The Greatest Generation - Career Suicide by Jet Ski (TNG S1E5)

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

When the Entrepreneur chases a ship that’s really dragin’ a wagon, nobody thinks to try hailing before acts of violence are attempted. But when Riker expresses a little too much enthusiasm for the Ferengi way of life, he gets banished to the engine room. What’s on the business end of a ball-kicking machine? How could Ben put Adam into cardiac arrest? How do you cover up literally any editing mistake? It’s the episode with shades of yellow.Support the production of our shows Members get benefits including bonus episodes and an ad-free experienceSign up for our mailing list!Get a thing at podshop.biz!The Greatest Generation is hosted by Adam Pranica and Benjamin Ahr Harrison The show is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Instagram | BlueskyAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.socialSupport the production of The Greatest Generation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Greatest.com. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage. Welcome to the Greatest Generation, the next generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast. I'm Ben Harrison. I'm Adam Pranica. Big,

episode today. I feel like one thing that I have been a little self-conscious about with our second run-through is I think a couple of times already in episodes we've recorded, I've said, I don't know if I ever noticed this or I definitely have never talked to you about this before. And I bet somebody is going to go back through old episodes and find every time I made a self-assured statement that was demonstrably wrong. You're saying that because it's happened every time we've said something wrong on this show? Yeah. I think that, you know, once more than like 10 or 15 people hear a given statement, you

cross a Rubicon where the people who know that you're wrong are going to speak up on it, you know. I like it. It means people care. It means people are paying attention. Yeah. You're not going to like hearing this spin. but people really care about what you have to say.

I'm going to try and use less definitive language, I think. I'm pretty sure we've never talked about this. Please don't, Ben. That's just going to make it even tougher for me to tolerate you. I mean, that's part of the fun of this. Uh-huh. Looking at the big board, seeing what the odds are for my last episode. Yeah.

bit of a movement there based on on the Marin you know there's so many things you can bet on these days i know he's really gotten delightful hasn't it uh let's take an ad break speaking of that what member of congress will die in a car crash next who will win your daughter's pee-wee hockey game what time of day will grandma die these used to be things you just had to wonder about but not anymore globo bet is the fastest growing quasi-criminal gambling app in the world bet on what The teen idol will overdose. Bet on what will be revealed is the next kind of animal RFK Jr. has tried to fuck.

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Winning's almost impossible must be accessed by a VPN. Get it in the app store. All right, we're back, and, uh, Adam, I really want to talk to you about Star Trek, but I think it's about time for another ad break. Hey, Darrell, get your thong back speedo on. It's time to go to the beach. Uh, I wish I could, but my moderate to severe back knee is flaring up, and I don't want to take my shirt off.

Moderate to severe back knee? Let me see. All right. Oh my God, Darrell, your back looks like a Shaksuka with an oil slick on it. That's why I can't go. I think it's past time you asked your dermatologist about Bacutane. Bacutane? It's the only FDA-approved oral medication for moderate to severe backney. You know, because it's too hard to put a cream back there by yourself.

Maybe I will. Bacutane may cause acne, swelling, rectal bleeding, eyelid inversion, speaking in tongue, nostril hair, super growth, third butt cheek, more backney, and severe death. If you are pregnant or may become pregnant, do not take backutane. Patients with a history of getting little peckish around. lunchtime should also take a supplementary prescription strength methamphetamine while using. Do not operate heavy machinery or speak to your grandparents while taking vacutane. Vacutane has only been approved for human use in the former Stopia Republic of Moldova.

But if you ask your veterinarian for it, you might be able to get at stateside. Hey, Daryl, your back looks great. Thanks, Monica. Thanks, vacutane. You are a welcome, Daryl. People love us. It's not going bad at all. We're going to talk a lot about Ferengi in this episode. One thing I do feel like we talked about a lot the last time we watched this episode

was like the reveal that ship turning around being like being like a big moment that they really like build up. And they don't even really tip their hand that it is going to be a reveal. Like they're just looking at the butt of this spaceship and they're like, wow, weird one. Okay. I feel like we get a new sequence to this in this episode because of the remaster. and I think it largely changes that initial feeling we had about the reveal. Yeah.

I can't wait to talk about it with you. Let's just get into it. All right, fine. Fine. It's Star Trek the next generation season one, episode five, and it's called The Last Outpost. Make it so. We are chasing a Ferengi designed starship. I guess they don't even know who is piloting this starship.

And given what we know about the Frankie, It does seem possible that they would be selling like military grade space hardware to whoever comes with enough latinum, right? Right. Or, you know, as one does when they steal a thing, like take the closest available car to them in order to get away. And this scene is very coded in a police chase kind of way. The D is in a hot pursuit of this ship because they think that they, have on board a T-9 energy converter. Yeah. A device they really need to get back and give back to a Gamutory 4. Isn't that what Luke was trying to go to Tashi Station to buy at the beginning of Star Wars?

Is it? Yeah, I think he was like he was trying to get an energy converter at Tashi Station. And then his uncle goes like, you can waste time with your idiot friends later. There's a tone to this that begins very breaking news, police chase. through Hollywood that is counterbalanced with a Picard's log where he's like, actually, we are quite excited to meet the Ferengi because not everyone has had the opportunity. Hello, stranger. How different would police chases feel if the tone of the police doing the chasing,

we're like, we just want to meet you. You seem neat. Listen, I got a punch card here. I've never pulled over a Polish guy. I'm just excited about it. Yeah. Yeah. The fact that you didn't come to a complete stop at that intersection,

almost besides the point. I just want to have this interaction. That's a fun world, isn't it? That is good. They are pursuing these guys at Warp, and when the guys that they're pursuing at Warp stop because they're being chased, Jordy is shocked He's like

I can't believe this captain They're dropping to impulse They are dropping to suborb speed The thing that Jordy says here There's a back and forth between him and Picard Where Picard seems to have some questions About where this ship is going And Jordy's answer I think is almost exactly

It's going through that solar system over there Yeah Like everyone else in the bridge Can't see the very same nonspecific thing? What a non-answer that is? Jordi, say less. There's another line somewhere else of the episode that that makes me think of where somebody's telling Picard about what they see on their sensor readout, and he's like, yes, I see that too. And he's like looking at the armrest of his chair. He's like, Picard, do you think that there are different sensors

being piped into your chair? I think this is the first instance of a data getting Jordy off the hook in a business meeting. He does him a solid here. He like pipes up. That's actually the Delphi Ardu system that Jordy's pointing at, which he was going to say eventually. I saw his notes that he was prepping with earlier and he does build to that. They're like, oh man, this ship must be malfunctioning or something because why would you stop when someone's following you? and they're detecting weird power surges,

and it feels like a weird attack, right? Right. I mean, how else would you interpret extremely bright flash of light coming through all of your windows and like going over your systems and stuff? It feels very threatening because it's so unknown. I noticed that as the flash dissipates, it seems to be centered not on the Ferengi ship,

like it didn't look like it really came from the Ferengi ship, and I wondered if that was like the special effects didn't quite work out or if that's meant to indicate that that's actually not them doing it and that's coming from the planet. I think it's the second one. Yeah, for sure. There's a sort of breath hold you do, I think, if you're on the ship and this happens.

