The Greatest Generation - He Had Some Good Ideas Also (ENT Series Wrap)

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

When it’s time to wrap-up coverage of the series no one watched on TV, looking back at the show’s characters reveals an endearing crew and a capable cast. But after realizing that Enterprise might just be Star Trek Voyager with a bad captain, it raises questions like how are T’Pol and Seven the same and how are Phlox and Neelix different. Which character might as well like owls? How is an assignment on the NX-01 like working at Uxbridge-Shimoda? What is a TV show’s Vice President? It’s the episode that got some warm fuzzies. Support the production of The Greatest Generation Get a thing at podshop.biz! Sign up for our mailing list! Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Riker - Quantum Leap The Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde Priddy Social media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill Tilley Music by Adam Ragusea & Dark Materia Friends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | Justice Discuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media: YouTube | Instagram | Bluesky And check out these online communities run by FODs:  Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's to the finest crew in starving. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me. This is a parody. Welcome to the greatest generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys just a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast. I'm Adam Franica. I'm Ben Harrison, and today is a little bit of a format break, which we tend to do after we finish an entire series of Star Trek. A little bit of a shorter series than we have done so far on the show.

Is that why this episode will be 40% of the usual runtime? I mean, that and because Wendy said that she would quit if we didn't take it easy on the long episodes. No, I mean, I was just sitting here thinking about the show, and I really feel it's almost two shows that had two seasons each in a way. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Like, the first two seasons, like, just so distinct from the final two seasons of this show. I feel like in terms of rewatchability, I would totally go back and rewatch the second couple of seasons of this show for its entertainment value. Yeah, they're definitely sure-footed, Even though, like, I think, I get the sense that there was, like, more tumult behind the scenes, like, with who was going to be the showrunner and stuff.

Like, Mani Koto was the showrunner for season four. And I think that's the strongest season to me. He's a guy that brings it in TV, though. Like, he really, like, ratchets up the action. Ratchets up the action and also can both see the forest and the trees in a way that I think is interesting. like this is a much more character-driven show than any of the previous three series. And yet, like, season four really feels like they're writing for end of this indie war toward the foundation of the Federation in a way that's like, oh man, like, I wish there were

three more seasons of this just to see all of the inching toward, it progress and the fallbacks that would be inevitable. I think that's interesting history to make up and explore, you know? Yeah, yeah. I don't know about you, but I think we were in sort of the same position in life when this show came out. Like, I was a Star Trek fan during this time. I've not not been a Star Trek fan throughout my life since I started watching it. But like, I did not watch this show when it was on TV.

I was busy working and going to college and living a life in a way that was very different from the way I consumed TNG or DS9. So Star Trek's reputation was very different when this show came out. And so its reputation also discouraged me from conforming my life around watching this thing on TV. Yeah, because this still took place in the era where you had to, set everything aside for when your show was on. Yeah, exactly. I'm not a TiVo guy. No, never have been.

Yeah. And that was sort of the feeling that I approached the show with, like a little bit of some reservations, quite honestly. And you see it all the time in the fan community. Like, this series, I think, is seen as the other series, you know? like the fourth series, the one that those guys like, you know? Like the different breed of Star Trek fan. Yeah.

And I think that's unfortunate. And my opinion about the series, I mean, it started out as just more curious. Like, is it really going to be what I've heard it's going to be? And it just kept getting better, I thought, as I watched it, until finally by the very end, my feelings for this series are very positive. I really liked getting to know these characters. I think their arcs are really interesting generally, I mean, with a couple of exceptions.

I think that Hoshi and Mayweather were more interesting characters than anybody realized in the writer's room, and they only started to figure that out toward the back half of the last season in my estimation, but like seeing Archer go from kind of a bumbling idiot who feels stupid to us because we've seen a lot of Star Trek captains who have a lot of reps meeting a new kind of alien. It's part of the job and they went to school and learned about what that's like. He feels so unpolished and like he has like bad instincts at the beginning of

this series, that made it hard for us to really connect with him. I mean, you and I were kind of anti-archers. And, you know, I don't know if I ever like completely come around on him. Yeah. But seeing a character stuck with tons of awful decisions that I would never want to make myself, start to come around and get better at it and build his own confidence and and build the trust of his crew was such a different. journey than we've ever gotten in Star Trek. I wonder to what degree the pitch for this show went something like. It's all of the we're outgunned against species with technology and greater intelligence

that we experienced in Voyager, but with a worst captain. Like it's Star Trek Voyager with a bad captain. It was sort of the vibe I got throughout. It really does feel like that sometimes. And I just mean bad as in like mistake prone and kind of like Janeway had to think on her feet a lot and I think a lot of her decisions were correct for the information that she had. I mean, Archer had zero information most of the time. He had zero information and made bad choices even when he had lots of information. Yeah. But that was kind of like what was interesting about him.

