The Greatest Generation - Malibu Picard (S2E13)

Episode Date: June 6, 2016

When the Enterprise finds an IKEA shuttlepod floating in space, they (what else?) bring it aboard for a closer inspection. What they find inside is a very tan, extremely well-rested clone of Captain Picard whose body, unlike the original Picard, does not respond well to stimulants. How will Wesley (the boy?) tell them apart? What's the cost of destroying a Galaxy-class starship? Why didn't Riker season his eggs before serving them? It's the episode where we bring booze to brunch!

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 friendsofdecisoto for labor.com. That's friendsofdisoto for labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the greatest generation. Star Trek Podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek Podcast. I'm your host Adam Pranika.

I'm your other host Ben Harrison. Hey Ben, I think we're a show that listens to its audience, wouldn't you say? I've been wondering about that after our pretty scandalous last episode. Yeah, I mean, I would say in most cases, we're listening, much like Frazier Crane. I mean, I don't want people to think that we're not paying attention to what the listeners want. It's just that making this show is a challenge. It's hard to be funny about some of these apps and hard to sit through some of these apps. So we appreciate your bearing with us in running a poll that we wound up completely ignoring. Sorry. Are you really appealing to our audience for some sort of empathy about its production? Because I'm not.

I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for us. I don't think that they're going to feel sorry for us. I think I'm just trying to get the... I'm just trying to staunch the bleeding. Well, my point, Ben, is that one of the things that I've been reading a lot about is how much our listener enjoys the Star Trek card bit. Oh, should we open up a pack of cards? I'm wondering if you have those cards handy and if you might open a pack. I got a pack right here. Let's do it. All right. I was trying to remember how I opened these if I like ripped them with my teeth.

You know, like some some or how I opened these if I like ripped them with my teeth. You know, like some packets, they'll have like a little notch where they got it started for you. Sure. I don't think you're not really supposed to open these up in the first place because it reduces the value. But... Well, I'm imagining that they've got to have that tab

to compensate for the weak-handed Star Trek nerd, that Star Trek nerd's ability to open up one of those facts. My phasering and remote controlling hand is very strong, though. Oh, I'm sure. OK, well, the first card we have here is for the episode, Ensen Row. And it's. Oh, I love Ensen Row.

Very stylized picture of Ensen Row that bears almost no likeness to her. Oh, that's too bad, because she's got a real great likeness. Yeah, she's got a likeness that I like. It kind of looks like a gaysha almost this picture. Yeah, I mean, there's an episode that is just titled Ensen Row

that introduces that character. So, I think that's what it's worth. You are referring to the episode and titled The Gaysha. Let's see, here's one for an episode entitled Peak Performance, which is a real psychedelic picture of a Farenci ship and the enterprise in a gnarled hand. In Polasky's hand?

Yeah. Is this the one where they like the Ferenci like try to sell them a ship or something? Does that sound about right? I remember that episode. That's the episode where they give Riker a Jolopy to fight against the Enterprise with, right? Yeah.

I mean, if Khan can do it. Yeah. Let's see. Here's one for an episode called The Quality of Life. It looks like a locking nut with an eye peering through the hole. Don't remember what this one is. Out of these, I don't remember.

All good things. Oh, this is for the last episode of the series. Whoa. Dang. Is that a special edition card or anything, this is for the last episode of the series. Whoa. Dang. Is that a special edition card or anything, or is that like the others? Just like the others. It's the inner prize is flying into either an eye

or a butthole, depending on how you're picturing it. And Picard and Q were staring at each other across a divide. And let's see, the last one here is for the measure of a man. Remember that one? I do. Captain Maddox. Yeah.

Wait, wasn't it Commander Maddox? It was Commander Maddox. It's just Captain on this card. These cards are fucking bullshit. Maybe you got a misprint. Maybe that one's... Maybe this one's worth something. It's extremely valuable.

Yeah. So just to be clear, every box is supposed to get three signed cards in it. You have one signed card. Yeah, for George Baxter. For George Baxter. So we're still hoping to get those two other signature cards. How many packs do you have left, do you think? I'm going to guess there's 20 of them or something.

