The Greatest Generation - Velcro Check! (ENT S3E5)

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

When the Entrepreneur picks up a distress call from a Vulcan ship, a severely under-resourced away team heads over in a shuttlepod. But when T’Pol starts showing paranoid symptoms and her former col...leagues are beyond help, Archer and Tucker barely get their only two shuttlepods back to the NX-01. Who isn’t going commando? Which crew member is like a licorice jellybean? What does this show really love? It’s the episode that’s broadcasting in 3D.Support the production of The Greatest GenerationGet a thing at podshop.biz!Sign up for our mailing list!Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Riker - Quantum LeapThe Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaFriends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | JusticeDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | Mastodon | Bluesky | ThreadsAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Here's to the finest crew in Starling. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me. This is a parody. Paramount owns the sun. Welcome to The Greatest Generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys just a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast. I'm Adam Franica. I'm Ben Harrison.
Starting point is 00:00:25 A way game for you today, Adam. I know, I am in our nation's capital, taxation without representation on all the license plates. Coincidentally, I think you'd love this, you'd get a kick out of this. Cop week. Oh boy. In Washington, D.C. There's some sort of convention
Starting point is 00:00:47 where hundreds and hundreds of our nation's police officers have descended upon the city. And brother- Are they lining the hotel hallways with cellophane to keep the blue smudges off of everything? That's a great call back to our Pittsburgh show where the halls and beds were covered with cellophane to protect from the spray tanner and the oils used there. Because what cops do is the uniforms are painted on, right? You know what? This could be a stripper cop convention. Right?
Starting point is 00:01:21 I didn't check the Velcro status of these uniforms. Go around, grab the fronts of some trousers and pull outward, not down. Just say, Velcro check. I can't fuck with you. Yeah, pulling outward sends a far different message than pulling down. Pulling pants down is bullying. This happened to me in middle school. Sure.
Starting point is 00:01:44 You ever get pantsed in middle school? Fucking sucks. My beautiful boy, Doron, the other day had a natural pants fall off moment in a way where like a bunch of parents were watching him like run across the playground as they dropped. And it was so cute and charming and silly that like nobody could help laughing. And he's at such a like beautiful innocent stage in his development that there's no embarrassment yet. So he just thought it was funny too. Do you think, and I think you're in a position to answer this question almost expertly.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Do you think embarrassment is nature or nurture? If it's nurture, that kid is fucked. I don't know a ton about kids, but what I know about their clothing is that a lot of it is elastic bands. Yeah, yeah. How did Doron's pants fall off given that? I'm not totally clear on what happened because also the diaper usually provides like a big hump that that
Starting point is 00:02:45 elastic band would need to get over. And this kid's got a bit of a thang on him, you know? His thang is thanging. He outran the hump. But it's also enhanced by diapers, so. So when his pants dropped, he revealed diaper, not baby dong and baby butt, right? No, yeah. And he's not going commando.
Starting point is 00:03:07 Hey, he's Doron, not Officer Brone. I take it you're in charge here. Team leader Brone, fourth board defense contingent. I gotta get a pump. That's it, get it. Wouldn't the world be different if the chance of pants falling off happened to adults more
Starting point is 00:03:25 often? I think we'd be a little bit more forgiving as a society, you know? I don't think we give enough credit to the inventor of the belt and suspenders for really changing the scene out there on these streets. Yeah, like I had to block a bunch of people on social media the other day because I did a post that was like, pretty soon it's going to be back to HBO Go and Obama's going to be president again. And all these people were like, that war criminal? I hope you're happy with wishing for that. And I was like, I did not wish for anything. I just made a joke about it being 2008 again, about time being a boomerang.
Starting point is 00:04:07 Was this on the social media site that you said was good that I should join? This sounds bad. It's one of the rare posts I've had, like, find its way into the gaze of the professional scold community. And I blocked a lot of these people, but I also got blocked by one where I was like, hey, maybe consider adopting a lifestyle where you don't go around scolding people whose joke you didn't understand in the first place. I think it's clear that this example demonstrates that it's not about the social media site specifically.
Starting point is 00:04:42 It's about how you tend to your garden there and make it a less shitty place for yourself. I think that's all it's ever gonna require for the rest of our lives. My filters are better for that moment. Hell yeah. Hey, you remember when I told you, back in the early Twitter days, I had a list of 50 words that just never come through?
Starting point is 00:05:04 Can you do that in these new social media sites? You can do that. And you can also, what Blue Sky has is like, they've got their own moderation thing, but there's also a second layer, which is like community created moderation. So somebody can be like, I made a list of 300 assholes that you can just click this button
Starting point is 00:05:24 and you'll never hear from them. Oh, like they kind of sell it as a patch. Yeah, like I have one installed on mine that is just don't show me screenshots of other social media websites. And so that never comes across my feed. Like I never see somebody screenshotting a truth social post and I don't ever have to worry about that coming up. About that. Yeah, it's nice. Sounds like you're thickening up your bubble nicely, as you gotta do.
Starting point is 00:05:52 I've put the Solifane all over my social media to prevent the blue stains from getting on everything. What about the bronzer? You gotta allow the bronzer through. I'm keeping the bronzer. The bronzer is, yeah, it's a special like material science kind of solifane that allows bronze but prevents blue. Well, I'm fitting in great here. Oh, yeah. I have a suitcase full of Untucket shirts and Oakley brand sunglasses. I'm going from place to place, totally unchecked.
Starting point is 00:06:24 It's wonderful. You're using from place to place, totally unchecked. It's wonderful. You're using the phrase to wit a lot and, uh, throwing a lot of extra words in as you, you know, like the suspect would appreciate a martini with a splash of the olive juice to wit over here right now. I'm going to be just over on the other end of the bar adjudicating the menu. It was determined by the subjects that not sufficient number of tequila and sodas had been delivered at that time
Starting point is 00:06:59 and therefore felt threatened by the situation. You can speak to us normally. Okay. No, thank you, sir. I got to tell you, Ben, as weird as it can sometimes be on this trip to D.C., we have so many F.O.D.s out here. Our very own Windy Pretty lives out here, got to spend some quality time with her and a few other F.O.D.s. It's been a really short trip.
Starting point is 00:07:23 The only reason I'm here is my wife booked a business trip here and then changed jobs. So the business trip went away and I got kind of stuck holding the plane tickets. Like, I don't know. I don't have many reasons to come to DC. Why don't I just do it? Yeah. God, and let me tell you, brother,
Starting point is 00:07:44 negotiating that with a wife, like the maybe I'll go any wayness of it, fraught. That was a trip negotiation that somehow worked in my favor. I'll drink to that, bud. And I'll drink to zombie falcons as well. Let's see if they can put some cellophane up on the walls of the ship to prevent the green smudges this episode. Absolutely, Ben.
Starting point is 00:08:13 It's Enterprise Season 3, Episode 5. Its title is Impulse. Very hot, cold open. Got free speech and guitar. Very hot, cold open. Yeah. As T'Pol is being brought to Sixth Bay in the arms of her captain, but she'll kill that motherfucker. This is a real throwback to the ER style procedural
Starting point is 00:08:43 that was so popular for a time, which I think is having a resurgence now. Everyone's telling me to watch the pit, Ben. Everybody says, watch the pit. I know you've got feelings about people telling you, you gotta watch things. And I'm starting to feel a little bit Benjamin R. Harrison-y about people recommending the pit.
