The Greatest Generation - Kool-Aid Jacuzzi (S3E23)

Episode Date: September 26, 2016

When a legendary Vulcan diplomat starts acting strangely ahead of an important conference, the Enterprise crew chalks it up to old age. But when his brand of mental disability becomes contagious, glass tables around the ship aren't the only thing in jeopardy. Can we workshop a worse throw-to-title scene? Is this episode "canonical Ghostbusters 2"? What happens to a kid at a bar fight? It's the episode where we learn, "Never mind-meld with your heroes."

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 friendsofdisotoforlabor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage! You're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God of the universe, you're the God Sticking the YAR in there. Yeah, getting a little bit more formal. I don't want to get confused with the other guy. Yeah. I want to be Googleable, you know.

My last name is so polishly unique that I have no need for the middle. Try living in my neighborhood, buddy. So I was on Facebook a while ago and I don't know, like I'll vanity Google my name sometime to see like where it's coming up, where it's showing up in places. And I found another Adam Pranaka on Facebook. What's Kick-as-Ass? And he's some Polish kid like straight from Poland. Yeah.

So I sent him a message and I was like, hey, great name you got there. The Assume if anything happened to it. For example, it became associated strongly with a Star Trek podcast. Yeah, I just wanted to get out ahead of it, like look buddy, you don't know how bad it's going to get for you in about, in like two months, so buckle up. And I don't know how Facebook works when you're going cross country with it. Right, oh, you'd like crossing an international boundary? No response.

Yeah, and this has happened before. Like when I was in Spain, I met some new people and we were like, yeah, let's become Facebook friends. Couldn't find them on Facebook, even though, like at the time I knew them to exist. So I don't know Facebook friends. Couldn't find them on Facebook, even though, like, at the time, I knew them to exist. So I don't know if this message got through to this other Adam Pranica or what, but I tried.

I hope he got enough of a warning because he's young enough to be, like, high school aged maybe. Oh, this could really damage his career. I mean, he could still be in the locker, Ben. Yeah. Oof. Sorry, Ben.

I think that's all I have for an open. Well, why don't we talk about a... An episode of Star Trek in that case. Alright, let's do it. This is becoming a speech. You're the captain, sir. You're entitled. I'm entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows. Alright, let's do it. This is becoming a speech. You're the captain, so very entitled.

I'm typing a ramble on about something everyone knows. This is season three, episode 23, Siric. Oh! Oh, I need one of those. There we go. Someone was telling us recently that they thought our card opening bit was like an ASMR thing. Yeah. Thought that was an interesting theory. I didn't ever think to associate it with that, but that is certainly my new favorite theory about why people like it.

I just always hoped that it was our voices that was giving people the most pleasure. Yeah, not so. It's the crinkling packaging. Bubble popped. Well, this episode starts with Enterprise pulling up to a nice parallel parking space right on the doorstep of Planet Vulcan and Picard and Riker and their Sunday best heading down to the transporter room to meet Spock's daddy. And this is gonna be a diplomatic Uber mission where they're gonna take CERIC to meet a race called the Ligerans.

The Ligerans of the planet Chrysler. I was gonna say Planet MacGuffin, but I like your joke better. Yeah, so CERIC, Spock's daddy is a character from the original series and he's an ambassador. And the conversation between Picard and Riker on the way down is about like, holy fucking shit. It's like meeting a founding father, you know. Like this guy is a baller, like major baller status for 200 years running. He's been at like every historical event in the history of the Federation. He was, you know, instrumental informing the Federation. They like, they have a laundry

list of things that they admire about him. He is capital O capital G. Yeah. And cash does not rule everything around him because cream does not get the money dollar dollar bill y'all in the United Federation of Planets. Post-cash society at him. Right. It's all scarred. Which also means it's a post-cash money society which makes me sad. Yeah, baby is out on the streets. It's really sad. It's post-scarcity except for sad, like, you know, it's post-scarcity, except for baby is like, well, what about my post-scarcity? I used to have a record label. Now I don't have shit.

Nothing but these scary face tattoos. And maybe kissing little Wayne on the mouth. So Picard and Riker go into the transport room and they're like, Giddy, like, yes. Can't wait to meet this guy. And O'Brien swipes his hand over the transporter console. Swipes right. On to the pad beams like two of his helpers. Yeah. And not the guy.