Like, what would it be like to be on a ship where the captain, like, very publicly fucked up a good amount? And yet there was not really ever a whiff of mutiny in the way that, like, I mean, there was whiffs of it on Voyager. Sure. For the Mayquiz crew people being aboard, you know? You really didn't get that kind of unsettled feeling on this ship. You didn't. And that is like benefit of the doubt. I don't know what I would have done if I had had to decide.

Probably there should have been mutiny on Voyager after what she did to Tuvix, right? Doesn't anyone see that this is wrong? Sure. There should have been more moments where they were like, I think Janeway called that one bad and we should get her out of here. I mean, I'm on Janeway's side, I think. I really go back and forth. I'm the cob of that moment.

Sure, right. You're following the letter of the law, if not the spirit. You mentioned how the series was so focused on a few characters to the exclusion of the others. I wonder if you were to broaden the backstories of these characters more and create a show where Hoshi and Tripp and Travis and Reed were like more developed. like if Mayweather actually got more than a couple of episodes of note, if the potential for those mutinous vibes would be more present, you know, just by virtue of having more opinions about things. You really only ever have Archer's interactions with DePaul or Malcolm,

and both of those people to have conflicts with are often like done in private, like not done on the bridge and out in front of people. I know there are examples of that, but most of the time it's like dinner table stuff. Yeah. They did kind of get away from the dinner table toward the back half, too. Like that was a set that we came back to all the time. Like the captain's mess was like a big element of this show that felt new and different. And eventually they were like, no, we're not doing that anymore.

You were talking about certain characters having arcs and superiors. certain characters not having those. I was sort of thinking about things in terms of like whose character stock went up as the series went on, whose went down as the series went on and who whose was unchanged. Who would you describe as fitting into those categories? Thinking about that last episode and how every time it has ever brought up the idea that Hoshi would leave the ship, she is just going back to Brazil. She was just going to like reenter her life exactly where she stepped out of it. I mean, to use a recent reference, this is like how she likes owls. Like it's the only thing about her. I mean, she's easy to buy a gift for, but... Right. Yeah. It's, I think,

emblematic of the kind of tragedy of that character that Linda Park is a fucking great actor and could do a ton of shit. And they just like... like didn't, you know, in the choose your weapon parlance, like they never chose that weapon until the very end. I wonder if that's kind of scary as a writer or a writing team or a creative team to go like, this is all we have planned for the character of Hoshi or Mayweather. Like, there are folks on the bridge that we shoot reaction shots from,

and that's going to be their thing. And boy, wouldn't it be lucky if we had good actors playing those characters? But once you're down the road of making a series and you realize what you've got, I wonder if that's just more difficult to suddenly be confronted with like, I guess we should do something with these great ingredients. But having not really planned on doing that at all. I know that it's got to be scary because of all of the evidence we have in Newtrek. Everything that's been in the Paramount Plus era has,

aside from Strange New Worlds has really hesitated to introduce us to any of the bridge crew because those people need to be hot swappable and who cares about anything that's going on with them. But like Linda Park and Anthony Montgomery are in the fucking opening credits.

Yeah. It's just got to have been kind of maddening for them to go back to work weekend, week out, and barely get, anything. Yeah, like when you're in the printed materials, like when you're on the cover of TV guide and you're the entire crew, the expectation is that's like, you're going to be the data and the wharf of this show. Like, you're not going to be the main characters,

but like, you're going to have arcs. There's going to be stuff. And what a bummer that instead you were given episodes. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen Linda Park and other stuff. I have not seen Anthony Montgomery and anything else that I can remember. Interestingly, I think this is an example of two characters whose stock went up. Yeah. Like, toward the end, the storylines that Hoshi and Mayweather got, like, I think Mayweather to a lesser extent. Like, his relationship with a reporter is like a whatever, but it's like a big part

of a couple of episodes. But those scenes with her were so compelling, you know? Like the hurt behind his eyes whenever he talked to her. that's not easy to do, you know? And it proved to me that Anthony Montgomery can do the fucking job, you know, give him some stuff. And he will make an interesting performance out of it. I think going the other way is probably Reed, who started out as like the third character on this show for a long, long time. Yeah.

