The Greatest Generation - Stunt Butt (TNG S1E13)

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

When the Entrepreneur pulls over for a pit stop at Data’s home planet, the colonist are gone and everything is dead. But after opening a gassy chamber of robot parts and putting them back together, Data learns more about his past and one of the great Star Trek villains is born. Who just came from driving a swan on Echo Park Lake? Was Argyle shuffled off the show for a completely different reason? What would most people not do in the late 80s? It’s the episode that has learned to expect dong.Support the production of our shows Members get benefits including bonus episodes and an ad-free experienceSign up for our mailing list!Get a thing at podshop.biz!The Greatest Generation is hosted by Adam Pranica and Benjamin Ahr Harrison The show is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Instagram | BlueskyAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.socialSupport the production of The Greatest Generation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to hear an ad-free version of this show? Go to greatest.supercast.com. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage. Welcome to the greatest generation, the next generation, starring Adam Pranica. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys who are just a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast. I'm Ben Harrison. I'm Adam Pranica.

That was nice. What a nice thing. Oh, yeah, so nice. Everybody loves it. You've got hats on hats, basically, which is losing games on top of losing games, because those watching the stream right now will see a Benjamin R. Harrison wearing a suit chosen to fit in in a 1940s detective-era spy show concept. My guy that I'm dressing as is kind of like, you know,

if Dixon Hill had a mystery that took him to, you know, Treasure Island or Alcatraz or whatever, he'd go down to the wharf in San Francisco and hire someone that operates a dingy, and I'm that man. I'm the dingy operator. You're the dingy man. Tim Ma. It's quite a sight to see this, Ben. I really hope it's not too hot.

in the studio for you. I don't know why the dingy man has a white tuxedo jacket on. As I was telling you before we started recording, I wasn't able to get into the closet where my suits are because that closet is my children's closet and my daughter is napping right now. It's just not right that a man with your wardrobe with a suits closet is just prevented from getting to the suits closet. I thought about knocking down a wall, a little creative destruction. Yeah. A value you've worked very hard to instill in me. I don't know if that's stuck.

I don't think my wife would care for it particularly either. But yes, I'm besuited. I'm in a very nautically themed suit. It doesn't really have anything to do with anything. It was just what could be assembled from the parts I had access to. I love the choice of not being the main character of the detective. show set in the 40s. Like, you are definitely the eccentric dingy man

needed to accomplish this bit of detective work. Yeah. And I like that. I'm kind of a buncular eccentric with five lines or less, you know. Is that the energy you're going to bring to the show today? I hope you bring more than five. What do you think the over under is?

You're a betting man. I am. Betts, bets, bets. Do you think I can get over five lines? Five Good Lines today? Oh, five good lines. I was just talking about lines total. No, I'm saying like Zinger-formatted lines.

Like lines that like, yeah, fuck yeah. Good bit. I think five is a good line to say. I think you're routinely getting five good ones in there to a show. Wow. So five good jokes per show. That's the Ben Harrison promise. I want to retake that five good Ben jokes.

Oh. I think is how I want to be specific there. Wow, I feel like that somehow got more troubling, the more you clarified. I love the Ben jokes, and I will count them as we go. Okay, well, we'll put a counter up on the screen for the folks watching the stream at home. Big episode today. A lot of, well, I was going to say character lore, but that's kind of redundancy, isn't it? That could work as a pivot.

I like it. Yeah. Why don't we head into it? It's season one, episode 13 of Star Trek. The next generation is called Datalore. Make it so. I think there's an instinct with families when they go on trips, right? That if they're going to pass nearby an important landmark or maybe like a cemetery where someone's buried,

I mean, why not just stop, right? Who knows when we're going to be in this part? Yeah. Plus, the cemetery probably has a turlet, you know, going to need to drain the main vein before we get back on the road. Like, we're trying to hit Wichita by 6 p.m. I wonder if you haven't hipped me to a bathroom technology I didn't know about previously, which is, like, if I'm stopping off for a bathroom,

I'm going to try to be selective about the opportunity. I'm going to try to find a good one. Usually, like, a hotel bathroom of any kind is preferable to most other things. But are you saying from experience that maybe cemetery bathroom is one of the good ones I should consider? You know, cemetery bathroom or if you just find a particularly odious plot, you can just piss right on it. Wow. You know, like, oh, man, this guy is buried here? Fuck him.

Is this an angry Ben episode? Do you have your cockles up for having to wear the suit? I'm angry about you being the star of the show, and I'm angry about the suit. It's hot. Wow. There's too much fucking shit on me. I can't breathe.

Yeah, so they're going to pull over at Data's hometown of Amacron Theta to visit the planet of his birth. In the hopes of unraveling some of the mystery of his beginnings. Notably, Data is not present on the bridge for this. He wants to be alone. Yeah, everyone's feeling a great sense of anticipation about this. And when they look around trying to find the one person that should be feeling it the most, that guy's not even there. Instead, Dade us in his quarters.

He is practicing sneezing, which we learn when Wesley comes in. They talk a little bit about how a cold is something people used to get, but why would you practice sneezing now? And, you know, people still, like, get a little pepper in their nose or whatever, apparently. Do you feel like sneezing is dangerous to people? My wife goes on famously long sneezing fits, like where she'll sneeze like eight or nine or ten times in a row.

Yeah. And I will give anyone the bless you once I am sure they're done with the sneezes. And with her, she just goes and goes and goes. And then when I feel like it's done, usually around the 10 or the 12 mark, I will finally make with the bless you. I think you're imagining how poorly this goes for me in those circumstances. She seems to think that, like, sneezing so often is something that a person endures, that it's appropriate to show concern for.

In my mind, I'm like, I don't think sneezes are dangerous. People sneeze. Yeah. I mean, it's a bit like you walk out of the restaurant with the other couple and you say, all right, well, have a great night. And then you start walking toward your car. And they're like, oh, we're actually parked in this direction as well. Like, you've said, God bless you before the hang is really over, you know.

And you just want a clean breakaway. You just want to be like, I have acknowledged that you sneezed. But yeah, I don't know if I can get there with it. It's like we really need to express a lot of concern. It's a social nicety. That is what my position has been. need to tell you that that position is wrong in my household. I should be showing more concern in that particular area and I'm just not able to get there. My wife, conversely, actually says the word

acho when she sneezes. And it doesn't sound like she is sneezing. She'll say like, Achoo. And I'll be like, what was that? Did you just say acho? And she's like, I sneezed. That's even less concerning than what's going on on my part of town. And actually, is a sound that sounds a lot like what Data is trying to do in this scene. Ah, chew! Maybe she is an android. Yeah, because he's trying a lot of different

takes, you know, like when an actor prepares, you know, like try to put in it in different tones of voice, different music to it. I'm sorry, Ben, it's so fucking funny looking at you. Motherfucker. You look great. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh man. Star of the show. Making fun of the U-5s. Really classy move, you know. You got to go out after this recording. You're already dressed for it. Yeah, no kidding. You should go drive a swan on Echo Park Lake.

