The Greatest Generation - Dialogue Massage (VOY S6E10)

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

When Lieutenant Barclay loses himself in another holodeck obsession, Counselor Troi is on hand to help him work through his fantasy of saving Voyager. But by the time Admiral Paris is ready to hear Reg out, he’s already gone rouge to connect Starfleet Command with Voyager. Exactly how old is Neelix the cat? Who is the most fascinating character in this story? Did Barclay miss his calling? It’s the episode with a secondary antagonist! Support the production of The Greatest Generation.Friends of DeSoto for Democracy.Friends of DeSoto for Justice. Friends of DeSoto for Labor.Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Caretaker!Music by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaFollow The Greatest Generation on Twitter, and discuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen!The Greatest Generation is on YouTube.Facebook group | Subreddit | Discord | WikiSign up for our mailing list!Get a thing at podshop.biz!

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

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

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

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

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdecotoForLabor.com. That's FriendsOfDecotoForLabor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage! Watch your bad shot. Hello. I'm Captain Captain Bringeng, what is the U.S.S.S. Boy, Captain Captain Captain Bringeng, what is the U.S.S.S. is for the Captain Captain Captain.

Welcome to the greatest generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys who are a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast. I'm Van Harrison. I'm Adam Pryanaka. I'm feeling 100%. I'm feeling 69%. I'm feeling 69%.

I'm like the guy in the zombie movie that's watched everyone turn into zombies and I'm like, it's coming for me. I don't know when. I don't know when it's gonna happen, but like you and me and a bunch of friends, we were just out in Palm Springs, having a delightful time. Palm Springs is where it swings. And then people started turning into zombies. And plans started getting canceled.

A few years ago, you and I were celebrating the birthday of a dear friend of yours. Dear friend of mine as well, but like a long-term dear friend of yours. Sure. Out in Palm Springs, and it was like literally the weekend before the lockdown started. Yeah. We were all like, so what's the deal?

What's about to happen? And I remember shaking elbows at the airport when everyone was leaving, because we were like, I don't know what the fuck this is. Yeah. Yeah, it felt insane because it was like a house full of people

that had flown from all over the country to be together and like drink from the same punch bowl for a weekend right before a global pandemic locked down sharing cups and cans throughout as far as I know nobody on that trip got sick. No, no perfect record We were all out in Palm Springs, you and your wife rented a house. My wife and I rented a different house. And the way we did it was we had another couple stay with us the first couple nights and then they had to go back to LA and a separate couple came and spent the next two nights with us. Did you hot bunk that second couple? We changed the sheets on the bed. Wow.

Well, there was three bedrooms. I don't know. You know what? I think they stayed in the other bedroom come to think of it. Good job by them. Yeah. I wasn't really keeping track of where people were sleeping. I knew where I was sleeping and that was what was important.

Yep. It's all that matters. I've turned into such a dad. I was like routinely going to bed way ahead if everybody on the strip. My wife and I have that same thing and it seems to be Palm Springs specific. It is so hot during the day that we are absolutely spent

by like eight or nine o'clock. We're like a sleep in bed by nine o'clock. Yeah, it's amazing. So out of the people that were there, your wife got sick, then I got sick and two of the people from the first group got sick and all of these people have babies by the way.

So a bunch of babies got sick. Yeah. My baby and my wife seemed unscathed, but now my wife is down with whatever this is. Yeah, like almost everybody. You really are one of a handful that have been unscathed, unclaimed. I was the only one not hanging out with babies.

Get him away from me. And look at me doing girl. On my timeline, your wife is the first person that got sick. So it's true. Yeah. That is so bizarre. Yeah. I don't know how it happened. I don't know what it is. My wife was like, you cooked something bad and you made everybody sick and... Thanks, Ben's wife. I was like sick and bad while she was leveling this accusation at me.

And it took me like half a day to formulate a defense of like this that it doesn't add up. Like too many people got sick at too many different times for that to even be possible. Yeah, yeah. Didn't do it. It wasn't food. It's infectious disease. Nobody's fault. Yes, served us salsa and guacamole and also a blender beverage that we called

the the fun feddie. Yeah. And that blender beverage was was punchy enough to kill just about any pathogen, I think. Yeah, nothing sick in those things. And I'm the variable. I'm doing great. I'm gonna live forever. I'm gonna live forever. You might be like an asymptomatic carrier. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. That sounds right. That's me. Yeah. I'm the asymptomatic character. I'm glad you have enough hit points to do the show today, Ben. I'm relieved about that. Wendy's relieved about that. Everyone involved in next bridge, Shimoda relieved about that. Yeah. And on a different note, I'm just happy to be doing pod with you. I've missed this. It's been a little over a week since we've recorded anything. Yeah, that doesn't work for me.

Too long. Yeah. With that being said, let's get into it, Ben. Let's talk about one of the great episodes of Star Trek Voyager. Right. A truly important episode in the show's development. Yeah, season six, episode 10, Pathfinder. Reaver course.

Unless you've got something a little bigger in your torpedo tubes, I'm not turning around. Fire. I'm trying to put myself in the moment and time when this episode dropped, one December 1999. TNG's been off the air for a while. The twin towers, tower above New York City. Reginald Barkley, his apartment is the first thing you see, and then you see him.

And then you see Troy at the door. And I'm losing my mind at this point. Yeah. Hello, Rhett. What is happening? Let me help you relax. I'd like that. I knew you would.

I thought we were in Harry Kim's San Francisco apartment initially. That's a great thing to bring up because I think so much about how this episode begins feels like I'm put off balance a bit Yeah, because everything we know about watching Star Trek Seems to suggest that these circumstances and these characters might not be real sure so when we see Barkley and Troy I'm like I don't know if this is really happening and then when Barkley gives Troy ice cream I'm like, well, this is definitely not happening like when Barkley gives Troy ice cream, I'm like, well, this is definitely not happening.