Oh man. How many are in this box? This is going to be a bit that goes on then isn't it? Yeah, three autograph cards inside. How do they control for that? I don't know. There must be some weird marking on each pack right? Yeah some secret marking that you would never know. Maybe it's the notch. Maybe. The weak hand at notch, well, I feel like the fact that there's three signed cards inside makes me despair of ever getting a yager, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. I like your chances for a yager, and if you don't get one in this box, I'm just going to keep buying you boxes.

I mean, a George Baxter is almost as great as a Yeager in a lot of ways In many ways it is it's like can you think of anybody more marginal on the show? I can't think of anyone more naked yeah That guy some a lot of people sent us George Baxter's website after that episode Yeah, and how he like kind of a creep show, huh? Yeah, he's like, he's got some sort of religious addiction book and he's like a doctor with a Jerry curl now. Yeah, I think at the time we both agreed

that he would be a great candidate for greatest Gen Con 2017. Yeah, but I don't know when I'm coming pitching his, his wares, you know, his snake oil. Yeah, we're in complete agreement on that. If he's, if he's a new age weirdo, then I think we can do without him. I think we could do better. Or a regular age weirdo, any kind of weirdo, you know, I want somebody that's got the same light embarrassment that we have about their relationship with the show,

but their relationship happens to have been a professional one. Absolutely. We're in a complete agreement there. See, we did something for the viewer here. A viewer I keep referring to as the viewer. I just love picturing people all across this country and this planet, staring at their phone screens as nothing happens to our logo while they listen to our show. It's just a bit of hypnosis of our listener.

Like, I want them to want a live show of our show. I don't know how that would work, but I want them to crave it. And by planting these seeds every couple episodes, I'm going to get them thinking that they should be a viewer of this show and not just a listener. This is becoming a speech. The cat comes to very tightly. I'm going to type a ramble on a lot of something everyone knows.

Our episode today is season two, episode 13, time squared. So it starts with Commander Riker, Groovy Bachelor that he is setting up a fun dinner party in his quarters. Did you think this is dinner? I thought it was breakfast. Oh, was it supposed to be breakfast? But the lights were so low.

I think the lights are always low in Riker's apartment. I think that's the limit. Yeah. Well, you know, the UV light doesn't work well if you don't turn off the other light sources. Raker has to spend a lot of time preparing his apartment for guests, I imagine. You just gotta take down all the tarps. Yeah.

He's gotta really scrub down that bathroom. Yeah. He's gotta really light all the incense. Yeah. He's doing something that's very strange, which is preparing food at the dinner table because you know Starfleet quarters don't have kitchens because nobody cooks in the future and His guests arrive. I think it's a worth data Jordy and Polaski. Is that right? Yeah. Is Jority there?

Man, I just watched this episode and I can't remember if he is. Yeah, fades into the background, but he is making them omelets out of some kind of egg that he picked up on some planet that they were recently at. And... You can't look, Ben.

You're more than just like a guy who cooks dinner for he and his wife. You're an accomplished home cook. Yeah, I know what I'm doing. I think you're someone I can trust when I ask a question like this, you can't just make an omelette out of any kind of egg, right? I mean, an earth egg, I would be curious to try

almost any kind as long as it was from the reptile or bird kingdom. Yeah, but right could just like pick these eggs up at a bodega at some backwater star base. Yeah, bad move. They put like a computer pad over a heating element to make a cook surface. Well, you need a non-stick surface to cook those eggs. Yeah, everything's coated on Teflon. Yeah, but...

Yeah, everyone is like dry heaving trying to get these eggs down, except for War, who is scarping. Yeah, it was a genuinely funny moment, I thought. Or things these fucking eggs are great. A warrior's egg. Yeah, he loves that which is gross. So you thought it was breakfast, huh? I totally thought it was breakfast. I thought that they were having like an omelet dinner.

There was ale, like, Polesky brought a huge bottle of booze. Look man, I am almost 1,000% sure Pulaski is an alcoholic. And so I didn't, I didn't bat an eye to the idea that she brought booze to breakfast. Geez. This is probably brunch, right? I mean, people drink a brunch. Maybe it was brunch. Yeah. Well, brunch gets cut off because they all get called up to the bridge on some crazy shit Which is that there is a

Federation shuttlecraft way out here in the middle of nowhere It's a little bit like in Star Wars a new hope when they discover a tie fighter flying out in the middle of nowhere And they're like how did it get here? This thing can't travel faster than light I'm I'm not familiar with that reference. Yeah, so they approach the shuttle craft and it is just flopping around in space. Yeah, I like seeing it kind of like rotate. I feel like you never see ships upside down in this show. It's just, I mean, like you should because there's no concept of verticality in outer space.

