The Greatest Generation - Not Quite as Boob-y (S4E22)

Episode Date: December 21, 2016

When Lwaxanna Troi gets the hots for an alien scientist, she throws diplomacy out the window to chastise his species end of life practices. It’s a great deal from Picard who gets to spend a blessed episode out of her crosshairs. Why did the makeup department let this guy’s loaf get smeared that badly? Is that sun-explosion effect from iMovie 2? How do you roast a Husnock? It’s our gift-touchdown episode.

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 friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. I'm Benjamin R. Harrison.

I'm Adam Pranaka. People tune in to hear those names, Adam. In my case, I tune in about 40 minutes late from our official record time. It's one of the ways I continue fucking you. Yeah, that has been a thing that has happened a couple of times, but this time you gave me plenty of prior warning, so I wasn't mad about it. That's good. We got to keep our relationships strong.

Yeah. You know what else we got to keep strong at them is our baseball card game. Oh, how many packs do you have left? I feel like we have a scant few. Yeah, we're running low. Somebody was posting on Twitter that they had some of the even cards and it made me think like, God, we got to get through these and get some evens. You know, the thing that our viewers enjoy most is this card bit. So we better get that that. Unaccountably. Yeah. You know, we're past the halfway point of the show so we sort of got to get on that, huh? I think we do yeah, I mean we didn't really start the card bit until We were well underway, so I feel like we're on track, but who knows?

Yeah, I have eight packs of cards here, so I believe I shall open one. Yeah, me too. The game is five cards, the game is exceeding. They're simple. What are the suggestions? The cards there. Time to plug a page in. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I got one for masks. Hooray! That weird episode where data puts on that weird clay mask. And it becomes like a golden god. Well-named.

Let's see. Oh, I've got one for evolution, which we just did recently. That's fun. I got... Wait a second. Did we do evolution recently I think you're thinking of oh this is the one with the nanites yeah I was thinking of the one where barkley gets laser brains what's that one called barkley gets laser brains I don't know that would be a better title than the one we got, I think. Oh, man, and I got a signed card here.

This is one for Aquiel. Signed by Juan Ortiz himself. The man. The legend. I got all repeats. Damn. Except for one, which is a special card. It is a panel from a comic book.

This card contains an original comic book panel from volume 2, number 7. It is number 96 out of 130. Looks like a green man with Captain Picard. You got to keep your eye on those green man with Captain Picard. Oh, you gotta keep your eye on those green men. Green man on the bridge. It's got the nice matting around the outside. I do like that, yeah. There's a bevel and an emboss.

Yeah. That's probably the fanciest type of card to get. Pretty thick. I've got one for a matter of time, which I don't think I've opened before, and one for schisms. Would Picard pronounce that word shishems? It sounds like a- It sounded a little bit more upsprish than Picard.

Yeah, it did, didn't it? Yeah, it did, didn't it. Well, exciting. Fun pack. I found my pronunciation of Yeah, yeah, Adam. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, For my real dolls. Where it's like a stream trick. What do you see we in this charade? Talk about the episode. Yeah, Ben, let's not put this off anymore, right? Yeah. Let's get into it.

It's season 4, episode 22, half a life. 22 half a life. It's an episode about dying before your time, Ben. In both the theme of the episode and the feeling of watching it, I feel like that's correct. This is a rare episode that opens with a personal log from Councillor Troy. And I got like major Carrie Bradshaw vibes from her read on this. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I must be a masochist or something. That's when I first realized it.

I was in an SNM relationship with my mother. You know how like Carrie Bradshaw has always posing questions in her writing? But she never goes up. But when I ask a question I say, Adam, are you hungry? And she goes, she would go, was Adam hungry? Or was hunger, Adam? You know, like, or something like that.

That's a terrible example, but. And the way I ask questions is like, hey, Ben. But the way she would ask is like, Ben, did you find a drunk Shimoda or did a Shimoda find you? How do you know when enough is enough? It's mashcat to me fucking Jim Shimoda. The log is about how her mom is on board. And they've also been tasked with helping Dr. Timisin of K-LON2 do a science experiment.

