The Greatest Generation - The Hammer Loop (S4E1)

Episode Date: October 10, 2016

When Commander Riker fires on a ship containing Captain Picard, it's finally clear why he passed up all those other promotions. But when facing an enemy who knows all his best moves, the newly-promoted Riker must resort to some unorthodox techniques to save the human race. Where is the USS Hood? What is a "personal banger"? How do you dispose of a pip? It's a great episode buried in a pile of garbage!

Priority 1 message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Hey friends of Disodo. Before today's episode, we just wanted to take a moment to talk about the historic labor actions being taken by writers and actors in the American Film and Television industry. If you're a fan of the work done by the people who make Star Trek, we hope you'll join us in standing in solidarity with the folks who actually bring these adventures to life. Over the past several years, the AMPTP, the organization that represents the American Film and Television Production Studios, have reduced the profit from movies and TV going to workers. And in so doing,

they've attempted to weaken the labor unions that represent those workers. They wouldn't even engage the unions on many issues in their negotiations. And so a strike was the only course of action to take. Adam, Wendy and I have been having a lot of internal discussions about how best to stand with the unions and we are continuing those conversations in a dynamic situation. We're doing our best to understand where the picket lines are in these digital spaces,

and we would never intentionally cross one. With the information we have, we feel like we can do more good talking about and supporting the strike and continuing our show as planned. We'll keep you informed about what all this means for greatest trek specifically. Today we're making a contribution to the Entertainment Community Fund. This fund exists to help all the people whose livelihoods have been put on hold because the AMPTP refuses to negotiate

in good faith with the unions. It provides financial support for writers, actors, and all the thousands of laborers who make the shows that we talk about here and without whom we wouldn't have Star Trek to cast pot about. Those folks are all out of work because billionaires, company shareholders, and the executives of these companies don't want to compromise on the length of their yachts. We hope you'll join us in supporting entertainment workers in a challenging time, especially after they've already endured several years of challenges brought on by the pandemic

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage! Welcome to the greatest generation, Star Trek Podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek Podcast. I am your host, Adam Pranika. I'm your other host, Benjamin R. Harrison.

Hey, Ben. Yeah. We got some news. Oh, yeah? Recently, I'm not sure if you read this. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't One of the ways that our viewers can support the podcast just by buying our brand new t-shirt I don't believe this you're going to put that thing on and parade around like one of them

Yes, the West Hat American summer t-shirt that's Replacing hotcakes in the way people talk about how things are selling Right replacing hotcakes in the way people talk about how things are selling. Right? Yeah. I've been loving all the selfies people have been posting. Yeah, that's been awesome. Did you see somebody photoshopped my head onto their selfie? I did see that. That was really funny. And it was especially funny because I have literally not seen one of these shirts in person, like they're getting sent out from a distribution place, I guess, and... Yeah.

By the way, I don't know what the status of this is gonna be at this point, but we've not forgotten our contest winners, like we are working on getting those sent out. Hopefully our contest winners aren't women size medium because evidently we're sold out. Oh shit really? And women size medium Ben, did you know that?

That's great news. Ben, is there anything less likely that you thought you'd ever hear than a shirt that we're making for our Star Trek podcast is sold out? And that size that's been sold out is women size medium. Yeah, that is surprising. Yeah, hopefully by the time this episode gets out there, we'll be restocked on a couple of sizes. Yeah, and thanks ladies for buying them in droves and celebrating that really cringe-worthy

embarrassing thing I did all those years ago. It's so perfect. Speaking of perfect, there might not be a more perfect episode than season 4 episode 1, the best of both worlds, part 2. And now, the conclusion. This is becoming a speech. The cat comes to very entitled. I'm entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows. Did I step all over your transition, Ben? Did we want to do something different? No, that transition was so good.

I am sitting here in wrapped awe. So where we last left our friends on the Enterprise? Before we get too far into this, let's just comment on the fact that we're bringing you our follow-up episode merely days after the last episode about part one. You know, when you first watched this, you had to wait an entire summer to find out what happens in this episode. What would have happened if we just went away for three months? Didn't say anything. Stop putting podcasts up. We made the exact length of time between part one and part two.

That would be a piece of performance art that I think about two percent of our audience would appreciate. We would be hated. Oh, it's so evil. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they've got the deflector dish is rigged up as essentially a ship-sized cannon where they route all of the energy that ship through this thing and let it rip. And Riker has given the order to fire. And for three months, he's been standing there with his right eye twitching, looking off screen, waiting for this moment. And you can hear the whir, like there's the sound

of the buildup. Firing, sir. Fire. Fire. Yeah, it's like after you click one of those disposable cameras, you the the battery recharge You know, yeah have to use the flash it goes It's been going like that for three months. So yeah, and all anybody on the bridge of the ship knows right now is there about to

totally destroy if I the ship that their erstwhile captain now locutus is standing on. So there's a lot of intense facial expressions as this order goes down. Like, you get a real good like jaw clench from Will Wheaton. You get, you know, Marina Serdice looking pretty horrified at what her, uh, M. Zati has had to do. Dr. Beverly is kind of horrified because, you know, she never got to say goodbye. Never got to tell Picard that she loved him. Yeah.