This is a bit of a, a disappoint. It's a very skinny Vulcan and I, is the older guy, is he supposed to be a Vulcan or is he supposed to be a human who's like in Vulcan drag? Man, the entire episode I was trying to get a look at his ears. Yeah. And never saw the tips. So he didn't really have a Vulcan name and he definitely emoted. He didn't have vulcany shoulder pads. Yeah, he emoted a lot more. Yeah. And he didn't have the bangs.

So I just figured he was one of his values. But really impurious, dude. And he basically shows up to Big Dog Picard preemptively. Yeah. He's like, look, Syrix, an old man, man, and I don't know what you were planning on as far as a bunch of diplomatic events and partying and what have you. Yeah, this isn't Max Funcon, dude. Yeah, like if you're planning a bunch of shit, he basically just wants to be left alone

and he wants to go to bed early as any 200 year old man would. Yeah, this is more of a greatest Jyncon type of situation. Right, right. No, that's not true. For use in place. Grace Jyncon is going to have huge parties. It's going to be great. It's going real late.

Yeah, and so they are a little bit surprised, but they agree to these terms. They're like, yeah, fine. Like, you know, like he's the boss. We will do whatever he wants to do. I mean, we had a concert planned, but it's not a big deal if he doesn't come. Yeah. And so they throw the transporter in the gear one more time and Sarah, Sarah and his wife materialize. And they're like, okay, like old frail man, we'll now show you to where you can sleep until we get to the Lagerans. And he's like, fuck that.

Like, I wanna check out this conference room than Sarah at this moment. Like when you go to a conference, do you ever look at the room before going in? I sure don't. Like I'd admit Adam, sometimes I do. Oh boy. Okay. I'm very Sarah-like and a lot of people have said that. You gotta believe me. No one's more seric than I am.

I'm the most dispassionate least emotional. I have normal sized hands, pointy ears. I'm very seric like you're not gonna believe how seric like I'm gonna be when I get into office. For a very long time, there was another man who people thought was the most seric. Then he died and then I just happened to become the most Seric like after that. Oh, that's a dark one. It was it was a great day for me terrible day for the country, but a great day for me.

Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah, serics like show me the room guys. He's like rubbing his hands together. Can't wait to see the conference room. Let's get in there. And it tosses to the title sequence. Which is one of the great tosses, right? Like show me the conference room. Slam to commercial. Oh, I can't wait to see what happens. Yeah. That is called building the tension. Yeah, somebody in the writers room was like, hey, you remember that episode where Captain Picard went on vacation and the throw to title sequence was Troy going, I think the captain needs to go on vacation. I think we can beat that for least exciting,

possibly to throw to commercial. It's a real race to the bottom and the writers are right now. It's so funny because like season three has had some of the all-time great cold opens where you're just on the edge of your seat and then sometimes they're like, hey, let's rest on these these here laurels. In the first draft, Sarek was like, show me my identification name card. Show me where I get in line to check into the hotel. Shown me where the continental breakfast is.

So we come back from commercial and Jordy and Wes. A boy. A boy. Young Wesley Crusher. A boy. A boy. Young Westman Crusher. My son. Are hanging out in a room working on a slime pit. And Westlet slipped that he's excited about a hot date he has coming up tonight.

This scene is merely set up. We never see this date. But, Jordi says something pretty condescending, which is like... I got it midwest though, I'm not surprised. What did you go out with me? No, then you'd actually have the nerve to ask. This is a weird little scene. We quickly get distracted from this, though,

because Sarah comes in with the whole, you know, all the top brass, and he's criticizing the fact that the room isn't ready. This slime pit is the medium in which the Ligerans live. It's like super hot rainbow colored slime. We never have any aliens that don't really give a shit about protocol, you know? Like these aliens are super sensitive to issues of protocol and Sarah has been preparing for a long time

to make sure that this diplomatic conference goes swimmingly and he has a lot of thoughts about the way the room is set up. He notices that there's a table and glass chairs and he's like, well, it simply will not do to have anybody go through that table. So you gotta get it out of here. The walls are too bright. Yeah, and the walls are too bright.

I got some real ghost busters two vibes from that Kool-Aid Jacuzzi they were setting up. Mm, like go down in the subway. The evil ooze, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. So it's a weird scene because Sarah seems to get like fairly teared. He's spry, right?

