The Greatest Generation - The Polar Region (S5E15)

Episode Date: February 27, 2017

When the Enterprise responds to a distress signal sent by an ugly starship, they decide to rendezvous with it in a dark planetarium. But after their away team returns acting strangely they start a fir...efight in ten-forward, where no glass table is safe. How far will O'brien go to avoid dinner with Keiko? How much prep is involved in trying a new orbit? Can a transporter help with "going clear"? It's the episode where we open some fresh cards!

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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,
Starting point is 00:00:35 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,
Starting point is 00:01:01 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
Starting point is 00:01:25 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
Starting point is 00:01:55 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 Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. I'm your host Adam Pranika.
Starting point is 00:02:36 I'm your other host Benjamin R Harrison. Ben we occasionally get gifts from our viewers. And occasionally we give gifts to each other, don't we? That's true Adam. I recently received a box in the mail from you, which doesn't typically happen. Who me? And inside of it was something really special, something I was not expecting. At all, it is a box of Star Trek the next generation portfolio, Prince trading cards. Series two. Yeah. You want to open some
Starting point is 00:03:14 cards with me, Ben? The crowd spoke. We are, it has been demanded that we fill out the back nine of this bit. The large ASMR community in our viewership has demanded that we open more cards. Did you also get a box of these banner? Or am I going solo? I did, I bought myself a box as well. Oh good. If I know that that's how you did it
Starting point is 00:03:41 when you surprised me with Series One. So yeah, let's rip into them. Let's open a pack or two. The game is five cards. The game is exceeding. It's simple. One of the suggested cards there. Time to plug a pendulum.
Starting point is 00:03:54 Oh, nothing like a fresh box. Hmm. I've got box number 4129 here, Adam. Oh, I've got 5867 I was wondering if 5,000 was the limit but sounds like that. Oh 6,000 is the limit. I'm gonna go Box diving into like the middle. Oh Because I feel like there's We did find the way that they're dropping
Starting point is 00:04:22 We did find some way that they're dropping Autographed cards into it like I remember coming out of the gate right away with an autograph card Yeah, and then and then there was one at the end and one in the middle. Do you feel like that's how I went for you? Well, I had one in my last pack that I opened but I don't I don't feel confident that they were still Really in order by the time I opened that pack. So I'm going straight to the bottom. I'm taking one right off the top. I'm going to see if I can cheat my way to an autograph card right out of the gate. Alright.
Starting point is 00:04:55 Alright. I am opening the inaugural card of series two. This is going to be exciting. They're all going to be new. Yeah. Sadly, no autograph cards for me this time. What I do have is the big goodbye, which is one of those holodeck fun and games episodes, where Beverly Swallows are chewing gum. I have descent part one. The best of both worlds part one.
Starting point is 00:05:31 Ship in a bottle, that was the Moriarty episode. And the DaFan, which is a word I can't pronounce, but you can. That's the chocolate pudding episode. It sure is. I got one for Shimeyoshish. I've got one for Q-Pid, which is a Warf as a Mary Man. It's got, he phrased the issue with hats. It's, I phrase the issue with hats It's I guess it's kind of this one's kind of styled like a magazine cover. Oh, yeah in a way, I guess
Starting point is 00:06:17 So that's fun. There's even a little um a little Barcode at the bottom with one one seven oh one D underneath it That's that's a fun. That's a fun take. I've got. I've got to run that three year local grocery stores. Check out what happens. See if I don't get arrested and banned from going to the store ever again.
Starting point is 00:06:38 Yeah, that whole food is going to be really pissed off at you. I've got one for the most toys, which is fun. It's actually an action figure of data, and it looks like kind of like cheesy 1950s action figure box art. I've got one for allegiance that one where Picard is in prison with the, with the boolean cadet and the really low-fi peacenick with the Sydney Opera House hat and the... Oh, and they're eating fish biscuits? Yeah, yeah. And Adam, the last card I got is the only card I think in the
Starting point is 00:07:20 whole series that gets a greatest GenCon 2017 style air horn. What? I got the card for Darmach. Wow. That's a good card to get right out of the gate. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's got the Tolarian captain. It's got the Tamarion captain holding the two knives up, pointing down.
Starting point is 00:07:42 Holding them up in a way that Picard at first found was threatening. Yeah, this is great. This is not a shackle in the wall's felt type situation at all Adam. It feels good to open up some fresh cards. Feels good to open up some fresh cards. I will concur with that. The score at this point is 0 to 0 on autograph cards. Yeah. No. Now at some point I sat down and like put all of my cards in numerical order at
Starting point is 00:08:15 them. Yeah I did too. I'm wondering if I'm gonna feel weird slipping these into that or if they have to be their own separate stack. Oh, I think I'm going to slip mine right in. I think I've got to. I just want one pile, one unifying pile. Wow. That is aggressive at him. But you do you, man. Okay.
Starting point is 00:08:39 I'm going to set them aside and think about it. One thing that we will not be setting aside is our episode of the day. It is season five, episode 15. Power play. This is becoming a speech. We're the captain, so very entitled. I'm not entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows. The entrepreneur is doing a distress call mission and they pull the ship into an angle
Starting point is 00:09:12 space out in front of a planet that's got some real bad electromagnetic crap going on in the atmosphere. The distress signal turns out- It's a starfleet subspace distress signal. But a class that hasn't been used for a long time. There hasn't been a dataless class in service for what? 172 years, sir. I mean, you know how much I hate doing research, man.
Starting point is 00:09:35 I actually look this up. One of the ugly starships in the fleet, I would say. A starship only a mother could love, or it's captain I guess it's a Starship with a face fit for radio. Yeah, yeah radio face starship for sure pretty gross The sort of starship that you don't mind losing once in a while. Oh Yeah, oh, that's that's that's rough. That's like it it replaces the saucer with a, with a cue ball. Yeah. It's a real, real schnauz on that one. Yeah, stick with the saucer, Starfleet.
Starting point is 00:10:12 Yeah. This looks like a real design by committee type star ship, that's good, not. Yeah. Um, so they discovered that there was in fact a ship that went missing in the area about 200 years ago. The USS Essex under the command of Captain Bryce Schumer. The Essex? Uh, yeah, Kevin. Why, what do you know about it?
