The Greatest Generation - Data's Reproductive Rights (S2E9)

Episode Date: May 23, 2016

When the Enterprise stops off at Starbase 173 for routine maintenance, Captain Picard reacquaints himself with an old flame hoping to JAG him off. But it's courtroom drama instead of bedroom action on the docket when a hotshot commander threatens to take Data apart to learn how he works. Is it possible that Riker has a better poker face than Data? Is busting a chair across a woman's teeth Picard's idea of sex? It's the episode where everyone gets a little "Moody Geordi".

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

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

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

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

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage! Welcome to the greatest generation Star Trek Podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed have a Star Trek Podcast who are also trying to become writers on the new Star Trek series on CBS.

I'm one of your hosts, Adam Pranica. I'm your other host, Ben Harrison. That intro is getting longer and longer, isn't it? Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, as we just add to our list of demand. Ha ha ha ha. We want a jumbo jet, $10,000 in a devil bag, map that will guide us to Cuba and positions in the writer's room

on the upcoming Star Trek series on CBS. CBS, excellent television. That sounds great. That's their slogan, right? CBS, big fans of Laftracks. And so what are we holding hostage? Seriously, like $10,000 of a ransom is like more than enough for me. I would be really all right for that. Yeah. That's like a rounding error for them. They're not gonna notice that. They got that in the fucking couches in the executive lounge.

I don't wanna go to Cuba. I wanna go to Toronto to help make this new show, which is why I heard they're doing it, right? Oh, really? Yeah. God dammit. We know someone in Toronto, don't we? Who?

Do we know any Canadians? Yeah, we do know a Canadian in Toronto. He's the co-host of my other hit podcast. Let's drink about it. That's what I'm saying. We got a place to crash if we go there. That's true. We'd be pretty cheap employees.

I've slept on that couch. I bet. But you've slept on a lot of things in there. But one thing we won't sleep on is top quality writing for a hit science fiction television show coming out next year. Yeah. The as-yet-unnamed Star Trek television series. That's not going to happen, Adam.

We're just, we're going to only put top-notch words together for that series. All right, that's fair. So just like before we do the actual podcast, like we're talking about a ransom here. What are we holding ransom? Like we'll stop doing this podcast if we get the job. I think the most feedback we have ever gotten has been about the use of the videos. So maybe we threaten to just use a lot of them.

Maybe we skip ahead to season five. Just to really piss some people off of them. You're an asshole, Adam. Just to catch people up. Because we talk about the vetoes as though everybody knows. And I feel like maybe we should flesh that out a bit We have chosen mostly for the dramatic tension that it creates but also because there's a lot of fun involved in

Diabolically pranking each other in terms of in terms of vetoing episodes that for every season of the show that we watch, we each get a veto, and we can choose not to watch an episode by vetoing it, and we can also choose to make somebody watch an episode by using our veto to nullify their veto, as happened in season one. That's right. We are currently running a poll about some modifications to the Vito system. Now the options are, we stay with the system we have, which so far has worked great because I got to nullify items Vito and it was hilarious to me. Or... Everyone liked

how that went. Or we move to a system where if one person Vita's the other person is stuck watching the episode alone And as the report back book reports dial essentially That seems to be the cruelest possible choice here and then is the third one that a guest guest comes on for such one third- The third one is a variation of the second choice in that the remaining host selects a guest host to do the show alongside them. Yeah. And that's the one that I like the least

because it seems to me to be the path to replacing me as the host on the show, like the easiest path to that. And that's something I'd like to prevent. I think if either of us is in jeopardy of being replaced at him, it's definitely not you. Yeah, who can really say? I don't know. We're not trying to pick favorites here. This show exists with both of us or not at all, I would say. That would be my vote. Wow. That's really beautiful, really powerful. Yeah, you know what's beautiful and powerful though?

