The Greatest Generation - Sympathetic Epilepsy (ENT S4E22)

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

When Commander Riker is working his way through some deleted scenes of a TNG episode, he skips ahead to the good part on the holodeck where Shran shows up to ask for Captain Archer’s help. But after diverting the NX-01 to rescue Shran’s daughter, we lose a beloved character and Riker finally feels ready to defy Admiral Pressman’s orders. What do the FoDs deserve? Who is fair game on the holodeck? When does HIPAA not apply? It’s the episode that wants to talk Dr. Star Trek into a new drink. Support the production of The Greatest Generation Get a thing at podshop.biz! Sign up for our mailing list! Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Riker - Quantum Leap The Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde Priddy Social media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill Tilley Music by Adam Ragusea & Dark Materia Friends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | Justice Discuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media: YouTube | Instagram | Bluesky And check out these online communities run by FODs:  Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's to the finest crew in starving. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me. This is a parody. Welcome to the greatest generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. I'm Ben Harrison. I'm Adam Pranika. That was a somber, Adam Pranika on my end.

Because it's the end. This is the end. This is it. How do you feel about the ends of things generally? I think there's a version of our show, maybe in the mirror universe, where it's the end of the show we do. Yeah. And yet many people view the ends of things as the beginnings of another in a very positive way.

I've been getting flashbacks to like pre-wedding jitters lately a bunch. And I think it might just be situational, but I like totally felt like nervous about getting on mic today. Wow. In a like, oh man, like, this is like kind of big. That's interesting you say that. Most recently I had it because I threw a big surprise party for my wife for her 40th birthday.

And it was a great success. She did not suspect a thing. She was totally surprised. Everybody had a great time. You surprised her with barbecue? The barbecue only goes in one direction in your house. Exactly, yeah. She goes to a barbecue restaurant and orders like a light salad. And I just go, she's like the most fun person in the world to surprise with something.

Yeah. Because she is so delighted by a pleasant surprise. And a lot of people at the party were like, man, I can't believe that worked. And what I said to my mother-in-law was, I'm not the cheating type, but I feel like I have potential after this experience because the whole day I had to keep it cool. but also lie my fucking face off about everything because I was like trying to stay cool, you know, not tip my hand at all. And it felt a little bit like before you get married, like, I have a lot of big emotions and I'm not sure, like, this is a fucking huge life moment. But you can't like telegraph that to your partner and make them like worried that

you're scared to do it or like reluctant in any way, you know. I wish I had the chance to spend any time with that, Benjamin Nars. Harrison, the one trying to be cool. What a day. I fucking nailed it, man. Yeah. You were on vacation with your wife or you probably would have been there. I probably would have gone if we were in town. I can tell you that. Our babysitter showed up a little early and she was like, oh, like go for a drink a little bit ahead of when everybody else is getting there because like she was expecting just her family, not everybody she knows, minus you and your wife. Yeah. Again, I just want to say I probably would have gone to this if we were in town, like pretty sure. I absolutely sold

that I put on a couple of bad outfits by accident and I needed to change and put on other things. That's a believable alibi. I think most people who know you would buy that. But her, like, she should have suspected because I usually nail it in one. Oh. You know. That's fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had jitters for this too. Any nerves on your are you just sanguine about the end? I don't know if I've ever told you this, and we've been doing this for a long time. I always feel something adjacent to the nerves I have

before doing a live show. Like, I always feel a little bit, I don't know if it's nervous, but like energized for the performance, as if what we're doing is live. I mean, it is to the folks watching the live stream, but like, the stakes aren't the same. I don't have to feel nervous.

about talking to one of my best friends about a thing that we both love to make fun of. This is easy shit. What do I have to feel nervous about? But like I'm saying, it's not nervous. It's more like getting yourself up for the show, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's what the FODs deserve. To energize hosts, ready to give it their all. Because it's not the end, Ben. It's a new beginning after this for us. Here's to the next generation. They deserve hosts apprehensive and enough to make the right decision. Mm. Yeah.

And that is our topic today as we review season four episode 22, the series finale of Star Trek Enterprise. These are the voyages. Really like that pivot, Ben, for so many reasons. Got free speech and guitar. Our cold open makes it seem as though there has been kind of a long time jump between the last episode and this one. when the crew are discussing what their big plans are after their 10-year mission is over.

And a lot of them are wearing their hair differently. The one thing I noticed right away was Topal was wearing a name tag. That's fun. Yeah. That is the way the uniforms have evolved in the 10 years. Like Starfleet, I feel like, swaps out uniforms every like three and a half to seven years, typically. But this time all they did was a little embroidery. Some people choose to wear more, and we encourage that, okay?

Why hasn't any Star Trek show subsequently gone back to the name tag on the uniform? That would be so fucking cool to get like Ghostbusters-style Vanckman, like big name tag patches on their chess. And like their blood type right under it. Yeah, I would love that. Fucking rugged shit. They also have changed the bridge a little bit. It's got that column of computer screens that we saw on the USS Columbia. Do they call it the Columbia on Enterprise?

Right. I think they all get that reference, don't they? Of course. Not conveniently placed. Reed comes in and boops some buttons on one of the monitors and then turns to the other side of the column and boop some others that he has to reach all the way up for. I think it's interesting how asymmetrically it's placed in its location.

There was a music venue in Seattle called The Crocodile that was famous for a lot of great bands coming through when they were small enough to play it. But one of its claims to fame was like a post, a load-bearing post in the middle of the dance floor. And it was like right in the middle where people would be trying to watch a musical performance. And people just sort of accepted it

because it was part of what you dealt with when you went there in the same way that folks on the enterprise just sort of accept that this isn't a really bad spot and it doesn't need to be there. Is the crocodile the place that we kind of first hung out? I feel like it might be. Like there wasn't a show there, but like we went to a bar one time and it was like the first time I can remember hanging out with you and I think it may have been the crocodile. The bar at the crocodile. Yeah, it might have been. Yeah. That was one of the great. great bars. That's not there anymore. Well, RSVP.

Everybody's like talking about what are you going to do next? And Archer's working on a big speech for the signing ceremony for this Federation Charter that we heard so much about in the Terra Prime episodes. And that is also coinciding with the decommissioning of the entrepreneurs. It's going to become mothballed. They're not going to scuttle it right there so that the Germans can't use it. Yeah, the plan is they're going to sink it in the ocean

and create a reef. I think you're right to bring up the tone of this moment. Like, it's very business as usual. First things first. Let's get this speech dealt with. And then we'll deal with the decommissioning ideas later. But, like, Star Trek for many years has confronted this, moment for its crews and it ships fairly directly, right? There is a sadness that hangs in these

scenes. And it's embodied by the crew in those moments. Not this moment. Not this crew. Yeah. More optimistic, I guess. And I feel like if you're founding the Federation and it's looking like it's actually going to happen, like that would be kind of the vibe, even if you're, even if you're graduating from high school, like you have a bright future to look forward to, unlike us. And I think that that adds the lightness to the moment. It's like people are making plans. Their lives go on.