But in Star Trek, like the ships are always like the ship's, like, the ship's, like, the ship's, like, the ship's, like, the ship's, like, the ship's, like, the I mean, like you should because there's no concept of verticality in outer space, but in Star Trek, like the ships are always a certain orientation. Like, if a Romulan shows up, they're not going to be like inverted compared to what you would expect. It's going to be like eye to eye with the enterprise. Well, yeah, I mean, and by saying that it only serves to describe how creepy as hell it looks, that when they approach this thing, it's just all spinning around. Yeah, and this is one of your hated plywood-type shuttle crafts.

Yeah, I did a little bit of research into this whole thing. There's two versions of the craft. That's what I love about you Adam. I would never do research for this show. So check it out. I'm gonna drop some science on you. So there is the Shuttle Craft, which is the Toyota Previa Minivan of Shuttles.

And that one is capable of warp flight. That's the round corner, two warp Nacell, like shuttlecraft. And that's the kind you never see them walk up to because they can't build something as good looking as that on a human scale. That's the one that young Jake commenters. I can't get the engine started. What am I going to do? In season one.

That one looks incredibly difficult to fly if Jake is any example of that. So there's that version and that's got like a cargo area in the back, again, like the Previa. Yeah. And then there's the shuttle pod, which is the race car bed version of a shuttle. Right. And that does not have warp engine. It comes in a little.

Yeah, well, it comes in a flat pack for my kids. So they're not going to put an anti comes in a flat pack for my kids. So they're not gonna put an anti-matter injection system in that thing. It looks like two refrigerator boxes glued together with a cut out window. It's like the child's assembly version of what a shuttle craft would be.

It's known as a shuttle pod. Well, it's built on a level that I was basically able to nail using home crafting materials when I was nine years old, as evidenced by my photo that I talked about last week. Are you ever going to post those? Are you too ashamed? No, no, those are posted, man. Oh, really? Yeah. Good job.

Man, you are really like sticking your face right into the shame. I've been up to this show. I've been up to this show. I'm sorry, Gatom. Good for you, Ben. You don't need that therapist in LA. You're doing your own form of therapy.

Yeah. It's not working. So they, they, they tractor beam this shuttle pod into the shuttle bay and they open up and, uh, and reveal its contents to be Malibu Picard and The reason I call him this is because he is a much Tanner version of Jean-Luc Picard Yeah, that was weird his skin did look notably darker. Yeah

I don't know who they got to play this part, but he's a very convincing Patrick Stewart. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's JCVD. Yeah, of course. Of course, so they ripped the pot open and there he is. And he's in some sort of coma state.

They kind of give him a good shaken. Yeah, he's not waking up. He's non-responsive. So they decide to put him on a stretcher and they like wheel him through the enterprise to sick bay. I thought this decision was insane. Rather than beam him, you mean? No, I mean, like what is the crew going to think

seeing this guy wheeled through the hallways? Yeah, they should do like when you're on a trans continental flight and the flight attendants are gonna have their meal and it's the food that the people in first class get. They walk it back from the first class galley with like a towel over it so that people don't look at it and get jealous. Yeah, you want to.

Yeah, I think people are gonna see Malibu Picard and they're gonna go, well, he's been taking a lot of shorely lately, clearly. They should have at least put a beagle post on him so that his identity was concealed. Oh man. Yeah, and I don't think, let's just call him Picard Prime. Like, I don't think Picard recognizes the danger of being so close to Malibu Picard

because like if he touches him, doesn't that break the space-time continuum? Doesn't that like destroy the entire universe? I don't think that we have to assume that the mechanic of back to the future is at play in this. This is not canonical back to the future. No, but I do think that it was like, there's a funny moment in there where Picard is like kind of searching for an explanation and he's like, on human. Not official. And he like goes to two explanations that could totally happen in this universe

before there being a double of you. And like not to mention like transporter accident which we confront in another episode but like man there are so many reasons that Picard could be looking at a double of himself but they're so weirded out by it. And it really begins an emotional pattern for Picard Prime where he hates the other Picard. Like immediately. I think that's a weird response. I mean, I feel like I would be the same, I would be the same if I met myself. Yeah, I mean, I think there's so much that someone finds

hateable about themselves, that if you were confronted with an exact copy, yeah, I think that would be totally natural. So as the medical process unfolds, the other side of this story is data and Jordi attempting to fire up this shuttle pod and they find that its power system is like completely backwards wired from what they expect and it's a real head scratcher because they can't it's like an Italian car

