The Greatest Generation - Who’s The Big Dog Now? (S1E10)

Episode Date: February 24, 2016

When Q returns to amuse himself with the Enterprise crew, all hell breaks loose when he gives Riker his powers. Why doesn't Riker immediately return to Rubicun III to make himself god of the Edo? Why does Geordi have to be so damn creepy? What is Worf's idea of sex, anyway? And finally, we do something with our episode vetoes.

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

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

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

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

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage! Welcome to the greatest generation, a podcast about Star Trek the Next Generation by two guys who are a little bit, blah! You know, my embarrassment sometimes manifests itself in stumbling over my words because

you're not to be able to communicate. We're gonna have to figure out something else to talk about at the top of the show because with this nine episodes in and we are still talking about it. Talking about our embarrassment. Let me tell you about something I'm not embarrassed about. Okay. I was followed by Mr. Chocolate Rain. Taze on that day. On Twitter? Yeah. Hey.

And I can only guess that it's because of the wild popularity of our Star Trek podcast. Now let me ask, I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to chocolate rain on your parade. Oh, don't do that, please. But does he follow like 85,000 people? Look, man, he still has to see my profile and then click follow. I guess so, or one of his interns.

You think chocolate rain has interns? Come on. It's like a famous YouTube guy, right? You know what would be awesome is if Tay did our intro. Oh, that would be beautiful. That would be beautiful. You know, when you have another podcast at what point do you have celebrity intros? I mean, my other podcast is I would say mildly successful.

So I don't think I'm quite at the celebrity intro phase yet. Oh, geez. I wouldn't say that at all. I am profoundly envious of the popularity of your other podcast. And I only hope that we get half as popular as that one. So, you know, part of the impetus for starting this was that we are doing a show about something that everybody already likes, or at least, you know, a lot of people already like, and they, the people that like it like it a lot. I think we may have shot ourselves in the foot making nine back-to-back episodes just shitting on it relentlessly. You think that's a mistake, huh? It may, it may turn out to have been. I

don't know. I've been thinking a lot about it and like the series gets a lot better pretty soon. Yeah. And I'm wondering what we're going to talk about what it does. We'll have to find we'll have to find the funny somewhere else. This show is about to get real academic in about five episodes. Yeah. A lot more discussion of, you know, Federation politics. When and where the prime directive should and should not be applied, finer details of how data's positronic brain works.

Once Picard's pedophilia gets disproven once and for all. Once he's definitively proved to be a true hero in the old sense of the word. You know, he keeps turning down Beverly, like he's not helping himself in his favors. Yeah. Then why don't you take a sue HeidenQ? Okay, so this is that Q episode that I almost insisted we didn't watch. And about five minutes in, I was regretting.

So the enterprise is hurrying to a federation outpost that has had a methane explosion injuring hundreds of colonists, I guess. And as they're... Well, what did that smell like? Yeah, I don't know. Sounds like a chief engineer, Argyle, was taking some shore leave. Yeah, you don't want that free grazing on those outer ring planets. So, they're stopped by the Pendleton blanket in space again because the Q entity has

reappeared. And it shows up on the bridge as this CG flur-del-e type of object, which I guess they're implying is what the Q really looks like, which is a very strange choice. and I don't think we ever see the Q look quite like that again, but... I mean, it's sort of like a glowing ball with three snakes out of it, right? Yeah. Would that make the snakes the Lee or the Flur?

Hmm, I don't know. I don't know what that thing was supposed to be. If you could take the shape of anything, why would you look like what Q does most of the time? John Delancey. You know what, that's a good meaner than I actually did. So shortly enough, he's Starfleet Admiral John Delancey and he's got a very rock and gold accented Starfleet Uniform on.

