The Greatest Generation - Coincidentally Ankylosaured (DS9 S7E2)

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

When the Dax symbiont’s new hosts invites herself on the Sisko family road trip, she gets more than the spiritual guidance she bargained for. But when The Sisko starts flashing back to the 50’s, he has to decide whether his medium is paint or pencil. How does Sisko decide what is and isn’t the will of the Prophets? Who would win in a game of chicken, Kira or Beltbuckle? Has Odo gotten to second base yet? It’s the episode with hosts who seem a little too chill for war. Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Prophets! Support the production of The Greatest Generation. Music by Adam Ragusea & Dark Materia  Follow The Greatest Generation on Twitter, and discuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen! Facebook group | Subreddit | Wiki Sign up for our mailing list!

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

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

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

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

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, the god of the universe, the death of the heaven, the god of the universe, the death of the heaven, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the universe, the god of the with a little bit something. We've had a couple of days. Well, I was gonna say that, but then I was like,

no, got to stick to the brand. Gotta keep... Gotta keep hammering that brand. People love the format. It's the best thing about our show. It might be the only thing about our show. Yeah. Adam, I have a great big, a coley how based, Tiki drink in front of me.

Look at you. You used the a coley how. Wow. I made a quadruple. No shit. Because I figured I didn't want to have to pop up and mix another drink. This is a cocktail that would probably cost $40 or $50 at a bar and would be illegal to serve because it's got so much.

Because it would come in a bowl with four straws in it and it would be on fire. Yeah, like the thing about the zombie, which is one of the foundational teaky cocktails, is it's almost always listed on menus as being four two. Like it's intended for two people, because I think that, I don't think this is true everywhere, but I think that in some jurisdictions, there is like an upper limit to the amount of alcohol

you can serve legally to one person in one drink. And what I'm saying is that this, the zombie ain't got shit on the daiquiri I made for myself today. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's a barrel drink in the parlance of one of our favorite teaky bars, smugglers cove. Yeah. That drink's going to do the job. Yeah. This cocoa no no is a cocoa. Yes, yes. Well, why don't you break it down for me?

Let's drink about it style, Ben. For the friends of DeSoto at home who maybe wanna make such a thing. This is dead simple. It's just a big version of my classic bakery ratio of three parts, rum, two parts lime juice, one part syrup, and the only tweaks are that instead, rum, two parts, lime juice, one part, syrup, and the only tweaks are that instead of rum,

I'm using Okoli Howe, which is the, I think it's tarot root-based spirit from the Hawaiian Islands. The official spirit of the hit war movie podcast, friendly fire. That's true, and you bought me a bottle of it. I kicked the bottle to make this drink. What? You're out? I'm out. Good job by you. I think I still have half a bottle left. And the other substitution is that it's a passion fruit syrup instead of straight simple syrup.

That'll coley howl will cold cock you, Ben. That's a spirit you don't see coming, I don't think. It was hit over the head with a bottle, sir. When bottle out what, O'Coli howl, sir. I've got the broods close at hand. Oh, the move. I'm partying safe. What about you?

You got a Tiki beverage there? I saw a long time about making in a Coley House substitution in the double jungle bird that I made. Ooh. But in the end, I stuck with the rum because I love a jungle bird so much, I was afraid of fucking it up. But you're saying that you can swap them and be happy.

Like I wouldn't have been disappointed if I had gone a Coley Howe instead of Jamaican rum. Different rums are different. And the cocktail I made, I don't have been disappointed if I had gone a Koliha instead of Jamaican rum. Different rums are different and the cocktail I made I don't know if I don't know if I'll Koliha would do the same work that a Jamaican rum would do. Yeah, I guess is where I'm grasping it, but I think you find. My jungle bird is a, and it went right up to the top of my Picard teaky glass. Which I believe were given to us while we were out on tour. Maybe two tours ago is how I remember it,

but time doesn't exist anymore. Jungle bird, of course, the double that I made is gonna be three ounces of rum, ounce and a half of compari, two ounces pineapple juice, one ounce lime juice, one ounce de meris syrup, which I just made today. Not the regular white sugar syrup. We're going dark with a simple syrup and shake with ice, pour over ice and there you have it. Oh I'm nice. I've got to tell you a friend of the show Grant sent me a surprise gift lately which I know this as a name and I'm not remembering it but it's a bag to smash ice in for cocktails.

Oh yeah a Lewis bag. A Lewis bag. He gave me a Lewis bag and a Lewis hammer. Nice. That's a fun gift. Which is like a wooden hammer and a burlap-esque sack for smash and ice cubes in. And it's a real delight.

So thanks to Graham for that. Next time we're able to hang out together, you should bring your Lewis bag and hammer and we can compare bags and hammers. I have I have such a kit as well. There there was no sure bet that I've ever made in my entire life. But you not only knew the name of the Lewis bag and hammer, but that you already had one before me. I'm a I'm a specific kind of dork at them.

Yeah. Cheers to you, Ben. Cheers to you, Ben. Cheers to you, buddy. I wanna make this quick, because we're already six minutes into our Marin, but I had a big mail haul the other day. Yeah. It's just three boxes, but they're all pretty big.

So, you mind if we do a quick hit mail bag? Especially if they're big, I say. Okay, you know, I might be moving soon, so I need these boxes, so I big, I say. Okay, you know, I might be moving soon, so I need to, I need, I need these boxes. Yeah. So I'm trying to say. Valuable boxes. Captain, I'm sorry to disturb you. I'm receiving a code 47.

Verify? It is code 47, sir. Starfleet emergency frequency. Caption size only. I'm gonna go with this first one, and this one is from Star Trek Store. That's where where that's the sender. You are not joking about the size of that box. It looks like something you've got. It looks like... Yeah. It says 16 by 16 premium gallery wrap on the packing list here.

Okay. We have a... That's great. An actual... I mean, this is a print, obviously, but a print on canvas of the painting from Star Trek, Paul and Picard, entitled, Daughter. Wow. That looks great. This is amazing. And it's got the face and everything. Yeah, it's not the unfinished version. There is no note in here. I Don't know who sent this to us. Wow, but whoever sent us the painting daughter. Thank you

The official policy of greatest Jen is that anything sent without the name of a sender is a threat that we yeah that we take that way We take all threats seriously without the name of a sender is a threat that we take that way. We take all threats seriously. Wow, that's a really classy piece of artwork right there Ben. Yeah, that's like, I feel like that one is the kind of download Star Trek paraphernalia that you could hang in a house. And if somebody knows, they're gonna really appreciate it But if they don't know they're not gonna be like what is this Star Trek shit?

You know that's the best stuff I think this is why I've been ringing the bell about like the pillowcase or the luggage or whatever Totally All right next one comes from a Whitney S in Ellicott City, Maryland. Another pretty big box here. Oh! This! I'm gonna read the letter first. I'm gonna leave you simmering in that. Oh no, I'm gonna hit the jungle bird.