Right, it's like trying to work on a fiat. Yeah, you got to take it to the special guy The You know like they plug it in and it and it's like it powers up for a second and then powers down They they can't make heads or tails of it and then it is shooting static everywhere too and data is just fine Just like super content to just be in a shuttle that is shooting lightning everywhere Yeah, Gordy's like dirty takes a couple steps back and he's like they like you know, you're not like completely invincible But data is like data starting to brim with confidence in in this area. I would say

Yeah, is it confidence or is it a death wish? Maybe. I'm just saying, if he's sticking his arm through... If you had to hang out with Jordi as much as Data has to, I think I'd have a real death wish thing as well. I just think that he has tested his strength enough times and had no consequences that he's like, he's hebristic at this point. It's a fair assessment. I buy you into that.

Yeah, but they get the thing powered up after a bunch of, you know, a bunch of Jerry Riggings and they discover that the Shuttle Pods clock says that it's six hours in the future, and they download a log that's just like Picard bumming out that he just watched the Enterprise blow up and some video of Riker watching a shuttle pod leave the shuttle bay and then the shuttle pod outside the enterprise in like a vortex and a little beam of light comes and wax into the enterprise and it blows up really quickly. We're watching a lot of Galaxy Class ships get destroyed this season.

Yeah, they are highly expendable in the production budget at this point. You know why, probably? I bet that at this point, there was a scale model, like a plastic model available on the mass market. And they're like, we could be, I mean, like we get these for cost.

They just build these and blow them up every episode. I remember buying those for like 20 bucks. That's a lot for a kid. Right, and you figure that that price is keystone twice. So the cost to blow up a model of the ship at this point is $5. I've told you what kind of value $20 can get a child of my age when you're just joking out.

Yeah, and what kind of shame. My love is a piece of clothing, Yeah, and what kind of shame So they're watching this footage in the conference room and it is horrifying Yeah, like they've basically watched everyone die and And Picard's the only survivor and once they realize this everyone just sort of turns to Picard's the only survivor, and once they realize this, everyone just sort of turns to Picard, like... Yeah, they're like, fuck man! I just don't understand how you could have ended up in a shuttlecraft while the Enterprise was being destroyed. I thought the Captain goes down with the ship, bro, and Wurf is like... He just like can't even believe it.

And is the only one that will say it out loud. The last thing you would do is leave the bridge of the Enterprise during an emergency. And Picard is like, yeah, I would never do that, right guys. This is an amazing little piece of performance by Patrick Stewart, because he is definitely like, I mean, if it was between not blowing up and blowing up, I might not wanna blow up.

But you can see all of that on his face. Look, guys, there's only one shuttle available. I mean, someone's going to tell the story of this ship. And might as well be a Shakespearean trained actor from from London. The beautiful speaking voice. It's a real uncomfortable moment. Yeah, it is real, you know, the shuttlecraft being wired backwards, this Malapu Picard is also wired backwards. Pulaski shoots him up with some wake-up juice,

and it nearly kills him. Like all of his vitals grenade, she's got to shoot him up with something different to put him back to sleep. Like there's something a little off about both the shuttle and this other Picard. Yeah, and he's essentially, like as Troy puts it, like he's kind of looking at them

from across a dimensional void and just does it like barely understands the scenario he's in. But as also confirms that he is Jean-Luc Picard, like without question, like there is, he's not a robot, he's not an alien, like he's the real deal. Yeah. like he's the real deal. Yeah, and as they converge on the time at which Malibu Picard was initially separated from the ship, he will get more with it. Which is very convenient. Where do you think Wesley is at this moment? Wesley the boy.

The boy. Young Wesley Krusha. My son. Well, he doesn't make an appearance in this episode as far as I know. He doesn't. Yeah. And I think that's for his own safety.

