The Greatest Generation - Business Casual Station (S6E9)

Episode Date: May 8, 2017

When the Entrepreneur rolls up on a pretty basic space station, the crew attempts to gauge if the mining being done there is up to snuff. Unfortunately, questions about "what constitutes life" get in the way of their review, and Commander Data misbehaves again. What's under a Klingon's beard? How many classes does Worf teach? Where did the rocks come from? It's the episode that's not as cute as WALL-E.

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 friendsofdecotoForLabor.com. That's FriendsOfDecotoForLabor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in U.S.D. And the God of the U.S. And the God of the U.S. And the God of the U.S. And the God of the U.S.

Welcome to the greatest generation. I can tell. It's a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. I'm Adam Pranica. I am Benjamin R. Harrison. What's up with you, Ben? Dude, I am... I'm busting. I'm busting, Jerry.

Does a busting make you feel good it does we have a our first as far as I know our first tattoo Adam yeah do you catch this you do my emotions are so I you know what to say that they're mixed would sound more negative than I truly mean that. It's just that I just can't believe it. I can't believe anyone would care as much about our show, the great design of the pin, enough to put it on their bodies forever. So listener Crystal, who is an active participant in the greatest gen hashtag on Twitter, she

went and got the tattoo version of the enamel pin that was one of the prizes in the Max Fun Drive for Dustbuster Club. Yeah. Amazing. I think Crystal is also the person who won our push to a thousand iTunes review contest. Is that? Yeah. Sound right. I think so. We can cut it out if she's not. But yeah, I think I do believe she is. Man. She's killing it right now. She's killing it in the game. I mean, I'm not saying that it's a requirement to be a viewer in good standing, to have an idea from our show permanently emblazoned

on your body, but. Tell you what, dude, much like the stamp that goes on the inside right wrist. Like, she's got permanent guest list status for me. Oh yeah. Like just just roll it up and and you're on your way through the door. Yeah man it uh I was having a weird day when that when she posted that on Twitter and it just like it made me feel like I was floating for the rest of the day. I just couldn't believe that we lived in a universe where anybody cared enough about anything.

I had anything to do with it. I love it and it's, it almost goes without saying what an honor it is. But man, I'm also a little envious too, right? Like, I don't have any tattoos. And I think a lot about it, like what it would be if I were ever to get one. And I wish I cared enough about anything to get a tattoo. You know what I'm saying? Like it's exactly sort of like going to a restaurant and there's like 200 things on the menu I'm paralyzed with that number of choices. Yeah, yeah. The Mexican family style restaurant is not your favorite type of place because there's too many choices. For a variety of reasons, it's not.

Our podcast boss, Jesse Thorn, the proprietor of Maximumfund.org, got a tattoo last year, and I was having almost exactly the same conversation with him, Adam. There's no image or icon or saying that I can't say, you know, with confidence, I will still believe in five years from now. Yeah. Like, I can't imagine, like, I don't know, I mean, maybe this is just an illusion that my personality presents me with, but I look back at almost everything, regret. So, it's that to be any different.

But yeah, that's totally a superpower of being confident in yourself and your enthusiasm. And I think that to some extent, this show is a little bit about our own tension with those ideas. It definitely is. I mean, I'm someone who re-writes my own yearbook quote, you know, by the month, like I go back and cringe and wish that I could redo that, like anything with any sense of permanence. I wish I could change. That's not a good way of being. Yeah, you don't want your life to be Wikipedia. No. I guess not. Well, we have almost 150 permanent documents

to our Nurtury Over Star Trek Adam. So at least that is fixed in reality. Do we want to jump into this episode? Let's make another show that will live forever and certainly outlive either of us. It's another one for the Seed Vault, the podcast Seed Vault. Season 6, episode 9, the quality of life. This is becoming a speech. You're the captain, so very entitled. I'm entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows. Bennett's another Freaks directed episode, and I think you could tell throughout. Couldn't you?

Yeah, Freaks is getting up high. He's moving the camera around. Yeah, the little wobbly at times. There's a lot of movement in almost every scene in this episode, like scenes that start with the camera, like inside one of these robots and pull out to reveal all the characters that you're here talking. Yeah. Scenes where the camera goes through doorways

and finds people, it's very fracy. It's got to be such an advantage to be a cast member and also a director of the show, because you're so familiar with the sets, you've seen every inch of every set on the show for days on end. You know what your actors may or may not be comfortable with, just based on either what you've seen during shooting or even what you glean conversationally from them. Like I think it's great. It's got to give him a leg up on just about everyone, so to speak. I see what you did there.