Season two episode nine, the measure of a man. See, that is a championship segue right there. Mission log is gonna be jealous of that one. Let's just say right now, you know, if they ever become aware of us. Yeah, I don't think they'll ever hear this. This is one of the episodes that most people talk about when they talk about this show. Yeah, this is a big and this is an important episode. I think it's definitely one that was seared in my

memory and probably more than any episode, even the first episode, contributes to the lawyer Picard trope as being one of the main takeaways of Star Trek, the next generation. Right. There's kind of a lot of things that happen for the first time in this episode. And I think I might begin it by describing the cold open, which is the show's first poker scene. Yeah. And this appealed to me greatly as a player of poker

for maybe the last 15 years. This scene drives me crazy. I mean, so let's sit the scene here. It's a poker game. I believe it's in Rikers quarters and he's invited a Polasky, data, Jordy, and Worf to play with him. Yeah. I think Chief O'Brien not Worf. Oh, yeah, that's right. Chief O'Brien is there. And I remember Chief O'Brien being there because he said something about like time to pluck a pigeon.

And the pigeon being data for how easy it's gonna be to take money off of him. Data begins the scene by just sort of describing how easy of a game poker is because there's only a certain amount of outcomes and there's only a certain amount of cards in the deck. And you know, for a real Matthew guy like data, he should be able to be great at this. Yeah, he's gonna rain man them.

He soon finds out just how nuanced the game is because data gets into a five card stud game and goes all the way to a showdown with Riker, which means there's the last ones playing on the last turned cards. And Riker just straight bluffs the shit out of him at the end with a busted flush draw. And first of all, Davis Hand is great. Yeah, he's got like ace high full house, right?

Yeah, he should have raised Riker, or at least called, but Riker the entire time is bedding and then string raising. Do you know what this is? Yeah. A string raise is like, it's a way for me to get more information out of you by like calling and then bedding and two separate actions,

which is a bullshit way to play poker. And if you ever tried to play poker like that in any poker game or in any card room, like you will be scolded for that. Like you have all the money in your hand that you plan on betting with, and that's how you do it. But right here the whole time is like,

yeah, I'll call you, and then I'll raise you 10 more. Like that's bad form. Right here should know better. Well, right here's playing with somebody like me, who knows the basics, but doesn't know the proprieties of the game. He's taking full advantage. And here's another thing.

If you're Jordy, can't you see through those cards? Can't you see the changing blood pressure of one commander, Riker? Maybe they specifically replicate cards that are like, you know, shielded to Jordy's visor. Also, Riker, get some fucking better poker chips. Like he's playing with drugstore plastic poker chips. Like, replicate some nice clay poker chips, why don't you? Well, you know, they don't have you a game. They don't have money in this in this depiction of the future. And they had been playing with scarves,

but it's just it really gets out of hand. You know, it's like playing in a in a dry cleaner. Yeah, it's hard to tell like how much action is going on when you look at just a heap of scarves on the middle of the table. Very true. So, Riker bluffs the shit out of him, takes the pot down and data learns a valuable lesson on just what poker's about.

Booming up, booming up, booming up, booming up. It's quite a big logic, logic, logic, logic, so meanwhile, Picard is sitting by himself in a lounge on Starbase 173. This is a pretty sweet space station actually that they're at. Picard has chosen to take his shore leave solo. He's just sitting there. He lays eyes on a nice looking older lady who he happens to know. He walks up to her and

and starts kind of like kind of smooth talk in her. Like it's kind of an uncharacteristic almost riker-esque smooth talk that Picard starts pursuing with this woman. And he asks if she knows what he'd like to do to her and she suggests bust and share across my teeth. But just like holy shit, I cannot believe that's a line that a character says about what a man would do to a woman on a television show. Like, that is an incredibly violent image to plant in people's minds. Oh, they love wonderful. It makes me think that is there a woman in Picard's past that doesn't hate him or doesn't have a weird relationship

with him? Boy, she has a weird relationship with him. Yeah. Evidently, this woman, Captain Luvua, was the Jag officer who prosecuted Captain Picard after the Stargazer incident. The Battle of Maxia. Yeah.

Somebody tweeted us the other day a video of the Good Morning America segment that they shot on the set of Star Trek, the next generation, like back in the 80s. And at one point, the, I guess it's like, like Joan London or somebody is in Captain Picard's Reddy Rube and points out the model of the Stargazer that he keeps in there and goes, yeah, he lost that ship in a battle with Maxia. And as a, as somebody who knows it's a battle of Maxia, I just laughed and laughed and laughed.