Get it, player. Got a jungle bird is good. This has been a long time. That's a nice one. Here's a note from Whitney. Dear Ben and Adam, like many people here in this country, I have been stuck at home. I have used this time to clean out my basement clutter. I found this old TNG engineering playset.

I thought you guys would enjoy this playing and reenacting famous scenes of TNG with your figurines. Have fun, keep up the podcast, my husband and I enjoy it. Every week, wow! What Whitney has enclosed is a in-box collector's edition Star Trek Generations Warpcore. Wow, so you know it's the D. Ben, if that thing doesn't have a kind of rotisserie that you can stick Jordion for rolling under the blast door, then they didn't consult the experts on a toy like this.

I believe that this is what we lovingly refer to as the Shimoda Corner, essentially. Wow, what a great gift. That looks like it's an excellent shape. You know, we've been to plenty of cons before and the condition of the toys in box. Not always great, but that looks glossy and good. It does look good. The tape is all still fresh on it,

and I wanna open it, but shall I? Oh yeah, devalue that thing. Alright, and this is part of the brand, right? I don't, we don't not devalue things, we devalue things. I wonder how much assembly is going to be required. Kind of think a lot. Oh wow. Based on how it's coming out of the blocks here.

Yeah. Wow, it is mint condition, man. Wow. It looks really cool. Yeah, there's some assembly required and assemble I shall, but boy, thank you Whitney, this is super cool. Nice gift Whitney, thanks. Alright, last box, biggest box, coming from Jamaica Plane, from Bealtman. It really screws me up when you put your first initial in your last name. I'm trying to do first name last initial on these things. Right. But you know now the public knows that the

altmans of Jamaica Plain are friends of DeSoto. Dear Ben and Adam, since I was laid off in April, I've been motivating myself to get up in the morning, or let's be honest, after noon, by assigning myself craft projects. I've learned it's a thing I can do to focus my energy and just try and stay present. As a result, I've made a number of things I have no use for, and keep sending to my friends. Please accept this gift as a thank you for the many hours of entertainment and good fellowship you have provided as we slip further and further into the mirror universe.

Right now it's a pretty dark time, so perhaps I can be forgiven for occasionally self-medicating with booze, childish fantasies, and by retreating from all seriousness with unrestrained idiocy, which is not exactly the tagline for your podcast, but close enough. I tend to agree. Yeah.

I'm more of an old than most of your viewers, so your perspectives and observations are different than mine. Different, in a way, I find utterly charming. I want to say, despite the penis obsession, but you've worn me down to the point where I have actually caught myself laughing out loud at a dick joke. Gotcha. I can't remember the episode, but the exchange was something about Odo and Ben used the phrase

Baroque Anonis. That is a funny phrase. What else? The through line of generosity and compassion is heartwarming and true to trick and well reflected in your fans. I don't have a thick skin myself, so I'm all the more impressed by anyone who can weather the internet as more than a passive observer. With that, I've unpacked my dolphin polishing tools and I've made you this jazz horgon. Display it with pride, perhaps, at a Boston live show when our regularly scheduled future

resumes. Cheers! Barbara in Boston! Wow! Boston Barbara, coming through. We have a collection of horgons that many of which come out on the road with us when we tour and we put on the table to let people know we're cool. This may be a new addition. The Horgon famously is a signal that you are down with Jema Haroon. A dolphin Horgon, of course, being the signal that it's okay for dolphins to have sex with you if they choose to. And this thing is incredible. This is a hand-carved wood horn-gun wailing on a saxophone.

That is amazing. And Barbara has polished it and it looks probably put a little stain on it. It's really gorgeous. It looks like it looks so much better than homemade. It looks professional grade. It's super professional. Like this is this is a craft project par excellence. I cannot believe how awesome this is. Oh my god. Tell me how heavy it is in your hands. It is, I mean it's substantial. It's made out of a real piece of wood. You can see like the rings in the wood on the base. Wow. I'm guessing she had a log as the starting object and I don't know how you work wood like this. I, I, I, she's. You can turn it but that's not how you never make a shape like that from turning a log. Yeah, this is not lathe. This is, I mean, maybe there is some leething,

but I'm in awe. Barber, that's one of the coolest things anyone's ever given us, really. What, this was like a banner mail call, I have to say. Like, these three items are like three of my favorite things I've ever opened on the shelf. Geez, that's great. Thank you to everyone.

Thank you to Barbara, thank you to Whitney. Thank you to anonymous painting, sender. Barbara mentioned the struggle of the times and she's not alone in that. I'm glad she's finding something funny and silly to do. Yeah. This is another Star Trek thing that I feel like you could put out, and if somebody knew what it was, they would be like, hell yeah.

And if they didn't, they would be like, oh, what a nice, fun, festive wood carving Ben has selected for this room. My goal out in the distance on the horizon has changed slightly. Whereas before it was, go back out on tour with you, have a great time. Now it's that very same thing, except we're bringing that jazz horgon with us. Absolutely. You've upgraded our future, Barbara.

Wow. Awesome. Thanks to everyone who has sent us a gift over the last few months. You can get that PO box by emailing drunk shimota at gmail.com. And if we, for whatever reason, find that you don't appear crazy through email, we will give you the real PO box address. We've never given out a fake PO box address. No, that's not what we would do.

That's not our bag. Adam, do you want to get into the episode we came to talk about today? Let's do it, Ben. It is Deep Space 9, Season 7, Episode 2. Shadows and symbols. Do you realize how incredible this is? No, of course you don't. We are given the benefit of a last time, again, Bennett, it made me wonder why a show like Deep Space Nine and Star Trek in general, actually this is something

that they did in the Discovery series, we should get last time every time, right? Yeah, I think that this is like evidence of this as a new innovation and television technology almost. I don't think that that was common practice in 1998 that you would just catch everyone up on everything that's going on on your show currently. But it's kind of a similar real to the last time that we started episode one. It doesn't add that much information. In a time when Deep Space Nine was leaning more and more into serialized storytelling, I

can imagine even way back in, I don't know, like season two, Deep Space Nine, if you had never seen the show before, how helpful it might be to see a couple of clips of the characters you're gonna meet for the first time doing something previously to make the show make more sense like that's that seems like a valuable minute that you could use to to onboard a new viewer. I think you, absolutely right. This episode starts with us getting to know, Ezri Dax, we are basically picking up right where we left off at the end of the last episode. Right.

And she's an interesting character. She's kind of, you know, partly the same character that died in the last season. Great. It'll be just like old times. But she has new elements to her backstory. It's a different time. And crucially, she was not...

She was the kind of trill that does not want or try for a symbiont. She got some trills work their entire lives for a symbion. Some have symbiants thrust upon them. She was coincidentally, ankylosord. Kind of like a commander raker. I don't know.