It's sort of like the lightning that precedes the thunder in a big storm. Yeah. Like, how can you not see this bright light pass through you and not also like, is it coming? Like you count the number of seconds. It takes to understand how far the storm is from you. They have no idea how lethal these guys could be. There's an amazing crash zoom on Riker as he asks whether we should shoot back or not.

And Picard is like saying what we're all thinking, which is like, yeah, we were chasing them. Like this is what we would probably do if they were chasing us. This probably seems really aggressive what we're doing. Just responding to our close pursuit. People don't tend to run unless they're chased. for sure. And we do get that sequence you we were talking about in the open which is like originally

initially we get the ship slowly rotating around. I don't believe this intermediate shot from underneath the ship ever existed in the original version. We do not talk enough about how cool the underside of the Ferengi ship looks and

how rare it is to see that part. I'm thinking of trilobite, right? Yeah. You're thinking of trilobite. Have I always, have I already said this exact thing 10 years ago? I don't know. When you see the underside of this thing, it feels like picking up a crustacean on the beach. You know, it's got that kind of vibe when you look below. It's not something you want to touch. It's something like I would definitely pick up a Ferengue ship and look under there, but I'm not sticking fingers underneath,

that's for sure. I'm so glad that I was able to beam my anxiety right into your frontal lobe. You're now worried that you're saying shit from 10 years ago. I'm looking down at the gun on my studio desk. Like, well, this is a day I hoped would never come. We're getting pulled in. Jordy is on a little bit of thin ice with Picard. So immediately Picard leaps to the assumption that Jordi is like inching our ship forward toward the Berengen.

He's like, man, I didn't do that. That is not me. I'm not doing that. Yeah, the power loss is concerning. Who's to blame? Definitely top of mind here. And Riker pops off his first single-eye squint to theme. There's a quality to this look to theme that we will get over and over again. But I really feel like the single-eye kind of twitchiness of this is practiced.

Yeah. I don't think this is something that you do subconsciously. This is a man in complete control of his facial instrument. I think that having gotten some reps under their belt with freaks, the showrunners and directors knew to do this. Because if I was just looking at the script, I would be like, this little moment where Worf privately mutters to himself, how galling it is to be gotten over on by the Ferengi.

Like, he's not, like, he says it out of earshot of everyone. He says it to himself. Immobilized by the damn Ferengi. I would cut there. I like that move. Yeah. But you got Frank sitting there and he can do the eye. And it's like, we got to do the eye. It's important that you called out Worf's moment here because there is so much time spent in this episode with people on the bridge crew hypothesizing what's going on, maybe trying to get in the frangy heads. What must they be thinking? What must they be thinking of us? What must they be doing to us? No one asks Worf what he thinks because no one cares what Worf. thinks at this moment in time?

I have a question for you, and it is speculative because I think, you know, I don't know if they had a show Bible at this point in the series. The show Bible that we've studied extensively that we did all of our seminary work on is post-season one show Bible. And my question is, was Worf initially sort of supposed to be the new Uhura? Because he always seems to be kind of over there in the back left, where Uhura would often be in TOS. He's often on comms or like signal issues. Like he's, he's somewhat seems to be working for Yarr like in her, under her command, but somewhat seems to be like his own kind of thing.

But it's never named. I would agree with you if I felt like Forf got any contribution to what was going on on this show at any moment up until now. I feel like at least Ahura is contributing in a positive way instead of, I think up until now for five episodes, Wharf has been just kind of a problem to solve socially and on these missions. They check on engineering. They like try to radio down and see what's going on. Like I don't know who would pick up the phone. Like is Shimoda off the ship at this? point based on previous things, like they, they, like, cycled them back.

You know, like, maybe you could, like, you know, teach some warp theory at the academy, but you're really not cut out for Starship life. So many people on this ship are walking around like it's the day after the company holiday party. I think there are folks in engineering who may be out of shame aren't picking up the phone call here. That could be it. It's not that internal comms are down.

It's just a lot of awkwardness and silence. Have you ever worked at a workplace where there's one phone for the entire group of employees to answer that a customer calls? And there's sort of the game of chicken where like, well, actually, I'm over here doing prep. Like, I can't pick up the phone. I can't take off my gloves. Like there's kind of a staring contest of who's going to pick it up. Maybe that's what's going on in engineering. I had a work study job in college that I really loved.

I worked at the equipment rental for students in the film school. and that was the vibe. There was like a phone that would ring and somebody on duty would have to answer. And I was always so mad when I like wasn't actively working on a pole for like, you know what I mean then. I got to keep track of something somebody said to me on the phone and then make sure that's actualized in real life.

That sounds impossible. You're showing me two pictures of you, one from back then and one right now. and I'm like those pictures are exactly the same. Ben, speaking of no response, emotional bloodhound, Deanna Troi. Now what is that? That's a bloodhound, isn't it? I'm bloodhound, that's the game.

Bitch who know that shit. Can't get anything off of the folks on the Ferengue ship at this point, but she does her best to chill Picard out. They're actually on pretty even footing with these folks, remember? Like, because both of our species know an equal amount about each other,

which is very little. Fuck all. That is really frustrating. to Riker. When Riker asks Data about the Ferengi and he describes the collected knowledge as being inconsistent. Which reports do not conflict. He like catches one from Riker. Like Riker is like actively pissed at him for characterizing what other people have said accurately. I feel like there's a version of this moment that like like if Data were more of a fan of Master of Commander, I think he would, like introduce the date and say like something about the Ferengi treating space as as Wall

