, or if it was like six. Or was it like three? Yeah. Tepal is already gone, though. She's been taken to the high command and Archer neck pinches this dude. And Tapan was like, all right, nice work.

At the high command, Tepal is brought into the presence of Vlas. I did not know Tepal was in this much trouble. Treason is an executable offense, according to Vlas, and he seems a little too. excited to dispense with the punishment. Really does. Really intense moment. And this is when he is told by one of his underlings that the Andorians have positioned ships right in the path of their fleet that is on its way to invade Andoria.

And he absolutely loses his fucking shit. Starships in this moment in time, completely unable to hit the, uh, what is that? the x-axis. We can't do one of these things to go around. Yeah. I think that would be, is that the Z? I don't know.

Oh, fuck it is, isn't it? I'm so humiliated. Well, anyways, 12 Vulcan cruisers are bearing down on Schran and his buddies. You know, I'm going to whiff on something like the Z axis, but then I'm going to nail something like boot tire. And like,

it's just a wash, right? Who cares? Yeah. Nobody tunes into this for a fucking Z-axis. They tune in for boot tire. That's also the difference between Adam and dark Adam, you know?

Sure. W-W-D-A-D is the same acronym. Yeah, it is. It really is. Amazing. Reed is pretty much shitting himself about these Vulcan ships. I need something to do on this ship, come on.

Fair enough. Tren's not excited about it either. Like, this is more ships that they figured they would be going. up against. I mean, a lot of reasons why Reed could be shitting his pants. Is it the amount of targeting he would have to do of the weapon systems on Enterprise? Is that the big fear that grips? Seems really stressful for a guy like Reed. Yeah. On a bluff overlooking the Vulcan city, Tau explains that the, the second the council finds out about the existence of the Kershara, they're going to suddenly rescind their support of Velas.

But they need to get there first, and it's still a pretty long walk. So a transporter would be the way to do it. And Archer thinks he may have a hookup for that. Yeah. In the space battle, Enterprise kind of gets out in between the two fleets and does that thing where they hold the combatants at arm's length on either side so that they can't swing any punches at each other. They're just going to try and keep the parties from getting into any friction

while we figure all this stuff out. I love Schran absolutely yelling at Tripp for doing this. Because from Schran's perspective, Enterprise was on their team, and they moved off their team to go do something that he can't quite understand. So, Schran's, what the fuck, Enterprise,

we're already outnumbered and you're leaving us, kind of message makes so much sense to me. Don't try to be Switzerland now. That sucks. Yeah. cease or desist because you really think it's fair use

The levels of conflict are just like all up and down the chain Like like Minister What is it, Kuvaq? It's like so mad at Velaz. Vlas is mad at him. The And Dorians are mad at the entrepreneur And at the Vulcans. The Vulcans are mad at each other.

It's just like Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man all the way down. Trip tries to convince Velas. to stand down. Like, he's on the radio directly with the Vulcan High Command on this. Like, the Vulcan cruisers are not in communication with the entrepreneur in this moment. Blas does not give a fuck about the prospect of potentially starting a war with Earth as well. And gives the order, like, to his ships, go shoot the Andorians.

And this, like, overwhelming Vulcan fleet starts heading in to the fight. and it looked like an Andorian weapon was the first one to hit the entrepreneur. And it was just because they're like stuck in the middle when the fighting starts, right? I actually clock the Vulcans shooting first and hitting it. Well, I think the Vulcans shoot first, but like a return volley from the Andorians is the first one to hit the enterprise. This is in the context of that thing that Tripp said, though, which was so interesting, was like, hey, if the Andorians are already aware of your plan to attack, let's just call that may be a stalemate. Right.

And also, if you attack and destroy enterprise in this exact moment, it'll look like your fault because I already told Admiral Gardner that that's probably what was going to happen if we don't make it home. And yet, this list of reasons is not enough to get Vlost to stand down. This is true crazy bad guy shit from him. Yeah, he is so committed to the idea of starting this war that even though all of the things that he meticulously put in place to make it look like it was a causes bell I have vanished he's still like we're gonna fucking go ahead I mean right on

down to the henches in in the chamber like some of them one of them tries to pull a strap yeah no like he's got an answer for that too he's got hensches pulling dustbusters on his side he does it's going bunkers uh up there shran does have time amidst this a battle that he's about to lose to radio up to Tripp and tell Tripp that Archer owes him another one. And speaking of Archer, he and Tepao sneak into

the probably most secure facility on the planet Vulcan in the midst of a war breaking out. Like they basically walk into the situation room just in some robes. And they're like, he-hee.