And it's strange how, I think, for all of the seasons of this show, the hero ship is less of a character than any ship in previous series. Like, the crew appears to not love it the same way as other crews have loved their ships. Well, we thought that this was a jump forward in time six or so years. We had no idea how far of a jump forward in time this was because the camera tracks around and finds an ensign that was sitting off in the corner sort of anonymously. And they turn around and it is Riker William T.

I hope I show some promise. How many times did you watch this cold open to like, to catch him in the corner of the frame, like, doing his business. I think they used a double. Like, I just don't feel like that guy with the brown hair in the corner of the frame is Jonathan Frakes. I actually, I got some behind the scenes info about this, actually. That's Seth MacFarlane. Oh.

Until he turns around, it's Seth MacFarland. Amazing. You think this series finale's bad. I'm never going to end my shows. I am so glad to be with William Riker again. And the specific bit of nostalgia that hit me incredibly hard upon seeing him again was that fucking walk, that Harrison Ford style walk that he's got. Yeah. The like so self-aware about himself walk, it's hilarious in the best way. I love it.

Man, I wish I remembered who it was, but there was some famous quote from an acting coach about, like, you didn't have the part as soon as you walked across the stage. Because, you know, like, there's something, there's something about the Riz of the walk of a truly gifted performer. This scene is also representative of a quality of the rest of the episode has, which is, we stick with the D as long as possible. Like, we do not need to follow this character through the arch into the corridor of the inner. D, but every opportunity there is to do that, we do it in this episode. Indeed. Save program and quit. And we're on the D after the theme song, and Rikerslog tells us that he's going through this

hollow program on counselor Troy's advice, and intend forward, we see Riker sweating this visit from Admiral Pressman, the Admiral Pressman from the Pegasus episode of TNG. It's good to see you, sir. Yeah, sure it is. You look like you're about to faint. about Admiral Pressman Riker is pressed More like Admiral stressed man

Yeah indeed As in like that's what's going on with Riker You know If we change the word Are you saw day long My understanding Based on this moment Is that this is a retcon

And that like if you watch that episode of TNG Riker is like When he's not on screen He's like bugging out to the holodeck to go, like, work through his feelings about the situation with the Pegasus. I don't want to be pedantic because they are the worst types of commenter. But when you say retcon, I just associate a negative connotation with that. Oh, no, I mean...

Even though, like, definitionally, that would be true. I almost feel like it's, like, additional continuity. Like, this supports the story retroactively. And now that I say all these words out loud, I think, what I'm coming around to is that retcon is probably an accurate description of what we're doing here. I would love to see, maybe not love, but I would be curious to see an edit of the two episodes unfolding as though it is just one big long episode of Star Trek the next generation. Someone has done that, I'm sure. That exists.

That's got to be on BitTorrent or something. But I do feel like they really delight in the set recreation stuff. that they did in this episode. I read that they recreated every set, like, from scratch, except for the conference room, which existed as the Enterprise E conference room, that they then, like, re-skinned back into the Enterprise D-Conference room. But everything else was built for this purpose. So somebody had to come in and sweep up all the broken glass and busted ships. Yeah, pretty wild. You might remember the Pegasus episode was about that ship where that terrible accident happened having to do with the cloaking device and the mutiny and the scandal that came out of it.

And Riker's doing this research using the hollow program about Enterprise so that he can learn what it might be like to go against orders. 12 years ago, I needed an officer that I could count on in a crisis. Someone who would support and obey my decisions without question, someone who was willing to trust my job. judgment, and that someone was Will Riker. It's looming over him because he doesn't really know how to deal with the fact that his loyalty to Captain Picard is in conflict with the oath that he swore not to share details of the Pegasus. It's very funny that there is like one shot of the back of Captain Picard in this episode, like the establishing shot that they use from that episode.

Picard is there talking to somebody, but then we punch into the corner of Ten Forward, and it's just Troy and Reich are talking about how nervous he is to talk to Picard about. He's right behind me, isn't? It's kind of amazing how legendary the 10-forward set is from the Enterprise D in that dopamine hit that you get when you see it after so long. Like the same thing happened in the first episode of the Picard series. Like to make it the very first interior that you get, just takes your right home again.

Everybody's home on that ship. is that part. Troy makes a recommendation that I wish more English teachers had made when I was in like middle school and high school, which is like, skip to chapter 17. That's where it really starts to get good. That's where it starts cooking. When the Andorian hails, that's the good stuff. I am going through a little bit of that conflict right now.

I'm reading my first fiction book in like forever and ever, like many years, maybe like 10 years. I've been an old man for a very long time where I only read biographies and historical nonfiction and shit. But I'm reading Project Hail Mary and it's like a, it's like a brand new experience reading for me. I really enjoyed that book, but yeah, like there's definitely like a getting up and running phase of that novel. And that's where I'm at. Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry. It gets pretty bracing. Troy is not there to tell me to flip forward a couple of chapters. Yeah, I think I couldn't tell you which chapters to skip. I'm not going to skip.

I'm sure the movie will just skip the boring stuff, right? Yeah, as they do. I love how Troy is like, yeah, fast forward the program to the good part, and by the good part, I mean the Schran part. In the simulation, we learned that Schran has been dead for three years. RSVP Schran. And yet he's calling? I mean, this has got to be a spam call.

This can't be him. This is what I tell my parents all the time. There are thousands of hours of my voice on the internet. It would be very easy to train a large language model. If I ever call asking for money, we've got to exchange passwords. You know, like in a Jason Bourne movie where, like, they're on the phone with the CIA station chief, and they're like, you've got to code in. And there's like the answer for under duress and the answer for everything is okay.

It's such a great point because we've seen ship pretending to be other ship. on this very show, in this very season. It's recent. But you rarely get the FaceTime call on Star Trek that goes through two-factor authentication ever. Your Schran, prove it. Identify for retina scan. I mean, his antenna has grown back, the one that was chopped off. Like, he doesn't look like the guy we remember last time we saw him.

You should have cut off my head, I considered it. I wish it had grown back bad, you know. Like the broken pinky that comes back with a weird curve, once a teal? Yeah. Or like, you know, like a, like you can tell when a lizard has grown a new tail, you know? Like there's an obvious spot at which like, oh, this is where the new tail starts. What is surprising is that Tran is alive. What shouldn't be surprising is that he believes Archer owes him a favor.