That's what I came from, Adam. That's what I did before this. Okay. I'm not going to go right back. They're going to be like, what do you? Yeah, that would be weird. It's not like my rental is still in effect, you know. Once you give it back, it's back.

It's true. You got to pay for it all over again. You want to get your money for us for us for sure. There's no. life on this planet. It is a husk of an M-class world. Doesn't really make sense because when they look at the record of the USS Tripoli picking data up, they were like, yeah, lots of farmland seems verdant, but no, it's dead now. And Tato comes onto the bridge. I love this. They're like, hey, do you want to, you want to like pilot her in? Like, you want to get the stick? And he's like,

No, I'm good. Yeah, everyone is kind of looking at him, like, wondering if they'll get a little hint about how data's feeling. And there's just nothing there. Data is not feeling. And Yara is like, so what do you got like the memories of the colonists? You know everything that the 411 people that used to live here knew. And he's like, I know like their knowledge, but I don't have their memories. What does that mean to you when you hear that distinction?

Does that mean like journaling and maybe the data gleaned from clocking in and clocking out? I guess I just don't understand what he's describing. Like medical history. Yeah, yeah. Employment records. I was thinking it might be like, you know, when like somebody wakes up in the hospital with amnesia and doesn't remember who they are, they can still like speak Chinese if they knew how to speak Chinese before. Right. Maybe it is something like that.

Like he has much of the usable techniques, but he like, he doesn't know everything. Actually, I'm quite deficient in some basic human information. None of those colonists knew anything about sneezing. There's a number of TOS qualities to this episode, and I think that begins here. This is a colony they expected to be there that has been out of touch for a very long time. And there's a mystery as to why both the colonists are gone, but also. all life on the planet is absent as well. Well, the Tripoli didn't find colonists either, right?

Like, is this the second time in 26 years that a ship has gone out there to see what's up? Seems like it. Yeah. Well, that's why Picard is not going to get to go down. That would not be a safe choice. He is going to stay on the bridge, but a great big group of dustbuster enthusiasts head to the elevator, and we head into the theme. This dispatcher club is made up of data, which is good.

But it's led by Riker and also has Worf Jordy and Tasha Yard, as a part of it. And they can confirm by being boots on the ground that this place is a tomb. It really is. Dead world, not even microbial life in the soil. That bell gets rung a couple of times, once in Riker's log and once when Jordy kneels down to look at the dirt. Do you think that means it smells good? like if you were to compare it to a place with life of any kind I bet it smells pretty neutrally.

Yeah, because like there's no decay if there's no microbial life. That's what I'm saying. But is like the complete lack of decay, something that we're even involved to experience? I bet that gives you a very creepy feeling as a human being to be in a place like that. It's a creepy place. I mean, it's like it is another one of these.

We built the planet indoor. and it is mostly made out of styrofoam rocks and sacks of sand we got from the home center. But there's some interesting things about it. There's like a cool stairway down to where they found data, and they're going down that. Yara is like, so what's up with the memories? Like, why would the colonist's memories be put into you?

And he's like, I think they did it in a hurry, maybe even in a panic. Anyways, here is the crazy, like, stone-hewn altar that I was laying on, like a golden god when they found me. You were just lying out there in the open? No identity record, no instructions. Only a layer of dust. Yeah, it feels very, like, both with the knowledge that there is no life here where there once was, and also because it looks like they're stepping down into a sort of crypt. Yeah.

The vibes of dust. death are all around them, for sure. But there aren't like claw marks on the stone or anything or like arterial spray or whatever. There isn't like the evidence of an attack or defense or anything. It's like these folks have just disappeared. Do you think data was naked when they found him on that stone altar? No question. Had to be. Just dong out. I mean, that would have been even creepier, right? Like you're wandering around this world that is losing all of its life and and then you see Robodong. What's the first thing you remember, data?

Opening my eyes? I mean, if you're on the Tripoli, I think seeing Dong is just something you expect sometimes on missions, right? Sure. Alien Dong. The best kind. We don't understand their customs. We've got to be open to that.

Maybe the Omicron Therapeutic. This is their way. They're just very free with their birdies. The more you stare at everyone, the more natural, it seems. Yes, I had been thinking exactly the same thing. They talk about how, like, there was no, like, manual. Like, there was no user manual with data when they found him. Like, not even a QR code.

There was a USBC cable, but no dongle to plug it into the wall to charge him with. You just had to have that already. The Haynes Manual on Data not published at this moment in time because there was only one that they knew about. They're standing there and Jordia is like, this stone wall, it looks like a Star Trek cave. Like there is something like I guarantee you there are like two by fours and paper mache right behind this surface. And sure enough, he's right. In an open world video game, this switch would be flashing very subtly to get your attention. But Jordy can just see this.

I mean, maybe that's what the visor does. It makes it like an open world video game for him. I like it. As Jordy is discovering this, the conversation is about like the colonists probably loaded all their memories because of being so afraid of something. So that's probably why Data has that in his mind. And the music gets so creepy when they start going into the cave. kind of, it reminded me a lot of aliens, some of the quiet, creepy scenes and aliens. Yeah, I really agree with that. There's, the moments of still that are often, like,

just as terrifying, are punctuated with musical beats like this, you know? No life readings in here either, sir. It was very interesting to me how much the music reminded me of alien and how the setting couldn't have reminded me less, but it was still really effective. It's like this kind of light, tan, well-lit place. It's not drippy and wet and rusting and dark the way it is an alien.

This is a fun swinging stone door they have to the interior of this thing. And inside behind it, there's a big old base with lights and power, but still no life signs. Huge long hallways. It seems like one of those, like bugouts for billionaires that are that are so popular these days. Data has some vague memories of being here.

He's like, yeah, like, Soon was like over here doing some work. Oh yeah, here's the fridge with all the children's artwork on it. No contributions from me. I hadn't gotten bitten by the bug just yet. Try to ignore the like central theme of these children's drawings being all of the village people running away from like a central monster that is kind of related picture to picture. Yeah, these kids were all pretty disturbed, actually. Dr. Soong's name is evoked here, and his story of coming to this place under a different

name and then setting up shop here to create a positronic brain is the stuff of legend. Soong's reputation, though, feels like it may be also kind of crankish too, right? Crankish, I mean, very famous. They all know who we're talking about when Soon's name comes up. But yeah, like, interesting that he's so famous, but also nobody knows whatever happened to him, you know. We got to find out what happened to this base. So they kind of split up. And in doing that, they find what looked like mold.

used to make data's body parts. Does this stir any memories data? Only a vague impression of some of my functions being tested here. And then there's this door to a gassy chamber that gets raised. And inside, once the smoke clears, they find disassembled body parts to another android that looks just like data. Well, maybe that's a little generous when we're talking about the head.