Starting point is 00:09:00 I'm like, I know about the pit. Who doesn't know about the pit? Everybody knows about the pit. We've all seen a bus in the last six months. Like, I'm sure, I know about the pit. Who doesn't know about the pit? Everybody knows about the pit. We've all seen a bus in the last six months. Like, I'm sure it's great. And I don't want it to be overhyped. Like, at this point, if I watch it, it will inevitably disappoint because, you know,
Starting point is 00:09:17 too many people have recommended it. Everyone's rooting for Noah Wiley. Yes. It's gonna be great. Everyone loves it. It's doing fine without us for the moment. We stan a medical king. One thing about those shows that you don't often get is the patient trying to kill the
Starting point is 00:09:32 doctors and that is clearly what T'Pol is trying to do with her thrashing and screaming. She is positively writhing as they attempt to administer a hypo and... Ben, sometimes the show kind of struggles with T'Pol's writhing. It's coded as fairly sexual a lot of times. Would you classify this as sexual writhing that she's doing? I didn't get a horny note off of it. It felt scary and... They're learning! Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's... which is, like,
Starting point is 00:10:04 I think that the cat suit that they always put her in is hard to get around, but like people go to the ER in cat suits, you know? Yeah, I mean, you get to Paul laying down in the cat suit, sweaty and writhing. I mean, often it goes a certain way on this show. In this episode Fairly terrifying up to and including the scream
Starting point is 00:10:40 Let me think of the last time I screamed just as loud as I could like that's probably a roller coaster, right? I just don't get many opportunities to do that and Kind of a scream queen is what Jolene is. Yeah, it would almost be worth being in this level of medical distress to go to the ER and really let one go, scream wise, you know? Yeah, yeah. Really great scream, really effective, right on into the theme.
Starting point is 00:11:02 And after the theme, we're picking up right where we left off. T'Pol is a little more coherent in her paranoia and her fear and she is seeing Dr. Flax as the enemy and as someone who's tried to kill her. The hypospray eventually gets into the neck and calms her down but Flax is describing the damage as being more severe than expected. And I was just thinking, man, she is lucky that, I mean, they're all lucky that the solution to whatever is causing the screaming isn't one of Phlox's frontier medicine leech applications or similar, you know, like if there was a wriggling beastie also involved in this situation, what would they have done?
Starting point is 00:11:47 I mean, it's very much not in her head if that's the case. If he's making with like two lobster style leeches to attach to her. How useful is the imaging chamber for a moment like this? This is effectively a straight jacket. Yeah. You know, you put T'Pol onto the table, you chamber her like she's a torpedo and you let her thrash around in the chamber.
Starting point is 00:12:10 Yeah, she'll calm down in there eventually. She can't hurt anything in there besides herself. One day earlier, we have a scene of Tripp and the captain working late at night on some stuff and they're just kind of like idly chit chatting as they computer together. And Trip relates to the captain that he was talking to the legendary chef of the NX01 about the morale issue that is plaguing the crew.
Starting point is 00:12:42 Like the crew just doesn't seem right to Chef. Trip thinks that the captain should know about this problem, and he floats the idea of, like, you know, we haven't done a movie night since we entered the Expanse. Archer is initially against this. He's like, no way. Movies are for closers only. You know? You kill some zindies, then you get a movie, basically.
Starting point is 00:13:02 closers only, you know. You kill some zindies, then you get a movie, basically. Did you detect what could have been a little bit of the chef being like, huh, I'm scraping a lot of plates into the trash. Can't be my cooking. Morale must be low. It's definitely not me. Chef's the best in Starfleet. I went to the steam tray and people were taking mac and cheese right out of the middle and not getting the corner pieces.
Starting point is 00:13:29 Yeah. Something's wrong, something's up. I had some real feelings about this scene because there was a moment in my corporate life where I made a terrible mistake and maybe this would be educational for anyone else out there with an office job. But morale in my department was extremely low for a time.
Starting point is 00:13:53 And there were all sorts of reasons for this. But when an executive came through, kind of after hours, I was working late one night. This dude rolls up and shoots the shit. See how I'm doing. I made the mistake of telling the truth. I made the mistake of saying, yeah, like we're getting stuff done, things are going fine or anything, but like morale has been a little low.
Starting point is 00:14:14 It's a little weird around here. And his reaction was not favorable to this. Wow. I made a terrible mistake by saying that. He was fairly confrontational about it and said that I was naive for believing that to be the case and that I shouldn't really be concerned about matters like morale when it is about getting the fucking work done. And you thought to yourself, it is kind of late.
Starting point is 00:14:41 This is, it's just him and me here. And you reached out and grabbed the front of his pants and pulled out and yelled, Velcro check! Yeah, that was really the problem that sent me to HR was the Velcro check. It wasn't the admission of low morale. Maybe he's planning on turning morale around personally. Yeah, that was tough.
Starting point is 00:15:04 I learned a valuable lesson that day, Ben. Yeah. So, okay, movie night can come back. We'll watch a comedy. I was hoping it would be dirty work or something. You know, when they say a classic comedy, yeah, you want them to work in a Paul Blart mall cop or, you know, something that would be delightful to find out is considered a classic comedy in the future. Especially because, just to give a little glimpse
Starting point is 00:15:30 of the end scene of this episode, there's no pies to the face, there's no slipping on banana peels in the footage we see. There doesn't seem to be much comedy in the film clip that we get at all. Nary a Yakety Sax. Yeah. And this wasn't true at the time,
Starting point is 00:15:47 but Rebecca Romaine is canonical Star Trek. She's in dirty work. Yeah. Yeah. As the bearded lady. I'll be in my trailer, honey. If you want it, come and get it. Enter non-maniac to Paul,
Starting point is 00:16:03 who finds out that they've been doing some work that she is also a party to. It's a group project. They've been working on it without her, and she is very annoyed about this. I would have helped you do that. Archer splits and Trip again tries to trick T'Pol into having to come to movie night. Did this feel conspicuous to you? The way that, like, when a group of people have an understanding that there may be a crush between folks in the group, there's a lot of, like, let's leave them alone. Let's not interfere in whatever this is.
Starting point is 00:16:41 There's a moment where Archer's doing some work and then for no reason at all leaves the work to go be on the other side of the room. I don't feel like the writers' room have made their minds up about which of the male leads of this cast they want to have a crush on to Paul and which they want to write toward with that yet. Like, it seems to bounce around a little bit. But yeah, like, Archer leaves in a way of like,
Starting point is 00:17:06 okay, well, I'll be organizing my sock drawer. You two kids have fun. Jared Sussman They get just a moment together alone before Hoshi blows in a call. Hey, we're picking up Vulcan distress out there. And on the bridge, they're able to recognize the ship that sent the call. This is a Vulcan ship that had gone into the expanse nine months ago. And that is a lot of time to turn inside out in my mind. It is. If we change the words, then it's fair use all day long.
Starting point is 00:17:40 We get an establishing shot of this asteroid field that is fucked up. It is so kinetic. The rocks are banging into each other. It seems really fucking dangerous. And then we cut to a very unusual for Star Trek, like very far away, top-down shot of the ship approaching this asteroid field. Yeah, it looks like that war table that you see in movies sometimes where the ships are in the ocean
Starting point is 00:18:11 and you're moving them around with crap sticks. The shuffleboard wand, yeah. Yeah, I love that shot quite a bit. The reason they've pulled up on this asteroid field is the Vulcan ship with the distressed call is inside. And wouldn't you know it, kind of a fortunate situation. All of these little asteroids are full of the Trillium or that they could use to make their insulation.