He faked his own death in the days after his time in the military, I guess. and they're like, well, Shran, like, we're a little bit busy. Like, Archer has not completed his speech, and it's in three days. This isn't a good time, Shran. I assume you know where we're heading. And the place that he is to give this speech is where they are headed. So a diversion? Kind of an issue at this point.

That's when Shran explains that I have a great reason for this. It's that my daughter has been kidnapped. A daughter that I had with Jemel. You remember her? the electricity you saw between us in that episode. Oh yeah, that turned into something, baby. It turned into a baby, baby. You should see what a little bit of friction does to an ice desk.

Yeah, it made my hair stand up on end. You know what it sounds like fucking on an ice desk? Like those old-timey ice cube trays being twisted. So Archer talks to Shran a little bit more about this in the clarinet rental closet. And Schran is acknowledging that, you know, mistakes were made many by him, including entering civilian life.

But, yeah, he's got some jilted former business associates that took his daughter. And if he does not return, what's theirs? She's dead. In these two sequences back to back, there's a real, like, fuck our cuck setting on the holodeck. In one, Riker, wears the uniform and is sort of anonymously doing his duties to both please that booty and

like be at a bridge station. In the other, he's in the clarinet rental closet sitting in the corner on a chair watching. I like to watch. You like to watch. Yes. It's like a light switch. When he's in fuck mode and he's sitting at a bridge station, is it like press triangle to scan for life forms kind of situation. I really wonder. I really wonder what you get to do. Yeah. And he like walks through the door like it's not even there. Yeah. So that he can see what went down in this conversation. And Tran is like, I didn't even steal the thing that they want. Like I don't have it. I don't have anything. I put it all on the line to find where they took her. Do you believe Shran? Because I feel like the truthiness of this is never 100% certain. And I almost kind of

believe that Shran did steal this thing. But we don't know. The case he's making is like, look, I'm innocent, obviously, but we got to get my daughter back. And it's only going to cost you seven crew people. Can you spare seven for this mission? Fun will now commence. And going to Rigel 10? A place, by the way, I know so much about. This mission's going to be easy. I won't cease or desist Spare you Tepal does not like this plan

She is talking to Archer about it later And arguing for Why the hell are we going on a side quest When you know Like the door you go through at the end of the game Where it like warns you like if you press X You cannot return Yeah

To the open world Is right in front of us I mean it helps that it's to Paul describing Shran this way because Topal has a lot of credibility with her opinions but also like it's objectively true that Shran is kind of a

squirrelly guy that you aren't really sure where you stand with you know and also we can't believe for the conference like maybe that should be the headline like diversion bad we're on a timeline here all that being said Archer pushes a narrative that

loyalty and friendship are the theme of the conference He tries to do that galaxy brain thing with Tepal that I think really impresses Archer as he's doing it. He's like, look, is my relationship with Schran not a micro example of what that is? And isn't the preservation of that alliance just something that we got to do? Like if I can't do it on this level, we'll never be able to do it on like a galactic level, right? You get me, Tepal? Are you writing this down?

I feel like this should be a paper. This is pretty good, right? Maybe I should put this in the speech. It's kind of like a trust fractal. Like it's the same, no matter what scale. I feel like Archer does his best thinking when he's like absent-mindedly, like fiddling with a thing. Like a stress ball or like in this scene, the polo ball, Ben. And you know what that means.

Oh. Anytime we see a depiction of water polo on Star Trek Enterprise, it's time to play the hit game show within a podcast. called Polo Polo! Come on. Or boyo. I told you. Best sport in the world. One part basketball, one part swimming.

One part wrestling. I didn't know it was such a rough game. Our contestant today is Benjamin R. Harrison from Oakland, California. Benjamin, welcome to the show. Thanks. Ben, today's game is the last of its kind ever, as it is in the series finale of Star Trek Enterprise, And for that reason, this game will have three multiple choice questions related to the ends of things.

One question each about horse polo, water polo, and a chicken recipe. Okay. Benjamin, are you ready? Okay, I feel ready. Ready as I'll ever be. Question one. What? Do professional polo players check on their horse's hindquarters?

Right before the final chucker. A, the tail is braided in their team colors for the closing ceremony. B, the muscle temperature to prevent cramping in the home stretch. Or C, for any saddle marks that could disqualify them at match end. Your answer, Ben. I just read a book where one of the characters is a polo player, and I don't remember anything about this. but I like that disqualification at match end issue

that you might be concerned about if you were a polo player so let me go with that marks on the hindquarters issue wrong! Fuck! Ben, the muscle temperature to prevent cramping in the home stretch of the final chucker so crucial to the very end of a horse polo match. You know, I learned in this book,

that polo is a game invented to make horses accustomed to the chaos of being a part of a military cavalry. Like a horse that can be trained to do polo can also go into battle, and it's also a good way to train your officers in their horsemanship. But I don't feel like if you're like about to do a cavalry charge, you check your horse's temperature. I don't know. Kind of a lot is depending on that. I guess so. I just might.

Yeah. Question two. What happens during the final 30 seconds of a tied Olympic water polo match? A, players must tread water with their backs to the goal. B, the referee blows the whistle three times instead of once to signal the end. Or C, both goalies switch ends of the pool for sudden death overtime. Hmm, I like that sudden death thing. That sounds fun.

Final answer? Final answer. Correct. Yeah! The goalies do switch ends of the pool for the sudden death overtime. I thought it was interesting. They don't wait until the end. At 30 seconds from the end,

let's go ahead and get it ready for overtime. Amazing. I wonder why, like, those pools are almost always indoors. It's not like the sun's going to be in your eyes on one side or the other. As the host of Polo Polo or Boio, I have not done any further research. Here's the third question, Ben. In traditional Peruvian pollo al-Brasa,

what part is considered the prize at the end of the meal? A, the Pope's nose is saved for the guest of honor, which is the fatty tailpiece. B, the last crispy bits from the bottom of the roasting pan are mixed with rice. Or C, the B, the best. backbone is cracked open to reveal the chef's jewel, a perfectly roasted oyster. Your answer, Ben.

I do love that oyster. I'm wondering if the Pope's nose is good enough on a chicken relative to a turkey, which has much bigger Pope's nose. Big nose on that turkey. My grandpa loved that Pope's nose. This is not a game of Pollo. Pollo! or turkey.

However. Yeah. Oh, gosh. I'm going to go, I'm going to go with the Pope's nose. That's my final answer. Ben, you have one. Yeah!