Like if you're, if you're a trill and you find yourself on the same ship as a disembodied ankylosor, I might book a different trip. Like if I'm not ready, in the way that Ezra Dax mentions she's not, or she wasn't. Right. She's also, she seems like pretty overwhelmed

by having had it thrust upon her. She didn't undergo training for it, and there are like medical ramifications that she's dealing with. It's a big deal. There's personality ramifications that she's dealing with, it's a big deal. There's personality ramifications that she's dealing with and continues to deal with throughout the episode. I really, like, we so rarely get the chance to scrutinize a first impression with a character

that we're going to be with for a long time. And I think it's a unique situation to be thrust in for you and me, but also for the characters on the show who are who are awkwardly trying to figure out how best to interact with a person that they know, but who has changed quite a bit. I really wondered what Nicole DeBores' process was for creating this character too, because it seems like you would want some of your research to be like, how did Terry Farrell play the previous character of Dax and how much of that are you going to try and mix into the way you play this new DAX person? It's so interesting to me that this is a like shaking the foundation style introduction for

Ben Sisko occurring at exactly the same time as his foundation has already been shaking. It's shook by what's happened on Deep Space 9 in the wormhole. But consider that Ben Sisko does not see the arrival of Ezra Dax as a part of his mysterious journey. I thought that was so weird that she exists in her own fenced-in area in his life. Like what Ben Sisko chooses to view through the lens of being the Cisco is fairly limited, right? Because as soon as she popped through the door at exactly the time when she did I was like, whoa This is this is like Kismet. This is profit Kismet right, but he doesn't see it that way right now

I'm just glad to see you he is pretty focused, I mean, I think part of it is that like, when he experiences profit, Kismet, he actually has like conversations with the profits. Right. So maybe like coincidences or other things that would make you feel like so fucking annoying. If every time something happened to him, he's like, it's an omen.

Yeah. This is the profits I can tell. That's like what it would be like to live with profit, Kismet, your whole life. I love the presumptiveness of Esri Dax. I mean, part of this is earned through Dax's long history with Cisco. But when the, when three generations of the Cisco family are like, yeah, we're actually out the door. We're going to another planet.

So this isn't actually a great time for you to like take your leave of absence and hang out with us. And she's just like cool, I'll come with. It really starts and continues a quality about as redacks, which is like a lack of awareness about where she is and isn't welcome in a circumstance. Yeah. Like everyone already has matching robes with the color of their uniform cut through the middle. Like they're gonna have to stop and make another one for her. Right. Yeah. You know, we actually only got so much linen when we went to the fabric store. So, we're going to have to go back, see if they have it in blue. Right.

I thought it was interesting, like, Ezredax shows up in uniform and keeps her uniform on, basically. She's not on duty, though, and she calls Captain Cisco Benjamin Ben, throughout the episode. Yeah. Well, we're talking about first impressions, I thought that was an interesting one to make. Is that just a, he's out of uniform thing? That's interesting.

So like when you're commanding officers out of uniform, you don't have to address them as their rank. I don't know. I'm not like deep enough in military culture to know the answer to that for real, but I don't feel like it's depicted as that in movies and television. Yeah.

Anyways, this is an A, B, and C story episode, and the B story was set up in the last episode. It's the Rotorans mission to take out the Dominion shipyards that Wurf needs to go on in order to ensure Jedzea's place in Stovocore and Julian Bashir and Miles O'Brien have already talked their way into this mission. But Quark wants to talk his way into it also,

but he crashes this party at the wrong ass moment. Can I come to a bad time? Like so much of this episode is about war free acts. And I feel like if either of our wives died, and I hope that never happens, I did. But if like a bunch of random dudes that you didn't expect show up at the funeral and like stick around for the for the wake and like a bunch of time after, I wouldn't

raise the raw cash. Hey Adam, your wife was a real babe and I'm just real sorry for your loss. Right. Like like the bartender at the spot that you used to go to, like really sweet gesture by the bartender, but also kind of creepy. What the fuck? A little suspicious. Yeah, I would have questions, for sure. But Quark's timing is such that he winds up inviting himself on the mission right before the cutting open of the palms to demonstrate everyone's lack of fear of death. Right. And boy, you know, he wishes he had like

spent another 15 minutes locking up the bar before he went over to the Rotarun. Do you think that if you know you could end pain immediately, that you would be more receptive to the idea of the palm of the hand slash as we see it in Star Trek all the time? Like, your feelings about it have got to change, right? If you know you could fix it like that. Right, if it's a temporary condition and you can point to dermal regenerator at your palm and Yeah, close it back up. So weird thing to think about that sort of makes that what the klingons do to prove How little day fear death seem not that big a deal. It's true. Yeah, that undercuts their whole thing. It cuts the other way, huh? It cuts the back of the palm it cuts the back of the palm gulda coutica

gulda coutica so back on the runabout there on route to the desert planet if there's a bright center of the universe you're on the planet that is farthest from and Esri has become space sick but I've forgotten how much I hate space travel she has

spewed everywhere and we visit the runabout in the aftermath, which foreign and closed area and someone to get sick is a really awful thought. But the smooth surface of a runabout control pad is like, it's like spilling something on one of those electric stoves with the smooth top. You can just wipe that up no problem. If this was a TOS runabout, forget it.

Like those buttons would be fucked. Most of it's a flammable light mirror. That's like spilling a bunch of marinara in your gas range. Yeah. You know, lots of nooks and crannies for that stuff to get. I would probably be chilling in the back of the runabout if somebody had booted all over the controls personally Right, she gets space sick because this new this new ankylo sore just doesn't agree with her tummy

How can you be in Starfleet if you get space sick? Like this is supposed to endear us to her like I can feel the hand of the writer going like Ezra dx is cute, she can root for her because she's an underdog and kind of a spaz and all of these things. But the reality of her circumstance is doesn't quite hold together in a Star Trek universe. I'm a train Starfleet officer. Do you think that they decided to write the inevitable complaint letters into the character of Josusco here. And that's why he's like,

hey, I know you're sick, but I would like someone to be flying this fucking thing. So if one of you'd like to get back into the pilot seat. Yeah, I think that is, those are the words that they put into Josusco's mouth. For sure. Starfleet officers who you get space sicker, the alien trash of the galaxy to Joseph's go.

I really wonder how you prepare, like as an actor, how do you prepare for inevitable hate mail? Cause I know, I know that they must have known going in that I think 90% of people that watch the show are going to be like, okay, interesting change. But people have really strong reactions to, to shows. And I can only imagine the, the like bags of mail that they got when they recast stacks like this. Part of the angle I took with friend of the podcast,

Anson Mout, when we got to interview him was like how that cuts both ways. Like, fandom can hug you to death or they could hate you to death, depending on how they feel. Yeah. And it's such an interesting, I've got to believe that when you're standing up on the cliff of your career and you're ready to jump into Star Trek, that a big thing that you consider is how you might be reacted to. And if you're ready for that kind of reaction, it's, I mean, like it's an annuity for an actor. Yeah. Yeah.

To have been in Star Trek. Like, is it worth it? Yeah. Like, is it worth it? Yeah, like is it worth it, but also worst case scenario, I can go to conventions four or five times a year and get paid 15 grand each time. Yeah.