Street or something. Sure. Yeah. Like he could he could make it more dramatic here as it is not super duper dramatic as a description. He's like though we be on the far side of the quadrant this ship is Cuba. Right. You got it. So he distills this down and basically the frangy are the worst and most depraved kinds of capitalists and riker's like hey i like the sound of these guys and piscard is like all right you got to go to engineering with jordy i can't have a guy that thinks that sounds cool on my bridge right now i do love how often crew members are being dismissed from the bridge at this point in time pretty fun get off my bridge there's a look on Data's face when Warf asks him about Uncle Sam that reminds me just so much of Dr. King from

the pit. There's a character on that show that constantly does Data Face in this way, and it is just really something. It's such a good lesson in writing. Like, your character doesn't always have to respond to every question, and it's sometimes more interesting if they don't. Or understand what is happening when a question is asked. so often there's a pace to TV and movies that assumes everyone knows what everyone else is

talking about. And the point is the point of these scenes is to tell us the viewer what's going on when in real life there would be far more arguments and question asking in any of these moments. And I think this is representative of that. It's a form of exposition. It is like it is telling you a lot about what Worf does and doesn't know and what data doesn't doesn't know. And Picard is trying to tell everyone about the like order of colors being wrong in the American flag. That maybe seems like the most impenetrable opinion of them all. Like what the fuck do you mean? French more properly used the same colors in the order blue, white and red. This was so clearly one of those scenes that that if I was watching a rough cut of this episode, I'd be cut

this part. Yeah. Like, this sucks. In engineering, Riker is really trying to spur some fixes out of Jordi while he's down there who tells him that the problem is, the more power that they add to ship systems, the more it's siphoned away almost immediately by the Ferengi ship. And when it's explained that there's this equal and opposite reaction happening, Riker's like, but how fast is that equal and opposite reacting?

Can we do something faster than it's reacted to? Like, could we floor the warp engines faster than the power can be taken? And Jordy is so into this idea. He's almost Ben Sisko psyched about this plan. Yeah, come back, fight. Woo-wee! I love how many fun takes LeVar Burton gets in this episode. And this one, just like him getting excited about a warp problem, it makes the case for him

becoming the chief engineer. It's like, put him in there now. Like, he's so fucking psyched about this in such a fun way. I feel like we do this all the time behind the scenes. Like, we'll QA an episode and then suggests a clip from the movie Slackers or something. And Wendy or Rob will be like, so excited to add like the sound of pissing in a shower to an episode. And and it's like, man, that's just the best. That's the best part of our work, you know? I have to pinch myself sometimes. So I'm back on the bridge. Picard is like, I wonder what's going on in their heads.

And Worf is like, I wonder how I can get their heads and separate them from their bodies. And they hail them to ask. And I was like, is this the first time they're hailing them? Did we like blow past some attempts at hailing that went unanswered earlier? Or has this just been shooting? then a staring contest so far. I thought the very same thing in this moment, that talking was waited upon for so long as a strategy. Ben, I feel like Worf's idea getting clobbered the way it was here is maybe the first example of a

quad-nuts smashing machine moment, right? You can hear it in your head, right? Yeah. Does it come from the front and the back? I think the ball smashing machine just has a larger ball to hit all four of them. Gotcha. Yeah. You know what I just thought about when I described it that way.

It's a ball smashing machine because it's a ball that smashes, but it also smashes your balls. Adam, we've been talking about the ball smashing machine for years. I don't even remember the origin of it on the show. I have always pictured it as a mechanical boot that kicks you in the balls. I've never pictured it as a ball smashing machine as you. you describe. Look, I don't want to remove the great joy that an FOD gets out of imagining just what the fuck we're talking about at any given moment. So if you're an FOD out there that has imagined this as a boot or a pipe or anything else on the end of a length of something that smashes those

nuts, I don't want to take that away from you. This is just me. This is just my personal idea of what a ball smashing machine is. Yeah, I feel like, God, I feel like what we've done is like the paperback copy of the beloved novel that's just been adapted to a Hollywood feature film and now the main character is a photo of an actor on the cover and you can't not picture it as that guy. Yeah, edit that out, Wendy. That whole thing. That's got to go. How about new?

So Picard wants the energy converter back and he tells the Ferengi about this and no answer. This is a puffy demand, isn't it? Picard's really kind of aggressive about what he wants here. I demand that if you return the T9 energy converter, you'll remove from Gamutari 4. He's coming in with that alpha energy and it doesn't work. So Riker explains the plan about busting out and drops some Sun Tzu art of war on Picard. And Picard is like, oh man, that absolutely slaps. They're still doing SunZoo at the Academy.

But the vibes don't last for long because they attempt to punch it. They go nowhere. And that one even, like, dimmed the lights. Yeah. We talked about, like, Riker being unaccustomed to the bangers, having been on the hood for so long. Like, seeing the lights go dim, did he think, like, the show was about to start or something? He's like, oh, I got to get back to my seat. One very interesting quality about the consequence of this is, like, no one blames Jordy.

in a way that I feel like would be very convenient in this moment. Like, what happened? It didn't work. What'd you do, Jordie? I didn't do fucking shit. I didn't rig shit. With Riker's idea. Leave me alone.

Were all the chips really put back in the right order a couple episodes ago? These are controlled chips. Man, I have such a bad headache from my visor right now. Just, you know, you guys solve it. Uh-oh, the entire computer database is being scanned and potentially, like, copied and taken is the idea. And that's when emotional bloodhound Deanna Troy wonders aloud, why everyone is ignoring the planet below. There's a great big planet down there. We're not even considering that as being maybe to blame here.

And Picard's like, hmm, that's just a good thought. But before I am humiliated by not considering that out on the, bridge. Let's take this stand-up McLaughlin group into the observation lounge. Issue one. Yaron Wharf are advocating, let's just fuck shit up. Like, let us, let us show all of the armaments our new Starship has. And Picard is like, no, that's not going to be the plan for first contact. No one explicitly describes it as like, you guys know that what we do is being oppositional answered. Like, what do you think is going to happen if we shoot?

Does no one think that what we shoot is going to get shot back at us, like a fucking submarine shooting a torpedo that homes back in on itself? Troy has been kind of making the case that we should treat the Ferengi like a wild animal. Like, she's already said they might be just as afraid of us. as we are of them thing, or like a cougar that you might encounter on a hike. Or in a bar. And now she's like,

they might just be really curious. And maybe what we should do is get out some trail mix and offer it to them. See if that's what they want. Jordy does this thing. Man, maybe this is a bad Jordy episode where like everyone's offered their ideas,

even bad ones. And when Jordy is pimped into this, he does that classic department meeting self-defense offering nothing. I'm just a little jet legs or so I'm lying down. When solicited for ideas. Everyone else has already said what I was going to say, maybe. I so identified with Jordy in this moment, the feeling of just like dejection that he's

having over his cool idea not working. Yeah. Yeah. And just not like not feeling up to getting back into it just yet. Another weird moment here happens at the end when everyone's dismissed and Picard and Riker alone. Riker is told that what's really at stake here isn't like getting our power back. It's the idea of total annihilation.

And then turns away from him after saying this. And the look Riker gives him is totally priceless. Like Picard out of nowhere just tells him that he just bought a jet ski or something. Like what does that have to do with anything we're talking about here, Captain? Man, I feel like I could stop your heart if I told you I bought a jet ski. Yeah, I think you would. That's a good thing to keep in the back pocket. If I ever need to get out of this, just a jet ski away.