I couldn't get through a minute of that. It was so cringey. It was, it was fun to see the cast out of, out of costume at that time because I feel like I've seen a lot of pictures of like Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn present day, but I haven't seen them not with the makeup on in that era as much.

I didn't like seeing the spell broken, you know? Like, I don't like seeing Joan London on those sets. I don't like seeing the actors out of costume on those sets. I like thinking of that place as a place where the show happens with the characters that we like. Yeah, I don't like Joan London. Picard has a weird relationship with this lady.

You're still a pompous ass. That is all that's been established. And a damn sexy man. And then a admiral wanders into this lounge and starts introducing Picard to this guy. Man, I present Commander Bruce Matic. He's like a commander rank in a blue shirt. And so admiral is just like, like, oh, we got to check out the ship. You got to meet this Bruce Matic guy is the greatest. And so they go ahead and beam over to the ship and they walk onto the bridge and immediately data,

like you can see the hair on the back of data's neck stand up. And he makes like really fucking intense eye contact with Maddox. And we come to find out that this is because Bruce Maddox intends to take data apart to find out how he works. He has got like a three-year-old attempting to figure out how a radio works plan. And his ultimate goal is to replicate data so that the federation can have more of data. So Picard convenes a meeting with Riker, Maddox, and Data, and Maddox kind of lays his case out.

He says, like, this is going to be amazing. Like, we're going to find out what makes Data tick. We're going to take him apart, put him back together again. We're going to load, you know, it's a safe enough procedure. We'll load his consciousness into the mainframe on the star base until we've gotten all the science we need to get out of taking him apart. We'll put him back together again, load his consciousness back in and we're good to go. You know, low risk procedure. And they start kind of like asking him questions and I think it becomes pretty clear, pretty quick

that Maddox doesn't have a lot of the information that he should have had to make a move like this. You seem a little vague on this specifics. Data like right away zings him with a like, well certainly you've solved the problem of the. How the electron resistance across the neural filaments is to be resolved. And Maddox is like, well certainly you've solved the problem of the... How the electron resistance across the neural filaments is to be resolved. And Maddox is like, actually, I thought I would just

feel around in your insides and I figured I would just figure it out once I got you apart. Like, the answers would become pretty clear once I disassemble you. And that is not a satisfying answer for anyone. And Adam, you know what Picard doesn't fuck with at all? Wu-Tang Clan? No Adam, he doesn't fuck with Bullshit.

And he can tell that Maddox is full of Bullshit. So he says like, hey, like, it seems like a nice idea. Maybe you'll get your shit together at some point. Let's talk about it then. Meanwhile, I can't allow this. And like a poker player who has bluffed his way through the first several rounds of play, Maddox pulls out his witty.

This is the new tying in the A and B story together. Yeah. About that. Yeah, in your face mission log. Yeah. story together about that. Yeah, in your face mission log. Maddox pulls out a computer chip that has transfer orders, placing data under his command. This takes all of the power away from Picard to protect data from this nut bag command or Maddox. There's a couple of things that are indicating just how little Maddox feels for data. And also like Maddox

clearly like is totally in awe of data and all that he can do. However, he calls data it instead of he, he doesn't really talk to him. He instead, you know, talks to other people in the room about him like he isn't there. Yeah, he really gives Polaski a run for her money in the offensively bigoted department.

Yeah, I feel like they would be real chummy if they had met in this episode, but they don't. He wears a uniform that's maybe two sizes too small. He just doesn't look right. And he's not, you know, he's not really rocking any neck, which you would think a real man would be doing in a small uniform. So, Data sees the writing on the wall,

and he's like, well, fuck this. I'm just gonna retire from Starfleet. How about that? That means this mad at guy gets to fuck off, and I I'm just going to go live on a farm or something like That would be better than having this clearly ignorant person taking me apart and messing with my insides like that's not It's not a satisfying conclusion of this. Yeah, and he reveals that after like basically the saddest scene in the history of the show, which is data packing his couple of belongings into a little over the shoulder barrel shaped piece of baggage. This bag is like, is so small. It's like the size of the bank teller tube that it's some banks like the drive up bank.

