The Greatest Generation - Time Nut (TNG S1E24)

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

When the Entrepreneur experiences a time loop on their way to some well-deserved shore leave, Captain Picard answers a distress call and finds the one who got away living on a chicken nugget in space. But after her husband’s time experiments have led him to the brink of death, Data gets sent into their lab to close the gateway so that the Manheims can return to their research. Who is the only person on the ship that Picard can have a fair fight with? Which moments bring Tasha to mind? What modifications does Dr. Crusher want to make to her uniform? It’s the episode that suggests one more Playmates action figure.Support the production of our shows Members get benefits including bonus episodes and an ad-free experienceSign up for our mailing list!Get a thing at podshop.biz!The Greatest Generation is hosted by Adam Pranica and Benjamin Ahr Harrison The show is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Instagram | BlueskyAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.socialSupport the production of The Greatest Generation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to hear an ad-free version of this show? Go to greatest.supercast.com. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage. Welcome to The Greatest Generation. It's a Star Trek podcast. Like a couple of guys just a little bit embarrassed. You have a Star Trek podcast.

I'm Adam Pranica. Ben Harrison. There was a... For some reason, your read of that reminded me of... I think it was a... a 7-Eleven commercial where there were these, it was like a 90s commercial. And I always think about this one guy's line delivery of,

they're advertising like your big gulp and your big bag of chips. All for just 199. And you weren't quite that histrionic or 90s hype. You weren't that extreme with it. But something in there reminded me of that. We've done the show open. hundreds of times and I can't ever remember making the choice of giving it like a commercial or FM radio spin or whatever. That's just not something I ever want to do with this very serious podcast.

Right. This is a Star Trek podcast. We take these things very seriously. A lot of argument on the slack about what exactly should be the tone of our promo that we need to make. Like when we put a piece of audio out there to promote the show, how do we want that to sound? Do we want it to be serious? Do we want it to sound like we're trying to be funny? Which is like repulsive in so many ways. Is there a middle of those two things? This is a conversation we've been having for weeks and like they need our promo recorded and we keep chopping it up.

Brother, they needed our promo recorded in the spring. Yeah. But we're still working things out. We're going to figure something out, I'm sure. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. We'll record something.

Maybe next spring. Maybe next spring. We'll have it all dialed in. By the time we're releasing like mid-season three of the show, you know, that's when you want people to kind of get on board. Not right at the beginning of season one where it would be kind of a natural onboarding point for a new listener. You know, spring actually, a season of note.

in the episode of Star Trek The Next Generation today when a young officer's fancy turns to love that he then turns away from and regrets it forever. Let's see what is getting Captain Picard sprung. Hmm. On Star Trek the Next Generation,

season one episode 24, it's called Will Always Have Paris. Then it's so important to take shore leave after the death of a murdered crew person, right? That's what they mean when they say well deserved. Kind of a lot of weight to those two words, huh? It is the closest to this episode gets to mentioning the idea that these people might be grieving or rung out or thinking about Tasha Yard at all. They're not.

They have moved on. Would you rather go on a very serious Star Trek mission after, or would you rather go to something lighter duty? Like shore leave. I really wonder what would be best. I think everyone is different. Everyone has a different answer to that question. I think I might rather do work than go on vacation.

Vacation seems like a place to ruminate, you know? Right. Maybe that's not. what I would want after watching what happened to Tasha Yard. Right. You pick up a trashy novel at the airport and you're lying on the deck chair around the hotel pool rereading the first chapter over and over again because you can't retain anything because you're just, what would Tasha have thought of, you know, what Jack Ryan is getting up to right now? Look out at the beach at the resort hotel, see it covered in oil. Everything reminds me of her.

Picard seems to be getting it out his tension in a fencing competition with a sweaty lieutenant. Oh God. So sweaty. I mean, they're both sweaty, but this guy has a lot more hair to sop up the sweat, and I feel like that makes him look sweatier. Have you been a fencer before? It seems like something you might have done? I have never fenced. There was a boy in my high school who was a pretty elite fencer for what I understood. Like he was, I don't think he ever got as far as going to the Olympics, but he was a guy who was like seldom at school because he was doing a fencing thing a lot of the time. And he was a nice guy. I wasn't like really close with him, but I was on friendly

terms with him and my dad texted me the other day like, oh, ran into your buddy Nick from high school. You remember that guy, right? And I was like, yeah, what's he up to these days? General contractor. And I was like, man, that is not where I pictured elite fencer leading you in life. But I don't know. I don't know anything about it. The reason I ask is I'm wondering if inside of that helmet there's some padding that could be absorbent in the sweat department or If it's like a hockey mask, like a Halloween-style hockey mask that there's no padding at all, it's just a plastic skin. I think, I mean, the really high-end fensers are using like single-use masks now that have like diaper padding inside of them.

You know, it absorbs 10 times its own weight and sweat. What I really like about this scene are the shadows on the wall. Did these catch your eye? We've got shadows on the wall and also shadows on the floor, which suggests to me, two different lighting setups for one scene, and crucially, you never see camera shadow. I think it has got to be incredibly hot on this set in the late 80s for that reason. Yeah, no kidding, man. Fencing is a very gentlemanly sport, and there's very gentlemanly manners being displayed here, like, oh, I took advantage, and sorry about that captain, and, you know, Picard's saying,

like, oh, the desperation that led me to stabbing you with this sword. They're kind of apologizing for their victories. I like that about it. Don't you think any lieutenant would kind of over-apologize for beating their captain in any kind of game or competition? This is why Geinen is kind of the only person on the ship that Picard can have a clean fight with. I agree.