Sort of a Greek chorus of emotions on the bridge right now. And the whirring gets louder and louder and louder, and we cut to the exterior. We see that the Fletcher dish energizes, and there is a giant beam of light shooting at the pork ship. But before we get much further, I think we should talk about how this plays into the entire arc that Riker had on the last episode. Because it's all about him turning down the command of the Melbourne and second guessing himself, wondering if he's too complacent, if he's too cowardly to take off the training wheels. Like, I think in fact, Captain McCart,

when he's giving him the kick in the pants, it like says something like that. He ready to work without a net. He ready to take command. Do you think that influenced his decision to shoot? I don't know if it influenced it, but I definitely think that his decision to shoot is instructive of his readiness for command.

Like he, this is the thing to do in this moment, you know. It's an impossible choice, but he has to make it. And he does it without hesitating. It's the right choice. So I'm just saying like, you know, game recognize game in the Bay-May. And this ends up being a real disaster because the energy beam discharges all over the board ship.

It is so fucking anticlimactic. We've had the remunsafe buildup to this moment. And the thing that happens off of Riker's single word is nothing. She's fire. Shutting down warp engines. This is a classic TNG. This is like that episode, a couple episodes ago where the guy was like, you know,

they were trying to figure out where the guy was from and they're like, oh, turns out he's from a planet that's on the route we're already traveling on. Very nice, you know? Like all of the tension is totally deflated from the moment. The only thing that breaks the silence is the computer gong going off saying, that if you keep this up any longer, the ship's gonna get destroyed. Like, it's basically a totally impotent showing of aggression here by the enterprise.

And it's for nothing. So, Ryker gives the order to shut it off and Picard as LaQutus, who is still on the FaceTime by the way, that that was a great bit of hubris. It's like, oh yeah, by the way, I forgot to mention in part one of this episode that when we got Picard, we got all of his memories and thoughts. So you can count on us being prepared for any possible strategy that you have because we're inside this head now. Which is fucking awesome. Like you come back from summer vacation.

You're 11 years old or whatever. Yeah, you're living for this. You are ready for the fucking board ship to blow up, Picard to be killed, and Riker to take over as Captain. That is like the best guess of what's going to happen. And like maybe there's some way that they can like recover the body and like, you know, re-animate him like Spock or whatever. But like, that is completely destroyed. And then the stakes are re-raised. Like, this is, this is like,

I will call your 100 and raise you a thousand. Going through the summer, there was a very real possibility that they weren't going to pick up Patrick Stewart's contract. Like he was going to be off the show. The chatter around the show was that, hey, maybe they do kill Picard. Like, maybe this thing goes down as you might expect, which is the biggest weapon gets used. The board ship gets destroyed, and then we're left dealing with the aftermath. I love to think about the alternate reality where that's what went down,

and they kept making this show with Riker as the captain. And like, he's haunted by this fucking horrible thing he had to do to get the command of this ship, essentially, like, I mean, not that he's doing do to get the command of this ship, essentially. I mean, not that he's doing it to get the command, but that was an instrumental moment in him becoming the captain. And what a dark character that would be. I think we've talked about this a few times in the first three seasons, but the one character component you don't have in anyone who's on the show at this point is the one with the dark past

Right that that's like haunted by their shit the guy who's totally haunted who is a character that is pretty much on every Modern television show right now. Yeah, I think you could argue that Look, there are some really great episodes of this show to come from season 4 forward great episodes of this show to come from season 4 forward. You could make the argument that it's a better show if Picard is killed in this moment and the rest of the series is about Riker in the aftermath. Then you bring LeCutus back in first contact as the board queen. Oh, that'd be cool. Look, that was just off the top of my head. You could go so many crazy places. Oh, like we want this writing job on the

You could go so many crazy places. Oh, like we want this writing job on the... that nobody's actually offering us on the new show so bad. What about this? They're making all these fucking Star Trek comic books. Why don't you call your friends Ben and Adam, have them write an alternate timeline where Riker blows up Lucutus. Totally down. That would be fucking great.

We would write an awesome comic book the pranika Harrison timeline is what we need to know about yeah done I mean so if you work at Star Trek comic book company which I'm sure is what it's called what else could it be called we have enough very artistically talented viewers in our audience. I bet we could make that comic book. Yeah, but that would probably get us sued. Oh, yeah. That's the whole ax in our problem, isn't it? Yeah, that's that ax in our shit. You can't make your own shit. Yeah. And I don't want to like make people think that we're trying to

get in the pocket of big rod. Like nothing to be further from the truth. Yeah. And I don't want to like make people think that we're trying to get in the pocket of big rod. Like nothing to be further from the truth. Yeah. And I know that there's a lot of people, especially in the Washington DC area that like to toss out allegations like that on Twitter, about how we're like deep in big rods pocket. Look, if big rod is wearing those like late 90s cargo jeans, like we're in the pocket so far away from the main pockets. Like, doesn't even qualify. We're in like the hammer loop. Oh yeah, that's, that's some late 90s shit right there. That's right. That's what I'm saying. This is a big head fuck for the crew. The weapon that was what they were resting all their hopes on is ineffective, and further

more, the scariest enemy they've ever faced now has the entirety of the tactical and technological knowledge of the finest captain in the fleet. And the bird ship is warping off as fast as it can toward sector 001, which is where Earth is. It's fucking sucks because the enterprise is just parked. Like, watching it go, there's nothing they can do. Yeah, their shit is real burned out and they're like trying to retool and get back in the fight. But.

There, hours and hours away from that. And this timeline is important because they get on the FaceTime with Admiral Hansen and they're like, look, we took our best shot, it didn't work. They're like, listen, Admiral Hansen, you probably know this as a white rapper. You will only get one shot. Do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Breaker looks down and mom spaghetti is on his shirt.