It's a spitting image. This is like that idea. of like, I think Hodgman came up with this, right? Like, if you tell someone that they look like someone famous, that famous person better fucking be known for looking really, really good. Yeah, like the primary thing that they're famous for is their great looks. Yeah, and so, like, I kind of made that mistake here when I said that this thing looks just like data when... Yeah.

That would be an insult to a lot of folks. Right. Like, you come up to this mannequin head with the same. face paint as they put on Brent Spiner and you say, oh my goodness, you look a lot thinner on TV. Yeah. The thing you should say if your Riker is like, well, they tried. Do you think Brent Spiner had to like, do you think they cast his face to make this? Or did they just try to make his face on top of a styrofoam blank that they had? Great question. Because also if they cast his face, I want to know if they cast his real butt or if that was somebody

else's stunt butt. I think because we saw the plastic form handled previously, I'm almost positive that's exactly the form they used to make this head. So I think they did put in some effort here. It's a pretty fun choice to make the butt and legs piece of the Android be facing the other way. It's all facing out but that. And this obviates the need for a cod piece or to tile it out for, the pre-6 p.m. viewers or whatever, like.

Like, if you can see the dick from the other side, like, when it's facing away. Oh, like if they'd used Delancey to model the lower half of the body. Because mine's bigger. I mean, I was thinking of, like, to live and die at L.A. Like, you see William Peterson's hang from the butt side in a way that you don't in this particular configuration. Well, maybe it's, like, it's, like, pressed up, like, lower. had like an embarrassing boner right before getting disassembled.

And so he'd kind of tucked it up into his waistband. And then they just disassembled him. And that's how he got put away. Yeah, he had an anxiety boner before he was shut off. I get that. Riker orders the pieces sent up to Enterprise. Like, we can't do much about this down here. And I love once they get the pieces on Enterprise,

just how much time it takes to figure out how the parts fit together. When really, this is like Lego. there is only one way these parts could fit together. It's like Duplo, man. It appears to include all the components in your body. Not that we fully understand your construction either. Maybe Argyle got shuffled off of the senior staff, not because of an embarrassing letter writing campaign to Paramount,

kind of getting off the blocks a little bit before the gun went off, so much as Argyle is a fucking fool. He can't figure this out. Argyle, a big, big part of this episode, in the lab, he's sort of running it while data oversees the work. And I wondered if at any point during the creation of the story, if they ever thought to experiment with the pieces of data being attached to data. Like, we know he can take off a forearm. We see that technology later. But like, testing the different pieces by plugging them into himself first, I thought would have been a really fun trick to do.

Like popping his ear off and popping the other one off. I wonder if they just lacked the ability to do that this early in the series and make it look credible. This is also like a story that could have been told a lot of different ways. I read, for example, that one version of this script had lore being a female coded android, and they're being like a love interest. Called lure. Right. A love interest story arc where she lured data in.

And then another thought was like, what if Lord is Data's brother, like his evil brother, but doesn't look exactly like him? And I just recently watched a thing about developing the makeup for Data. Have you ever seen the pink data screen tests that they shot before they came up with this? I think I have seen them. Yeah. And they just look bizarre. They're so fucking weird looking because, like, they painted him like bubble gum pink. And it is like, I think that there's some.

strange about his skin, but it just looks like skin that there's something strange about. And so I wonder if they just like didn't have the confidence that they would be able to do makeup for an alternate lore that wasn't just exactly the same, you know? I wonder if you don't confirm this until you cast Brent Spiner and see what he clearly was foreshadowing with his performances in every episode up until this one, which was like an ability to do this. I don't think you understand until you actually see it.

If you're just breaking a season's stories over and over again, I think you, of course, consider the idea of a lady lore or a different looking lore. But like, he's really acting in a bunch of different weird ways throughout the season

that I bet once you see he's got those gears, you're like, well, yeah, obviously we're going split screen with this. Data's got to go get debriefed. and debrief like that body they found down there on the planet. High five. Up top. All right.

That's one on the board for Adam. It has to like check out with Argyle and Crusher and be careful with this machine. He's just like me. He's the only one. And we're having kind of a mini McLaughlin group. Issue one. Like a weekend special McLaughlin group. They're like, yeah.

So like, same part. Is it a guy? Is it another data? And they're all so mealy-mouthed trying to bring up the things that are on their minds about the presence of this new Android amongst them. And Picard is like, okay, like, guys, safe space. Let's try to just like clear the air. This is awkward, but it doesn't have to be.

And let's just like hold some space for each other right now as we puzzle through this. The really interesting and almost timeless quality to this conflict in the room is that everyone begins by not knowing quite how to talk about data or this other person. Does it appear to have all your parts completely, sir? Is it all because there was so much butt in their face when they discovered it? I'm sure that's a big part of it. But in a way that I think foreshadows a lot of like pronoun misunderstanding in modern times, like, why don't we just let the person tell us how we should talk about them? And then we'll know and then we can get fucking past it so it's not so dramatic.

That seems to be the energy of the scene. Captain's like, data, why don't you lead the meeting? You certainly operate as well as we do data. Better in some ways, sir. And when he does, it's amazing how much more comfortable everyone becomes. talking about like, why would you make an Android look just like a man, except for strange? Like, what's the point of that? And they're like, you know, make them more relatable. Mr. Data. Was someone making fun of you?

Riker's like, say, for example, you looked more like this. And he holds up the picture from the refrigerator with the like stick figure kids running away from the coronavirus. Like, wouldn't that be more endearing if you look like that? Yeah. Not a lot of questions being answered in this scene. Dr. Crusher blows in a call that interrupt it all by saying data is needed in the science lab. I'm pretty sure we put one of these feet on backwards, but I can't tell you which one. I have no idea.

Once Data gets there, he and Beverly are off to the side and Data kind of Soto-Voce-like. It's like, hey, did you know I have a button? And it's in my side body here. Nope, that's my clock. On off button is right here. Check it out. And Beverly seems like very touched to be trusted with this bit of information about him. It's a nice moment. It is a nice moment. It's also more fuel for my theory that Argyle got retired because he was written as an incompetent. Because when he kind of wanders over, they both hush up. They're like, we can't. not trust our chief engineer Argyle with this extremely sensitive information about being able to turn data off. No fucking way. And so that's what they do. They shut them off and then side by side biobeds they're able to compare both BARTY's. Yeah. Like there's like a screen in the middle that highly magnifies the micro maneuvers that Crusher is doing. Argyle is seeming to be actively helping here. He's like talking her through some of the some of the stuff. and I just love this whole setup for surgery.

This seems good. This is probably how they should do it, right? Like sneeze guard over the opening? Sure. It's like, God, I'm struggling to come up with an example of this. But like if you have, like if you're working on your car and you have a perfectly working car right next to it that you can go back and forth to when you're doing your maintenance, wouldn't you love to have that?