And have a pretty easy life. Yeah. And Nicole DeBore has been at conventions that we've been at. Yeah. And gives off like a really cool and generous energy. I haven't actually interacted with her, but I've been in a couple of rooms that she was in, and I felt like she was happy to be there, and people were happy to see her. I think that while the backlash strikes me as having been inevitable, I think she won the preponderance of fans over.

That's great, that's how it should be. And I think her performance is good in this episode. This is kind of our first real episode with her, and I find her a very appealing character. I'm wondering what we get for the next 24 episodes with her though, because we're starting off on the foot of awkward.

Hmm. Speaking of awkward. In the office in Ops on Deep Space 9, Admiral Beltbuckle is like almost groveling Tecura about this Romulans putting missiles. It's kind of the Romulan missile crisis, I guess, that they have going this moon of Bajor that the Romulans have put missiles on. Colonel, I would like to help you, but my hands are tied. Well, luckily, mine aren't. And belt buckle just does not want Kira to take any hostile action toward the Romulans to end this crisis.

It's really interesting to see him kind of back on his heel with a character that's like definitely of a lower objective rank than him. And yet, have you ever respected Admiral Belt Buckle's authority? If you do that, Colonel, you'll have a fight on your hands. I don't feel like they set up the character as a hardass, the way that like, lover or hater like Admiral Cheo. Hi, that's the Larry in Cannabis.

I'm from the Trav. Well, I can't up-beast my ass, but then it's back in the chop liver. Was gonna get you to snap to attention and like, demanded you respect an allegiance in a way that I've never felt from Bellbuckle. Yeah he has a I feel like this is a really bad episode for him as a character because he really displays almost zero leadership on any of this stuff and really I mean like this is an episode about Kira winning him over

in a battle of ideas. And it, like, it literally turns into a game of chicken that she wins him over. But crucially, like, the sort of game of chicken where in the Romulan car, belt buckle is riding shotgun. Like, he doesn't have any of the controls. And it's Kira and the Romulan car, belt buckle is riding shotgun. Like he doesn't have any of the controls. And it's Kira and the Romulan driving separate cars. Yeah. It is a really amazing inversion for Star Trek to have the Starfleet guy and a Romulan on the view screen on one side and an alien

on the view screen on the other side. And we were rooting for the alien. Yeah. Yeah. It really hit me in this episode. How far, you know, and in a good way, how far this episode, this series has come from TNG. Admiral Beltbuckles reaction to the idea of missiles on this moon are sort of like impotently political in a way that feels very contemporary. You know, like, he's like, what are you gonna do? We're in, we need them for our war. We can't just tell them, though.

Here's the thing, the missiles are on the moon, but they don't have the launch sequencers. And these launch sequencers are gonna be brought there by a bunch of warbirds. And Kira is proposing slash promising a blockade of these ships bringing those launch sequencers thus making the Romulan missile crisis that you were describing. Right. On the desert planet where Cisco has brought the crew to look for sand faces. Esri, Ben, Joe, and for some reason Jake beamed down in their linen desert wear and their

norm core, Balenciaga sneakers. And then you get to trek across the Vesquez Rocks area of California. There was a time in 1998 where you could not buy a t-shirt without a single horizontal stripe across the bread. Oh, yeah. I had all of those t-shirts. Yeah. This was that time. Yeah. This begins the torture of Brock Peters in a way that I just couldn't get with. The episode recognizes the great pain that Joe Cisco goes through.

But I don't know if as a viewer, you can separate Joe Cisco from Brock Peters in a walk through the desert situation that we get here. He looks very hot and very uncomfortable. I don't think it's cool what they did to him. I love Brock Peters and there's gotta be a better way. Yeah, I mean, like, it's almost comical at a certain point where he's like, he's like so unable to keep up that Jake is like,

is like holding him up, like he's like, walking wounded or something. It's very you and I walking some place with our wives and they're like in the dust. Because we're nervously fast walking and they're like normal well-adjusted humans that can take their time and enjoy themselves. I've got one speed on the walk. It's very hard to adjust that. Yeah, it's tough. Not everything is going great on the Rotar and I, there. It's a bit of a mixed bag of a crew, and Wurf has never had a great deal of respect for Quark.

Quark feels very specifically disrespected on this ship. We're risking our lives to help Jatsi get into Stovacore. The very least Wurf could do is show us some appreciation. Quark is filled with that kind of conflict that's like, on the one hand He's there to do a solid for a friend slash love interest on the other hand almost equally opposing is the idea The shitty idea that shitty people have about only doing something nice in order to receive the benefit of

The appreciation for that nice thing. Yeah, it does not like that Worf keeps glaring at him, but also like I don't think Miles is there because he bore a cross for Jidzea, but Quarkin, Bishir definitely are. Right. At any point Worf could have thrown them off the mission before they left. Right. I think it unintentionally speaks to how fucked up Worf is that he didn't. Yeah. He's very mission-minded. What do you think the deal is with Worf switching to Klingon armor for this episode? I mean, I love the choice visually. It feels correct, but contextually, I think it's a great question. Like he didn't do the drop his combat on, on Colonel Kirer's

desk. Right. I'm going to do some wanted murderers that would get me in trouble if I was doing it in my official capacity. I mean, this is old hat, right? And not only that, this does not feel like a mission that has been condoned by Admiral Buckel or anyone else. Like this is their own thing. But we also know that when a starfleet goes on exchange to the Pach, for example, they keep their starfleet uniform.

This feels like the valiant mission. How is this different? Oh boy. I guess Martok has the authority granted to him by the high council to do a mission like this, but I don't remember it explicitly being given or discussed, right? Yeah, it seems like, I mean, who knows? Like does a Klingon house have leave to go pick a battle if they want to go do a battle?

Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Maybe they do. Maybe that's part of the treaty. Yeah, anyways. So the mission is to fly the rotor and close enough to the star next door to the shipyard to create a solar ejection strong enough to destroy the shipyard. That's right. That's the idea. This is something that we saw in that two-parter episode in TNG, right?

Decent, part one or part two, like that happened then, right? That destroyed that board ship. If hurt calculations are all fed, eruption could encompass us. Well, I just have to make sure my calculations are accurate, Luke, tenet. Those Dr. Crusher using that Klingon shield technology to change their shield harmonics so that they could withstand the being inside the corona. What's great about being on a Klingon ship

is you already have the benefit of those shield harmonics. They're already baked in. You don't have to pull it up in the computer and side-load it. Well, everybody is white-knuckling it. Right. It's great. If you were wondering what was happening on Cardassia during this time, Demar is participating

and take your date to work day. To victory on old fronts. When Wei-Yoon walks in, I feel like the subtext is Demar is participating and take your date to work day. To victory on old fronts. When Wei Yun walks in, I feel like the subtext is Demar, why do you have a civilian in the war room? She could see the big board. This is like taking a date to Cheyenne Mountain. Totally, yeah. And being drunk the entire time.