Yeah. Yeah, I think there's a reason we never see this guy again. But I do love that scene like at the end of the series where they're all kind of in like a melee combat situation swinging swords at each other and Picard comes in and they're like, you were always welcome and then he just starts cutting them down. Pretty strange deja vu effect happens

at the end of this sword fight. Both of them can feel it crucially. It's not just one of them. They kind of agree something weird just happened. So Picard blows in a call to the bridge and Riker confirms that even they've felt something up there. This would be a fun time for this lieutenant to do a little bit with the captain. Like, sorry, Captain, I don't know what you're talking about.

You felt time loop back on itself? Weird. You might want to have that checked out. I would have blamed my loss on it. In that same way, I got an easier test in that German class during the earthquake. I'm like, oh, no one could possibly pass a test under those conditions, just like I could not possibly beat you at fencing during some sort of time blurp. Picard heads to the bridge where he learns that even the computers registered this.

And it's something that pretty much anybody they've asked on the ship is confirming is something they experienced. They receive a transmission, like a Mayday from a Paul Mannheim in the Pagos Minor system. This throws Picard into a bit of a reverie. He knows exactly what this. means because he is somewhat familiar with Mannheim's work. You act as if there's a connection between the time distortion and the distress signal. There is. What I think we'll both familiarize ourselves with this entire episode is the micro-expression work

that Patrick Stewart does throughout this episode. I thought this was a masterful performance by him in that area. Yeah, like some of the best stuff he does in this episode. is when he doesn't have lines. Yeah. Four hours till we get to the source of the distress signal, Picard is still on the bridge, drenched in sweat, and he starts talking about what this Mannheim guy was up to.

And he put this elite team of time scientists together to go do nonlinear time research and gravity research, and then they just vanished. and nobody has any idea where they went. And the crew on the bridge are like, you are speaking about this person in a way that sounds like more than a guy you read a magazine article about. What's up with that, Picard?

Yeah, Picard does not sound like himself in the topic of Paul Mannheim. It does not. And, you know, I think that we can all pick up on that to some extent, but it is very obvious. to emotional bloodhound, Deanna Troy. I know what you're thinking. Who is like, hey, you know, usually this would take years in therapy to process and deal with and move past, but you got three, four hours before we get to the PAYGOs minor system. Might want to deal with whatever is eating you about Paul Mannheim.

Thank you for your concern. As ship's counselor, I offer my assistance. What do you suggest? I thought for sure Picard would be off to take a fourth. hour cold shower. That is not where he goes. Does he think he has a poker face? Like when Troy is like, I would like a private word, not in front of the rest of your crew. He's like, that's not necessary. Does he think that she's going to talk to him about something that isn't personal and kind of vulnerable feeling for him? This is a terrible miscalculation by Captain Picard. And one of the ways I feel like

I know better than Picard does, because anytime anyone says, they need to speak to you in private, you should definitely take that conversation in private. Especially when, like Captain Picard, you like to stuff your feelings down and not deal with them. Right. You know? Yeah. And isn't it strange, Ben, how time and gravity are such a factor when thinking about an old flame. No kidding. It's almost like a metaphor. He goes back to the fencing practice room on the ship. He's kind of like working a shammie up and down the blade. And that sort of jogs something that feels like a memory as it washes over his face.

And now in uniform, he heads to the holodeck and makes himself Cafe des Altiste in Paris on a lovely spring day. What's so funny about that sequence, the polishing of the polishing of the, the blade and then going into the holodeck is I feel like they needed to make time with that interstitial scene of the blade polishing it's it's like Patrick we need 40 seconds of you just give me pensive and polish that blade it's going to seem like we're doing a bunch of room tone here but we're recording all of this you can arrive at no conclusion other that when he went to hit the shower and get into a fresh uniform part of his time in the sonic shower was used

releasing some of the feelings he has about this dark chapter from his past. Ben, once the holiday doors open and we see what Paris has become, which looks to me like an 80s Mervyn's on the inside. For the clothes you love to live in.

I was shocked at how terrible Paris looked in just so many ways. There's like that one shot of this that's just a city skyline that he sees when he goes to the balcony which is already a weird thing. Like there are not a lot of like rooftop cafes in Paris in my experience.

I mean, maybe there are, but not, it's not like what you picture when you picture Paris Cafe. You picture like a bunch of tables and chairs like crowding into the sidewalk with a bunch of people smoking cigarettes and reading newspapers at them. What do you think must have happened to Paris between now and then to necessitate a bridge tunnel running beneath the Eiffel Tower. Like the Eiffel Tower straddles a giant tunnel that goes underneath it. Is that where that guy that like turned himself into a bomb worked in that one movie?

And what happened to accordions? How could they possibly look worse in the future than they do right now? Picard hungers for something that is not on the menu at Cafe Des Artiste. It is only served under the table. I felt the same way as you. This dialogue seems very suggestive of something else. Your young lady, she did not come. Actually, I don't know.

I was imagined that she did. Talks to the matri dee a little bit about how he was meant to meet a young lady here years ago. And what do you know? There are two young ladies here at the next table. they're having a little argument over whether Gabriel is fooling herself thinking this dude she's waiting for is actually going to show. Gabriel is wearing a dress that looks like it's on backwards. And if Picard hadn't just nutted in a sonic shower, may see as a romantic interest for the remaining time he has before the ship arrives. No wonder he gets so frustrated with this self-indulgence. He's like, I've,

I've been self-indulging for hours now. I have to get back to work. The captain has been sitting on the sonic spigot. On the bridge, Riker has learned from several other ships and things in the area that this hiccup is quite widespread. This is not just something that happened on their ship. and when they arrive at the coordinates that they were given in the distress call it's not a system, it's not a planet, it's not anything,

it's just a bois. There's nothing here. It's a relay signal, same source as the first one. There aren't a lot of moments on this show, especially season one, Strike Trek, the next generation, that seem to curve around a joke, especially a dirty joke.

