The Greatest Generation - No One’s Paying For Perpetuity Around Here (VOY S7E23)

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

When Voyager finds Talaxians living in a rock, the Delta Flyer crashes there just in time for a demolition notice. But when Dexa and Brax take a liking to Neelix, he helps them draw a line in the regolith that only a Prime Directive breach could resolve. Which is the rarest Yeager? Do these Talaxians need an Iceland app? What’s the best way to avoid dancing at a wedding? It’s the episode that’s always down for a pierogi party.Support the production of The Greatest GenerationGet a thing at podshop.biz!Sign up for our mailing list!Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Caretaker!The Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaFriends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | JusticeDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | Mastodon | Bluesky | ThreadsAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social

If you're hearing this, it means tickets are now on sale for our streaming Cybocktacular. That's what we're calling the streaming show of our Star Trek 5 review that we toured last year. We filmed our Hollywood show and it's going to be streaming on Thursday, May 16th at 7 p.m. Eastern time. And the stream will be available for a couple of weeks after that If you can't watch right at the premiere time a couple of pieces of information about this if you support us at maximumfund.org Join and your membership is current check your email inbox because maximum fun will have emailed you a

promo code to get five dollars off your ticket and Also, we have some VIP packages available that include a meet and greet with me and Adam. Those are going fast. So so jump on that if you want a meet and greet VIP package. Again, it's greatest gentour.com to get your tickets for the streaming CybOctacular. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet.

Engage! Watch your backs on the clock, Luke. I'm Captain Captain J.W.E. The USS Forfeiture. I'm Captain Captain J.W.E. The USS Forfeiture. I'm Captain Captain J.W.E. 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 Pranica. I'm Ben Harrison. Adam, it's a Code 47. We're opening things that have been sent in by Friends of De Soto as screened by our mail time consigniary, Bill Tilly. Not doing a YouTube of this one today just because of the recording setup we have,

but we will be posting everything we open up on Instagram. What do you say we get into some packages? I cannot wait. Captain, I'm sorry to disturb you. I'm receiving a code 47. Verify. It is code 47, sir. Starfleet emergency frequency. Captain's eyes only.

Okay, well, this first one is a postcard. It says, Tocetly Conejo. Feels like it might be like hand-painted. It's a nice texture on this card. It says, Dear Ben and Adam, thank you for all you do for the pods, especially factory seconds, as it is both completely hilarious and wholesome, reflecting the effort of having a Star Trek podcast perfectly. I got back into your pods during my divorce and EMDR therapy.

It really helped me see that the pleasures of life could be found in dig and fart jokes. Ben, thank you for sharing about your own struggles with mental health as it made me less lonely to know about it. I really did benefit from the sharing. Adam, thank you for sharing about your own struggles with mental health as it made me less lonely to know about it. I really did benefit from the sharing. Adam, thank you for twaining. It always makes me laugh out loud. Never stop. The community you formed around the pod is the best.

Always a good hang with them. Heart Fanny. Well, Fanny, we hear all the time about how our show is both the cause of and the medicine for a divorce or a traumatic event. Yeah. Glad things are looking up for you. I think this card came from the city of Mexico. And there's an invite to the anthropologyropology Museum there. So, hey, Fanny, I did EMDR therapy myself after a very

traumatic series of events in my life, and that has happened since we started the pod. So I've been doing the pod all the way through that experience, and it's no fun to go face those things, but I am glad when I hear about people taking good care of themselves. How would you say the pod has helped or hurt in most times, Ben? This pod generally helpful. Certain other pods, not so much. I see. We got one more of our postcards before we get into packages. This one, I think it's the back of, is that the Enterprise E that I'm looking at there?

Yeah. I mean, it's a great drawing of just kind of a six as ships go in the beauty department, I think. Ben and Adam just heard P-Stew on Greatest Gen, congrats on 500. I first learned about your pod through S-Y-S-K, but wish I'd tuned in sooner. The live show you did in Somerville is just blocks from my house. Congratulations to y'all and Wendy and Bill and Rob's and everyone at Uxbridge-Shemota.

Cheave! We've met Cheave before. Sure have. That's really nice. Thanks, Cheave, Thanks for the postcard. Somerville. Somerville. Was that at uh... That was the once. Once.

That's funny, that place was named for how often anyone should do a show there. They should call the bell house multiple times, because that's how often I like to do a show there. I kind of think that they should call the bell house multiple times because that's how often I like to do a show there. I kind of think that they should call the once none. So many times I wish we'd done a show there. Uh-huh. You know, if you bought the chairs from once, I think I mentioned this a long time ago, back when we used to tape natural Yeagers underneath random seats at our live shows. That show at once was one of those shows where things got so rowdy that we forgot to do the

natural Yeager giveaway. If you bought those surplus chairs for your place that stores chairs for events, your event rental company, you may be the owner of a natural Yeager and deserving of compensation. You're part of why the bubble still exists, you know? That's a rare Jaeger, the once chair Jaeger. That's what I'm saying. Get in there. The once chair Jaeger, the most rare Jaeger.

I like that a lot, man. We're getting into the packages. This one is from Hal Gates in Sandpoint, Idaho. We've got a letter. Hey guys, I saw this in one of my local bookstores and did an oddness to goodness natural double take when I saw it. Heat 2? Is this a novelization of the sequel?

Was there a sequel? Wait, this is the sequel? And Michael Mann co-authored it? I had to get it on and started reading immediately. I'll let you come to your own conclusions about whether it's a great book, but I will say that I found myself up too late a few nights in a row with my head all the way up it. Enjoy.

Also, thanks so much for the pod. I've been an FOD since 2016. Wow, OG. I've deeply appreciated the weekly infusion of embarrassing joy into my life through the years and the incredible community of like-minded nerds you've brought together. I've also loved the technical insights on each episode you review. I find that I can always appreciate art a little bit more and I have some understanding of how much work goes into it. And I've learned a lot about the art and science

of filmmaking and acting in between dick jokes. Despite your best efforts, you've made me smarter and more thoughtful through the pod. Impossible. Hope the shows continue to be as fun and fulfilling for you as it is for viewers like me for a long time to come. Thanks again, Hal. Wow. be as fun and fulfilling for you as it is for viewers like me for a long time to come. Thanks again Hal.

Wow. So Hal has included a copy of Heat 2 by Michael Madden and Meg Gardner and I have recently finished Heat 2 and moved on to a book you recently gifted me The Wager which yeah, I am also really enjoying I thought it was a lot of fun and really captured a lot of what I liked about Heat and It's like an interesting story because a lot of it takes place before Heat and a lot of it takes place after Heat I know you and I rewatch Heat fairly regularly But I haven't maybe in in close to a year. Do I need to rewatch it before I get into that book, or can I get right into that book?

You can get right into the book because the first chapter or two are just recounting the events of the movie. Oh cool. If you forgot who Neil McCauley and Chris Jehurlis are, don't worry. Neil's like, you're probably wondering how I ended up out on this LAX runway, holding hands with the guy I just shot. Yeah. You're probably wondering how I ended up with this accent when I come from the Bay area.