Aren't we sneaky? I think you're definitely smelling them before you see them given the time that they've spent in the forge yeah they definitely didn't stop for a shower in between uh walking out of the forge and into the situation room yeah and minister kuvak gets the gun away from the guy that was trying to try to try to arrest him and amid this standoff archer unveils the kershara and vlas still doesn't believe it even with the kershara right under his nose, does not buy that this is the genuine article. Is that a kishara's a myth?

Turns out that the kashara is like, well, you probably know all about these things. Like that thing you put in a baby's nursery that projects an image of space or the moon or something on the ceiling. Yeah, yeah. Because when Archer plunks this thing. You can tell it's a really old one, though, because it's like the text is all green against black, you know, like the computer that they still. use it an Avis rent-a-car for whatever

reason. It's still really impressive when he turns this thing on. Yeah, it is. Blas is not taking this well. The revelation that there really is the ur-text of Vulcan logic and it is being presented in this room.

This proves nothing. The artifact must be examined in detail. No. Mr. Kuvac lines up shooting him, which was pretty fun. Had to be very satisfied. for him. Yeah.

What does it take to get a Vulcan to boil over? Everyone's got limits. On Enterprise, they're about to hit the limit of how many bangers

they can take. I mean, it seems like it's gerter time at any moment. Time's running out. And then the bangers just dissipate.

Yeah. And we learn the Balkans are withdrawing and they get a hail from the Vulcan High Command, but it's Archer. And he's like, how's it going?

And Tripp is like, great. I thought you were dead again. How many times are going to have to mourn you, Captain? Before I eventually stop. Blas is going to get investigated for all of the crimes that he probably committed to do this. Really nice to imagine, you know, justice being done when a former leader of a society tries to you know, do a coup or wield more power than is given them. Tepal gets a little catch-up with Koss, who's like, hey, I know that you just married me

because T. Les needed her job back. And now that she's dead, I guess you don't have to be married to me anymore. That's mighty decent of him. The change in character stock that Saval has experienced, that Tran has experienced in a different way, and that Koss has gone through. Really breathtaking. Yeah. A lot of volatility in the character market today. A lot of after hours trading. But for Koss to do this, I was like, man, Koss, you're a real one. I made a lot of fun of you earlier for being that derpy Borgs. Yeah. But you're all right, man. But couldn't Koss have just done the nice thing without forcing Tupal to marry him in the first place? That would have been even cooler.

Hey, we can't change what's happened. Okay. Archer unloads his contra on a wise old priest, and he's feeling way better. How disappointed do you feel like the Katra guy is to be transferred to this fucking grizzled old Vulcan? It had to be so much fun to be a passenger inside Archer for. a while, doing Archer shit. Yeah, yeah. Fun to do bad things.

Imagine your Katra being in Latarian Milton for a little while. And now you're just going to be like waking up at five in the morning, eating gruel, and praying every day. Yeah. That sounds terrible. But that's probably what Sorok would be into, right? It's like coming home from vacation for Surak, you know? He's like visited a cool place and he's like, God, it's great here. but ultimately it's about making him appreciate what he has.

What's the thing that the Amish do? Rumspringer. Yeah, it's like Archer Rumspringer, right? Yeah, it is. Aldo Vulcan is in his debt. There's a new era and even the high command will not be there. Like they're going to completely change their political structure based on what happened here what a happy ending it's good news after good news after good news on season

four episode nine kyrshara yeah presumably they've got vloss locked up somewhere right like he didn't just get to walk out of there yeah i mean about that floss is somehow able to have a secret meeting with Taluk, and Taluk is a rom. God fucking damn it. And reunification sounds a little more like a threat than some nice thing to have down the road between the Vulcans and the Romulans in a moment like this. Yeah. I mean, he says reunification is only a matter of time, and we do know that to be true, having seen other Star Trek that addresses that. Yeah.

I don't think he realizes how long a matter of time that is. Would calling this episode Reunification Zero have been a little too much of a mouthful and a little too similar to Unimatrix Zero as a title? I think that if you call it Reunification Part Zero, it betrays the twist so hard. Yeah. Yeah. You know. Can't betray the twist.

It might not make it as fun. of a twist. That's fair. Ben, did you like this episode? I can't pay. Could for late. Got no case. Tempting.

I did like this episode. You know, I don't always love the politics of alien cultures' sequences in Star Trek. I think that as a Star Trek originalist, I'm all about the exploration and seeking out new life and new civilizations. But an occasional diversion into this stuff, When it's done well, it's pretty fun, and I thought this was done well. And I liked seeing Velasket as just deserts, cathartic and, sadly, all too fictional. I mean, and all too temporary, because that guy's just back out on the street. Yeah, but he doesn't get to go with Todd the Rom.

Yeah. So, yeah. That would be too suspicious. I mean, how breathtaking was it for the Vulcan High Command to recognize a mistake and just make a whole bunch of corrections about it. Pretty awesome, pretty aspirational. Yeah. Pretty good, part three.