Career suicide by jet ski is what that is for you. Just say you want to quit, Ben. Give us a chance to recast your part. Picard hails again and says, like, we're willing to talk to resolve our differences. Yeah, like the nice parent on the playground. Like, Ferengi? Ferengi!

We don't hit. None of us do, which is a lie. So the Ferengi try to move. And I thought it was interesting how subtle the movement of the ship is on the view screen. They really don't move much at all. And that's pretty stressful. Yarr reports we have about a massive. minute left on the shields and everybody is starting to go over to team shoot them with everything

we've got. Were you expecting more transformations from the Ferengi ship because we get turnaround, we get slide out of the little cassette front part of it? Yeah. I kept expecting more and more configurations of this thing. It becomes mega made by the end. Right. Yeah.

Picard's like, I want to see if this ship can do any more things. So let's just wait, just a couple more seconds. And finally, the Ferengi pick up the phone. And we meet just an audio initially, Tar, who is a daemon of the Ferengi and a really talented conductor. If you're trying to do more than one thing, it's often frowned upon. He announces that he will not surrender in a way that makes clear that their ship is trapped in the same thing that Enterprise is in. Picard wants to FaceTime and he's like, it's against Ferengi custom, but I do have a webcam around here somewhere. Hold on. Let me plug it in. I always plug it in upside down at first. It never fails.

He, when he gets on the viewscreen, does offer to return their worthless T9 energy converter and also kill his second officer as his custom. to Mary. Is this the first time we learn that data is the second officer? Yeah, maybe. Because he's glad that it's not the human custom. And it's one of many asides that data, like, whispers under the assumption that nobody on the FaceTime can hear him. There's a quality to what's happening here on the view screen that I feel like they start, but don't continue throughout this show. And I kind of wish they did, which is, like, use it to establish power because what's happening here with this Damon is that his face is so big. It is so looming.

And it is shot in that over the shoulder kind of way, over the captain's shoulders, that it feels so much more threatening than guy in chair that we get almost always from this point forward. And I kind of wish they played with that power dynamic a little more. I love the way these shots look, even though they like didn't even bother to have a bridge for Tar to be in. Like, I don't think it matters. And, like, the only other time I can think of them doing that is maybe, like, Tomlok's head looking, like, super duper big.

But it's not the over-the-shoulder shot. It's like the wide shot from the starboard side of the bridge showing the captain's seat on one side and the view screen on the other. Anyways, it's clear from this interaction that the Ferengi are under the impression that the Enterprise is doing all of this to the other. them in the way that the Enterprise has been assuming that the Ferengi have been doing it. So Picard does not disabuse Tar of his misapprehension, but he does call another McLaughlin group. Issue too.

And this time, Riker has to chase a couple of kids out of the observation lounge. Matthew Pola, you know this area's off limits. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. How did they even get into this part of the ship? Boys will be boys, Captain. I am so tired of that totology. Here's what I want to say about this. This has got to be a constant problem with the design of the galaxy class.

Because think about it. Like, the civilians are in the saucer except for the main command structure of the ship being the bridge. They are surrounded by a city of civilians. But the Star Drive section is the exact opposite. I kind of wonder, like, I understand why it's designed this way. But do you think that they regret as a starship designer not making the saucer the more staffed command structure of the ship to prevent this. Or just make the main bridge be in the Star Drive.

And like there is an auxiliary bridge in the saucer, but that's not the one you use for day-to-day operations. That's only if you need to separate. The implication of like cutting the military apparatus loose in order to save the civilians while keeping the command structure attached physically to the civilians is like kind of a dark thought too, right? Like, we've got the life raft here. And if anything happens, like, the bridge crew and them are leaving. And like the civilians all being like toward the front of the ship, making them sort of a human and other species shield for the military. Yeah. Kind of dark.

Data is telling them about this planet and what is known about it while he plays with a Chinese finger trap, which I guess the kids that got chased out of the observation lounge must have brought some of their toys and left it when they had to leave in a hurry. So this little metaphor is wrapped around Data's fingers as he describes the Tikon Empire and this huge, very powerful organization that Picard has never heard of despite being a pretty avid archaeologist. It's true. One of the joys of rewatching these episodes is noticing all the things that you didn't the first few times around. And one of the things that I really delighted in here. Or maybe we did and people are going to tell us, but I don't remember.

was how clear the grill of a Korean barbecue restaurant was, was present in the table. And if Data's fingers weren't in the finger traps, I feel like he would be using scissors to cut up your meat and preparing it for dinner. Some thin cut rib eye, short rib, maybe a bulgogi. Really like that moment. So yeah, the Tikana Empire, they have gone away, but in the deep past of the galaxy, they were great. and then data reaches what he describes as an odd functional impasse and can't get his fingers out of this thing. And given what we know he can do strength-wise, I was like, what is this made out of that, like, that's paper, right? Can't he just rip it?

I think if the runner was him pulling his hands apart and absolutely shredding this thing and doing it multiple times this episode, that would be so much cooler. But no, we got to make data a boob at all times. And I'm going to go back to this. I think it would be cooler if data was established as a fucking superhero on this show. And the show takes great pains in making sure that's never the case. Yard reports that they have a signal from a probe that they sent out. And we get the hologram over the KBQ grill changing to show the planet and the two ships in orbit of it with, little electric beams coming from the planet to sap them of their precious energy.

Data's like what we're trying to do here is and he takes the barbecue scissors and he like snips the energy beam going from the planet to the ships. He's like, in order to eat, we got to cut the beams, you see. In a work meeting scene that will surprise none of the women listening, nobody turns to Troy and goes, wow, you were right. They all just say, wow, it's got to be the planet as though it is their original thought that she hasn't been arguing for 15 minutes. I'm sensing nothing from them, sir. This is a perfect future, Ben, where we don't need to take the credit for our great ideas. She doesn't need that.

It's moneyless, so what are you going to do with credit? Nothing. Incredible. One thing I was a little bit confused about in this is that maybe I, maybe I misunderstood the way it was said, They described this planet as being a distant outpost, but also data is talking about the seat of the Takan Empire, like it being like the center of this huge thing. I guess this one is like a remote outpost. But if it had been the seat, like that's pretty exciting, right? Like if Forrest Gump had gotten on a school bus with all the kids on this planet, they would have said seats to Khan, right?

You're such a teacher's vet. like the whole idea that like power is being drained people are going to die but man isn't it cool that like we're right we're right in the locus of power for the tacon man that's neat

it's so neat another great jordy react in this scene but isn't this sequence weird like why does jordy say my hero before data gets out of the finger come Like, I thought that felt reversed.