Like, who gives a house guest ice cream and then sits with them for hours and hours and gives them no other food or beverages? Barkley is a terrible host with a terrible apartment. It's a nice place. Thanks. I mean, he did offer her several other options that she declined.

Like, she has a way. When you talk about friends being long suffering, Deanna Troy's relationship to Reginald Barkley is the definitive version of that, right? Yeah. He's the Mets and she's a huge fan. Yeah. His apple only pops up out of the outfield wall when he's on the holitech, right? I like the step down into the living room style apartment.

Like it's way cooler than Bartglies as a place, but he just doesn't unpacked in two years. Two years. You were hurling, right? You had dry heaves when this part of the episode came and went, right? I am famously an unpack your bags as soon as you get home from any trip, no matter what time it is, type of person.

And yeah, two years is a little long for me. Yeah. After I moved in. We drove home from Palm Springs. I was like fighting Nausea to pack the car, so we remain packed, even though we're home, because I was too sick yesterday

and my wife was too sick today, and one of us is always either trying to work or trying to watch the baby, and the other is always sick and bad. I would consider whatever baby's milk you left in the car to be spoiled at this point. Huh, okay. Well, I'm gonna ask my wife anyways, but.

If you get to cut the end of the bottle open to let the chunks through, I think Dorone's milk is spoiled. Hmm, it's like a farmer's cheese texture. You know? I bet Daron would love farmer's cheese just as soon as possible. Oh. That kid's got daddy's tastes.

The boy. So the entrepreneur is in orbit, but we'll be leaving soon. And cheese is there to check in on Reg Barkley, who has been working on something called the Pathfinder Project, but no longer. Jordy wasn't invited for some reason. I can barely tolerate being in the same room with him, man. The only other TNG character that gets a name check here.

Well, spot the cat gets a name check here. Yeah, I guess that's true. I hate cats. Davis cats. Spot. I love cats. Imagine being on a shore leave, so boring, that you manage to tag on a visit to Reginald Barkley.

At the end. Well, nothing happens on Earth, you know? I feel so bad for her. Earth is not an exciting place. Yeah, yeah. They really take advantage of the fact Nothing happens on Earth, you know? I feel so bad for her. Earth is not an exciting place. Yeah. Yeah. They really take advantage of the fact that fancy feast, cat food, reads on camera exactly the same way as chocolate ice cream.

Mm-hmm. Because Nielix the cat jumps up on the coffee table and gets involved with what Diana is eating. And yeah, he has named his cat, Nelix, because Reginald Barkley has become obsessed, dot, dot, dot, with Voyager. It's a big moment to theme, and all during the theme I was thinking,

how long has this obsession lasted, lasted long enough for Reginald Barkley to adopt a cat and name it Neelix. At what point in the timeline did that happen? Right. I was obsessed with that. Yeah, it was the cat named like muffin and then like, that's what I'm thinking. Like the cat slipped with Barkley for years. I already had a name. And the obsession runs so strongly that that Barkley renamed his own cat. You're Neelix now, he said to the cat one day. And then the cat looks at him not giving a shit because it doesn't matter to any cat. The cat was like as long as do you keep it

coming with the Feline supplement 47. Yeah. Don't really care. Yeah. After the theme, Barkley begins his story of well, and all Barkley stories of well, begin on the holodeck, don't they? Sure. Oh, no, Barkley. Yeah. No. Poor Barkley.

It's a program set aboard the Voyager, and he's running around to a bunch of different stations. He's got this idea that they can use the Midas Array to make a singularity that takes advantage of something called a Class B itinerant pulsar to make a mini wormhole that they can send information back and forth to the Voyager. So he's simulating the bridge of the Voyager so that he can see if they would be able to pick up whatever this signal is. And he gets caught. We meet Commander Pete Harkins here, the hero of the episode in my mind.

the hero of the episode in my mind. Just a guy trying to get some stuff done and wondering why Barkley is not doing any of the work that's actually important to the project. Do you sometimes feel like Commander Pete with me? Never. You know what day it is, right Ben? I'm like, yeah, we're supposed to be doing this and you're like, no, we're not supposed to be doing that.

I just got the days mixed up. Rich. There is no holodeck equivalent for what's happening with you. Daron is not holodeck. Barkley is absolutely assaulting this guy's walk around. Like, imagine working with a guy like Barkley and just trying to very briefly manage him. It's unmanageable.

Yeah, it sort of feels like the reverse of a law and order like stop into the mechanic shop and interrogate a guy where like, what if the guy who worked on the docs walked into the police station himself with all of his like, on a fork lift? And would not leave the cops alone while they're trying to get a bunch of different shit. That's it exactly.

Yeah. Yeah, so he's got this idea about the tacky ons and the array and making this wormhole. They're like, they're walking past all the, all the gadgetry they have at Project Pathfinder. A lot of like greatest hits from a lot of science labs that we've visited in various iterations of Star Trek,

just around this lab as props. Like tube of neon. I love tube of neon. Tube of neon is so fun to see. And they've got two of them in this scene. Yeah, it's amazing. Triple makes it safe. No, triple is his best. He just doesn't, you know, put much faith in the idea that Reg's idea is gonna work and he's like, hey, listen man, like Admiral Paris is coming to

inspect what we're doing here tomorrow. You need to, you know, put your nose to the grindstone, hunker down, and just like focus on the stuff you've actually been ordered to focus on. And when he is here, I need you to shut the fuck up. I think for a long time, Star Trek has retconned the neurodivergent hero story of Reginald Barkley. I mean, in a way that's good, like, it, et cetera. But do you think this episode specifically and Star Trek generally does enough to make him competent slash genius? Because I feel like whenever Barkley saves the day,

it's a real kid at the plate closing his eyes and swinging as hard as he can and somehow like hits the home run. Right. Out of luck instead of it being like, Barkley's actually competent and skilled, but he just has personality traits that make him difficult for the people around him.