Right, Chris, given him the follow up and Hansen's like, well, you're gonna miss this awesome plan I have, which is basically civil war strategy. He's going to assemble a fleet of starships at Wolf 359 to head the board ship off at the pass. He's basically going to line up all the starships that are remaining like a musket line. Like the red coat standing in front of the revolutionary army like line him up for the Bork to knock down and It is fucking insane if I'm riker hearing Admiral Hanson tell me his plan I would be like holy shit. I'm so glad I'm not there. This is a nightmare. Who gave Admiral Hanson permission to do this? I don't know I mean he's saying that like they're getting the klingons involved,

they might be getting the Romulans involved, which is like, that's set up and never paid off. Like, you never see any evidence that the klingons actually engaged in this battle. You never see any evidence that the Romulans did. And like, why would the Romulans, like the Romulans have never encountered the board, have no reason to believe the Federation, if they like, sent them a note, right? Yeah. It's a strange bit of business.

Everything about Wolf III, VIII, IX is a peculiar bit of business. This fucking FaceTime with Hanson just drives me crazy. It's like enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with a senile relative. So Hanson shares his plan. A senile relative who's obsessed with exposition. Yeah. Right or explain to him, you know, Lecudus told us that they're going to use Picard's knowledge against us.

And Admiral Hanson's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, hold it right there. Let me tell you a story about a guy I know named John Luke Picard and he tells us insane story about watching Picard as an academy cadet when the academy marathon

and he said it was the damn thing I ever saw and he uses this story as a metaphor for how there is no way in hell that Picard would help the Borg defeat the Federation. It's an insane thing to say. It's like he thinks that Riker is saying that Picard is collaborating with them. He's like, oh, Picard would never help them out willingly. And what Riker should say in that moment is like, no, I'm not saying he's helping him out willingly at all.

They're fucking taking over his mind, dude. It's a different thing. It doesn't go to his character. Like, and Hanson isn't even there. Yeah, like, you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. Here, watch earlier part of the episode. Yeah. Let me flip this laptop around so you can see this.

It is insane. Hanson should be relieved of command. I don't understand it. Like in the span of 10 minutes, Admiral Hanson turns completely bug nuts. And he's like, well, we're going to miss you at the party. We'll let you know how it goes. Hanson out. And Riker has got to be relieved to not be there to be obeying that guy's orders. What a fucking asshole. And so he gives a Riker a field commission too. He's like, hey, well... Antiraz is your ship now. Congratulations. Why don't you go ahead and strap on a fourth pip on your neck. I'm getting the chills just talking about it. It's a great scene buried in a pile of garbage.

You know what we don't get? We get a lot of great scenes in part two of Best of Both Worlds. I would have loved to see the scene where Riker puts on that pip though. Yeah, that would have been great. That's heavy shit. And I mean, he does it right away.

Like, the next scene he's in, he's got it on. And there's no pip take backs. He's going right for that fourth pip. Right, and so like, you have to think like, if there's like a replicator in that room, like what's the, what is the Starfleet regulation on that? If you get a field commission, like do you, do you, you pick up like as soon as as possible?

Well, I'm glad they didn't give him an ill-fitting uniform like Wesley got during his field commission. Like he gets to wear the same uniform and that's good because it's tailored. So we cut away from this and we cut to a wordless scene on the board ship with Picard just on wordless scene on the board ship with Picard just on like a crazy gothd out operating table and he's completely evil looking and he's you know he's in the he's got the the Batman abs and he's got the laser affixed to the side of his head and at one point he like sticks his arm straight out and they like put, they put one of those Borg instrument arms over it. They fit him for a log. Yeah, I feel like they should have like severed his arm, you know?

Yeah. The effects probably wouldn't have been great at this point in filmmaking history. If we're growing ears on mice right now, you'd think they'd be able to grow another arm in the 24th century Yeah, it would have raised the tension so much to like you really feel like there's no going back if they cut off his arm at that point right and this is a scene that like in in first in the Star Trek first contact the film Picard has nightmares about this scene and it's way grislier like there Like there's a shot of like a drill going into his eye, you know. And and that's probably a little bit too hot for TV, but it would have been pretty with how much knuck this show.

Display is I'm a little surprised that can't show skull drill, but they'll show you all the knuck you can take. Yeah, maybe maybe more knuck than is strictly legal from an FCC standpoint. They're showing you some different drills. Yeah, they definitely imply that a probe is going deep into his head, but it's kind of like a bad camera trick, you know. Yeah, they take all the color out of them. Yeah, because he's half gray when they talk to him at the end of the last episode

And I guess the beginning of this but they like fully gray him up in the scene and he's like it's it's the end of his transformation So we cut back to the Enterprise and we see Ryker with the fourth PIP and he gets a facetime from Hanson. Things aren't going great at Wolf 359, wouldn't you know it been? Find this uncle well into Ryker. We're attempting to withdraw on Regrew. Rondahoo with Frick. What?

Yeah, he's getting bangers dropped on him left and right. Yeah, and Hanson looks like, he looks like a show that you've taped off of a station that you don't get particularly good reception off of, and then you copied that tape like 700 times. His VHS scanning setting is all off. You get a roll that scanning wheel a little bit. Yeah, basically, basically, this is the last bit of exposition we get from Admiral

Hansen, which is my terrible plan, blew it. You blew it! You blew it! God, could you imagine being Hansen in that moment? Like, this is all my fault. I've made a huge mistake. Well, to his credit, he goes down with the ship, you know? Like... Good, so he can't hurt anyone else anymore. Yeah, he's personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Starfleet's officer corps,

but he's at the command of one of the ships that is in the fight. So not a lot of admirals these days are getting their feet wet like that, you know? Yeah. Lot of job openings around the Federation. That's the one. So once Admiral Hansen is gone,

Riker realizes that he's like the enterprises essentially the last hope for the entirety of human civilization and by extension like all of the civilizations that have become party to the fed Federation. And so he pulls a little McLaughlin group. And issue one is that orphan data are being passed over for the big field promotion to First Officer and Commander Shelby, who he's been basically openly hostile to since she came aboard the ship, is gonna be his number one.