This episode starts with a poker game and Jordi is back rocking the beard. And this sort of turns into a fun bet between the doctor, Worf and Jordy and Riker. And that is, if she wins this poker game. All of you shave your beards off. And man, did I wish you had won that poker game. I do too. Could you imagine Worf without the beard? Yeah, what do you look like a Klingon? I don't think so.

I think so much of being a Klingon. Like, there's like the hemispheres to a Klingon's face. Yeah. And like, the loaf is a big part of it, but I don't think you look very Klingon unless you get those shoots out the side and the beard at the bottom Oh, do you get to keep your mustache if you lose this bet? That's a that's a technicality that they didn't address I would argue that the mustache is an integral part of a beard. Yeah, and that it's all got to go

I'd also I also didn't think the bet was fair either We've been in the barber shop before, we've seen barbers in the deep background use a little light scan device and change the color of someone's hair. Beverly could go brunette very easily and very quickly and then reverse it, no problem. Yeah, she could go as a brunette to dinner and then...

And if Jordy's anything like me, it's gonna take two years to get that beard back. Ha ha ha ha ha. Also, is there a loaf under a cling on's beard? We would never know. It's the Chuck Norris question, right? It's like under Chuck Norris's beard, there's not a chin, it's just another fist.

Like under Worf's beard, there's not a chin, there's just more loaf. Ha ha ha ha. Maybe they have embarrassing loaf under there, and that's why they all wear them. Well, I'd like to know though. Before they're able to complete the game, they're all called up to the bridge because the entrepreneur has arrived at this mining station.

It's like an orbital mining platform. It's using some type of space ray to mine material off of a planet that's below. This is a real half and half quality effect here. Like, the mine ray itself is crackling and great. So great looking. But it's coming out of like the monopoly thimble, you know. Yeah, it's a very, it's a basic ass station. This is like the pumpkin spice latte of space stations.

Yeah, it's the khaki pants of mining stations. It's the, it's the sweatpants with words on the butt. There's a braided leather belt around the midsection of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, a Oxford cloth button down dress shirt. Yeah. It's a business casual station. It is. It is.

The federation has some interest in this station and are using it as a way of determining whether they wanna build their own ones of these, but it's not a federation station at some other type of alien. And there was a really weird dynamic between the entrepreneur, Crue and Dr. Farrellon, who's like the boss lady at the station,

which was, they're sort of taking this tone with her, like you're off schedule, you're really fucking this up for us. But it also was never really established that it was their thing, you know? Like if the federation was making like a big investment in this or something, their tone would make sense, but I don't think they ever really said that I run into this a lot as an occasional like contract Laborer in video like when you're not an actual employee of the client

There is a Limitation to your expectations. I feel, because often I will be asked to do like, re-edits on something at like, 4.55 pm. And the expectation is because I'm not an employee, someone could make that sort of request where that may not be appropriate to make of an actual employee. And it seems like that's a similar conflict to what's happening here. Like, if you're not an actually badged federation person, like, are they expecting more than they would from a standard issue federation mining base? Yeah. And what you got to do in this case is just say, like, we're happy to

do any further edits but that is beyond the scope of the of the current contract that we have with the Federation and any any further work will require pretty agreed upon over traits. God like from from my brain to your mouth. Like that is basically a memorized line that I have. And like, Farrellon seems like the type who has been in this shit before because she pushes back hard. On basically every request,

she presents herself as someone who has been shit on in the contract labor, big business environment. She is, that relationship hasn't worked out for her. Right, she is past the part of her freelance career where she'll basically do anything to maintain good relationships with clients.

Yeah, she doesn't care anymore. She's like, fuck you, I don't need the federation. I'll sell this shit to the to the forengies or something. Yeah, you really get that feeling that she doesn't need this shit. Yeah. What she's working on is like they're they're getting this mining beam up and running, but it's not really mining as much as as as had been hoped. And she's really excited about this new invention that she has called exo-comps, which are fun little robots, little batteries, not included type of deals. And they use them to like do kind of maintenance stuff around the station. Which the station is a lot better on the inside than it is on the outside. Like it's a much cooler set than the model would imply.