And then became less and less present in the A story. He just became a button pusher at the end. guy cautioning the captain or the crew about a situation they were about to get into. Like, we opened with his backstory, but never really touched on it later. It's so interesting how the militia of this show is so much more present in the second era of it, the last two seasons. And yet, that reduces Reed's role rather than increases it somehow. It's so coincidental that, like, his character actually gave voice to this.

Like, he did not want to be sidelined as the security instrument of the ship, and he saw it coming. It didn't actually happen. Why did they never resolve the, we're going to call it red alert thing? Are you saying, like, just because they teased calling it read alert, then they never referred to it again? I guess they call it tactical alert in the show. But, like, I feel like it, just get there, you know. One character whose stock, I think, started pretty high and went higher was to Paul. She was the second most important character on this show for a very long time.

And her interest was primarily to be the Vulcan representative of their interests on the show. And as time went on, just became far more interesting as a representative of her own interests. Maybe some of this is like human flatter. like the idea that, you know, we really rubbed off onto Paul and she got she got a lot better the more she softened to the human way of doing things. But I don't think that's entirely it. Like she really maintains an integrity as a character, which it really rhymes in my mind with the 7 of 9 character who's also there to be, you know, in a cat suit and to like

could be something for the male gaze, but like kind of refuses to conform to that and makes a very compelling case for themselves as an interesting person, almost in spite of all of the male gaze intention that the show has for them. It's such a magic trick for like these actors to be put into the Berman and Braga box, like almost sarcastically, like put into the cat suit and time and time again they just rise above that in a way that like i completely understand because like as a good-looking person it's not just how i look it's like how talented i am at other things and you're fucking beautiful adam i know i know i don't say it often enough i know i say it to every day before we start recording this show the thing is ben you're saying it too much because

you're not seeing past the beauty well it's so overpowering it's like kind of all i can focus on. Does that speak well of Berman and Bragher? Like, we've dogged on them a lot, and I think deservedly. But, like, they did let Seven of Nine and Topal be interesting three-dimensional characters if sort of seeming like their intention for the three-dimensionality was to see how big their boobs were. Look, I am never going to be the person.

who discourages someone from casting for attractiveness, attractive people are great to look at. They're great on TV and movies. That's kind of the point of a visual medium, you know? Like, that's not what this is about at all. Sure. But there's a way that they are costumed and stuff that is like, come on. I mean, those mirror universe episodes were wild. They really were.

Yeah. One character who started off as not my favorite, but then maybe ended up as possibly my favorite, was Tripp Tucker. Like, his country shit kickerness early on, I found a little bit grating that he was the captain's favorite. I personally felt like a little grossed out by like, man, that sucks. Like, imagine working on a crew where like two best friends are just running the show. Like, what opportunities for advancement could there be for me? But, like, Trip really won me over. With apologies to everybody that works at Uxbridge, Shimoda. Two best friends running the show.

Oh, I mean, very different situation, Ben. Yeah, they're not stuck on a ship with us. They can leave it any time. Oh, also, best friends really overstating it. The thing about Tripp is, like, he did that thing that I think a lot of favorite characters in my life do is they fuck up kind of a lot. And on the other side of those fuckups, like dust themselves off and like don't wallow in it. And instead are like, wow, these arm nipples kind of suck. You're never going to let that go, are you?

Oh, well, on the next planet. Like, there's something beautiful about that kind of personality. and like that he was attracted to the most impossible person to get into a relationship with, somehow made that weird relationship work, had a traumatic moment with her, and was killed in the series. Yeah.

In a way that made me like him, maybe best of all, Trip Tucker as a character, I was not expecting to develop a love for a character as strongly as I felt for that one watching Enterprise. Self-inflicted explosion wounds to save the captain. Yeah. We've seen lots of characters get explosion wounds, but self-inflicted to save your best friend is fucking sick. He also my favorite impression on the show.

Like, not a ton of impressions on Enterprise. I feel like your Dr. Flax is really good. My TripTucker, I really leaned on a lot, which is just basically, I'm sure everyone has heard it, just a really shitty George W. Bush impression. But no less fun. Yeah, he's a character that I definitely warmed on more and more. Yeah.

Flax, I feel like maybe just felt great, felt cozy to be around at the beginning and all the way through. Yeah. The episodes that I liked the least had the least to do with flocks a lot of the time, I think. It's one of the elements that heard so much about the finale to this show was how little there was of one of my favorites. He gets like a little bit of exposition in the medical scene about Tripp and a little bit of cheerleading in the scene in the green room. And not much more. And he has so much heart.

like he's such a great contrast to to Paul in that they can both tell this crew a lot about what it is like to be involved in the galactic conversation in a way that none of the humans know shit about with the exception maybe of Mayweather but he brings so much empathy to every one of those moments where he's like counseling or explaining what a special character i love dr flocks like i love all his fucking weird little I want to know what happened to all of them when the ship went into mothballs. When I think about him in relation to the other doctors that we've known on Star Trek, that's bones. His is the most caregiving personality. You know, I feel like, like Crusher and Pulaski and bones and, you know, all the rest, they really are scientist first in so many ways. And that's not to diminish them any ways that they are like good at the bedside or whatever. But like there's so much about flocks and being a denobulin and that that culture has so much to, so much love to give that they have all these wives and these giant families.