Did you see that interview that he did? He was panelling about the Heat universe and no one said it specifically, but and I want to use the word allegedly very liberally in retelling the story, but I think the idea was Al Pacino was doing a lot of cocaine. Yeah. During the production of that movie, getting into the character of a cop who also does a lot of cocaine. I... Allegedly. I think that in reading the novel, I started to understand the two sides of the same coin-ness

of Vincent Hanna and Neil Macaulay more and more, and how the Val Kilmer, Chris Chihurlis character is also very much of the type of man that this movie was exploring the life of and it is the like thrill junkie. Like when, like there's a chapter of this book where like Chris Chihurlis finishes a heist job that they've just done and goes to Vegas just to like plow his way through as many sex workers and drugs and gambles as he can possibly do until the next heist starts. It's like oh because like when he's on the heist he's like clean and focused and you know tight as a drum and then he just

explodes in like total self-destructive madness when he's not doing a heist. Imagine when in between heist and Vegas, he goes to visit a hairstylist, and he, like, points to the picture with the ponytail, and the stylist is like, oh! No one ever points to the ponytail! You really do like living on the edge. Well, this copy of Heat 2 has got your name on it, Adam, since I've already enjoyed my copy. Oh, thanks for that. I look forward to it.

Thanks to Hal for sending it in. Thanks, Hal. Michael Mann didn't try to write a great book, he just wrote a book. And let history and producers with money decide. It should be a movie. It's rhetorical nonsense. This next one is heavy and it says, fragile handle with care. And it's from Clayton out of Rochester, New York. It seems like too small to be booze though, so I don't know what's what's heavy in here

It's not sloshy like booze is it hmm No, it's not sloshy all right, but it might just be totally full booze mmm No, verbal booze Dear Adam and Ben I've been a regular listener since mid-2016, another 2016 year old. When the legend of Jim Shimoda was still in its infancy, I work as a graphic designer for comic books, mainly as a letterer, and your shows have kept me company for many an early morning shift. Thanks to you, not only do I know more about screencraft and the inherent magic of descriptive

nicknames, for example, Khaki Pants Guy, I now add everything bagel seasoning to my sauteed Brussels sprouts, which has been a real game changer in my kitchen. Wow, hell yeah. There you go. If you get one thing out of this show, make it that. As a token of my thanks for the many years of Pod, I've sent you signed hardcover collections of my favorite current jobs, Star Trek and Star Trek colon Defiant.

Star Trek follows the merry adventures of the USS Theseus and her crew headed by Captain Benjamin Sisko? And his first officer, Lieutenant Commander Data? Whoa. What? Defiant, naturally, features the OSS Little D and its captain, Worf? Ooh. And its first officer, Spock?

What? And helmsman, Rowlallin? Rowlallin? ROLAND! ROLAND! ROLAND! ROLAND! ROLAND! ROLAND! These books have been a blast for me to work on and I've heard they're even more fun to read. Should you have the chance to ever read them, I hope you enjoy them. Thanks for everything Clayton. P.S.

Star Trek God Shock is meant to be read before Star Trek Defiant. Now we gotta put those in order. So Clayton has included copies for both of us. Oh, look at those hard covers. Yeah. Star Trek God Shock. Cool. And Star Trek Defiant. Look at that. Look how thrilled Data looks on the cover of Star Trek Defiant. Look at that. Look how thrilled Data looks on the cover of Star Trek

Defiant. He looks so happy to be away from his cat, probably. Wow, and they're even inscribed to us. Neat. This one's to me, Darwin, and to Rone. Excellent. She who is my wife, hands off. Not invited.

These are really gorgeous graphic novels. Oh boy. Full color. Look at this. Look at this stuff. Really gorgeous. Look at Ro Lallen! She's all over this book. Love it. You know she survives this book too because of Star Trek and Colin Picard. Sure do. Oh man some some surprise faces that I shan't reveal as I page through this. I don't want to... no spoilers right? I read an interview with Terry Metallus where he's like you can't prove that I killed Roe Lallen. We never found a body afterward. Maybe she got beamed away before her shuttle crashed. That's what I believe.

Damn. I mean that's canonical trick is that almost every shuttle explosion features somebody materializing on a transporter pad after we saw the shuttle explode, right? I'm a Rolaren truth-er. I think Rolaren is alive. That's why you're the registered owner of Rowlan truth org I am yeah, wow these are so exciting. Thank you Clayton. I'm really looking forward to cracking into those Me too. Thanks

All right next package from Captain Liz Soto out of Winter Garden Florida And we've had a few p1s from Captain Liz Soto out of Winter Garden, Florida. And we've had a few P1s from Captain Liz Soto, if memory serves. Sure have, yeah. Got a letter to Ben and Adam slash Adam and Ben. You be the judge. Got some macaws on a card.

I walked ripply past a house with a macaw just hanging out on a parrot tee that you get at a pet shop. Just right outside the front door of this house. Outside. No cage. No nothing. No net. Wow.

No stress. No seeds. No stems. No sticks. Just chilling No stress, no seeds, no stems, no sticks. Just chillin'. Like a villain? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Strange to see. Wild.

In this neighborhood? I'm surprised nobody has come and jacked that bird. I know. Off! It's hot! Here's our letter. Hi Adam and Ben, Captain Liz Soto here, sending my first code 47. Off! It's hot! Here's our letter. Hi Adam and Ben, Captain Liz Soto here, sending my first code 47.

Your episode on Greatest Trek reviewing SeaQuest might be the funniest pod yet. The next day, he who is my husband was at a flea market and saw this lovely gift enclosed. I demanded he secure it so that it might end up in your hands. I decided to also enclose two beers from my former place of residence in the Chicago suburbs. This beer is from Skeleton Key Brewery, which not only brews fantastic beers, but is also a haven for nerds of all kinds. I cannot tell you how many times I discussed Star Trek with its workers and patrons. This beer is a good porch drinker. The name is a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Hope you enjoy. Captain Lesoto Show me those cans. Dump them out. Are we gonna get censored? Oh, look at those. What is this, a migratory swallow? The toasted coconut golden ale.

My eyes do not deceive me. Look at those beautiful illustrations. I love that drinky bird. You put a little slice of pineapple on the top of that maybe instead of an orange. That sounds great to me. Make your ropes taste great. What we have received in addition to those cans is... Oh!

Darwin happy to be here in this plastic container. I can't believe they made a Darwin action figure. Yeah. Is that like a tub toy? Can you wind him up and have him flipper around in the burbles? Let's see. Press Darwin's fins together,

opening his mouth and emitting dolphin speech. Oh, please do. Please touch him in just the right way, Ben. Open Darwin's mouth and insert, rather than listen for sound. How about Darwin make you make sound? With his giant dolphin cock. He's not making a sound, is he? He's not making a sound.

Oh, he is making a sound. Oh! It's an analog sound. It's not like a battery operated thing. Faster. Darwin likes it fast, but not that fast. When Darwin likes something, you should keep going at the same speed and not faster or slower. Ha ha ha ha ha. Darwin is just saying what you're doing is working. Ha ha ha ha.

I'm done stroking my dolphin. And we just have one package left to get into, Adam. Okay. Of course, we started with postcards, miniature, and then we moved on to regular size. And now this next package is what I would describe as, whoa. I'm so glad you put it that way. Whoa. Any guesses?

So this is from Isaac Jones out of West Lafayette, Indiana. Huh. I'm going to guess a couple of Indiana Slugger baseball bats. Oh yeah. I was thinking maybe Big Phaser. That's like not something that we have to glue together. Does this box slosh? Not here in a slosh.