Starting point is 00:10:40 It is a extreme challenge for my shibulant ash. Well, I don't think they were thinking of you when they named it right at Kevin I think that the the ego that you must have as a doubt is is Excuseable because you are all powerful, but what you have to realize is nobody has ever heard of you in this time period And they're not thinking Kevin Uxbridge will be a repeat guest on a podcast and will need to be able to say all the names of the spaceships in this universe. I'm a man of special conscience. It's not it's obviously not keeping you off this show. Yeah, neither of a toast have a special conscience when it comes to
Starting point is 00:11:28 including Kevin in most conversations. I was thinking about how much in effect that character has had on us and how much we see the show through the eyes of Kevin. It's the opposite of seeing something through the eyes of a child. Yeah. Kevin's sort of our McDuff of the show. He just sort of appears as if he's been there the whole time. Right, yeah. If we come up with another, we don't have that many episodes left
Starting point is 00:11:55 to develop the mythos of that character, you know? You don't have many episodes left to sell merch for. Yeah, and we haven't even done a Kevin Oxbridge You know, you don't have many episodes left to sell merch for Yeah, and we haven't even done a Kevin Oxbridge piece of merchandise yet I I've got to believe that so it's next Maybe our maybe our tour t-shirt Has it has an Oxbridge thing going on? Yeah, yeah, someone sent in that Oxbridge ice cream
Starting point is 00:12:26 Graphic a while ago. It was one of my favorite things gonna do something like that. Oh, yeah, that was great. Yeah, yeah, someone sent in that Oxbridge ice cream graphic a while ago. It was one of my favorite things. Gonna do something like that. Oh, yeah. That was great. Yeah. Well, let's just, let's table that for now and go on with this, this episode. They're thinking this, this is, you know, kind of a long shot that we're actually gonna rescue anybody here, but we got to look into it. The way this planet's atmosphere works, they're not really able to pinpoint anything. But it's too stormy to beam down on, so they decide to send a bunk bed shuttle instead. Yeah, they get out of flat pack and riker pulls out the instructions, they assemble it. There's always like a couple of little pieces of hardware left over at the end and that you wonder like, were they including extras or did I miss a step? They consider getting a cordless drill with a hex head being on it, but then they're like too lazy and instead just use that stupid wrench that comes with it.
Starting point is 00:13:19 Yeah, the free G-Bass Allen wrench that comes with the, with the kit, you know, perhaps the height of hubris is that they then take that Allen wrench and stick it in the tray in the top of the toolbox that their dad gave them when they've moved into their first apartment. Yeah, like they're ever going to use it again. Yeah, come on. What we get when they get on board the shuttle bin is a really bad flying scene It seems really whack It's it's three people in the shuttle. It's it's data riker and Troy
Starting point is 00:13:57 I like that they had their seat belts on I Thought that Troy was a bit of an asshole to take the middle seat I thought that Troy was a bit of an asshole to take the middle seat. It can be tempting when you're the only person in the back seat to sit bitch, but it really obstructs the driver's view out of the rear view mirror. Yeah, there's a pretty big blind spot in the flat pack shuttle. And I think enough bad things have happened flying flat packs around that flat pack shuttle is a bad bad sign. It's a bad open Not a great service record for these ships. Yeah, Previous don't exactly have a rich history of going down on planet surfaces Do they? No, not at all. I think you you want to know my theory on that? Lay it on me. It's too hard to make a good looking Previa that's full size, so they don't want to mess them up.
Starting point is 00:14:48 When saying in the new Previa, I feel like I'm ready to navigate space and time. You know, they don't want to make a one-to-one Previa that is crash-landed. You see him occasionally in the shuttle bay, like a Previa that's a good 10 feet tall and 35 feet long. I'm a standard by which all many fans will be judged. But they never they never actually do that with the crash-landed ones. Yeah, that's true. And getting back to the foreshadowing, I mean, nothing good ever happens when Diana Troy is on a shuttle either.
Starting point is 00:15:24 The last time Troy was on a shuttle, it crashed and Tashi R was killed by a poop monster. That was a sad one. Yeah, so sort of an ominous beginning. Right, so they get down to the, they're getting down through the atmosphere and the electromagnetism in the storm takes their thrusters out. Then it fucks up their impulse generators and...
Starting point is 00:15:51 It's a banger fiesta on the way through the atmosphere. Yeah. They're really getting rocked. And they go in for a crash landing. And they step out of this shuttle craft. There's a fun scene where the hatch, like the explosive bolts in the hatch go, and the circle flies across the surface of the planet.
Starting point is 00:16:17 They step out and they're like, LV426, what are you doing here? There's like 16 hex head bolts and a, a bunch of wood lamina flying everywhere Yeah Rakers like it took me forever to assemble that hatch And Troy's like do you think we should go back and he's like oh, it's all the way on the other side of town I don't want to have to stand in line at the fucking At the fucking customer service counter.
Starting point is 00:16:46 IKEA on a weekend. Are you crazy? It was cheap enough. Let's just call it a loss. Fool me once, shame on you. Yeah, you're not wrong about the LV426 vibes. It is really dark and really stormy. Not a great place to crash land.
Starting point is 00:17:03 And they're looking around and they look up in the sky and they're like luminous light shows coming toward them. It's like they went to adult night at the planetarium looking up at the sky. Oh what happens on adult night at the planetarium Ben? They have like a laser show and you can drink. Oh isn't that a thing? I uh might mind when elsewhere. Okay. Yeah they project pornography against a dome really distort the shit out of it. Hey you want to go down to the planetarium and see laser dogs? Laser dogs in the 21st century? I sure do, Adam. It's just pink Floyd and laser dogs.
Starting point is 00:17:57 Yeah, I've always found that adult material is best consumed in a group setting. And it syncs up perfectly with Pink Floyd's The Wall. Yeah. This is bad news for the OA team. It's not really the Duster Buster club you want to lose, right? It is the three most senior people from the bridge that you could get if you sent anyone other than Picard. Yeah, and we know they can't be beamed back up. So this is a, this is a heady time down there. Not only that, Troy's starting to get a read
Starting point is 00:18:38 on the storm, it seems like there's, there's something living about it. Right. And that's not good. Yeah, and we can cut this out if we want, but I just got distracted by a piece of trivia that popped up on my screen. It says, Marina Sirdus broke her coccyx shooting this scene.