Absolutely. I famously have a Lego ornithopter in my office. And when I was hanging it up, I dropped it. And I had to put it back together. But I'd like, it did not fall apart in the reverse order that I put it together. So like, I had all these pieces and I had no fucking idea what to do with them. And so a lot of it was like looking at the picture of it on the box and like, oh, right, that goes over here. And it connects to this.

We both have very tall ceilings in our studios. That thing must have blown big. The most heartbreaking thing is I'd had my phone roll. on me up the ladder with it like three seconds before I dropped it and I and I stopped the video recording. What a fucking treat it would have been to have me fucking up that bad on video. Imagine the likes we would have gotten for a video like that. Nobody ever believes that we break Legos accidentally. That's the thing. The headline on the YouTube video is like Star Trek dope.

destroys all caps the Dune movie franchise. Yeah, yeah. Everybody comes down to Six Bay for the big moment. Picard is there and he's he's talking about lore like he's not in the room, which was his first mistake. Lord wakes up.

The first thing he does is clarify something that Picard is speculating about. Like which one came out first, data came out first. And data was. messed up so they made me lore to, you know, like he's the beta. I'm the golden master. I'm not the alpha. Alpha's worse in this context. I'm golden master. I'm release candidate one. This is a terrible first impression and a real specific choice by the show to make lore be like this from jump, I think. It tells you so much about what his energy is going to be in a few words. It's really impressive as a bit of

I think it also reinforces something about how we feel for the rest of the characters, which is after this many episodes, 13 episodes, we've become defensive of the characters we've gotten to know. Yeah. And we don't want anything bad to happen to them. And we don't want them to be made fun of by some stranger. I think that's an interesting confirmation vibe to get from a moment like this. It's also interesting to see that vibe on screen because, like, when people are standing

they're talking about lore as an it, Data's like, no, man, like that is not okay. That implies that you don't think of me as being like a valid person. And I don't fuck with that. We know Riker wouldn't have called him an it. He saw the front part of the pelvis section. Yeah, well, he also saw the little tag under LOR's badge that said Lour's pronouns. You know, Riker's just an observant and a conscientious person.

In the ready room, Data and Picard talk about what lore meant about data being imperfect. And if they have equivalent capabilities and data assures Picard that they do and also like doubles down on the loyalty he feels for Starfleet and him personally. I just feel like if you're having a conversation about data and lore and you're like trying to make very sure that they are just so alike in all these ways, you got to. talk about the super strength, right? Super strength we've gotten only a few examples of, but I think are very clear to everyone around that if data went rogue, bodies would be torn in half. And at no point in this episode is lore treated as a physical threat in a way that I think he should be. And it's not like it wasn't on their mind. Like, we'll get to it, but the big fight scene at the end is like very intense in the way of they are over strength for. Yeah.

the size of person they are. In a gaff that is probably taught in Starfleet Academy to this day as a counter example, something not to do, they walk out and see that Jordy has plopped Lord down at the op station and is just showing him how to run the ship. You can't do that, Jordy. And when Data walks out and finds this scene playing out, in front of Riker and Wharf and Wesley too, Woof.

Bad look. Data is the first person to bring up, hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea. This guy doesn't necessarily even have access to the bridge. He shouldn't be here. He's right to say the Picard hasn't approved this. It gets himself off the hook of being the bad guy in the scene. It also puts Lore into an interesting position

because he can kind of double down on data being imperfect and less good than Lord. He's like, look at me. I'm Lord. I'm a people pleaser. You know, that's one of the ways that Sung made me better is that I'm just always like looking to make everybody else's day easier, even if it's at my own expense. I sacrifice so much for you people. In soft focus in the background, Tasha Yard just kind of like shifts her weight a little bit at the idea of another synthetic life form of just being hell bent on the, on pleasing. other human beings. Were you ever this anxious to please, Data?

Never. It never happened. Imagine just based on what we saw I'm doing with computer chips in Shimoda Corner, what his tongue could do. That is what Yara is thinking in this moment for sure. So, Data and lore, get on the elevator to leave the bridge, and they're having a conversation as they wander down the hall about how Riker throughout the beginning of the Pythagorean theorem

for lore to fill in the gaps on just to get a sense of what lore does and does not know because they still have no... It seems like Lord was kind of trying to convince them all that he was a simple android when he was seated at the op station. Like, oh, so you use coordinates to point the ship at a thing and then go to it?

We like cut back and forth like lore's having this conversation with Jordy. like we go from lore asking the question to Jordie to back to Lorne and his hair is like combed forward and his bangs are completely straight. He's like wearing overalls with one of the one of the clasps undone. And if I put in the right coordinates, I can get the fat of the land. Yeah. Which button do I push to get the bunnies? Jordi.

They also talk a little bit about Wesley. He may look like a child, but he's so much more. He has a child's body. And what's going on here seems pretty pervy, doesn't it? Yeah. They may get to Data's quarters, and Data sits down and starts, like, pulling up the Wikipedia article on Dr. Nune and Soon. This is when we first hear the name, Off and Wrong Soon.

Laura starts talking about how we are not the same, you and me, data. Like, you are observing all of these human constraints on what your life and career can look like biting your time rising up through the ranks on starships. And this made me feel a little bit better about what happened to Harry Kim. Like, data spent 12 years as a lieutenant before he got made to Lieutenant Commander. Like, sometimes Starfleet is slow rolling the promotions. Interesting. I mean, I don't agree with a lot of what Laura says in this episode.

But I do kind of find his reasoning persuasive when it comes to like, God, it took you what? like 14 years to make lieutenant, doesn't it seem like for special cases and special talents and special intelligences that maybe there is a fast track here? And that like willfully submitting yourself to this timeline is to ignore all the great advantages that you could give to Starfleet.

You're saying like Starfleet Academy should have like a STEM magnet within the campus. Like it's technically a different school but they use a lot of the same facility. I'm saying most of the students are going to the Academy doing the normal things, but then there's like a Doogies track where like all the doogies flow faster. Is that what Wesley is actually trying out for? Is Doogie Edition Starfleet Academy? I could see that.

That feels like a promising thing for us to explore on this watch through. Yeah. The guidance principle on a star feed his base. Have you not find it within yourself to stand up tell the truth you don't deserve to wear that uniform? Data calls lore on. some bullshit and this is another interesting moment because data would not be telling fibs like this but lore lied about who was created first data was actually made second to address the bugs in lore and not the other way around this bandit

mask of light is on lore's face as he talks which is another sign that something very dark is happening in this scene yeah it kind of feels like they are talking about like, okay, like we got lore and he's like really impressive, maybe a little too human, maybe like a little like psycho human. So like let's back off the humanity touches 5% to get it right where we want it. And that's what data is. Data is the mark two that is intentionally made less human than lore. And lore starts like listing off all the reasons data is not human.