Yeah. Like, he's far more energetic than his valetists have painted him to be. Right, and he's also like not merely commenting on things that are wrong with the room. Like, he's definitely making people feel bad about it, which is. Like, most old people, he has an opinion and he's sharing it very loudly.

Yeah, so old boy heads off to his room and Picard goes and like sits on the bridge and he's just kind of like, fuck, what does this Valle talking about? Like, Sarah seems fine, he even seems kind of angry. We have this whole fucking concert set up. I don't understand what the fucking problem is. Like, who is lying to me on what basis? And Troy is like, hey, well, you know, if maybe Sarah is putting on a good show, but maybe his wife wants to see this concert,

why don't you go invite her? And so Picard goes and Pazer of Visit and invites her and she loves the idea of the concert so they show up. And this is like classic like this is what we do in our off time on the Enterprise type shit, you know? Yeah, I love the idea that they're all in this like interstellar cruise ship, essentially, and they just watch like string quartets in there.

And they're free time. Thursday is magic night. Yeah. Yeah. It's so weird, the cruise ship vibes are very strong this episode for sure. Yeah. It's so weird. The cruise ship vibes are very strong this episode for sure. Yeah. But and that'll just have a real classy taste in in the diversions, you know.

Yeah. Yeah, it's there are no garbage diversions on board this ship. No, we'll have none of that. No. So they they have this concert and they're these little elliptical edits and you know you see the concert start and then you kind of get to this peeking emotional point in the music and there's this really intense scene where the focus on the camera racks to Saket who's one of, who's the younger of the two assistants that Sarah has with him and the dude is shitting himself because Sarah gets starting to

break down emotionally listening to this music and the camera goes extremely close on one of Sarah's eyes as a tear forms in it and Troy starts flipping out like her spidey senses go off the charts, the card sees the moistness on Siric's cheek when he turns to his wife, like his wife who then wipes the tear from him. Yeah, and then like the whole seric click bounces from the concert without a word to anybody. They're like, we gotta get out of here. Like, this is a, this is a major

lapse in our like brand statement about Seric being the most vulcan. Ben is wiping someone else's tears just a thing that happens in movies and TV because I can't remember having my tears wiped from someone else or wiping someone else's.

Oh really your wife has never wiped a tear? No I wipe my own tears. That's what I'm trying to say. Well I guess that just means you're not very seric like. Huh. All right. You got to get your tears wiped, man. You've not lived until you've had a good cry and then your wife has wiped your tears.

I guess. Next time we see each other, I'll make you cry and your wife can step in. I mean, pending her agreement to this little... Okay, yeah, we'll play in that out. We've got to have enthusiastic consent on a tier wiping type of situation. Anytime fluids are involved, absolutely. Yeah. We cut back to the Kool-Aid Jacuzzi and Wes and Jordy are back there doing that thing that you do at a swimming pool, like you dip the little thing and check the chlorine. They're like making sure things are the right temperature and the right color and whatnot.

And they start an argument about Wesley's date that gets super heated. You don't really think anything's gonna happen with Suzanne Dumont, do you? At least I'm not spending the night with a good book like some people. Yeah. It like pegs the needle for heat.

Compared to you every male on this ship is an expert on women. Yeah, it's crazy. And they're like, they're literally about to start like doing ball punches. Well, you start out. And they're like, they're literally about to start like, doing ball punches. Will you start out to fight my women on the holodeck? And Riker walks in and he's like, hey, guys, let's be cool.

And I sort of wondered if this was just like, Riker's natural vibe, if he's in a room full of a lot of slime. You know, he immediately felt like, oh, like am I in a refractory period? Like, has my like internal sense of aggression been chemically altered? This swimming pool sort of is a lower output than I would normally be able to produce. But yeah, this feels like something I've gone through before. This feels familiar. Yeah.

You get some to calm down. And it's one of those, like, you know, west leaves the room and rakers like, is there a problem, Jordy? And it's a very intense scene. This episode, I want wanna call out for excellent use of close-ups on the camera. There's at least three really great close-ups

in this episode. The one on CERRICS-I, the one on Jordy and this scene, and one that's coming up on Commander Data, that I just think are rare. It's rare that the camera gets this tight on a face in Star Trek the next generation, and I really liked it. I thought it was used effectively,

basically every time it happened in this episode, and it was like happening a lot. Give Ben that face, Get him in there. So we cut to Riker and Wharf talking in a corridor. And earlier on in the episode, it's referred to that Wharf has written up one of his employees for insubordination. Yeah. And it's weird because Wurf doesn't have many of these write-ups that he has to do. And the employee in question has seemed

to be a pretty squared away person until now. So Rikers kind of chatting about him. He's like, what's going on with this dude? And Wurf's like, it was really out of character and strange, but the guy was definitely insubordinate. So they round the corner and rikers like, is it my imagination or have tempers become a little frayed on the ship lately?