Right. Ha ha ha. Demar is great. It really tells me how much power Demar has for his ability to do this unchecked. He's king shit of Cardesia and it really only has wayu to answer to and wayu is always temporary, you know. Any given wayu anyways. Wayu is super fun here because the most chill way of saying a thing is also the most threatening. So for a way you and like the version of if I told you I'd have to kill you is I'll have

to have her executed if she sees anything that she shouldn't. Which is so much fun. They are still trying to figure out how to retake the Chin Taka system and they have a brief conversation about stepping up the output of the shipyard that we know the Rotar and to be headed for Benton its destruction. So, this is like a scene that feels like it is just in here to remind everyone who the bad guys are. Yeah, because we rarely come back to the scene. And remind everybody that Demar is going a little conar crazy.

One thing I didn't need a reminder of was the domestic life of Odo and Kira. At Kira, Leens into Odo and accepts a pretty shitty massage. I feel like if you are lovers with Odo, like anytime he only gives you two hands, I feel like that's not giving you his all. Oh yeah, he's not gonna get like carpal tunnel or anything. He can really, he can really ralf you. I love how to do it, Piano. How many hands would you like this time?

He could just turn into one of those sharper image massage chairs. I know. I know. If I were Kira, I would be pissed because this is like 1% of what he's capable of, massage wise. He also has, he's doing that thing where he's got his arm up on the back of the sofa and it's, and his hand is kind of hanging off the front of that over her boom. And she definitely grabs the hand and kisses it. And I feel like that's she's she's doing that as a way of like don't touch my

boob. One thing I noticed about this scene, Ben, and I don't know if you have the episode up, but at around 19 minutes, I feel like Kira's nose ridges gone. Did you notice this? I feel like Kira's nose ridges gone. Did you notice this? Looking. It may be because it's underlit and by that I mean the light sources under her face to take away the shadows, but on, I mean I was watching this on my regular TV. I didn't see any nose ridges that looked just like no visitor on screen in the scene. And I wondered if that was an error or not.

What I am seeing is a tiny bit of loaf, and it seems like loaf without ruffles in it. Careful, they're ruffled. Yeah. And yeah, I wonder if that's just the flatness and angle of the light. But I think when you're working with the loaf, especially the kind that includes ridges, I think you need to be aware of that. I know a lot of shadowing could be added

with makeup. But light is going to be your primary conduit toward that. And it seems like neither happened for the scene, or at least this close up, you know? It's hard to see the ridges in the close up, but then in the wide, you see them. That's what's so weird. It felt like a continuity error. Yeah, very strange. Yeah. Anyways, Odo hopeless romantic that he is commits to going on the blockade mission. So you're saying your chips don't have defensive ability or weapons of any kind. Sounds like fun. Sign me up for this hopeless suicide mission.

I haven't been killed yet, so maybe I can't be killed. I don't know. Let's touch the hypothesis that I am in fact unkillable. On planet tithe re syso keeps hearing voices in his head, calling for Dr. Wyka. This is a murder Wyka Avenue bound L-Train. Is this it? I think so. This is kind of like the halfway mark on the episode when he starts to get pretty close

to what he's looking for, which is the orb of the prophet. I feel like this is when the episode really starts to kind of cross cut really rapidly between they being sea stories. You and I aren't gonna do that conversationally because that's no fun for anyone. It is not, but let's just go winds up doing. He's kind of in this canyon and Esri is like trying

to snap him out of it and he's in this like strange fixated state where he doesn't seem to be aware of the people around him least of which is his elderly father. And to get his attention, she steals his baseball and flings it off. And he has a flashback to the time his baseball fell off the piano and is now convinced that where the baseball landed is the X marks the spot that he needs to go dig. And I really like this because I like that Ezra is like, I threw it just in a random direction.

I didn't throw it specifically. Ben, maybe my memories are playing tricks on me, but if you cut and stranger. This is one of those fun sequences where you cut to a medium shot of an actor throwing a ball, and then you cut to a wider shot of the ball flying through the air, and it's like it was shot out of a can. Yeah, suddenly, suddenly, it's like the center field

or hitting the catchers' mitt from deep in the outfield. And you're like, how did she do that? This is so hard to do. Like, so I want to be clear, I'm not laughing at the show for not getting this right because no one gets this right. But it's always fun for me to see how they try to match it up. Ben, this was a moment where, like, as Joseph Go is falling behind, and Ben's Cisco is becoming more and more subject to his visions. Why didn't the episode try to

inject a conflict between those two? Where in a choice would have to be made. Like, is Joseph going to live through this? Maybe he won't. To ensure you don't want to go back up to the run and down. We've started this together. And we'll finish it together. Do Esri and for some reason Jake need to pick aside as far as what to choose here,

because that would seem to be an easy and good way to inject even more stress into this moment. And the stress that we feel quite honestly is like whether or not Benzisco's inclination toward his visions is going to bear any fruit. Like why not make him choose between his father's life and pursuing this course? Yeah, I mean, I feel like you could take it that way or just take it the way of like, why is Brock Peters even in this episode?

Cause I don't feel like they gave the character anything to do. Like, it's this weird middle thing of he's written in all these scenes and they're like, okay, like, let's make him tired, I guess. But it doesn't add to the story. It doesn't raise the stakes or lower the stakes or anything. It's just he is off in the background going through his own thing that has no bearing on the story. I think you and I have over the years made it clear that we are not exactly, Iris, even bears stands. But one of the things I read about this episode was that he sort of laughed at the idea of putting Brock Peters through this.

Like, a lot of people thought it was cruel to put Brock Peters through this. Haha, yeah. Whatever man, don't be like that. Yeah. That's weak as fuck. Didn't like reading that. For real. Where the ball lands is where Benzisco digs

and digging in sand is hard. I don't like sand because sand is dry and shovels are not strong. And the Sarlac eats old people's medicine for fuel. They're everywhere. I don't even know why the scientists make them. Back at the blockade of Derna, all of the assembled pejoran ships are there. And one quality of the pejoran ships is that they don one quality of the Bajoran ships is that they don't look threatening in any way. Yeah.