And this side, idea that what's happened here with the time is not a hiccup specifically. Data wants to compare it to something else, a different bodily function. And they cut away before you know Riker wants to say time nut. You know he wants to say it. He is prevented from saying it. And that's a huge loss. Do you think that that's why there's that one clip that's clearly like the VHS tape copy that they had because they had to destroy the original film of Freaks delivering the, it's a time nut. So, Mr. Data, you're saying the time dilation is preceded by a sort of quivering release, a shuddering, if you will. Science has not yet been able to determine whether time ejaculate is just pee or something else.

It is weird as hell that Enterprise pulls up on the coordinates of the distress call, and they're like, where is he? Yeah, yeah. Instead, they pull up on a beacon that's like, no, actually, we're over here in the Vandor system. It's like in a spy movie where they're like, he bounced this signal all over the planet will never attract. them down. I love that scene in the spy movie. It's a different system. It's got a binary star where one of them is a pulsar and the planet that they've set up is actually a mini planet. It's not even round. It's just, it's just a lumpy ball of shit. They get on the radio with the remaining installation under a little force field down there and Picard almost slips up and identifies himself,

but doesn't do that on the phone call. The woman he's talking to is able to find the button that drops the force field and Picard is so fucking pumped when this succeeds. He's like, all right, beam him up right to Sixth Bay. And he's like marching off the bridge

and he's like, record data, you should probably come too. Just for like HR reasons. Bye, about all right. Take the next hour off of work. Nurse O'Gala can see to your duties. So in Six Bay, the two people arrive.

It's Dr. Mannheim, who is flopping around on the floor as advertised. And Janice Mannheim, who, even though her husband is having a medical emergency, is titillated to see Captain Picard. She can't take her eyes off him. Yeah. I mean, you look back and forth, you know, floppy, raving, loonial. Minotic, handsome, refractory Picard, who isn't sweaty anymore. Like, easy choice.

Refractory period, Picard should be a playmate's action figure. You can get, looks almost identical to the regular one. But there's just something about him. He's a little more approachable. Yeah. Not quite as threatening. I know. Not that he's threatening.

It's just like there's something about him that makes you feel safe. I thought over the years we had collected all of those action figures. That one is still missing. That one's out there, you know. Yeah. You see that on a table at STLV. You snatch that up. Yeah, and you try not to talk to the guy selling them.

As little as possible. Yeah. Why does he have only that at this table? And why does he seem so high-strung? And why is the carpet all wet, Todd? I don't know, Margo. What are you doing with these guys? There were a lot of other scientists, remember.

took a team when he disappeared and they're all dead circa several weeks ago. They were at the other lab and that was blowed up. It's just a damn shame. Picard and Riker and Data are getting this information in the little side room in Six Bay and it is shocking how easy it is to separate wife from husband in a medical emergency right now. She doesn't really seem to care about him does she the theory i have about jeanice is that she is less interested in a particular person than she is in the adventure of her romantic life and so like a tragic loss and a new beginning presenting itself to her like this is not necessarily unwelcome you know what she's giving in this scene to me is the person who announces their divorce

but they've actually been separated for a very long time. Sure. That kind of energy. Right. Paul and I have not truly been married for many years. I mean, I've been trapped on a chicken nugget in space with him for a lot of that time. But, you know, I've been up to other stuff. They're like, I mean, tell us about this weird planetary.

that you find yourself on. The basics are he was trying to figure out how to get into other universes, how to open those doors and the intense gravity of a binary star with a pulsar system was perfect and it took him a long time to find it. But she can't get into anything more specific than that. All she knows is he's been getting close to something and getting a little bit more intensely over-focused on his work as he narrows in on proving the theories that kind of got him dismissed from polite society all those years ago. She's also surprised and dismayed to hear

that folks on Enterprise have experienced something related to the time not way out there. It was supposed to be localized. That is coming as a shock. And also coming as a shock is this prior relationship to Dr. Crescher. She's an old friend. I gathered that. Maybe even more strangely than Janice is not ministering to Paul Mannheim because she is so distracted by the way Janice talks to Picard about like, wow, like, look at you in your fancy uniform with your big fancy ship.

So nice to see you after all these years. Yeah, there's some lingering here that is meaningful that Dr. Crusher does. I mean, she says that Dr. Mannheim is stable and there's not much more she can do at this point. Picard, after hearing about this lab, is like, okay, well, it would seem as though the next step to take is to send a Dustbuster Club down there, and Janice gets very defensive about this.

She only says that it's protected. And what does that even mean? Are we talking like the way a temple would be in an Indiana Jones film, like lots of rocks rolling down on you plates in the floor that trigger darts. I mean, that is kind of what she means. Booby traps is what she means. One of the young scientists made sure no one could get in.

Speaking of boobies, she's going to have to be subjected to a battery of tests as well. Gives him a kiss on the cheek as she walks away toward those tests. Huh. Crusher is just like every uncomfortable test she can think of. Like, yeah, we're going to need to take like a biopsy. We're going to do proctology exam. I didn't know there would be multiple speculums required for these tests, Dr. Cresher.