You put your check in it and then it shoots up or like the... It's like a kind of can keg that you can buy at the grocery store and put in your fridge. Yeah, it's real teeny. But he's packing him up and Maddox comes in and it's like tossing his dick around and he's like, hey, you're getting

packed up to come be under my command. Great. Good times and days like, no, you're wrong, dude. I'm bouncing. I'm out of the federation. I'm my own man now. And Maddox really breaks at this point. And he's like, he gets mad. And he like, I'm taking you apart, whether you like it or not, motherfucker. But keep packing because one way or the other, you will be reporting. I think that's the line, right? Yeah, he doesn't seem to understand

that no means no in the circuit stance. No. He clearly wants to take what he wants from data. So he escalates the situation up to Captain Lovlo. Yeah. A greatest gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay,

to do pre and post show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it. The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023 and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's GreatestGenTour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Sherry Reembarishment Tour.

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a new starbase. She is the head of the Jag Core for this sector. And it's like her and an Ensen. Like there's no legal infrastructure this far out. So, so when she gets Maddox's petition, you know, she calls in Picard, she hears them both out and she's like, sorry Picard, like Maddox makes a good, Maddox argument argues basically, you wouldn't rule in favor of a ship's computer if it pulled into starbase and refused to undergo a refit. She's like, yeah, you're right.

Data's material, like what are we talking about here? And so she pretty quickly rules in his favor. And Picard goes, a ruling with such broad ranging implications must be supported, Philippa. I hope you will use the same zeal that you did in the Star Gaze at Court in Lashem. And so we've got a trial on our hands.

This episode doesn't really feel like it has a lot of beats. It's just one big story. Yeah, I mean, there's the beat of like, data's going away party. Yeah, that's the next scene, right? I think it is. There's a going away party in 10 forward for data, which is kind of like a wake,

because in many ways it is. Yeah, data is like carefully taking a part of a present from Wurf and Wesley had a boy. It manages him that he's doing it wrong, not tearing the packaging apart quite as gleefully as Wesley would. What's your family's take on present wrapping? Do you guys rip it up or do you kind of save it? Everyone is a present ripper except my dad who is a very careful unrapper. My childhood on Christmas morning was all about like my dad

getting, he would give us each a pocket knife and it was like cut the tape really carefully, like save all the paper and like, we have like I'm not kidding, my parents have packaging that has been in play for 15 or 20 years that still gets used every Christmas. Oh my God, that's amazing. There's an extreme level of environmental conchiasis

in my family home. That's incredible. So I was like, I was like really respecting data's game. Like it was like a real game-recognized game type of situation when data was unwrapping Worf's book and when Wesley butts in and starts trying to tell him to rip it up, I was like, fuck you idiot. Shut up Wesley.

You don't know how valuable that is. You know what surprised me about that scene was that Worf was such a good rapper. Like, he actually clearly took some time to cut and wrap that book properly. Like some people are just idiots with the wrapping. No, yeah. Wurf is a man of honor.

Wurf has like a gift wrap station at a department store level of gift wrapping prowess. Yeah. He's great. The other thing in this scene is, is Jordy is bumming the fuck out. Like, Jordy is just like often a corner by himself, like having feels and data comes over and like, you know, when you're having a go and away party and your friend makes it about himself and not you.

Yeah. Kind of situation. Yeah. Kind of a kind of a bad move on Jordi's part. Yeah, just another and the long and growing line of the socially awkward incidents for one Jority LaForge. Yeah, I feel like season two is when they really decided to make him a socially awkward dude.

Yeah. Like he wasn't really this awkward last season. No, because they didn't give him anything to do last season. That's true. And now the thing they're giving him to do is some real act weird. So, here's the deal with this trial. Because there are no attorneys present other than Captain thinks highly of herself. I believe you're talking about Louvoir.

The role of defendant attorney will go to Captain Picard and the role of prosecutorial attorney will go to the next highest ranked officer present, which is Commander Riker. So he's going to be representing Commander Maddox, whether he likes it or not. To Riker's credit, he doesn't want to do this from the start. He's like, Dave, does my friend fuck that? I'm not going to effort that side of the argument. That's a bunch of crap. And Luva is like, is basically compelling him to do it. If he refuses to do his best, then he loses anyway. Yeah. Which is a really fucked up position to be in.