We know them to not have good defensive or offensive capabilities. And that, and everyone who works on them just seems a little too chill for war. Yeah, a little like corn fed and low energy. Like, yeah. There's just a bunch of kind of like who gives a shit blonde guys So belt buckle hails kira and belt buckle is as we've described before like sitting shotgun in the chicken car

Well, a senator tree tack is driving. It's a two shot on the FaceTime and belt buckle hails kira With her and is like, look, the medical supplies are on their way and they're inside these warbirds. If you attempt to stop these warbirds with your Bajoran ships, it's going to be like a fist through a wet paper bag. Like really think this through. It is a little imbalanced from the way the Cuban Missile Crisis worked where

it was a bunch of American warships and like shitty Soviet vessels from the four world war two trying to run the blockade. Right, and because these are the odds, Senator Cretech believes Kira to be bluffing and as anyone would. Right. And you're kind of hoping a moment like this that when the FaceTime gets turned off, you'll cut back to Cretech sitting with Admiral Belpuckle,

who go like, wow, well, we can't, we can't kill all these pejorans. Like I really hope they give up. But if, if they don't, we're going to have to call this off. But she does not say that, she says the opposite. You still think she's going to beck down? She has to, because I won't. There is no mention of the loss of life being the stakes of the thing,

and I was pretty surprised by that. Critex, political calculus does not factor in. I don't wanna say humanitarian, I'm surprised by that. Cretax, political calculus does not factor in. I don't want to say humanitarian, Kitsastrophe. Yeah. Where the very name is racist. There was a, I think it was the official Star Trek account

had a Twitter poll running the other day. It was like a quiz. Click this quiz and see if you can guess the race of all these Star Trek people. And it's like maybe use the word species. I feel like race is gross. Yeah. Yeah.

So on the Rotor-Ran, Martak has noticed Worph's attitude towards his friends. Yeah. And it's like, why are you being mean to your friends? And this gets Worph to apologize. I feel like Martak and Worf are such good influences on each other despite so many reasons they shouldn't be.

Like so many times Marthock has been up his own ass about what a great fucking general he is and Worf has had to talk him into like actually taking his crew seriously or Worf has been jealous of the men who want to fuck his wife, despite the fact that she is dead. And they always talk each other back from the ledge, you know? Like they're, like, we make fun, but they're a good team.

Are we sure that they shot Jadziah's body out in the torpedo. I mean, we didn't see it, so we can't be totally sure, but I have been accused of creepy things before. Warp apologizes. That's fine. But I feel like a real click on apology happens twice, right? You get the primary and the backup. Yeah, is what I'm saying. And they're vertically oriented, not side to side. Right? BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE So few. Yeah. So their goal is to go kind of like buzz the surface of the sun of this sector and kind of kick up and eject a wake that is going to take out everything. And so they cloak and just like slink right

through the shipyard to do that. Morning, morning, morning, stay in the sweet floor. Morning, morning, morning, morning. In here,ree, well, Joe Cisco fights dehydration. Like at what point does Cisco's family begin resenting her for this is what I was thinking at this point. Yeah, because that's what he's like yelling at Ben Sisko, Jack is like, don't even try talking to him right now. He's totally doing some profit shit

and you're not gonna get through. And we finally find out about who Dr. Wycoff is. Dr. Wycoff is in the 1950s Benny Russell averse. Right, where Benny Russell has been put into an asylum, and he is the patient of this man. We're also proud of you. I need to go home. I don't belong here.

He is writing on the walls of his cell in this mental institution. And according to Dr. Wycoff, people who are fine don't write on walls. Dr. Wycoff is played by the same actor who plays Demar and kind of a treat to see him out of the spoon. Yeah. Good looking guy.

I like to like see in Casey Biggs playing a normal, not drunk at all. There's a lot of cross cutting here in the next couple of minutes because Captain Cisco is in the desert in a trance and We're experiencing this moment with Benny Russell back and forth So Captain Cisco has has unearthed this box with the orb of the emissary in it and for some reason Jake touches it We realize that was a bad idea because he is immediately connected to the jerk cable and pulled away from it at a high rate of speed. He gets caco lightning across the desert.

Yeah. And yeah, we're kind of cutting to the 1950s reality where Dr. Wycoff is trying to convince Benny to take a paint roller to his story. This is the story of Deepface 9 that he's written in pencil on the walls of the cell. And in the context of like a therapeutic intervention, Dr. Wycoff wants him to paint over it. And it sort of becomes clear. Now when your doctor at your asylum hands you a paint roller to paint over your possible fantasy, you're going to want to load up the role for the good amount of your paint. We're going to start with a primal layer because these pencil marks are thick, these scrolling

of a madman will surely show through at least two layers of paint. So a good primer base is a great way to start the job off right. This is a great moment. Like the moment the roller is held up to the wall, you can feel the tension. I wasn't sure if he was going to roll over it or not. It's a very iconic looking image too. Like if this like institutional kind of bar free green white wall and the bar free green white paint with the with the text against it. And it's like his brown skin and the black text and then the white wall as the contrast of that. And those are like the only two

colors you see. The color temperature of inside and outside too is a big contrast. I really liked it. And yeah, it was well done. And this goes through several phases. Like there's the part where Ben Cisco is trying to like re-berry the orb case and make the bad thing go away. And you start to feel like, are we really in Benny Russell's fantasy? And if Benzisco gets rid of the orb case, does that mean the fantasy goes away and dies and the story is over? It's very never ending story-esque. and it is consistent with that thing that we learned about there being a moment where Deep Space Nine almost took that right turn into the entire series

being a Benny Russell story. Yeah, we're cross cutting around like the Romila ships are nose to nose with the pejoran ships. The Rotor-Anne is trying and not succeeding to trigger the sun when a bunch of ticks discover them and start making chase. And this all comes to a head when Benny Russell throws down the paint roller and like Dex, Dr. Wycoff, and they order a lease in his room and gets back to writing the story. Like, I guess presumably just everybody is so knocked out in his cell that he has some time to continue writing.

Now, if you happen to spill some paint in your asylum cell, first gather up all of the paint in as many rags as you can use and then use some mineral spirits to clean up the rest. That way you won't permanently stain the floor. Now if you're in a deep desert on an extremely arid planet and you happen to find a case with an orb inside. Throw the doors open as wide as they can to let the farts get out and fly up into space. Inevitably, they will de-grease the door that opens your wormhole. This was an amazing moment. The doors fly open. The wormhole opens again, we cut to deep space nine, where

they're made aware of this. The sensors pick this up at the blockade. Yeah. This feels like the moment that you write episode one of season seven around. And it does. Yeah. The fact that episode one ends with no promise of this. I feel like it's pretty like I think I liked that episode less because I was worried about this still and you have to be like pretty confident in your series ability to retain viewers

to throw a curveball at them like that. I wonder how emboldened you are in season seven to care or not care about such a thing. Right. Yeah, do they know at this point that this is the last season of the series? I think they do. Yeah. And so are they just not leaving anything for the swim back at this point? I think they might be subscribing to a philosophy happening on the rotor end right now, which is they have tried to make this sun ejection happen.

It didn't work the first time. And then we rack over to an inspirational painting on the bridge that says, in Klingon, shoot for the sun. Even if you miss, you'll be among very angry Jim Hadar warships. And then it pans over and it's a kitten hanging from a branch and it's just hanging there. Yeah. So they have the whip the rotor ran around

because its pants are down all the way. They have no other choice but to go make another pass. And they get this thing to happen. The solar flare consumes the shipyard. It makes a big boom. It's a great success. They escape and the pursuing ticks get consumed by the fireball.