Starting point is 00:18:55 Oh no. Yeah, she was the only person who performed the stunt herself of flying back when they get hit by the energy cloud. And she later reflected that anyone could have done it really because the face was barely even visible. And man, that sucks. Coxics, no fun to break. That means she's sitting on a donut for a while after that, right? Yeah, man. This is something we talk about a little bit in our
Starting point is 00:19:28 you know, special special donors only episode that's coming out around the time of the Max Fund Drive in the donor feed. She burned herself in the filming of Star Trek Generations because there was some like explosion scene on the bridge and she is supposed to like run and take a seat at the helm and she sat down on a piece of flaming crap all of that, you know, burst out of one of the panels. What's up with Marina Circus only injuring her butt on the show?
Starting point is 00:20:02 I like that she does her own stunts. That's pretty fucking badass. Yeah, I like that too. Good on you. Speaking of doing your own stunts, O'Brien is like, hey, I'm always looking for more stuff to do on this show. Why don't I risk my life and beam down to this planet with some pattern enhancers make a laser triangle around these guys and beam everybody back up to the ship. Yeah, on the ship they've lost contact with the shuttle and it's almost dinner time when O'Brien's like I got to get the fuck off the ship. He proposes going down there with the pattern enhancers and his plan is made clear that it's
Starting point is 00:20:47 only a 50-50 chance of survival for him. And Warface like, yeah, that sounds pretty good, dude. Yeah, that sounds like an acceptable risk for him. And like, very few decisions on this show, it is made instantly and without much regard for the danger. Yeah. It really makes O'Brien look like a hero. Yeah. I mean, it also makes it look like he's very expendable in the minds of senior staff.
Starting point is 00:21:18 But yeah, this is a pretty brave thing he does. So he grabs three giant novelty-sized crayola crayons, beams down to the surface, and he sets them up on little tripods around the group. And he's about to turn on the third of these when they all get blasted. And of the four of them that are lying there unconscious, unconscious, O'Brien, Troy and data get energy orbs that slip into their chests. There is an energy orb over Riker, but it like zips off before entering him. And he like wakes up and shakes his head and turns on the last pattern enhancer and they get beamed out of there. And they're like wake up in six bay
Starting point is 00:22:09 and they're in good shape, you know? No harm, no foul. Yeah, that was a close one is the vibe. Like they got him out of there. Yee, but they're fine. Yeah, and that's the end of the episode. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ was a good one, Adam? Did you like this episode?
Starting point is 00:22:29 Yeah, I did. I mean, it's nice to just get a mission that just goes perfectly. I wish we'd found out what happened to the Essex, but I almost like that they're able to leave that as kind of an ambiguous ending. Like I feel like that they're able to leave that as kind of an ambiguous ending, you know, like I feel like in this world there wouldn't always be a perfect bow on everything. You know, the missions could be a lot more efficient if they just get to a place, drop
Starting point is 00:22:55 a probe, and move on. And that's what they do here. This way you can do like 10 missions in a single episode. Yeah, it's nice. Yeah, we're only like nine minutes into the show. We've got another 35 minutes to go. Yeah, so that is not what happens. Unfortunately, they return to their stations pretty much immediately.
Starting point is 00:23:25 What do you do to yourself? They go from sick bay back to the bridge. The vibe we get from Troy is that she's a little disoriented when she wakes up. They're like, you know, like the away team is getting used to the fact that they didn't buy the farm. But it's nicely settled the way Troy is acting a little bit strange, but not totally. Right. They're not giving her the Yulean treatment. Yeah. The Yulean treatment is really going to go down in the history books as the most unsuttle way of treating a bad guy. Yeah. I thought
Starting point is 00:24:00 they would have known better, but that was a real season five. That was a real season one way of telling the viewer that a bad guy was on the ship. Yeah. They happen to elevate her and data starts, starts like giving them some incidental rundown of what happened. And he like, there's a little glitch in his voice. We might be able to employ virtual imaging in order to interpolate.
Starting point is 00:24:33 Missing data. And Picard is like, fuck was that? Data plays it off like, oh there's just a speech processor problem or something, and I'll run some diagnostics. Not the first time he's been struck by lightning or electrocuted, so this is a form of recovery that he's familiar with. But also not the first time that data has been under the sway of an external control and made a measurably dangerous. Right.
Starting point is 00:25:05 Still not wearing a shot collar. Yeah, or a fucking Star Wars restraining ball. Like, this is once a season now that the ship is put in impossible amounts of peril because data is controlled by a malevolent external force. Yeah. So they start, he takes his seated ops and he's like, hey guys, I think what we wanna do is start scanning this planet in the polar region.
Starting point is 00:25:37 And Rikers like, oh, that sounds nice, but first let's continue the scan that we were already doing and data's like, no, I really wanna do it in the polar region. And Rikers like, I heard you the first time data. But. The thing is, Ben, when you want to do something in the polar region, you can't just force it.
Starting point is 00:25:58 Right. Both parties need to be willing to scan the polar region. There's some prep involved in doing some stuff in the polar region, you know? You wanna take a really thorough shower. Right, first of all. You wanna watch what you eat for a couple of days ahead of time? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:15 You might wanna prepare with a toy. Yeah, and the thing about Riker is, he does not give consent for a scan of the polar region, even though data very much wants to do so. Right. And, you know, like I think we've always, I think we've all been there, whether some, some idea that pops in our head that we think would be really fun to explore right in the moment in the height of passion.
Starting point is 00:26:40 Maybe Riker had a heavy lunch. Right. Exactly. Maybe Riker had a heavy lunch. Right, exactly. And Riker's bag is not to succumb to a pressuring lover. What's good for the goose is good for the gander as far as Riker is concerned. Yeah, and data is sort of being a bad scanner here, isn't it? Yeah, because they start to do what Riker asked and then the controls get locked out
Starting point is 00:27:08 and they are headed for the polar region, whether Riker likes it or not. And this makes everyone very uncomfortable. Right. Meanwhile, Troy is in the ready room with the captain and she's kind of got the captain talked into the idea of a polar region situation himself. Picard was like, well, I hadn't really thought about exploring the polar region before until you brought it up.
Starting point is 00:27:39 Yeah, definitely wasn't something that Picard would have ever suggested himself, but he's good giving in game. And he has an open mind about where to scan. Yeah. And I mean, like one of the things about being a, you know, a consenting lover is not making somebody feel bad just because they want something that you don't necessarily want. Right. So he's entertaining the idea, you know?