Yeah, I wonder if it was reversed in the edit. Yeah. Anyways, there's nothing alive downstairs, but it is M-Class, so an away team will be sent. And they're like, well, wait, maybe before we go, we should ask those other guys if they want to get in on this. Like, what better way to make first contact than a collaborative effort between our peoples? And so that is gone and proposed. It's like vacationing with new friends, right? Like you're really taking the friendship to the next level.

It's great. It speeds up the intimacy level. It's like putting the relationship in a time compressor. Or to the fucking firing range, you know? I like to know where I stand pretty early. I think that's a good acid test. Yeah. Yarr says that she's got to shut down shields to maintain life support.

And when they get on with Diamond Tarr again, And he has figured out what's going on as well. And he feels understandably deceived by the previous interaction that they had. And then he hears Data call him a Yankee traitor, which is a genuinely funny moment. I really liked this part. Yeah, I wouldn't like that either. Who the fuck said that? Who's the slimy little communist shit twinkle-toe cocksucker down here who just signed his own death warrant?

I also love how explicitly was about taking back everything you said before. Like that thing I said about surrender? No way. Yeah. That's off the table. Like, he is very competitive. And I really feel like Picard made his bed with this. Like, this was something Picard could have avoided if he had just spoken honestly to this dude at the beginning.

Kind of a teachable moment, you know. When it is described that this will essentially, establish a trade between them, that they will trade information. This is an information exchange between them and the Ferengi. I had it in my head that like this was what they know now, but it is actually suggesting what they're there to do, right? Like by sending two Dustbuster clubs to the surface, they're going to be doing separate things on the surface and then meeting up later. Yeah. I guess they're going to like coordinate though. Like Picard's like, okay, we'll send you an email with like the address.

and the time whenever we get the open table. So they shut off the FaceTime. Riker, Troy, and Data are like, Captain, he is trying to trick you. And Ricard's like, I know. I wasn't born yesterday. So the group assigned to this Dustbuster Club is Riker, Jordy, Data, Warf, and Yard. And this feels like maybe the highest value Dustbuster Club combination. Yeah.

We've gotten up to now and maybe we'll ever get. This seems like Apex Dustbuster Club here. Is this the episode we called the A-Team of Away Teams? I don't want to keep pointing back to that stuff. Okay. What we know before they beam down is like it's almost throwaway dialogue, but I think it's so important. Like they're getting up on the pad and they're like, only the power to send us down, huh? This is a one-way trip?

Okay. This better be successful. Like it's really effective in raising the stakes of what. they need to do down there. They arrive all scattered and Riker goes and does one of the more traumatic memories he's ever had, which is yell. How closely did this planet resemble most planets in no man's sky? I wanted to take out my mining gun and just shoot these crystals.

Shoot them all because I need the fuel to take off. I bet there's a cave right under me. Let's just go down, see what's down. Yeah, yeah, very shootable crystals all around them. They were just really excited that they figured out a way to get smoke to cascade down the slopes of their little miniature rocks. Do you think anybody is kind of the worst thing to yell in this context? Because there aren't many consonants. It's very mushy as a word.

If you're hearing it from far away and there's like thunder and shit, I don't think you're even going to know what the word is that's being yelled. I agree. What's a better word? What would you yell at the top of? of anybody canyon. I feel like they were so enamored of the scene with data in the holodeck in the pilot that they're like, let's do that again. Let's get data up a tree and get them to jump down very dramatically.

Do you think the person who wrote the script, though, got some clarifying questions about they also find Jordy who is hung. There's so many. ways to interpret that? Like, let's just take that out. Yeah, we don't get too long to consider the implications of script versus screen before we see some hard whip-hitting Ferengi across the way. And Riker, almost in sequence, says two of the dumbest things in a row. Anybody being one of them, and who are you being the second? What? The Ferengi's whip, Jordy. Another slightly unfortunate bit of imagery from the script. The blow

kind of cascades through his body and into data who's touching him and even Riker gets a little bit of it. So he's like dazed and he's going to start running toward them but they hit him again and he goes down. In orbit we see that the lights are out on the enterprise

starting to talk about how cold it is on board. Nobody has gotten any jackets. And they're not even, like, wrapping the blankets around themselves. They're just, like, bunching them up and holding them against their chests. So a little bit weird. But it's a scene about it's getting really fucking dangerous up here. And we cut back to some Ferengi fingers trying to steal a com badge off of maybe Wharf.

I wasn't really sure whose chest this was. Oh, I thought it was Riker's chest. But Rikers, like, slumped over on his belly a little bit. I think it's either Jordy or Worf, but anyways. It really, really, really has that look of a college student film insert shot. It does. Like, we need something, like, I need to cut here between these two scenes, and we don't have anything to help. Let's just use this.

I had an amazing instructor in film school named Nick Tannis. He was, like, just old New York-style Greek guy. And my friend made a movie where, like, half of the shots, it was raining. and half of the shots, it was sunny, and it was just like the day that we had. Like, it was like every 15 minutes it would change. And famously, Nick Tannis said, what you need is a shot of a cloud going in front of the sun. And then you reverse that shot when you need the opposite to happen. Yeah, brilliant.

Yeah, we always said, like, and any editing challenge you come up against, like, what you need. I mean... There's a shot of a Ferengi hand going for a communication. Ben, if you have this exact sequence and then instead of the hands, you cut to a cloud going in front of the sun, you can use it. You can use it for everything and any show. Hey, all the editors out there in the audience, I know Rizzo's probably listening. You can take that to the bank. Yeah, the Nick Tannis shot, right? No comment. Yeah. The FerengioA team, like, while everybody is knocked out, start talking amongst themselves and it is pretty clear that they're like freelancing on this. Like, they did not go down with Damon Tarr's to stun and capture the humans. They are doing this because they have plausible deniability, and they'll just say that the humans were the ones that were freelancing and trying to round up the Ferengis.

It will be our word against them. It is very well done in that three soldiers planning to use a flamethrower on a village kind of tone, you know? It's dark. It's effectively dark. And who is more trustworthy, Mordak? And that they're piling up the bodies as they discussed this is a big, big part of it. That's so true.

The Dust Berger Club is down and they're like dragging bodies to a pile while conspiring. Evoking like the bad guys in a World War II movie without doing any explicit pointing at that. Yeah, you don't want to see how the Ferengi age at the end of this. At the end of the sequel to come and see in the 24th century. come and steal. Yeah. A crash of lightning kind of puts them out of commission and Riker gets up and starts threatening them and Worf does a surprise attack and they're able to turn the tables on

the Ferengi. It's just because of weather. It's a really weird fight scene because I think that the Ferengi were given the direction to like shake and look really uncomfortable because of the lightning. But the effect it had was like when an actor's holding like a rubber baby and they're not really selling that it's a real baby. in a shot. I love thunderclaps used this way.