It's business on the outside, hardy on the outside. That's an awkward comparison. But the exo-coms themselves look like a first draft of Wally, you know? Like, if what you're trying to do is create a robot that could engender some sort of feeling, they have a little bit of personality, they have like little wiggly parts to them, like arm-like things. They've got like tank tread looking things on the bottom,

but those don't move. They do little beeps and boops like R2D2, like really ramping up the personality here. And I think whether or not you feel like an exo-comp is alive, which is a decision that we will discuss a little later on, like it really has so much to do with how they design these because if it's just a cube, it's going to be hard to get to your heart. Yeah, and I think that they have kind of an interestingly restrained amount of personality. They are not wally level where they have a way to make themselves look sad or happy or whatever. They don't really have emotions, but they do have this kind of

charisma as semi-enhaniment objects. Ben, let's play a little gambling game. Am I gonna have to shave my beard, Anna? One thing I noticed right away was how often the word exocomp was said by a character in this episode and once I heard it I couldn't stop hearing it and it was just like a constant like ringing like a bell ringing every time. It is fucking annoying how often they say it. It seems it could be nothing else than, than bad writing.

Like, this is a script that needs an edit and a thessaurus. Well. Yeah, what's in there under exocompatum? Well, Robert is one of them. The tool could be another. These things. Okay. The device. Yeah, he, him. She, her.

Okay, Ben. How many times do you guess that the word exocomp was said in this 42-minute episode? Ooh, can I have a, is there like an over-under or am I just guessing out of thin air? I'm gonna give you the over under and then you can have a few more guesses to see if you can get it closer. I'm gonna set the over under at 40. Okay, I'm gonna guess over. It is over. 52? Over.

Fuck it. Final guest, Ben. 61. It is over that. Jesus. I stopped counting at 70. What? It's a 44-minute episode.

The website I used with the script says 76 times, but that also includes some parenthetical script direction. And I counted six or seven of those parentheticals just in my quick run through. But yeah, around 70 times was the word exocomp said in this episode. Oof.

It might be the worst part of this episode is the expository dialogue that they are constantly using about these things. There's a thing that Farrellon does though, like she's got a real 50s movie affect to her like, well we might as well send the exo-coms in. Like there's a very lilty manner of speaking with her that is very, that feels very unscientific. She also has kind of 50s movie hair. Yeah. She's got that career gal hair from a head sucker proxy. Well, the deal is these exo-comps are, so it's kind of like a cordless hand drill where

you can put different bits in the front and the deal is she's programmed them up to kind of figure out what bit they need and then they replicate it onto their nose depending on the scenario. So she doesn't say like put in a hex wrench and go down that tunnel. She says go down that tunnel. There's some IKEA furniture that needs to be put together. And an Allen wrench magically appears on the nose of this thing.

It knows what you need to get the job done. Which to me means it would make for a great nightstand. Say we got that model D83 suite of sure grips suck machine in the shorter. Yeah, it's a good. The description here is important because they need to float. And this presents a huge problem, effects wise, because in order to float them, you basically need a guy and a stick.

And unfortunately, that's what it looks like. Yeah, the other way to do this would be to shoot it the way they shoot the ships and pump it into the scenes. But getting the lighting right on that is really hard. And I think that's a more expensive proposition because you're renting time with a motion control camera system. Yeah. So, yeah, I think they only have one shot maybe that they shot like that, and everything else is definitely like guy wire or gay and green suit.

It really makes it tough to stay emotionally invested in the story. At least I found it to be that way,. Because a lot of people feel like this episode is sort of a cousin to the episode where data's life goes on trial with Maddox. Like the whole question of life thing makes this episode significant and both the exocomp word and the exocomp on stick thing was pretty distracting to me. It's interesting. I look at these shots and I think as a person who knows how to edit and do

some light compositing, I can think of some ways to fix this, but I think that you need pretty sophisticated digital editing software to do it. If you can kind of rock the reels on those shots so that the bumpiness smooths out and you can add a little digitalness to the way they move around would actually kind of help these effects. Maybe you shoot everything really fast and then slow it down in post

so that the shakiness smooths out or something like that. But I don't think that that was technically really a possibility at the time that this show was made. Do you think the choice in doing the effect this way was specific enough to say that, if their movements were perfect, they would seem more robotic. And so the idea that their movements are not, does that make them look like more living things? I can't think that this was done for any reason other than it was the only practical way they could.