So they're doing a little bit like it's like an uber pool I guess. They're kind of picking up two people that are headed to two different places but roughly along the same route, I guess. You get two very distinct kinds of acting in this episode, Ben. Yeah. Good and bad. Yeah. Pretty much. I mean, that's a more efficient way to say what I was going to say. But Timisin's character, as performed by David Ogden's Steers is amazing.

It's like capital A acting. Yeah. And unfortunately, you counterbalance that with a camp comic locks on a Troy performance that we've come to know and not love. I feel like Majel Barrett was like, hey, right? A really intense episode for me one one that can really let me show off my chops and they're like all right, Majel and

This is what we got and Boy howdy, it's like you know sometimes Uh, boy howdy. It's like, you know sometimes how in a meaningless football game they'll bring like a kid out to be an unofficial member of the team and have them score a touchdown or something. And the big, like a, like a- The big line. Yeah, like the lineman will get out of the way and a little kid will scamper for the touchdown and they'll just sort of let him. This feels like what they've done here for our Major Barrett. Yeah. This is her gift touchdown episode. Well, the issue for Dr. Timisin. Timisin is kind of a university professor type vibe.

He is like one of the preeminent scientists from his planet, and he's spent his entire career preparing for this experiment, which is designed to test if the way he has come up with for them to defeat the collapse of their son, the son of Klon 2 will work. So they're going to go, they've got, they found like a proxy star that is collapsing in the same way. They're going to shoot some modified torpedoes into it and see if they can't jumpstart the reaction at the core of the star. It seems like a solution that warf would really get behind. Is your son dying? Shoot some torpedoes at it. Full spread. persistent itchy flaky scalp shoot torpedoes at it. Bad parking at a local eatery shoot some torpedoes at it. Yeah and and and he is a very he's a very melancholy character. I only wish has been to find a way to revive our son before I die. And we'll come to understand more about why this is,

but his planet is dying, and this is kind of the last best hope, and he's under stress and kind of preoccupied with wanting to have the experiment go very well, but worried that it won't. And into this interesting character's life swoops, Waxana Troy of Betezette, she's also a guest on board. And daughter of the fifth house, holder of the sacred child of Svaryk, there are the holy rings of Betezette and what are you doing for dinner? Who, you know, like any man that walks under her nose, she develops an immediate

romantic fixation on. And for some reason he's like completely open to it. He's like, yeah, like you seem, you seem pretty great. He acts like someone who is not used to someone else's affection and is just like amused and grateful that anyone's paying any attention to him at all. And it's sweet, right? Like, his reaction to her makes Fluxon a Troy more acceptable, more easier to tolerate in this episode because you see what she's able to do for someone who seems to need that. Yeah, and she is more giving than she has been in past episodes.

I mean, she definitely has a point of view here, but she's able to set it aside in certain moments in order to be a comfort to him. Yeah. Which is not something we've really seen before. And also, she's not quite the cleavagey spinster that she is normally depicted as. Yeah, and that quite is booby. And she's been before. Yeah, I don't know.

Like, the character seems different. It's still annoying as fuck, but it's differently drawn. Yeah She does that thing where anytime I mean she's supposed to be a very powerful Betasoid and yet she is unable to perceive anyone else's intolerance of her. Or even Timisin's attraction. Like, there's something about him that sort of blanks her ability as well. And I think she calls attention to it too.

Like, this Timisin guy's great. I'm attracted to his intelligence. I'm attracted to his leopard print loaf. Like, there's a lot for me to like here. This guy's cool. Yeah. This guy, like I feel like the makeup department blew it on the loaf on this guy a little bit. Yeah.

Because there's a couple of times when you get a shot of the back of his neck where the camera will be like, it'll be like a dirty over the shoulder. And the camera is not bokeying enough on the back of his neck that you can kind of see what's going on there where the loaf is supposed to go down past the neckline of his frock and it's like totally smeared and like mushed around by the fabric. It's like you guys got to spray some fixative or something on that, you know. Timisin's costume here doesn't help him in the makeup department but it also like it doesn't help him in the makeup department, but it also, like, it doesn't help him in the character building

department either. He's got like some real asymmetrical express in the mid 90s sort of patterning going on, like some geometric patterns that were only popular in the mid to late 90s. Yeah, yeah, he almost has like a cross-coloredors thing going on, but a little bit more muted than that. Yeah, Professor Cross-colors. So they get to this star and the plan is they're going to fire these modified torpedoes into the star. They're going to travel into the core of the star and get a reaction going. And like the star will, you know, which was kind of in its wane will reboot and go back to being viable for the next however long.