And that's not a burden at all because they they have enough love for all of those people. And it's not weird and bad. Like that was such a beautiful type of person to inhabit this role. And just exactly the sort of personality you want. on a ship full of, you know, like hardcore scientists, linguists, and military folks, who are very in their own head about the many dangers all around them. They can't really take a moment to care about anyone else the way Dr. Flax does. I want my doctors to have this bearing.

Like my primary care physician and my psychiatrist are both kind of like this. They, like, relate directly to me as, like, a normal person. they're they're both in plural marriages you know love is an infinite resource time is not yeah so i spent a lot of time in the old waiter room waiting room arunio uh then that'll just be five more minutes but i'm starting to encounter this as like like in the last couple of years like we got good health insurance sort of for the first time in my life. And I'm seeing like doctors that I can actually choose. And a lot of them are like my age. Like they have like similar cultural bearings to me in a way that like grown up doctors never really did. It was just this like wisdom

of the elder being like told and done to you. And like flocks never felt like that. He felt like he had like personal and close relationships with all of his patients that is very unique in Star Trek Bashir got close to people like that was a doctor character who developed like very strong friendships and relationships to folks but like never in the context of doctoring them right and Dr. Mark also was was like sort of at a distance in a very specific way yeah there is always the outsider character in Star Trek. There's Spock in the original series. There's Data.

I don't know. I guess O'Brien. And then, no, it's Odo. And then Dr. Mark, I kind of feel like... Whip Pan over to O'Brien and look on his face. Like, what? Is that for me?

I am Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. This is fucking spectacular. Fox is sort of that in this, but he's sort of not, you know? it's because he's never uncomfortable like he may be the other but like he at no point acts that way he's never a fish out of water it flips the dynamic on its head

where ever like it's like I'm not a fish out of water you're all fish out of water in here with me I mean I might argue that Reed is is the other in this crew I mean even maybe more than to Paul especially

with the way he gives voice to those feelings like the only doing it because his parents encouraged him to and not really having a long-term relationship and always being alone and just being awkward every single moment. I need something to do on this ship. Come on. Fair enough. To Paul, obviously, is like the literal other species on the ship, but socially, I feel like Reed might even be more so. The connection that he winds up building with Trip Tucker feels really spruly. special because it's kind of the only strong friendship re-develops at all.

And Tripp seems like a person, you know, like, I think we all knew that person in high school or like in the workplace who like was friends with everyone. There was no one that they wouldn't sit with in the lunchroom. Yeah, Tripp can sit at any table. Yeah. Totally. And it never feels craven or like ladder-climy or like manipulative. He's just naturally that guy.

Like, Trip can sit with anyone in the lunchroom and can go into the teacher's lounge and hang out in there in a way. Yeah. Yeah, and there he's calling him by their first names. Yeah, wild. Legally, it's just a fart joke. You will never take the greatest shit alive or die. Does this series finale we just have the power to change how you feel? about the entire show that came before,

because, like, we were just talking about these characters that we've developed feelings about without using what happened in the finale in any way toward forming those opinions. And I think by asking the question that way, I'm sort of giving you my answer. Like, I kind of feel like it does not have an effect the way I believe it does.

Like, many TV show finalees ruin the shows that came before. Like, there are examples of this, And I think Star Trek fans might argue that this one is a really bad finale, but I don't think it's catastrophic for the series that came before. Let's talk about like the controversial finale. Like the cut to black and Sopranos is a famous controversial finale. Some people felt like it really worked and some people felt totally jilted that we don't get a definitive answer about what happened to Tony. and his family. And then like the Seinfeld finale,

like in retrospect, I think has like maybe grown in people's esteem, but in the way that it sort of made the subtext of the show text and kind of rubbed everyone's face in it, felt really shitty at the time. Yeah. And I can kind of put myself in the seat of a viewer who, unlike us, made time for this show week and week out, set aside whatever else they would have been doing

on Wednesday night and watched Star Trek Enterprise on UPN and then got to this and it was like, why is this about this other show? Like, I like that show, but that's not the show I'm watching. Yeah. I can totally fucking jive with that being a shitty feeling in that moment. I think all good things cast

such a long shadow over the entire franchise. And television in general. It is like one of the all-time great landings of a plane. I think if the finale of Star Trek The Next Generation was Jim Kirk watching, like in a weird like reversal of the story we got here. I know that doesn't make any sense. It's like a sci-fi TV show that he watches. That's what I'm saying.