This is such a Rambo First Blood Part 2 technique. Like, very dramatic when Riker wakes up at the same time as a thunder clap. It's good. On the ship, they're starting to talk about how pretty soon everybody is going to be dead up here because it will get so cold. And Beverly is like, I got to go give some heroin to Wesley, my son. And he's like, no. he should have his wits about him as he faces death.

He has the right to meet death awake. I really didn't like this scene. And the reason is the loss of hope happens so early. Like, I don't like my captain walking through, you know, the gathering of the families to conserve the heat and the energy and so forth. Being such a fucking bummer. If I'm one of the families, I'm like, Captain, leave. Like, go to the bridge and at least have us assume that you're working the problem instead of clearly, like, looking like a man who's given up. I think that sucks.

Well, it's a tradition that a captain walks his ship on the eve of battle. What a foreshadowing. That's really funny. Yeah, Foucard's kind of a quitter. Crusher is like, so not giving the drugs to my son. So he has to, like, feel all of the terror and pain of this. Is that like a male thing? And Picard's like, hashtag not all males.

Weird scene. Rub it. On the surface, the Ferengi have got to be wondering if their mission is hopeless too. Because once a firefight pops off and they start shooting, these giant crystals attract the beams. And Jordi confirms what our eyes have seen.

The planet is a big power collector, and that's the whole point of it. Now we get a light show furnished with promotional consideration by the Takan Empire, and God from Star Trek Five shows up for a moment, but then he transforms into, like, a guy. By what name are you known? There are some who call me Tim? He just thinks that they've come to, like, ask permission to come in. Why would we petition to enter an empire that no longer exists?

There's a non-specific challenge that's referred to here. Riker has been nominated, which has got to be an uncomfortable feeling when you don't know exactly what you've been nominated for? He's got some questions first. It seems like the Ferengi see this as a great opportunity. And so, LaTech, the lead Ferengi played by Armand Shimmerman, is like, hey, man, we can get into business together. These guys don't even know about money, which is proof that they're very uncivilized and

the savages that you are terming them as, but we're pretty advanced. Like, we wouldn't even charge you anything. We could make this really worth your while. What's that quote that goes like, uh, When you say less, no one knows your intelligence, but when you say more, you make them sure you're an idiot. How does that go? I think you encapsulated it.

It's about that. I mean, that's what the pharynge you're doing here. By Riker just sort of allowing them to take all the oxygen in the conversation, he's giving them the rope that they need to hang themselves. He is and is like weirdly defiant about it. Like, yeah, like everything they accuse me of is true. adjudicated in a court of law. It's worked really good for us a couple of times now that we turn this into kind of like an adversarial courtroom type of thing. So let's just do that. But of what you

suspect is true, then I'm guilty. I should be punished. And if we're talking about the balance of evidence here, the Ferengi are just overturning a garbage can full of it on the judge. It's just so much. This is what we'd call an orgy of evidence. Data and Riker kind of get into like a tennis court rally of like who can list the biggest number of failures in the history of the federation. And I think this gets glossed over. Like I think like Star Trek takes a lot of shit for the federation being an organization that thinks of itself is perfect and that everybody should be sort of in the federation in this like neoliberal, neo-colonial kind of way.

I really like the data and Riker are like true believers enough that they are in Starfleet, but they can also hold in their head, hey, like, there are lots of things that we've done in the past that fucking blew, and, like, we're just trying to get better. We have at times allowed the strong and violent to overcome the weep.

Oh, my God. He admitted. They're talking about the same thing they talked about in the pilot episode. Like, is what we're doing good? Is what we're doing deserving of continuing? Yeah. This is another version of that.

There's like a challenge that Worf immediately interpret Pritz as like a hand-to-hand type of thing. For battle come to me! No! He's so fucking lucky that the portal guy didn't agree to let him go in Riker's stead. Because I don't think he, like as much as Worf loves war, I don't think he studies Sun Tzu. His hair looks so fucking good when it's hustled, though.

God, why isn't it like this all the time? Orf looks fucking rad. Every moment after he wakes back up, like all through the fight and all through the rest of this episode just looks fucking great. Yeah. So, yeah, Riker, you know, solves the riddle by quoting some Taconic coded Sun Su and he and the portal are just like getting on like pals at this point. Portal's like, hey, man, I can tell we're kind of kind of kindred spirits. Let's just like walk around this pretty small set and, you know, just get to know each other.

I love this. And I love Jonathan Frakes's physicality here too. there's the sort of walk that you have to do when you're walking with an older person that feels unnatural, unnaturally slow compared to like your own natural gate. And that is so clearly like this is Riker walking around with his dad at the home, you know? Please spare me the pain of your childhood. My love is a people longing till for that which longer nurse has the disease. You'll have to go again.

The Enterprises released, Brangy not released. I was wondering how they were doing on that ship, but then I remember they all wear fur. So they probably got, you know, half an hour or an hour more of time. Also, naked bodies are better for warmth if you're trying to do that. Yeah. Like, it's kind of counterintuitive if you're in a hypothermia situation to get nude. But that's what you do. Yeah, that should be your first thought.

So everybody wakes up on the bridge, like, Riker is still walking around with Portal. and they're just shooting the breeze and like talking about stuff. And the Ferengi are just kind of like squabbling around them like like hungry puppies or something. It's so weird. I don't know, man. I think that this is pretty explicitly ape-coded, you know? I guess so. Yeah.

Yeah. They're really freaking out that this guy took a liking to Riker and not them. And also that they're just like talking openly about the Ferengi in a very condescending way as though they're not there. Shall I destroy them? Then they would learn nothing. That's big fun. That's a power move. And Portal's like, hey man, it was so real getting to know you.

But I got to go back to sleep until I'm needed again by my empire. And he walks off. Right, Chris, like, you actually weren't listening to anything data told you, right? Your empire's gone. You are the last outpostman. Yeah. And he like does like double finger guns. And he's like, keep telling yourself that buddy.

You hear me? Last outpostman? I said ride! Do you remember that trailer? The trailer to Kevin Costner's The Postman? And that being the button on the end of the trailer? What a moment. I think about that all the time. Never seen the movie, though. I have seen that movie. It's like, what if Waterworld was a little shittier? I thought Waterworld was fun. It's fun. It's not smart. It is profoundly stupid, but it is an amazing thing to watch, especially now, like, when all of that stuff would just be faked in the computer. Like, watching Waterworld in 2026 is highly ordained behavior. Like, you're doing it right when you're watching Waterworld now.