How long has it been since you had a mammogram? Whatever, I don't care. We're going to do one. And we're doing it old school. Like she pulls a lever and like a steam shovel. Like, p. Wait a second. This is like a suit press from a dry cleaner.

job. What are you doing? Thank you for your kindness, doctor. Mannheim is dying. Nobody can say why. He was subject to some weird energy in the fallout of his failed experiment. So Picard, Riker, and Data walked to the elevator and are headed to the bridge kind of talking about this strange predicament they found themselves in. And as they talk, the elevator stops at another floor. but it's the floor that they just came from, and out the door they see themselves having the conversation they just had.

Only this time they can actually have an interaction with these counterparts, and that's what I found so interesting. I feel no disorientation, nor do I. Not as interesting, though, to me, Ben, as the door to the turbo lift shutting again. That seems to be a huge problem, because we all know that the turbo lift doors open when someone's steps near them. It's a really interesting moment because when the door shuts, like they have the camera on the like opening of the door with the three of them inside. And when the door shuts, the camera turns and we find Data and Riker again. Yeah. And I think there's just like a single frame cut like right as the as the door shuts. But it's a really fun little editing trick.

I don't know why it would stop on a different floor and that would still be the same floor. I don't know why the door would shut, but it does establish that this time loop thing is starting to be kind of confusing and maybe a little bit dangerous as far as like keeping your sanity about you. In the ready room later, a scan of the planet has revealed a destroyed lab on the other side of the planet from the one where they rescued the manhimes. And that remaining lab is near a huge energy source, but they're not really sure. what that's all about or what it's used for. What they got to do is get the notebook that Mannheim surely would have been keeping as a good scientist. But they've been warned. Like there's booby traps.

It's not going to be safe going down and looking for it. So I love Riker's choice when he puts his away team together. The two baddest asses on the ship, he takes data and wharf. Which one's the short round of the two, do you think? I love you Kind of both, right? Tough one. Yeah.

Rocky Transport. Chief Herbert barely gets him back. It's one of those blippity blips, and it looks really bad for Worf for a moment. Like, I don't know what would be worse, losing Worf in the stream or him being the only one to show up down there. Can you imagine how mind melting it would have been as, for my part, 10-year-old Adam to see. Tasha Yard die in one episode and then Worf die in the very next episode. What are they going to do? Nobody's protecting the ship.

Incredible stuff. Chief Herbert, once he gets them all back on board, does a little bit. He's like, guys, I would have been known as Chief Sherbert if I didn't bring you back in one piece. You know what I'm saying? You had no idea how close you were to that. Yeah. He does say that.

that. Riker's pissed. Manheim wakes up, though, and he's a little disoriented, but Janice is able to calm him down. She's like, you're on the entrepreneur, you've got doctors here, it's going to be okay. And he's like, it is not going to be okay. He needs to stop fighting this trip, right? That's the thing. Like, give him some orange juice, like, go to the chill out tent, but don't try and, like, don't pretend like there's something you can do to think your way out of this, Mannheim. You know what I love about this scene is that he is totally ranting and fucked up. But when Picard walks in, it is clear that the one thing more powerful than psychedelics is jealousy of another man.

Because he locks in to Captain Picard here. It'd be like if Sam Neal in Event Horizon was like ranting about Liberate Me Tutank and then his romantic rival came in. And he was like, well, anyways, I've got to watch some of this blood off. Why don't we take five and pour ourselves a drink and have a further conversation about the situation. Does anyone have a referral to a good optometrist because... Whoa! Oh, my God. They've brought data, and Picard's like, data knows all of your published work.

So if you could kind of catch him up on the last 15 years, he can, like, help us, figure out how to fix whatever this problem is. And Mannheim is like, you saw my published work? You're not up to speed. There's no way for me to get you up to speed. Nobody knows all of my theories, not even me. Data comes close, though. He seems like a good person to at least have a discussion with about this topic. The thing that Mannheim says is urgent is stopping the process that is happening down there. And there are particular coercion. you can use to beam down to not trigger the booby traps. And he's going to give those up.

But before we do that, we do have to have a little McLaughlin group. Issue one. They discuss how they've now gotten a sense of like how often these time nuts are shooting off. Like there is an ejaculation and then a refractory period and then another ejaculation. And the short amount of time between all these just feels like science fiction to me. I mean, what are we talking about here? I mean, I think we're talking about a Paul Thomas Anderson character. I could do it again if you need a close-up.

And they have to stop it, Ben, because if they don't, everyone in their dimension would be covered in time nut. Right. It will destroy reality as they know it and make it so much stickier. You referred to Event Horizon earlier, and I think that was apt, because I think in science fiction, any time another dimension is entered into or explored, that dimension is horrible and terrifying and evil in some way. And I think it's so interesting that none of that is baked into any of this. I think that they're just saying that like different dimension will have different shit going on in it. And if they start to blur, if there starts to be some charoscuro between the dimensions, we won't be able to keep track of what's going on.

Right. Fortunately, we'll get another episode down the road where we'll see these many dimensions show up later. Yeah, somebody figured this out. I don't know if it was Mannheim, but it's true. We ultimately learned that this is true. It's Wharf when he won that Batleth competition.

He chopped some guy's head off, and it time-nutted all over everything. Let's check back. When we do that episode, many years from now, we'll have to remember this moment. Good luck. Cut to many years from now, and it's the cold opening from Terminator 2. Like, both of our skulls are stepped on by a robot, like shooting a laser machine gun. I love when a personal visit shows up at the office and suddenly this important.

work meeting is not important and it's over because the boss would much rather talk to this lady. You're not intruding. We're just finished. Come in. They're going to have a little interaction about the time in Paris where he sort of jilted her. And it's an interesting play that she makes kind of turning this into a flirtation. Like don't apologize and tell me what really happened. Like I want to hear, I want to hear some game. I want you to spit game right now, Picard. Oh, you want me to lie? Of course. There are some light bits here, but she pivots back into the real hurt feelings almost immediately.