Like there's no way to do it. the way, like, because of the differences in time, like, in quite that way. But, like, my point is, like, make the perspective being an outsider in this universe looking in on it as being the sort of cop-out that many people who just like the finale describe it as. Like, if maybe all good things didn't exist, does that raise all other boats in terms of Star Trek finalies? I think it would have to. Yeah. What you're saying also kind of puts me in mind of the Terra Prime arc,

which is kind of unusual in the second version of Star Trek Enterprise that we're talking about. Like, the Zindi arc is one entire season plus some Nazi shit at the beginning of the next season. Right. But then there's like a bunch of little arcs in season four. And Terra Prime is one of the few. little arcs that is only two episodes. And that feels like, in many ways, a show talking about the end, you know, like talking about the thing that they would have been writing toward over the next three seasons if the show

hadn't been canceled. Yeah. But I think that would have also felt kind of bad because it's so much about Peter Weller and like the dark, horrible side of humanity. The side of humanity that Star Trek is so refreshing because we look away from it so often and toward the part of ourselves that we aspire to be the most like. The energy and themes of like,

especially the second half of the final season, being what they are, did have me craving a fifth season. Yeah. Even if it is a post-decommissioning of the ship season, I really developed an affection for these characters. Man, that's such an interesting idea, like a For All Mankind style, the next season is like 30 years later kind of energy. I love that show, by the way.

For all of its incredible makeup work, in spite of that. Oh, man, I got to get back into it. I watched like season one and half of season two, and it got too spacey for my wife, and she was like, I don't want to watch this anymore. I can't get her to watch any. any of my spacey shit. I watched the first episode of Pluribus with her last night, and she turned to me after it was over and said, I hate the way that made me feel. And I'm kind of mad that you put that on. I was like, I didn't know what it was going to be about. You guys need to just watch TV in two separate rooms. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to play Dungeons and Dragons tonight, and she's going to watch that Kennedy family show.

There you go. Yeah, you just have different TV tastes. and that's fine. That's fine. We just need two TiVos. Not that we're TiVo people. Here's a related question I had to the whole finale affecting how people feel about the show that came before.

Does a show's theme song have the power to affect how folks feel about a show? Both generally, like to those folks that don't really know much about Star Trek and don't really watch it fanatically and those that do.

because I feel like if you take that theme song out of the show completely it is a better show it just is and it shouldn't be like that Star Trek has had such great music choices

all along like I remember getting chills the first time I heard the theme song to Deep Space 9 when it was like this is the new Star Trek show and it's starting right after this episode of Star Trek the next generation

I was like, fuck, they did it. Like, they made something that is as big a banger. It's one of those creative decisions that can rarely improve your show and make it great. But, like, the risk of making it worse is so much greater. It's like picking a vice president. Yeah, it is exactly. A TV show's theme song is its vice president. It's first in line of succession.

You need that song to be good. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's unfortunate that I think it probably cooled a lot of interesting creative ideas that came after in TV shows in general. That's such an interesting point because like when that's your theme song and like they felt like it was a weird risk and a crazy choice when they made it to like, you know, like what they have talked about in. in public since then is that like they were like is this good i mean like it seems like not necessarily the right call which is no slight on diane warren like she fucking rules but yeah to think about like the butterfly effect of that's our theme song and we're sitting here trying to break episodes that has got to

affect your mindset and it's got to be such a bummer to launch a show and all people are talking about is the fucking song. Like, would you shut up about the song for a second and talk about the show? And then they changed it, but made it more yacht rock for the dark season about the Zindy War. Like, they're like writing the script of like, okay, there's going to be like a laser beam that gives Prince Albert to Florida. We should probably yacht rock up the theme song, too, as long as we're kind of like, changing the way the show goes, making it a big, like, serialized event.

I mean, it's interesting how the In a Mirror Darkly two-parter used different music there. And sure, it was like a military fanfare or whatever. Yeah. But even that was such a nice tone set for what was happening. I mean, we both said it when we started. Neither of us had seen the series before we did it for the show. So I didn't know it was coming.