You know what I'm saying? Right. Yeah, he's more of an inspector gadget type than, you know, whatever. Well, what was the cat's name and inspector gadget? Oh, man. That's like a famous cat, right? It was Dr. Claw.

Uh huh. Penelope? No, Penelope was the daughter, right? Penny was the daughter. Mad Cat. Mad Cat was the name of the cat. What a terrible name. Mad Cat is Dr. Closet Cat

and the secondary antagonist in the cartoon series in live action film, Inspector Gadget. Secondary antagonist. Mad Cat is also famous for making sort of crappy knockoff video game controllers, I see here. Damn. Yeah, well-named. It was a Mad Cat, the controller in the submarine. I can't. R-S-B-P mad cat. Uh-huh.

Of course, it's locked in. What? Did this one to me? I'm very careful, because I'm only going to say this once. Commander Pete walks out and walks back in like way later. Regbarrickly has been burning the midnight oil at the office and it's just still like totally obsessed with this Midasare Taki on beam pulsar gambit.

And Pete is like, hey man, I understand you're really passionate about this, but I think like work life balance is important. I'd like to introduce you to my sister-in-law. I think she'd like you. This is the most fascinating character in the episode to me by far. The woman that Commander Pete thinks would really dig Red Barkley's vibe. My theory is, Commander Pete Hartkins fucking hates a sister-in-law.

And probably hates his wife. Do you think so? Because I was like, I was thinking a lot about like, what if you got into a situation with your boss where your boss was sort of in your family like by marrying into? I mean, Ben, for a time that was me. Is that what you're saying?

Oh shit, you're right. I literally married my boss's daughter. And do you still work for that company, Adam? No, I do not. Wow. So this whole thing, I'm gesturing around the studio. I was very, very helpful. You're very well. How badly does Barkley drop the bag here? Like this pulsar is ready for his energy beam and he just cannot make it happen.

I'll try. Later Barkley's got to walk into the Voyager Messhall on the holodeck to pour some ice down the front of his uniform. And they're here to help commiserate. Things are a little off though, aren't they? Like the hairstyles especially? Hairstyles are a little weird. All the Mayquise are still wearing their Mayquise garb. Mayquise? Yeah. But everybody's real friendly, you know. God, they love them, don't they? Weird, all the make-wee's are still wearing their make-wee's garb. Make-wee's?

Yeah. But everybody's real friendly, you know. God, they love them, don't they? You know, like, oh, hey man, like come play cards with us. Here, let me replicate you a glass of milk. You look like you live in Pasadena. Ha-ha. Computer, one milk.

Warm. Thanks, Harry. You're trying to get on your good side. So you'll go easy on me tonight. Yeah, they really love him. Yeah. You can see why he likes hanging out here. He does this, he says, for inspiration. What do you do with a guy like that?

Well, I just serve him warm milk and let him be. We're getting a lot of this is like voice over, which is him explaining all of this to counselor Troy. But one thing that's not in the narration, but is on screen is how much his demeanor changes when he's around the Voyager crew. He is confident and capable and in control of his thoughts. They don't run away from him in that way.

And that's kind of an old Barclay chestnut. Like that's very similar to his hollow addiction episode in TNG. Reg Barclay's problem, I think, requires regular medical check-ins that it is very clear are not happening, right? Right. Like, he has fallen off the wagon big time, and no one's there to put him back on. It's creepy. Deanna Troy might be the only person in the universe that cares about him at all. How sad is that? Like, as much as anyone might feel that way

on present day earth, for it to be the Star Trek universe, as broad as it is. Yeah. And for that to be the Star Trek universe as broad as it is. Yeah. And for that to be the case for him, I mean, Commander Pete is trying to do a solid maybe he is. Yeah, I agree. Unless you're serious, right?

And Commander Pete actually hates these doing. Yeah. I'm concerned for Barclay's cat because Barclay spent so little time at home, I just real home. Yeah. He even sleeps in quarters on Voyager. because Bartkeley spent so little time at home, I just real home. Yeah. He even sleeps in quarters on Voyager. And like goes to the EMH in the simulation of Voyager

for massages and stuff. Yeah. Is that what this doctor does? Yeah. He does massages? Didn't look like a very convincing massage. It's like a TV massage that is light enough not to mess your voice up when you're doing dialogue.

Yeah, a dialogue massage. That's what he's getting. It's good. So the next day is the big presentation to the brass. And Barkley like checks in with his buddies in Voyager's mess hall on his way to work. And then we catch to Project Pathfinder where we meet Admiral Paris. They're explaining like they have a theory of where Voyager is based on what they know about it from the one visit they got from the EMH all those years ago. I guess they must have factored in a lot of like warp tunnel, you know, jumps forward

and various times they got a 10,000 light year boost from a departing being of pure energy or whatever. Yeah, they're shooting for where the pucks expected to be instead of where it is, right? Yeah. And there's three sectors that they think are candidates, and they're talking about this, and Barclay is like, you know, raising his finger and, you know, wanting to interject. And eventually, his desire to interject gets the better of him and inserts himself into the conversation. But he's not capable, he's not confident, he's not holodeck Barly, he's real world barkly, and he can't organize his thoughts, he can't

pitch this in a way that is coherent. I can't give you high marks for clarity, Lieutenant, but you certainly got my attention. We know for sure, Admiral Paris isn't evil, right? Like so many evil admirals. Yeah, you get a pretty good shot of the neck in profile and there's nothing sticking out the back there. Yeah, he seems okay. He takes great umbridge with the whole, like the one thing that Barley can say with any amount of force is that he knows that there are lives on that ship and that's why he's so passionate about this project, kind of forgetting who he's talking to. Yeah, he gets in a lot of trouble here because he puts the admiral in a position

of having to say like, yeah, I'm aware, lieutenant. And then Commander Pete has to step in and say like, go home, Reg, you made the admiral feel really shitty. And now you're on leave. This isn't especially bad punishment for Bartley. Like going home is the worst place for him to be. Yeah, but he finds a loophole in this order because he sort of feels most at home on the holiday.