Yeah, it's a poison pill argument right there. But Riker takes that pill and does a pretty masterful job of arguing the case against data, which essentially boils down to data's a machine. He is disassemblyable and reassemblyable. He was made by a person. He was made by a person and he can be turned off and turned back on again. Which is, you know, it's done to great dramatic effect at the end of

his opening argument when he reaches down the small of data's back and hits the off button and data kind of like pitches over in the seat and very inhuman looking position. Pinocchio is broken. It's strings have been cut. in human looking position. Pinocchio is broken. It's strings have been cut. He also doesn't have an arm at that point because at that point, the trial, Riker has taken it off of him.

And entered it into evidence. When did Riker learn data's off button secret? Because data keeps it a secret. Did Lovato take the arm with her for a little while Just like called for a recess. Yeah, I mean I imagine that that's one of the most sophisticated sex toys that That anybody could want doesn't get any better than that for a dude It's a it's a strangers hand for a lady. It's got a lot of a lot of settings and it's programmed in multiple techniques. Yeah, this is basically the atomic bomb of arguments that Riker has dropped and Picard

is pretty blown away. Picard is so blown away he's driven to drink. Yeah, he's driven back to his own ship to 10 forward during his recess to just sort of Figure out his next move. Yeah, he you know, Jordy is just left and Picard takes up his position as most bummed out Dude in the bar and Geinen is there and she is she is there to You know, you know what, what Gynon's character winds up doing a lot is what our friend Judge John Hodgman does a lot on his show, which is find the crux. She cuts to

the quick. She separates the wheat from the chaff. And she helps Picard see the whole case in a new light. It's like the dude gone like oh my god My thinking has been so uptight about this old case. She cuts right to the heart of the matter because it's the heart that matters most Yeah Which is why Geinen wound up having such a long career on the view the thing about Geinen is no one really knows What she is or how old she is. She keeps whatever super power she has under her robe and her hat. And she demonstrates them just very subtly. And so when she's having this conversation with Picard, you get the sense that she already knows the outcome of the argument.

All she needs to do is sort of drop little breadcrumb clues for Picard to think that he came up with the idea himself. Right, and she'll never commit to the line of inquiry first. Right. Or as hard as any, as whoever she's talking to. She knows what you're thinking before you do, essentially. Yeah, and then she makes you think that it was your idea all along when you come up with your epiphany. Right. In that way, she is the greatest bartender ever, because that's all you really want. I mean, that, and that, and a good martini. Ooh, best martini I ever had.

And what she gets Picard to grok, finally, is that what Maddox is proposing is making lots of data so that they can be used and using them amounts to making a slave race and then doing whatever you want with them. And that shit is fucking wrong. That shit ain't right. Yeah, I mean, when there's only one data, the case is far easier to make that he is unique and special and alive, when suddenly you turn

the machine into a million machines, then what you've got on your hands is a production line. And you lose that sense of humanity or life that Picard is arguing that he has. So Picard goes back to the trial and unloads this super compelling line of reasoning. And it's real fun to watch. Like it's as good as like courtroom drama gets in television, I would say, because Picard starts with data on the stand and interviews him a little bit and then flips the script and puts Manics on the stand as a hostile witness

and tries to get Manics to sort of pot commit to the premise of his gambit, which is that data is subhuman, sub-senscient, and therefore we can think of him as property. So Picard challenges Maddox to prove that Picard is sentient and that by contrast, data is not, and that becomes an issue, and then Picard kind of pivots and starts talking to the Geag Officer, Philippa Louveau, that like she has more weight on her shoulders than she perhaps realizes. Now the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this

creation of our genius because the decision she makes will set a precedent and if Maddox is successful in reproducing data and you know essentially creating a race of Android's the way that she rules will determine how the federation treats that race. Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him to serve at you and slavery. And whether they treat that race as property or as another life form with all of the rights and responsibilities pertaining thereto. So after his very compelling closing argument, you wanted a chance to make law, but here it is, making a good one. L'ouvoir rules immediately.

Yeah, she does not go back to like, she does not recess to consider her argument. That's a really good point. Which either indicates that Picard's closing was that incredible. As incredible as we both know it to be, that it just compelled her in that moment to be like, yeah, defense wins. Or she just didn't really give a fuck, and was like, yeah, all right, that works for me.