I mean, we had heard about the Mirror Universe episodes and how fun they were, but yeah, I didn't know what I didn't know. If we change the words, then it's fair use all day long. We got very charactery in talking about the show in retrospect. What are the moments that stick out to you? Favorite episodes or moments from Star Trek Enterprise? I was thinking about the episode where TripTucker goes over to that ship and gets pregnant and how weird interacting with aliens felt in that. Yeah.

It was a kind of medium episode, but I think one thing that it really succeeded at was making it feel like a profoundly strange risk that Tripp was taking, like going and sitting in the like compression chamber to like get used to their atmosphere and then going over there. The sets as I remember them were almost TOS era janky cardboard, but like a crazy new idea about how to build a set that isn't that expensive to build in a way that like was like yeah it would be super weird and alien and like and the consequences would be totally surprised. surprising and strange. And I really like that. That was a good moment for Tripp too because he didn't freak out. Like there's a little bit of a freak out when you talk to the doctor about a medical condition.

Yeah. Just how many of these am I going to grow? But like, that's the goal, right? You can only control how you react to situations. And if you can just chill the fuck out about those things to the extent that you can, like... Are you talking about Tripp or are you talking about me at this point? Well, I was going to talk about. about me, like, hearing you describe

Tripp's arm nipples and, like, how that all went down. Like, I went to an outdoor restaurant with my wife and a bunch of friends not that long ago, and a bird just fucking shit on my head. Mazel tov. And I didn't freak out.

It was like, oh, man, that sucks. And, like, I got a napkin and a glass of water, and I, like, dealt with it, and it was fine. Like, it wasn't a big deal. And, After dinner, my wife was like, I'm really, like, impressed you didn't freak out because I probably would have freaked out. That sucks. And in that moment, I was like, what are you going to do? What are you going to do when you have arm nipples? Like, what could you possibly do? You may very well be putting those nipples to work before you know it. You just have to deal with it and go on with dinner. Trip with squad goals for that. Totally. I really liked the DePaul's mom and. radical changes in the Vulcan society arc a lot.

I think that the politics of an alien planet can be some of Star Trek's highest highs and some of its lowest lows. And the texture of that was so interesting and so cool. It makes me think about Vulcans in such a different way. And it makes me think about the Vulcans as they were at the beginning of the series in a different way. Like they, like,

those are not Spock Vulcans. Those are, those are a different kind of Vulcan that have like a whole different worldview and agenda. And this sort of like, quiet, peaceful revolution took place when they had that, that arc.

And I don't think that they knew that when they started writing this show. But I think that it was like a really brilliant thing to hit on to like, what, how big of assholes these guys are, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And I loved that whole sequence. And the fact that it is both very plotty and very world-buildy,

but also, like, deeply personal for Topal and forcing her as a character to kind of confront her priors and reevaluate them, I'd grow from that felt like some of the high. highest highs of this show. Yeah, absolutely. I can't believe it's taking us this long to talk about Schran, but I have to. Got to. Like, we've encountered Andorians off and on before, like, in New Star Trek and a little bit of TOS. Didn't really have an opinion on them, but, like, I feel like Shran is the first one of those that I got to know. And he really, like, level set the rest of them for me forever. Like, he's so interesting he has so much

personal stake in every interaction he has he's emblematic of that quality you described where like well-written characters always think that the star of the scene that they're in Tran is that utterly in every moment and not in a steal from the other actors

on the show kind of way like he he mixes well while still being the outlier I think Jeffrey Combs is just so good in everything he does for Star Trek. I really wonder why him being the star of a series never happened at any point. Because he could carry. He carried long, long arcs on Star Trek for many different series. He and John Delancey are kind of the like, what Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are to S&L,

they sort of are to Star Trek. Like, they are our beloved return appearance. You know, by saying that, what you're describing is the best job on the show. Sort of. It's like all of the fun, all of the chewy work, but none of the responsibility that comes with being the face of the show. It's like that bit that Patton Oswald had meeting Brian Dennyhy in like the buffet line. He was like struck by how Brian Dennyhy had this real don't not give a shit attitude. about eating and drinking.

And he's like, character actors, who gives a shit? You know? Like, he knows his greatness in a way that, I mean, you got to believe Jeffrey Combs knows his. In saying that, it makes me wonder why there is such an enthusiasm in Star Trek to bring back Jeffrey Combs and such a reticence to bring back Delancey in a different role. Because I think that Delancey can do a lot, having seen him in other. things and it would have been fun for us to see him in some funny loaf along the way. Bring back Combs for New Trek, man.