And so this is like a big exciting science experiment and Timisin comes from a planet that like doesn't really cotton to outsiders. Like they don't know much about his people, but they reached out to the federation. The federation was like, yeah, we'll give you a hand, you know, like we can learn some cool star science from you guys and you guys can maybe get your son going again.

And so like data and Jordi are there to help. And Timisin and data and Jordi are like burning the midnight oil in engineering when Waxana barges in with Mr. Haam and like turns it into a picnic. Ah, Dr. Timisin. Oh, would you clear all this mess off the table, please? She wanders in with the promise of pate, and I was fully expecting Mr. Homme to dump a bucket of pate onto the table. Yeah, he does have a couple of five-gallon painter buckets, right?

Oh, man, that sounds delicious. Did you also notice that he was dressed like scorpion for mortal combat in the scene? It's a perfect scorpion costume. It's like a sight. They give him very little to do this episode. I think this is his only scene. Yeah, it was like, why did you guys even bother to get him back?

If you're only going to have him spread a not quite big enough tablecloth on the engineering console? Mr. Homme is the sugar that helps the Loxana medicine go down though in an episode. So I was grateful that he was there. Yeah, even for a little while. Fair enough. This scene in engineering with the picnic though, like this is an example of Laxana taking an action that annoys Jordy and data and everyone else, but is amusing to Timisin. Timisin is like, oh, she's, she thinks I'm hungry and she wants to take care of me. This is nice.

These affections are most welcome to Mr. Timisin. And this is a scene that plays out multiple times throughout the episode. Like she does something that horrifies everyone else but him. She also really sweats him. Like whenever she's like not around him, she's talking about how much she likes him. Yeah.

And it's a funny dynamic. You know, like it both asks the question, what kind of a man would fall for Loaxana? But also, can you bring yourself to care at all? And that was the real challenge of this episode for me because I just found it like, I found the stakes to get so low as to the point of like, I feel like I could go take a dump and come back and the same thing would be happening. Oh, bad. You just flip this episode to your phone, take it into the bathroom and finish off in there.

Yeah. They make it so. They make it so. They make it so. They make it so. They make it so. So they run the experiment. Wurf was really excited to shoot a whole bunch of torpedoes at the sun. And they're like monitoring the experiment. This is like kind of an extended scene of just like Journey and Warfin Theta taking turns giving readings. And like, it's just like a very ham-fisted, bad way of building suspense, you know?

Like, at first it's like, are they going to get to their target number? And then like, are they gonna stay stable at their target number? And then like, oh fuck, we blew it. It's like- Yeah, it's gonna like- Get off reading as tension.

It's graph reading as tension, which can work, you know? Like, I think that you've got your one-peng only standing as testament to that being a possible way of building tension in film and television, but this is just, it's so long and it's so hard to like, remember or care what they're talking about. Yeah, and I think it's because it's for the reasons that you said, but also like they play the tipping point wrong. And they play it too slow.

Like, it's so gradual that by the time things tip over into danger, like a full two minutes has gone by. If you were able to ramp the tension in a way that the bell curve was steeper, I think by the time they realized the sun is going Nova and they've got to get the hell out, like that could have been a heavier... Yeah.

It's like a two-minute scene that's stretched into a seven-minute scene. And they made a mountain into a molehill. Yeah. And I'm not sure how to overcome this because the deal with Timisin is there's a surprise coming about his culture that he comes from. But I think that we're never given a reason to care about his planet. I think that there's obviously some merit in just caring about it because it's a bunch of innocent people that are going to have their son go out, which sucks.