Yeah, I mean, the Picard Eiffel Tower that they could have put together here is hard to think about with a straight face. God, just a spit roasting Wesley Crusher. It's a image I briefly had before violently throwing up. What would they be basing it with? Anyway, so I mean, they through both the log and what they're able to glean from the shuttle, like they're realizing that they're coming up on the moment that

something will destroy the ship. They aren't sure what. And they're trying to figure out what they should do. Like, are they on this road? Right. To their destruction. Should they peel off and stop the ship, should they turn around? Like they're tossing out all these options.

It's like a time paradox, you know? Like if we change course, is that the thing that puts us in the scenario where we get fucked over, or if we stay on this course, does that put us in the scenario? And they're pretty sure that at some point Picard deciding to leave the ship is going to be the wrong choice because that seems to have something to do with the rest of the ship getting zaperuned. But they're not really sure. Like when that wrong choice is going to come up. And suddenly... This energy vortex has just appeared beneath us. They look down and there is a giant vortex in space that the ship is perfectly positioned

over. It's like the Chinese finger trap episode. Every ounce of energy they throw into the warp engines to get out of this thing is causing them to be pulled in harder. The effect looks pretty cool. It's like a smoky shower drain. Totally.

It's like one of the coolest visual effects that we've seen yet, I would say. Yeah. Yeah, and you're right. They're stepping on the pedal harder and harder and the ship's not moving. And if anything, the ship is being pulled within this well. And it's sort of, the effect is really cool. Like it sort of slides backwards down the drain. Yeah, they're deep in this fissure,

and Picard sort of gets fed up, and he decides to go back down to Sick Bay and try and get some answers out of Malibu Picard, which is a weird moment because Troy just like pops up after Picard is in the turbo lift or run after him, but then he shows up in sickbay and she's like standing there waiting for him. Do you notice that bit? Yeah, I just wrote it off as... I figured they must have had some other scene in there that they had to cut or something. But. There's gotta be a bunch of entrances to Sick Bay too.

Imagine maybe she took it. Her turbo lift was on the Jordy setting. Yeah. It's spatter out. Yeah, she really got rocked on her way there. Yeah, and I think that this is like, right around the point where both Picard start getting zapped with lightning.

Yes. That kind of just comes from the ceiling. Yeah, they're both getting zapped by the thing and their sensors indicate that this smokey drain has got some sort of intelligence. Like a smokey drain, so in this season. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it has an intelligence and it seems to be targeting both the cards.

It's an entity, a life form, which recognizes the enter prizes and entity with me as its brain, and it wants me. What regular Picard starts to realize is that the... as that Malapu Picard, in order to save the rest of the ship He its brain would sacrifice himself to this fissure and rather than allow Malibu Picard to Relive that moment because Malibu Picard has like hopped out of his sick bay bed and started Malibu Picard has like hopped out of his sick bay bed and started jogging down the hallway toward the shuttle bay.

Regular Picard is not going to let that happen this time. He's going to break the cycle. Yeah, and it's not like Malibu Picard is just like regular Picard. He's weirdly robotic and single-minded in his effort. I think he only has like three or four lines of dialogue. He's weirdly robotic and single-minded in his effort. He's I think he only has like three or four lines of dialogue He's like the energy of the vortex wants me. It's a fun scene because it winds up being a lot of Picard big dogging Picard and Picard big Dogging Picard back. Yeah, which is I mean that is a Unstoppable force meeting and a movable object. Yeah, so Picard Primus, like there's got to be another solution

you guys came up with. Like this can't be the only idea that the other enterprise came up with to save the ship. Like what is it? Malibu Picard's like, yeah, I mean, that other idea would never work. I gotta get in the shuttle. Card Primus, like no, seriously, there's another thing, right?

What's the idea? Help me out here. Yeah, Malibu Picard's like, no way, I'm getting on that shuttle and Picard primes like, forget it, I'm not letting you on the shuttle, he does that like, break glass here thing. And instead of a fire extinguisher, there's four dust buster phasers right by where he's at in the shuttle bay. He grabs one of them and just fucking murders Malibu Picard. So I call my stand.