Two correct answers, one incorrect answer, making you the winner of the final game of polo polo or boyo I didn't know it was such a rough game I believe that this makes me world champion of the game forever you're the only player of the game

and you had a great final round congratulations I gotta get one of those world champion hats speaking of food in the galley Riker is playing the part of the chef who insists on making Tepaul's favorite flavor of plowments meek broth. Evidently, you can kind of customize it based on root vegetable and herb variety and so forth. Everybody's supposed to go down to talk to chef about what their favorite dish is so that he can

make it for their final meal aboard. And instead of seeing who the chef has been the entire time, we've been told that the chef is much like the counselor aboard since everybody confides in the chef. Riker has inhabited that character. Yeah, this is not cuck mode. This is fuck mode. What's your name? Tell me you love jazz. And he's talking to Tupal and lets on that he's aware about the rendezvous they've made with a certain Andorian and would like to kind of pump her for more information and would just like to pump her, you know, probably.

A lot of surprises in this scene. I think Tupal surprises herself with how easy she finds. the chef to talk to and how interested the chef is in her personal life. She talks about how she had Tripp haven't done the deed in a long, long time, many, many years. That's been on hold since it was on hold in the show. Doesn't it seem as though a couple of these points could be emphasized with different shapes of vegetables and like maybe some oysters or like turning up the flame and down of the flame during the conversation.

We could be more on the nose, right? Cutting a papaya in half, and showing the insides. For some reason, having a papaya and then, like, putting it on top of a citrus juicer and, like, ramming it and twisting it on there. Rubbing butter all over a chicken that you're preparing for a preparation of pollo at a braza.

Exactly. Because there's been a lot of talk of burners and whether they're on the back burner or the front burner as a relationship, right? Indeed. And Topal has learned a lot from her human crewmates about following your instincts and stuff. Yeah. And that's something that's going to be useful for her. But it's also very helpful to Riker. Look deep in yourself and in there you might know what the right choice is.

Legally it's just a fart joke You will never take the greatest shit alive Ben would rather die Riker chooses this moment to freeze the program And kiss her on the side of the head I didn't love this moment I didn't feel skeved out by it Because it felt there was no romance in it whatsoever

It was like a oh thank you, spooch Yeah, I could kiss you for that answer. Exactly. I appreciate what you just said to me. Yeah. And also, you are a program and not real. Yeah, we've seen awful depictions of the way Holladeck characters have been used notably by Barclay.

This isn't that. No way. Jordi also a little bit. Right. I'm guilty of a terrible crime, doctor. But people that are long dead, that feels like fair game. If any historical figure was available for you to fuck in a perfect simulation, would you and who? I need to ask about the parameters of this question.

Okay. Is it definitionally not the person actually and instead a hologram? It's a hologram. Would anyone know about it? Not unless your crewmates came into the program the way they did in that one Barclay episode. Okay. So this is about what? whether or not I could live with it.

You have to be pretty sure you locked the holodeck door. I mean, I'd have to be. You can't make that mistake. No. I've made it too many times. But say you're at Quarks and, you know, like you have set aside a few hours in the, in the hollow suite for privacy. And it's like, that's like one of the guarantees of the house.

Nobody's coming up there. I love my wife, Ben. Correct. I have no fantasies about significant historical figures. Adam, you have won the game. Polo! Polo or porno. Woo! So, Riker's in the observation lounge looking through the crew manifest of the USS Pegasus.

A couple of fun Easter eggs in there. Ron Moore, who wrote that episode, is the, uh, commander on the ship. We're definitely making a polo, polo, or porno shit, right? Yeah, we love shit that doesn't sell. That's like one of the main kinds of things at Podshop.biz.

Podshop.biz? Hey, a lot of things might be changing for this show. That's staying the same. All right? RSVP, the 71 crew members who died in the USS Pegasus disaster. I thought it's weird that the slideshow that Riker's going through has, like, wasted. Every time he advances the slide to a new picture.

Bill Wallace. Hell of a handball player. Wow. Like, the computer's kind of hardcore about that. At some point, they took killed in action out of circulation as a term of art and replaced it with wasted. As anyone who has survived a horrible disaster would reasonably feel, Riker has a lot of emotions about guilt and responsibility and why me kind of haunting him as he considers the choice that he's going to make.

Fucking Troy in this scene is just like peak, peak friend on the periphery, like, involved to a certain extent, but not too much, because he's like, yeah, I'm really having a hard time connecting with this program you suggested. I mean, you've clearly run it and you understand what I'm going through, right? And Troy's like, what? Of course not. When would I have the time for that? Oh, also, I'm actually also too busy for whatever this conversation is.

I have an appointment in an hour. I'll get you back in plenty of time. Come on. You write every character as though they're the main character of the story or they think that they're the main character of their own story. Troy does not think she's the main character. We are back to Star Trek basics with the way we are writing counselor Troy. But Riker drags her into the story and insists that she comes with him. And so to the clarinet rental closet they go, it's a very dangerous place for future people, especially tall future people like Will Riker.

I know this ship like the back of my half. This is looking at the enterprise as a museum piece that she described in the previous scene of like, yeah, Maybe I went there when I was a kid. Who can tell all those old ships look so similar. And they're charmed by the bridge and the captain's seat. Oh, comfy. No seat for the first officer? Then we go to engineering with Reed and Tripp.

And Tripp might be the one person in this cast who really does seem to have an affectionate personal relationship with the ship. That's true. He is doing some bit of engine maintenance that you do every... six months and Rita's like, why? Like the ship is being decommissioned in days. What are you thinking? Yeah, you don't take your car to get an oil change before you trade it in at a dealer. You know, it's a waste.

But Tripp loves this old lady, you know? And he's sad to see her go. At the end of this scene, Troy gives something away about Tripp's fate, that he's not going to survive this mission that's on deck. Game mission that Reed is kind of nervous about, but Tripp is, like, very confident that Archer would never put anyone in harm's way this close to the end. Why? Why would you do it?

Yeah. Shran talks to Archer and Tappal in the next scene through his plan to get his daughter, Tala, back from the baddies. One of the key elements we learn is the Tenebian amethyst. All he had was like a grainy JPEG of it. And Tepal had to recreate it based on that.

And she sort of talks out both sides of her mouths. She's both like, that picture was all we had to go on and that picture wasn't very good. But if anyone scans this down to the micrometer level, it will be indistinguishable from authentic. It's kind of unfortunate about the timeline. of this mission, because if they had only been able to go back home first and visit San Francisco, there would have been so many crystal shops to peruse in order to get something that would

work for their purposes. They wouldn't have had to go to all this trouble. Troy shows herself out. She's like, I got to go talk to Barclay. He's probably in crisis. Do you believe her? Because I feel like Barkley is a great get out of conversation. free card if you're a medical professional. Like, oh, I'm getting word that there's a thing with Barclay. You understand. I shouldn't need to say anything else, right? You're kind of the head of the crew on the ship.