But like, he's set up to have that stupid grandma on Mount St. Helens problem. Like someone asks him directly, you know, if your planet's in such danger, why don't you relocate? And he's like, yeah, it's my home. We can't live our home. And that being the only answer,

just sort of like kneecaps why we would care. Like you have agency over the survival of your people, and instead he's just choosing to solve for the problem or accept the idea that his plan is going to be destroyed. Yeah, and that's where all of the dramatic tension winds up having to stem from in the rest of the episode. And it's just so like, it's so warmed over, like they just kind of like, you know, they really need you to like not pay attention to that very strange answer. And I feel like one or two more lines of dialogue could have given an interesting reason. Like, oh, there's like a, you know, a kind of radiation in the atmosphere that's unreproducible, but it you know our species evolved to

need it or, you know, something. Like they're a choice versus a need doesn't isn't enough. Isn't satisfying. It's not satisfying and and it would be more interesting if they were tied to this planet in some existential way. Yeah. So, anyways, they've failed to reboot this proxy sun and it's a big bummer and they have to get out of there in a hurry because the sun explodes in like an eye-movie 2.0 level special effect. I didn't think it was that bad.

Oh, it's so bad Adam. You were watching it on the toilet, Ben. How could you tell? Yeah, I mean, my vision had started to sort of gray out, so I didn't see the whole thing. Well, you shouldn't be straining so hard in there. Then, just let it fall out of you. Are you saying I need a squatty potty? I that is what I'm saying exactly. Yeah. This episode presented by our title sponsor, Squatty Potty. Squatty Potty gets those legs up. Squatty Potty have been here with us from the

beginning of the greatest generation. You may not realize it, but they have, in some way, sponsored every single episode. It's true. Would you like to turn your digestive system into a racetrack? Squatty-potty helps you do that by getting your feet up and elongating your colon in such a way that it fires the shit out of you like so many torpedoes into a K-lon 2 Sun. Fires the shit out of you like so many torpedoes into a K-Lon 2 son

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You know, one of the ways we've been hoping to further monetize our show is by curing favor with some of the companies that do ads on podcasts. And I think that's going to do it. Some of the heavy hitters of the podcast advertising community, your your caspers, your square spaces, your potty, comma, squatty, your dot com comma audible, Your Weldon comma mac. You're undies comma me. All of these companies and more have taken a look at the greatest generation and declined to sponsor. Hard pass.

I wonder why. I wonder why. There's only two places to go on this ship if you're gonna have a big time bum out. One is Picard's Ready Room with its signature leaning wall. The other is ten forward and being a xenophob from a planet of people that want to be left alone. Timisin winds up in 10 forward, trying to have a comparian soda quietly in the middle of the room by himself. And Lauxana sidles up to him and starts trying to get him to hit on her. But just a very strange tack for a man who was obviously like devastated.

Yeah. Like nobody was trying to fuck the night that Trump got elected, you know. Like, like, wait a reed a room, mind reader. Too sad for an erection. Yeah. And yet, this is a moment where they really have a heart to heart and I found myself watching this unsure if I felt like it was a great performance or a

terrible one from Timisin. Yeah, because he's playing off of Waxana Troi's Mania right now. Like, Timisin is devastated and she comes up playing the game of the flirtation game. Ice barcle to bit myself in those days. You see, that's called fishing for a compliment. You're supposed to tell me I still sparkle. And nothing could be less desirable at that moment than that kind of flirtation. They're the oil and water of moods right now.

And somehow that should emulsify us because like, into a delicious salad dressing. Didn't know he'd rest on just for salads anymore. And so he like, he like breaks it to her that like he's Feels very strongly for her and he wishes he could do more But he's going back to his planet to commit ritual suicide because everybody on his planet when they turn 60 Kills themselves so that they won't be a burden to their family You know what's interesting about that part of his story and how it's told is that it's told to her completely off camera.

Like you learn of this when Picard is on the FaceTime with the leader of Timisans planet. And after their FaceTime is over, Loxana barges in and is like, do you know what these people do at 60? They kill themselves. And Timisin just told me. And I feel like that really deprives the actor who plays Timisin of something great. Because that is some heavy shit and they don't allow him to say it. They instead give the story to her.

Yeah. Well, I think that that is sort of symptomatic of the role that the actress who plays Loxana has in the history and life of this show. You know, she's not a bit. She's not a bit. She's doing on the show. Like, yeah. Like, she should not be handed this responsibility and yet she is.

And then like, the next scene is not about like him and her talking that through, it's about her having a major freak out and Troy like trying to talk her down from it. Yeah. And like her confronting the tragedies that the ravages of old age visit on us and feeling, feeling like you don't matter anymore in all this. And it's like, it's so arched.