Right. So that's where he goes. Quite a healthy fantasy life, wouldn't you say? Well, we cut back to quote unquote the present. This is where Deanna Troy's asking all the relevant questions about like how to make you feel and she's doing therapy on him, but Barclay's answers are disappointing at every turn.

The holodeck version of Voyager is the only place he wants to be at all times. And when he goes through this, I mean, it's greater than a disappointment, like this humiliation at this meeting, he goes right back onto that, Holodic. Yeah. It was really remarkable to me how much this hang started looking like it was just a social call. And by the time we cut back here, it really feels like he has turned

it into a therapy session without even really checking with her. Like whatever version of Bussman's holiday it is where like you are taken and put on the bus to drive against your will, that's it this is. Yeah, yeah. It's a busman's holiday meets speed. Right. It happens to. Yeah. Deanna Troy here. The important thing is I'm here now and I want to help. Thank you. What kind of sick fuck is Barkley? To have a fantasy that involves leading a McLaughlin group. Is your one early on? Like it was frilly blouses on swing sets or whatever.

Yeah. Haking Wesley eat a lollipop. After Buckley was spankier from his behave. Yeah, I would argue this is more to prayer. Yeah, this is some sick shit. Yeah. He's using the Voyager crew to talk over his idea for this mini wormhole. And it sort of seems like he wants them to brainstorm with him, but it's also sort of clear that he already

has the answers to all of these questions that he is asking rhetorically. And so it's mostly about them being super impressed with his galaxy brain. It's like confirmation bias, the program. Yeah. It's like, what if these people that I am obsessed with rescuing were also my yes men? Yeah. Yeah, it seems bad. And it makes you suspect that this, at least it made me think this, it makes you suspect

that the plan would never work if you're surrounded by these yes people, right? Yeah. It doesn't instill a ton of confidence, but then he's down in the warp core working on some of the math of it with Chico Te and Blana and Commander Pete catch us him again. Commander Pete's always there to catch you. He's also there to catch that ball that they're tossing back and forth. It's so weird.

So weird how casual, like the forced casualness of this scene, you know? Yeah, so they delete all the characters and they have a conversation, which kind of a little bit reminded me of Dr. Brahms confronting Jordy with his hologram. Yeah, yeah Really is I think Barkley weirdly handles this better. He does you know, then the Jordy dead and total bullshit man It's just bullshit. Well, I, because it's a second time through this hollow ball kicking machine, like, he's been caught again.

From where I stand, it looks like you've had a relapse. Look, if someone were to catch you meditating a second time, it would be easier to take than the first time, right? Nothing's as bad as the first time. Right. It would be easier to take than the first time, right? Right. Nothing's as bad as the first time. Catch me once, shame on me. Catch me twice, shame on you. Yeah. That's it exactly. And Command repeat does that thing to try to soften the blow, but actually makes the blow worse, which is like, you know, red, this is actually all my fault. It's my fault for letting you fail so utterly. It's my fault for not recognizing

the eviterrible hollow addiction. And this just makes it worse, I think. Yeah, he's like, I don't even wanna look at how many hours you've logged in here. That's, you know. I mean, it is kind of his fault in that way. He should have known. I think so.

Like, that seems like easy information to get if you're Commander P. Harkins. Yeah. I thought this scene was also just interesting because when Barkley is speaking to people, he has so many different modes and he's like so nervous so much of the time and so incapable of presenting what he's thinking

in an organized way. But when he's really in an organized way, but when he's really like got the fire in his belly and a scene like this, it's no problem for him. And I think that's interesting writing and it's an interesting performance by Dwight Schultz who seems to be a totally good guy. F-f-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h 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 Share Your Embarrassment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris. And I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure, delightful nonsense. We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level. We got stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the space weirds.

Pat Noswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Nanjiani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes, which is impossible to use. Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps are already open. Just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard. Be dumb instead. We open just pull it out, give Jordan Jesse go try. Being smart is hard, be dumb instead. Oh, rats, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in mine.

These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line and boy, what do I? These giraffes do not smell good. No, they do not, and they have such short nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this horse. We've got to get on the ark. It is about terrain, about It's about to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually, we're podcasters. Yes, totally. We are podcasters, so it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Carrie? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal, stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's going to end, so seem like something for us to check out.

We would love to be on the boat. We came two by two. What do you think? O'Neil Ross & Kerry, do it, do it. Barkley, band. From the project, the lab, and the holodeck. What else does he have? He's got nothing. You can go back and hang out with Neelix.

He's got nowhere to go, and that's why he goes to the lobby of Admiral Paris's office, right? Yeah. And so Admiral Paris's secretary is like, there's this guy out here. Yeah. Do you want real barkly shit? Kind of creeping me out and everyone else waiting for you. Finally, admiral Paris is like, it's probably easier to just let him in to explain himself. Yeah.

And it's in this scene, we see a file photo of Nicholas Lacharno on his desk in like reverse with the combat on the other side. Oh, I didn't notice that. And it's like during a scene of the trial of Red Squad. Wow. Why did they do this? It seems like easy enough to Photoshop the combat in the end of the right spot, right? It seems unforgivable to mirror the combat.

Like, this is something you see all the time in like very poor memes or, I don't know, conventions. Yeah, like chat GPT made this image or something. Yeah, you gotta do better than this, I think. But Barclays got five minutes with Paris, right? Yeah, and he brings kind of that same fire like I got kicked off this project. And I just I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I didn't tell you that I think that there's a way to get in touch with your son.