Starting point is 00:18:33 Yeah. So they got to wake up Mr. Reed to get a shuttle trip together so that they can go in there because too dangerous to bring the entire ship into this field. And damn, this is fucking stressful. Like it is like multiple people actively working on navigating as all of these rocks fly around them. Like if you've ever rented a car
Starting point is 00:18:58 in the Midwest during storm season, like this is the terrible feeling of the hail starting to come down on your rental car. Like this shuttle will never be the same after this mission. And you know, T'Pol offering to drive is not helping, okay? Maybe on the way back. We're both on the rental agreement, all right? T'Pol, I happen to draw the short straw
Starting point is 00:19:20 being in the seat. We're not pulling over right now. You've got to believe that if you ever rented a car with a Vulcan and they were the driver, it is speed limit in the left lane the entire time, absolute madness in attention to all driving rules and regulations. Ten and two, yeah, like letter, not spirit of law,
Starting point is 00:19:44 in all ways. They've never heard of making up time on the road. That's just not gonna happen. I was driving in New Jersey recently, and I don't know if this is a change with the New Jersey turnpike, because I remember it used to be that occasionally I would drive to New Jersey from New York
Starting point is 00:19:59 and miss one little thing on the GPS, and I'd be on the express side of the turnpike and you could get fucked for like 10 miles. You know, you'd go, you'd be like, there's no way to get out of this and I am so far past where I was trying to get off. But what they have seemed to have done is made it a truck side and a car side now.
Starting point is 00:20:21 And I got on the truck side. There's trucks plus cars. There's like a little like parenthetical plus cars. I barely used a sip of gas all the way to Pennsylvania because I was just like drafting behind huge big rigs the entire time. It was amazing. Like it was like one of those rental cars where they're like return it as close to empty as possible and I was like I got a day of driving. I don't want to put anything in this tank. I don't have to.
Starting point is 00:20:45 Sure, sure. Fucking amazing. It's weird to find yourself in the wrong place and trapped there in a car. Like there have been times I've accidentally driven into like the metro station part of an airport rental car return. Like that fucking sucks so bad.
Starting point is 00:21:02 It's so embarrassing to be a car where the buses are. Yeah, and the guy in the yellow vest is like, what are you doing? And you're like, ah, it's confusing. I've never been here. There's no reversing out of that situation. The only way out is through. Yeah, severe tire damage of your reverse. That's sort of a metaphor for the whole expanse, right?
Starting point is 00:21:21 Yeah. Yeah. So Archer is asking to Paul what she knows about the Salaia, the Vulcan ship that they are on the trail of. And she's like, actually used to work there. Captain Vorus, best boss I ever had. Present company excluded. I don't know what I make of this moment.
Starting point is 00:21:40 Are you ever irritated by, it's not an intentional withholding of information, but like you're working on a thing. And like, T'Pol could just say that she knows all about this ship because she used to work on it, and she knows all the crew, and like she has experiences and so forth.
Starting point is 00:21:57 Like she could have offered that before they got on the shuttle. Yes. Like, and it could have helped them prepare for what they're about to do. And instead you have to ask her? And then all of a sudden this volume of backstory comes out. No one reacts in that way that's a little bit pissed about like needing to extract the
Starting point is 00:22:17 information rather than it being given. Right. This feels like real Ambassador Saval shit. You didn't ask. Yeah. Yeah. feels like real Ambassador Saval shit. You didn't ask, yeah. Yeah. Which I guess maybe is like them writing the Vulcans with a consistency,
Starting point is 00:22:30 like you didn't ask and therefore we didn't offer the information. Yeah, I get that. But like I would have loved Reed going like, wait, so this ship is why the other ship with the Event Horizon Vulcans went into the expanse in the first place and you never thought to tell us about that?
Starting point is 00:22:46 You mean I don't have to share every thought I've ever had with an ex? I should wait until my exes ask and then write them the weird letter? Meanwhile, aboard the entrepreneur, Trip and Travis are working on beaming rocks aboard because of this ore that they might be able to get out of the asteroid field. I like Trip and Travis as a work couple on this show. I think they're a good match. I don't like Trip and Reed. I don't like Trip and Read. I don't like Read and Anyone, I think. But I like these two together, they're fun.
Starting point is 00:23:31 You're like, why did they include the liquorice jelly bean? It messes up every combination of jelly beans. Yeah, precisely. And it helps that I think that this project is kind of silly too. Like the beaming of asteroids onto the transporter pad and like the cataloging and studying of them in order to figure out, you know,
Starting point is 00:23:50 which ones are going to be most dense with ore. Yeah, but this ore is fucked up and it kind of throws off the transporter and we get a, like a encrustification of the interior of the transporter when they attempt to beam a slightly larger rock aboard and it just kind of like splits into pieces and goes everywhere.
Starting point is 00:24:13 I didn't quite get the significance of this moment until later, like removing the transporter as a device, as an option for anything to come, I think was very smart here. And it was subtle, it didn't feel like foreshadowing at all. Yeah. But Mayweather is like, oh man, bummer, maybe we should go land on one of the big rocks and do the mining ourselves.
Starting point is 00:24:35 I feel like whenever Tripp is involved, I'm feeling a silliness that maybe isn't baked into the scene. Like, if I were working this shit job, I'd be like, oh, transporter's broken. You want to hit the mess hall, Travis? Why don't we take five and think about what's going to happen next? Yeah. We finally catch up with the Salaia. It is not in great shape.
Starting point is 00:25:00 A lot of the skin of the ship has been knocked away by asteroid impacts and the skeleton is exposed, but they get multiple biosigns aboard and they try hailing. Nobody picks up the phone over there. So it's decided that they're going to dock with the remaining workable docking ring that the Soleil has and go board. And onboard the ship, they find a condition that is a very unvulcan ship-like.
Starting point is 00:25:31 There's a bunch of crud all around, there's fallen girders, the lights are flickering. I just felt like having your docking port be a hole in the floor seemed also unvulcan-like. Like that's not logical. Because ramp is far easier to navigate than ladder under any circumstance. Generally speaking, ramp is easier. Yeah. Hey, here's a question about production. Are sparks dangerous in this context? To actors? Because why aren't they used more? They look amazing.
Starting point is 00:26:05 They look great. Especially in this interior ship scene. This is a Livingston, this episode, and this is so atmospheric. I'm like, this guy has been directing Star Trek from the TNG era, and I feel like has so much range in terms of directorial style. This is like a great haunted house episode
Starting point is 00:26:28 with some really spooky effects. And just like the atmosphere and the vibes and the shot compositions are so unique and different and like unconventional for Star Trek in so many ways. And it's amazing that that such a Star Trek veteran is behind some of these choices. It's not like they brought in an outside director with a lot of horror credits to do this.
Starting point is 00:26:52 Yeah, Livingston's got all the gears. Like he's got every tool in the kit. It's really working here this episode. No, they're not gonna sue. They got no case. Cause parody indemnifies. They find an area where the Vulcans were trying to smear this ore on a door and make a shelter for themselves. But-
Starting point is 00:27:17 Is this an ore door? It's an ore door. And if that went into a undesirable neighborhood in Middle Earth, you would call that a Mordor-Or-Dor. Absolutely. But the biosigns that they're picking up are not in there in the partially insulated part of the ship. They're somewhere else. It means that they did not succeed in protecting themselves from the Trelium.