Yeah. It tied up in a very tight, fast bow at the end, though. It does, yeah. That punctuation at the end is really carrying a lot of weight. Hard to know what's going to happen after this, where Schran is involved, where archers' mentals are involved. I don't know. Yeah.

Any lingering effects for us? Archer. Who knows? Lingering effects for Topal? A lot of folks could be dealing with that. Not on this episode, though. Pretty clean. And that might cut both for and against it as an episode that I really liked. Yeah. Well, do you want to see if anything likable, anything cathartic exists in the Priority One inbox? Always does, Ben. Priority One message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. You need a supplemental income. Supplement.

Supplement. Supplement. Yeah, it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. Ben, we've got a promotional priority-win message here. All right. From Cording Hill Vineyard. Okay.

This is our buddy Adam, who I had a bit of correspondence with after the whole brown wine incident. wherein Adam was a little horrified at my experience. Apologetic, maybe, for what happened, but also explained quite a bit to me about how wine works. It is not Adam's fault that this wine sat around as long as it did. Precisely. Let's just be clear. Yeah.

Let's hear from Adam in this prior to one message. I'm putting out a call into anybody. I was looking after my grandfather and his vineyard until he passed away. It was planted in the 80s, and it needs some work. I'm looking to replant and revitalize this place. I have a winemaker who is offering to lease and help pay for it, but I could use quite a bit of help with drawing up plans for replanting our grapes, writing up a contract for a lease, structuring fair payments,

and basically making sure I don't fuck it up. So here's what Adam from Cording Hill Vineyard is asking for specifically. If there are any FODs out there who work in the Oregon wine industry who can help, in a situation like this, contact cording.hill at gmail.com. This I love, and I really hope this works out. Like, how fucking awesome would it be to have a bunch of FODs work in a vineyard together? This is kind of a great situation. I mean, I don't know anything about wine making.

so maybe this is completely inaccurate. But like, don't you want to start a winery that is a little bit further along than starting from scratch, but not so far along that it's like impossible to change what's happened or what's been planted or whatever? Yeah, I mean, like this is coming into it at the right time, I think. So I hope Adam gets his wish and I hope some FOTs are part of that. That would be really cool. Yeah, I hope so too. Courting.com.

Get a hold of Adam. Adam, she's from your husband, and it's two, Amy. It goes like this. Dear Ben and Adam, happy Christmaca. And New Year, I hope you are as well and full of cheer. Don't be perfidious Scrooges this year. Tell my wife I love her, collectively. Amy, we love you.

You are both the best. Adam, which Star Trek characters would you most like to play a round of golf with? And Ben, how you doing, man? Come to Alaska. Good be one here. Yeah, I like that they're kind of keeping you at a distance, you know, wise. I will be paying a visit personally. What does your husband and Amy know about what this year has been like?

I haven't heard the word Chrismica in a long, long time. That I thought was an O.C. thing. I first heard that on the show The O.C. Really? Yeah. Remember that show? I never watched it. Who would I like to play golf with from the Star Trek universe? I often play better when I'm playing with people who are better than me. And I think the best golfer would be data. I think it would be fun to play golf with him.

Yeah, he would get it dialed in. Yeah, just see how dominant he would be. Also, I want to say war. Because he seems to be someone like, if you play a sport with Wharf, death is on the line. That could be exciting, right? And if, like, a drunk guy comes harassing you and you're, you just happen to be with Wharf or an ex-NHL player, it can be a lot of fun. Yeah, absolutely. God, and for the fourth?

Can I make a pitch? Yes. I don't know why I was thinking about him, but I was thinking about Cybok. And I bet he's fun to golf with. Oh, yeah. Oh, my. God. You know, you like go way over par and you're sharing your pain. There's never a round of golf when there isn't a moment of truth where you're like,

fuck, I'm blowing it. I'm blowing it again. Sybock would be so great for that moment. Yeah, yeah. He'd keep everyone chill. He'd buy the drinks from the cart person driving around. Frosty beverages would be on offer constantly. Yeah, Sybock for sure. You know Seibok has that trick golf club in his bag that has like a little dispenser of alcohol in it, right? Absolutely. He has every toy from the back of a golf magazine, like mail order garbage toy. That is a great suggestion. I like that quite a bit.

Good one. By you. All right. Well, anyways, I'm off to Alaska. Hey, Ben. How you doing? Oh, fuck. I have to answer a question.

Yeah. You know, uh... I've been better, but I'm optimistic. I think I'm honing in on some solutions to some problems. Put it that way. That's great. You know, Alaska ends up being the final stop for a lot of people. Yeah, you meet a lot of people who are running from something

or trying to put some distance between themselves and their former lives in one way or another. That should be like on the Visitors Bureau brochure or commercial. like, hey, you okay? Alaska. How you doing? Alaska. And it's like papyrus font. It's papyrus font and then it's like bloody snow underneath it.