Okay. Is it cake? Could be cake. Could be like a party sub. Yeah. It's been sitting in the PO box for a really long time. You remember when you could get a party sub? Yeah. Does anyone do that anymore?

Does Mike do that? Is that Mike's way? I wouldn't know, Adam. I have more questions than answers. Yeah. Again, my reputation at the post office is just in the toilet. When I walked in and they were like, yeah, you do have some packages to pick up. Oh no.

And this is what one of them was. I felt really bad. But we pay like, we pay for the big box. You know? I mean, whoever sent it paid for the big box. That's a lot in shipping 8675 just in shipping. Oh My god, so this is a party sub that's just been moldering in here

maggot filled party soap Is kind of a great review for our show Okay kind of a great review for our show. Okay. I'm ready. We have a note. It's very short. Okay. Very surprisingly tiny note given how big this box is. Ben and Adam, viewing your pod has been a fantastic accompaniment to my complete Star

Trek re slash first watch, which has taken me through finishing a PhD, moving across the continent, moving to a different continent, and more television hours than I care to think about. Because of a bad pre-order bit moment, this Star Trek paraphernalia needs a new home, and I couldn't think of a better pair for that to be. Yours, in pod, Isaac Lastnamewithheld. P.S. Thank you also to my mother who helped coordinate shipping these and has also tolerated my and my two brothers nerdy bullshit for more

than 30 years. Mother note, honestly I like Star Trek as well. Where does my son think he got this from? I'm a fellow Trekkie and proud of it. I wonder if the mother works for the post office. Yeah, maybe. Okay. So this interior box, somewhat less enormous than the exterior box. Okay. What's in the box in the box?

What if the end of seven was just like many, many boxes getting slightly smaller around Gwyneth Paltrow's head like hold on there's another box he did like a head shrinker thing yeah Kevin Spacey has become frustration alright here we go alright whoa Here we go. All right. Whoa.

Ooh. Your guess looks pretty close. This is Nerf limited edition Star Trek universe phaser set. Amazing. Wow. I'm probably ruining the value of something that's highly sought after by actually opening this, right? It's a Nerf gun that shoots those little Nerf tubules things?

Yeah. Wow. Man, this is great. It's got switches on it. Does this mean it's electronical? Like a Borgs? Check out the back of that box. There's a Borgs on the back of it. Pretty great. Do I look cool? That looks like a weapon that's been Borg-ified, like half of it in the back.

Yeah, yeah. It's got some Borg. The Borg is creeping up the side of it, it looks like. Yeah. Does it take batteries? What kind of stuff does it shoot? Boy, these are great questions. I wish I had immediate answers.

That looks like an ammo box. Here's a box. Whoa. It has little phaser darts. And so cool. And a Dustuster hand dart shooter Looks like it's a it's a single shot. Hell. Yeah, that thing is great Shoot something out of the big one

I'm worried that I need them Batteries to make the big one go All right. Wow, this is I mean, this is the drunken impulse purchase to end all drunken impulse purchases, right? Absolutely. Wow, look at this. You like, you open up the bottom flap to load the darts. Amazing.

Pretty good stuff. Hey, don't let Darwin eat those bullets. Good thinking. Those seem like any dog would love chomping on those. True, true. Wow. Well, thanks to everyone who sent something in today. Really cool. This was a good haul, right?

Amazingly generous by the friends of DeSoto today. Holy cow. Much apreci. Well, Adam, do you want to get into today's episode? Oh yeah. It is a lot less fun than the Code 47 segment because it's so serious. Fuck. Star Trek Voyager, Season 7, Episode 23.

Homestead. Reaper, course. Unless you've got something a little bigger in your torpedo tubes, I'm not turning them out. Happy First Contact day, Ben. Hey. Hey. A pierogi party.

I can always get down with that. Does first contact day hit a little different when you're in the Delta Quadrant and every day you're making first contact with folks? Like this has got to be like kind of lame to these people, right? Yeah. We do this twice a day sometimes. Can we celebrate like second contact day or something? Like this is a bit much.

Is this a holographic jukebox or did someone build a jukebox the way that Tom Paris has built like CRT televisions that he, that he puts in his quarters? Like the mystery of the jukebox is a thing, I think. I think that, yeah, must be built out of replicated parts or something like that. You know, there's someone on the crew that likes monopolizing the jukebox the way I like to at a bar with one of those

app-based jukebox things. Sure, yeah. You wanna keep all the morons out of the playlist by dominating it yourself. I've seen you spend like stupid money keeping the morons away from the jukebox. It's worth it to me to be in a dive bar that's playing my music.

I got a question. We've always talked lovingly about how adorable Star Trek can be and where it chooses to spend and save its money. Is this the fault of Roy Orbison, the estate of Roy Orbison that they couldn't Ooby Dooby this scene? I was wondering if this was like a watching Baywatch on Amazon Prime situation where maybe it was Ooby Dooby when they broadcast it, but they I'm wondering if this was like a watching Baywatch on Amazon Prime situation, where maybe it was Ooby Dooby when they broadcast it,

but they didn't cover the rights for other media. There's no Ooby Dooby in the reruns, is there? No Ooby Dooby. You get the first time playwrights and that's it. Yeah. No one's paying for poop- No one's paying for poop-a-tooty around here. No one's paying for perpetuity around here. Hey, Neelix, when somebody doesn't want to take the floor, when somebody doesn't want

to give a speech, don't make them give a speech. Nothing worse than a person giving the floor under duress, right? I think Neelix is wrong if he thinks that the length of this presentation has anything to do with how willing Tuvok should be to do it. Because once you see it, you're like, oh, that's all it is? Live long and prosper. Not a big deal, Tuvok. Yeah.

He also tries to pimp Tuvok into dancing and he will not. What is tradition? There is no tradition, Mr. Neelix. Seems pretty close to being a situation where the captain is going to order Tuvok to dance like nobody's watching, but Chakotay marches in and has some interesting news about something that they've picked up on sensors. Am I remembering this correctly from the end of Star Trek First Contact or is this Mandela effect? Does the Vulcan dance at the very end? Like when drunk-ass Zefram Cochrane starts

the Ooby Dooby song again and starts like staggering around. Yeah, but I think the Vulcan is just standing there. But is he drinking? I know he's doing something. Yeah, I think they the Vulcan is just standing there. But is he drinking? I know he's doing something. Yeah, I think they do give him some booze. Okay. All right. Yeah. And I guess in this scene, Tuvok's doing the same. He's not doing the dancing, but he is doing the drinking. So we learned that there's some Tlaxians whose life signs have been picked up nearby and they're not picking up the phone. And on the view screen, we see that there's an asteroid field ahead and it's too dense to take the

whole ship in. So they're going to go in, in the Delta Flyer to investigate. And it turns out these Tlaxians live inside a rock! Rock! Inside a rock! Rock! Inside a rock! Rock! As much as we talked about it not being cool to pimp people into doing things, I was really hoping you'd do that. How about Neelix here? As soon as they pick up these folks, we cut over to the bridge after the theme. And like the bridge folks are doing bridge work. They got this handled and there's Neelix all up in their business, like asking questions repeatedly about stuff folks are already doing.