Starting point is 00:27:42 With the Trelium, I should say. It isn't long before T'Pol opens a door and reveals a couple of hard pipe hitting Vulcans. God damn it. And they've got to start shooting. I had hard pipe hitting Vulcans in my notes too. I just, I just for the record. You don't bring a pipe to a phaser fight is what you learn real fast here. And a bunch
Starting point is 00:28:05 of shots are licked. It is really kinetic and scary and intense. And when they've got these Vulcans stunned, they start scanning bodies and they're like looking at the synaptic pathways going like, woof, that's not going to bang out and be repairable with Bondo. That is bad news. What begins here continues for the rest of their time on the ship. The hard pipe hitting Vulcans are a horde, a swarm even, and they just keep coming.
Starting point is 00:28:39 There are so many extras in this episode. It is, like, one of the most low-key impressive things about this episode is how many extras they paid. Like... Yeah. Because, you know, they talk about, eventually, like, the size of the crew that they are potentially up against. There's a lot of guys on this ship. For there being so many guys on the ship,
Starting point is 00:29:01 there's a moment where it's clear that Reed hasn't run into anyone. And, like, Archer blows in a call to him, and he's like, guys on the ship, there's a moment where it's clear that Reed hasn't run into anyone. Yeah. And like Archer blows in a call to him and he's like, Nope, I haven't seen any- Oh! Like the moment he's asked the question, the Vulcans appear and they have to shoot them. You would hope that Reed and Omako receiving the news that keep your head on a swivel, there are hostiles afoot, would be sufficient warning for them
Starting point is 00:29:25 to not get surprised by the hostiles showing up, but it is not. This has got a real, could you defeat a hundred duck-sized horses kind of problem here, because there are so many Vulcans and so many pipes and it's just Reed and the Mako shooting, it eventually devolves into close combat. And there's some close range smashing and choking and shooting, and eventually they get the upper hand before the Dust Butcher Club is reunited. But it feels like a dozen or more Vulcans have been fought off at this point, and Archer has to come rescue Reed against the last one.
Starting point is 00:30:07 And the Mako guy is like low key, like turning the knob on his gun to plus it up to the kill setting. And T'Pol is like, what are you doing? We are on a rescue mission. The Mako guy is like, cause I want to live. You know, I'm sure that this probably isn't a popular idea in the hotel you're staying in right now, but this is why you don't send police on a mental health call.
Starting point is 00:30:33 Like you get your city to fund the special van with a social worker and a mental health professional and an EMT so that the worst guy in your high school isn't the one trying to negotiate somebody's mental health crisis. Ben, I think you've misunderstood the scene because the shuttle pod is the van. Everyone in Starfleet is that. Yeah, except for this Mako.
Starting point is 00:30:58 It didn't work. Yeah. It didn't work and that's why they're shooting. And this entire scene turns the episode into that arcade game with the air guns, like House of the Dead style. It really feels House of the Dead from here on. Yeah. They're trying to get back to their shuttle now,
Starting point is 00:31:19 and they meet a slightly less crazed pair of Vulcans that are over there trying to get into the shuttle and Archer's like, finally, some people that aren't immediately trying to attack us. Perfect diplomacy opportunity for me, Captain Archer, noted diplomat. Doesn't it feel crazy that it's more threatening to get these Vulcans standing completely still
Starting point is 00:31:46 in front of the exit to the ship here. Like, oh, it makes my skin crawl. They smash the button that closes the bulkhead and locks the away team out of the airlock. And oh boy, a ton more Vulcans start swarming them. And they've got to retreat up a hatch. There's a like Archer as Lex in Jurassic Park almost getting dragged back down.
Starting point is 00:32:14 I really like that there's so many moments of retreat here. It's not just them going forward, figuring out a way to continue. Like they're having to sawtooth their way to their objective in a way that feels real. And this set is so cool. The fact that there are like different levels to it and stuff, like, I mean, I know that they're probably
Starting point is 00:32:33 just crawling up into a crawl space that's full of two by fours or whatever. But like, there are so many times where they're coming up through the floor or going up through the ceiling or coming down out of the ceiling in this episode. It's a really great set. It felt to me a lot like the terraforming station in Aliens. There's a lot of hatches and crawling and escaping. Yeah, I thought this was just really effectively done. Except for the Vulcans mostly don't come at night. They mostly come all the time.
Starting point is 00:33:04 Yeah. Yeah. Mostly. So I'm coming day and night. I mean, it's terrific, right? Yeah, they gotta get up seven decks to get communications back by going to the bridge. And they're like, shit, like there's over 147 Vulcans onboard this thing.
Starting point is 00:33:21 So this is pretty scary. How much ammo do you got? Yeah, and the Mako got injured by one of the attacks. So they decided to go to Six Bay first, which is a mere two decks up. And they start heading that way, but it starts to become clear that T'Pol is not just angry that that Mako set his gun to kill for a minute.
Starting point is 00:33:44 She's like being influenced by whatever has turned these Vulcans into violent zombies. Do you think one of the problems with what happened here is that they underestimated the issue on the Vulcan ship? Because they don't seem to be resourced correctly. I mean, clearly they're not resourced correctly for the problem at hand. Like why not bring more Makos?
Starting point is 00:34:09 Why not bring the single Mako they've got, but outfit him with all of the kit, like grenades and shit. Like mechanized armor and a shoulder mounted Gatling gun and stuff. I think this is just a lack of imagination on what the expanse can do to people because I think up until now, it's just like turning you inside out is the problem.
Starting point is 00:34:33 And I don't think anyone has even come close to imagining that it could drive you crazy, even though they saw video evidence of this. Yeah, I think that the question of whether the crazy is permanent is still open. And so like, if like, it could be awesome for them if they can help these Vulcans come back and then they can have like an ally ship in there
Starting point is 00:34:54 with them potentially. If you saw a video of Vulcans tearing each other's eyeballs out as like the last known video transmission from inside the expanse. And then you have an opportunity to board a different Vulcan ship inside the expanse. That at least has to be discussed, right? Right.
Starting point is 00:35:13 We should bring a lot of ways to stun, you know? Like let's bring goggles. Yeah. So we cut over to the B story where Mayweather and Tripp have taken the other shuttle pod out to land on one of the big asteroids. There's some discussion of whether this landing is going to go okay. It does not. This is like one of those commercial airplane landings that like hits the bump stops on
Starting point is 00:35:38 the shock. Like, okay, any landing you can walk away from. Yeah. Hope you won't write that landing up in your log. Are you kidding? I'm gonna recommend they give you a medal. Always awkward when you've had a little interaction with the pilot on the way onto the plane and then you see them again on the way off and you're like, ugh. You gotta always thank the pilot on the way out.
Starting point is 00:36:00 Yeah, yeah. You got to. I mean, let's just be honest. Everybody at Starfleet Academy thought it was a little bit weird when Travis Mayweather said he didn't really need to learn how to land shuttles. Do you think there's a no tipping policy for pilots? Oh.
Starting point is 00:36:15 Like I know coming into Washington DC, we orbited for like 20 minutes, weather was really bad. And when we finally got down, like people have feelings about DCA since the accident that happened here a while back. And he got us in, it was a good landing. Wouldn't it feel nice to just give that guy a 20? And would they accept it if you were to hand your pilot a tip?