You know what I'm talking about. Poor Broccoli. Yeah. Yeah, that leaves Riker on his own to observe things on the bridge 16 hours later when they arrive at Radial 10. I love the passage of time edit within the holodeck program because I think we're like looking over to Paul's shoulder on a wide shot of the set and like the crew just like changed positions but also like everything on her screen changes because she's got like different

readouts for the different situation and Tripp steps to Archer as they're preparing to go on this mission he's like man you cannot go on this one this is undue risk at this point you've got to make this speech we're already going out of our way to do this side mission that we do not need to do and shouldn't be doing, you can't be there potentially getting killed. There's almost a self-awareness that Archer has about this being the final episode. In that kind of like one last mission before retirement that a police detective has, you know, before the end, that gets him killed, he's like, what's everyone acting so weird about? It's always either a police detective or a jewel thief.

Yeah. And in this, he's kind of both. Yeah, he's like, dude, I'm fine for the last time. Like, chill the fuck out. And also, everyone else chill out. It'll be okay. This was the first time I spotted a wide shot of Schran in the episode. And he's wearing kind of like a Rasputin robe.

I love it. His garment is awesome. It looks like absolute hell to take a bathroom break if you're him. Oh, yeah. And to do a raid on Rajel Tate. 10, also probably not the best garment to be wearing. Not the best garment to be wearing. Not the best conversation to be having is how I would describe what goes on in this shuttle down

of the surface, which is absolutely packed by the way, packed with a Mayweather at the controls, and then Riker and Reed and Tripp and Tepal and a random mako. And Tepal's back there in a space, the size of an elevator, going deep with Tripp Tucker. Do you love this shit? Are you high right now? Do you ever get nervous? Are you single? Do you ever miss me?

What are all these questions, DePaul? I knew what I was getting into. She's a bitter, unstable person. I mean, the sex was good. At one point in the flight, they're together. At another point, they're broken up, and DePaul is talking to the guy next to her, who somehow becomes named vegetable lasagna.

Hey, you believe in this? Excuse me, I was sleeping. Then they get back together and then they wind up having to share a cab with him back into the city. It's horrible. Back and forth they go until finally they end on to Paul admitting to knowing deeply that she will miss him, even though he's made promises about them keeping in touch. The energy she has is like, do not have a cool summer me in my yearbook. Like, everyone gets have a cool summer.

cool summer. But not me. I don't want that. I want plans. It was really sad to me the idea that it's even on the table that they would never see each other again. Exactly. I can't believe we broke up like that. It was stupid. Don't we live in a future where there's no reason why we couldn't see each other again all the time? The way I saw it, uh, I thought the cool summer I'd be having would be, uh, mostly with you. before my next assignment. Maybe we could make it a hot summer.

I don't know. I got myself a new swimsuit. It's just got the normal board shorts, but I got a bikini top on both of my forearm. You're never going to let that go, are you? Got to cover these puppies up. Riker is dresses of Meko for this one, so we know that they are expecting a little action.

And on Rijelton, to Paul and Shran are the ones that go to meet the bad boys that have abducted his daughter. And there's like a lead guy who looks like he's got like a tire tread running up the middle of his face. He's got real Robert Loggia voice. I thought. Great voice. I thought you were happily married. Who's the falcon? Very scary dude. And he is taunting and threatening. And there are lots of guns out and lots of anger. But to Paul is like, this case has the amethyst in it, and you will never get it open without me. I wish there was a way to turn Genesis.

Yes, Genesis into Amethyst. Yes, Amethyst. There's no way to do that, though. Yeah, I don't know. There might be, but I don't know if it's ethical. you know? Yeah. Like, that's the problem.

Yeah. Yeah. All of these hostage exchange scenes make me crazy because there's never a way to be 100% sure. It's always like, I'll put the money in your hand, you put the disc in my hand, and we'll like let go at the same moment. Yeah. It felt insane that they opened the Amethyst case before the daughter was out of there and safe.

And, Schran is told that he has to stay. Topal can take the girl, get her something to eat, but they want to keep Schran and they like pick up this rock to scan it and make sure that it is an authentic amethyst. And it's not. It's a very flashy light, actually. It's triggered to Darud Sandstorm and the party goes off. Triggered by the Dustbuster Club up in the rafters. Holy moly, this drop is a. incredible. This is why you go to a trans show, you know. Yeah. It's a real flash bang grenade effect that we get here. I've had like real bright lights flashed in my eyes. Kind of an inevitability if you've ever been on a film set that you will get beamed in the face accidentally. Also new Star Trek would

never do this without like a one minute warning frame before the episode starts. Like this is kind of a lot to take. It really upsets these guys. They're very cranky. You know what you should do, Ben? You should record a content warning ahead of this episode saying we're going to talk about a scene of flashing lights. I think that would be appropriate.

If you have sympathetic epilepsy and hearing about a flashing light would upset you. Which is a real thing, by the way, all right? It's not fictional. It's real. But also, like, content warning, we're going to talk about a content warning with flashing lights. And if that would trigger your sympathetic sympathetic epilence. It's sympathetic sympathy all the way down, Ben. It is a really crazy fight.

Most of the bad guys are shot in the course of this. but Tripp falls through some scaffolding and you're like, oh man, this is going to be it. We know it's he's about to die, but no, Archer is able to grab him and pull him up. Is Jim Kirk the only example of a scaffold-related fatality in all the Star Trek? It's sort of like raising the jersey up into the rafters. They can't do it again. No. Like that's Kirk's.

Yeah. Hey, Tripp, no. leave it it sort of made me wonder if Riker is playing the game too well you know like he diverged from historical accuracy because his ability to shoot bad guys

was too good I love that take I also love a fight scene where there's a bunch of different colored laser weapons being fired I don't feel like we get that too often oh that's good three different kinds here so both shuttle crews make it back

unscathed to the shuttle bay and the daughter is there and they're talking about what what's next and archer's like hey we've got a really fast ship we'll get you out of here safe and trans like no no no you don't have to worry about that my shuttle's faster than their pieces of shit but i guess he's like convinced because he stays aboard i wasn't really clear on like why why they were having this conversation other than to establish that they believe that the bad guys have bad ships that can't catch them. Right.

And also to say a beloved character's name for the first time halfway through the series final episode. Like, are we going to see Dr. Flocks in this one? Oh yeah, like you better take your daughter to go see him like for a checkup, right? She was briefly a hostage. I was excited to see him, but no, we cut away to something I'm potentially even more excited to see,

which is a beautiful rendering of the D flying through that asteroid field. Feels like home. Data radio's up to Troy about wanting to talk about his positronic net and she's like, nah, dude, that sounds really boring. Can I give you a rain check?

How often would you screen data's calls? I feel like all the time is my answer. You're not going to hurt his feelings. As I recall, the Pegasus was a pretty late season episode. It might have even been season seven. We could probably look that up. Was Data still not understanding any idiom that you used around him? Season 7, episode 12.