Are we there yet? No response from Hales. Can we move in any closer? And is this a new knee length, Kuji sweater he's wearing? Like for Easter? This seems like the jacket a mom would wear on Easter Sunday, like the special Easter jacket. Right. Yeah. And you're like, that must have been expensive because it looks like really intricate and we're never going to see it again. So what's the deal? Where did mom find $700 to go to Macy's? Did she have a Macy's credit card?

And she wouldn't get me new shoes for school? What the hell? My shoes are duct taped shut. Shoes for school? What the hell? My shoes are duct taped shut. I haven't taken them off my feet in weeks. What are rebonds? All the kids are making fun of me. Paris stares out at this asteroid field and he's like, you know we can't take the ship in there, but we do have the Delta Flyer. Smash cut to Delta flyer.

And, uh, you know, it's, it's Neelik's on an away mission with Tuvok in Paris. And it sort of seems like they're getting shot at cause there's like explosions going off all around them. And they're like, damn, like these Tlaxians are not picking up the phone and are maybe shooting at us, but the emergency landing that they are forced to make happens to be on the rock that these Tlaxians live in. The crash on a rock, rock! Rock!

The crash landing, we get this like cool over the top shot of them skidding, but then I was like, I was kind of disappointed that it didn't have any landing skids. Nothing can get deployed to protect the hull of the ship when they do one of these. Voyager herself has landing skids. Yeah. If you're Tom Paris building your hot rod in the shuttle bay, how are you not informed by that somehow as an inspiration?

Yeah. So in the ass lab, Janeway gets the bad news about the explosions that they've detected inside this asteroid field and orders a rescue team, but they got to modify the shields on a brat first. Just telling it saves your money, buster. Oh, you think we should modify the shields to do better against an asteroid field? You think so, doctor? Maybe we should have done that before launching the flyer. I guess they want the shields to hold up against whatever mining equipment this is, right?

Yeah, well, we don't know that it's mining equipment yet. Is this ever clear? Like, transport yourself to the very end of this episode. After you've seen weapons fire from these aliens, it all looks like mining equipment. Is this Everclear? I will buy you an asteroid where your flowers can bloom. Or does it go a little bit differently? There's so many great Everclear songs. I don't know what direction to take it.

So Neelix wakes up and this is maybe the most shocking sci-fi image we've gotten in Star Trek, period. Because Star Trek has been at such great pains to establish what a pillow might look like in the future. And Neelix wakes up on a completely normal pillow. Like a regular pillow, you could go to Target right now and buy the pillow that Neelix wakes up with his hat on. The prop masters working through the list of things needed for season seven, episode 23. And they're like working through the list of things needed for season 7 episode 23

and they're like going through the warehouse like Where the fuck? Are all of our weird Star Trek pillows Do people think they could just walk off set with all the shit now that we're at the end of the series? God fucking where is Garrett Wong? Garrett get your ass down here and bring the pillows. Of course it's locked in. Do it.

Listen to me very carefully because I'm only going to say this once. Do it. So they sent a PA to Target to get a pillow and Neelix wakes up and there is a lady Tlaxian ministering to him. Her name is Dexa and get the feeling right off the bat that she does not care for the fact that he showed up with non-Tlaxian aliens on her doorstep. There's kind of two energies here at once, right?

There's, as you say, the anti whoever those other guys are energy, but there's also a very real, I don't care that you're a Tilaxian like me kind of vibe coming from her. That is only coming from Neelix. Did you think that this was going to become space misery? Yes. Yes, because not only is she like not really able to deal with any of Neelix's guff, but like there is kind of a dark energy with her. Yeah.

Like a lot of people probably treat Neelix the first way, right? Just in the, God, can you just give me my bowl of whatever so I can go sit down and take my lunch break? Yeah. She seems to be kind of withholding a lot of information, not answering any of his questions, not asking him any questions. Becomes clear that these people are pretty much isolationists and that the explosions that the Delta Flyer experienced were mining explosives,

but she doesn't offer whether those were Tlaxian miners or someone else. Like we don't get much information at all, but we do meet Brax, her son. Speaking of miners. Hmm. He is in big trouble for being there. I told you not to come in here.

He doesn't look dangerous to me. Does she have like kind of a brig area inside her quarters? Could you ever quite figure out what this was? Like if you don't want your kid playing with the prisoner, maybe you shouldn't have a prison cell inside your room. Yeah. Don't take the kid to work. If you work as like a corrections officer. Yeah.

Uh, kind of a surprise to Neelix that he's not allowed to leave. And he's been in a brig the whole time. Don't even think about anybody coming for you. Another surprise had to have been when he thought he was being fed a communion wafer and instead she just puts it on his head. It looks soggy. Oh, the host? I'm familiar with this. Not familiar with this. I mean, I have seen a pile of wet communion wafers, but that was a very long time ago in a very different situation.

Are you suggesting some type of Tlaxian Catholic okey-cokey scenario? I am. That's the picture I painted. Wow. You're welcome. There's no show in the history of podcasting that could come up with an image like that. And yet we did. podcasting that could come up with an image like that. And yet we did. We cut over to the Voyager bridge and Janeway is kind of explosive in her impatience, right?

Can we please start the rescue mission now? Not pleased with this situation. She gets word that the shuttle that they're modifying is about ready. Chikote is going to lead the away mission. And he's like kind of on his way off the bridge when they hear from commander Nokana, who is, I don't know, is this like a military mining operation? He seems to be the head of the mining ship. We got to describe what this guy looks like.

He has very unique loaf. describe what this guy looks like. He has very unique loaf. He kind of looks like if you took a picture of a disco ball from far away and then you zoomed in until the photograph started to kind of fall apart. That's what his face looks like. Yeah. Blurry disco ball loaf in a dark room, you know, not reflecting a ton of light back at the camera. No. Old dirty disco ball. Which is probably like on the working names that old dirty bastard was writing, right?

They're like, so what do you do here? And he's like, well, I'm here mining. Oh baby, I like it. Oh baby, I like it. Or oh, baby, I like it. Or. You know, it's great. Here's a little behind the pod. Ben needed no time to do that.

That was straight pimpin by me. Shimmie, shimmie, y'all shimmie. Yeah, shimmie. Yay. Give me an or so I could take it away. So pretty contentious conversation where Janeway's like, we're sending people in there to get our people out.

Can you please stop blowing everything up while they do that? And he's like, no can do. We're on a timeline. Good luck. We don't stop mining for you or anybody. And like, stay out. If we come across him, we'll call you, was kind of the deal, even though Janeway wanted

to go in herself. Yeah. Janeway's not listening to this guy. We cut back to the asteroid where Neelix gets another visit from Brax, a little kid who is very curious about this outsider. Neelix is doing that, the nicest prisoner routine, the way you have to if you don't want to be executed or tortured.

Right. Which doesn't seem to be on the table at this point, but maybe Brax is kind of a part of it in a dark way. I feel like you get the kid on your side early and often if you're in jail and there's a kid around because that kid might be persuaded to grab the jailer's keys or something. You just cultivate that as an option. Neilix is like, hey, Brax, I'm pretty hungry in here. You have any more of those communion wafers? And Brax goes under his bed and takes out a shoe box full of them.