Starting point is 00:28:07 He's trying to be accommodating of the fact that they don't necessarily have the same menu. He's going to have a glass of wine and think about it. Yeah. So as he is warming up to this idea, we cut back to the bridge and the helm has been locked out. Ensign Ro is sitting there and she's like, what the fuck? I can't fucking, like, none of these buttons work anymore. And it purely Ensign Ro kind of way, like, her frustration is so much more angry than a
Starting point is 00:28:37 Wesley frustration at the same station, you know? Yeah, it's great. Yeah, and like, Riker walks over to data and he's like, hey, what the fuck buddy This is not what we talked about and data grabs Ryker and and like suddenly O'Brien is there like like throwing Molly waps around Row turns around. She's fucking she fucking has a phaser ready to go and she like bullseyes O'Brien and And and Ryker like yells for security She like bulls eyes, O'Brien, and Riker, like, yells for security. People are getting tossed all over the place, and we get an extended phaser fire seen on the bridge.
Starting point is 00:29:14 Right, yeah. It's great. I kind of wished Ro would have gone for data before she went for O'Brien. Like, data's right next to her, and she's shooting across the bridge at O'Brien. There's so much downrange of her that that's an interesting choice. I wonder if it's because he's got the high ground.
Starting point is 00:29:31 Yeah. Well anyways, the sound of all the combat taking place is audible inside the ready room. So Troy does the the star trek double-handed punch into the back on Captain Picard. Yeah, Japson axe handle into the back of his neck. I love that. I love that move. Yeah, Picard's down in the heap. Has anybody ever demonstrated that to be an effective combat technique, or is that just a silly thing that is canonical trick? The thing about that is when you clasp your fingers and use your hand as a weapon that
Starting point is 00:30:15 way, you break your fingers when you hit someone with it. So I don't understand exactly how that's supposed to work. Yeah. Well, raker is thinking fast and they haven't stunned him. Like he didn't, he didn't take a phaser hit the way Worf did. Um, I know, I guess Worf doesn't get phasered either. I think just O'Brien gets hit, but he like, he like dusts it off, right? He like, like brushes some dirt off his shoulder and he's like, nice try, asshole. Yeah, they're shooting phasers and then they're dialing up the phasers for the next shot.
Starting point is 00:30:51 And they're like incrementally doing it because the phaser fire isn't taking them down. Yeah. And they don't want to just start on kill. Like, you don't want to set the phaser to gore and then shoot it o'Brien for the first time. Right. That's it with the line. So it seems like the plan with these three mind controlled crewmen is they're going to run down to engineering and take over the ship from there
Starting point is 00:31:16 because Riker has transferred the command codes off of the bridge. But the second there in the elevator, Riker is like, well, actually, we'll just have these command codes on the bridge after all. And we'll lock out the elevator. And there's a lot of fun back and forth where they're trying to override the turbo lift,
Starting point is 00:31:44 and then, you know, O'Brien re-over rides the turbo lift and then they close the emergency bulkhead below the deck that they're on so they have to get out and where they wind up is in 10 forward. It's a fun series where you see just what you can do to different parts of the ship from different parts of the ship. Right. Yeah. Like there's sort of a large amount of things that data can do to the ship just by breaking into a bulkhead and like hot wiring breaking into a bulkhead and like hot wiring, some isolinear chips. Right, because the chip is run by a central computer and the access points of that are
Starting point is 00:32:31 literally any surface that has some kind of glossiness to it basically. Right. Like any non-stick surface control the ship from. Right. And so like, at one point, like in the hallway, he just like, he just like, hauls off into the black glass on the walls and he like digs his fingers in into the substrate under there. Like almost like a temple of doom style
Starting point is 00:33:02 rips the ship's heart out and holds it pumping over his head. Yeah. It's got to be terrifying to try to outprogram data in a situation like this. Yeah. You get to know your host like the only advantage you have is doing something before him because if you do something at the same time as him, it's already too late. They get to 10 forward and one of the people that's in 10 forward at him is Keko O'Brien and she's taken her screaming baby down there. I found this really annoying. When you're like at a, you're in a, in a third space, you know, like the corner coffee shop
Starting point is 00:33:43 or the bar room. Trying to have a grown-up hang with other grown-ups and there is a screaming infant present. Like it's one thing if it's on a plane. Like people have to move their babies across the country from time to time. That's very annoying but understandable. Don't understand why Kekoneits to bring her baby to 10 forward.
Starting point is 00:34:05 The one like chill hang there is on the entire ship. Especially because we know how much she hates her husband. Knowing that O'Brien's at work, like that's prime time to just hang out in your condo. Right. Like I'd be at home enjoying my alone time. Like the time to be intended forward is when O'Brien's at home. Yeah. So the three members of the takeover crew come into ten for it and and among them is his Kekos husband's miles and they husband's miles and they are even more that odds than usual because O'Brien
Starting point is 00:34:48 Troy and data are basically going to turn 10 forward into a hostage situation. And we get a really prolonged phaser fire glass table shattering scene here like yeah it does not go quietly. No yeah a lot of a lot of tables get smashed I mean they've really just got them back together in the wake of disaster and I think that this is this is especially exacerbated by the fact that the you know data O'Brien and Troy are more or less invincible.
Starting point is 00:35:26 Like they cannot be taken down by normal phaser fire alone. And they're blasting away. Like they're shooting harder and more ruthlessly than they need to. Like Troy is just like bullseying like women and children that happen to be in the room. It's like, Jesus fuck, like those people weren't a threat, they were just scrambling to get out the door. Yeah, they're really cold-blooded.