Yeah, yeah. Ben, we've got a personal priority one message to wrap things up here from your coolest brother, Eddie. This one's to Stephen because of that goes. I know I could have knit you a scarf for Christmas this year, but By the time it starts paying dividends, we will both be long dead. Hopefully you, exactly 1927 days after me. Though we live on opposite ends of the country, Canada, not that weird southern one, I'm glad we are able to chat pod from time to time.

P.S. Ben and Adam, I still don't know who is who. Oh, wow. So your coolest brother Eddie is saying that our voice is not distinguishable, to them. Yeah, I don't get that. Come on. You know this is Ben. Yeah, it's me. That over there is Ben.

This one over here is Adam. Yeah, allegedly. Surprised you didn't know that. What a cool brother, Stephen has. Yeah. What a cool your husband, Amy has. Yeah. What a cool bump.

The Oregon. and wine industry is about to get from the Friends of DeSoto. It's true, yeah. I think people should take this as a sign that in the new year they should have a priority one message on the greatest generation.

It really should. Maximumfund.org slash Jumbotron. That's how you do it. Get it set up today. Do it. You know, something to look forward to in the new year. It'd be so fun. Get one in the hopper before Ben leaves for Alaska. Get one before you do like dry January and like would think

better of it, you know? Like, do it now while you're super fucking drunk. I am not doing dry January. Hey, Ben. What's that, Adam? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Yeah. I don't know if I should give this to David Livingston, the director of this episode

for the framing, but I think I'm going to give it to Archer in that scene when Tepal and Tepau are having a conversation while he's taking a nap. They set Tepal and Tepau up in the foreground of the frame, and Archer in the background reclined on some rocks, but with the Koshara set, just so, so it looks like he has a giant pyramidal boner. And I just, I just really like that Misan Sen. Perramidal? Yeah. As in pyramid?

Oh, yeah. That's what that meet. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. It was a good little shot. Little. How about you? Hard not to pick Shran when Shran's in an episode.

Shran chose torture when he didn't have to. I think that's... And we also found out about the drunk Shemota of all Vulcan society. Although he wasn't really in the episode, just referenced in it. Yeah. Yeah, I think for those reasons combined. For those powers combined, to make Shran my drunk Shemota. I like it.

Faith of the... Well, let's talk about next week's episode. It is Season 4 episode 10. Star Trek Enterprise. It's called Daedalus, the inventor of the transporter. Emery Erickson comes aboard the Enterprise for a risky experiment. It's like putting two people on a transporter pad at one time, seeing if they get to the same place at the same time. Is that the risky experiment?

One person and one fly on a transporter pad? I love that idea. Is it live or is it Memrex? Cameo by Jeff Goldblum. If it were just basically a 47-minute version of the fly set in the Star Trek universe, I would love that. That would be great. Yeah, I'd be into it. Ben, could possibly happen to us, depending on what happens at the game of buttholes.

Will of the Riker Quantum Leap. You find that at gachda, biz slash game. It is how we know How we're going to review the next episode Our runabout will tell us that Currently on square 80 I'm going to roll a hundred-sided die We're going to go somewhere else

That might involve a transporter experiment All right You're required to learn as you play Roll Ben, I have rolled a 78. It has popped us back down a few rows to square 58. Okay. Shula!

Did I win? Hardly. Which is so close to a mourn-hammered episode. And yet not. Dodged another one there, which means a regular old episode for you and me next week. We'll be closing out the year clean. I like it. Yeah.

All right. Well, we really appreciate it. appreciate all the folks who support the show at maximum fun.org slash join. If you're looking for a last minute holiday gift, send someone a membership. I think as you're listening to it, it might be too late to get something shipped from podshop.biz in time, but you can always do a gift membership, and that's ready instantaneously. Yeah. We've got to say how much we appreciate Wendy Pretty, our producer and editor,

who toils year-round on these projects. on every single episode that comes across the transom. That was a great job doing it. Got to thank Adam Ragusea, who made the original parody of Diane Warren's theme song. And we got to thank Dark Materia, the composer of the original The Card Song. Not to mention the card daddy, Bill Tilly,

making hilarious trading cards on the At Greatest Trek social media accounts, which you should absolutely follow, along with the greatest newsletter our monthly periodical edited by the great Rob Adler, our social media director. Thanks to the entire

Uxbridge Shemota team, happy holidays to everyone listening. We love you so much. And with that, we will be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek Enterprise, an episode of the Greatest Generation Enterprise, where Adam and I are tempted

to barf on our food to digest it outside of our birdies. It's a real restaurant quality End to the episode by you. Nicely done. Maximum fun. Maximum fun. A worker-owned network.

own shows. Supported directly by you.