Maybe that adds a little bit to the charisma of the exo-comps. But I think if they could have done it a different and better way, imagine they would have jumped at that. I'm sure the airsets Jim Henson on the ground would agree with you. Yeah, the counterfeit Frank Oz. Well, yeah, so the exo-coms are doing some light repair work around the station.

They impress everybody pretty early on, but when one of them decides not to do a repair, it's the matter with this thing. And that winds up, you know, immediately proceeding the tunnel it was supposed to go down, exploding in a bunch of gravel flying out of it. Peta starts to advance this theory to anybody who will listen that the exo-coms are not merely robots, but they are an early version of something that is alive in the way he is. It's a crazy principle with a 3D face. Are you not finding it within yourself? Just stand up, tell the truth. You don't deserve to wear that uniform. The way the data works in the aftermath of this is he sort of focus groups this around.

He talks to Beverly first and foremost because for some reason, data is unclear about what the definition of life is. That is a big question. What? Right. Why do you ask? Yeah, data who you can ask for a definition on almost anything.

I kind of thought this was a sort of sophisticated bit of emotional manipulation, though, for data. Yeah. Because I think what he goes to her for is a definition that is sufficiently squishy that he can kind of fit the exo-comps into it. And she totally delivers. She's like, yeah, data, I'm just here in my new wig that's way better than any wig I've ever had so far. And here is exactly what you came looking for. It's like Dates playing the long game, right? I feel like he knows eight steps from now what he's going to end up doing if it comes down to it.

And he's looking for reasons that fit into that series of choices. It's not that Beverly's wrong and her definitions at all. It's how her definition can be manipulated to justify some actions that come later. Yeah. And to his credit, he's willing to shut it up when the evidence starts to look like he was wrong. You know, he's not married to this, but he is going to like pursue it more seriously than anybody else would. This scene starts with Beverly in Six Bay with Worf, sort of running a reagan over her

forearm. Yeah, Worf totally sorted Beverly. Yeah, it's disclosed that they were practicing Batleth and she caught one to the forearm. That's amazing. Yeah. How many classes does Word teach? Yeah. Word's the overly excited community college student.

Yeah. It's like taking all the classes, just trying to figure himself out, man. Yeah. I'm hoping to transfer to this to state next year. Yeah. So, Word teaches a yoga class and a sword class. Beverly teaches a tap class and the drama club. Yeah. They are real joiners, Worf and Beverly. They're more alike than different.

Yeah. How close do you think Beverly came to having her arm taken off? Riker style. I wondered, because I mean, it's closed, the wound is closed up when we first get a look at it, but you gotta imagine Warf swinging a batlet. It's gotta have some English on it. Is the hallway between Six Bay and the holodeck just fucking washed and blood? The muscle memory that Warf has to have too

from his training, Dojo. Like, he's got a whack 10 four arms off of skull-faced aliens before work every day. That's got to be muscle memory for him. Yeah, if that's on level seven, and then he's sparring with the doctor, do you think that they picked her arm up off the floor and walked it over to six bay?

That's what I was going to say. We can't be sure that her arm wasn't severed and that's just her putting it back together. I love that she uh, Dr. Heal by self. You know, it sort of shows the level of trust she has in Okawa. If she's not even having her help with the armory attachment. Yeah, it works like should I should I get the nurse? No, no, no, she's barely a back sip at this point. Beverly like puts a stick in her mouth and bites down on it.

Zaps the thing back together. When data gets his squishy definition of life from the doctor, the next big plot beat is a McLaughlin crew. Is you a wand? Which I love. Dr. Farrellon, the lady that runs the mining station, is like every good freelancer. She's just understanding this is as mission creep. I'm wasting time that could be better spent elsewhere. And another way the Federation is trying to push this project past the contracted scope.

She plays this really interestingly because she could play the victim here on the mission creep and play the frustration card, but she is angry about this. Yeah. She doesn't understand it. It's a goddamn waste of time. Like, I don't understand why I'm in the meeting right now. Right. Like, we got to get to work here. Yeah, she's trying to finish her mining platform so that the Federation can get excited about it and recommend making more of them. This does not engender any sympathy with me for her, though, as a character. Did it work for you? I mean, I don't know if she's

supposed to be sympathetic right then. I think that she is a bit, I don't know if she's supposed to be sympathetic right then. I think that she is a very... I don't think she's sympathetic at all in the episode. I found her very unlikable. I like there. I mean, she just, I think that it takes data kind of pushing really hard on the idea that she may have accidentally made life before she comes around to that. But I think she eventually does, which is redeeming in some way.