Starting point is 00:36:41 Yeah, I mean, if we're talking about an A350 or a 6.7 or, like this is the captain stands to make a pretty good chunk of change here. I mean, famously flight attendants don't get paid when the plane is on the ground. They're all working for free. I think tipping them is probably a great idea if they're allowed to accept them.
Starting point is 00:37:01 It seems nice. I mean, like the least you can do is, not taking stuff off the cart as they're pushing it through. Like, they can hand it to you, you know? Be a fucking human being to the flight attendants. Yeah. Legally, it's just a fart joke. You know what makes a great coffee shop?
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Starting point is 00:39:46 on their best-selling Carver matte frame. That's A-U-R-A frames.com. The promo code is scarves. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Actor Samantha Sloyan has played a lot of characters. Bev Keene in Midnight Mass, Miss Rohrabacher in the new film The Life of Chuck,
Starting point is 00:40:06 Lily, the mother who diligently watches over her son, in the hit medical drama The Pit. But what character really made Samantha Sloyan feel seen? That is Special Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks. When you see somebody swing for the fences with almost like no sense of embarrassment or, you know, just with total abandon, I'm just captivated. Join me, Jordan Cruciola, for that and more on the latest feeling scene from MaximumFun.org. Hey there. Do you like books about various shades of gray? Maybe 50 of them?
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Starting point is 00:41:16 maximumfun.org slash spicy. That's maximumfun.org slash spicy. MaximumFun.org slash spicy. You will never take the greatest shit alive. Ben would rather die. Rather die. They make it to Six Bay, even that is crazy. They got to stun a guy in there, but they do some first aid on the Mako and T'Pol does a little bit of science
Starting point is 00:41:40 on maybe the doctor who they stunned in there. Not the doctor, he's the chief engineer. She knew this guy. Yeah, her version of getting through to him is very Untepal-like with the volume of her voice. Yeah. Tell me what happened. Tell me!
Starting point is 00:41:58 Desperation starts to seep through as she attempts to get him to explain what the fuck is going on, what happened to them. And man, I thought Jolene Blaylock ate and left no crumbs in this scene. Like she, this is the moment where I think she goes from being entirely in control to somewhat not in control. And the way she shades that in over the course of the scene is so good.
Starting point is 00:42:27 I think there's something very familiar about the idea of a person confronting a possible future. Like anyone who has an aging relative that's suffering from an ailment that could be passed down to you has felt this way a time or two. Like part of my discomfort about folks with Alzheimer's or dementia or whatever is that like that shit runs
Starting point is 00:42:51 in my family and the prospect of it is terrifying to me. So like, there's this moment in the scene where it's a version of that that will happen to DePaul today. Like that's what she's looking at. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the decision is made.
Starting point is 00:43:07 We got to get the fuck out of here. And we need T'Pol to hold it together long enough to describe to us how to get through this ship. Do you feel like she's holding it together, Ben? It's touch and go. So they start Jeffreys tubing it back to engineering where they will maybe be able to get the like, I guess get back to the shuttle via engineering or something like that. Hey, Ben.
Starting point is 00:43:35 Yeah. If you're Jeffreys tubing it, does that mean you're in a Jeffreys tube jacking off on a video call? Yeah. Yeah, you're showing off your Jeffreys tube call. Yeah. Yeah, you're showing off your Jefferies tube steak. Yeah. What? I didn't know it was still on.
Starting point is 00:43:55 Yeah. Whenever we record these shows, I just have the one tab open. Oh yeah? I don't want to make that kind of mistake. Yeah. I guess I probably to make that kind of mistake. Yeah. I guess I probably should close my notes. That's a good note. That's a good note by you. So yeah, they make it to a hallway that looks a bit like a narrow street in Paris after a
Starting point is 00:44:22 riot. A lot of burned out obstructions in there. That is so specific. The Mako is like, I think maybe just trying to calm to Paul down a little bit and he's like, hey, I'm really sorry about that whole setting my phaser to kill thing earlier. That was my bad. Like, you're right. This is a rescue mission. I didn't really think that through.
Starting point is 00:44:42 It's a hell of a way to translate, I'm sorry I tried to kill all of your friends and coworkers in the last scene. Good job by this make-up guy. He's like, yeah, like it's just weird to me that these guys are also ragey. I thought Vulcans didn't have that. And she's like, no, we just suppress it. A common misconception. These guys have reverted to the murderous and violent Vulcan past that that's why their
Starting point is 00:45:08 brows have grown so so heavy. They're basically Cro-Mag Vulcans. Yeah. What did you make of the cutting back and forth here? Because like we get this scene, we get Archer and Reed going on kicking more and more Vulcan ass as they go further into the ship. I was like a little unclear on like, did they get split up or like, are they too teaming it?
Starting point is 00:45:29 Cause it seems like so much of the fighting is falling to Archer and Reed where like, they've got a guy whose job is fighting and he's just having a chat. The division of this labor I thought was interesting in that way. I mean, it definitely feels like a military operation where like they're meant to clear the room
Starting point is 00:45:46 for the others to come into, but it feels like the Mako should be one of the room clearers, no? Is he still pretty hurt or did he get patched up? I think that's the idea. I think this is insane, but I think a fully healthy Reed might be more of an asset than an injured Mako in a situation like this.
Starting point is 00:46:03 Certainly seems that way. It's a lot less bloodlusty when we cut over to Mayweather and Tripp Tucker. I felt a little jostled by the cutting back and forth here. Just two dudes doing manual labor, wiping the sweat off their brow, shooting the breeze while they're digging up these rocks for mining. Uh-oh, anomalous banger gets dropped and a Hoshi blows in a call like right after it happens. This is like an earthquake in LA
Starting point is 00:46:30 and then your parents call like after it hits the news. Like, did you feel that? Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, you clearly have CNN on. When do you not? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Unfortunately, this banger has kicked the asteroid they're on on a different course
Starting point is 00:46:45 and it's heading for a more dangerous place, a collision course with a much larger asteroid. And so they run back to the shuttle pod and they do one of those like emergency short runway takeoffs before they get splattered by this oncoming giant asteroid. And sparks are flying, thrusters are going down, and they just have just enough power to make it home.
Starting point is 00:47:08 It was such an interesting moment in the episode because up until this point, every time we cut to the B story, I was like, this is one of those Star Trek episodes that has like a 10 out of 10 intense A story and a totally sleepy B story. And suddenly the B story feels so desperate and crazy. Drip is yelling into the radio that they're going to be making a bumpy landing back in
Starting point is 00:47:31 the docking bay and it's like, all right, it's on man. You mentioned it earlier, like how great this scene of asteroid kinetic energy is just in the wide shot. But when these two asteroids collide and explode, I wonder if you're an effects person, if two rocks smashing together is more difficult to create than a ship explosion. I mean, you get both of those things in this episode and both of those things look fucking amazing.
Starting point is 00:48:01 Like as good as the show has ever done. Yeah, I mean, I wonder if that's just something that can be simulated in the physics engine of the CG program. Like, you can just, like, drag and drop a rock explode effect onto something that you've done. Or if it has to be done a little bit more by hand than that. I don't know. I really wonder. Great work.