And so Wurf has some free time to dip into a Klingon prayer, which it seems to be about ensuring that Jetsia is admitted to Stovacore on the honor of this act. You really want to do this here. Now, okay, okay, let's do it. Back in the desert, the Cisco has a vision and it's Sarah. Sarah is there to tell the Cisco that he has been on a predetermined path. And that path has led him to this moment.

This is the profit that took Corporeal form to be a lady to make Ben Cisco. And like what he kind of realizes is that like there was a real woman that the prophet sort of possessed. There is no Dana. There is only you. And forced to fall in love with Benzisco's dad. And then when when the prophet unpossessed that woman, she was like, ugh! We needed like 10% more Joesusco in this episode to reconcile himself to this moment. What if I told you that the lady that turned out to be my secret mom didn't actually love you and was in fact under the control of an alien being

when you got married? What? I don't think either of us would advocate for like the the tidy ending, the the perfect Spielberg ending where no one gets hurt and everyone is happy and and Ben Sisko tells Joseph go that he's a good man and a good father. Yeah, and then it crossfades to a waving United Federation of planets flag. Here's the thing. The episode makes it easy to forget that Sarah Sisko was a real person with agency because all you ever know of Sarah Sisko from the episode's perspective is the version of her that was taken over by the prophet.

And that's the version that Joe Cisco is telling us about. The version that is without the possession, we never know anything about aside from her death. This is an episode that does not know that women are not sand faces. It's, it's so bizarre. There's a charitable read of this that it's one of those things. When somebody goes off birth control or a psychiatric medication and it changes the way their relationship dynamics work and being unpossessed by a profit maybe had that effect

on Sarasasco. She was into it for real, but then wasn't. But like... I think you have to be specific to what degree Sarasuska was into it. And this episode does not make that clear. And that's what's, that's what's a little pervy. And what's going on here seems pretty pervy,

doesn't it? There's something dark and fucked up there, for sure. And it's so easy to unfuck it up too, I think. Yeah. And that's what sucks about that realization is that they really pay it very little lip service. It's weird. I would say that as close as they get to paying it lip service is that Josusco doesn't

want to talk about it, which makes me think it's worse than it's worse. Yeah, yeah, that's a great call. And I think it's a little convenient that non-pizzest Sarah dies and we never get her take on things. Yeah. It's a little skeevy that it's a reverse, it's Beshemel test, just what it is. It's men talking about it's Beshamel test, just what it is, it's men talking about Serisisco. Yeah.

Did you just come up with Beshamel test? That has to have been a thing already. Wow. When it's dudes getting together to just talk about a girl, that's gotta be what it is, right? If you go into that, that is fucking brilliant. I, I, I'm going to Google it right now. I'm positive it already exists.

There's no way that I'm seeing it in a comic book. Okay. Anyway, would have been nice, but it's not me. Yeah. I mean, I think honestly rewrite it, rewrite it to make Joe Cisco happier about like having had a nice affair with this lady. Uh-huh. And maybe it doesn't feel as weird. Maybe we need another episode here that that fills this story out where we get to know Sarah's, let's go a little better. Cause this is insufficient. Indeed. So Ben Cisco slams the doors shut on the box and it's like, okay, cool. Well, I have a new rededication to my position as the emissary of the profits because the profits, in fact,

made sure I existed. Please, this person, I think to see here. I feel like a number of storylines sort of weaves their way to a conclusion here at the same time because back at the blockade, Senator Cretech stands down because something changed. You can blink now, Colonel. What changed besides time is my question. This seems like an unmotivated stand-down, my critique.

What Admiral Bellbuckle says is that he wound up being the motivator. He said, well, if you shoot up these midjourins, then Starfleet is going to make it a problem for you. But it's such a disservice to his character, not to show that moment. Like a major amount of character change took place off camera. And we watched TV shows to see characters change. Show us that. It's true.

It's true. And if the earlier moment wasn't the scene you write your episode around, the button is. Yeah. The Cisco returns to deep space nine, having completed his mission in the desert. He picks up a random kid and takes him with him. This is my child now, he says. It walks off. But that isn't the moment that is the most shocking to the rest of the crew, it's that Ezri Dax has also come home in her own way and Timpani sounds the crew that she used to know as she does.

And her previous host, Widowed Husband. Right. Like, hey, let's catch up sometime. Anyway, it's gotta go. If the next episode isn't specifically about Wurf and Ezri Daxe figuring out whether or not they're married, then I don't even know what the show's been about up until now.

Did you like the episode, though, Ben? I think I'd balance I did like the episode. There's definitely some weird choices that we talked about, but I thought that it did a pretty good job of like, I think it's, it's an interesting episode to, to put all of the conclusions of threads that you've been weaving for several episodes, not right at the end of the last season and not right at the beginning of this season, but one further episode into this season. Like, that's a very like, weird and interesting choice.

And I like that, I like that they kinda went weird with it. So, you know, it's like, I've, there are some missteps, but overall, I think the weirdness is really appealing to me. It is extremely weird. I think my main takeaway from the episode is that Bence'sko is half God.

And what my theory piece of poses is, Joseph go, fuck to God. We don't get to see him process that. No, no, we don't. And here's a sad piece of recognition, Ben. This is the last Joseph go episode we get in the space 9. And I think that is criminal. That sucks. How you send this character out by making him suffer in the desert and then you don't

give him at least that moment where he goes back to Cisco's restaurant. Boy, yeah. I mean, there's the long stare in the mirror, haunted version of that, or just the getting back to work, but it would have been nice to have something to send this character out on. Yeah. I am finishing my drink right now, by the way. Yeah, I'm done. I'm done.

One thing that's always on the menu about this time is the reading of a priority one message or two. You want to go see what we got over there? Okay. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Need a supplement? A supplement? A supplement?

A supplement. Yes, extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. Adam, we have a couple of priority one messages here. The first one is from the drunk board guy from Cleveland. And it's to Ben and Adam. And it goes like this. I owe you two an apology. When you came to Cleveland back in 2017,

I was the guy dressed as the board at the show. The evening as a whole is a bit fuzzy, but my wife and I had a blast. It was great meeting you two and Card Daddy Bill Tilly. That was the night that we met Card Daddy Bill Tilly. It was. Wow, that was a big night for us. I think about the moment I had to run downstairs for something and you were at the merch table and when I ran back upstairs, Bill Tilly was in the bar and I was like, I know I've got to hurry to get back to Adam because he's at the merch table by himself and I don't want to leave him hanging there

but there was Bill Tilly. Yeah. I had to go in for the daps. Anyways, I will continue Drunk Board Guys message. Sorry for being a literal Drunk Shemota. I owes the three of you a round of hooves all the best. Ah, Drunk Board Guy, don't sweat it. Yeah, I don't think Drunk Board Guy needs to worry at all.

The enduring memory from the Cleveland show, if it's not meeting Bill Tilly for the first time, it's the shame of the only backstage bathroom being on the other side of the stage. And me having to take a panic shit five minutes before the show started by crossing the lit stage to do that. Yeah.