And it's also like, think about all of the characters who have been passed over for major moments like this that are actual characters that we care about on the show? Yeah. It's somehow so unsatisfying for her to become self-aware. Like, in many ways, up until now, it's what you wish for out of her. Like, maybe she will become less annoying if she became more self-aware, but somehow, the moment she does, she becomes even more annoying. Yeah, it's like a... Because she makes it about her, like everything else. Yeah, and... Troy, the part that they wrote for Troy here is

that she basically has to go just full-blown therapist on her mom. It's not even daughtered. She slips into her professional role and basically stays in it for the rest of the episode. And that's really weird because that's not really the relationship they've had so far. And Waxana leaves her little conversation with Troy here after having missed horrible freak out and go straight to Timisin and they just like basically immediately cut to

train and during tunnel oil Derek pumping rocket ship taking off. Mr. Ham making patty Mr. Ham hitting a gong. It was a real curveball. I mean, I've seen this episode plenty of times and I forgot that that was in there, that they definitely bang. It's the first time that we have a confirmed kill for Loxana, right?

Like she got her man this time. Yeah, she's a filing a notch into her belt afterwards. Yeah. Yeah, and I guess this is like a fuck to wish him happy trails because she's kind of, she's kind of fronting like she has accepted his impending mortality at this point. It's like breakup sex right? Yeah a little bit. But then she starts like, I guess he like wakes up and he's like, oh like how

long have you been sitting there creepily watching me sleep and she starts like really trying to talk him out of this ritual suicide thing and like you know obviously like the arguments against it are legion and better than the arguments for it and so but she makes a great comparison though between And so... But she makes a great comparison though, between... Well, what she does is she holds these two thoughts that his people have side by side. She's like, look, you guys...

You guys are fighting your extermination through science. Like, you're trying to prevent the extermination of your planet by figuring out a way to stop your star from going Nova. And yet, you're just fine going into a suicide booth. Like, how can you say that you're so interested in letting things just be what they are? These are the way that things have always been. And yet you're trying to engineer a way for your whole planet to live on. Do you guys not see the conflict there? Yeah, I guess maybe that's the only part of the episode that is a fractionally interesting idea. interesting idea. I mean that and like her comparing it to like the women's suffrage movement on beta-z or not suffrage but like you know we're gonna give up

the tradition of wearing animals in our hair which you know like I guess there are lots of like things like that where it takes a little bravery to like break with a tradition or a custom but then it's a good thing. But yeah, like a strange scene and so she spends a bunch of time kind of working on him for the rest of the episode trying to talk him into this. And so he's kind of mulling that over and then also and like starting to see kind of the point that she's making, and also starting to see the, like, couple of things that he could have done differently with this experiment and maybe made it work. Like, he's going over the results with

Jordy and Dated and he's like, oh, like, I think that, like, this problem is not that hard to solve. Like, it's going to be another couple of years of work, but like if I do it, it will go pretty quick. If somebody else has to like get themselves caught up on where I'm at with this research, it'll take a long time, and the planet is running out. But if I postpone my suicide, or just don't do it,

then that'll be cool. I am the cutest of all. You will assist us. I am a cute disaball. You are poor. And so he goes and requests asylum from Captain Picard. Which has felt like a predictable outcome from the start? Yeah, like, but also like, I don't know, like it's weird that like it's sort of asylum from himself. Like his custom is that he's gonna commit suicide.

And I guess like the people on his planet are really invested in that happening. Yeah, they have the sheet cake ready. They're ready to celebrate the whole deal because that's how they do it on his planet. You get a big party, you get to sort of live through your own funeral. Just a nice idea, but yeah, the like the the minister of science or whatever guy that they're communicating with down on the planet is is like

he's coming back, right? Like you guys are gonna get a mirror like in time for the party, right? He's coughing, ain't cheap. We already put the down payment on the catering and... You know, shrimps aren't gonna be good enough to eat for longer than a couple hours. Yeah, so yeah, like when they get there, like the K-Lonians have scrambled a couple of warships to like

enforce the enterprise returning to Misson to the planet and Everybody on the on the entrepreneurs just like what the fuck is wrong with you like if he works for like three more years He could save your stupid planet just let him do it and like they they like cut off communication like he's trying to send them like the results of his new findings and they're like no don't want to hear it fingers in the ears la la la la I can't hear you and like this gets tense enough that he's like, alright fine, I'm gonna I'm I'm starting to like rethink this whole thing and and they send His daughter up to the Enterprise and this is

Michelle Forbes who goes on to play Incent Row later in the series. But in this episode, she's got the leopard print loaf and like propeller beanie haircut. Yeah. This might be the weirdest haircut we've yet seen on the show. It doesn't diminish her attractiveness. That's for sure. I am. No. I mean, I've said it before.