Right up against the end. And he's still not understanding rain check. Yeah. But Riker comes in after she hangs up. And Pegasus is going to be, we're going to find it real soon. He brings up the Treaty of Algiron and how it made cloaking, use of cloaks, illegal for the Federation. and he confides in Troy that the Pegasus was a secret prototype testing platform for a Federation cloaking device.

And the accident was in testing the device. This was when I realized that we were in a specific TNG episode and not just generally simulating this from the vantage point of TNG. This is confirmation of that for sure. I mean, Pressman, I remembered a little bit. then looked up as soon as he was name checked. And I was like, oh, yeah, now I remember where we're at. Exactly. The trouble with Pressman is that he outranks everyone. And so for Riker to get out of line a little bit and challenge what's about to happen here is a career limiting move for, I think,

not just him. I think he feels like it would be for everyone involved. He can trust Troy with this information. And he knows that, but he does double check. She's like, maybe go back to the program, dude. Again, this is a program that Troy has not seen herself. So she's suggesting a course of action that she's kind of unfamiliar with. Cool. He's like, I need some like pretty intensive therapy to unpack a massive career trauma I endured when I was a junior officer. She's like, I'm looking at my day planner and I am pretty booked up for the next couple of weeks. So I would advise you to go talk to chat GPT. I need something to do with this shit.

Come on. Fair enough. Cut over to the galley on the NX Enterprise, and Rikers, they're rolling out some dough with Reed, and he's spilling his guts to him as they roll. Big feelings about Tripp Tucker are the topic here, and Hoshi, Mayweather, and Dr. Flax are cut in very elegantly in this sequence. We do that thing where, like, the camera swishes, like pans to a character, back to Riker, and then it pans back over again and the character has changed. This is often a technique used in an interrogation sequence, and this isn't quite that,

but I really liked the use of that to propel the narrative and to get lots of points of view. And I like Flax's perspective on Tripp. I mean, he sure is close to him, given what he's telling Riker in this scene, like the exact date that Tepal and Tripp smashed for. the first time. Okay. If you're not going to break HIPAA with the ship's chef, who are you going to break HIPAA with? There's no HIPAA as it relates to T, right? This is just gossip. Hot gossip. No, they're not going to sue. They got no case. Because parody and damniphy. We cut over to the captain's mess after this. And we get the captain's bottle in between Tripp and Archer. This bottle once belonged

to Zephram Cochran. Hey, I'm surprised there was any liquor left in it, Ben. Are you like refilling it up? You're like marrying bottles over and over again to get that topped up? I zoomed in, because you can do that. If you're watching on a computer, you can zoom in on the label. Enhanced. Stock. On Zephrin Cochran's bottle, you know what it was called? Hmm. You know how like everything cool right now is an a percent in the middle? Like it's blank, a percent blank. Sure.

This whiskey is called women and money. That's SEProp Cochran. That's his vision. How could I possibly have not known that? What a brand. Oh man, big day's coming up. Archer is not ready. He always, you know, aces the test by cramming the night before.

Yeah. And Tripp just cannot believe that about him, even after 20 years of friendship. Hey, Captain, you know what I haven't been doing for many years? Cramming with DePaul. Up top. Up top in a very sad way. I'm lonely, Captain.

It's like up top for the turn of phrase, not so much for the situation. Actually, could I take this bottle with me? Banger, intruder alert. And it is the dudes that they just shot up on Rigel Tense. I guess they were just set to stun when they were fighting sick child abducting criminals. They walk right out into the corridor and are confronted by these guys. And it is a scary scene. I think the scene is so scary because of how frenetic Tripp Tucker is acting.

He is absolutely going nuts trying to defend Archer's life and explain. Like he's talking over Archer in order to explain where Shran is in a way that felt I don't want to say out of character because this is a character like in the middle of a chaotic situation, but I was very surprised at what I was seeing from him. Connor Treeneer puts so much mustard on this performance. Yeah. The mustard of desperation because he is terrified that something will happen to Archer and make him not able to induct this new era into existence. Then I went to Costco yesterday and got a hot dog for the first time in a long time.

I chose the mustard of desperation on that visit because it was just yellow. It was not deli. Yeah. I had canters the other day. Really solid mustard at that place. A lot of different options on the table. And the deli, so good.

You familiar with the Coleman's? Yeah. Mustard? Yeah. I like that mustard a lot. It's a good mustard. Hot. Yeah.

Spicy. Yeah. It's got a little kick. Mm-hmm. When were you at Cantors? Why didn't you give me a buzz? That's just around the corner. You were in Hawaii. Yeah, if I was here, I probably would have gone.

Tripp will bring these guys to Schran over Archer's protestations. Over Archer's not dead body, but kind of looks that way after being rifle butted to the head. Tripp is also mad about this. He's like, I will not help you if I even catch a whiff of you wanting to kill him. But I will help you. And so after some discussion, they, like, agreed to do it his way. And he's like, all right, like, no sudden moves. I'm opening this panel so that I can bypass security. Robert Loggia Alien is like, hey, what are those things on your forearm?

Now that we're in better light, I have so many questions. he's going to plug a thing into another thing and they're like suspicious of both panels that he opens and what they should have been suspicious of was the explodey components that he blows them sky high with. This is a big, scary looking explosion and it doesn't just get Robert Loja alien and his buddies. It gets trip as well.

It really feels visually coded like the Back to the Future scene where Doc finally connects the cables to send the car back in time. You know what it is? It's a perfect combination of the scene where Doc connects the cables to get the car back in time and the scene where Marty plugs into Doc's super amp with his guitar and gets blown backwards. It's both of those things in one thing. It is. This boom is loud enough to wake Archer in the corridor. And when he goes to check on Trip, he does not like what he sees. And neither is just Dr. Flox when he's taken to Six Bay.

His lungs are fried. And he uses what little air he has to go really Benjamin R. Harrison on this scene. And for some reason, apologized Archer for what happened. Sorry. about the rifle butt. Plex is like he's thermalized his lungs and his body is also covered in chili sauce. And the reveal that he dies in this moment is really nice. There's that moment where Topal is like folding up the uniform, but then she smells it.

And I was like, that's it. Like you never smell clothes that aren't yours unless the person is dead. I smell my wife's clothes all the time. All right. That's a little bit to TMI. The moment that got me the most, I think, was that Tripp Tucker smiles as he was shoveled into his coffin, you know, in that chamber in Six Bay. Like, for that to be the last time you see his face, that kind of bravery, like the bravery of a wry smile before death, I thought was like, man, what a great character.

And as much as I wish he didn't die this episode, what a great way to go out. The next scene is the funeral where Archer is sharing some remarks. And he says, of all the souls I've met in my travels, his arms had the most nipples. Do you think it was open torpedo casket? But like, maybe the arms are up and out on the, out on the rim? He looks so lifelike. Wait, why is Tripp Tucker displayed as like a crucified Jesus Christ pose? His arm nipples just laid wide for all to see.