And says the thing about you don't use. Which last episode, Data used a contraction when he was in his character from Dixon Hill, not my character from Dixon Hill. Should I have had a voice? Should I have been going like, yeah, what's the haps, Dix? Are we heading across the water in my dinghy? It's interesting to think about when you're creating a show like this in the late 80s and early 90s that like you could say something like this about a previous episode that could be proven in a previous episode, I mean. but you as a viewer would have no way to confirm or deny this.

What are you going to do? Fucking tape these episodes on a cassette the way I did routinely. I'm saying most people didn't do that. Most people didn't do what we did. Yeah.

Data's like, all right, well, I got to go tell Daddy everything you just revealed in this conversation. I'm sure you understand. What I think is so funny about this scene is that I don't think they had any idea

how against the idea of a person allowing another person to use their computer would become years down the road. I'm sure at the time they're like, well, computers are complicated. And like if you allowed someone to use your own personal device, I'm sure nothing could be wrong with that. We're just doing work on this computer, clearly. This is just one of the many terminals connected to the mainframe. But in this scene, I'm seeing data basically go, yeah, here's my laptop. It's completely unlocked and then walk away from.

from it. I'm like recoiling from the TV watching this moment. Like this seems so dangerous to leave somebody with access to your phone that by their very nature can face ID it open. I mean, especially in the workplace. How much of a liability is this? You just can't do it. Lord writes a report. And when we come back from commercial, we learn about the crystalline entity from this report. He described how the colony was destroyed, this thing that feeds on the essence of life, and it came. And the only reason lore and data didn't get chomped up is that they weren't activated. Like, because they were off, they didn't, like, meet the metaphysical threshold for being considered life. It's like standing still in front of a T-Rex in Jurassic Park.

That's what they did. They did not make the mistake that Gennaro, the lawyer. you're made, you know. Exactly. Run for the bathroom. It uses life for fuel, Ben. Yeah. I don't even know why the scientists make them.

It's not a good situation. On the bridge, Picard discusses what they've learned from this report with Reiker, Yaron, Wharf. And Yarr notices that Laura has left Data's quarters. And when he's asked about it, data covers for him in an interesting way. Like, oh, Laura's just looking for some creams and unguins. or something. Like, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, but anyway, I'll go check it out, personally.

Yeah, it's not unusual at all that he would be getting like a mechanical turkey slicer and a gun and a peltzer juice processor for the kitchen. Not suspicious. And Data does head out to check it out. And the second he leaves, Yarr is like, hey, Captain, I don't know if you've considered. the two guys that look exactly the sameness of the situation we finds ourselves in.

But do you think we can trust data? This scene is really important, both because Picard makes it clear in a very performative way that like, everyone should be free to ask questions like this. This is good, actually. But it's also important that Wesley's in the room to hear this too, because I think this gives Wesley the energy to pop off later, and pop off he does, over and over again. He completely picks up on what Yarr is doing here and is like, okay, well, as an officer, this is my right, and in fact, something that is required of me.

So, Laura poisons data. He gives him a glass of champagne with some little powder dissolved in it. Data has no way to recognize this going off of the handful of colonists memories he has in his data banks. But the Cosby Show theme is playing in the soft music background of this scene. And if he had recognized it, I think he'd know what was about to happen. That's the thing. It's like ancient Earth history at this point. So it might not be top of mind for him. But, you know, how does that even work with an android when you have such a vast store of knowledge?

It's a celebratory mood that Loras got because they've been reunited. Let's drink to that, brother. Lechayam to life and to entity that consumes life because, ha ha, I actually learned how to communicate with the crystalline entity and summoned it to the planet to get rid of the colonists. Sure is a good thing data's down for the count when we get this villain monologue where he just sort of outlines the whole dark plan. Yes, but it really does feel like lure crystalline entity to planet, check, it consumes

colonists check, question mark, question mark, question mark, profit as a plan. Like what? Like once the colonists were consumed, then what, lore? You're in a fucking drawer. At the risk of sounding really stupid. And of course, I'm going to go ahead and say. say this because this is what the show is about. We've been making ourselves look stupid as fuck for 10 years.

So lure does the luring and then gets himself disassembled once the crystalline entity gobbles up all the life on the planet. He must have gotten disassembled before, right? Oh, so they catch lore, luring. And then they're like, fuck you, lure we're taking you apart. And so they think that they've stopped the bad thing from happening. They did not know maybe that the crystalline. entity was already on its way. It does its business. And that's the order of operations. Yeah.

So I'm putting this together now with the children's pictures of the crystalline entity as being a thing that they're scared of. So it must have like been a part of life for them for a while. It had to be. Because it's not like the kids are running from the life-consuming beam of the crystalline entity. And then they see like a box of 96 crayons. And they're like, hold on. One second. Let me draw a picture. Yeah, I mean, that's very much like Picard recording a message at the end of his time on the Stargazer. It would seem as though if this timeline were to hold that we're describing, the crystalline entity may have come and gone several times before finally doing its life-eating business. Yeah, yeah. And just hung out and like consumed a little bit of life to show them like what it was capable of.

Like what it does is it chooses the biggest tree on the compound. And it eats that. Little do we know, that's why lore references that later on the bridge. They have the memories of the colonists. Yeah. Speaking of, Worf over at his Uhura station is like, hey, somebody's, you know, data seems to be transmitting on subspace. What do you think that's about?

And Riker's like, uh, that seems really suspicious. Let's send the child down to see what the most dangerous member of the crew is up to. This is a really bad Riker episode, and this is, I think, on the top of the list of reasons. Not the right person to send. Worf, why don't you run down there and look into that would be the correct choice for him? Yeah. He's sending Wesley into grave danger. Inside Data's quarters, Wesley finds lore and data have swapped clothes, and he makes up some shit about why he had to deactivate his brother.

And Wesley tells who is presenting himself as... data that he's needed on the bridge. And then he backs out of the room pretty fast. I like that Wesley is nobody's fool. He's like, I don't want to get my arms torn out of their socket. So I'm going to pretend to believe you. But it's very clear that he does not actually believe him. I wonder if there, I bet there are.

I wonder if they're really hard and fast rules about physical acting with child actors. Like the idea of data throwing Wesley across the room seems fun. and interesting, but I just wonder if you couldn't do that. You couldn't even suggest it. Yeah, I don't know. I was just watching Temple of Doom and the short round character does some really intense stunts. And I wondered, like, there aren't stunt kids, right? Like, that's why you don't shoot lore beating Wesley to a pulp. There's no stunt kids. I am lecut as a bored. You will respond to my questions. I am lecutus aboard. You abhor. You are bored.