Yeah. And so he feels like this situation can, you know, he can't involve himself in this situation any further. So he's going to get back to the bridge, tells Riker to turn the ship into the wind and head for the center of the fissure. And Radio's up, Polaski to let her know that there's a up a card in need of her attention in the shuttle bay. And she and O'Brien show up, and O'Brien is basically there,

just there to stand and look at Picard during their escape from the fissure. Because the ship warps toward the center of the fissure, which just disappears, it goes away. The extra shuttle craft and the extra Picard vanish right as they're leaving danger. And O'Brien has his single line of the entire episode, which is just rating up the bridge and going like... The other Picard and the shuttle are gone. Yep, everything's alright down here. Picard disappeared. Like so many problems, the only way out was through.

Yeah. Like so many problems, the only way out was through. A greatest gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre and post show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it! The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates

in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's GreatestGenTour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Share Your Embarrassment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris. And I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure, delightful nonsense. We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level.

We get stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the spaceweards. Pat Noswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. We got stupid with Judy Greer. And come here on NaJani. 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, I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line. And boy, what do I, these giraffes do not smell good. No, they do not, and they have such short nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art. It is about to rain, thought is about to destroy humanity.

Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah about terrain, thought is 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. We are podcasters, so it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Carrie? We investigate spirituality,

claims of the paranormal, stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end, so seem like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boats. We came two by two. What do you think? Ona Ross & Kerry, available on MaximumFun.org. And it's a kind of a strange ending.

Picard has a little silk over in the corner of the observation lounge as Riker is want to do. And you know, there's not a lot of answers. They don't really know like what the fuck even happened, what that thing was. Science doesn't have any answers for them and they just have to like continue doing what they were doing, hoping that never happens again. Yeah, tonally, I think it made this episode really unique because, I mean, here we are in season two, it's episode 13.

This is the first ending that I can remember that wasn't like a slide whistle and a, and that's all folks style ending. Like normally they're tonally really weird and uplifting, but this one definitely ends on kind of a down note. Totally. It's an interesting episode for a lot of reasons. I feel like this is like all of the fun in games

with data and majority, like collaborating on the shuttlecraft. There's a couple of pretty heavy conversations between the counselor and the doctor about when or if they're gonna have to talk about the possibility of relieving Picard of Command. It feels more like an episode from a season three or season four series then season two.

That scene, especially between Troy and Polaski, I thought it was great. I thought it was one of the best parts of the episode because it was, I mean, they were talking about a specific character, but they were speaking to something that's very universal. Like when someone is confronted by their own weakness, I mean, this is what is happening,

literally, is Picard is looking down at Malibu Picard and seeing a coward, and someone who chose wrong to the degree that it killed everyone he knew on the ship and destroyed his ship. Right. There it is, like in Stark relief on that biobad. Right, and as a dude who's lost a ship in the line before,

like that has to really suck ass for him to think about, like, is this something about me that is causing this problem? Yeah, is it a fatal flaw? And I mean, it's not speculative, it happens. Yeah. And that's gotta speculative, it happens. Yeah. And that's gotta be terrifying and awful for him. And it's public too.

Like, like his entire senior staff knows that he has made this decision in the future and it killed everyone. And it's just eating him up. It's really great exposition. Totally. I thought it was super strong. I thought this episode was one of the strongest we've seen yet. One of my favorite episodes.

I agree. I'm surprised I didn't remember it better going in. I just loved it. As you were watching, did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? The only one I could really come up with was O'Brien, just because like him coming in and like very pointedly, not having any lines for the first like three minutes he's on camera, I was like, oh boy, they're saving some money on O'Brien this episode. And like, I don't know, like I don't know why it was O'Brien, like under what circumstances is the doctor rushing

to the aid of an injured crewman and going, oh, let me call the transporter chief as I'm headed there. Yeah, yeah. What the fuck is going on there? I wasn't sure at that moment if O'Brien knew that there were two Picards on the ship. Like, do you think for a moment

he rushes into the shuttle bay and he's like, holy shit, the captain's dead. That's how his performance reads for sure. He's like, he's completely dismayed. Like, it's like, it plays well that he doesn't speak because he is like a complete loss for words. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. In a circumstance where the captain of the flagship is dead, that it would just be him and Polasky in the shell. My Shemota is Polasky for bringing booze to breakfast. This is another in a pattern of alcoholic behaviors that I know you've noticed the entire season, when she first beams onto the ship, she's in ten-forward drinking.