He died to cleanse the world of its nipple sins. Ben, your fantasy description of a, you know, a eulogy and a funeral, not anything we're close to receiving this episode whatsoever. No, instead we start talking about DePaul's mom and how much she misses her and Archer are talking about two simplistic platitudes that aren't totally compatible. Yeah, I mean, look, try to see the bright side of all bad situations. Sure, Archer being all like, hey, we're in the space business, babe. There's always another planet around the corner. Seems a little bit dismissive when talking. about specifically his best friend and her primary love interest. Like, this is not the time to hear there's always another train coming, you know?

Tripp would have wanted Archer to give his speech, and Tripp would have thought this was worth it. And boy, does he take that literally. He takes that as, you don't have to think about Tripp anymore for the rest of this episode. And, in fact, neither does anyone. Except for Riker, because Tripp, visits him making hush puppies. And this is like Riker rewinding the program to before they picked up Schran. Thank God they do this.

They talk about trust and what trust means to Trip Tucker. And he talks about it meaning somebody that always has your back is always there for you, never hurts you. Like, you got an Imzadi like that, Riker? Yeah. One or two. Chef Riker's got that. I thought this was an interesting description because, you know, like a lot has been made about Tripp's relationship to Archer professionally and personally.

I wasn't quite sure which he was referring to in this scene because, like, as a commander to subordinate relationship, that's kind of part of the job is being ordered into danger and possibly being hurt as a result, you know? Yeah. He doesn't get to have it both ways. But here's the thing. The thing that I really love about this scene is that this final moment between Tripp and Riker represents two of the most charismatic characters in Star Trek history having a very charismatic

moment together. Like they're so fucking cool. They're just great. They would be best friends if they got to spend more time together. Whatever you do after Enterprise Chef, I'm sure you'll make the right choice. And that puts a little pep in Riker's step. Hey, hey, chef, just a little word of advice. Put on some gloves.

A lot of cross-contamination going on in this kitchen. And in fact, gloves that go up to the elbow, if possible. I'll stick to making pizza. We cut to the ceremony that Archer's been preparing for this whole time. Reed, Hoshi, and Mayweather got stuck up in the rafters. terrible seats for them. Complaining about their seats instead of talking about their friend

who died today. Reed is the one that is like particularly pissed off about the seats too. It's almost as if no one told them that Tripp had died. And I'm kind of willing to believe that given how they're acting in this scene. Like there should be an empty seat for Trip

and they're like, I wonder where Tripp is. He hates it. these things. That's kind of an elegant way to forgive the tone of this, I thought. They talk about what will be next for Archer. Rumors are flying. Is he going to be an admiral? Nah, he would never get behind a desk. He wants one of those Warp 7 beauties. Oh, you know, for me, the action is the juice. But who's going to work in the engine room? Hard to know. In the green room, Topal is doing that thing that women always do. do in shows where they fix the guy's tie, except for Archer's not wearing a tie. So I guess she's

just like zipping up his mock turtleneck. Two great kinds of sidekicks here in the green room, the tie straightener and the hype man. And the hype man is Dr. Flax. Flax is like, man, you should be so proud. This is you. You did this. Hey, do you feeling nervous? Watch me do this. And he like sticks a thumb in his mouth and like blows up his face. And it breaks the tension. It's just like, you know, Archer like claps in front of his face. Yay! Again, again! Modesty, humility, you don't need those.

That's what Topal says. Yeah. Knock him dead out there. He walks up the ramp and... Oh my God! Archer is coming down the ramp! And he's got a steel folding chair! What a moment.

Didn't see that coming. It knocks out Soval, I guess, probably. Definitely Saval. And we cut to Riker and Troy, like looking down on all this from the nosebleed section where the Enterprise crew are. And this is a very historic moment, one that you learn about as a kid in their time. And Riker tells her like, okay, I'm ready. I can go talk to Picard. And they end the program, walk, slow.

slowly the holodeck. We wrap up on what starts with Picard's Star Trek Lord's Prayer, and then it intercuts with Kirk's and then archers, and we see all three of their ships in sequence. The last shot is the ship going off toward a big bright nebula. Where the dry dock lives, I guess. where they scrap starships. Like what they do is they like set an X-O-1 an impulse. Like no one's aboard and it just sort of like beaches itself in the nebula.

If you zoom in on that nebula, like it looks like gas from this distance, but if you zoom in, that's all just components and debris from busted apart ships. Yeah. Did you like this episode of Star Trek Enterprise, Adam? Could for late Got no case Tempate fate Ben I don't think this is a bad episode of Star Trek

But I don't think it is a particularly good series finale And what I read is that that's not what it was trying to be Like it was trying to be a vanity finale For the Berman and Braga era of Star Trek Which means that what it was Actually was a 17 year series finale Wow And when I look at it,

it from that perspective. Like, I get what they were trying to do. And it's funny, like, a lot of people hate this episode. They think it's a terrible ending for a series because of how much time it spends with next generation characters and with how many, like, references to, like, all good things ending and the next generation and so forth. Sure. It gives a lot of attention outside of itself in a way that a lot of Enterprise fans didn't

like. But then I read that like Berman and Braga came out later and was like, yeah, we're sorry. This sucked. This wasn't a good sendoff. We shouldn't have made it about us. We should have made it about Enterprise. And I guess Scott Bacula got into a huge fight with him at the end about his feelings about how all went down. These are other people's feelings about this show and not necessarily my own, which I think are just a little more positive, like, and also, like, inextricably attached to how I feel about Enterprise.

And, like, tune in for the next episode because we're going to do a wrap-up episode about the entire series. But, like, man, the Enterprise D and Riker specifically are, like, such favorites of all of Star Trek

that, like, their additive qualities are so strong that, like, they would never be unwelcome in any Star Trek episode. I'm watching. So is it unfortunate that we don't get a lot of Dr. flocks in this episode? Yeah.

Am I sad that Tripp died? Absolutely. Do I think his send-off was like pretty cool and kind of cowboy? I did kind of like the way Tripp went out. I didn't like that he did, but the way he did I thought was cool. I like luxuriating with the D a little bit in that way. It's flawed. It truly is.

But I don't hate it, especially when I was so ready to. Like, the discourse around this episode is just deeply, deeply negative. And I couldn't be that negative about it personally. What about you? I felt really similarly. You know, I was watching this for the first time to talk about it on the show. And it's so notorious. It is so talked about as catastrophically bad.