Starting point is 00:48:22 Whatever the case. It looks good. So, Archer and the gang make it to this control room and they're trying to access a transceiver to, I guess, radio back to the entrepreneur. Transceiver's damaged and T'Pol is really starting to lose her grip on coherency, but there's a backup transmitter, and maybe they can use that.
Starting point is 00:48:48 And we cut back to Trip, who's working on fixing up the shuttle. Like, we're in the shuttle bay, and the shuttle is fucked up when we cut to it. And Trip is there, assessing the damage with Mayweather when Archer's radio for help comes through. It's great timing episode-wise because Archer's like, I need a rescue ASAP and Trip is like, ehh. We actually took the other shuttle pod out to do a little bit
Starting point is 00:49:15 of mining and did not go great for the shuttle. Was it always ever understood that there are two operational shuttle pods on Enterprise? Cause I have to admit I was a little surprised that this was the only one available for a possible pickup. It changes the math on missions going forward in my mind. Like why would you ever send two out on two different missions, especially when you've lost contact with your captain, you know,
Starting point is 00:49:46 over on that other ship. Yeah. And why do they have so many shuttle pod doors, but only two shuttle pods? They are going to have to replace the doors on all of these shuttles when they return. Archer's also going to send the bioscans of this Vulcan that they scanned in Six-Bay for flocks to take a look at, see if flocks can come up with anything to help all these guys. I like how they have this conversation in front of T'Pol. It feels like it's done with some intentionality to try to make her feel better. Like, yes, the top line goal is to
Starting point is 00:50:23 flee the ship and get off. T'Pol is falling apart. She knows she's falling apart. She's fearful about what that means for her. But like in having this conversation, we're like trying to give her a little comfort that like, yes, also we're trying to figure out your deal too. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:49 It's good faith to believe I can do parity. There's a scene where they're trying to get this other computer system working, and Reed really pulls up Ben Harrison here where Tapal is like, you got all those computer chips in the right order over on your side? And he's like, yeah, absolutely. Definitely sure that that is what's going on here. And she like pushes the button and a arc of war flightening rockets her across the room. And she was like, really Reed?
Starting point is 00:51:13 You couldn't double check the fucking math on that? It's funny you would assign yourself to the Reed figure in this situation because I thought you were more of a T'Pol here, given, like, what you turn into when having a conversation with a customer service professional. Like... It's pointless. It is very upsetting when they're unable to help
Starting point is 00:51:37 in certain situations. And I thought maybe you were more of a T'Pol. I think I'm the Reed of this scenario. I think you contain Miriam. I... Boy, if I have T'Pol. I think I'm the Reed of this scenario. I think you contain Miriam. I, boy, if I have T'Pol and Reed in me, I'm in trouble. It seems like this accelerates T'Pol's symptoms though, right, like getting shocked. I don't think really, this is like when Bruce Banner
Starting point is 00:51:59 gets slapped in the face and turns into the Hulk. Like that's what happens to T'Pol here. She puts this all on Reed. She thinks he did it on purpose. And this has all been a conspiracy to fuck with her, you know, from the moment that Mako set his weapon to kill. And now she thinks Archer and Tripp were, like, undermining her work on, like, the schedule or whatever
Starting point is 00:52:21 they were working on late night when she walked in in that earlier scene. She is raging and now everybody's guns are out and T'Pol's is the only one that's set to kill. Hypocrite much T'Pol? Yeah, as a negotiator, Archer should not point that out. I've never really thought about it this way until I saw this scene. How much worse paranoid is than mad? If you're confronted by a person who's going through some things. Paranoid seems so much more dangerous than mad. Mad can be reasoned with, paranoia really can't be. No, no, it sucks. And it's like, yeah, like the moment you try to advocate against the idea that
Starting point is 00:53:07 the paranoid person has in their head, they are liable to throw you in with the thing they're concerned about. And then you're even further from helping them. This is why like the first page of negotiating with a person in crisis is always like, if I hear you correctly and then you repeat whatever is, whatever fucking crazy thing they just told you, you try to soften that up into something actionable, and then you pitch it right back at them.
Starting point is 00:53:35 They hear their own words paraphrased back, and they're like, this guy. Are you making fun of me? Are you trying to pull my pants down? Yeah. Archer tries to argue the logic with DePaul and it's not going well, but a knock on the door lets him get the drop on her and get that set to kill Phaser out of her hand. What it turns out is that the Trelium, we hear from from flocks, the trellium is a neurotoxin for
Starting point is 00:54:07 Vulcans and that is why they're all going bonko and the damage for these Vulcans aboard the Solea is irreversible. It's been too long what they've been exposed. Who could have predicted huffing insulation would have consequences for folks who were near it? And Archer's like, oh man, T'Pol, bad news. All of these people that you're so dead set on saving, irreversible harm has been done to their cerebrums and that does not calm her down. Yeah, being told they're fucking dead anyway is not a comfort to T'Pol.
Starting point is 00:54:47 No. So at this point, the Vulcans shut down comms and start pumping poison gas into the room. And yet are also banging on the doors, which is like, you know, like, what the gas do its work, Vulcans. You don't need to bang down the door if the gas is coming in. Did you get a sense that there were Lenny zombie Vulcans and also, who's the other guy? George? George zombie Vulcans involved? Yeah, there are zombie Vulcans that have a glove full of lotion on one hand.
Starting point is 00:55:21 Because like some seem to be the banging type, others seem to be the hitting buttons and switches kind of intelligence. And I don't think one could do the other in my mind. Yeah. But they're working together. Yeah, they are. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:38 And that's dangerous. They escape and Archer suggests that Reed overload the engines of the ship so that they can escape. And T'Pol is like really, really mad at them, but like there's a moment where they're like, you got to come with us. And she's like, all right, I will not stay on the ship. That's been set to self-destruct. It's ask, gas, or evacuate for T'Pol here. And the gas kind of helps her make her decision, right? Yeah. It's, I mean, like an indicator that she is not all gone
Starting point is 00:56:17 at this point. So they get back to the shuttle and we see like an exterior that the, they're like little explosions starting to erupt in the skin of this ship. How great is the shot? So cool. Yeah. At this point, Archer is like physically carrying a writhing and fighting to Paul. But eventually she stops fighting him and they get to this spot where they're like
Starting point is 00:56:42 across a chasm in the ship from the entrance to the docking ring and they have to make a balance beam to get across it. I love this. As these Vulcans are like swarming in. How narrow do you perceive this beam to be? It is like, it's a smaller width than a shoe, it looks like.
Starting point is 00:57:03 It's flat, fortunately. Yeah, yeah. Carrying a writhing person across this is the scary thing about it, for sure. Archer is an over-the-shoulder science officer holder, trying to maintain balance while crossing this thing. I thought he was going over. I thought he would have to throw her to the other side and then do that thing where he's hanging by both arms. I love the moment when he decides to just shoot her. Yeah. Touch me and I'll kill you.
Starting point is 00:57:36 It's like, I mean, like at this point, what the fuck else choice do you have? You have to stun her and just attempt it, you know? So Reed and the Mako are holding off the oncoming horde while Archer and T'Pol make it across. And then the Mako goes next, and then Reed is the last one across. And Archer and the Mako wedge open the door to the airlock with some metal shards.