I mean, it does turn into data is Captain Picard, the exocomps are data and she is commanding her medics. She is very much arguing for the exocomps are things. One time I saw an exocomps enter a reaction chamber for no apparent reason and vaporize itself. Her argument essentially is there was no intention of creating something that can be rounded up to alive. When I made them, I made them as tools.

They're not as sophisticated as data in my expert understanding. Therefore, we should be able to let them be destroyed in the workplace context that they were designed for. Right. Every time one of these things is at risk, it shuts itself off.

It like fuses the connection it has to the controller and basically sticks up a little protest sign that says, hell no, we won't go. This is a behavior that data does not understand at all. It is like you can avoid dangerous situations. But the glass tables on the ship are like, I see you, baby. Get over here. They're like, if you want us to walk out in solidarity, we got you. So in this McLoughlin group, they're like, okay, well, if these things are alive,

we can determine that very easily by threatening them. Yeah, so they set up this little test. They're like, look, this exocomp determined that its life was in danger before, let's set up a simulation that's similar, right? We'll send it down a tunnel with a microscopic crack in it that's about to explode. And... If it does possess a survival instinct as Mr. Data claims, it will exit the tube before the minute is up in order to save itself.

And so they turn it on, they send it down the tunnel. It fixes its initial mission and then does like sort of a look over its shoulder before completing the mission. Like there's a weird pause in the middle of it where he's like, huh, well that's weird. This smells funny. Meanwhile at the other end of the pipe, data Dr. Farrellon and Picard are like counting

down the seconds of when this fake explosion is going to happen. And when the exocomp doesn't return, they deem it as the tool that Farrellon believes it to be instead of the self-aware, self-preserving life that they thought it might have been. Fairlion turns to data and goes... You just got schizzed! My love is the people long and ill for that which long the nurse has at this heat. So data does not let well enough alone. He decides to run this test another 30-ish more times, which is great.

Like the entire engineering deck is deserted. You can tell it's like four in the morning. Yeah. He's by himself running this test and Beverly walks and Beverly's keeping doctors hours. She's like, what's up, dude? She doesn't wanna take that great new wig off. Now, she wants everybody to see that shit.

This is like mid-test for the exo-comp. And he's been calling them back at the end of their little repair mission and he does not, but because he's talking to Beverly, but back the exocomp comes. And from this, I guess they're able to determine that... The exocomp didn't fail the test. It saw right through it. And that, I guess, they can further conclude conclude means that it has some

some reasonable claim toward having a self-preservation instinct and is therefore alive. Right. The ability to detect a lie as proof of life. It knows it's been lied to. Yeah. It's not going to put up with your shit anymore. Yeah. These exo-coms should be good at poker. Yeah. What do you think the exo-coms should have to play for? They have to replicate a dildo on the front if they lose. Yeah, you got to wear that around for a week, exo-com.

If exo-coms feel a sense of self preservation, you can be sure that they also feel shame. It's a shame is a very human emotion. It is. It is. Charles Darwin famously wrote. So the station predictably goes into like nuclear meltdown mode. Moscow inflames missiles headed toward New York, film at 11. The station's kind of a pile of shit. Like, it's constantly breaking down in a very dangerous manner.

Yeah, and because we need a situation that is either going to threaten human life or exo-com life now, we magically have one. And they're trying to like evacuate the station, but Picard and Jordy get stranded, and there's too much radiation to beam them out, and the ship is too far away to send a shuttle in time, because they've got like 20 minutes before

the reactor goes critical. And I guess data locks out the transporter when they try to beam the three exo-coms back to the station. The transporter is they try to beam the three exocomps back to the station. The transporter is not malfunctioning. I've locked out the controls. He sort of unilaterally determines that the exocomps should not be used for this because they could potentially be destroyed. I mean, if you're talking about mission of the ship, they've used this argument before, they totally used the same argument

with the nanites that were eating the computer core. Like they are the only example we know of, of intelligent life of this kind. And therefore, like we can't, we can't destroy the thing that they're eating even though that's an existential threat to the ship. This is so fucked up though. I was so angry at data for this

because this is another instance of data not talking to anyone before making a decision unilaterally. Right. And he and Riker have like a big confrontation about it. And Riker's argument to data is so much more reasonable than what data did, which is Riker's like, hey listen, like if you think they're alive, why, like, why are you deciding their fate for them? Maybe they want to go rescue Picard and Jordy. Maybe they want to stop the station from blowing up. Yeah, doesn't it feel good to be a hero data? Why don't you give them that opportunity?