And I think that there is just, like, that's an effect. of internet discourse. Like that is that is where I have seen this take. I have not had like personal conversations with people that are as stridently against it. And the way the internet works is like the the most extreme takes are the ones that get amplified and and reshared. So that was what I was preparing myself for just an absolute train wreck of an episode. And I think you're absolutely right. It is a good episode of Star Trek, but a bad finale. It's almost like they're a little bit embarrassed about the show that they are ending, and they kind of want to jangly keys you to thinking about a different, better show that they had a lot less

to do with. Yeah. Yeah. So with all that said, it wound up making me feel especially excited to return to TNG because what else do you want to do after seeing the D rendered like that and those hallways and that holodeck and that observation lounge, then go there. Like, I'm excited to go there. But yeah, I'm a little sad that my characters didn't get their due in this last episode, which if it had happened in the middle of the season, I think I would have thought was great. Well, for one last time, let's check the Priority One Message inbox. Priority One message from Starfleet coming in on secured channel.

You need a supplemental income. Supplement. Supplement. Yeah, it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. We have a personal priority one message here, Adam. It is from Ethan Storing and Stasia, the Star Trek Dog. And it's too bad an Adam.

It goes like this. In March of 25, I started watching every episode of Old Trek. It's been a long road getting from there to hear, especially January of 2026. But I've finally caught up to Greatest Jen. We can soon move on to New Trek, Greatest Trek, and no more Picard spoilers. Thanks for the laughs, the bonus episodes, and the dick jokes. Maggie O'Callering Drop! Ethan out

Would you like to hold my hand Would you like to kiss me Well the morning boys The spirits I turned her into a cow I'm not quite myself today What kind of a girl do you think I am Bitch I'm a cargo

I was walking around town With nothing but a bell around my neck Everyone was staring at me Good drop Ethan I love that one What a delight Thanks for catching up with us That is a really serious binge to start.

We're recording this in March of 2026, so you watched a lot of hours of Star Trek. Yeah, that's 600-ish episodes in a year. Amazing. 619 episodes. Good job, Ethan. Thanks for sticking with us. Ben, our next priority one message is of a personal nature. It's from number one, and it's to Dad.

Here's how that goes. I wish you're around to bond over this dick and fun. fart podcast. Rewatching made me remember Wednesday nights watching Voyager and PJs. You would have liked TGGDS9. I wish you lived to meet our four-year-old Shimoda who thinks Archer is the real captain since she wasn't born when B&A did TNG. We love you and miss you still.

Man, we miss you, Dad. Yeah, how about that? Thinking about 10 years, it's easy to just focus on like, the work and the friends we made along the way. But like, we lost some people along the way too. And that's worth remembering and recognizing also. I love the mindset you're using and thinking about your dad. All of the things that you loved about your dad.

And that is such a, like, you know, when you're dealing with loss, that is like, that feels like the right way to, like, orient your thoughts, but not always the easy way to orient your thoughts. So I really love that message. Yeah, good stuff. Our last P-1 is from Dr. Clark, and it is two, Matt James. Happy birthday, Merry Christmas, and Easter. Congratulations on your anniversary with Rachel

and the birth and subsequent birthdays of Laura and Halle. Please replay this message at every subsequent event because you're impossible to buy a gift for, you piece of shit. You piece of shit. God damn it, Matt James. Can you get like a vice or something? You know, like get really into Legos or start a collection? Yeah.

Would it kill you to be just like, you know, any chicken Chotchky, just get me a chicken, you know? Yeah. Maybe you're really into owls. Little ceramic figurines. I've got friends like that. Yeah. Yeah, you always know what to get them. What's galling is that like my friend that is hardest to buy gift for is also like one of the best gift givers.

I know. Yeah. I hate that motherfucker. That's how they get you. Well, you really get us through priority one messages. They're a great way to support what we do around here. Greatesttrecht.com is where you can put pen to paper. That's a metaphor.

What I'm talking about is clacking your keys on your keyboard, writing a message out to a friend or a loved one or a description of a business idea or a hobby. We do the rest. You get the greatest gen pump. and everyone's happy, right? And we might talk you into getting really into owls. So, you know, it's got lots and lots of benefits. We really appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey, Adam. What? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimota? Incredible. Drunk Shimoda! Yeah, there's only one opportunity to do this. Did you notice in the wide shot in the stadium at the very end, Dr. Star Trek was sitting in the stands? I did not clock Dr. Star Trek.

Our buddy Larry Nemetzek is in the stands and like conspicuous. Like once I found him with my eyes, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He's so much fun to hang out with at Star Trek, Las Vegas. There's no other opportunity to make him the drunk Shimoda on an episode of ours. But I'm going to take that opportunity here to give him that. What a dude. What a moment for him. He got to be on the show.

I have no choice but to join you. We know what he's drunk on. Yeah. Larry Nemechek, Dr. Star Trek. We raise a rum and diet to you. It's kind of too bad his drink isn't rum and Dr. Pepper because of the doctor stuff? Yeah. That's too on the nose for him.

He'd never. He wouldn't. Yeah. Roman diet. Would he? Maybe he would. Maybe we can talk him into jumping the tracks a little bit. How about Roman Diet Dr. Pepper?

Yeah. I get him that drink. They make a diet Dr. Pepper. It tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper. I've heard. Faith of the fart. Well, thank you for joining us on the long road. And thank you for all of the friends of DeSoto

who have supported us on this long road. If you would like to double check that your support is still good, maybe head to greatesttrek.com. Follow the links there. We really appreciate it. Thank you to Windy Pretty. our producer and editor. Thank you to Bill Tilly, the Card Daddy,

making hilarious Star Trek trading cards at all the At Greatest Trek social media accounts, which are run by Rob Adler, who is also the editor-in-chief of the greatest newsletter. And a new dad, he needs your support. Yeah, he sure does. What a team we've got, a team that would never hurt us, right? Best team in podcasting.

I say it all the time. I think so, too. Because it's true. Yeah. Got to thank Adam Rousia, who made the original parody of Diane Warren's theme song. What a moment it had. It really did. I got to thank Dark Materia for the original card song.

Let's encourage people to check out the wiki. Greatestgen.wikia.com, I believe, will get you there. A pretty exhaustive catalog of 10 years of bullshit. And we really appreciate the folks that maintain that. track of all the drunk Shimodas and everything. Really cool. This is a really significant moment in our show's history. And I just want to thank you, Ben, for being such a great partner through all of it.

I want to thank all the friends of DeSoto who've been with us up until now and who I know will be with us for the greatest generation, the next generation. I'm seeing this end as a bright new beginning. I'm excited for it. Yeah. Yeah. And with that, we'll be back at you next week with. with the wrap-up of Star Trek Enterprise,

an episode of the Greatest Generation Enterprise that is a far, far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that they go to than I have ever known. Sweet. Maximum Fun. A Worker-Oned Network of Artist-owned shows. Supported directly by you.