And you know, Commander Pete did not look over my revised plan with this pulsar. I hope you will. And I think the admiral is in a tough spot because he's like very conscious of the fact that this is somebody, you know, going outside the chain of command to get to talk to him. So he can't just encourage this, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Because if you do, your lobby's just gonna be filled with Barclay types every day and you can't have that. Yeah, that would be no good. No, you're frightening my secretary, Mr. Barclay. I'm looking at this scene on the, I'm scrubbing through it and there is a moment

where it goes to the close-up of Nicolacarno. Yeah. Come badges in the right spot in the close-up. It's so weird. Did they flop the entire shot? Oh, that's interesting. Maybe that's what they did. That's so strange that they would do that there.

Like, based on what? Why would they do? Why would they flop the shot? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, this is the sort of thing you recognize in the edit, right? Like, oh shit. We actually started on the other side of the desk when we should have been on this side. Otherwise, the whole sequence doesn't hang together. What are we going to do?

I think hair and makeup parted Berkeley's hair on the wrong side for this scene. And they're like, there's no white shorts refused to have it redone. On the right side, not the left side, only the right. So we're back in the present and it's night now, which suggests a passage of time that is horrifying to me. Their counselor Troy has sat all day. With only slightly cat licked chocolate ice cream to sustain her. One scoop. Now you understand why I need your help. Yes, I do.

Councillor Troy thinks this is a good development. This whole like going into the admiral's office thing, right? But Barkley's ego has turned it into a loss because he feels dismissed. Yeah. Like what the admiral said was, I'll look this over or have somebody look this over. And if it seems like it's got merit, I will order them to do it. But Commander Pete has discretion over who's on his team and who isn't. So that ruling stands. If you're really sensitive to the big city fuck you, though, you see that all around you in your life, right? Like anything that is not totally affirmative,

anything that's like, cool, I'll give it a look, is a fuck you when it's not. So that's why Berkeley is not soozled by Troy trying to be like optimistic about this being a good deal for him. Sometimes a person makes a commitment to feeling bad or being a victim or whatever, and this is barkly here, right? He's unwilling to see any positivity in this. The truth of Voyager are all he has, and there's nothing he can do about that.

He mentions that he has felt very alone since leaving the enterprise and his family there, the family that he's made. And I'm struggling to recall the circumstances of him leaving the ship. Do you think that that's important in the context of this moment? Because like, I don't think I'm missing anything by saying, I don't know what those circumstances were. Did you leave to work on Pathfinder by choice? Because that seemed like a fun and good job for him? Or was he forced out? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. That must be covered in one of those novels that I never read. I mean, my point is the enterprise is right up there. He seems to not have a job anymore.

Right. I guess the question is whether Mr. Barkley is enterprise material. They have a holiday on the enterprise. He has not unpacked. Like, I think it would be very easy to beam those boxes up. I mean, he could even maybe like repair the bullet holes in that one holodeck that John Luke Picard shot up with a Tommy gun. Yeah.

I think you got him. I do like Councillor Troy's moment here where Barkley wants her to go to bat for him with Admiral Paris. And that seems like the bridge too far for Troy. She will eat less than one scoop of ice cream. She will spend an entire day of shore leave with him, but she will not vouch for him. I can't do that. Why not? Look at yourself. And that is very, very smart. But what she will do is take a leave of absence from her posting on the flagship to personally take responsibility

for like curing what else him. This is so hard to accept. This was another one of those moments where I was positive this was a holodeck program inside a holodeck program. Yeah. This episode kind of broke my mind for that reason. Because Troy was always underwritten as a character,

always treated as a bit of a potted plant as we've said many times. But like, the idea that being an active participant in her career and like doing what she does so well is less important to her than just like one guy who claims to be a long-suffering genius not fucking so many hello characters, trying to look comfortable examining a potted plant.

I mean, lots of people do therapy over Zoom now. I don't think it's a huge leap back in 1999 to conceive of a world where that's possible in the 24th century, right? Doesn't seem that hard. Yeah. So, Reg is gonna Reg and he breaks into the offices of Project Pathfinder late at night

to put his plan into action. And we actually see the like the Midas array get activated and he goes up to a computer and like you know finds the the pulsar and then like broadcasts a signal. He's just saying who he is and that he's trying to reach Voyager on a star fleet emergency frequency. This might disarray, I thought could have looked like anything. They could have spent very little time on it. I really love how this thing looks. I love watching it function.

I love watching it shoot its little beam. Like, really cool design do it. Looks great. Yeah, but Unfortunately, he's got 17 minutes to wait to know if his plan is going to work and there's three grids that he needs to check, you know, like there's three possible parts of the galaxy that the Voyager could be in. Yeah, so once he's started the contact with the first one, he gets caught a third time. Step away from the controls.

Pete? I mean, in less than 17 minutes, Commander Pete Harkins is at the door with the security detail. That's a pretty fast response time, right? When the heat's around the corner in less than 17 minutes? Yeah. Yeah. I lasted 22 minutes.

I think that if you're getting caught as often, as Reg Barkley is, you gotta think about desk placement. You can't have it facing away from the door like this. Absolutely. You know, you gotta be able to see Commander Pete coming or the reverse might happen. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

I love Barclays cartoonish style of like throwing his keys across the room as a distraction and then running down the hall to the hall of deck. Like, yeah, like knocks over a picture of water on the table and runs out the door. Like, there's something remarkably cute about his version of a distraction or an obstacle for security being like so benign.

And yet, it still works for him. Yeah, so he goes into the hall of deck and like is using TuVoc to run interference for him with the real Starfleet security people that are chasing him. This part is really smart and made me think of that two-part episode where Nazi Germany exists on Voyager and the holodeck, right? Yeah. This restaurant will serve as our command post. You know, he's like erecting force fields around them and Commander Pete is like trying to run interference from the computers out in the laboratory,

but realizes he's gonna need help. This is kind of like a chase sequence that also includes Berkeley like reorienting the array and trying to broadcast at the different places while different security people catch him, but like the holiday safeties are on. So when Belonatoras tries phasering them, it has no effect.