And then the door to 10 forward opens, and it is a fucking bar fight in there. It's like a royal rumble. Yeah, like the pianist is still playing his heart out, but everybody else is like breaking chairs over people's backs. And so many glass tables die for the scene. Yeah, like, you know, somebody grabs Chief O'Brien and runs him along the bar so that his face hits every glass of beer.

It's a lot of fun. Yeah, it is great. And the scale of this fight is really impressive. There's like 30 people fighting. Yeah, it's a, I paused it and rewound and watched it again and there's some really hysterical like, in expert swashbuckling taking place in this fight, but the general feel of it is very effective. When you're looking at the wide-jaw, you're like, holy shit, like people are set tripping

like a motherfucker in here. Yeah, shit has gone down, and guidance nowhere to be seen, which was a disappointment to me. Yeah, shouldn't you be like shooting that nubby ass space rifle into the ceiling? I was expecting that, I thought that was gonna happen. Yeah. That must be for another bar fight I remember. What the ceiling? I was expecting that. I thought that was gonna happen. Yeah.

That must be for another bar fight I remember. What the fuck? Yeah. Anyway, so Riker's suspicion is confirmed, and he takes one to the face. Someone opens him to the face. Yeah, it's like the nose bone into the brain punch. Yeah.

And that guy's fired. Yeah, that dude is definitely going to be looking for work after. That guy's getting transferred to the hood. I am a cute little boy. There are full lights. So wouldn't you know it? A bunch of fighting on the ship, especially physically, starts to raise some eyebrows in the medical community and Troy and Beverly

start to figure out that she didn't write. And also, data has had a conversation with Sacketh, the younger Vulcan, where data is kind of like getting the sense that Sith has something to hide. And you know, Sakith is kind of like dropping in level questions about like whether Picard could potentially play the role of an ambassador. Should the need arise? He's doing that thing where when two people go to a party and they haven't decided who's going to drive home, one of the guys is like, so if things get a little crazy in there for me, you can drive, right?

It's like, well, I'm actually already two tequila's in, so could you potentially, or what's up? He's asking if someone on board can be a designated diplomat. Yeah, and they're like, the ship is an Uber. Like, we can't get an Uber. That's, that's the issue. And that like is when lawyer Picard starts getting involved. So Picard decides that it's time to confront Sarek about what is clearly a case of Bendy syndrome, which is a neurological disease that affects

Vulcans over the age of 200. And it is basically... It's like, what if Alzheimer's was transmittable? Right. Right. It's like, like Vulcans whole thing is that they're in control of their emotions at all times. Bendy syndrome is the breakdown of the part of the brain that controls emotions, but Cerex stays in control.

It's, for the most part, it's the psychic energy, the psionic energy that he's putting out that's affecting other people randomly throughout the ship. And it even turns out that Sacketh has been using his powers of a mind to try and like hold Cerex shit together. And you know imperfectly, but he's just trying to like, you know, this is his one last job and then he's out of the game for good. It is so fucked up that they basically beamed on a mind weapon and no one told anyone that there

was this danger. Like, he turns everyone insane around him. Yeah, but I mean, that was sort of the people could have been killed in that bar fight. True, true, but I think that that's sort of the whole theme of the episode is that this guy is this great man who is being of the episode is that this guy is this great man who is losing his dignity, you know, like this whole exegesis by Picard about the kind of ravages of old age and how you lose your dignity at the end. And the Vulcans are the most dignified. So he's losing his dignity in this way that is affecting everybody. And it's this tragic thing. Like I'm actually going through this right now, a beloved older family member is literally like in the hospital as we record this.

And it's really hard, you know. Like you see this person that you've loved your whole life and then they're just kind of at the mercy of these tubes and it's not future-proofed. It's not future-proof. And I think this is a really interesting episode because it actually is a serious exploration of that. The Picard is probably the oldest main cast character and he's really torn up and reluctant to confront this and and he's the one that has to do it. So he winds up having this really intense scene, just him and Siric where he lawyer Picard Siric into kind of like a witness booth confession of his illness.