Or third option, which I think is probably born out by what happens after. L'ouvape is mainly interested in banging Picard and decided that she'd had enough for play. Exactly. So, here's what happens. L'ouvois rules in favor of Picard. Data is ruled as not property. Data tells Maddox. Where he can stuff it. Yeah. It's a very tidy, efficient conclusion from that respect. Also, but Maddox was pretty cool in that scene because I'll rescind the order transferring you to my command. He's not a total ass about it. He's not an assy as he's been the entire episode in that moment. And then we get back to to Louvoir and Picard talking about going and getting a drink.

And here's the thing. Can we be sure that Picard didn't trade sex for data's freedom? Because how, with how quickly Louvoir ruled and how quickly they went and got a drink, I don't know, I think something was going on here that we don't know about. See, I take it the other way. I think that Luvua wanted Picard so bad. You know, she got real hot for him when she tried to burn him for losing the stargazer. And that's just a fire, but that's been raging in her loins this whole time.

She's looking down the barrel of ruling against him in this case. And she's like, nah, because then it's gonna be a total uphill battle to get him into my bed. And I don't want that to, like I want this to be easy. So she's like, he's just finished like a pretty compelling argument, Like as compelling as it needed to be for me to plausibly just give him the W and we can go bang now.

Yeah, she is done with core and she is ready to bang his gavel. So I think that she has traded sex for data's freedom. Hmm. All right, well, that would be consistent with the scrupulous nature of one Jean-Luc Picard. He wouldn't put that out on the table, but Louis, clearly would. Yeah. I am a cute little boy.

There are full lights. Well, Adam, it's an episode with lots of firsts. And I would say that the last in a long string of first in this episode is the final scene when data comes into the observation lounge to invite Riker to the celebration they're having in his honor in the holodeck and Riker is not in the mood for holodeck. Yeah, I'm not sure we'll ever see that again. Yeah, Rikers sort of jordying out in the last scene, isn't he? Rikers, you know, the captain's not around, so he can't get into the, into the ready room to use his leaning wall.

So he's gone to the observation lounge to, uh, to lean out. And, uh, and he's, he's really bummin' out. Like he really like feels shitty for what he had to just do. I almost cost you your life. How fervently he had to argue against the agency and freedom of his immediate inferior and friend, data. And data is pretty cool about this too.

He's like, hey man, that action injured you and saved me. I will not forget it. It really, to me, like it brought data's friendships with Jordy and Riker into total relief. Like the idea that Riker would sacrifice something about himself in order to save data

seems like something that Jordi could never do. Like, Jordi makes it all about him at every moment. And Riker's all about sacrifice when given the opportunity. So I thought that was pretty cool. It was a good moment for the character of Riker. That's for sure. For sure. Well, there's only one scene that I think we definitely need to talk about that we haven't yet,

which is a delicate scene. It's when Picard pulls out the little Tasha Yara simulator that data keeps in his quarters and asks him about it in the context of court. And data has to kind of admit that he and Yarr got down. This is one of the many pieces of evidence that Picard admits. He basically unpacks data suitcase and every little thing he uses as a piece of evidence,

just to sort of ask him why he thought that those items were significant enough to take with him wherever he was going. So there's like a picture frame, and there's a book that was a gift, and then the third thing is this little hollow picture of Tasha Yare. And yeah, on the stand, he has to admit that they did it,

and there's a moment where everyone looks at each other like everybody in the courtroom clutches their pearls. Yeah, I suppose everyone's lucky that, like we know this show has a very clear and definite recording that they occasionally show characters to catch them up. Like they could have shown them the sex tape and didn't. So they're probably lucky they got away with that one.

I'd like to see that sex tape leak online at some point though. With the right search terms, I think you could get there. I am the cutest of all. You will assist us. I am the cutest of all. You are the ball. Well, I thought this was a great episode. I thought every actor raised their game.

And it felt in terms of like pacing and writing and acting, like it felt like a totally different show. It was just fantastic all the way through. Nearly a level trek, man. I hope we get more like this. It seems like the last few episodes have been really good. Yeah, yeah. This is a little run of top-tier trek.

And it makes it hard to joke about, but I'm hoping that our podcast remains entertaining, despite the fact that we're just starting to just fall in awe of how good this show is. in awe of how good this show is. Not a lot of opportunities for Dick and fart jokes in a courtroom related scene. So. Should we just add a fart sound effect periodically throughout the episode? Yeah, I think that sounds good.