Yeah, and you would think, you know, from everything we know about data that he would have acknowledged the possibility that the exo-coms might be suicidal. Right. Data needs to acknowledge that or at least give him the chance. Frakes does great here. It's challenging to direct yourself, but he was awesome in this scene, just the right amount of unhinged, really angry, flashy angry at Brent Spiner in this scene. And the contrast between them makes him seem even more so, like the cool calculated, unemotional data and the flying off the handle riker in command of a ship with his captain in a life threatening situation. Like, fuck, does it get any more frustrating than that?

To like have a guy who's supposed to be on your side totally stone while you. Yeah, it's a great scene. And I think maybe the way we get there isn't so great. Yeah. From a script standpoint, but I think both Freaks and Spiner treat this scene with the respect it deserves. And really have a lot of fun with the way

their characters handle the situation. How many more chances are they going to give data to do this though? Over and over, his performance review is constantly like fastest typing, always punctual, stays late frequently. It knows how many days, hours and seconds he's been on board the ship. Yeah, but needs improvement, the category is taking over the ship for reasons that you don't share with others. Yeah, and something that you go through in any relationship is like how you resolve

conflict and the way that data does it, which is the, you know, the equivalent of storming out without having the argument, doesn't work for the other members of the crew. I think it's clear they need to put data on a performance improvement plan and then do regular check-ins with him. Yeah, the HR department should be a lot more hands on with this situation than they are. I am a cute disabled. There are four lights. Well, the exo-coms are given their chance. They, you know,

heroically go into the station and chill the reactor down enough that Picard, Jordy and two of the exo-coms can be saved by a transport, and one of them sticks around, erotically, sacrificing itself to save the others. And then we get this final scene between data and Picard, where data is justifying what happened to Picard. And this ends on Picard, assessing data's behavior as one of the most human decisions he's ever made.

So I was like, what about the time he fucked your dude? Yeah, that was pretty human. That was human a couple of times. And a couple of different positions. You know, this episode asks you to take a couple of leaps. The leap that might be the furthest is for Picard himself to go like, yeah, and it would have been worth it too. You would have proven your point if I died over there for these fucking tools.

For these fucking Makita For these fucking Makitas. Like, look, we occasionally rewrite these episodes the way that we would prefer them. And I think I always want to ride for a little more conflict, especially in terms of like a character's inner conflicts. And I think it's okay for Picard in this scene to show a little bit of ambivalence here about that because it affected him more than anyone. Like, why not give him a line or two of dialogue where he's like, God, you know, it's one thing to have had this argument in a courtroom with you and Maddox all those

years ago. But man, when it's your own skin on the line, that's where you really got to believe it. And I believed it back then in the courtroom with Maddox. I believe it now. But you really made me think about it when I was over there. And it was my life on the line. But for him to so easily ride for the exo comp when it was his life that was bet on them. I mean, we know it's genuine because it's becaired and we know everything

he says to be genuine, but it does not seem credible to me. What you're asking for is sort of the monologue he has at the end of the Dharma episode, which is like his admiration for the risk that that captain took to establish communications. Like, what you want here is for Picard to acknowledge how hard a decision it was. And I hope that I believe everything we're out here doing as much as you appear to, but this definitely got us close as we can to testing that practically. And I'm not sure I would have been in the same boat in the same boat as you if I'd been here on the ship.

Yeah, like moral ambiguity is so much more interesting here, especially from Picard. Did you like the episode, Adam? I didn't. For that reason, and a few others, the repetition of exocomp, the way the exocomp looked and their effects, the tidy and maybe too tidy conclusion to it, the unlikable antagonist. Dr. Fairlund could be an ally here in a weird way. But she's not. And this didn't feel like an episode that fit together. It felt like a few parts and a few scenes that didn't really hang.

People compare this to measure of a man, but I think measure of a man is way better of an episode. And it articulates the conflict better than this episode does. Did you? I think that it's right on the knife edge for me. I think you could have easily tipped it one way or the other, like one thing that they could have done to make me think this was a great episode was have freaks and warf shop to work the next day, clean shaving.

Yeah, that's a fun button. There's no way that's not going to make me love an episode no matter what else happens in it. Yeah. I mean, I understand the practical constraints they have in doing something like that. But yeah, like, and, you know, I think that it could have been things that made it worse, but this may be the most equivocal I feel about an episode. Yeah.