It's a surprise to me because Warf seems to always be the benefactor of a death related promotion, right? It's also a surprise to data. Like when he says like Commander Shelby will be taking over as first officer, there's like a two shot with Warf and data and data just like at orphan raises his eyebrows, like not what I would have done.

Yeah. He sort of award shows it a little bit. Like at the Academy Awards, they do the six box of people who are nominated. Like if it were that type of show, data would like half get up out of the seat as someone else's name was announced. Yeah, and then try to play it off like it was a standing ovation.

Yeah, yeah. That's totally it. You know, like Commander Riker, I'ma let you finish, but Warf is one of the greatest officers of all time. The look on Shelby's face, is like two seconds of shitting grin followed by, okay, strap it up Shelby. Like, all right, back to normal. And then like the next scene you see her and she like fills in that that third pip, right? She pipped up also. She's got the like black one with the gold outline. That shit is fully filled in with gold the next time we see her. You think she's happy that creepy old Mr. Hanson is an offer case now?

Yeah, not getting padded on the ass quite as often. Yeah, because Hanson, he's a dirty old man and consent doesn't factor into his sexuality. There's a guy at Starfleet human resources that's taking like a four inch three ring binder and just like sliding it off of his desk into the shredder. Ha ha ha. Case closed. Yeah. She's like my new commanding officer once can sense so bad.

I'm almost concerned for him. It is exactly the opposite situation for her. Ha ha ha ha ha. turned for him. It is exactly the opposite situation for her. She's like, come on, like man up and like, you know, like we can do like a little bit of Madonna whore play, but like, at least be like Hanson a little bit like stand up in front of me so I can knock you down. Yeah, press the issue a little bit, Bob. He gives the field promotion, and then he's like, well, I don't really know how to end these things because Picard usually does that.

And kind of wish he was here, because I'm a little bit lost right now. Like, there's a little bit of a catch in his voice. It's fucking crushing. Yeah, and so he winds up like having a dialogue between him and the awkwardly-escue captain's chair in the ready room. He cleniestwins the chair.

Yeah, he totally cleniestwins it. Do you think that's where clenies would get that idea? Yeah, definitely. He's like standing there having this mock debate. And you know, when you go that far off the rails, the only person that can pull you back is whoopie. That's right. So, Gynon comes in and he's like,

Gynon, you got to clear out of here. I'm kind of the captain now. And you're the fucking bartender. You got to know your place. This is not appropriate. And she's like, hey, listen, I'm used to having the captain's ear, and I could tear you apart with my mind. So I'm gonna stand here and kick it to you the way I see things for a little while.

Like, you don't know what kind of relationship I had with Picard, but it was beyond friendship, beyond family. She goes and sits in the chair that Riker was moments before only too terrified to take for himself. Yeah, she shows that chair, the opposite amount of respect, you know? Like he's like standing there looking at it like the chair is the fucking captain

and she just sits in it like it's... Like it's a fucking chair, yeah. Yeah, and her whole point here is like, you were telling yourself that you're ready for this because you tried to do something that's so horrible you can't even wrap your mind around it which was order the death of Captain Picard. But if you're being real with yourself which you're not right now, the thing you ordered the death of was not Captain Picard but in fact whatever that thing is over there on that ship.

Like, you separated it in your mind ahead of everybody else, and you haven't said goodbye to Captain Picard, and you need to. Like, if you're gonna have your wits about you, and you're gonna like shepherd us through this next trying time, you gotta admit what's really going on. You got to say your

goodbyes and that's just how the what that's just the way I see it. This scene is such a bucket of ice water because she comes in and she's like yeah you know working in the restaurant affords me the ability to listen in on a bunch of conversations. And most people expect to be dead tomorrow. Just thought you should know that first of all. Second of all, like they like you, they don't think it's going to be your fault, but most people think that this situation is pretty hopeless. She has another great motivational speech just like from the same chapter as best of both

worlds part one like yeah Definitely like the same point in the episode that she has her scene Yeah, like not very motivational a little bit terrifying Not very hopeful at all she's a realist one thing that I kind of wish they had done with that with the scene was She goes like, That is now your chair. And I wish she'd just gone like, that is now your fish. That is now your replicator.

That is now your book of Shakespeare. Yeah, wouldn't that have been fun? It just goes on and on and on. Cut to the exterior of the redder room. That is now your painting of the ship. That is now your couch. That is now your leaning wall. Well, that was always your leaning wall.

But you know, you get my point. It's heavy shit and whoopi is perfect in this scene. Yeah. She's so good. My love is a piece of clothing, shield of that, which long does that let me see. Tell me more, you're not the one there. This is a little head canony, but if I'm riker and I know that Gynon exists outside of time, she has an understanding of the universe that I can't possibly match. Like, I might be thinking, what the hell is she still doing on the ship

if or if our situation so hopeless that might give me hope that she's still there because she could have bugged out a long time ago yeah she could have she could have jaked a shuttlecraft yeah just like all right you guys great the next you guys don't know what you're doing. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha in the aftermath of that. Just following Gynon around, we'll play this planet. Yeah. Well, the Enterprise comes out of warp at Wul359 and gave them a bit of an understatement when he said, quote, the battle did not go well. Okay.