And I thought it was so interesting what we get in this dialogue and specifically what we don't get here. The general sense of things that I got was that Picard didn't trust himself to be with her, because in his mind, being with her would mean sacrificing his ambition. in Starfleet. Yeah, it felt like he couldn't make the correct choice because he felt really connected to her, but also felt like he had this ambition that he needed to see through. And either way, he was going to live with regret. And instead of kind of facing his fears surrounding that and like talking to her about it, he just ghosted. You see, no one has ever put it down like that before.

She says this thing about like you think that if you'd ended up with me, your life would have been ordinary. And he does not fight her on this. You know, he is talking to somebody who lived on a chicken nugget for the last 15 years. But that was his fear. And it wasn't the round one either. It was the one that looks like a stocking. Right.

Yeah. Like, is that supposed to be like a wing? Are they like trying to make it look like a part? This is one of those scenes where I really like the work of Patrick Stewart because Picard in private with a person like Janice is such a different character than we've ever seen before with these expressions and like the way he smiles at her. He's so disarmed.

It's very clear that he still has something in his heart for her. Did you watching the next scene with Crusher wonder if she had like the kind of jealousy that made her want to like have a romantic interaction with Mannheim like fuck it we're just burning it all down basically the way that she strokes his hair lovingly

all that hair let's see if we can't fix part of you Dr. Mannheim I mean Troy comes into check on her and is like what's up with you like you seem a little distracted last couple of days Are you all right

Why wouldn't I be? I've got one of the medical wonders of the galaxy, dying in my six-bay. That's not what I meant. The specific description that Dr. Grasher uses about a ghost from the past having such an effect on Picard, she would have no idea just how, for real, a ghost from the past could become many years from now. Yeah. Yeah. She is thinking about maybe making some modifications to her medical uniforms.

so that they like imply a little side boob, you know, like what, what could I do to stand in this new world that we seem to have entered, this new dimension of reality that we seem to have entered? I mean, we find out later she's a talented dancer. Maybe she should start a band. Yeah. The papas and the mamas. Picard is summoned for a private conversation with Mannheim, and this is not him. telling Foucard like crucial information about the time science at play. It's like it's looking pretty bad for me. When I open my eyes, I see all realities overlapping all at once. So it would really mean a lot to me if this Janice could be something that you take responsibility for after my death. Make sure she lands on her feet. Take care of my wife if I die is the sort of

bedside request you can't say no to. And Picard doesn't. You'd have to be a real asshole to say no at a moment like that. But I feel like with a guy this delusional, you could be like, sorry, you got to say that again because what you just said didn't make any sense. Like, what about spaghetti window, toothbrush? With a guy this looney tune so he could be like, your wife, she's already dead. She was turned into Sherbert by Lieutenant Sherbert. That guy's got to be so careful. Yeah. You went into the wrong line of work.

Do I pronounce your name Herbert? Chief Herbert, what's going on? I've never known. I grew up pronouncing it, Holbeye. But that seems rude. Picard walks down the hallway with Data and he's like, hey, listen, I want you to be the away team.

You and only you. And Data's like, makes perfect sense. I'm a robot. I am expendable. And Picard is like, no, no, no. It's not that. It's that when you saw the other version of yourself earlier, it didn't trip you up the same way. It tripped me and Riker up. Like, you seem to be able to cope with this in a way that human nervous systems can't. He's impervious to the time nut when it happens. And if he were to have an away team made up of other humans with him, they could get covered in so much nut

that they make the situation more dangerous. Right. Like now we have two emergencies. This guy is drowning in nut and there's more nut coming. I will go immediately, sir. Good luck, Data. Right, and like Data's got to close this rift.

He doesn't have time to walk around with two cold wash claws. So he goes, goes straight to the transporter room, arrives in the lab, which has not been a place that we've seen much of. We've had that one shot of the transport not going that well. I like it.

I like the look of this lab. It's got those walls where they threw those paint flex on it that you throw on like a garage floor when you're doing an epoxy coat. I really like this set. Yeah. And it's still booby-trapped. Like there are lasers trying to get data. but a laser has never gotten data, you know?

The thing about this that I love so much is that you see a stunt guy roll around behind a wall and then data actual pops out to fire at the laser shooting at him. It is so great. So many fun little tricks like that. Yeah. I saw a shot in a show recently where they were like on the train platform of the L in Chicago

and it was like the entire thing was green. screened. Like they they green screened two actors on a train platform and did like a very complicated camera move so they had to get really clean plates and they had to figure out how to like blow their hair when the train came through. I was like there is a fucking train platform I'm sure you can get in Chicago. They have gotten so good at the digital effect that it's become kind of the default in a way where when you didn't have it in these days and you could achieve a shot by like hiding a cut with the door closing right before the camera moves or having a stunt guy leap behind some barrels and then Brent Spiner stick his head up.

Like it just it just works better, you know? It's so unnecessary. In so many ways, people and things should just be out in the world more. Yeah. I am the cutest of all. Block pages are my best. I am the cutest of all. I love how Picard and the folks on the bridge can do nothing but hear the weapons fire until data tells them that it's safe again. That's fun.

Data doesn't have bits yet, you know? Like he could really milk this, like give it a beat before he answers them when they're like, is everything okay? Yep, just fine, Captain. A lab facility guarded by fluorescent light tubes wrapped in gel is never not awesome when you see it. When these light tubes start to retract to like open the aperture into the lab when data punches in the code, I was looking at the column that the right half of them were going to be retracting into. And I was like, there's not enough room. What are they going to do? And then they just pull them back like eight inches and Brent Spiner has to kind of like sidle through. Incredible. Love this moment.