Hmm. I guess we do P1s now, yeah. Yeah. Priority one message from Star P1s now, yeah. Yeah. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Need a supplement on that. supplement on that? supplement supplement

Yeah, it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship! That's the best transition. Let's just go into it from there. I'm going to use that. That's the best transition. Let's just go into it from there. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha The first one here is from Ira, takes full advantage of no character limits in the personal info bar, Gooch and N.I.S. Well done. Somebody had to hack that.

Yeah. And it's for Leaf Davine. Divine? Happy birthday, Leaf. Thank you for introducing me to this pod. It reminds me of when I recounted from memory the entire two-part episode when data and lore become kings of the rogue borgs for you. Good times!

There may have been podcast fluid involved. Adam and Ben, please wish Leif a happy birthday in impression of your choice. birthday in impression of your choice. Ooh, well I'm gonna have to go with Arnold at the craft service table on the set of Predator Happy Birthday, Leaf. Yeah, Happy Birthday from your two favorite muscle bound governors. Leaf, I've traveled a long way. To wish you happy birthday. From my ass.

Fun times. I got their bunnies worth for that one. Two, three very terrible impressions. There's a reason that I don't try to outwalk and very often. Our second priority one message is also of a personal nature. It is from Tutsi-Roll and or Captain Josh. It is for Clint Jean-Benei Ramsey Weisman. Message goes like this, first, happy Labor's day, early first wedding anniversary. Secondly, what the shit, man? About two of these MP1s and you haven't bought me shit!

I know you're busy doing science at Los Alamos National Lab, but this shit is getting ridiculous. Buy my ticket to greatest gen con 2017 and we'll call it even! Love your BFF, wedding aficion, and forever your number one. A lot of demands being made here, Ben, from Tootsie role. Yeah, Captain Josh is, uh, Captain Josh is both a number one and a wedding official. That's a surprise. Some friendships require a lot of maintenance

and it appears as though the Jean-Benae Tutti Roll friendship is one of those. Yeah, I mean, it seems like they're not quite at Raz and Plavime level, but they're aspiring to it Well when your tree of friendship requires the watering from the blood of your wallet for a time to time Priority ones are the way to do that by going to Maximum Fund Outdoor

slash Gembo Trond where your personal message will cost $100. The very rare commercial message costs $200 and they are one of the greatest ways to keep our program in production. Thanks guys. Ben, what's that Adam? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? I did Adam. I think this is the first time we get a hint that the exo-coms are doing some thinking for themselves. There's like an explosion where a bunch of like playground gravel is tossed out of one of those holes. You know, it's like, it's a situation where

they're not sure how big of trouble they are in and Dr. Farrell on a date, I run away from the hole that has just exploded. And then just out of nowhere, some other guy who works on the station runs up and picks up the exo-comp and just takes it away. And it's like a wordless, just like, why is, why did they get coverage of this even?

Like, who cares at all I thought I thought it was very funny I I have so many questions about the scene first of all Why are there rocks shooting out of the pipe? Yeah, what's in there? Where did the rocks come from? Is that what they're mining? I don't know Ben this is one of the episodes where we have the same Shimoda. Because this moment was so incongruous with everything else. You know what it reminded me of,

is like the kickoff to a football game where like they put the football on the tee. It seems like the most dangerous moment in any football game. Like a kid runs out, grabs the T and brings it back. This crew person is the same person. He's picking up the T on the field after this explosion happens. It's a bit like the episode where Kramer is a ballboy at the US open.

Like it's that level of like physical comedy of just having to do something really quickly. Yeah. He's so self-aware about it too. That's what makes it hard. There's nothing else to look at except for him. You know, sometimes you'll see someone on screen and they almost don't know how to walk. They're so self-aware about their walk. I have appeared in the background of several student films in my day and that is what I

look like when I am on screen. I say that as someone who does the same thing. Like sometimes you just can't turn it off. You can't turn off that self-awareness. And this person is doing that in a really fun way. Yeah, double Shimoda bin. That's great, it's gonna be on the Dinsmore, the Collin Dinsmore Shimoda roundup

that we get at the end of every season. Yeah. If you're not up on that by the way, listen to Collin, goes through at the end of every season and post to Twitter a series of charts that show who's the leader in the clubhouse for Shemotas, who's in the running for second place, it's great. It really belongs on our slash data is beautiful. Yeah. 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 ball-rock burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Nanjiani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes, which is impossible to use. Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps are open.