Starting point is 00:35:58 Yeah, you ever read the book Save the Cat, Adam? No, I haven't. It's a it's a screenwriting book by the guy that wrote the classic children's film blank check. And he's someone you want to learn screenwriting from. A lot of people say it's like the best screenwriting book and there's definitely definitely things about it that I think are great. But one of his central tenants is that you show the hero, the main character, doing something noble to establish that they're the good guy early on, you know, and that's what saving the cat is. I feel like you show somebody killing the cat to establish that they're a villain. And this scene achieves that, you know, they are using these phasers in a way that is really upsetting to anybody that knows how Starfleet
Starting point is 00:36:59 officers normally behave. Right. And it feels like a real violation in a what's supposed to be a safe public space like 10 forward. I'm just saying it's a good thing they don't find that Nubbi-ass rifle that Gynon keeps under the bar. This is another 10 forward scene completely devoid of Ginin and they could have staged this scene somewhere else and not have it be so obvious that that she's gone like Gainin is so useful and important and such a beloved figure that it's hard to ignore her absence and scenes like this and not to jump ahead, but like these characters that have inhabited are otherwise heroes is our characters that I would have loved to see interact with Gainen. Yeah, exactly. What you don't get here is a hostage negotiation scene involving Gainen, which would have been fascinating. Right. Yeah, like she would be the Sabian,
Starting point is 00:38:05 and they would be the Danny Roman, you know, like she would be the Kevin Spacey to Troy's Samuel L. Jackson. I don't know where you're gonna plug in a Sabian and Tent over at them. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Gross. Obviously, you know that goes in Gyanin's office across the hallway, Adam. Right. Right. I'm really embarrassed that I even knew what you were talking about there. Throughout the episode, you get O'Brien being a real dick to
Starting point is 00:38:46 Keko. And Ben, it made me wonder, are we sure O'Brien has really been body snatched or is using this as an excuse to break up with Keko? It's like, it's like George Costanza finding out that a woman could potentially think he's gay and therefore he doesn't have to break up with her Like if we didn't see that little ball of light go into O'Brien, he might just be along for the ride Yeah, not much has changed between him and Kiko. He finally sees a way out of his marriage Yeah, the bridge starts like getting getting on the phone with change between him and Kiko. He finally sees a way out of his marriage. Yeah. The bridge starts like getting on the phone with the hostage
Starting point is 00:39:32 takers and they're trying to negotiate for medical attention, for the people that took phase or fire, and Picard even offers to trade himself for the hostages. And when he proposes this trade, we get a little bit of character development on our antagonist. So it's during this scene that we understand that the people who are possessing the bodies
Starting point is 00:39:58 of Troy and data and O'Brien also have an understanding of those characters' knowledge. And so when Picard proposes this prisoner exchange, the Troy figures like, oh yeah, Picard's way more valuable, and here's how I know this, it's because Troy knows this. Right, and I mean that explains how they knew how to do all the shit that they did to get to 10 forward. Yeah. It's not just like blank puppet mastering, it's also like puppet mastering while
Starting point is 00:40:29 knowing how the puppet works. Yeah, which is scary, right? Like they have all of the strength and abilities of the character that they have inhabited, plus the malevolent intelligence of the character that inhabited them. It's a little bit borgsy, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. They're a bit a bit look cutesy. Yeah. And so Picard goes down to 10 forward and he's like, guys, guys!
Starting point is 00:40:59 Let's fucking take a chill pill, okay? Like, what's the deal? You want us to go to the polar region? We'll go to the polar region. Like that seems pretty reasonable. Look, you don't have to make all these threats about going to the polar region. If it's something you really want to do that bad, we can do it. Yeah, like you could have just asked. Like, we were ready to do it before you started punching and phasering people. Look at this glass all over the place.
Starting point is 00:41:26 Yeah, and if you're like, if you're Troy, you know, if you know what Troy is, you know that I'm like a pretty helpful dude, you know, I'm reflexively a pretty charitable guy. Like, yeah. Why are we, why are we doing this in this most, the most confrontational way possible? So Picard Radio is up to the bridge, he's like, look, guys, we're gonna start doing polar region, but we're gonna go real slow. So Riker takes this as a sign to as slowly as possible move the ship. And as soon as they realize this on 10 forwards, they're like, all right,
Starting point is 00:42:00 cool, we're going to the polar region, just like I've always wanted. This is great. This feels great. This feels awesome. So the deal here is that they're gonna, they're using the slowness to put a couple of gambits in play. And one of them is that Inzenro and Jordi are going to take some strangely modified equipment into a Jeffries tube that circles right over top of 10 forward and make a pinhole punch
Starting point is 00:42:38 in the ceiling and see if they can use this thing to isolate the three compromised characters in one spot and potentially even get their orb out of them. Yeah, the idea is that they'll shoot a pain ray at them. That'll get the orbs out of our three officers. But the thing has been, like, why don't they just do the whole room like this? It's very complicated. They've got to get all three crew members into the circle before they hit the button. They make it very clear that there won't be any permanent damage to O'Brien, Troy, or data when they shoot the pain gun at them?
Starting point is 00:43:26 Yeah. But they don't think to just flood the room with the pain ray. Yeah, I mean, there could have been one line of dialogue. We don't have a piece of equipment that will spread it You know we uh we only have a normal and a telephoto lens for this pain ray. We don't have a wide angle Yeah Yeah, and you can guess what happens? Ro gets the three into the circle Only that'll be able to shut down the force field for about seven seconds before the computer competences
Starting point is 00:43:59 Well into the right seven seconds. It'll be enough. She's ready to fire and then as she's firing One of them walks out of the circle. Oh, damn! And it's the one that you don't want to walk out. It's day. He walks out, and when he sees what's going on, he like, he Darth Vader's captain, Picard. Picard to bridge, I'm all defeated, lad!
Starting point is 00:44:25 You know, he gets him in that neck pinch and raises him up over his head. In Undertaker parlance, he begins at choke slam on him without the slam. That wasn't for you, Ben. You're gonna have to run that by our friends over at the Tights and Fights podcast, Adam. This is another moment. I mean, it's very clear at this point that data is the most frightening character of all three. He's totally unhinged in this scene where he almost
Starting point is 00:44:59 kills Picard, but he is also just super aggro. Like he hates you, Morph. He's much more aggro than the other two. Yeah. Like they all have, like the three all have the same goal, but data is much less scrupulous in how he pursues that goal. Which is great writing, I feel like.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Like you make the most, you make the crazy one and have that data because data is the least crazy ordinarily Yeah, and it's fun to see Spiner like sink is teeth into that. I think that all three actors do a great job of really Recharacterizing themselves. Yeah Troy does not feel like Troy like This is another example of Marina Serdice really, like, strutting her stuff, showing what a fucking good actor she is.