In the middle of this lab, there's a sort of hall of mirrors effect. happening in the central area. Really love this. You don't have to remaster a moment like this. It looks weird and trippy as it is. He has 90 seconds until the next time event. And what he's got to do is seal the aperture by dumping some antimatter on it.

And it goes over to the antimatter dispenser. And there's like one of those grabbers that old people use to get cereal off of a high shelf and some canisters. It seems to be oriented in a way that can grab but also open. Yeah. Like leverage style to open a tight lid. Yeah. Yeah.

It's cool. You don't want to get a single function reach or grabber. You want one that does it all. Right. Yeah. And look at that. It can pick a quarter up off the ground. Amazing.

So he's got to like time this perfectly, but time is kind of, a squishy situation here and we get this burst of light and suddenly there are three data's and a lot more chaos in the room, a lot of like wind whipping around and the light has completely changed and they have to quickly debate which of them is the right data to do the dump. Speaking of Eiffel Towers, did you think about Tasha Yarr if she had been alive in a situation like this? Just watching from the bridge like, hmm.

It never happened. I love how quickly the question is answered here. All three data's are like, what? What the fuck? Which one is the correct data? And the middle one is like, it's me. I'm that. He patches the hole.

Can't guarantee that it's going to hold, but that's good enough. You gotta want to wait two to three hours, before painting over this patch. Go over it with some fine grit sandpaper beforehand now. You think it's the kind of antimatter that's like pink when it comes out of the tub, but then when it dries, it's the same color as drywall? I want to say antimatter is pink, but dilithium crystals are pink.

Yeah, so would antimatter be blue? Blue and red, right? It matters blue, antimatter is red? Is that what we understand? I don't know. I don't know. Does antimatter have color or does light go into it instead of bounce off of it? I didn't get into engineering to have judgments like these. I don't even see color when it comes to energy. Wow. You know, you don't get a lot of credit for this, but you're quite evolved.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I think. Mannheim's symptoms completely disappear after the hole is patched and because of Hard enters the room to see him and Janice having a joyful reunion and she's like so excited to have the weird guy who's made her life anything but boring back. I thought she was heartbroken and maybe this is obvious to anyone else who is able to read emotions maybe better than me. But like he basically tells her, we keep so close to losing it all, babe. I've won that last bet though and got back to even but guess what? There's a game this weekend

that I feel like we have the edge for and I think if we bet it all again it just might work like the idea that she would be game to restart their experiment not just because it's so dangerous but because he is clearly having a problem with his work life balance

the look on her face was very telling to me she says that she's into it but there is no way she can can be. I mean, the tell on this is that he has awakened and gone into remission on this life-threatening experience. And the way he's talking to her is like somebody who's being taken back after a breakup. He's like, it's going to be different this time. I promise. There was never a point where I tried to give you away to someone else toward the end. I wanted you for myself forever.

When I experienced all those vibrant new forms of life in the multiverse, it changed me. I better than I was. And I don't want to go back to the multiverse to fuck those radiant beings. It's you that I want. Picard seems to accept all of this as he watches. Who doesn't accept this whole situation is emotional bloodhound Deanna Troy, who seems to be a little bit of a meddler. Hey, what's going on there? When she escorts Janice to the holodeck to meet up with Picard at the cafe from before.

Picard has a bucket of ice with champagne and two glasses. Was this his idea? And he asked Troy to go get Janice so that he could offer her a way out of this horrible relationship? Or was this Troy's idea? And she said, Captain, I'd like you to go to the holodeck and get yourself a bucket of ice with some shamans. I'm painting two glasses, I've got a little surprise for you. I don't know, man. There's a lot going on in this scene, but I think maybe the thing going on the most is how

this is kind of good relationship goals, right? Like, you, it's always a red flag when a person's ex hates them and wants them dead. And it's always kind of fun and interesting when like exes can remain friends or friendly. and this seems to be like an affirmation of their breakup, a way that they can even sort of toast their past selves and say goodbye in a way that's meaningful. It's like a breakup a couple of decades late. Like he ghosted her.

It's an unguesting is what it is. Like he is doing what he should have done a long time ago. This couldn't happen in reverse though, right? I mean, let's be honest. Let's talk about the gender politics of this moment, briefly. Like if she had ghosted him or if it was her doing the final conversation of it all? I think that would be pretty difficult going the other way. Yeah.

Well, she wouldn't have been as happy to see him at the beginning either. Very true. Yeah. She doesn't even finish her glass before walking away. I thought that was telling. She says so much for my dramatically romantic exit and then the door appears. years and I love the idea that the door was accidentally Siri triggered. Like, if you accidentally say the word exit in the holodeck, you are going to break the illusion.

She's so blown away by the holodeck technology. I thought maybe Picard would use this as a bit. Like, no, the door is over there. A little to your right. Anyways, he heads back to the bridge. If there's anything that he's had to grieve in the last year or so as captain, probably the end of this relationship he had with Janice. Anyways, let's go have a bit of well-earned shore leave so that we can all mourn the relationship I didn't wind up having with Janice. Yeah. Let's get ourselves seated at the bar of the old Blue Balls Cafe.

This is becoming a speech. You're the captains there. You're entitled. I'm tired to ramble on about something everyone knows. Ben, I got a great big question for you at the end of this episode. I thought the most interesting scene to me was that first scene in the Paris Cafe where Picard styles the holodeck in a way to create a significant moment from his past. And he had the choice to put Janice there.