Starting point is 00:58:00 They got to do that thing where they wiggle underneath and make it to the other side. It's one of many, many scenes in this episode where it felt like Reed was the last one out of a room that was really dangerous to be in, which, you know, say what you want about Reed. I thought he had a good episode, heroism-wise. I think it kind of pays off his totally insane thoughts
Starting point is 00:58:22 a few episodes ago about, like, I should really be lead in security matches. his totally insane thoughts a few episodes ago about like, I should really be lead in security matches over the Mako. Yeah. Yeah. Like he gets to be that here. So they can't release the docking clamps once they get aboard the shuttle. I don't know why this matters sometimes
Starting point is 00:58:40 and doesn't matter other times, but this time it really matters that they can't release the docking clamps. We get a different version of this though. They don't just rip themselves off the way we've seen portrayed before. No, Shuttle Pod 2 comes and cuts it away with a phaser. This is fun.
Starting point is 00:58:57 We cut to the wide shot on the Solea RSVP, that ship. And we get back to the entrepreneur trip. and now I guess we're kind of like post the scene where Archer delivered to T'Pol to Sixth Bay and Tripp is like yeah so like we got enough of the trellium that we're going to be able to make a little bit of expanse armor for the hull. We learned that T'Pol is healing and she's gonna be fine, but she's got a couple days before she's gonna be entirely in control of her emotions again.
Starting point is 00:59:32 And Archer goes in to give this news to her. She's like very upset about the death of all of these Vulcans. And Archer's like, you know, like there wasn't anything that anyone could have done for them. And Flocks gets in there and tries to, tries to reassure her that this was like the humane choice. And she's like, humane, if you could only hear yourself.
Starting point is 00:59:56 Why the very name is racist. It's in this moment that T'Pol's like, you know, it would also be humane dropping me off on the nearest M class because it's clear I can't live and work on a ship that's covered in trellium insulation. And Archer's like, no, I can't do that. I got to keep you here and potentially turn you crazy. That's going to be my decision. This is the moment when we find out that they do not have hospital gowns on Enterprise because
Starting point is 01:00:24 DePaul gets up and reveals full naked back. This show loves her back. It really does. I mean, we stand her back. He's not leaving her behind. They're going to figure this out. We cut to movie night, which is not exactly a laugh riot, as we mentioned before. I mean, maybe if we could fucking hear the dialogue.
Starting point is 01:00:47 Jesus Christ, shut the fuck up, Dr. Flux. You know, he's from a different culture. He just doesn't understand. To Paul doing hero work in this scene, trying to get him to be quiet. I had the thought, is she so willing to confront Flux and trip in this scene because she's still afflicted by the Vulcan virus that has her emotions kind of spiky?
Starting point is 01:01:14 Or is this just a good person enforcing good movie theater etiquette? It's impossible to say because we don't know how much time has elapsed, but we do get some indication when a tactical alert triggers a full rubber sole PTSD flashback for T'Pol and she is suddenly back on the Soleil and things are fucked up and shit and we get a really awesome double jump scare wake up back in Six Bay.
Starting point is 01:01:45 Did you think she was back on the Salaia? I thought this waking nightmare was that Enterprise had been infiltrated by the hard pipe hitting Vulcans. I guess I interpreted it as Salaia just because of the lighting and the way they like smoked up the hallways, but maybe it was the Enterprise. It's got to be fun if you are Livingston to be like, all right, get the weird lenses. Yeah. Time to get nightmarish.
Starting point is 01:02:11 Yeah, we're throwing those anamorphics on and we're warping them around. Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's definitely what it looks like. Finally, T'Pol wakes up and it's clear that this is a recovery that's gonna take longer than we were told. And the note that the episode ends on, quite spooky. Did you like this episode, Adam?
Starting point is 01:02:34 I can't pay. Could be late. Got no case. Tempting fate. Absolute tour de force shit for Jolene Blaylock, I thought. Really special episode for her. And I think as a character, what I'm starting to realize is just how much more of a sacrifice this mission is for T'Pol than anyone else on the crew.
Starting point is 01:02:57 Like she is made to endure the worst of the expanse because of her vulcan-ness. And when she very realistically and politely asks, maybe she should get off this bus, to be told no, under no circumstances, will she be permitted to leave? Like, I don't like the feeling of being trapped there that she is ordered to experience going forward. And I don't think she'll ever express that, why does all this fucked up shit keep happening to me?
Starting point is 01:03:33 Right. It seems like it will keep happening to her. And that's just gonna be the price that she pays for quitting the Vulcan military apparatus and joining the crew of her own volition. And like, this is all by choice that she's enduring this. It's really upping her stock as a character to me. It may just be that Mission Impossible
Starting point is 01:03:54 has been on my mind lately as the new Mission Impossible movie is on its way. And I've been like dabbling and rewatching some of the later Macquarie Mission Impossibles to remind myself of where the story is at to get ready. But like one character note about Ethan Hunt is that, you know, he's like, like a huge overarching theme across these movies is that like he won't sacrifice anyone on his team for the greater good or the greater good.
Starting point is 01:04:24 Like he always saves both. There's no needs of the many math in Mission Impossible as far as Ethan Hunt is concerned because of that. But he's also not forcing his friends, colleagues and loved ones into essentially prisons of being friends and colleagues and loved ones of his by doing that. Like, and when that happens because of external forces that he can't control, he regrets it in a way that Archer does not seem to. Like, when T'Pol offers to be, like, let off the ship and left on the next inhabitable planet,
Starting point is 01:04:58 it is, like, for her sanity and also for the safety of the ship that she's offering to do that. And Archer saying, no fucking way. But I won't leave anyone behind. Not if I can help it. Has some Ethan Hunt in it, except for essentially he's saying like, I'm imprisoning you here aboard the ship on the hope that we can find a solution to this impossible mission, you know? Hearing you describe this makes me realize this was a hard Archer episode.
Starting point is 01:05:27 Yeah. Like you remember that scene where, where like Archer's back is turned to the camera and he is clearly braining a zombie Vulcan with like a rock and we don't get to see it. Like he's up to some stuff. Yeah. He got angry. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:43 The trouble is I do like it when Archer's angry on this show. It's working for me. Well, do you want to see if there's anything in the P1 inbox that's working for you, Adam? Nothing ever makes me angry in there. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secure Channel. Need a supplemental income. Supplemental income. Supplemental. Supplemental income?
Starting point is 01:06:05 Supplemental. Supplemental. Yeah, it's extra. By the interest alone, could be enough to buy this ship. Ben, we got a promotional priority one message here. Here's how that goes. I've been a D&D DM for nearly 20 years and a Star Trek fan even longer. Yet somehow, never thought to try the Star Trek TTRPG.
Starting point is 01:06:27 For shame, Zach. I'm fixing that by starting a Star Trek Adventures group and I need a crew. All right. If you're in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, have Sunday afternoons free and wanna make new FOD friends while boldly going where no one has gone before, this is for you. Come join a Starfleet vessel on a mission
Starting point is 01:06:49 to follow ancient proto-Vulcan artifacts to an intergalactic secret. Whoa! So check this out, this is like a call to FODs to DM Zach Breger, a scary man in the Drunk Shimoda Discord, if you're interested. So I like how this is like, you have to join the Discord
Starting point is 01:07:10 to get to Zach Breger. This isn't like a broadcast to the entire audience. He's not giving his phone number out in a way. Like if you're in the Discord, you have access to Zach Breger, a scary man, and then maybe you'll be recruited into this fun D&D game that he's setting up. I'm psyched about this. We've met Zack Brager and Zack Brager famously sent in peanut butter booze to us with a scary man on the
Starting point is 01:07:35 label. I still drink that that scary booze from time to time. Yeah. It's great. It can provide a great deal of pleasure. I can't wait for an update about this game. I hope this goes great for Zack Breger. If there's a Zack Breger type in LA that is running a Star Trek Adventures group, I'd consider that. Yeah. I don't know what it's all about. We just got the books in a recent Code 47, so we could...