Like, Seric has been kind of in denial and the only way Picard can get him to admit that he is completely out of control and not capable of serving as an ambassador in his current state is by like whipping Seric up into this state of mania. And it's a really like remarkable scene. Your evidence to discredit me will not subside,

Salic of Vulcan never confused what he wanted with the troops. I do not postpone to in this manner. He pushes him right to the edge and Sarac totally gets pissed at him. It would be a logical for a Vulcan to survive. It would be a logical, a logical, a logical, a logical. Picard essentially gets Cerec to prove Picard's point.

There's two things to care about right now at this point. Which one is more important to you think? Is it the diplomacy with the Ligerans or is it Cerec's well-being? Right. I still think people are really putting a lot of diplomacy with the Ligerans or is it Ceres well being? Right. I still think people are really putting a lot of eggs in that Ligeran basket. Like everyone's got their eye on that as being the important thing. What are we going to do if Ceres and Capastuited?

Yeah. Like this thing has got to go on as basically the consensus. I don't know. This is like one of those, I wish these were aliens that we ever heard about again. Yeah. One of the things I really love about this show obviously is that there aren't these storylines that you have to follow week after week, year after year. But it would be nice if it came up that the Ligerans were like an incredibly important

ally of the Federation ever again. Yeah. You know. They're a bottle again. Yeah. You know. They're a bottle alien. Yeah. They're totally a bottle alien. They're a briefcase with glowing gold light in it, you know. Yeah, all you see is the pool.

It's too bad. I am the cutest aboard. You will respond to my questions. I am the cutest aboard. You are bored. So, the guy who's been propping up Siric's mind has basically been fired by Siric. Like, I don't want you to do it anymore,

get out of my sight. Yeah. And so one of the options that's on the table for how to actually go through with the conference and have Siric be the guy, the guy in the middle of it is mind melding Siric with Picard. The thinking is that Picard's diplomatic intellect and just his mental grounding will be enough

to act as a structure for Cereic's mind that could at least get him through the process. This doesn't need to be forever, it just needs to get him through like brain crutches. Yeah, and they probably briefly considered Reich or two because he's a noted diplomat, but they're like, well, we don't really want him to fuck the Lagerans. And, Syrac is wearing a robe,

so the erection would be very apparent. Hard to hide at that point. The only drawback to this idea is that it goes both ways, right? Once you mind-meld with someone, uh, all of their thoughts are yours, all your thoughts are there. So it's basically transferring all of Siric's emotional insanity into Picard. So, uh, Picard's got to prepare for a wildred. Well, you know what they say Adam, never mind meld with your heroes.

You know, it's always a disappointment. Yeah. Yeah, and so they do this shit. And it's pretty unceremonious. Like Picard is like hanging out in his apartment with Beverly and Sarah shows up. He's like, yo, was up. You heard a mind-mail. And they just get it over with. And then Sarah is like, you know,

smash-cut to Sarah, like getting ready to do his conferencing, calling Riker number one. And you walk into the room and then we cut to Picard in like darkness just having an extended freak out. And the thing about it is the emotions that Vulcan's feel are so much stronger than other species. So, so Picard. They appear uncut emotions. Yeah, so Picard has no like no mental discipline to keep this shit at bay. And it's basically just several hours of him sitting

under Dr. Crusher's supervision, freaking the fuck out. I think it really shows the trust and intimacy that Picard has with Beverly because Picard's a guy who didn't want to tell Polasky that he was going in for a heart procedure because it would make him look weak. And here he is with Beverly like sobbing uncontrollably and screaming and being held like an infant

because he has just completely fallen apart. True that. It's sort of scary to see, you know, the picture of Stoicism, the picture of the biggest dog on campus at this point has just been reduced to... Povering ways to peace of jelly. Yeah.

What did you think of this performance? I thought it was really strong. It could have been camp. If the music was wrong, or if they made too big of a deal of, you know, Beverly back rubbing him or something, like, it could have gone bad in a number of ways. But I think if you're directing that scene, I think you need to trust Patrick Stewart and just get out of his way. Totally.