One of the most iconic shots in the entire series, I think, is this starfield that is just peppered with hulking wrecks of Federation starships that are like burning in their cores and totally shredded. Shelby starts listing them off. They're looking at it on the viewer and she's like given the starship names Yeah, I was paying very close attention to the scene bend. Guess what starship name was not named during the scene Which one the hood Captain DeSoto had a good presence of mine to not prescribe to Admiral Hanson's

doesn't some mind to not prescribe to Admiral Hanson's suicidal plan. Yeah, get them to set us a sharp, sharp cookie, you know, to Soto in the hood are like rising in my ranks of, of being a good ship and a good captain. Yeah, well, you know, like the Soto being from the hood knows how to get down with some set-trip and he's like, this is a terrible, like your tactics are all fucked up, start, start fleet tactical. He's the most neg-capped in there is, he's like, my ship's too slow to get there in time.

All my holidays are fucked up. Yeah. Like all the excuses in the book, he's dropping on Hanson. So Riker is like, all right, fuck this shit. No more Mr. Nice Riker. It's time to take back the night. And the first thing we're gonna do is separate the saucer section.

And Shelby is like, Captain Picard was briefed on that plan. The board will be prepared for it. Didn't you hear Locutus when we talked to him? Like the saucer section separation plan is something that Picard was briefed on. He's gonna know everything about that and he's like, I'm counting on it. I'm gonna shove it in all the way to the fourth pip. You won't see it coming.

So they're wrapping on the bridge about this, right? He's like, Dada and Warf if I've got a plan for you, a symbol of skeleton crew for the other bridge, let's break. And so we basically go to commercial after that. Yeah, the stakes have been ratcheted up to 11. And if they don't succeed now, the earth is the prize for the Borgs. And so they separate the saucer and... Riker really talks them through it well again.

Like, you reminded again of how great he is at doing that. Yeah, he's a master of saucer section separation and reintegration. Yeah. So, he gets on FaceTime and starts shit talking La Qtis. At first, let's discuss your terms. And La Qtis is like, Discussion is irrelevant. There are no terms.

Nice try, asshole. I thought we were pretty clear on that up front. He's like, fine, then do your worst. It was totally, it was such a worthless scene. Could you imagine Riker going over that with the rest of the bridge staff? He's like, I know we don't need to hail them, but I kind of want to get off some good one liners.

Can you just give me, can you give me a half a minute just to do some dozens with him? Yeah, and so they start this battle. And unfortunately, there are a great many shots in this battle scene that are recycled from the battle scene in the previous episode. A lot of the shots of the ship from the exterior are kind of like cheap recycles.

And that's a little disappointing. But I was hoping this would get a fresh coat of paint during the remaster. Yeah. So, I mean, while the images look great and polished, we don't get any resets of the scenes at all. If you're an executive producer and you're like looking at a budget and you're like, these people are going to be seeing this show for the first time in three months, like

they're not going to know that we slotted in some shots that were the same in the last episode. Like I get the cost ration now, but it's a little disappointing. It's all I'm saying. But this battle sequence is awesome. Like the drive section is like doing its thing, fighting away with the cube. You know, the cube starts cutting into the engineering section again, same shit as before.

Yeah. The saucer section starts shooting like fireworks all over the place. And amidst this, worth and data start flying a Previa. And this is like one of my favorite shots in the entire two episodes is like the the two shot of data and warf from like a 3-quarter angle in the cockpit of the Previa It shows them leaving the saucer section. It shows them flying past the rest of the ship in one continuous shot like like they've left the saucer section and they fly by the drive section in this shot and like the fireworks and shit are like going off all around them. It's so great.

And they're doing this to like penetrate the, you know, the subspace field or whatever that would prevent them from beaming in otherwise. And they manage to get through and they pulled this raid where they like go in, they kick a bunch of Borg's asses, and they nab Picard, get him onto the Previa, get back outside the field. O'Brien starts beaming him out, Previa gets totaled, which, you know, if Picard was in command, it would never have happened. Like that definitely would have been a bunk bed.

But Ryker was like, this is the captain, we gotta sacrifice a Previa for this one. He's worth it. He is worth a Previa. You are totally right about that three-quarter two-shot because you don't get a sense of scale when they do exterior shots in the show during action scenes and to be in a previa for an action scene that massive was great.

It was so cool. The disparity between them, like you just feel so small in that previa. It almost totally washes away all of my criticism of recycling shots from the past episode. I am a beautiful, there are full lights. Yeah, O'Brien gets them just before the trivia blows up, classic O'Brien. Do you think he, do you think he like, waits a little bit before he swipes up on the, on

the panel? He's like, I think he's a slow swiper. I want this to be a little bit suspenseful. I want people to really value me as a transporter chief. Yeah. So they beam LaCutus directly to the Six Bay. And he looks a little incongruent. You charge up barbersides all around. You've got your implanted Picard lying prone prone. Yeah, it's a weird like one

off bio bed. Like I don't think we ever see this bio bed again. You can't want to throw away that bio bed after this. Yeah. And Beverly like leans over him and his laser is like playing in the in the hairs on the front of her wig. Rikers, can we wake him up? And she's like, well, I'd love the chance to do some doctrine on him. And Rikers, no time for doctrine, wake him up. And look, Judas does an undertaker style rise, like bending only at the waist when he wakes up.