You wouldn't believe how popular this was on Reddit once. In walks his mom, uh oh, and a guy named Oxelon, who is described as a council regent, so he's got some political power here. And he tells Neelix, hey, you're free to go. And so are Paris and Tuvok. And they're over in the Delta Flyer kind of digging it out from the rocks, getting it ready for departure. There's something so weird about the energy of this scene too. Like, really? Yeah. It's going to be that easy?

We have determined that they came in peace, but we don't really like talking to outsiders So the sooner you guys all get out of here the better You're free to go and the elix is like, okay Well, I'm outie 5000 if you guys don't want to hang with my it's like, you know If if you want to be my Tlaxi and you got to get with my friends If you're not going to then I'm leaving my friends. And if you're not going to, then I'm leaving. Yeah. If you don't like me at my this, and he points to himself with a wet communion wafer on his forehead.

Then you don't deserve me at my this, and he points to the shoe box. We learn a little bit more about the asteroid on the walk. We get like a view of the inside of this cavern and we learned that about 500 Tlaxians live here. I'm just like immediately thinking about like, this is going to get like real inbred real quick. Like if people in Iceland have to have an app to tell them whether they're fucking their cousin or not A totally isolated community of 500 Tlaxians is in rough shape

How many fucking umlauts are in the name of that application? So many This is one of those situations that you hear about, like when the wagon trains went west, you disassemble the wagons when you get there and you start building your helms out of them. Right? Like this is that, like they had a bunch of ships. They tore apart the ships that they landed and that's what they built their base from. I thought it was surprising how curious they were about news from far away. Like, they weren't like, hey, like, what's going on with Talax?

Like, can you tell us anything about your adventures? Like, nobody wants to know anything from Neelix. I was really confused about that myself. And if you're a group of 500, like, you know when there's a new kid. No one cares. They'd walk past him without glancing. a group of 500, like, you know when there's a new kid. No one cares. They walk past him without glancing. No one's treated Neelix this coldly

since he started telling people his girlfriend was three years old or something. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Those were very dark times for Neelix.

Ha ha ha ha. You were. Those were very dark times for Neelix. You were. I've got to get that latinum. Get that gold by the lodgeman's cake. I've got to get that latinum. We're not selling a heist. Gold? Are you looking for the perfect gift to celebrate the moms in your life?

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you like the sound of everyone's voices. My voice is one of the sounds you'll hear on the podcast, Dr. Game Show. And this is the voice of co-host and fearless leader, Joe Firestone. This is a podcast where we play games submitted by listeners and we play them with callers over Zoom we've never spoken to in our

lives. So that is basically the concept of this show. Pretty chill. So take it or leave it, bucko. And here's what some of the listeners have to say. It's funny, wholesome, and it never fails to make me smile. I just started listening and I'm already binging it. I haven't laughed this hard in ages. I wish I discovered it sooner. You can find Dr. Game Show on maximumfun.org. Video games can make you laugh. They can make you cry. They can even make you sing. We're the hosts of TripleClick.

It's a podcast about video games. This is an exciting time for new games from Diablo to Final Fantasy. From Starfield to Street Fighter. From Zelda to, oh, who are we kidding? We're just gonna talk about Zelda. Whether you play games or you just like hearing about them, we've got you covered.

Find us at MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Bye. One-armed country, puppy fur, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. Dexa mentions that her husband is dead, so she's available. And he gets back to the flyer and they get to work. And Neelix is really bummed out about the way that all went.

I guess my expectations were a little high. He was really excited to see some of his peeps and that was not quite the warm welcome one would hope for. Dex, uh... This is like the first time you bring a girlfriend to hang out with your guy friends and they just n nope out immediately. This moment when Neelix introduces Paris and Tuvok to her, and I don't even think she says anything.

I think she just leaves. Yeah. Oof. That's rough. And he talks about like, this is probably the last time I'll see anybody else that's the same species as me. Yeah. Later on the car alarm goes off on the Delta Flyer and who could it be but Brax hanging

in the closet area? I won a lot of money on this bet. Yeah. Brax is just so fucking curious. Yeah. Yeah. He wants to see Voyager. He doesn't want to be narked out to his mom.

So when Neelix walks him home, he doesn't really get that opportunity because he interrupts a scene where Nikona is having an interaction with Dexa and the rest of the folks about like, he's basically slapped a notice of demolition on their base. And he's like, you all gotta get out of here

because we're gonna start mining this one. You are being given three days to evacuate and it gets pretty heated. Like there's like a moment where some shoving and pushing gets done and Neelix like grabs a gun from a guy and just like. You've said what you've come to say. Now I suggest you get the fuck out!

How does this not get way worse than it gets? Like, Neelix holds a gun on these folks and he's not in trouble for it. Yeah, that he took from one of them. Nobody ever brings this up after. Like, hey, Neelix, maybe not a great idea to grab the strap from the cop and like wave it around in the subway station. This has got to absolutely flood Dexa's basement and foot basement here, right?

To watch this guy start kicking some ass because Dexa in the argument scene was the one riding for how unjust this was. Like she was the most aggressive in that scene. She wants to fight back against Nokana and his people. And Oxalan and the sort of consensus among the rest of the Tlaxians is that fighting back is bad and is going to lead to bad outcomes for them. And Neelix is like, well, I'm also anti, you know, shoot first, but

I wish you would come visit Voyager with me because my captain is solid in the diplomacy department and is like a sort of disinterested third party and maybe she can help you guys get a deal with these guys. And it seems like the Tlaxseans are like open to this suddenly. We cut back to Voyager where it's take your new Tlaxsean kid to work day. Neelix is kind of doing the tour. The tour you feel like he's good at giving. Yeah. And this whole introduction to the crew people and their stations concludes with a, so what station is yours?

Question being floated to Neelix in a totally heartbreaking way. God. This scene was written so well because the way Kim and Chakote jump in and are total bros for him, like just gassing him up completely. Oh man. Like it actually makes him misty. It's amazing. They wingman him so hard here, he's far too versatile to have just one station.

Brax is like, well, he does a lot of things, but... and then he points to behind Neelix. What does that guy do? I mop up the messes! That's my ward and only job. You might wonder why these guys have sewage running out of a pipe into this section of the bridge over here and I have wondered that myself many times but I don't ask questions I keep those questions inside. Just do my job. No one asked but I'm gonna tell ya, my favorite way to pee at a baseball game is giant shared trough urinal.

That means one pipe going in, one pipe going out. Something kinda poetic about being a big fan of the team and having your piss mixed with the piss of all the other friends. It's sort of a feeling of piss solidarity. Anyways, what kind of sewage situation you guys got over there on that rock? What kind of yertle you all got? Got a little Spike Jones at the end. This tour doesn't end on the bridge, which kind of seems like the place it would end.

No, yeah. Maybe it begins there. They take it over to the ass lab next, where Seven shows them a picture of Talax. I also remembered this incorrectly. I thought Talax was gassed and bombed by their enemies. Was it like a moon or like another planet that they also had that got Metreon cascaded? That's what I thought. Maybe it wasn't the home world. It was just maybe Talaxians at another place got done like that. But it's still occupied by some like despotic other kind of alien. So they can't go back,

but they get to see a picture of Talax, which is like kind of an interesting moment because this was also played for like a important thing to the Voyager crew recently where they got live footage of Earth. But like, wouldn't these people have pictures of Talax? Like they don't need to see an image of it, right? And I think they left like five years ago.