When Costner stopped drinking his own piss on screen, his career's never been as good. It took like a 20-year hit. Now is he kind of coming back, you know. Was the piss drinking the cause of it? Hmm. Now I'm questioning it. Dana Carvey as George W. Bush really did take the piss out of him. My film paper is all about the piss drinking characters of a Kevin Costner and the career consequences they're in.

Shades of yellow. This can be the title. Yeah. And that's the subtitle. Okay. So the portal has left. They report through a captain's log that they got their power converter back because the portal made the Ferengi do it.

And Riker obtains permission from the captain for a pretty fun bit, which is beam a bunch of finger puzzles over to the Ferengi so that they can get stuck with them. Before they went into warp, I transported the whole kit and caboodle into the air, engine room. The line of dialogue that got cut out here was Picard and Reicher going back and forth a couple of times in McCart going, hmm, why don't we beam the children over there? You said Pola and Matthew were the ones that left the toys in the observation lounge? This is an even more confounding conundrum in many ways. Let's see what the Ferengi gets stuck in those children. Is this the

seed of the idea of like ordering pizza to somebody's house like like without their knowledge I think so it's like that's like a fucking great prank because like please order pizza to my house I mean you assume everybody's ordering pizza to your house all the time but I would just like to have that experience once yeah it'll keep you out of the food bag so now Jordy's hands are caught in the trap. So Data has to push the button. And we get like super close up on data pushing button while Jordy's hands are trapped. Fucking give me Data's hands on top of Jordy's hands ripping that thing apart.

And like one of Jordy's fingers separates. He gets de-gloved on his two index fingers. Oh, God. Well, that was a great episode of Star Trek The Next Generation Adam. I want to ask you how you felt about the Ferengi the first generation. Of course, we've long celebrated the work of character actor Mike Gomez.

They got his working in shifts. As well as Armand Shimmerman, who needs no introduction to our audience. But we also had Jake Dengel as Modoc. And we also had Tracy Walter in the role of Karon. So these are four different interpretations of what can a Ferengi be like and four pretty heterogeneous

takes, I would say. Like, I don't think that they're all trying to do the same thing. What worked for you and what didn't work for you in this, the first appearance of everyone's favorite capitalists? I think what really worked for me was Damon Tarr as being the introduction

to the species and their ways. I liked how threatening he was right off the bat, I like how open he was to changing his mind and his strategy as he received more information about their circumstances. I would have liked to meet up with this guy again down the road, like as we as we meet Ferengi again, because I think he could have been set up as a heavy if anyone cared to do it, I mean, you know? I mean, he does show up again as a Ferengi, but a different Ferengi, which I feel like he could have, he could have not been a different perengi and that would have been more interesting in many ways.

I think it's unfortunate that like the other three are just like whatever. They're like the same brand of three dopey musketeers like on the surface. And that's too bad because we know what kind of fastball Armand Shimmerman has. I think he's doing what he can with what he's got. I think Mordock just exists to be big sistered by Tasha Yarr at several points. And he's good at like, he's good at receipts. receiving that treatment in a way. But yeah, I mean, the other three are just so mincy and unusual and annoying.

Tar has like an advantage, which is we only see his face. So he doesn't have to think about the way his body moves at all in creating this character. But maybe they were like egging each other on as far as how wriggly and wrythy they would be as they move. It's interesting how when you think about the qualities of aliens, being irritated by them isn't really near the top of the list in terms of like what you would expect. And yet this is a first contact that is just full of irritation. You know? Interesting choice. That's how I feel.

Well, I think you've made a compelling case. That was a great segment about first. in Star Trek TNG, and up next, we have Priority One messages. After that, we're going to play a game. Game with the name of another podcast, so I hope they don't sue us. It's a game called Factory's Seconds, and it could influence next week's show. Priority One message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. You need a supplemental income.

Supplement. Supplement. Yeah, it's extra. By the interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. All right, Ben, we've got a promotional priority one message here. Here's how that goes. Are you looking for the art that is neither artificial nor intelligent? I present to you thegoodgarbage.com.

I'm hawking my absolutely dumb designs. To keep the lights on here in my trash can. Trade workers, cooks, climbers, and warp core engineers might especially like the fucked up hands club collection. Wow. FODs get 10% off with the code bump. Thank you to all FODs everywhere for supporting my new baby business. Down with artificial intelligence.

Long live human stupidity. So here's the call to action, Ben. You got to go to the good garbage.com. And this message was sent to us from The Garbage Lady. I love it. Is it a, you said it's my new baby business, but is it my new baby business? It is. I should have tin manned the pronunciation there. Maybe you did tin man it, and that's what, that's how that goes.

The good garbage. The good garbage. Yeah. Dumb shit for weirdos. I love the tagline. I love the art style. There's going to be a time when they get the hands ripe in, and then what do we do? That'll be a tough day.

That'll be a tough day Fucked up Hands Club I feel like I should get for myself Just because like I have a cut on my finger here From a piece of bread I cut myself two slices of bread To make a grilled cheese the other day And the crust

Abraided my finger and I bled This is what old age is Ben I just enfeebled in so many ways Big and small Yeah It's quite galling Our next P1 is of a personal nature. It's from Justin and it's to Amanda. It goes like this. Ten years ago,

you married me, even though I made you eat bell peppers. Watch Star Trek. A decade later, you've learned to love both. I've learned that you are the best co-pilot I could have hoped for on the long shuttlecraft ride of life. And I can't wait for 10 more years of Vulcan finger stuff and checking each other for nub and bugs. Love you. I mean, that's the job. isn't it. That is the job. You got to check each other for the nubbins. Brother, you said it. Congrats, guys, on 10 years.

Pretty great. I choose to interpret it this, Amanda, just in Justin's defense, as like you're both co-pilots, your co-host. Like, Adam and I are co-host. It's not like one of us in charge the way there's a pilot and a co-pilot. And also, it sounds like you know each other way better than what I've come to understand is typical among pilots and co-pilots. Yeah, yeah. Anyways, Amanda, if you think the plane is going to crash, speak up. Tell Justin about it.

Yeah, which one of you is all ears? Ben, our final priority one message here is of a personal nature. It's to you and me that's from Sandra Olson. That message goes, we received your Polestar mug in February. Thanks. It is prominently displayed in my home office. My wife, Brenda, and I were both thrilled to see your Star Trek 5 live show in DC in 2023, and we listen to your podcast daily. May you both live long and prosper and visit DC again soon. Oh, man. Senator Olson.

I love that. Thank you, Sander. I hope we do get to visit D.C. again soon. Hell of a town. And I'm glad you got my mug. I'm glad I don't have that mug anymore. Just take those days. And, yeah, much love to you and the wifie.

And everyone who submitted a priority one message. You can do that at greatest trek.com and P1 support the production of our show. So thanks. Yeah, we really appreciate it. And if you'd like to get on a specific episode, dates are starting to fill up. There's a pretty good log of P1's starting to grow. So get on it.