I am a, I ride from a Shell Forbes. for sure. I am. I mean, I've said it before. I am a, I ride from Michelle Forbes. For sure. And she actually like, like, really rises to the occasion of this very strange little role that she got cast in. It's an obscene ritual. How dare you? How dare you criticize my way of life in my beliefs?

I think that, I think I read that they basically were were like holy shit. She can really act her ass off. We should we should see if we can get her back for something. Sort of exactly the opposite of their relationship to Luxana Troy, which is more like like she has black male on the creators of the show. Yeah, she's like, if you don't write me into an episode once a season, and also write that episode at about a season one level, both of you guys are in trouble with the boss. So Michelle Forbes tells her daddy that it's really important that he come back and do this, and it's not just about him, it's about everybody. It's about a chic.

Yeah, and so he breaks it to Laxana like, yeah, like I love the idea of breaking with this tradition, but I'm not gonna be the guy that leads that charge or whatever, and so I will go and I will And so I will go and I will I will buy my own farm and and that's going to be that. And so the last scene is a Picard wishing wishing well Dr. Timisin as he enters the transport room and prepares to beam back to the planet and at the last minute, Laxana runs in carrying her own suitcase. No, Mr. Homme here. I guess She sort of leaves him in the lurch on the enterprise. Oh Oh, no

and You're kind of breaking up again, Ben. I'm not sure I quite heard that. And yeah, she says, like, it's customary for your loved ones to be at this ceremony, right? And he's like, sure is. They beam down, and we never see either of them ever again. Happy ending.

Ben, do you think it would have helped if we knew the method of suicide on K-LON2? Like, does it change how you feel about what's happening if you know it to be a lethal injection form of suicide or if they like chain tymmasin to four horses and then like fire a gun into the air. For some reason, the entire time was picturing him doing worth suicide. Yeah. Like poison knife into the mouth. Orally is how you would prefer suicide.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think they could have done a little bit more world building there with how that specifically functions. You don't have to show it, but I mean, even on that one, remember that world that was run by women and their form of capital punishment was like killing that potted planter? Like even a little hint of that would have been fun, but you just don't know how they go. You know there's a party and then they're dead. Yeah.

Did they die at the party? That would be another thing I'd want to know. Yeah. Or do you just go back to your apartment and do it there? I got so many questions. This episode falls into a trap that a lot of very bad sci-fi falls into. Have you ever seen the movie Equilibrium Adam? Yes. It is, it's the same problem that that movie has, which is they make up a crazy law that is self evidently unjust and stupid and then spend the entire time moralizing how unjust and stupid that lie is. It's like who fucking cares? I know this

writing technique has a name but the idea of the idea of manufacturing a problem if only just to solve it like that's that's what that is Yeah, it has no reason to exist other than for the purpose of fixing it right and Like somehow they're like a couple of interesting moments that come out of it like I think you can have the made-up law that is unjust on its face. If you then have the episode be about the idea of being a person who breaks with tradition against society's wishes or, you know, like, I mean, we talked about like a couple of the ways they could have done it where it would actually be interesting, but it just isn't. Like, they don't, it's

like the dumb version of this story, not the smart version, and it's so, it's so wild. Like, the whole episode feels so season one. You could see how they're trying to buttress the story. Like they're trying to prop up the tension with the appearance of his daughter. Yeah. But that doesn't work. In spite of Michelle Forbes's valiant efforts, like, yeah, that isn't enough. I think just they spend too much, they spend too much of the episode making it about Major Barrett thinking about the, how sad it is to get old.