I'm gone for an amount of time that is only known as the amount of time I take a shit. Uh, the sound of a flushing toilet and then me crossing the stage again in the light. I don't know why that venue puts a mic right by the toilet so that they can amplify the flush. Yeah. It was messed up. It was like something out of a naked gun movie. I didn't appreciate it.

So drunk bored guy from Cleveland, you're in the clear as far as I'm concerned. Adam accrued all the shame around himself that night. Ben our second priority one message is to all LGBT track fans everywhere. It's from Joey and the message goes like this. Liking Star Trek is gay culture, but we're happy to share it with Ben, Adam and the friends of the show Anyway, here's the Chris Brenner drop I'm Chris Brenner Brinner information systems You know interface operations net access channel 90

Chris Brenner. That's dope. Hell yeah, Joey. Hey, thanks for sharing, Joey. If you didn't, we wouldn't have a show here. Yeah, we would be podcasting about like sequest or something probably. I don't think sequest has the staying power for a popular podcast. But if you're out there making a Sequest podcast, I tip my hat to you.

Well if you have a priority one message, you can take it on over to MaximumFund.org. Slash Jumbo Tron, where personal messages are $100 and commercial messages are $200 both of which go a long way in supporting the mission of the greatest generation. Hey Adam! What's that been? Do you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda! You know, sometimes the drunk Shimoda goes to like the silly or the weird or the thing that doesn't fit.

I feel like my Shimoda is a dark Shimoda. Oh shit. Because I'm gonna read this from the note that I found in defending the decision to send 72 year old Joseph Sisco actor Brock Peters into the Palmdale desert for the scenes on Tyree. Iris, even bear explained that Ben came back home to be with his father and I just felt that keeping the family together meant something. If it had been my kid, I'd have gone with my kid. If it had been, Bonanza Ben Cartwright would have gone with little Joe and Haas. So like a nice, a nice Bonanza reference there as a defense for his decision to send 72 year old Joseph Sisko out into the scorching desert,

a decision that I cannot agree with. Not that cool. My drunk Shemota, I'll brighten the mood a little bit, is just work for picking the moment to come into the Klingon ceremony of, oh, what are we doing cutting our help ourselves open? Well, I guess I have to also God he could have timed that better. Sure. They're good of

So he is my drunk Shimoda All right Adam time to Talk about what next week looks like for us When he fired up the game of buttholes, the will of the prophets, which is it got that biz slash game. Of course we are currently on the 46th square on the board. That's the Coco Nono Square. And out ahead we've got a space buttonhole and I think that's the only thing Mathematically that we can hit

Ben we always played this game on the up and up. Yeah, we've never been untrue with what we've rolled or what we've got And I want to give you a premonition. Okay, I really think we're gonna hit that fucking space buttonhole again and go back down I've got a dark Bad feeling Wow about this next role. I hope I have a better feeling about the episode to go with it. What's it gonna be about? If we hit that butthole, it's a fuck it, we'll do a live episode,

which I know you really don't wanna be on. So. No, I don't want that. Here we go. The next episode is season seven episode three after image. Esri Dax is arrival. Unleash is conflicting emotions in everyone

who knew Jidzea. Particularly, in Warf. There you go. I wanted this episode, maybe that's where my premonition was more accurately placed. Maybe that nothing to do with the game about Wholes the World of Profits. Yeah, let's hope. You're required to learn as you play, role. Okay Adam, I've got the die in my hands and I'm gonna roll it.

Here we go. Chula! Did I win? Harvey. Oh boy. Big roll. I hit the six. We are currently on Square 52.

Regular episode with a quirk's bar and a looking at each other during out ahead. I don't know what that. I mean like they're looking at each other during what have to be done outside in a socially distanced format, right? Yeah, that would be how it would have to go. A lot of environmental sounds would be happening on an episode like that. I'm not sure if the people would like it. Didn't we record an episode in a hot tub one time? We recorded an episode in a hot tub, but not a hot tub. Oh, right. Maybe it was an episode of, let's drink about it that we recorded outside one time.

That sounds like something you crazy kids would have done. Yeah. With that, with that hit show that is sorely missed, even today. I know it's sorely missed. We'll figure it out. Yeah, it's just, it's just too bad no one wants to drink and talk about what's fucked up in their lives.

That seems like a show without an audience, Ben. It's crazy. Anyways. I say that with love. I say this with love, Ben. The people who make the show possible are those that go to MaximumFund.org slash join. Yeah. They keep the show going with their monthly financial contributions and they're the only reason

the show exists. Boy, that is the triple truth and we really appreciate it. We also appreciate folks that go to Apple Podcasts or whatever app they use to get podcasts and leave a nice rating and review or recommend the show to a friend or, you know, on their social media or whatever, that really helps us grow and find new friends of DeSoto. There's people out there walking around right now. They're not yet friends of DeSoto, but will be.

They just don't know it yet. We need your help to find them. And they'd be great friends of Disoto, but will be? They just don't know it yet. We need your help to find them. And they'd be great friends of Disoto. They're pre-friends of Disoto is what they are. Love those people. It's too bad. Get them in here. Let's get them under this big tent.

You could open their eyes. Yeah. If only they knew. Say listen, I'm gonna do you a favor. I'm gonna put you onto a podcast. It's called The Greatest Generation. A non-confrontational way to do you a favor. I'm going to put you on to a podcast. It's called The Greatest Generation. A non-confrontational way to do that might be over social media. People talk about the show on Twitter using the hashtag GreatestGen.

They follow our official Twitter feed run by the Card Daddy Bill Tilly. It's a Greatest Trek. Also, on Instagram account that you can follow, greatest trek. Right, so many ways to stay in touch. Talk about the show. Lots of people over on Facebook in our myriad groups over there. Sure.

Though I would recommend to all of those people there. I'm hoping that they're working on the construction of other places to go. They're not on Facebook. Yeah, maybe make a forum on a server that you control so that you're not feeding the beast that is the Facebook. Here's a promise that I'll put out there right now. If you are a Facebook group related to the greatest generation and you make a thing outside Facebook and leave Facebook, I will plug that on the show. Yeah, yeah, for sure. We have one last thanks before we go to

give to our dear, dear buddy Adam Ragusia. He is now a YouTube sensation. Go search Adam Ragusia on YouTube. He's gonna teach you how to cook. Love his channel. I am a weekly viewer of it. So, my, he's one of the most generous friends at DeSoto. He's made a bunch of the music on the show. He also supported us a lot through Max Fund Drive 2020. So thanks to DeSto.

And with that, we'll be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek Deep Space 9, and an episode of the greatest generation Deep Space 9, just getting all sorts of weird looks. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. I think it's so. You'll be got to got to got to got to got to got to.

On the desert planet. What was it called again? Tatooine? Yeah. Jacku. Jacku. And I have to look it up. Maximumfun.org.

Comedy and culture. Artistone? Audience supported. comedyenculture. Artistone, audience supported.