It's great. It's a great sequence. I think my favorite part of the whole thing happens on the bridge, though, where I think we really learn how smart Commander Pete Harkins is, because things come to a head here. Harkins has triggered a warp core breach to the hollow Voyager as a game of chicken with Barkley.

Yeah. He does not know that Jane Wei is as willing to destroy the ship as she is at any moment. She's actually thrilled by this. Yeah. Captain to all hands, a band-in ship. But Barkley is not. He refuses to whisper. I thought for sure that they were gonna get a response from the broadcast, like, you know,

in the 10 second countdown window. That's not what happens. You have to shut down the program. It very much looks like he has failed. This has been a catastrophic moment in his life and career. You cut from this scene to voyage or actual in a moment that's actually really important. Like, you can't have this cut be confusing. Right. We're in the ass lab now. And we know from what we're seeing and what we're hearing really fast,

that this is actual seven of nine and actual neilics and seven is absolutely clobbering his real tilaxian balls about how no amount of singing lessons will ever, ever, ever work for him. I've been practicing. In your case, practice is irrelevant. It's great. It would sound too much like an alley cat, right? There's no way that it's Barkley's program because these characters aren't nice in that same way, right?

I think that's important. Interestingly, also, I guess, Barclay's program would predate seven being on the ship. You know what, maybe that's the biggest proof of all. Yeah. So if you were to cut from hollow Voyager, Barclay version to real Voyager, that scene has to contain seven for that reason.

Yeah, I wonder if they thought about bringing Jennifer leanback for this episode. That would have been cool. Yeah, they did not. So yeah, they get this signal. They get the static, you know, lieutenant Barclay from Starfleet Command to Voyager signal. And, you know, they try to clean it up.

It's a moment that we've seen many times before, like, many evil nebulas or similar have tried to spoof this kind of signal to them, but they know that there's a micro wormhole out there and that it's decaying, so they don't have much time to try to get a response in. There's coffee in that signal processor. So they get to work on it and we cut back to Earth where Barclay is being like perp walked out of the holodeck and Admiral Paris shows up late at night,

but it's kind of weird. Like, who knows what hour of the day this is, but it seems like it's really late. And he's like, just here to be like, hey, I read this iPad that he gave me at my office, and I think it's a cool idea. You know, me and Barkley are the same, really. We both like to stay at work very late.

Working on our obsessions. This is great, saved by the bell for Barkley, because they receive a transmission. Boi-hatcha. Great, saved by the bell for Berkeley because they receive a transmission. Voyager. Two Commander Pete's credit. He completely drops everything that he had against Berkeley. Like he is not being a dick about it, he's not being a sore loser about it. He has no pride in this moment. He's like, Berkeley, you did it, like, take the phone call. He has no pride in this moment. He's like, Barkley, you did it.

Take the phone call. You should be the one to answer. Give it up for a manager who changes their mind, for sure. Yeah. This is a great moment. I got goose bumps watching this moment. I love how urgently both sides treat how little time they have. Like, good for Janeway to like use the moment to do like file transfer shit.

But man, at the end, when there's like, they're trying to fit it all in. Everything you want to say, everything you've wanted to say for this many years, and then for it to end abruptly, like, in the middle, it's heartbreaking. Yeah, I mean, like, there's a little moment of catharsis for Tom Paris, who, you know, gets to hear from his father, who, you know, we have always known to be a tough man to

be the son of. I love the tough dad quality to the like very officially talking to Janeway and Janeway only about like, um, uh, please transmit very officially that, uh, uh, uh, compliments to my son for steering the ship and so forth. Like, could not be any less dad like in this moment, right? Please ensure that he remembers which side of his uniform to put the combat drawn if you speak to him. You know, I haven't seen him.

It's so long I can't remember where he liked to wear the combat. You can see my hollow programs, a Voyager and Tom Paris. Those combatges are everywhere. That sounds great. Anyways, I hope he hasn't been demoted or anything. Cause that would really crush me.

While I do have major questions about where the combatges located, I've never questioned for a moment how many and where the pips are on my son. That would just break my heart at this distance. Now in anything that happened to those pips, we get a little toast in the mess hall. the EMH has looked into who Reginald Barkley is and is like, EEEES! I have some kind of awkward news for everybody. And awkward is the operative word. You know, it's weird. More of his file was like redacted than is actually legible in there. But they toast him anyway.

Is the newest crew member, honorary, of the Starship Voyager. Barkley and Troy have a toast to their own, right? Yeah. Troy's going to be hammered on an empty stomach, or maybe it's just sickened by a stomach of a half a scoop of chocolate ice cream, topped with an entire glass of champagne. I'm just doing the math here.

So she came over and at some point, he left to go break into the offices of Project Pathfinder and is now back. He left her there to do this. Why did she let him do that? I hope she replicated herself some dinner while he was gone, you know. If you could just watch my cat for a couple hours, I have an errand to run.

Does she live at his apartment now? Like while she's on her leave of absence, is she crashing with Barclay? I don't think that's good for doctor patient relations at all. No, that seems bad. Yeah. Life begins to look a lot better at this point for Barclay,

including the opportunity to get with Commander Pete Hartkins' sister-in-law. Yeah. That's on the table again. How is that on the table? That was off the table. You can't take something off the table and put it back on Looks like Pete Harkens sister law is back on the menu boys and the reason is she loves cats

Yeah, pretty flimsy. She loves cats, but we don't know if she loves weirdos Like that's what you got to know. Yeah. Hey Adam, did you like this episode? You know, I'm maybe even to get along with most of the time, but I don't like bullies, I don't like friends, and I don't like you. I'm just stupid. I think you reached in there with like an ice pick and popped the balloon of the logic of this episode when you were like, did Barkley leave Troy to go do the break in? Because it's either that original Barkley is an astounding storyteller. Like to think that the entire story happened as it did up until the end. Yeah. If he did not leave her, he kind of depressed

he's her at the end, right? Yeah, he really did. He wanted to be fooled. I'm not in crisis as much as you thought I might be. And if that's the case, Barkley missed his calling. He shouldn't be a scientist anymore. He should be a performer because it's amazing.