Starting point is 00:45:50 Yeah. And how underutilized she's been here too for. It's not just her dialogue. It's not just her delivery, but it's a physicality, too. It's how she walks. It's her posture. It's how she uses her hands. Like, all of these subtleties add up into how you develop a character. So I think it's around here that Troy reveals to Picard that she is, in fact, inhabited by the conscience of Captain Bryce, the captain of the USS Essex, the the the cue ball class starship that crashed here long ago. And and she's like, listen, like our entire crew is
Starting point is 00:46:38 stranded in this like energy field down there. And you don't understand what it's been like. We've been disembodied for 200 years. It fucking sucks. And so all we want is for you to beam up the remains of these of these crewmen and we'll take them back to Earth, give them a proper burial. That'll be that. And Picard is like, dick, like you could have just asked, like what the fuck is wrong with you? Like that, like we're in the fucking federation. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:47:14 Like I understand your super cranks about being in the storm for 200 years. But you could have been polite about it. Yeah. It's sort of the binary way of asking a favor. Totally. We were afraid of having been told no. Right.
Starting point is 00:47:32 So they have a problem because like these Essexmen, and it's like the captain, the first officer and the security chief that they've got in O'Brien, beta, and Troy. Because they've been such dicks so far, they don't want to just give them the run of the ship, now that they realize that it's like, you know, a pretty reasonable request that they have. So they're like, all right, we're just going to give you access to a transporter in cargo bay four. No big deal. Like, we're going to go down there. You guys can use the transporter to get these remains and like, it'll be a chill situation. We'll get out of there. get these remains and like it'll be a chill situation we'll get out of there. Before Picard gives himself over to the three and ten forward, his last words to Riker are, he points two fingers at his own eyes and then points back at Riker, like, look at me.
Starting point is 00:48:47 Watch out for this. I'm gonna give you a chance. And that is revisited at this moment because by telling the bridge that they're moving to shuttle bay four, Riker gets hip to the idea that, oh yeah, shuttle bay four is the one where we can blow the door and alien queen these guys out in the space. Yeah, they can tell these guys to get away from her, you bitch.
Starting point is 00:49:15 Right, exactly. So Riker tells Row like, hey. If it becomes necessary, Hanson, you'll blow the cargo bay hatch on my orders. Because we might have to do that to get control the ship again. Right, and what this means is, like, the deal with Captain Picard becoming one of the hostages is that they've gotten rid of all hostages
Starting point is 00:49:38 aside from Keko and Worf. They let Keko's baby go, they let everybody else go, but they're like, they're like purplocking Picard, Worf and Kiko down to Cargo Bay 4. And it's a really tense scene, right? Like they're walking through the hallways and there's despester jacks like hanging out at... I bet they're glad they left the baby in 10 forward.
Starting point is 00:50:02 You don't want a purplock a baby. No, yeah super annoying Yeah, they never they never behave and so they're they head down to the cargo bay and They're like getting getting everything set up and At this point like they don't They just don't like the the way these guys are acting. I think they would have been prepared to help, but the hostage situation continues. So they're like, we can't run a ship this way, you know?
Starting point is 00:50:34 Yeah, they keep capitulating, thinking that the negotiation is in good faith, but Picard keeps giving them shit. And the only thing they've gotten in return is the release of the rest of the hostages, say for War of Kiko and Picard. Like it's not really going great. So on Shuttle Bay 4, they beam up the cramains of the rest of the dudes on the planet. And at this point, it's like the energy cloud that they saw, right? Yeah. Luminous beings are we.
Starting point is 00:51:08 And Troy does that thing that bad guys do where she, she, she, she tells him the true nature of the plan. Yeah. In that she's not actually the captain of the Eshiks. She, she is a, she's a prisoner and the planet is a penal colony. And everyone down there are prisoners and Guess what guys their feetens dude their thetons They're totally fetans
Starting point is 00:51:35 Holy shit This is a this is the Scientology episode, isn't it? I? I Hit me in this scene. These are this is exactly what Zeno, the villain of Scientology, is reputed to have done to the Earth. And I kind of knew her is a 747 filled with nuclear warheads. Exactly. And I was like, almost tempted at them
Starting point is 00:52:01 to do some research to see if whoever penned this was a Scientologist, but I didn't so we'll just have to speculate written by Leah Remini Please don't sue us So so Troy cops to the to the truth of the matter that That they've basically beamed up an entire penal colony. Yeah. And...
Starting point is 00:52:30 And Picard's like, I know. I knew you weren't the captain of the Essex. Yeah. She's like, I'm not actually the captain of the Essex. I'm back. And Picard's like, guess what? Rikers got his finger on the button to blow this door. He's gonna kill everyone here.
Starting point is 00:52:47 Because I'm willing to die for the ship. Warf's willing to die for the ship. Everyone here is willing to die, especially data. The guy who's inhabiting data knows how willing data is to die. Just look at his pants. There's a fucking tent in that, in that pair of pants. He's so excited. He's ready to get alien queened. And they sort of realize the Mexican standoff situation that they're in right now.
Starting point is 00:53:13 It is mutually assured vacuum of space that's going to happen. Right. And like they're they don't have a hope in hell. So Picard is like listen, like you guys can go back to being in prison, or you can be blown out into space. One of the two, you pick. Yeah, and I guess they choose going back to prison. I thought that was a weird choice.
Starting point is 00:53:39 Like I might have rather died than go back to the planet. If it's as bad as they said it was, and they said it was extremely bad. Well the data one wouldn't have died, would it? No, that's right. Yeah, data should have chosen the door. Yeah, data should have been like, I'm cool. I happen to know that Lord did this a couple seasons ago, and it worked out great for him.
Starting point is 00:54:04 He ran into some pack lads. Yeah, data could just thumb a ride. Don't be flying. Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, it just reaches into his pocket and puts in that novelty-sized thumb. This doesn't make sense. So they take the deal.
Starting point is 00:54:21 They get beamed back down to the planet and that's our button That is our button Well, that's the end of the conflict bin, but the button actually occurs When Keko and O'Brien are reunited and O'Brien's like, you know, I wasn't actually gonna shoot our baby with a phaser, right? Keko's like, yeah, I knew that. And they're back to normal. But here's my question, Ben. Like, can you ever really forget the moment
Starting point is 00:54:52 that your husband holds a phaser up to your baby? I gave you that. I really thought about that. Like, there's so many examples of marriages where something outside of the control of one partner kind of poisoned them for the other partner. Right. I thought exactly the same thing.