No one seems to recognize this. Maybe alcoholism isn't a concern in the 24th century, mostly because there is no real booze to be found. Right. But I think Dr. Polasky's taste for the booze, even though the booze may not have the desired effect, the modern effect that one would have by drinking too much. I think there's cause for concern here. So yeah, Polasky getting the party started before a shift at brunch. Yeah. She's my Shimoda. Okay. What do we have coming up for the next episode?

Uh, so the next episode is episode 13 of season two, the Icarus factor. Riker's long lost father reappears on the eve of his departure to become the captain of a new starship. Boy, you're really given it the game show, aren't you? Yeah, I don't know. I was like reading a more and more intense and I feel like at a certain point, that will have a logical end. You remember this episode? I mean, I vaguely remember a sort of American gladiator style,

fight to the death between Riker and his dad. Yeah. Do they put on like, do they put on those like, those leotards where the neckline comes way down below the nipple. So the over the shoulder straps are the only thing covering up. Rikers, Harry nipples. Was this the same game that Wurf and Tasha Yarr were going to go play in season one?

Remember when they were wearing that weird get up? Yeah, I don't know. That was like a different get up though. Yeah. Wasn't that parisi squares, which is like one of those things that was like a different get up though. Yeah. Wasn't that Parisi squares, which is like, Oh yeah. One of those things that's like a Star Trek universe, a Star Wars universe?

I can't remember. One of the two. It always gets mentioned. You're really gonna piss off a lot of people talking about Star Wars on this podcast. Bring it assholes. Don't poke the B beehive, man. But I don't I don't think we've ever actually seen perisi squares played

It's just talked about as a game that people in the Federation are fond of and is violent Well, I'm down. Let's watch it. Okay, no veto No post-Lux-Wanna-Troy-Stress Syndrome is what I have. And I'm going to be saving mine for that eventual circumstance. So that's interesting. You're saving your veto for a mommy issue episode, but you wouldn't use one on a daddy issue episode. I guess not. Yeah. Hey, you're really doing some psychotherapy on me, aren't you?

Yeah, so. Is that what this has been from the start? Mm-hmm. We've really made a breakthrough here. You notice. You really don't believe in Dr. Patient confidentiality, do you? What's that? I didn't, I slept through half of therapy school, so.

It's that thing where you're not supposed to put the session online. Yeah, I must have missed that part. Yeah, all right. Well, everyone can listen to that session next time. Until then, you can reach out to us on the Twitter's using the hashtag greatest gen. I'm at Cut for Time, Ben as at BenjaminR, a HR. We have a Reddit now, if you go to reddit.com slash greatest gen,

you can also engage in some lively discussion at the max fund Reddit, which is reddit.com slash maximum fund. Is it like slash R slash maximum fund? Put an R in there. It is. It is. And like most things having to do with this show and its relationship to Max Fun,

not many people comment on the maximum fun Reddit threads involving this show. So go over there and throw us a comment. Yeah. Maybe let the network know that they haven't made a terrible, terrible mistake by having us on. I mean, outside of the extent to which they already realized that. Sure.

I mean, they have even other six seasons to realize their mistake. I haven't read the contract, but I'm pretty sure they contaminated it at any time. I think they can. If you feel like supporting the show, go to maximumfund.com slash donate also. .org slash donate. And yeah, I mean, maximum fund is a great network. I think anybody that enjoys our show and enjoy lots and lots of podcasts on this network.

You got your lady to lady. You got your Jordan Jesse go. You got your stop podcasting yourself. You got your pop rocket. It's a big feast and you can pick and choose all kinds of great shows that they have. Yeah, Jordan Jesse Go gave us a great shout out

a couple episodes ago. That was very kind of them. And I think the adventure zone also gave us a really nice shout out. So. I didn't listen to that one, because I don't have four hours to listen to a podcast.

I mean, you don't have to listen in all one go. Well, I've really enjoyed talking about this episode of Star Trek, the next generation with you Adam. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks Ben, even though this is really self-serving, this is all about your weird therapy session with me. We will be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek the Next Generation

and also whatever this is. Also another five minute conclusion to our podcast. Oh, we did a little bit better this time. Yeah, we did. Good job, then. Hey, nice work. You'll look at God of the U and fit, fit, fit, right? You'll get to, you'll look at God of the U and fit, fit, fit, right? Make it sound, make it sound. Make it sound.

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