He could have like replayed it in a way. a groundhog day kind of way even. And he chose not to. Instead, he chose to just, like, be in the space for a while and consider the implications of what he'd done. I thought that was... Computer, give me a woman who looks like a younger Janice, but with a shirt on backwards. I'm wondering if you had the power of the holodeck.

What's the scene that you would create from your past to reconnect with a significant life event? Like, revisit the moment. Yeah, and I don't mean good or bad necessarily, just like a big moment that that might be interesting to go back to. And what's so interesting about Picard's choice is like the absence of the players in that moment. He just goes to the place. So is there a place for you that is meaningful, like absence the people involved? There are like beloved places, like the beach that we used to go to every year, our summer trip when I was a kid.

it's a place I still can go to, but it's not easy or really worth it. And has become more complicated. So like the beach of my youth would be a cool one. And the life event there was when you blistered your hands after juicing all those limes. Yeah, I get it. See how it's important to like tie the location to that event though. One thought I had was my wedding. Like we had a moment that we pre-planned in the service where we're like, let's make

sure we like take a beat and just like look out at all of the people that come to this thing so that we can like register all of them and remember that. And for all of the like good pre-planning that was, I was just too full of adrenaline when we did that moment for it to like actually take root in my memory. And I have lots of fond memories of it. But you know, it would be cool to be able to like actually see it. This isn't meant to sound like the significant, weighty, amazing line that it's going to sound when I tell you this. But we really can't choose what we remember, can we?

No. Like in that way. It's fucked up. Yeah. I wish we could. Good answer, Ben. Let's check our Priority One Message inbox and see if there's anything memorable in there. Something will cause PTSD, I'm sure.

Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on secure channel. You need a supplemental. Supplement. Supplement. Yeah, it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. Ben, we have got a promotional priority one message here. Here's how that goes.

When I heard a fellow academic promoter's book via a P1, I thought, who does that? A few months later, I encountered said academic. at a conference and proceeded to inquire about the book's greatest gen bump to use for my own. Wow. Maps is media by polity press is an exploration of the everyday power of digital maps. Cool. We distrust social media for manipulating us, yet the maps on our screens, which quietly shape how we move and understand physical space, are often overlooked.

Unpacking maps from media, geography and science and technology studies perspectives, book is accessible to anyone interested in how maps shape our world. So you can go to MapsAsmedia.com to buy this book or order a review copy for your class. And if you're in Amsterdam, come to the launch event on October 29th at Voxpop. Wow. Alex Gecker is the author of this book. What an interesting concept. The launch event is on my birthday, which kind of makes me feel like I should go.

You have to go now. I'll check prices on Amsterdam travel. That sounds like a really rad book, actually, Alex. And something that I've definitely been very curious about over the course of my life. I hope a lot of FOTs check this book out. That's Mapsasmedia.com. I never even stopped to consider how I might be manipulated by the Google Maps or the Apple Maps. or the Apple Maps.

Something to think about. Yeah. I only use Apple Maps in Peter's projection mode. Hmm. Yeah. I cannot tolerate the Mercator projection. Is the Peters principal projection? Just a bunch of bad directions up until one good one?

Or maybe a bunch of good directions up until it fails? That's the one, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It gets you like most of the way there. Yeah. Adam, we got another promotional message here. Ever wish you could fly a ship with more than two weapons? Enter a non-purple nebula.

Navigate an asteroid field without losing power from background radiation. If you like to eliminate bad guys the old-fashioned way, instead of erasing them with a mere thought like Kevin Uxbridge, then Celtrios is for you. This is an old school schmup game. 13 stages, huge soundtrack, and customizable. It has had more than 100 free updates since 2017. One price.

No in-app purchases, no ads or subscription. Isn't that nice? That rules. That's a real no-man sky level of value right there. Available on the app store for iOS or Apple TV or Steam for the Mac version. And you can find out more at Kevin Grant. Dot name slash apps slash Seltrios slash greatest gen. That is C-E-R-E-O-S for Seltrios.

This is from Kevin Grant, the indie game developer behind it. I hope people will check out Seltrios. It sounds good as hell. Indy games are quietly some of the best games out there, so definitely give it a try. Yeah. Ben, our final message here is of a problem. personal nature. It is to David and possibly the girl Sarah someday. And it's from Andrew and Orion. Here's how that goes. I hope you're listening far in the future and that you're not embarrassed

your dad listens to a Star Trek podcast. At a minimum, I hope you're soon allowed to listen to Dick and Fart jokes enough that he can have it on on the car. David, miss you so much. I really owe you a trip down south. Let's do some skeet shooting and commit some More crimes. Best from New York and Cape Cod, where I'm writing this now. Here's to another 30 years of Star Trek with you, buddy. And then a Wesley drop for The Girl. I'm going.

I'll take it. I dig it a lot. If you'd like to leave a priority one message on an upcoming episode of our show, I sure hope you will go to Podshop. to book yours today. And if you'd like to get it out in a really timely way, we have a good amount of inventory open over on Greatest Trek. So if you'd like to call your shot and have it come out pretty soon,

greatest trek is where to go. Same bump is basically available with both shows at this point. Yeah, and it goes a long way in supporting the production of our shows. Ben, it's time for a game. A game I'm calling Parasy Squares. If winning is not important, then commander, why keep score? You've got to stop playing Barizi's squares as if you're 21 years old. A game of mental combat where you'll have to put on your sturdiest armor to answer four multiple-choice questions.

Okay. There's only one correct answer. Answer three out of the four correct, and you win! Get more than two of these wrong! And you'll have to recreate a drop of Wendy's choosing using only your voice, Michael Winslow-style. Okay. Hey, wow. Are you ready?