Starting point is 00:55:13 This is the moment where husband gets too drunk and accidentally hits the wife. Totally. And it's up to Keko to go like he would never do that. It's never going to happen again. But she can't guarantee that O'Brien's not gonna get taken over by a ghost prisoner. Right again. And this guy's got a whole seven seasons of Deep Space Nine ahead of him. Like, what are the chances he doesn't get taken over a few more times? It's gonna happen. It's almost it's almost like a shirt. That's
Starting point is 00:55:41 fucking money in the bank that that's gonna happen at some point in Deep Space 9 at him. And like that's the thing Ben, I think you could, you could make this episode twice as good if you give us the scene at the end of that where O'Brien and Keko get in the bed, Keko rolls over, O'Brien rolls over, and Kako can't sleep. Like, how dark is that? Give me that button, because there is no way they're going back to normal after this. Or give me the button where, like, you take Jordy out, you put Kako in, and Troy is promising her that through lots and lots of hard work over time, they are going to put her
Starting point is 00:56:28 faith in Miles back together. Yeah, maybe Miles can't be around the baby for a time. Like, because Kiko is PTSD'd over it. Miles has to move in with data and then we have like an odd couple sitcom for a couple of seasons. Well, that all gets worked out. There are like the stakes that occurred during the story, during the episode, and then there are sort of retroactive stakes that you can apply during the button and they choose not to apply them here.
Starting point is 00:57:06 Like by doing that at the end, you make what came before even more powerful. Right. And it's a missed opportunity. It would have been nice. I mean, you don't have to make this a story arc, but as it is, it's just a total bottle episode. Mm-hmm. Well, did you like this episode, Adam?
Starting point is 00:57:27 Yeah, yeah, I think I did. I mean, in spite of... I think a lot of times the problems that I have with this show is... is the show not going all the way on something. The show not going full dark. So I think maybe the... the show not going all the way on something, the show not going full dark. So I think maybe the reason I can't love this episode is that there are so many opportunities to do that,
Starting point is 00:57:52 and they just don't quite go all the way, but I still like the episode. It's fun to see some real interesting counter character work happen. And I'm a sucker for a Body Snatch's storyline. I think those are always fun. I think one thing that viewers know about me is that my favorite one of my favorite types of films is Heist Film. And a film that I consider to be one of the greats in the heist film genre is the negotiator.
Starting point is 00:58:26 And this had a lot of like echoes of that for me. I love a good like standoff, you know, police have like pulled the cars up around the outside of the bank and gotten on the other side of the car and aimed all their pistols at the bank. This felt like that in the 24th century, you know. Yeah, yeah, dude. It was a well-executed version of that. Doing some real star trek is a place, isn't it? Exactly, like I think you can do the negotiator in star trek.
Starting point is 00:59:04 This is a genre of episode that they don't do very often. Yeah. So, for that reason, I really liked it. It seems like hostage taking would be just as frequent as first contact. Right. And in fact, it seems like something that would happen quite a bit during first contact would be some hostage taking. Like that moment is so fraught. Yeah, I really like this stuff.
Starting point is 00:59:35 Well, I think we need to move on at them because there is a very urgent message coming in over the transit. I already won message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. You need a supplement on that. A supplement on that? A supplement. A supplement. Yes, extra. But the interest alone could be enough to buy this ship.
Starting point is 01:00:00 Adam, great news. We've got a commercial message here today. And it's for faith physics. This is a satirical sci-fi novella that recounts how scientists have managed to contact the afterlife and interrogate departed souls. Worldwide chaos ensues and religion, science, and personal hygiene are revolutionized in the process. From the search for hell to the final frontier of faith, the interested reader can learn all about the science of the afterlife. Listeners who appreciate the tone of the greatest gen might enjoy the sarcasm and the enlightenment spirit of faith physics. This sounds really great. It's now out on Amazon.
Starting point is 01:00:46 Faith physics and introduction to the science of the afterlife. And it's a part absurd sci-fi, part satire of religion, and part popular science. This is a book. Yeah, that's from the sand of it. Cool. I'm gonna go ahead and pull it up on Amazon and Take a look. Sounds, this sounds right at my alley. I'm in the market for a book. I'm intrigued about the personal hygiene aspect.
Starting point is 01:01:11 Yeah. Like you could do a lot with that. That does sound like a lot of fun. Yeah, faith physics from Andres Bikansky. There you go. That's the one. I like the cover. It's a chicken breathing fire. Cool, I'll check that out.
Starting point is 01:01:32 Yeah, do we have another message at him? Yeah, we do, we have a personal priority one message. This is from Brian, and it is for Steve. Message goes like this, happy be day little brother. You're the big dog Star Trek nerd in our family, but I introduced you to the greatest Gen Pod. It's worth a few scarves to rub it in. Here's some more years of male pattern loaf,
Starting point is 01:01:58 raising your lals with she who is your wife, grilling hoosnok the fifth meat, and some day viewing Star Trek undiscovered Shimoda by Ben and Adler. Hey, that's great. Those are a lot of references in 350 characters, Ben. Yeah, I don't think that we are allowed to talk about whether or not a fifth meat is even a plausible reality.
Starting point is 01:02:22 I'd have to reread our contracts with MaximumFund.org, but I know that- But that's a reference to the beef and dairy network, isn't it? It sure is, yeah. You know what, you can say you're the big dog Star Trek Nerd, but until you're the guy that discovers greatest gen for you and your family, like you've given up that title. Ryan is clearly the big
Starting point is 01:02:45 dog in this relationship. Yeah. That is a you've brought you've brought birthday shame on your family, Steve. Brian did something great. He enjoys greatest Jen and shares that enjoyment with his friends and family. Mm-hmm. I like that. That's a gift that keeps on giving because we put these out to a week baby. That's one of the best birthday gifts right there. Happy birthday Steve. Yeah, happy birthday. Well if you want to send a message you can go to maximumfund.org slash jumbo-tron. It's a hundred bucks for a personal message, or a 240 commercial. Um, and, uh, helps support the show. Helps us, uh, helps us make this worth our time.