So yeah, I remember. Yeah. We all remember. We were there. Brax wants to go to there very specifically, but it's clear that's just in the other direction, kid. So the most awkward situation ever happens in the next scene in the corridor, because... You do not want your new kid friend to meet your old kid friend.

That's what happens here when they run into Naomi Wildman. Oh, I forgot about our cutoddiscot game. Ha ha. Naomi, you said we were on a break, right? From Coddiscot? Yeah. Why are you acting so weird, Naomi? You wanted this, remember? Naomi invites Brax on what sort of sounds like a holodeck date. Yeah.

Kind of seems that way. Yeah. That sort of gets them out of the episode for quite a while. That frees Neelix and Dexa up for some one-on-one hangs, which they have in some very dark quarters. Yeah. Neelix is pouring from a bottle of the good stuff while they eat what look like hotel desserts You know the kind I'm talking about right like like perfectly round and layered and and dusted with powdered sugar

Yeah, I was also just stressed seeing the liquid go into this glass because the glass is at such a severe angle Yeah, that thing is gonna tip over man at such a severe angle. Yeah. Like that thing is gonna tip over, man. Hey, careful, man. There's a beverage here. Neelich really puts the moves on Dexa here. Does he?

I felt like he was trying to wine and dine her a little bit. Then what do you make of the scene at the very end where he's like, oh, I gotta go early morning or whatever. Think he lost the nerve, man. I mean, I think maybe like the conversation having dipped into the story of her husband dying made him think like, maybe tonight is not the night. Yeah, I mean, here's a little advice for Dexa too.

Like be a little less thirsty than my son hasn't been this happy since his father was still alive. Like, dial it down a bit. Yeah. Neelix's excuse to get out of doing it is, big day tomorrow, W slash R slash T diplomacy. So I gotta rest up.

And we get this diplomatic conference where we learn that Nacona just wants the ore. That's all he cares about. And Neelix offers like, Hey, what about all of this energy that the Tilaquseids are making using geothermals? They could share that with you. And he's like, what mean share, Rambo? Oxalon sitting next to Neelix like, did I give you power to negotiate here? What the fuck are you talking about? You're gonna give away our energy?

I don't have that much. What are you talking about? Objection noted, we'll do this without you. Do it. Do it. Do it. Objection noted, we'll do this without you. Do it.

Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. In the mess hall, Naomi tells Brax and Deska about the Tuvix episode in a way that I think to Dexa would make Neelix completely unattractive forever and always. And once, there was a transporter accident. Neelix and Commander Tuvok got combined to make a completely different person. It is really weird to hear that, like it's an amusing anecdote.

Yeah. Doesn't anyone see that this is wrong? It truly is. And of all the moments for Neelix to walk in. Yeah. How many conversations do you think Neelix walks in on that are about Tuvix? Far more than Tuvok walks in on, I think.

Maybe that explains the cold treatment that he experienced over on the asteroid. Like somehow even they knew. This guy doesn't seem all right. Sort of seems like he Tu he too fixed at some point. So he takes Dexa off to the side and he's like, hey, so negotiation went fine, I suppose. Look, here's the news. They did not agree to any of the terms. What they did agree to is maybe extending the deadline a little bit. And also Janeway said she'd be happy to ferry y'all and all

of your gear to the nearest M-class planet. So that's a good deal, right? But Brax is fucking pissed at this. Yeah. What's Brax upset about? You get a whole planet now instead of a cave. Instead of a fucking rock. You can't play stickball in a cave, Brax.

We saw where you live, Brax. You live in a prison. Was Neelix staying in your room, Brax? Maybe that's why he wants to go with Neelix, because he's like, my bed smells. Yeah, weird energy to that scene too. Yeah, so in the ass lab, Neelix is having a conversation with Tuvok

and Tuvok starts to gas him up about, you know, you've got a lot of potential and I really think it's being squandered here on this ship. And maybe if you moved on and weren't on this ship anymore, you could really blossom into the man that you were always destined to become. Have you ever given that much thought, Nelix? Like, not being here all the time?

I thought for a moment that this behavior was unusual until I thought back to the other moments that Tuvok has been really encouraging of Nelix to go do something. Like board the Borgs ship first and maybe maybe give that weird Borgs guy that they created in a test tube a tour or or maybe be the test pilot for the Delta Flyer or... I feel like the energy between Neelix and Tuvok for the entire series has been Neelix wanting to be friends with Tuvok but also like never getting too close to like the edge of a cliff when Tuvok is in shoving distance. Like if Tuvok could bump him off, you kind of feel like he might.

You do have some annoying habits. How badly does Tuvok never want to dance? That... This is like, have you ever been to a wedding that you didn't want to dance at so bad that you suggested that the entire wedding pick up and move to another place? So that they left you alone about the dancing thing? That's what's happening here in this scene.

Yeah. Hey, can you play like some 90s rock as the playlist so that I don't have any pressure on me to get up and move? Yeah. What a thing. So, Neelix goes back to the asteroid and kind of pitches the gang on this idea he's had about building shields that would protect their asteroid

from these aliens that are trying to get rid of them. And they're initially, like, kind of resistant to the idea of fighting, but he kind of persuades them, hey, it's time. Like you guys have been kicked around across the entire quadrant. It's time to draw a line on the regolith. He's stolen some items from Dr. Mark and he like points to the screen like, this is how we assemble a nerve agent.

Like, Neelix goes completely dark here. You're gonna get these guys breaking their own backs and vomiting out their internal organs in two seconds flat once you release this under their mining ships. But that's after your skin melts off. Oh my god. after your skin melts off. My God. Nelix gets to make out with Dexa, and then they start the run where the plan is that they're shooting shield emitters down at the surface of the asteroid, and Nelix is like flying cover

with his ship. I love this plan, right? It's cool. Like you think of this potato shaped asteroid, it doesn't have shields, it needs emitters. You're not just going to walk out there in your space boots and drop these emitters around. You're going to shoot the emitters from a ship to get coverage. It's great.

And so the mining ship comes in and starts shooting at them and they're shooting at the ship so they're like dropping bombs on the surface of the asteroid and there's like bangers going off inside the asteroid and they've got two emitters left and Neelix gets his weapons offline and it kind of looks like he's ready to like jump in the path of a bullet to save the ship that is depositing the shield emitters when oh yeah the Delta Flyer comes in, gets involved, even though technically it's a Prime Directive violation, they're just coming to the aid of a friend. For some reason, Janeway's on the flyer.

There's coffee helping a friend in distress. Pretty great moment. They get the shield up around the asteroid, and Neelix says his goodbyes to the last Tlaxians he'll ever meet. How surprised were you at how abrupt this goodbye was? Dexa who kissed him goodbye before he went on the mission doesn't even get anything when Neelix turns and walks away out of this scene.

What the hell kind of exit was that Neelix turns and walks away out of this scene. Yeah. What the hell kind of exit was that, Neelix? At least rubber feet or something. Yeah. We cut over to Voyager where Naomi Wildman is doing her homework, gets a visit from Neelix. And Neelix, she's too cool for your childish games or your childish stories. She's an adult now. Your job is over. She basically tells him to fuck off.