The Twitch is going to be a problem for lore, right? It's kind of a giveaway. And so what he does is he grabs a light wand, gives the Twitch to data on the ground, and removes it from himself by shining it on his own face. I wonder if they thought in the edit about doing this the other direction, like taking it off of his face and putting it onto Detas, or if that like undermined, like that would seem very funny, right?

like, oh, this device takes a Twitch and puts it somewhere else. Yeah, I think that's why you do it the way we see it in the episode, in that order. On the bridge, there's this moment when Dr. Crusher asks Wesley, so what exactly happened when you went to Data's room again? And how did Data immobilized lore? And Wes is like, well, yeah, you just turned them off. And when Data shows up on the bridge, Beverly is like, what the hell? You swore me to secrecy about the whole on-off switch.

And then you tell Wesley Crusher your big secret? What is that about? I guess the bridge crew can know. Like the cone of silence is everybody but Argyle. Yeah. Is what she must believe data is trying to say at this point. We don't get to live in this moment too long before something blurps on the sensors. There's an incoming bogey. And Picard rightly puts the shields up right away once they see this thing on screen. It's the crystalline energy, Ben, and it's coming in fast. and lore as data says, wow, what a butte.

I love the way that thing looks. There's a funny moment here where Jordy comes back on the bridge, having presumably gone down to the lounge to look out the window. And there's like a shorthand now, like, what did you see? And he's like, yeah, I mean, like lots of spectrum in there, but nothing you can't see from here on the bridge. What's the thing that they put in the front of old-timey sail ships? Oh, the spinnaker?

No, no, like the statue of the woman with the boobs. Oh, oh. Isn't there a name for that? The head, the, uh, the ass head? No. Maybe. Lady on front of ship. The episode isn't going long enough.

Make sure boobs is a part of that search. Lady on front of ship, comma, boobs. Figurehead. Don't you think that Enterprise should, like, give Jordi a new job, a job that has a window where he can use his special power to see better than what the view screen can tell them. Yeah, I mean, like, that was going to be him stationed in the ion pod, but Picard accidentally jettisoned that, I mean, fortunately no one was in there. But, yeah, his finger slipped a couple episodes ago. When Jordy comes back, he's like, yeah, it looks like a big snowflake. I'm basically seeing what you all are seeing.

the slightest idea of what it is, sir. Thank you, Lieutenant. They're like, well, why don't you go ask lore about this thing, Data. And Data's like, ha, ha, good idea. And Wesley's like, I don't think we should be acting like we're 100% sure that's data right now. Riker brings Wesley to heal after Picard kind of what the fucks him in expression. and the idea is, look, Wesley and Riker are going to go to Data's Quarter to see if they can wake up who they believe is Lohr out of the ground.

How badly did you want to see the conversation between Riker and Wesley on the way down there? Very much. Very much. You will show the proper respect. I will accompany you down there to make certain of it. Lore kind of like weekend at Bernie's the data that he's passing off as himself by kind of booping the on off button a bunch of times. And he's like, yeah, he's, he's real upset. He doesn't like that you guys are here. So you should let me talk to him by myself. And acting ensign, Wesley, is just so fucking suspicious at this point. Once they beat it, that allows Laura the opportunity to beat

data with his boot over and over again, really kicking him while he's down. Opens up a flap on his forehead. That's fun to see. Finally, we can tell him apart, though, right? Yeah. Really violent scene. Very upsetting. Anyways, the crystalline entity is just kind of hanging out threateningly. It balks into their shields and they're like, okay, like, we probably got to get some info on this so that we can decide what to do. Data enters the bridge and is like, why don't I talk to the guy? And they're like, okay, we'll try that. And they put him on the phone with the crystalline entity.

And he's like, be really careful, crystalline entity. These guys have torpedoes and stuff. And you're made out of snow or something. We got a cargo bay full of trees. And they would love to demonstrate their power on those. This is actually, actually the idea that lore as data proposes to Picard as a way to convince the crystalline entity that it should back away. It is like as good an idea as Newman should get out of his speeding ticket because he had to race home to save Kramer from committing suicide because he never became a banker.

That's it exactly. Yeah, if I can't be a banker, I don't want to live. You must be a banker. You must be a banker. Good for Picard for being like, sure. Why don't you go do that? And Wesley, again, is like, come. on. Like, let's be serious. Data is not suggesting beaming trees into space. That's lore.

Yeah, that's a lore idea. That's not a data idea. He'd never come up with something that's stupid. Wesley gets in a lot of trouble. Beverly kind of gets in some trouble, too. This sucks for Beverly. Like, like when Wesley gets grounded, Dr. Crusher's grounded also. That doesn't seem fair. You've got to get this kid off the ship, Beverly. This is career limiting. I love this scene where Wharf and some security people are approaching the elevator and Lore like shuts the door right behind

Wharf and then does like the craziest chest punch ever. Like real evil is the delight in suffering of others. And like this is the moment I mean this and the moment where he kicks his brother while he's down is like the exclamation point on that quality.

Like it's not just that lore is trying to control the shift. ship or get in league with the crystalline entity. He's like, loving this shit. And it's very, I remember as a kid seeing this episode for the first time being like kind of disgusted by it. It is a really powerful moment. I think Rob Bowman was supposed to direct the previous episode. I'm so glad he got this one. Yeah. So Peverely and Wesley, instead of going to quarters as ordered, make their way to date as quarters to take a look at this body that is purportedly lore. And Wes is a little bit lippy about the shut up Wesley incident, but they get down on the floor and, like, turn this guy on. And this is data. And he's like, I am fucked up, but I am not so fucked up that I can't whip that guy's ass. Data is motivated to stop lore, whatever it is that he's doing. And what lore is doing is communicating with the crystalline entity in the cargo bay. And that's where Data and Wesley and Dr.

Crusher go. That's a huge mistake though, because Lord disarms Dr. Crusher immediately and starts threatening to shoot Wesley in front of everyone. And then she's ordered to just leave. Like, I may or may not kill your son, but what you got to do is go. And when she turns around and leaves, he shoots her with a dustbuster in the shoulder and her clothing lights on fire. Man, that was so cool. Great moment. Great moment. just like constantly in so much danger in this episode. Big old Star Trek fight breaks out between Data and Lore and... It's a Donkey Kong fight, Ben, with the way they're winging barrels of each other.

Lore is throwing barrels of Data who is like trying to bap them out of the way before they can hit him. And the like moment where Data like grabs Laura and throws him like over his head into the transporter pad area. It's like, is that like a wire stunt? Like I rewound it and rewatched it like three times. It's insane looking. It's so amazing. It really looks great. They did a great job.