Yeah. Not enough about what it is like to take a stand on a moral issue when you've got like objective morality on your side, but not culturally approve morality on your side. Yeah, absolutely. And like that's so much more interesting of an episode, you know, like they they brush up against the prime directive issues that are implied by that,

but they kind of brush them aside in this episode, like there's just it's a miss. It's a big time miss. It's it's it's this is like the first episode we've watched in this season, where I really like almost wish we hadn't had to record an episode about it. Because it really, I feel like it's so bad, it's hard to even make jokes about. I was surprised we were able to get an episode out of it, to be honest, because when it was over, I was thinking this could be our first 15-minute episode. But we made some hay hay as we do. A little bit.

Well, speaking of hay, hey, there's a white blinking on my banal here. That's two, Ben. That's two. Another dad joke you get kicked off the show. Uh-oh. Well, do you want to check this thing out? Yeah. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on secured channel. Need a supplement on top. supplement. Yeah it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. Adam, we've got a couple of personal jumbo trunks.

The first one is from Ian and it's for Erica. It says, My darling, May your holidays be filled with ham and hoosnok. I love you more than Data loves period dramas. Thank you so much for introducing me to this ridiculous show. Happy New Year. That is so romantic.

Ha ha ha. Man, what an honest expression of love, including a glancing reference to our favorite returning character. Ham, one of the great holiday meets. Who's not maybe not so much, but only if you French the bones. You get to French those who's not bones.

I recommend spatch-cacking or who's not. It's a very lumpy meat, but if you take the spine out, you can flatten it down and it cooks more evenly. I also like including oysters in the stuffing with my hushnok. I like to feel the hushnok's various orifices with stuffing. You may not be familiar with hushnok anatomy, but the hushnok have five orifices. You're gonna have to take my word for it. There are none left.

Oh man, Kevin, we only know about the Hoosnok from the history books. We got another one here, Adam, you wanna read it? Sure. This one is from Silly Goose, and it is for Bubble Butt. The message goes like this, I'll always have your back when the dustbusters come out because you are the data to my wharf. I'm opening all the doors for me. Let's hop in the Previa and explore the galaxy.

Or at least another convention. I got a six bay in my purse if things get wild and I promise neither of us has to wear any loaf With much love your biggest fan. Oh, man, bubble butts got a big fan out there in one silly goose Feeling bubble butts got quite a few fans, but uh silly goose has really got the right messaging here. Yeah, so silly goose knows how to connect their audience I can only hope silly goose has an actual Previa to run around bubble-bucket Yeah, one of the bigger grits of our tour is that we rented a Dodge Caravan and now to Toyota Previa. Yeah, yeah.

Boy, there was a year in rental car history where that was the rental van model of choice. We just missed out. We blew it. We should have started our podcast in 1994. How many listeners would we have had in 1994? Well, people would have been just off the actual show, so they would have been Jonesin for something, right? It would have taken three days to download an episode at those speeds. Yeah, it would have been worth it, Adam.

It's true. Well, if you would like to do something that's worth it You can support our show by going to maximumfund.org slash jembo tron It's a hundred bucks for a personal message and 200 for a commercial message and these priority one messages they're a big treat for us and they keep the lights on around here. A greatest-gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre and post show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for

a tour. Let's do it! The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's greatestgentour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Share Your Embarrassment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris and I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure, delightful nonsense. We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level. We got stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the space weirds. Pat Noswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Nanjiani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes which is impossible to use. Come get

stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps are already open, just pull it out, give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard. Be dumb instead. Pull it out, give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard, be dumb instead. Oh, rats, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in 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've such short nacks.

But I'm hearing we need to get on this all. We've got to get on the art. It is about terrain, about a spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans, but 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?

O'Neill Ross and Kerry, available on MaximumFun.org. And an algorithm. Ben? Adam. Did you find a drunk Shimoda? Runaway. Drunk Shimoda! Did the drunk Shimoda for me in this episode

happens within the first 30 seconds of the episode, and it is the way that Captain Picard walks into frame. Troy is just completing her voice over the doors of an elevator opens, and Picard walks out looking sheepish and concerned, and then relieved to discover that Laoxana is not in the hallway and then she barrels around a quarter and jumps him and His like a panther. Yeah, that that moment of Entrance and you know just like Patrick Stewart has built up this character to be so like dignified and Honorable and like seeing him Like scared in his own skin on his own ship is always fun.