Just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard. Be dumb instead. Whoa, rats. Hey, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in mine. 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 here and we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art. It is about terrain, about a story of humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans.

We're actually, we're podcasters. We are podcasters So it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Carrie? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal stuff like that and you have a boat and say the world's gonna And so seem 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 Only Ross & Kerry, available on MaximumFun and Outdoor. What do we have coming up on the next episode, Ben? The next episode is season 6, episode 10, chain of command, part 1. After resigning his command to participate in a dangerous secret mission, Captain Picard is taken hostage by the Cardassians.

Do you remember this episode, Adam? Love this episode, Ben. Yeah, this is a big one. I feel like this is, this is what you remember from season six. Yeah. It's too harder. This is what the cliffhanger should have been between season remember from season six. It's too parter. This is what the cliffhanger should have been between season five and season six. I thought.

Maybe it has too many echoes of Picard as a borg, but Picard always being captured. It is definitely not like, hey, if you like this show and want to come back and watch the season next year, fuck you. Yeah. Yeah. The opposite of that.

This is Starfleet as military in a way that we get pretty rarely on the show. Yeah, and I mean, Starfleet is not primarily a military force, but they do serve that function and they have to be they have to be ready for it when when the time demands it so it's always interesting to see them flip that bit in their brains. I like seeing the show put on the military hat. Well, it sounds like you wouldn't have vetoed it even if you hadn't stupidly used your veto for a rascals atom. Hey man, I never call your veto stupid. That's because my vetoes are all well reasoned at them.

All of my vetoes are special. Every one of them. You have all your children equally. I do. Really do. Yeah, I wouldn't veto this either, so that being in a relevant conversation, it's what we're going to watch next. One thing that is increasing in relevance by the week, Ben, are our Legion of viewers.

Growing in number, growing in chattiness, they reach out to us on Twitter using the hashtag greatest gen. I'm on there as at Cup of Time. Ben is there as at Benjamin R, A-H-R. We're also on Facebook and Reddit, all over the place Ben. Yeah, we should talk about, we never bring this up, but there's a great viewer-created greatest-gen podcast, Wiki. You got a greatestgen.wikia.com.

A bunch of people have collaborated to, do what we do and explain all the jokes. But it's great, they have a list of running jokes that is like, it's so long, it's almost unbelievable to me. But if you're ever confused about what lof is or, you know, there's a, there's no resource that you can consult. What our show needs are resources. Yeah, clearly. And this is a big one.

It's great. It makes me laugh. Like every page of it makes me laugh. Like there's little biographies of us that are very funny. There's like every joke is added to by this wiki page. I don't know if you feel the same way, but like there's a great feeling in knowing that the program will like live on the internet and maybe even forever.

But there's a difference and I don't want to say better, but just there's something about reading something about our show that feels more tangible in a way and makes it feel more real to me. And this wiki is an example of that feeling. It's like, wow, this is an actual record of what we're doing in a way that feels different from the program itself. Different and great. It's amazing. Yeah, I love it. So if you can feel, if you've jumped into our show, midstream and you don't get some of the references, maybe you don't want to go back to the beginning,

which you should. You really should. But if you don't have time for that, the Wikis are a great way to study up. Cliff's notes style. Yeah. Well, we should thank Dark Materia for our theme music and Ed and Ragusia for a lot of the other music here on the program.

I just thank the great folks at MaximumFun.org for all their support. With that, we will be back at you next week with another great episode of Star Trek the Next Generation. And an episode of the greatest, the Next Generation, and an episode of the greatest generation that's sneaking around in some Styrofoam tunnels in a set of black leotards. You'll be caught up in you You'll be caught up in you Make it sound Make it sound You'll be caught up

You'll be caught up You'll be caught up So skin tight So sexy You know, you don't see much bulge Like, if you're wearing a black leotard You'd expect to see some bulge Yeah, they got it lighting the lighting set so it's very chased.

Yeah yeah you don't want that rim light on the bulge. You don't. That's too bad that could have been the title next week's episode. I should have chambered that one. Yeah you stepped on it. Next next week's episode is ruined at him. Maximumfund.org. Comedy and culture, artist owned. Listener supported. ExoComp. ExoComp.

ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp.

ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. ExoComp. Thanks for coming.