I also love the way the phaser like dissipates in the transporter beam. That looked really cool to me. I wonder if this is an instance of the script requiring a certain set because you could not do a fight scene like this in the regular transporter room. And a regular transporter room in most cases is all you need to do the sort of work that lore was trying to do. But if you want a big, huge fight scene with a bunch of barrel throwing, it's got to be here. It's why so many action movies end at like steel plants or whatever. It's like, I want a big, complicated final set piece and this is it. And Wesley reports to Captain Picard

that they're not going to have anything to worry about W-R-S-T-T lore, R-SvP. The crystallineity moves way that's like up on TV like there's a little TV in the in the transporter controls that just shows it like receding into space like a bathroom in a sports bar that's yeah yeah got a little feet of the game in there don't want to miss a thing and uh pocard is not apologetic to wesley wesley has like multiple times spoken up in this episode and also said the thing about like if i was one of the adults like tasha you'd be taking what i'm saying seriously it's seems like the way Picard is dealing with this is not going to acknowledge any mistake on his part. It's just to send Wesley back to work. It's the distinction between apology and forgiveness, right? Because

according to Picard, sending Wesley to the bridge conveys forgiveness. I forgive you for popping off earlier. You can go back to work now. Well, it's time to get the computer fixed on the enterprise. I'm sure that nothing about the computer getting fixed will mess anything up anytime soon. Just a total TOS ending to this episode. I feel like so many original series episodes and almost exactly like this, if you were to swap in Spock's name for DATES

in a moment like this, like, boy, Spock is getting more human than ever, isn't he, Bones? Is like basically what this dialogue is at the very end. And that's the tone this thing ends on. This is becoming a speech. You're the captains, though. You're entitled.

I'm entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows. What do you think of the idea, Adam, that lore really is, like, more human? Like, it's something I kept writing in my notes is the phrase, uncanny valley. And this episode never says that phrase, but it feels very much like it's about that. And I wonder if lore is more human than data in your mind. And if so, is it is like the cruelty, the part that achieves that in a weird way? No, I think it's the unpredictability.

I think the qualities that make lore the most human are that he could do anything at any time, the way many people are capable. And with data, I feel like you're, you just feel safer around him because there is a calm predictability to his actions. Yeah. I talked previously on the show about how it is really hard for me to understand Machiavellian characters, both in fiction and in real life, because I just, like, cannot imagine thinking like that.

Lour almost feels the opposite. Like, he is manipulative in Machiavellian in many ways, but it almost feels like he's more chaotic neutral than, like, lawful evil, which is what I guess Machiavellian was. would imply. I think that the shit with the crystalline entity is fucked up and crazy. And also, he, like, kind of screwed himself by doing it. He was, it was dumb luck that he ever got taken off of that planet, you know? And that does feel very human, like the dumb luck, I'm going to do this and then figure out how to deal with the consequences later type thinking that Lauren Gages in. I like this episode a lot, but I think one of its failures,

is that we're not made aware of whether or not this is some sort of ship or something and that like what's in it for lore in any way. And that's what makes the end such a mystery for us to trust Wesley Crusher. And when this thing cruises away for us to feel any sort of feeling of safety at all is just a little bit manipulative and a little bit unsupported by everything we've seen in the episode. Yeah. Yeah. I almost like the unknowability of the crystalline entity. I mean, we also come to learn a lot more about it in the subsequent episode,

but I feel like that makes lore feel scarier, like how much he is not considering the second order effects of anything he does. Right. What a great introduction to a great Star Trek villain. I hope they don't overuse the idea of putting Brent Spiner in a slightly different character. No, I don't think that's possible. Well, we're going to talk a little bit more about data and lore in a bit and play a game that will potentially affect future episodes. But before we do that, we've got to look at the P1 inbox.

Hopefully they are all what they say they are, Ben. You said it, brother. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on secured channel. You need a supplemental link. Supplement. Trump more. Yeah, it's extra. By the interest alone, could be enough to buy this ship.

Promotional message here, Adam. It goes like this. Hello, FOT's. Lucas here. Producer of the I Will Fight You podcast. Annie, Kit, and Mac, three queer weirdos turn opinion into stone cold fact about glittery pop culture junk food

from Good Bad, Bad, and Sometimes even great? They've done two Trek episodes, one for whales and one for weird ones, including Fuck or Die Friday and Janeway topping a holographic clown. If you want bigger, Wolfpack Eps do deep dives on movies that are more movie than movie, going three plus hours on the fifth element, hackers, and Jupiter ascending. Oh, man, I felt like I knew. what this P1 was for when I started reading it, and I got less and less sure.

The further in I got. I'm hearing recently the people prefer super long episodes. This is hewing toward that sensibility. How about new? So you go to crooked Russian cam.horese or crooked Russian cam.gay to subscribe. See other CRC shows or get links to Patreon or the fan discord. Wow. I can say, I'm a little nervous about entering Crooked Russian cam.horse into my browser.

Ben, you've got a tour browser over there. What happens when you type this in? Yeah, let me go onto my air-gapped Linux box and see what you get. I love I Will Fight You as a name of a show. Yeah. One more name of show I can't use for my own projects. Pretty good there. That's really good.

Crooked Russian cam. Yeah. They've got other podcasts. And, hey, they're using Squarespace for their website. So we love to see it. Amazing. Check out, I Will Fight You, the podcast. Do it.

Ben, we've got a promotional message here. This message is from Polyamature Hour. I love those guys. Goes like this. Thanks for that first big bump. Thanks to Wendy for teaching us how to pod and gifting us a starter fan base by being our guest. Wow.

Thanks to Ben and Aft. Adam for chill hanging parisocially every week and corporeally. Relish in your berries at STLV. Thanks for Make Each Other Laugh and Make It Every Week. Now, a no-loop segue to the promo. Subscribe to Polly Amateur Hour. Enjoy controlled chaos with guests, John Billingsley. Wow.

Ify and Wadiway. Windy Pretty and more. You don't have to be Polly, just messy. From our friends at Poly Amateur Hour, just a great, great hang every time we see them at STLV. What fun. Man, we're about to be at STLV. I hope they're going to be there, too. Yeah.

Yeah, and great production. Like, if you love how our show sounds, I think they've got a great sounding show that is really funny. And informative. Got to go check it out. Another promotional people on today out of. It goes like this. William Shatner, famous singer, outdoors enthusiast, go climber rock, Trek fan. Been further into space than most.

Ben Suki, local legend singer-songwriter, outdoors enthusiast, been further into North Dakota, Badlands than most. Trek fan was so inspired by Shatner's spaceship that he wrote a song called NeverRecover, drawing lines of the song from Shatner's rapturous post-landing interview. See emailed picture. So we have a call to action here. Succi hopes this tribute to an icon's wholesome moment of profundity can make its way to the captain himself.

Help Suki finish a five-year mission. Stream never recover. If you like it, hashtag share to Shatner. This is from Gus, owner of Rhythm Records Music Cafe in Bismarck, North Dakota. And I want to listen to this song, and I want Shatner to listen to this song. It's great. You got to hear it. You got to hear the work here.

And yeah, I mean, I have heard that Bill Shatner, does not run his own social media. It's like run by a person that maybe isn't super close to, allegedly, Shatner actual. But yeah, maybe we can get his attention with Ben Suki's song here. I would love that. I feel like the Friends of DeSoto can do this. And I would be delighted.