Not a little girl anymore. It's rough. Maybe the coolest Naomi Wildman scene we've ever gotten. Wow. So he goes to the mess hall to have a sad by himself. And guess who's there? Captain Janeway.

He's like, I used to have two kid friends and now I've none. And, uh, Catherine Janeway has a similar pitch to Tuvok. Like maybe it'd be best if you got off here. Do you know why this is the best coffee I've ever had in the mess hall, Neelix? It's because I made it myself. Make it yourself. You've never gotten the grounds ratio right. I know that this is the last time I'll ever have coffee with you.

But that might be a sacrifice I'd be willing to make. I really like how this scene is written because Neelix can't put the words together to tell her what he wants to do. And so it's sort of career suicide by Captain that happens here because she's like, here's an idea. Dequad diplomat. It's an assignment that he takes. He said, yes.

And we find this out by an edit where he pops out of a turbo lift and starts walking down a hallway with a surprisingly small bag. Maybe all of his other stuff got moved over to his ship and flown over to the asteroid or something. Is the reason why I've never left a place of long-term employment and received a completely silent standard detention ceremony where every coworker lines the halls on my way out the door. Is it because I've left on bad terms?

Yeah. My last time leaving a place of work, it was kind of the opposite. It was like a security guy with a roll in his neck, watching my every move as I emptied out my desk. What a moment. They empty out every uniform they've got, every extra, every crew person I read dressed up for this scene. It was good. Yeah.

It was really sweet. I genuinely got goosebumps watching this. Tuvok even cuts the tiniest bit of rug by way of farewell. Neelix is like, I left my recipe book in the mess hall for you to keep using. Jenua is like,

oh, thanks. And when Neelix leaves, they shoot it out the back of the ship. Destroy it with torpedoes. The honey, I'm home moment. Yeah. When Neelix shows up, like, is he like the father of this family now? That moved so fast.

Oh! That moved so fast. It moved especially fast for a Neelix that did not seem willing or able to kiss Dexa when he left her earlier. When are they gonna kiss again, do you think? How long is that gonna take? Shit is awkward. I don't know, I kind of feel like sex died

in this relationship. Pfft. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Uh... Did you like this episode, Adam? You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time. But I don't like bullying. I don't like friends. And I don't like you. I miss you. I'm gonna answer your question with a question. And that question is gonna be one that I've asked in so many episodes that we've watched together of Star Trek Voyager. Do you wish Neelix died this episode?

Because I think it would have been better than the weird final scene that we got with a maybe family, maybe not family that he gets. Like he could have died a hero here. And instead of the wordless standard attention ceremony, like which is a great scene in Star Trek, like I love that moment. Instead you get a fucking torpedo scene and a funeral.

Give me funeral of Neelix. I think I'd feel a little more there for that. I kind of wish he was dead. Wow. That's my review. I'd like to see that on the memory alpha website under reception. I kind of like writing a character off a show not killing them. All right. I feel like that's the rarer choice for a TV writer's room. So I'm, I guess I'm into it from that perspective. I did feel like it moved really fast and like that last scene did clang for me just

in the context of how cold these people had been up until then. If he kissed her before he left her in the scene before, I think the last scene is so much better. Yeah. But the turn and walk away kind of destroyed the final scene. Yeah. Yeah.

Or if the turn and walk away was a, I can't even look at you, I'm so sad right now. Right. Like if it's that kind of turn and walk away, like I get it. Right. But you don't get that. Yeah, I think they kind right now. Like if it's that kind of turn and walk away, like I get it. Right. But you don't get that. Yeah, I think they kind of missed the mark with that. So yeah, I mean, I'm also just like, honestly a little sad that Neelix doesn't get all the way with them. Like, I sort of wonder

where the thinking was, like, did they have some plan for this character or did they like, where the thinking was like, did they have some plan for this character or did they like, why did the writers room confront the idea of like, is everybody going to make it home and decide like, Lieutenant Kerry and Neelix are the characters that we're going to get off the show before the end of the series. Like what was behind that decision? I don't feel like there's like a satisfying

like arc to that answer. Something doesn't hang together with the whole preferring the inside of an asteroid to an entire M-class planet situation either. Right. The briefest of lip services paid to the whole like, well, if you're around any sort of warp capable species,

you may be in danger. Who the fuck wants to live inside of an asteroid the rest of their life versus like, under the sky of an M class planet? This seems like a step backwards for Neelix. Neelix a guy who rarely if ever talked about how much he missed the company of his own people and all the time talked about how happy it made

him feel to be around the Voyager crew and to be exploring things and providing for them. I don't know. It seems like a change in direction for him too, that doesn't feel true to his interests or sensibilities. I feel sad for him. It feels like a step back. It does, yeah. I can understand the idea of this is a community that I feel at home in, but I just don't feel like they did enough to establish that for the character.

So yeah, I mean, there's a lot I like about this episode, but that is the big question that hangs over it for me. If it's death or asteroid, death every time. I pick P1 every time. Adam, you want to go check the inbox? Ben, our P1 inbox is stuffed. Sure is. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secure Channel.

Need a supplemental income. Supplemental income. Supplemental. Supplemental. Yeah, it's extra. By the interest alone, could be enough to buy this ship. And our first priority one message is of a promotional nature. It goes like this. Thank you for sharing your embarrassment. It's helped me embrace mine.

I was the one who submitted the verbose printed note during the LA show Skipping reading it was fair Ben got the new burn reference. That was enough still Maybe it's a story FODs might like to hear Parasocial bias notwithstanding. I thought you might enjoy it, too. It's a big ask But could you read it during this p1? Maybe it's cheating the system, but the link follows. Wait a second. Oh my God. Do you remember like a densely written share your embarrassment message written not on

the cards we provided during the live shows, but on its own piece of paper? I do remember that. And our live stream of that show, that specific show, is coming out really soon. So people can actually see what this P1 is talking about if they get tickets to that. Ben, it's not that long. I'm gonna go ahead and read it. Wow! I'm eight or nine years old. Bullied. Nerdy. Different. Longing to fit in. It's a big reason why Star Trek appealed to me. The school bus was special torture. When not being picked on, I was surrounded by conversations that I had no hope of contributing to.

I was mostly content to stare into the middle distance or count window boogers. One day I saw my chance. I'm distracted from my snot tally when I hear a few older kids talking about that episode with the boy and the giant Computer that controlled everything. Oh Yeah, that was cool. Someone said they think something I like and know so much about is cool Do they want to know more about Star Trek TNG season 1 episode 17 when the bow breaks? Easy, Jay, It could be a trap Just to keep it to yourself someone else asks

What was the name of the smart kid? Now is my chance Leslie crusher is my guy and I love this episode I'll answer the question share my track knowledge gain their respect a shout out in a slush That's Wesley Crusher. They were on that planet Aldea and the computer controlled everything. It's called the Custodian.

Record scratch, abrupt silence and stares. Maybe they were thinking of some follow-up questions. I prepared to treat them to a brief episode synopsis when the biggest kid points directly at me and yells His name is custodian custodian All the other kids start pointing and repeatedly yelling custodian custodian

I'm less upset about the mocking more upset that they didn't understand characters name Was Wesley Crusher? about the mocking and more upset that they didn't understand that the character's name was Wesley Crusher. Custodian became my nickname for the remainder of elementary school. Wow. At least there was a door with my name on it outside the cafeteria. Signed J, last name redacted, the custodian. That is fucking savage.