Starting point is 01:08:01 Hey, how about we bring the books, you bring the booze. We'll see what happens. Yeah. So we could, uh... Hey, how about we bring the books, you bring the booze? We'll see what happens. Yeah, something we should give some strong consideration to. Yeah. Snxp1 from They Who Are Your Person, Grove. It's two, he who is my person, Chris. Goes like this.
Starting point is 01:08:19 Chris recently packed a bindle and set off to the D quad seeking addiction recovery and his authentic self. You've got strength of the heart. I can't wait to meet you again after all we will gain in the not sharing. Keep the bits coming. Grisp your whole life and live the hell out of it and come home when it's right. You're so dear to me. Hell yeah, Chris. Way to go. Getting that help. What a great message of friendship and comfort here. Pretty awesome. Yeah. A real tough disease and not an easy one to deal with. So we're all super proud of you
Starting point is 01:09:02 for going and getting the help you need, Chris. Strong stuff, strength with the heart indeed. Indeed. Final priority one message here Ben is from Jordan and it's to Tyler. Message goes like this happy birthday Ty you got me into the show years ago during Voyager and it's been endless laughs ever since. Wow. Was fun seeing Greatest Gens live show with you in Salt Lake when they came through. Let's go again next time. Whoa.
Starting point is 01:09:30 Thanks for being such a great brother. How about the proximity of these last two messages? Amazing. Could Jordan Tyler be the people that Zach Breger is looking for? I think so. I think they're talking to each other in the very same priority one segment. That's wild. It's wild stuff
Starting point is 01:09:47 Happy birthday, Ty If you'd like to send a message of love and support or recruit dorks for your dorky game Hmm, should I say advisedly as a dorky gamer go to maximumfun.org Jumbotron and set your message up today. Why not? Why not? Why why do it it supports the shows obviously? Hey Ben, what's that Adam? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda I gotta give it to
Starting point is 01:10:22 Paul this episode she's just I mean Jolie the Playlock just plays the shit out of this part. And yeah, Tour de Force, I think is a great way to put it. I feel like I try to be funny with these to the extent that I have the ability to be funny, but this time I'm just, it's just a special citation in a great performance. Yeah, we do those with Shimoto's on occasion when someone just pops off the screen the way Jolene Blaylock sometimes can. I didn't think this show was broadcast in 3D,
Starting point is 01:10:56 but there it is. There is something about that scene between her and Hawkins, which is the Mako that I haven't named the entire episode. That moment where it feels a lot like that Starship Troopers, it's just because I'm big and dumb. Like I see things through a militaristic lens. Like I wasn't thinking about the fact that all these Vulcans are people that you knew when I sought to kill them to save our lives. That's awkward.
Starting point is 01:11:25 And good on Hawkins for at least trying to articulate some very conflicted feelings there. I wonder where that's coming from though. Is that Hawkins trying to comfort T'Pol in a moment where she is totally freaking out or is that more for Hawkins than her? We might never know. Hard to say.
Starting point is 01:11:48 But that scene stuck out to me in a way where I'm gonna give Hawkins my drunk Schmota. All right, I like it. Faith of the fart. Well, why don't you head over to gach.biz slash game, fire up the game of butt holes, the will of the reicher quantum leap. While I tell you about season three,
Starting point is 01:12:08 episode six of Star Trek Enterprise, the one we'll be reviewing next week, it's called Exile. A powerful telepath makes contact with Hoshi and offers to help Enterprise find the Zindi for a price. enterprise, find the Zindi for a price. Fucking cold call by a telepathic solicitor. How fucking awful would spam messages be if they were coming in directly into your brain? Yeah. Hey, we're doing telepathy in your area and if you like any telepathy services at your
Starting point is 01:12:43 home. You know, it's weird. All of your neighbors are doing the telepathy services at your home. You know, it's weird. All of your neighbors are doing the telepathy. You're the last holdout. You know you're left behind, do you? Yeah, there's a 20% off for a limited time. You just gotta sign up for the telepathy right here. It's like, I feel like you're doing it to me right now.
Starting point is 01:12:59 Well, we're only on the square for a limited time, Ben. Currently our runabout pulsing softly on square 87. And at the end of this roll of the 100-sided die, we will figure out in what way we will review the next episode. Will it be weird or will it be normal? Let's find out. Indeed. You're required to learn as you play.
Starting point is 01:13:21 Roll. You remember how last time you rolled a one? Mm-hmm. I rolled a two. Whoa! Too-la! Did I win? Hardly.
Starting point is 01:13:33 And that jumped us across a special square, the temporal Cold War square specifically. Oh, thank fuck. Now we're on the other side of it. Square 89, it's a regular old episode. That's a war I don't wanna fight in, man. Yeah, how about that? A one and then a two. All right, I like it.
Starting point is 01:13:50 Happy to be on a regular Square for a regular episode next week. We got some thank yous to give out. Of course, the folks who make this all possible, the friends of DeSoto who support on a monthly basis, thank you so much. We gotta thank Windy Pretty, our producer and editor, keeping the plate spinning around here, having lunch with Adam yesterday.
Starting point is 01:14:12 The best. She does so much. She endures so much. She endured lunch with me. It's one of those things where like, we like her so much. We don't want to put upon her other obligations. When I'm in town, I'm like, maybe she doesn't want to hang out. Like, she does so much for us already.
Starting point is 01:14:30 Like, why ask for her free time? She gave it freely. She was a great hang. We enjoyed a Doughboy show last night together with a bunch of other FODs. She's fucking awesome. Fun. Thanks to Wendy. We also gotta thank Bill Tilly. We just found out Bill Tilly's also gonna be at STLV.
Starting point is 01:14:50 You do not wanna miss STLV this year cause Bill Tilly's gonna be there. Oh man, I'm so psyched about this. Yeah. You know, slide into those DMs on the social media handles at Greatest Trek if you wanna talk to BT about potentially sending something in for an upcoming code 47.
Starting point is 01:15:07 Speaking of social media, we got to thank Rob Adler for all the work he does over there on the socials and on the mailing list. gach.biz slash mail if you want to get signed up for that. And Adam Magusea who made our remix of the parody of Diane Warren's original theme song It broke the internet for a time Ben the the reddit actually exploded Yeah, no because a bunch of folks were asking are they gonna remix it? Are they gonna? I hope they will I bet they won't
Starting point is 01:15:39 They're too fucking lazy and dumb. Yeah, that sounds like the reddit and and look at us it won't surprise you to learn that the push notifications from Spotify were going crazy the day that episode dropped. Not a wink of sleep for Benjamin R. Harrison that night. Not a wink. We've got to thank Dark Materia for the original Picard song. With that, we will be back at you next week with another great episode of Star Trek Enterprise and an episode of the greatest generation enterprise that will make you laugh... for a price. Hey that sounds like our bonus feed. Oh yeah shit that's what I meant to say. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the U.S. 10th Center Prize
Starting point is 01:16:28 Make it so, make it so Jean-Luc Picard

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