You can pick your shot now. You can select the date that you think your episode will air. And if you're not quite sure, you can also let us know with a special request. So we'll figure it out. Well, Adam, a lot of fun to talk about P1s, but now we have a game, a game that could determine the sobriety of one or both or neither of us

on next week's episode. The Last Outpost is an episode featuring four guest actors with that incredible it factor. Star Trek is where we really know them from, but each had lots of other credits. What is true and what is false about their other famous credits, or to put it another way,

these factor ease seconds. The way the game works is as follows. I will read three facts about each of these four Ferengi actors' other roles. Two of these anecdotes will be true, and one will be a fabrication. If you can detect which, you win, but this is a bit of a Chinese finger trap of a game, because when you point your pointer finger through a weird paper tube at your other pointer finger, you're also pointing back at yourself. There are four opportunities to score.

For each time I fool you at the beginning of next week's show, you will have to take a shot of the grossest liquor you have in your house. This is to honor, of course, the gross weirdness of the Ferengi. But for every time you identify the fake story, I will have to take a shot of whatever the worst alcohol is in my house. And there's one more twist. If you score exactly two, and I score exactly two, the shots cancel each other out, and neither of us must take them.

The worst alcohol in your house is like, Vov. Man, I have so many fucked up things. This doesn't seem fair at all. I have crazy shit in my house. You have no idea. All right. So, are you ready to play Factory's seconds? I've never been more ready for anything that I am for this.

Let's go. Mike Gomez portrayed Damon Tarr in this episode and has the distinction of being the first Ferengi ever on screen in Star Trek. Here are three other stories about Mike Gomez's career triumphs and accolades, one of which is untrue. Mike Gomez appeared on two different episodes as two different characters in T.J. Hooker, the William Shatner Cop Show. He also has a Nimoy connection, having been directed by Adam Nimoy in the episode Rascals,

And three, Mike Gomez, ironically, does not appear in the Frangie away team given his status as a several times decorated competitive whip-cracking champion. Which of those is not true? T.J. Hooker, Rascals, and whipcracking. I mean, the third one sounds like the wrong one. I'm going to say T.J. Hooker sounds real. Okay. That sounds true. What was the middle one?

He was directed by Adam Nimoy in the episode Rascals. That also sounds true. Yeah, I mean, you're saying the reason he was not on the away team was that he is such a great whipcracker? I'm just saying it's ironic that he wasn't given the fact that he, this is like, like he acts, but he also like there's like a huge whipcracking tournament in Australia that he's won. There's one in Austria that he's won. Amazing. He would make the others look bad. Maybe that's it.

Yeah, that one's too weird not to pick. Give me that one. You are correct. going to have to take a shot for Mike Gomez not in fact being known to be a competitive whip-cracking champion. Okay. Tracy Walter, an all-time that guy, disappears into his Ferengi character and only has three lines in the episode.

Let's see how you do with these three stories. No stranger to close encounters, Tracy Walter portrayed a colleague of Emilio Estevez in the classic punk film Repo Man, for which he has particularly celebrated. For what fans of the film call the Plate of Shrimp monologue. Story number two, in the motion pictures based on the viral Fred videos from YouTube, Walter appeared as Scary Gary, not only in Fred and Fred 2, Night of the Living Fred, but also in Fred 3, Camp Fred. Third story, Tracy Walter played the forensic photographer in the morgue scene in Silence of the Lambs

when they find that moth in that lady's throat. Those are very specific references. Okay, so it's Moth. It is Repo Man. It is, what's the middle one? Fred, it's the obnoxious YouTube character with the very high voice. See, I don't know anything about that reference. That reference alludes me entirely.

So that, that's the one that I'm drawn to you of all of the options. I'm going to say Fred, just because I don't know any better. It's a good guess, and it is correct. Tracy Walter is only in Fred 3 colon, Camp Fred. He's not in the other two. I feel like this is drunk suicide by cop here. How much do you want to take four shots, Ben? Well, we have two more questions, so we'll find out.

Mordock spelled with a C, not to be confused with Mordock spelled with a C.K., the chaotic bro, was memorably played by Jake Dengal, who was no stranger to genre pictures, such as the following roles. In the post-apocalyptic film Roller Boys 2, Judgment of the Roller Boys, as Rocky the Jockey, in the slasher comedy, blood-sucking pharaohs in Pittsburgh

as Sweeney Birdwell, or in the western film, Four Eyes and Six Guns as Kid O'Banyan. What was the name of the first one? The first one had a very funny name. Roller Boys 2, Judgment of the Roller Boys. I mean, you really want to avoid the judgment of the Roller Boys, that's for sure. So that suggests to me the Roller Boys was a series of films?

Yeah, I think there was two of them. There's then blood-sucking Ferros in Pittsburgh, the slasher comedy, and four guns and six eyes, which was a Western. Was Roller Boys related to Roller Ball? No, it's a post-apocalyptic. Different universe. I guess, yeah, by some measures, I guess Roller Ball is post-apocalyptic, but this is not that.

All right. I think you can hear what I'm fixated on, the whole roller boy's-ness of the options. I got to choose that one. Fucking A, you got it. Okay. I am shocked that that one went your way. I mean, that was just a plausibility thing.

Like, that first one was just too weird. Well, I have one chance to avoid completely stepping on the rake here. Arm and Shimmerman had a lasting impact. on Star Trek, but he's gone on to a career as a voice actor for a number of video games, including which two of the following three. Lego DC supervillains playing the character's Psycho Pirate and Condiment King. Ratchet and Clank riffed apart as Dr. Nefarious. Or Monkey Shines Mayhem as Boris the Loras.

He's got a great voice. Horace the Loris sounds real. That just sounds like a game a kid would play. What was the middle one? The middle one is Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, and the character is Dr. Nefarious, which I feel like if your last name is Nefarious, you've got kind of like one line of work that you can go into, right?

I know that's a real game. I don't know if the third one's a real game. What was the first one? Lego DC supervillains and he played Psycho Pirate and Condiment King

in that game. I want that to be real. Psycho pirate Condiment King. Yeah, something feels weird about that one. Okay. It's A or C.

All right, I'm switching it to C because C is something I've just, Never even heard of it. God fucking damn it! God damn it!

I worked so hard on this! I mean, at least I've heard of the Lego movie or whatever, but like I haven't even heard of what the third answer is, so that's why I chose it. Man, I'm surprised you heard of any of this shit.

Anyways, what a lively game of factories seconds. Oh, man. It was fun to play a game with you. Yeah, I guess so. We'll see about how affects our episode next week. Producer Wendy Pretty taking a much deserved break from editing this week.

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