Yeah, I mean, the thing I liked the most was the Barkley and Troy, you know, coming back for an episode of TV. That was a delight. I mean, you miss your TNG characters, at least I do. And it must have been a huge thing at this moment in time and Voyager to have them come back in cameo. That's big fun. So yeah, I mean, flaws in the episode, Barkley, not my favorite character, but I don't know, feel good to see them again. And I could see through its flaws in order to appreciate that aspect of it. What about you, Ben? I feel much the same. I think that it's such an interesting choice to select, barkly, to be the person on Earth

that is the most obsessed with getting void or home safely. And I don't think I'm spoiling anything to say that this is a storyline that starts here and will carry through till the end of the series. Oh, interesting. I did not know that. So, Barkley returns. Yeah, Barkley becomes kind of a character that returns to the series from time to time. See, I was going to ask you, like, not knowing that. What I was going to ask was, like, do you think this episode is made better if it turns out that DNA Troy is a holodeck character and it's holodeck inside holodeck? Like, is Star Trek capable in 1999 of making a riddle inside of a mystery, inside of a something else type of episode that

that is that mind bending that ends with an institutionalized, regional barkly, like where where this is utterly a fantasy where where he was not able to recover from his hollow addiction. Because so many parts of this episode made me question whether or not this was real and I don't think the episode intended for that to be the case. Yeah, I think that that's a little too like bleak irony, outer limits, style storytelling. That's black mirror in me, like projecting onto this. But there is something that is deeply sad about the Barclay character being still this beset

by the things that trouble him. You know, he denies up and down that he is relapsing with his hollow addiction. And I think it's pretty clear in this episode that that's not the case. And like, he has a functional addict, but he is still a very sick man. And if I have a core criticism of this episode, it's like, it's a little bit of a betrayal of that Star Trek thing of like, we don't have to suffer chronically from things in a ideal Star Trek future to catch up with this guy years and years after we last saw him on TNG and have him be suffering still.

Suffering the same amount if not more. Yeah. So I think that setting that aside, it's an episode that I really like. And I think that the structure of it is really interesting the way it kind of makes the Voyager crew sort of the the B storyline characters that are supporting an A storyline in this moment. Yeah Certainly not a type of story you can do too often in a series But toward the middle of season six. Yeah, we are got a little weird. Well Adam Do you want to see if anything gets a little weird in the hour?

Priority one inbox today? Oh always does Priority one message from star fleet coming in on secured channel Supplement Supplement yes extra the interest alone could be enough to buy this ship Hey, we got a promotional message on the show today Adam. Alright! Goes like this. Hey FODs, we're John and Jared, two friends who are a little bit embarrassed to own an

RPG company. At Dice Dungeons, we make all kinds of fun stuff like dice, coins, and RPG books. So, if you want to throw a little supplemental income our way, come check out Dice Dungeons' new mutated monsters book for 5e, or our huge line of hollow metal dice. Lastly, thank you, Ben and Adam, for all the bits, and for filling our days with great pod,

you are a continuous source of joy and laughter. So visit dicedungeons.com and use code schizum to get a free mystery dice set with your purchase. And if you're trying to spell schizum, that's SCH, ISM. The website once again is dicedungeons.com. Ben, for your regular Dungeons and Dragons game, do you have personal dice? Do all the players have their own dice?

Well, I have the players in my game have gotten birthday presents from our dungeon master of their own set of dice. And I thought I might get my own set for my birthday this year because our game started, you know, before my last birthday. Uh-huh. Didn't come. No-no gift.

Oh, no. Yeah. So, uh... What I was gonna ask was, like, hollow metal dice... ...seem unusual to me as a role-playing game, Dilletant. I am looking at these beautiful dice on DiceDengins.com. And I have to say, these are unusual in a very cool way. Cool.

I definitely am very tempted by some of these. You know what? Buy yourself a birthday present. Ben, put it on the company card. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I own set of dice now, but I routinely forget to bring them to the game. That's the red sparkly in me. Oh, you got to keep those in the glove box, man. Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, dicedensions.com for some really fantastic-looking RPG gear. That's great.

Yeah, very cool. I'm definitely going to order myself something. There you go. DiceDensions.com. Then our second priority one message is of a personal nature. It's from Mark and it's to Katie. And that message goes like this. Katie, if all works out as planned,

you'd be there just turn 40 or are about to, and we're maybe in England. Whoa. Or maybe just got home. And are maybe about to move our entire lives across the country. Wherever we are, whenever this gets red, I'm happy to be there with you and the boys.

Happy birthday, and I love you, and you're beautiful. Wow. Hey, happy birthday, Katie. Happy birthday, Katie. I think we're actually quite close to the requested date on this one. So good on Mark for, you know, thinking way out ahead of time on Booking this one. It feels like I just opened someone else's birthday card and I read what Mark had written to Katie.

Like it felt very personal. Yeah. And very good, very well written by Mark there. Yeah. Man, that's so exciting It sounds like Mark and Katie are embarking on a big adventure. Yeah moving cross country getting a little vacay in right ahead of it unclear Which across they're going

Like if you were to move from Texas to North Dakota does that count as cross country? I? from Texas to North Dakota, does that count as cross country? I guess so. Can you cross country that way? You cross country up. Yeah, but you're asking. Can you?

I don't know. Don't ask me. I think if you said you were moving cross country and you told your buddies in Texas, that's what you were doing. I don't think they'd like that very much. I think that's for Texans and decotings to work out. That's not really my place.

All right, yeah. That's fair. I'm staying out of it. Our final P1 today is from Guy English. Hey Guy. Hey Guy. And it's to you and me. Goes like this.