I mean, we don't seem to have had any luck getting Jonathan Frakes to see the sex rap I recorded for the bonus fee. But maybe we could get Shatner to check out this amazing song. I love that idea. Well, if you'd like to get yourself a message of the highest priority and have us read it here on the show, you can do it by heading to greatesttrecht.com, clicking Priority One messages and getting yours today.

It really helps us keep the lights on around here. We really appreciate it. Well, Adam, we just watched an episode that explores in richly realized metaphorical fashion, the tension between data and lore, the opposing ideas of observable metrics about the world and various bullshit people think is true. There is one other television property

in addition to Star Trek the next generation that explores this tension, and it is from that show that today's game takes its inspiration. I'm calling it Zoom Family Feud. Our beloved father, Actually, he was a genius by human standards. That's right, Adam.

I surveyed 50 friends of DeSoto, who attended our 10-forward live string last month, about data and lore. It's your job to guess what answers were most popular. On a real game of Family Feud, in between absolutely amazing takes to camera by Steve Harvey, contestants have to guess and potentially lose control of the board. But as you are one man,

this will be a little different. I will give you the question. You'll have to give me six guesses for answers that might appear on the board. If you get at least three of those answers correct, you win on that question, any less than you lose. If you lose on more questions than you win, you immediately cease to be the star of the podcast

and go back to just being a co-host. Are you ready to play? I'm so glad you're dressed like Steve Harvey for your hosting duties today with all those buttons on that suit. So we ask 50 friends of DeSoto. Name a good reason to trust data. He is a computer brain.

He's super smart. I think those are the same answer, really. Okay. He went to Starfleet Academy. He seems incapable of lying. He does not appear to have lied on the show or in movies when he isn't like suffering from some sort of malfunction. Okay, okay.

So like no past history of lying, I mean. Right. When your best friend is Jordy, what do you need to lie about? Okay, fair. To make yourself look better. Good answer, good answer. Let's see. Finally, why should anyone believe data?

He's got a hell of a poker face. Hmm. Adam, you got one out of the six. Top answer was because he is honest. That was the top answer. How did one of my answers not qualify for that when I said, that he had no demonstrable history of lying. I think that's the word that you got right.

Okay. He is fully functional was an answer. Okay. He has an ethical subroutine that he often mentions as an answer. Should have said that. All right. Lack of emotion was one that came up several times. Cat owner came up several times.

And because he could destroy you slash brute strength came up several times. I think sociopaths are famously great liars. So the whole not emotional thing, I don't feel like is a great reason for him to be trustworthy. But okay. But nobody that owns a cat has ever lied. Wow. So I really blew that one. One out of six.

Yeah. Okay. Name something that data and lore have in common. Well, a haircut. Okay. They look like twins. Twins. They have the same father.

Okay. They have the same sense of humor. They have the same fingerprints. They wear the same size clothing. Oh, interesting. Fingerprints was an interesting answer. I'm going to say you didn't get it. Uh-huh.

Yeah, I think you had two of these. The top answers were daddy issues. Again, fully functional. Same penis was specifically said by many people. Super strength was said by more than one person and spelled super strength. super strength specifically. They both have four letter names. I didn't get that one. And they have the same father. I think I got most of those. All right. You got two questions left. I'm going to say if you can get both of these, a full 50% you're safe. Okay. Name a non-data, non-lore Brent Spiner character.

And you can say the show it was on. You don't have to say like the actual character name. We've got AI Sune. Uh-huh. See, I want to try for those weird ones. That's what I want to get most of all. Yeah. But that's not really family feud, you know? Like you're kind of going for like most obvious or like most sexually valent.

Okay. So of the Sungs, we've got AI who I named. We've got. Wasn't Adam one or is Adam A.I? Yeah. We've got. I would get off. suings entirely just oh you would yeah how about b4 does that count b4 counts you got two how about

cowboy guy uh knows away to a woman's ha like okay like that one well that was just data glitched out through the program that doesn't count okay and also nobody answered that okay fuck fuck think about other things he's been in i am And it's hard. You're so close. You've got two. If you can name one more, you get this question. I'm really stumped.

Like, I really feel like I'm just stuck on the data stuff and the data like stuff. Well, the available answers, Bob Wheeler is a character he played on Nightcourt. Yeah, I wasn't going to get that. I made just Dr. Soon the catch-all category because listed a bunch. Dr. Okun from Independence Day before you got John Adams he played John Adams and something and a character named

Puck from the animated show Gargoyles which I think had a lot of TNG cast in it I should have gotten Independence Day guy I don't think I if given an infinite amount of time I would have gotten most of the rest I feel like watching an episode of Gargoyles might be a good bonus app for us because it's like the TNGG cast pretty much

on that show. Yeah, but is it good? I don't know. Some people like it. All right. I had another question here, but... But since I lost utterly, what's the point? I'll just tell you that the answers for a sex move data would do that lore would not

were conalinguish missionary 69, getting pegged, aftercare, and eating ass. A sex move is aftercare? Yeah. That's a move? I think it's one of the most important sex moves, actually. I mean, sure. I mean, it feels like such an obvious thing. I don't even think about it.

Yeah, yeah. Same could be said of conalinguish, in my personal opinion. Well, it seems like you're off the hook for introducing me on the show with such enthusiasm. Now we're back to the basic show introduction without energy. your enthusiasm for me whatsoever. And that is where I like to be. That's the briar patch for your boy. And with that, we're going to leave the episode

in the capable hands of our producer, Wendy Pretty. Bye, bye. Thanks, Wendy. The Greatest Generation is an expert Shemota podcast. It's hosted by Ben Harrison and Adam Pranika, and it's produced and edited by Wendy Pretty. Next week, we'll be back with another episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, so find you.

your deepest V and put that thing on because we're going to parade around like one of them. It's season one, episode 14, Angel 1. Thank you to all the members who are supporting this show. If you want to join them, you'll get an ad-free feed, plus a lot of great bonus episodes. Sign up at greatesttrecht.com or you can just click the support link in the show notes right there in your podcatcher. We really appreciate your support. Music for the greatest generation is by Dark Materia. Social media is managed by Bill Tilly and Rob Badler, who also puts together the greatest newsletter every month.

Visit Podshop.com. Biz to get signed up for that. you can also book a P1 there and find yourself some fun merch too. Along with our official social media pages on Instagram, Blue Sky and YouTube, you can also check out one of the great FOD run communities that are online. Those are on Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Mastodon, and Wikia. Over on Greatest Trek, we've wrapped up a 1966 film festival, and we're getting back into New Trek on Friday this week with the season four premiere of Strange New Worlds. Search for Greatest Trek and your podcatcher if you're not already subscribed and check it out.

That's all for now. We'll see you next week on The Greatest Generations. Make it so. Captain Oxbridge. Sumona.