Buses were also not friendly places for me on my transit to school. Yeah. I think it's one of the reasons my ears look the way they do. You get boxed a lot? Yeah. Bad times. Yeah, man. That's rough, Jay.

I feel your pain, and I hope you feel like you've grown stronger for the sharing. Something about kids where, like, if a kid that you think is less cool than you says something, like, it doesn't seem like there's any kid that can resist just, like, abandoning, liking something if a less cool also likes it. Yeah. I hope that's not true anymore. Like, like is that like our era of kid or is that a like universal kid experience? God I really hope to Rona's cool life is not easy for the uncool Yeah, and he seems pretty cool to me, but I'm biased yeah our next p1 is from boogans

It's to Romulan Cromulus Seems pretty cool to me, but I'm biased. Our next P1 is from Boogans. It's two Romulan Cromulus. Goes like this. I am betting you $2,000. Ben and Adam will utter the phrase, shoplifting the pooty in their review of season seven, episode 22, Homestead. I can't believe you've never seen Jerry Maguire.

This seems to me like a losing bet. Did either of us say that this episode? I didn't shoplift the pootie. No, but didn't I just say it? I guess the question is, does this still count as the review or are the P1s outside of the review? You know, like Romulan crimeulas might have an appeal if Buggins is trying to like enforce that having read the P1, I satisfied

the terms of their bet, but I just, I'm not prepared to rule on that. I don't know. I don't want to get involved in a bet of this magnitude. I'm content to call it a push. Yeah. $2,000. That's big money. It is. All right. We're going to let you work that out for yourselves. Then our final priority one message is from Michael. It's to you and me. That message goes like this. I just wanted to get this message to celebrate the end of a year-long effort to come current on the greatest gen

Before the end of Voyager Wow My wife was starting to get concerned that I was doing myself harm by listening to many episodes per week But see honey, I survived Ben and Adam, thanks for the great pod Just cut to a shot of Michael dead on the side of a ditch. Having boxed his own ears to death. Like it was like literally like the last 15 seconds of our previous episode that did it. That'll do.

No, I can't do it anymore. No! Well, we hope our priority one messages never end you can go to maximum fun orgs last Jumbotron to put your words into our mouths and help us adjudicate very high dollar value bets between you and your friends and they Will go a long way in helping us make this show certainly do Hey Adam, what's up Ben? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda!

I'm just gonna give this one to Neelix on his way out the door. I'm just gonna honor him with a Shimoda for making a decision that we talked about we don't quite understand. Seems very unmotivated here. It was a real chaos choice. that we talked about, we don't quite understand. Seems very unmotivated here. It was a real chaos choice. Yeah, I was really tempted to give it to Tuvok for very nakedly advocating the guy he hates the most

to leave the ship, but I think you're right. I think we've gotta give it to Neelix for making choices that just feel so unmotivated. Do you think there was any consideration given to having a sort of like Tuvok takes Neelix around the corner where the procession can't see and like opens up a holodeck door. And it is like the dirty Vegas days go by video, like Tim Russ puts down the length of cardboard and he starts the most complicated, amazing pop and lock break dance sequence like you've ever seen, like in full uniform, like legs and arms and like this thing. Like doing all of it.

How much would you have loved that? And would it have worked because no one else can see? I think that could have stayed. You know, cut something like that out. That would have been amazing. RSVP and Elix. Mars, VP, and Elix. Who, in the last scene, isn't dead, but I think you can assume, is gonna be pretty fast after... Ha ha ha ha.

He comes to terms with his circumstances. Yeah. What do... Like, what guarantee do they have that these shields are going to be the thing that permanently protects this asteroid from these miners? Uh, we heard this asteroid has a very high dollar value. They can bill me. I really do feel like there's a chance that they left him to his certain death. Yeah, no question. Ben, will we find certain death during our next episode?

Remains to be seen. Why don't you tell us about what that episode is while I go over to the Game of Buttholes to see if we somehow land on the Death Square. Our next episode is Season 7, Episode 24, Renaissance Man. Janeway is held hostage by aliens who force the doctor to help them steal Voyager's warp core. Wow. They're gonna need that to get home. That is a surprising twist for the penultimate episode of a show. Ben over at the Game of Buttholes, the Will theaker. We're on the first row. Square four, to be precise.

A roll of a six would take us to the caretaker. That could send us anywhere. That would be fucking wild. You're required to learn as you play. Roll. That would be wild. See where we go next. Ben I've rolled a three.

Chula! Did I win? Hardly. Which has landed us on square seven. It's a regular old episode. The Caretaker Square remains just ahead. Damn. In what would be an amazing coincidence

if we somehow landed on it for the finale. Stakes is high. Yeah. Wow. Well, we spent a little bit of time at the end of the last episode talking about the way the game of buttholes will be modified when we move on to start covering Star Trek colon enterprise. And you had pitched something called the bacula modifier in which if we land on a square that one or the other of us does not want to do, one can invoke the Baccala modifier and we watch a episode of Quantum Leap instead.

I have a slight tweak on this premise that I wanted to run by you. Can I note the name of this before you tell me about the tweak? Sure. Because this thing sort of takes over, maybe steals the energy of the show, the life force, if you will, we could call it the Baccala Dracula. Okay. So, my pitch for the new name is the game of buttholes, the quantum of solace. I love it. And if we hit a square that one or the other of us doesn't want to do, we can not do the thing

that the square would otherwise force us to do. And I think that the thing that we still need to figure out is there should be more squares that have more bad things on them. Oh yeah. But the quantum of solace square forces us to record an episode about Quantum Leap for the bonus feed as the payment for not doing the bad thing. Okay.

Works for me. So these would be extra bonus episodes that we would have to do on top of our regular workload. And on top of the already scheduled bonus episodes that we do every month? Exactly. But... God damn it. But I think it kind of works the way Quantum League works, right? Why do we have to punish ourselves so much?

That's what's fun about this! You're a dirty, dirty punishment boy, aren't you? Yeah. You like it, don't you? I fucking love this shit. If that's something that you would like, get into our socials. We're all over the place. Yeah, let us know. Make a TikTok about it. I'm sure that website still exists. Yeah. Yeah.

All right, Adam. I think we should probably leave it there. Looking forward to next week. But we just got a couple of thanks to do before we get out of here. Got to thank Windy Pretty, Rob Adler, and Bill Tilly, the staff over at Uxbridge Shimoda. Got to thank our buddy Adam Ragusea, who we will have just seen by the time this comes out, right? Yeah, if he hasn't buried us under his koi pond. Hey, listen, if our deaths are suspicious... Ben and Adam sleep with the fishes is gonna be...

Yeah. ...Ragusea's new quote. Uh-huh. We're indebted to Adam for all of the music that he's made for our show over the years and of course dark materia for the original card song. Go find a community of Friends of De Soto online. Just look for Greatest Gen or Greatest Trek on your social media or DrunkShemota.com is the Discord.

GreatestGen.Fandom.com I believe is the Wiki, and with that we'll be back yetcha. Next week, another great episode of Star Trek Voyager, and an episode of the Greatest Generation Voyager where, shoot man, like I don't know if we have the warp core to get across the finish line on this one either. Place your bets. Make it so. Make it so.

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