Like, what are we doing here? I am Agamus, and I think you and I could do awful things together. The fan appetite for Jeffrey Combs, I feel like, is there. And there is nothing he could do on screen that I think would be disappointing to anyone. I think he's got that kind of blank check. He really does. Oh, that's very kind of you to say, sir. The thing that stands out most to me about Star Trek Enterprise is that it is the series that surprises me the most.

It's a pitch that I think I instinctively rejected. I don't want to go back to before. I want to keep going into the future. Yeah. And, like, I love the, like, competence porn of the next generation. like we are fucking good at this and even when the decision is really hard we know we are like confident in the like moral bearing that we bring to every decision enough that we'll make the right one and like this show doesn't have any of that energy and that's one of the things that drew me to

Star Trek in the first place and yet I think that the characters being a little bit more proximate to us and a little bit more relatable because of that, you know, like, like people in TNG are, are not like humans living today, you know, like they don't want for anything, like every risk that they've ever been subjected to is one that they took on intentionally and wasn't visited upon them without their consent. Like, it is such a different show from TNG. but I really enjoyed getting to like know these characters and I think by and large the episodes were really good there were some stinkers in there but fewer than average

I would say and overall like a show that I will think about very fondly as we move on as a podcast. Yeah I think I agree with you that like the the distance between the floor and the ceiling on this show was fairly narrow Yeah. And I think this series achieved a lot of good things during its short run. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would,

and I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to see it and do it the greatest-gen way. Totally. As we have, because it was deserving of this treatment. It really was. Because it's real Star Trek. I can't pay. Could for late. Got no case.

Tempting fate. Well, Adam, with that said, Do you want to see if there are any priority one messages in our inbox? Only if they're real, Ben. I think they're real. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on secure channel. You need a supplemental income. Supplement.

Supplement. Yeah, it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. Ben, we've got a promotional priority one message here. Okay. And it comes with instructions. The first part to be read by you as Mark Twain And then the last section to be read as me is Kevin

So here's the script This is from This is from Derek Smith A Happy Birthday Message as read by Mark Twain Your Mark Twain specifically And my Kevin Uxbridge here we go In this what I am sure will be true The first of the

Greatest Generations Baywatch podcast. I got a little Pekosby there for a second. You did, yeah. Since anything else would be sheer madness, we say a goodbye to Enterprise and hello to Sandy Shores and salty women. In case the friends of our dear Captain DeSoto have chosen the insanity of restarting

with the greatest of gentlemen, generations, the next generation, to that I say. Fuck! Ah! Ben. Go give it to you. Ben. Genocide on all your hosiers.

Genocide for you. Genocide for your cow. And happy birthday to me. Wow. Derek Smith called their shot on that episode. Asked for the 30th of March, got the 30th of March. Nicely done. Wow. What a message. Sorry we won't have you with us for ensuing episodes, Derek. Oh, I think they're going to stick around. And our next priority one message is of a personal nature. It's from Defested. to Ben and Adam and all FODs everywhere.

It's been a long road getting from there to hear. Over 10 years of this Dick and Fart podcast, brightening all our days. 10 years ago, did you ever think you'd basically run out of track? Thank you from all FODs everywhere. Thank you, DeFested. A example of like an FOD who we have come to know in real life, who is truly like someone who represents the best of why we do this show.

Defested is great. And no, I didn't ever think we'd run out of Star Trek. I think I had it in the back of my mind that in a sick way, we would go back to the beginning and just do it all over again. Sure. Forever. I mean, you know, New Trek came about post the beginning of this show. So that was a pleasant surprise and an interesting challenge.

for us because it's not like talking about those shows is very different from talking about old shows that we've seen a million times in love. But yeah, like this is going to sound maybe like a little too sappy. Devested is like a lot of the Friends of DeSoto in that as Star Trek fans and as people, they are like the bright side of humanity. They are not the darkness. They're the light. Like it is so refreshing to be in a room full of FOTs because it's just like,

it's just like, there are no monsters in here. You know, like more and more, everywhere you go, it feels like there could be monsters in here. And getting to know so many FODs over the course of this project has been one of the sincere pleasures of it. As someone who is watched from up close, defested dump an entire bucket of ice down the front of his swim shorts at Prana Cabana. I'm here to tell you that there is some monstrousness to some FODs. Yeah, multiple times, multiple years in a row.

It's kind of a tradition at this point. Hey, thank you, Defested, and all the rest of the FODs for hanging with us all these 10 years. And in the 10 years ahead, Ben, finally, we have a personal priority one message from Giles. And it is to you and me. Here's how that goes. Thanks for the pods on Enterprise. I never saw this series before. And listening along with you is, as always, been a fun experience.