Did you have a drunk Shimoda for this episode? Drunk Shimoda! Take it, bonus up! Stack it up! Doesn't give a fuck everybody's drunk and touchy-yars! Kidding robot, hom- BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM! LOW! Get the drunk Shimoda!

I did. There's an admiral in this episode, and he's there for like two little scenes at the beginning, and then right after we've established that there's an admiral of what Captain Louvreau announces that the two most senior officers have to be the litigants in this case. And suddenly there's no admiral. That's a great point.

Where'd he go? Oh man. He totally ghosted him. That's not convenient for our story. Yeah. So why did it, why was he there in the first place? Like, I guess to give like the weight of Starfleet commands authority to to command her Maddox when he pulls his little his little shit out, but I don't know. It seems weird. Like there was no other ship

in orbit around the the starbase. I don't know where this commander went. So that's my drink, Shimoda. What about you? For me, it was L'ouvoir who just seemed like on the prowl. Yeah, she definitely flirts with Picard in almost every scene until he basically says, stop flirting. I'm really freaked out about my second officer. Yeah, like she's pretty inappropriate most of the time. Yeah. Like, like, like,

Card is trying to have a serious conversation with her a lot, and she is just sort of not having it. Yeah. This is like, she's just doing a lot of staring at his junk. This is the kind of workplace behavior that gets people in a lot of trouble for the most part. Yeah, didn't feel like the future to me in those scenes. So what do we have coming up on the next episode?

Episode 10 of season two is called The Delfan. Wesley finds romance with the beautiful young ruler of Daylead Four, whose secret power could destroy the Enterprise, Enter Crew. Do you remember this episode out of? Is this an Ashley Jud episode? That can't be yet, right? No, I think that's a few more seasons down the road.

All right, well, whenever I think of someone that Wesley's interested in, I think of her. So I don't think I recall anything about this episode if that's the case. If it is the episode I am thinking of, this is like a hot little alien princess who has like a kind of a wicked stepmother that's always falling her around and then whenever they're alone in their quarters, they turn into like huge hairy gorilla beasts. They're like, they like morph shapes.

So she's like hot whenever she's in public, but then she's like a terrifying beast when she's alone. She's a, she's a butter body. That is a very offensive term, Adam. She's a, she's a shape shifter is what you're saying. She is a shape shifter. If, if're saying. She is a shape shifter. If it's the episode of which I am thinking.

This does not sound like an episode that I would prefer to use a video on. It doesn't sound great, which might be a good return to form for us, getting not an awesome episode to really slumber it around in. So I'm excited to do, to return to form. I would not veto this one either. Let's do it. Let's do this one. All right. I also feel like it would be a little bit disingenuous for us to veto while we're running a poll about how the veto should,. Right. I mean, not that like we actually have to defer to the mob, whatever they come up with. We can do whatever we want.

Yeah. We would prefer that people agree with our decision. Yeah, but we're not binding ourselves to them agreeing with us. Right. If you'd like to talk about this episode, any other episode, or the care and feeding of our nation's veteran community, you can find us on Twitter using the hashtag Greatest Gen. I'm at Cut for Time, Ben is at Benjamin AHR. We should thank Dark Materia for our theme music, who wish if you searched the Picard song,

you can find just about everywhere. Be sure to vote on our poll. Yeah. Our veto poll. I guess maybe like the hashtag veto poll will be in play. You can just search through that hashtag. How about greatest poll? Hashtag greatest poll.

Yeah. I like that. It's been a lot of fun talking about this episode with you Adam If people like the show, I hope they go go to iTunes and leave us a nice five star review We love reading every single every single one of those Even the four star ones we like but you know We like them half as much as the five stars People are sending in cool emails

It's been fun. It has been, right? People have been getting more and more chatty. That's been cool. And it's been really taking away from my time to do real work. Yeah. Well, I think that's one of our main goals with this, is to distract ourselves from the ways we make a living. Distract myself into the unemployment line.

With that, we will be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek ways we make a living. Distract myself into the unemployment line. With that, we will be back at you you. You'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll, you'll get to, you'll get to, you'll get to, you