Congratulations to the newest addition to the greatest trick family. I thought I'd get a P1 to put some money in the coffers for the care and feeding of the little fella. What a world full of wonder and delight. A beautiful baby nub and bug mold. You can find it forever home with great folks. You're gonna consume your brain with love. Well done, Guy English. A little twist, then they go on that P1. You had me in the first half, Guy English. Yes.

For those who are not picking up what guy is putting down, we recently acquired the master silicone mold of the nub-in-bug from the TNG episode conspiracy. That was something we bought off of a prop maker here in Los Angeles. It wasn't like wildly expensive, but it was a off of a prop maker here in Los Angeles. It wasn't like wildly expensive, but it was a bit of a swing for us. Like a bar tab at Prana Cabana at Star Trek Las Vegas. Yeah, yeah. It was something that like when it came across the Transom, we were just like,

there's no way we like don't get this if we can afford it. So we got it. And we actually have a really cool plan in the works for that. We are working with a prop house in Atlanta, Georgia, on making a digital file that preserves the 3D mold. So because the foam rubber that they mold these things in is, you know, it can decay over time. So we're trying to make sure that there's like an archival level copy of this thing for time in mammalium. So a little financial help from Guy Iglish greatly appreciated.

Yeah, for sure. Thanks a lot, Guy. We'll have more cool stuff to announce about that as we figure it out, because I think this is kind of a cool story and we'll want to keep the friends of DeSoto and the loop figure it out. Because I think this is kind of a cool story and we wanna keep the friends of the Soto and the loop as it develops.

Absolutely, they made it possible to begin with. Yeah. In conclusion, if you would like to get a priority one message, whether it is to promote your awesome Dungeons & Dragons gear or wish your special person a happy birthday, or welcome to coming of a new member to the greatest Trek family. You can do that at maximumfund.org slash jumble.

Hey, Ben. What's that, Adam? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda! Yeah, I think I'm going to give it one Reginald Barclay for this episode. I think that this is just one of those episodes where it's sort of about a drunk Shemota from its premise and it's really hard for me to get around that and find some like weirdo in the background of a shot to point out.

So he looms so large. He really does and that was delighted to see this character and to see Troy again if I have to be specific I'm gonna give it to Reg Barkley for the way he hosts Troy at his apartment Yeah, that's a total mess. That's a great Shimoda. I'm gonna make mine Admiral Paris all right for I'm gonna I'm just gonna say it like I think he does a bit here at the end with his message about Tom Paris, but not to Tom Paris. His boy is sitting right there.

He could speak directly to him. He does not. I don't think you should be doing bits on sons stuck in the Delta Quadrant. I think that's another rule of greatest gen. Wow. I don't think it's right. So this Shimotis for you, Admiral Perros. The great Richard Hurd.

Yeah. One of the all-time that, guys. Absolutely. Artists VP. Oh. All right, Adam. That does it for this episode. We got another episode coming up. And let me tell you what the description is.

It's season six episode 11, Fair Haven. Janeway's holographic love interest becomes more than just a way to pass the time. Sounds like it's not just rich Berkeley flirting with hollow addiction. What an interesting sequence of episodes. Ha, was there something in Berkeley's message about this that maybe we didn't hear?

Yeah, that giant bolless of information about faster than subspace communications. This is Lieutenant Reginald Berkeley. of information about faster than subspace communications. This is Lieutenant Reginald Barkley. Uh, tune your communications to this frequency in order to talk more. And also in the holiday key, you know you can fuck them, right?

You can fuck them. Fuck them anytime. It doesn't have to be a clockwork wood model. It's subtle. I'm headed to the a clockwork wood model. It's subtle. I'm headed to the game of buttholes. The wheel of the caretaker, where our runabout is on square 59. Nice. Looks like ahead we have a space butthole that would take us down to a quirk's bar or a

starship mine that we could potentially hit. That seems to happen to us, doesn't it? Yeah. You're required to learn as you play, roll. I'm gonna go ahead and roll this balance. See what happens. I rolled a two, and I'm too low! Did I win?

Hardly. So we're on Squarespace 61, regular episode next week. All right. Those two squares I mentioned still in play. Uh oh. Yeah. Including one we've never done before. That's a nice shit mine one.

Weird one. Look at that. Alright, well this has been a ton of fun buddy. Really has. Glad you were well enough to do it. It's in many ways restorative for me. For you and me and all the friends of DeSoto out there. We got to thank all of those friends of DeSoto, especially ones who go to go to gomacktimfund.org

slash join and support the show financially. Huge, huge down year for advertising across the podcast industry and that has not affected us too terribly because of your support. You know talking to other people that host podcasts we are hearing a lot of pain out there right now from people who are trying to make it go of this as a living and we are filled with gratitude for the people that make it so that advertisers do not need to be the customers of this thing. Yeah, so whether that's monthly support

at maximumfund.org slash join or come in to see us at a live show or hitting up PodShop.biz, it all really helps us continue this great thing that we all love. We gotta thank Wendy Pretty, our producer, who keeps everything flowing around here, keeps everything working. You know, if we tried to take her off the project, I'm sure she'd break in in the middle of

the night and continue to edit the show and broadcast it just in time. Yeah. She's fucking great. Yeah. We are lucky to get to work with her. And we are also lucky to get to work with Bill Tilly, the Card Daddy, makes our social media hangs. It's fun as they are. I'm lucky to get to work with Adam Ragusia, who makes our original theme music.

Check out Adam Ragusia's show on YouTube and on your podcast app. And with that, we will be back at you next week with another great episode, Star Trek Voyager, an episode of the greatest generation voyager that doesn't want to be friends anymore. Cool! And I just noticed that all of our subscribers from Ireland have unsubscribed. That figures. And they all want to fight us. Yeah. And they're also mad that we're going to London and not Ireland. Make it sound. Make it sound.

Yorupika, kada, kada, kada. Maximum fun. A worker-owned network. Of artist-owned shows. Supported. Directly. By you.