And I'm not, I don't know anything about how this episode was produced with respect to that scene, but how can that not be your strategy? Yeah. I probably wouldn't have given him any direction at all. Like give me some takes and then we'll see what we get. He was fantastic and riveting and scary and sad. Like anyone who has been around anyone with a mental problem I think will recognize

how fraught that situation looks. I thought he did an amazing job. Did you notice his men talking tapestry draped over the chair behind him in the scene? I did. That was a nice callback. Yeah. Pretty cool. Yeah, and so I guess, Cerech with the stabilizing influence of Picard in his head is able to pull off whatever he needs to negotiate.

They're all set and the last scene is them kind of it's kind of a bookend episode you know it ends again with Riker and Picard and their Sunday best and the you know sending Saric and his wife and his entourage off to do whatever they're gonna do and it's kind And it's kind of bittersweet because it's Picard and Siric have shared this insanely intimate thing. And Siric explains to Picard that the parts of him that he shared with him and vice versa are going to be with him forever. And Picard is, uh, feels like he had the better part of that deal, which I thought was very

well written piece of Picard dialogue. It's a little sad too, because we've been told the entire time that this is Cerex Last Mission. So as a viewer, you're thinking this the last time you're gonna see the character too. Yeah, but Card tells Siric's wife that Siric really loves Sir even though he never you know expresses it and Siric and Paren and the other guys hop up on the transporter pad, Sarik and his wife hold each other's hands and they get beamed off.

And that's the episode. Yeah. Just kept talking one long. It credibly unbroken sendin' moving from topic to topic. So that no one had the chance to pin the traffic but really quiet, not igniting. So, Sarik knows everything about the card, the card knows everything about Siric.

Siric also knows everything about Wesley as a result. Choose is not to report him. I wish Siric had said something about, I think the detail work on the mask you keep on your gimp is really top-notch. Did you like this episode, Ben? I did. Probably not my fave in the season, but pretty strong. And definitely, I think, I think adds to the universe a lot. You know, and I appreciate that about it. There are episodes that are good, that are bad, that are boring. And I can't remember

another episode that I thought was as sad as this one. Yeah. I just remember feeling really sad by the end. I don't know why that is. I think that's natural. Like what was it all for? Like this guy's life was his career. He got one last mission under his belt before sauntering off into retirement. I don't know.

Give me a lot to think about. One thing I like about Derek is that, is that he introduced his wife as she who is my wife. You think you could ever get away with that, Ben? Uh, I guess I'm gonna have to give it a try. Yeah, let's do that sometime. See how that goes over. Yeah.

Yeah. Hey, Ben. What's that, him? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda. My drunk Shimoda for this episode is the sneaky Vulcan sackass. I just thought I was so like I got a real delight out of the scene with Sacketh and Data where they're both kind of trying to dance around it and obfuscate but they're both characters that are like inherently incapable of telling non-truth. Yeah, yeah. It was like, you know, I mean it was like a...

How many times in your life have you wanted someone to just get to the point the way you did? Yeah, it was great. It was really funny. I thought it was a funny idea in the script. It wasn't, you know, they never winked at the camera, but, you know, and it's like only gonna be funny to you if you kind of know what the deal is with Vulcans

and you know what the deal is with data, but they really built on that and made for some genuine comedy. And I thought it was pretty solid. I feel like if you didn't know anything about Star Trek and you were in the writer's room on this one, you might think like, why is this scene here? Yeah. But it's very rewarding for someone who understands who these characters are and why.

Like, it was very satisfying in that regard. Totally. I totally agree. How about yourself? Did you have a drunk Shremota? I do, but it's a little abstract. So here's the thing. We were talking about that scene where Picard and War

for walking through the corridor on their way to 10 forward. Before that scene, you see the before scene in 10 forward, which is a bunch of the bridge crew in there having drinks, a couple of randos in there. And O'Brien gets into a little bit of a heated conversation with someone who's sitting in his seat. Yeah. But in the deep background, Jority is at the bar, and he's talking to a kid. Really? It's at 19 minutes.

Okay. If you queue it up at 19 minutes, I don't know why he's talking to a kid, and I don't know why a kid is at the bar. So much about this scene is confusing to me. Oh yeah, Jordy's totally talking to a little child. Right? What the hell is going on there?