Okay, this is just the same thing again. It's not farts, it's Wichael Winslow, but it's the same punishment again. It's very different, Ben, and I'm insulted that you think it's the same. Oh, okay. Question one. Which of these three facts about the Eiffel Tower is false? A. Gustav Eiffel personally lived in an apartment at the top floor of it most of his life. Two, it was originally designed to be a temporary structure and was supposed to be dismantled after 20 years.

Three, it was built in 1889 for the Paris World's Fair. Which one of these is false? I believe the first one is false. Ben, you are correct! Gustav Eiffel didn't live in an apartment on the top floor, but that sounds so cool. It does sound really rad. A friend of mine built the live. Lego Eiffel Tower recently, that one that's like, you know, like waist high if you put it on the

floor. And he said he was really excited to get the kit, but then it was like the most boring thing he ever did. I recently went to a shopping mall with a Lego store with a family with some kids and saw the container ship Lego kit. That's all like Maersk containers. And that has a got to be so monotonous. I can't imagine. In that very same way. Yeah. Yeah.

Then, question two, which of these three facts about French food is false? Okay. A. Cresson were originally invented in Austria and then brought to France by Marie Antoinette. B, French chefs invented mayonnaise in Paris in the early 1800s. See, baguettes are largely required by French law to. contain only flour, water, salt, and yeast. No additives. Which is your answer?

Well, I know that croissant and the category of pastries they belong to are called vineoiserie in French. So I'm guessing that that one is true, but that Mary Antoinette bit makes me worry that there's like a, like, it's not like the meat of the clue, but there's a little lie in there. Like the champagne coupe, the croissant is modeled after Marie Antoinette's breasts. It was modeled to hold them up, right? Right, yeah. Push it up from underneath. The baguette highly regulated. And yet still like a source of fierce competition in Paris.

Like it's a big deal to be best baguette. But yeah, that mayonnaise won. That sounds like bullshit to me. Ben, you are correct. Two for two so far. You only need one more of these. You come at the king of knowing little things about France. Third question, Ben, which of these three facts about Paris is false?

A, the Paris catacombs beneath the city contain the remains of approximately six million people. B, the Louvre Museum is currently the most visited art museum in the world. See, the Ark de Triomp was completed during Napoleon's lifetime. And he walked through it in a victory parade. Ah, boy. Been to the catacombs. Very cool. Filled with lots of deads?

It is staggering how many deads. Best thing you can visit in Paris. It's so fucking cool. Really? Yeah, and it's like weird. They were like stacking bones. Like these are people just like stacking bones underground for years. And so they'd like get creative with it and like do little designs with the bones.

They stack them. You have to make it fun. Yeah. Yeah. You know, just a happy-go-lucky workplace, one imagines. I'm going to guess the arc de triumph was not completed during Napoleon's lifetime. Three for three, Ben. You've won the game.

Do you want that bonus question just to, like, absolutely spike the ball on this terrible game I've constructed that it was not hard enough? Yes, sir, Adam. I would love to answer your fourth and final question. All right, Ben, for absolutely no stakes, which of these three facts about the Notre Dame Cathedral is false? A, construction on Notre Dame began in 1163 and took nearly 200 years to complete. B, the cathedral's famous gargoyles were added in the 19th century during a major restoration project, not the original medieval construction. Or C, Notre Dame is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the name literally means, Our Lady, in French. It is true.

I'm wondering if it's too early when the construction began. 1163, a very long time ago. Yeah, very, very long time ago. But I think I'm going to go with those gargoyles. I think that's where my spitey senses are telling me to go. Ben, perfect score by you. The gargoyles are original medieval features, not 19th century editions. though many were restored during the 19th century work,

four for four on perisy squares. Ben, nicely done. I think there's also a lot of like saint heads that got knocked off during one of the like, I don't know, the Jacobins or, you know, one of those various revolutions that they had, they were like, let's get rid of all this religious imagery on this church.

Is Jacobin like Jacobite, which is a word I only recent, learned? I don't remember. I don't remember who the guys were. I just, you know, probably Talleyrand was, at least nearby, you know, chance is pretty good. Had to be. Had to be. Well, you know who delights in stacking up the bones of our episodes, Ben? Our producer, who we're going to throw to right now to tell you all about who was responsible for what we've just done and what's coming up next week, along with our credits. Take it away. Bye, bye. Angelad and Tanaga.

The Greatest Generation is an Uxbridge-Shimoto podcast. It's hosted by Ben Harrison and Adam Kranica, and it's produced and edited by Wendy Pretty. Next week, we'll be back with another episode of Star Trek The Next Generation. It's a classic, so get ready to relish in your body because it's season one, episode 25, conspiracy. Until then, we want to say thank you to all of the members who support this show. You can join them.

You'd get an ad-free feed, plus a lot of great bonus episodes and other benefits. Sign up at greatest trek.com. just click the support link that's in the show notes right there and your podcatcher. And we thank you so much for supporting the show. Music for the greatest generation is by Dark Materia. Social media is managed by Bill Tilly and Rob Adler. Rob also puts together the greatest newsletter every month. Visit Podshop.biz to get signed up for the newsletter.

You can also book a P1 there and find yourself some fun merch too, and all of that helps support the show. So thanks. Follow our official social media pages on Instagram, Blue Sky, and YouTube, and use the hashtag Greatest Gen when you post about the show. And don't forget that over on Greatest Trek, we are already into our spooky film festival called Combs-Tober, celebrating great movie performances by Jeffrey Combs. And this Friday's feature will be Castle Freak from 1995.

That's all for now. We'll see you next week on The Greatest Generation. Demota.