Yeah, puts warfs sash to shame. Seriously. And I guess he sort of... It's all Mr. Teed out. Yeah, I guess he's there to arbitrarily fuck with them again and... Yeah, he just sort of wants to play a game, right? Yeah, so he, So to make this game happen, he transports all of the bridge

officers that are there. I guess Troy is not in this episode. It just kind of. Yeah, they threw in a piece of captain's log that was like, yeah, Troy took a shuttle somewhere, so we're not going to see her. Yeah. And I guess I read that Marina Certees

was worried that she was getting cut from the show when they didn't have her in an entire episode. Fortunately they did not. Things probably work out in her character's favor because if you're gonna give Riker the Q-Power, probably his biggest target is gonna be Troy. She could have drowned it That was a very gross joke So they're transported to a classic season one planet which is a bunch of shitty Styrofoam boulders in a room with a bad sky that's just projected on a back wall. They didn't key out the green sky. I thought that was really lazy.

It really does look like a green screen. They are speculating about what planet they're on. There's two moons and Q is there in a French field martial costume, planning a battle and Raker goes up to him and, you know, they're kind of, they're all very indignant in their way and the Q sort of starts drawing up the, the rules of the game, it's a game where death is on the line, and Yar gets real pissed at him and says that he's gone way too far, and she winds up back on the bridge of the enterprise

in the penalty box. And so back on the bridge, Picard is there by himself. He can't get out. None of the doors work. None of the radios work. Like he tries hitting buttons and gets the, that button didn't work noise. He tried turning it off and turning it back on again.

Yeah, he unplugged the ship and plugged it back in. You know, all the standard methods didn't work for him. There is a really, really uncomfortable scene here where YAR explains that they're stuck in this game and the cheese in the penalty box and if. When one is in the penalty box, tears are permitted. Captain. It's incredibly badly written

and it is a much bigger acting challenge than Denise Crosby was really up to, to deliver these shitty, shitty lines. Yeah, I don't play for it at all. No, it's not her fault. It's a writers room problem. She makes a pass at Picard also. Does she? Did you not hear that part?

It's almost a throw away. She gets real upset at the prospect of dying. He actually says there's a new rule on the bridge that if you're in the penalty box, crying is okay. Yeah, which is a barf. But he's comforting her. Like he puts a hand on her shoulder. Like she starts to feel better

and she turns back toward him and it's like, Jean-Luc, if you weren't the captain. And then immediately another action piece happens and so it's almost a throw away before the next scene, but a pass was made. Wow, I must have been dozing in and out. Wow. Well, you really missed out. So there's some fun fun and games back on the game planet where, you know, Wurf is running around scouting and seeing what they're up against and he discovers these

soldiers that are dressed in French military uniforms but are kind of aliens from the Halloween store kind of faces. Yeah, we get another another kind of rubber mask alien here. Yeah. Described as vicious animal things. Like, come on guys. You get at the source in the writers room, don't you? You would think. So, warfs running around and like, he sort of engages the the pig animals. Like, he he fistfights a couple of them in a real Kirk style. He jumps into frame on clearly a mini trampoline. And tackles a few of them. He's really mixing it up. He's really sucking some vicious animal things

around on a scouting mission. Yeah. At some point in here, Q and Picard have this conversation where they sort of make a wager on the outcome of the game. And if Picard gets what he wants, Q will never bother them again. And I guess Q can do whatever he wants.

If Q can do whatever he wants either way, but I guess he's going to keep his word. But Q says that he's definitely going to win because he's going to offer Riker something he can't resist. And that is Q powers. So they go back to the game and now they don't have their phasers and the aliens kill Warf by bayonetting him and then they bayonet Wesley. And there's a great scene where Wesley looks down and sees the blade coming through his belly. Screams of the sky. great scene where Wesley like looks down and sees the blade coming through his belly, screams

of the sky. Wesley, someone who's used to something hard and sharp coming at him. Poking. Yeah, looks down and is a little less surprised than the rest of the crew probably. Yeah. Poor kid dies and I guess Riker uses his newly gotten power to return the crew to the ship and bring Wharf and Wesley back to life. So they're back on the ship and they realize that like no time has actually passed since the queue showed up and they're still on their way to this planet to help these Federation citizens. And Picard makes Riker promise not to use these queue powers ever again because it's at our current stage of evolution, we can't be trusted with power like this and they have the sort of classic power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely talk. And so they get down to the planet

and there's like four people left alive and they've spent 10 times as much money on the set for this outpost as they did on the planet that they're running around on earlier. Because it's like a believable building with, you know, scorch marks and, you know, rubble everywhere. There's like flooding water going through it too. Yeah, it's one of the coolest sets in the show. Period. I mean, it's really cool.