Yeah, really good. And they're pretty freaked out initially, but I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm gonna continue to run the board operation to assimilate your species. He's almost like, now that I'm here, this is actually better for me because my whole job was to be a mouthpiece to you guys.

It's probably more convenient for me to just be here anyway, so thanks. FaceTime is not 100%% reliable, you know? Sometimes you don't get a good LTE signal and you're like, ah, I just wish the guy was right here right now. Yeah, why don't we do this in person? So, they quickly despair of the doctor being able to do anything because he's got these implants and there's like,

you know, genetic material that is interacting on a molecular something, something with the implants. So, data is like, hey, like maybe six Bay isn't the right place for this project to happen. Maybe we should take him to the lab that I built law in. Picard is in the like, you know, the like four poster standing room only joint and They take off the Batman abs. They reduce him to basically like a cod piece and the log arm And like a couple of like odds and ends Stick them to his chest, but yeah data like wires himself into the Borg's network and all you need is a cat six line and you're in. Yeah, it's totally like a scene in hackers. Yeah They're like flying through 3D 3D space. The Borg network only have a six digit password. This should be pretty easy.

One two three four five six. The scene is basically, they get desperate. The board cube is about to enter Earth's airspace. Well, the reason that this is even happening is, well, Riker knows that because the board kidnapped Picard, they have access to all Picard's knowledge. Riker constructs this entire plan around the premise that maybe it works both ways. If they can get Picard back, maybe they have access to all of the board knowledge, which would then give them some sort of strategy to defeat them. Yeah. And so that's why data's wired in.

Data's like, I gotta get into this network and figure out if there's a way that I can... Like disarm your weapon systems? Yeah, and so the last climactic battle scene is literally like the enterprise knows to know is of this board cube at Earth. And the enterprise is literally the last pebble that the Earth has to throw at this board cube.

And data is like going through different command sequences. Like nope, the like disarm all your weapons is encrypted. Like this thing's encrypted, that thing's encrypted. And it gets to a point where Riker has given the order for the enterprise to just like kamikaze into the board cube. Do you think Wes regrets missing that Starfleet exam at that exact moment? Because Riker gives Wes the order of like ramming speed.

Yeah, Wes turns around and it's like, are you fucking high? Oh man, I wish I was anywhere here. Yeah. Look, Udus is breaking down and Picard is starting to take back over and he's explaining to data that data needs to put in the command to sleep. So, data discovers that he can put the Borgon regen mode with an unencrypted circuit and he does it and the cube like shuts down just like turns all the way off and It's just floating there in dirt right in front of the enterprise and it's power button is doing that Apple like glow Yeah, yeah.

And so they're like, let's go check it out. And so they like, few of them beam over. And they're like, yeah, like everybody's asleep, but it's not looking good over here. Like they're definitely on a self-destruct type situation. They beam them back, get the enterprise off to a safe distance. Borg cube blows up and LeCutus' link to the collective was dead and so.

He gets like a personal banger. Yeah, totally. So the link is severed, Picard is rocked. He's back to, he's got a little bit of a human twinkle in his eye that was gone for the past couple episodes. He's still ashen and covered in implants, but we talk about this all the time, Patrick Stewart, in a very subtle way, totally telegraphs that he's back. that he's back. Yeah, it's a really masterful piece of subtle acting.

Yeah. That, you know, like, subtlety is not always achieved on this show, and Patrick Stewart is very reliable in being able to achieve it despite that. And, yeah, like, he he compliments the unorthodox strategy that Reiker used and they like schlep him off to six bay to start pulling all the hardware out of him. He got to respect the pip. So the final scene we get is is Picard post surgery back in his ready room. Yeah, and he's got some intense like space bandages on his face.

Yeah. Rikers in there in the ready room with him and Shell becomes in and she says like captain and they both like, yep. Got to release some of that tension right then. Yeah, fun. And she's like, she's brimming with optimism. She's like, we're gonna have the fleet back up in 12 months. Like, we're good to go.

Like, that fucking Hanson guy's dead, who is just a major hurdle. And everything Starfleet did. He wouldn't stop talking about Sheree-O-Law at our dinner table. Yeah, he's out of the way. Like a lot of people who begin as enemies and end up as friends,

Shelby and Riker are pals now because they went through some shit together. Yeah, Riker still got that fourth pip on and I guess at some point, there must be some like demotion ceremony where like that field commission was temporary. He's got to throw that fourth pip off of anybody canyon. I would love to see that seen too.

I know. That would have taken like an extra minute and a half to have like a really interesting little arc with that in this episode. He flushes the pip like a goldfish. What happens to that pip? I don't know. He like, what if he like flicked it off the end of his thumb towards Shelby and he's like, hey, I think you need this more than I do. This scene begins a little up and then ends real dark. Yeah, it's a very uneasy end.

They take care of some administration and it feels like a little bit of a callback to conspiracy. Like Picard's left alone in the ready room and he stares out the window and at this moment you're made to feel that the gravity of what's happened is now resting upon him. the gravity of what's happened is now resting upon him. Yeah, and this show telegraphs emotional weight through the use of a single brass instrument in the score. They love to do this. It sort of cuts to exterior of the ship as Picard looks out the one window in the ready room.