Lately, the show has been extra uplifting for myself and hopefully the rest of the FODs, here in the Twin Cities during some stressful times. Thanks again. And shout out to Wendy for her great work on the show too. Hey, sending tons of love to the Twin Cities and to you, Giles. Thanks for listening. Thanks for... Enduring what you're enduring.

Feels good to do a thing that can lift some spirits. Yeah. Wherever those spirits need lifting. So that's why we're continuing on. We have to. We have no choice. You can help make sure that's possible by going to greatest trek.com and clicking a link there to support our shows.

That's how you keep them going. That's what you keep us going. And we really appreciate it. Hey, Adam. What? Did you find yourself? a drunk Shimoda for the whole series? Incredible.

Drunk Shimoda! I was afraid you were going to ask me this. I have often said on this show that in any episode that Schran is in, it's Shran until it's not. Yeah. Just talking about Shran with you filled me with all those warm feelings. I have for Shran. Yeah. What are the great characters in Trek?

I mean, fuck, man. It can't not be Shran. I'm going to make it Shran. Yeah. He did it. Sure, he tortured Sval in a couple of episodes that didn't feel great. But man, yeah, like that was bad, but also he did good things. He had some good ideas also.

I've enjoyed many of Woody Allen's films. And boy, oh boy. What a public speaker. I think I'm going to give mine to the doctor. Yeah, good one. Same deal. Like the warm fuzzies I got just talking about that character and what he meant to this show and what he continues to me to Star Trek fans everywhere.

Yeah. What a hoot. Like, kind of seemed like he would be the Nelix of the show. be annoying. And he just, which is not to say that I didn't like Neelix ultimately, but like, Neelix was pitched as like a sort of abrasive presence. And it sort of felt like what they were setting flocks up for. And he was so much more than that. I mean, props to John Billingsley for seeing that and dodging it and making his character distinct in some very crucial ways to prevent that from happening. Totally. I mean, three age appropriate wives.

we'll do that. Faith of the fart. And that'll do it for our series wrap up. We so appreciate all of you for listening, especially the folks who go to greatesttrecht.com to support the show. We've got to thank Wendy Pritty, our producer and editor. Got to thank Bill Tilly, the card daddy,

who probably doesn't have any material to make trading cards out of this episode, but you should go check out his trading cards at the At Greatest Trek social media accounts. Absolutely. All different social medias exist now than did when we started this. That's true. We had no idea 10 years ago.

Speaking of, thanks to our social media director, Rob Adler, who also edits The Greatest newsletter, which I sure hope you'll sign up for, also at greatesttrecht.com. Yeah, we got to keep in touch. Listen, you got to sign up for the newsletter so we can tell you what's going on with the shows. And that is the main way that we can do it. We're not going to bug you with a bunch of shit every month. No. We give one nice newsletter a month, and if we go on a tour or something, we'll let you know about that.

But otherwise, we don't bother you. Yeah. Hey, and we got to thank Adam Ragusea, who has been the music director here at Uxbridge Shimoda for Time Him and Miriam, and has been another one of the people that we've gotten to know in the course of doing this show, who just makes me feel optimistic when I am in his presence. Absolutely. He has such a fucking galaxy brain. We're very lucky to get to do the show Holsom over on Patreon with him.

You can go to patreon.com slash wholesome underscore pod. Listen to that. It's a wide-ranging premise where we talk about all kinds of shit. We talk about movies. We talk about feelings. I threatened to leave the show, I think, the last time we recorded. Anything can happen. That threat's still on the table.

So listen to that show while I'm still on it. It's really exciting. Like, do not miss season two of Halsam, man. Got to thank Dark Materia for over 10 years ago, receiving an email from us, asking, hey, we started a podcast and accidentally used your music. Is that cool? I'm saying, yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, Dark Materia is a real one for that, and we'll never forget them. With that, we'll be back at shit next week with a pretty special thing. We're going to share an interview that Sirius Baravar did with us. You may remember Sirius for penning an article about our show

when we were about five episodes in, or like, we were probably three episodes in when he decided to make an article about our show and released it when we were five episodes in and kind of changed our lives forever. He recently did a 10-year retrospective on that article for Ars Technica, and we have recorded the conversation we had with him,

and so we're going to share that in the main feed next week. Episode recaps will be soon. We're just going to take a beat to reset the show, and then we'll be right back with Star Trek The Next Generation. You're going to love it. So stick with us, okay? We feel so lucky to have been with you all of these years painting from one side of the Golden Gate Bridge to the other,

and now we're going to go back and start over it. And I hope you'll join us. Yeah, don't go anywhere. You're going to love it. I can show. Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network of artists-owned shows.

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