They use a horror movie technique with that shot too where they sort of drag the pan a little bit. So you're not seeing enough of the field of view to really know what is near and then she just pops into frame and counts as him and that's a thing you see in horror movies a lot. Yeah, I feel like Woody Allen uses that a lot too. Like a character will strike up a conversation with somebody that the camera has not panned to yet, but will. Which is, this is neither of those things. In every measurable way.

Did you have a drink, Shimoah, to add them? I did. I got to believe, like, I don't know that Michelle Forbes is capital M, capital F at this moment in her career. But I imagine she's like, oh good, I, like this is a scene I can do something with here. And then they get her in a costume and they attach international hair convention helicopter hair to her head. And I wonder how close she was to just go and I just can't.

But what's fun about this scene is that she out acts the hair. She makes you forget the hair. And to me, that is supernatural for her to be able to pull off her scene and have you like look at her eyes versus what's happening above her head. That was magical. And so like, there's a form of Shimoda that is like, that is fun and funny and weird, but this Shimoda is just surprising.

She pulls it up. Surprising and unexpected. So I'm giving it to Dara, the character of Dara as played by Michelle Forbes. Nice one. What do we have coming up on the next episode? The next episode is season four episode 23, The Host. Dr. Crusher's. I hid this host in my ass. Dr. Crusher's.

Love is. I held this a test. I held this uncomfortable hunk of metal in my ass. I held this uncomfortable symbiant in my ass for four years in a prison outside of Hanoi. And now I give it to you. Dr. Crusher's love is put to the test when she falls for an alien who exists in different host bodies in order to survive. Do you remember this Adam?

I don't really remember this episode. I think I dismissed it like I dismissed a lot of episodes that are peverely crusher centric. You know, like I was I was not old enough to really appreciate the nuances of an adult romantic relationship. And this episode is basically all about that. Yeah. I remember the idea of, there's like definitely some, there's a lot in this season that draws on the body horror elements of alien. And this is one of them where there's a thing living inside of a person. And I remember that being really alarming to me as a kid watching this show. Yeah. It sounds like it's going to get better, right?

Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Well, we gotta watch it. We will watch it. That will be the next episode. Thanks to everybody who has participated so far in our big, big contest. Not much time left to enter. I'm thinking we're on track, but we are trying to get to a thousand reviews in the US iTunes

stores before the end of the year. So go to your iTunes, leave us a nice review when it shows up on the store page, take a screen grab, send it to DrunkShimota at gmail.com. We can be entered to win a poster and a t-shirt that were exclusives to our big West Coast tour this year. And I think if we got to a thousand reviews in our first calendar year of existing, that would feel really good. So, it's a win-win potentially. Right, we win a thousand reviews. You win a shirt that you probably shouldn't wear around mixed company and a poster you can't hang in public

Well, we should also encourage people to go to maximumfund.org slash donate where you can make a monthly contribution to the production of our show really helps us keep the lights on around here and us keep the lights on around here and you can also go to maxfunstore.com. Spend some of that some of that holiday gift money that I'm sure you're starting to anticipate having on one of our beloved t-shirts and take it from me. The joy you feel of spending $20 given to you by a grandparent on something Star Trek related. It's a joy and a shame that we'll stay with you forever. When you write Granny a thank you card and try to explain to her what Drunk Shemota

is, that's a big deal. She'll love that. We should thank Dark Materia for our theme music and a big thanks this week to Adam Ragusia, who, uh, he makes the music that you hear when we read priority ones. Uh, last week we asked him if he would come up with another little piece of music for us, and he was like, alright, I'll do it, and then the next day was like, hey, my son broke his leg, and I've been at the hospital all day. And so I can't. And then he went ahead and did it anyway.

What a guy. Wow. The Goose. I hope his son doesn't listen to our show, because that sends a message of some kind to be about his priorities. What a what a bench. We're lucky to be pals with Adam Ragusea. With that, we will be back at you next time with a great episode of Star Trek the Next Generation and a very kissy episode of the greatest generation. Look at Tim and Eric gag at this point.

You should be a fully artist. I'm not a fan of you. Make it sound. Maximumfund.org Comedy and culture. Artistone. Listener supported.