And I think it is meant to match the first shot of him in season one episode one. Yeah, yeah. It's not lit quite the same way, but it's an intense one shot. And it pulls back a little bit, and it really highlights the bleakness of what they have all been through together. He does that thing where he lifts his cup to his face and then a thought interrupts it and he sets it down to go take this long look. This million light year stare out of the back of his ready room. Like, are we made to think that he's still picking something up? I kind of felt that way. Yeah, there's definitely an implication.

He just kept talking one long incredibly unbroken sentence moving from topic to topic to that no one had the chance to think the traffic was really quiet, not ignored. Why wouldn't he just retire? Like, he's back to work immediately. He has been a prisoner of war for, I don't know how long. It's also just weird to see him back at work. Yeah. Take some time.

Go to Reiza. Yeah. Get a Horgon. Did you like this episode, Ben? I really did. This is like the writers really like fully realizing some of the potential of this show. I don't think it's like track it. It's very, very best, but it's about as good as it gets. By saying that, are you saying that Part 2 is not as good as part one because that it

would be my contention? I don't know if I agree with that. I think that maybe like story wise, part one is a little tighter, but there's so much about part two that's really iconic for me. Yeah. That I can't quite knock it down below part one. That antimatter spread and the Previa cruising through it is pretty iconic. Yeah, the sequence where Picard is getting fully

borgified. Guinin and Riker. Yeah, so much good about it. Yeah, it's fantastic. Adam, I believe I hear something coming in over subspace. Should we check it out? Let's do it! Priority 1 message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Need a supplemental link. Supplement?

Supplement. Supplement. Yes, extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship! Our first priority 1 message is from Sean of Many Drinks and it is four loyal viewers. The message goes like this. I only have 350 characters which is super lame. I really just want a Kevin reference and voice in an app.

Also, many have shout out to my cat, Chairman Meow. I'm also writing the Sun and I pad, which apparently means I can't review what I've typed. So more space but holes and a Kevin voice. This is more a request than a message, but oh shit, I'm running out. There's no period, it just sort of peeders out to the end. You know, someone who doesn't have the problem of character limits been? Who's that, Adam?

I've never run into limitations of any courage. Oh yeah, why is that, Kevin? Because many months ago I took all character limits and destroyed them. Oh, you know, oh no! Oh, that's horrible. Does that does that does that does your conscience allow you any peace after this after this horrible thing you've done? There's no punishment to fit my crame of destroying all character image. I bet your Twitter is really fucked up now.

I bet your Twitter is really fucked up now. Shout out to Chairman Mieu. I've decorated my entire Malibu home with stuffed kits. Oh God, I don't want to think about that Kevin. I'm not judging you. I obviously am not in a position to judge the morality of anything you do. I've got a spout in my mantle that would be perfect for Chairman Yew. Oh god. Our next priority one message comes from Obelisk 3 Actual and it is for Space Mercenary Mortimer

Coats. The message is immediate actionable intel, subject to B.R.M.R. rated a blood bank, strongly suspect development of a literal plasma cannon may want to keep gloves and wet wipes handy OTA out. I feel like this is maybe the fourth or fifth time that we have. That we don't know what's going on. We may have triggered a proxy war somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, there's a lot of a lot of strife in Southeast Asia after some of these have gone out. Tell you

one thing, I'm always keeping wet wipes handy. Oh, yeah. you your your pro wipe? Oh, yeah. Oh, no question. Oh I don't I don't uh I don't have any use for them Well good for you, Ben. That puts me on the other side of the issue from obelisk 3 actual Oh, no, yeah, that could be really bad for me. Yeah, I think you want to be on the right side of Obelisk 3 actual. Well, I have a couple of bucks for Obelisk 3 actual now, so who's the joke really on? Yeah, it's very true. If you would like to be more like Obelisk 3 actual, you can head on over to MaximumFund.org

slash JumboTron to type in your very own 350 character message that we will then turn into 10,000 characters in use of our many impressions and a bunch of bullshitting. So I think you're getting more than you bargained for with us. Yeah. I think the character limit thing might be a little different for a commercial message. I forget, but it's a hundred bucks for a personal message, 200 for a commercial message. And every single priority one message helps keep the light on around here. And we really appreciate it.

Maximumfund.org slash Jempo Tron. Hey, Ben. Uh, what's that, Adam? Find yourself a drunk Shimoda this episode. I did. I got to give it to Wesley. That look that he gives Riker when Riker orders the ship to do a warp kamikaze into the board cube is just I got a an actual LOL out of that.

Like, Wes, like, you know what the stakes are here. I got an actual LOL out of that. Wes, you know what the stakes are here. Yes, this is our last ditch attempt. This is what you do. I know it's scary, but don't look at the fucking guy that had to make that call and be like, what is wrong with you? Do you think it would have worked?

Like, does the board ship get destroyed in that impact? I think what I was thinking at that moment was if you're not sure it's going to work, why do it? Maybe. But... There are plenty of other nebulae to ditch out into. But they're not as you watch the Federation burn. Yeah.

Well, maybe over of a point but I Think that I think they got to try it. You don't think a ship didn't try that at Wolf 359 I think so no, I don't think they did that is insane to me Someone had to have done that out of 40 starships. I think that I think that they blew their opportunity by I think that they blew their opportunity by being too conventional in their thinking. And I think that that's a moment

where Riker is showing them like the way they should have been thinking. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, if all of the ships that they lost at WV359 had just kamikaze that were a cube, there's no way it would have gotten through. I mean, it's just physics. Yeah.

What did we found out that it could take up to 70% damage and still be functional or something like that? Right. I think they could have taken that much out. Maybe a little bit more. Yeah. That just leaves the hood. The hood's the flagship now.