Starting point is 01:03:31 Hey, Ben. What's that at him? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda! I did, uh, for the second episode in a row. I'm giving the Shimoda honors to Lieutenant Warf. There's in that button scene, the like nearly the slide whistle that we go out on, they're like walking down the hallway with Troy talking to the captain and data talking to Wurf
Starting point is 01:04:07 and they've given up their ghosts and data is kicking it to Wurf. He's like, hey man, like really want to apologize for what a dick I've been to you over the past 44 minutes. That wasn't cool. And I really apologize. And Morph was like, ah, nothing, nothing of it. I am fine. And Data's like, no, your restraint was remarkable. And I got a big laugh out of Worf's line.
Starting point is 01:04:41 You have no idea. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha like there's no way Warf could beat him. Like, Warf would be ripped loaf from head. **laughs** Indeed he would at him, but that would not cause given him any pause in trying, right? Like he would still go for it. Yeah. How about yourself, did you have a shimata? So the moment in the episode where Troy, Data and O'Brien are moving toward, 10 forward,
Starting point is 01:05:33 they're being chased by security and they're sort of trotting through the corridor. There is a civilian in the hallway. I think I know the civilian you're talking about, Adam. Uh, he is, he's wearing bugle boy pleaded pants and a red shirt. He is just, he's ultra cash. Have you seen the discussion about this on our various social networks, Adam? I have, I have. And the reason that I'm bringing him up
Starting point is 01:06:05 is that I would like to also call attention to that ongoing discussion. Yeah. This is the first time we've seen him in a while and he's back. Well, I think I've promoted him in a recent episode where he's like playing chess and some banger gets dropped on the ship
Starting point is 01:06:22 and he's like trying to hold the chess board together. Yeah, yeah. He cares more about his chess game than Troy does against data. Yeah, but we should talk about this on the show because we haven't really dug into it. Is this the show where we talk about it? I hate to say this at him, but I almost wish
Starting point is 01:06:41 I almost want to do a little bit of reading on the subject before we really dig deep. Yeah, maybe we'll return to this later, but this guy gave me great joy to see him once again. Yeah. His bugle boy pants are very familiar to anyone who wore pleated khakis in the early to mid 90s. Sure. He's got sort of a braided belt in the loops. It's almost unbelievably blousy, the fit of these pants. And they are pulled up conversation to have later, but he's my Shimoda for now. Yeah, the red shirt white pants guy. Yeah. A greatest gen live show is something you don't want to miss.
Starting point is 01:07:45 Why? Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre and post-show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it! The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023 and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's GreatestGenTour.com
Starting point is 01:08:15 for dates and ticketing information for the Sherry Reembarishment 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 get stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the spaceweirds. 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. I've come back with cat toothbrushes, which is impossible to use. Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org.
Starting point is 01:08:47 Look, your podcast apps are already open, just pull it out, give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard, be dumb instead. Well, rats, hey, they don't know I'm about to count you in mine. 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 here and we need to get on this.
Starting point is 01:09:10 We gotta get on the arc. It is about terrain, about a spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually, we're podcasters. We are podcasters, so it's different.
Starting point is 01:09:22 Have you heard of Ono Ross and Carrie? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal, stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end, so seem like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boats. We came to by two. What do you think? Ono Ross and Kerry, available on MaximumFun.org. What are we watching on the next episode, Ben? The next episode is season 5 episode 16, ethics.
Starting point is 01:09:55 Loyalty and ethics clash when a paralyzed wharf asks to help him commit suicide. Jesus Christ. Who writes these? Warfs like, hey, Riker, I'm going to need you to go into my apartment and grab just anything on my counter. Anything on my counter is filled with poison, covered in poison, or has the ability to kill. So just retrieve any of those items
Starting point is 01:10:23 and bring it to Six Bay for me. I'm going to do the job here. I feel like this is an episode that is bad, but I'm not sure if I just have like I confuse this with the clip show, maybe. Like I have like an emotional cross-current between this and the clip show. My recollection of this is that I don't like sad wharf. Yeah. Sad wharf is a real bummer. And I would have expected more from wharf too. Like as a warrior, like he is his willingness to give up very early when faced with a challenge
Starting point is 01:11:02 like this was disappointing to me. This is going to be another Alexander episode, isn't it? Oh, yeah Yeah, gotta bring him back Gotta pull it the heartstrings band. Yeah, would you would you have vetoed had you had a veto here? No, I don't think so would you with? I don't think so either. I mean, I know that this isn't like the show that we like to mess with, but maybe I'm prepared to be proven wrong about that. I'm unsure enough about my memory of it that I feel like I want to give it a try. Are you prepared to crack wise about suicide?
Starting point is 01:11:48 Are you prepared to make some funnies? This is a season that is constantly challenging our ability to be silly, silly boys. Season five is this very special season, isn't it? Sure it is. Well that'll be here next time on the greatest generation Adam. Yeah Ben always here for us are a Legion of viewers who we really appreciate going out and reviewing the show reviewing the show is probably the best way to spread the word. Yeah, goodness that is greatest gen.
Starting point is 01:12:26 Other ways you can keep in touch is by using the Twitter and the hashtag greatest gen. Ben and I are on there as at Cut for Time and Benjamin R, A-H-R. Yeah, they're great Reddit and Facebook groups. There's the Ron Canada Reddit page. Right, sure. There's of course our Gmail account, Dr account drunksmota at gmail.com. If you have anything you want to bring up with us, like, for example,
Starting point is 01:12:52 if you have some criticism of the show and you'd rather not leave a steaming turd on an iTunes page, but just take it up directly with the people you have a gripe with. That's a mature way to handle your problem. Right. So we're very responsive to those things. I mean, I think that we get enough email now that we don't get to everything, but if somebody has a real problem, we really pride ourselves on trying to address it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:13:19 Yeah, we're going to be cool about it. Yeah. We can accept constructive criticism. Absolutely. It's the blindsided by super negative criticism that we are not crazy about. No, not at all. Well, on that note, we should thank Dark Materia for our theme music and Adam Rigusia for our great other music
Starting point is 01:13:46 Coming soon to an EP near you and With that we will be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek the next generation and Another episode of the greatest generation that asked you to help it commit suicide. In another episode of the greatest generation that asked to help you commit suicide. Oh boy, please don't. Please don't take that request for action. Let me retake it.
Starting point is 01:14:43 That asked you to help it commit suicide. Oh yeah, that's better. That's less dark. I think it's got to be that one. We notice our download. Numbers go way down. Eee! Eee!
Starting point is 01:15:00 I'm hitting stop. Maximumfund.org. Comedy and culture, Art and Stone Listen or supported.

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