What is that about? Little 80s kid. 80s haircut on that kid. Yeah. Uh, what's up with that Jordy? What? What happens if I get in the bar fight? That's also what I'm saying. Like, I watch the bar fight several times looking for the kid, because to just introduce

him and then continuity error him out of it was very unsatisfying to me. I wanted to see him in there throwing haymakers or just getting the shit knocked out of him. Yeah. Didn't happen. So my Shimoda, I think, is for a kid being at the bar. Like if you were to distill it down to its primary components. Like it's Jordy talking to him.

It's him being there to begin with and what the hell happens to him during the bar fight? Yeah. Yeah. It's sort of like, he's sort of like the ghost and three men and a baby, right? Holy Mackerel Adam. This is a real humdinger.

That's the weirdest Shimoda, I think, I've come up with. I feel like that kid gets his own hologram, the Phil Dilly collection. Weeey, Shimoda! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha- 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 get stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the space weirds. Pat Noswald. Can I get a ball-rock 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. 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've such short nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this arc. We've got to get on the arc. It. It's about to rain. 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, probably. We are podcasters, so it's different. Have you heard of

Ono Ross and Kerry? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal, stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end, so seem like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boat. We came to by two. What do you think? Ona Ross & Kerry, available on MaximumFun.org. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, have coming up for our next episode, Ben. Our next episode is season three, episode 24, Menajatwa. The enterprises thrown into chaos when counselor Troy and her mother are kidnapped by the Ferengi. That sounds like a good one. I have never I have never wanted my veto more than I want it right now and I am extremely angry at myself for having burned it to to preserve a previous episode.

Hey Ben, just to be clear, what happened to your veto? You tried to veto the first episode of this season, I believe, if memory serves. And I could not let that stand. And you counter vetoed me, didn't you, Ben? I counter vetoed because I didn't. All of the anger of that is really coming back up to the surface because this is like the most LaWoxana episode of all LaWoxana episodes that I can think of.

Anytime you can combine LaWoxana and the Faringi in the same episode. Oh my God. It's just, yeah, just two great tastes that taste great together, huh? It's like you're puking and shitting at the same time. I've done that before, Ben. It's not great. Yeah. Had you had your veto at this point, now 23 episodes in, you definitely would have spent it, right? I wish I could spend a future veto on this. That's how much I hate this episode.

Wow. That's too bad that's not other rule works. The rules that we make up. The rules that we make up and can change on a whim. Yeah. Yeah. It's too bad. Too bad. Well, got to see it. You know what feels better than watching a LaWaxana Troy episode, Ben? Donating to support your favorite Star Trek podcast, the greatest generation, by going to Maximumfund.org slash donate. Yeah. That's right.

Viewers from around the land are going to Maximumfund.org slash donate and helping to support the production of our show. Other ways that you can show your support is by giving us a review on the podcast application that you use to get this show. There are also t-shirts that you can buy. Yeah. And even just saying nice things to us on Twitter, sure is great.

You can use the hashtag GreatestGen to talk to us and other people who enjoy the show. I'm on there as at Cut for Time, Ben is there as at BenjaminR, a HR. Yeah, there's also the Facebook group and the Facebook page. There's the subreddit, greatest gen, and there's also a maximum fun subreddit, both are great places to wrap about the show and meet cool like my hindered internet people as well. Yeah, I don't think I'm alone in saying our music kicks ass.

Oh yeah. Our theme music and interstitial music is made by the one and only dark material. If you are interested in bumping that Picard song in your car, I'm going to work every day. You can find it just about everywhere on the internet by searching for the Picard songs by Dark Materia. We've also got priority one message music arranged and produced by Adam Rukusia. One of the greats. Yeah. This

podcast has cool friends. Friends that make us great stuff. Mm-hmm. Pretty awesome. Well, that is about all the business we have here at the end of the show. And with that, we will be back at you next time. Another episode of Star Trek, the next generation. You are so sad. And another... blocks on episode. That's the greatest generation. Yeah, that's right. It's gonna be great. show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show.

I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show.

I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show.

I can show. I can show. I can show. I can show. I Michael Jordan. Uh-huh. At the so 23. Oh, I got you, I got you. Uh, I was thinking you were saying something about Sarah, and I was like, what is his association with Michael Jordan? No association at all, other than he's the best. Wasn't, uh, Michael Jordan 46? Oh no, Ben, you're gonna want to edit that out. Maximumfund.org Comedy and Culture, Artistone

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