Look at me, short. Look at me, short. I am the flagship now. Look at me, look at me, look at me, I'm the flagship now. Did you have a drunk Shemou to Adam? I did, but I'm going outside of the show for it. I think I am going to give it to Frex, who I think as we discussed a little bit in part one, these two episodes are all about Riker. This is the version of the show that makes him captain. This is what we could have gotten. This is what we could have gotten before now, and this is what we could have gotten after now. And to his credit, to his character's credit,

and to everyone else, he can carry it. He was a great leader in the time that he was made captain. great leader in the time that he was made captain. He was inspiring and funny and good and thoughtful. He was all of those things. And what he got was a little test drive of what it would be like if he were the captain. And as a viewer, I think what we got was a test drive of what the show could have been. Not to say that, you know, we aren't happy Picard is back and that we get to keep him for a while. There's a lot of great adventures to have with Picard from here on out, but I think if you're John Frex, no one's having more fun than you for these two episodes because you get to sit in the big chair, you get the fourth pip. You get to be the leader for two whole episodes. I don't think he ever comes this close again. And he was great, he carried the burden.

Extremely well. Word. Darmak and Jalad and Tanaga. A greatest gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre- and post-show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour.

Let's do it! The Share Your Embarrassment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's GreatestGenTour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Share Your Embarrassment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris. And I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure, delightful nonsense.

We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level. We got stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the space weirds. Pat Noswald. Could I get a ball-rock burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Non-Giani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes, which is impossible to use.

Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps already open, just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse Goat try. Being smart is hard. Be dumb instead. Oh, rats, hey, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line.

And boy, what do I? These giraffes do not smell good. No, they do not, and they've such short nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art. It is It's about to rain. It's about to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. Oh, we're actually, we're podcasters. Yes, probably. We are podcasters. So it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Kerry? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal, stuff

like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end. So, seem like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boat. We came two by two. What do you think? Ona Ross & Kerry, available on MaximumFun.org. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, the next episode, Ben. The next episode is season 4 episode 2, Family. When the Enterprise undergoes repairs on Earth, crew members reunite with families and Picard comes face to face

with his jealous brother. Do you remember this episode, Adam? I do. Remember this episode, Ben. 11-year-old me was so crestfallen. Like, you go through basically the most intense four months of your life. And I don't think that's a joke or an exaggeration. Like, I had a very, very peaceful childhood. This was the most stress I'd ever been under for those months.

You get through best of both worlds part two, and you get a fucking soap opera afterwards. I was so pissed at the end of this episode. I thought we were gonna get Action Sci-Fi from here on out. Like, the show is so great at Action Sci-Fi. Finally, we get shoot-em-ups and action. I hated this episode when I came out, Ben. Heated it.

Well, Adam, we do technically speaking each have a veto that we can invoke every season. Would you want to use your veto on this episode? I'm thinking a lot about it Ben, I gotta tell you. Because I think that I think that this at this juncture last season, this is I think when you use your veto. I think it was either episode one or episode two. No I came right out of the gate with it on episode one. And I have no regrets about that.

You don't? This episode is even more melodramatic than that one. God I hate this episode. But some of the most hated episodes are some of the funniest that we do. Yeah. I'm going to use it. I'm going to use it. Wait, wait, wait.

I don't like this episode. Oh, Adam, that's a bad call. Why? Because there's some turkeys in season four. I mean, I know that I know you have like a personal beef with this episode, but let me just remind you that there's a queue episode, there's a little walks on episode in this season, there is that episode where Dr. Crusher

is going crazier and crazier on the ship and and you know everybody remembers any of the other crew members. I like that one. Well. I don't want to see Picard and his brother crying of Inyard. There's the episode where data has a has a girlfriend. Oh that was fun. I like all of those episodes more than this one. Really? I really do. I don't like this episode, man. What about the episode when counselor Troy has to quit being counselor because she can't empathize with anybody anymore? You're being pretty compelling and reasonable about the idea of just back pocketing this veto. This is an important character moment for Captain Picard and if you veto, I have to burn a veto to overcome your veto. Why don't you just let it go? We don't have to watch this one.

I feel like I've said my piece Adam. What are you gonna do? What are you going to do? I'm gonna put it back in my pocket. Oh, oh, yeah! That's excellent. That's excellent news. I'm not saying you'll be able to lawyer, precard me forever on that. I truly don't believe I have seen this episode since the first time I saw it. Because I skip it every time I see it on reruns.

It left such a foul taste in my mouth. Well, maybe you'll find that it's better than you remember Adam. Maybe so. I guess we gotta watch it. Well, our viewers do a wonderful thing in droves and what they do is they go to Maximumfund.org slash donate and they contribute to support our show and the other shows on the Maximumfund.org network of which we are a park and it really helps out big time and we want to thank everybody that's done it and encourage anybody who has the means to do it to follow suit.

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That's right. We should thank Dark Materia for our theme music and Adam Ragusia. The goose for our priority one message music. And we should thank our listeners for viewing and our viewers for listening. Yeah, if you want to chat us up, you can find us all the time on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, the Holy Trinity of Time wasting. Yeah, use the hashtag GreatestGen on Twitter. That's probably the best way, but we get in there on Facebook and Reddit as well.

And with that, we will be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek, the next generation, and back from the brink, a family-oriented episode of the greatest generation. I want to be drinking a ton of wine for the next episode. That's what I want to do. Yeah? Shatopakard or whatever? Yeah. Fun. fun Maximumfund.org Comedy and Culture, Artistone.