You get data like picking up styrofoam boulders and throwing them over your shoulder. That's fun to see. Yeah. And they discover like a little girl under some rocks who has just shuffled loose this mortal coil and Riker does not bring her back to life because he made a promise to the captain. So, they get... She's got blood coming out of her mouth.

That's how you know she's dead. Yeah. That's classic dead person makeup right there. A greatest gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre- and post-show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it! The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places.

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Look, your podcast apps already open. Just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard. Be dumb instead. Oh, rats. Hey, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line. And boy, what do I? These giraffes do not smell good. No, they do not, and they've such short nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art. It is about

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So they get back to the ship and Rikers kind of getting bigger and bigger in his bridges and starts like talking to the captain in a very casual first name basis and Q shows back up. He starts walking around like the Riker, we get to know a little bit later too. Like real puffy chest, real cock of the walk. Yeah, he like goes and when he goes back to like,

talk to the captain about the fact that he didn't bring this girl back to life on the planet, he leans over the security console thing in as close to a sitting on a chair backwards as you could get. Yeah, I mean, who's the big dog now? Yeah, so you comes back and it's like, hey, Riker, why don't you use your powers for good and show that you're such a nice guy and give all these people everything they want.

So the first thing he does is snap his fingers and turn Wesley from boy to man and what a man he is. He does a mid-to-end Edo. Yeah, he really does. It's a very funny moment because Jordy goes like, hey, nice looking Wesley. You're 10 years older, a man. Hey, Wes, not bad.

Yeah, that, not bad. Yeah, that's real creepy. And they do that thing with Wesley's voice where they slow it down a half of a click to make it sound deeper. They pitch-shift them to sound, it's like, so it's this other actor, but with Will Wheaton's voice dubbed in.

Which is actually something I want to request of you when you're producing these episodes. You could just make me sound a little more masculine. I'd appreciate that. We'll see what we can do. He offers to make data a real boy, but data declines and then he gives Jordy his eyesight and he takes off his visor and just turns around and looks at yard and he's like, wow, you're really pretty too. Which is-

Is that how you took that? Because I saw that as like confirming the suspicion that Jordi has had the hots for Tasha the whole time. Yeah, I mean, we'll talk about this a lot more as we get later into the series. But Jordi has a very, very problematic way of dealing with women. Like he's very close to being like a men's rights activist type of guy. Yeah, like if there's one bridge crew person who would be most interested in like the

seduction community, it's probably Jordy. It's 100% Jordy. Oh, yeah, he's real awkward. Yeah, so Jordy asked Ryker to put him back like he was and then so does Wesley. Says like I want to get there at my own speed. He gives Wurf a lady friend. Oh yeah. Yeah, he gives Wurf a female cling on who Wurf proceeds to beat the shit out of. And then Jordy has one of the all-timers. He's like, Warf, is that what sex is to you? She's from a world now alien to me. Warf, is this your idea of sex?

This is sex. But I have no place for it in my life now. Jordy, who basically admits he's never seen what sex is or knows how it works at all. Yeah. After watching Warf beat the shit out of someone. I think he clearly is a backstory that's pretty dark. Pretty dark. And he admits it in that moment. Yeah.

That female cling on character is wearing a pretty dead-on Beyonce costume. Oh, yeah. Like, this is something I feel like Beyonce definitely would have considered for a stage costume in the on-run tour. Yeah, it's fishnets and armor. It's fishnets and armor with like a bathing suit format

with some bedazzling and some jewelry to it. Yeah, yeah, and they just sort of growled each other and hit each other. Yeah, we're starting to understand what Worf meant when he said that he would have to restrain himself too much with earth females right So because earth females are not in the getting walloped Yeah, go figure go figure so

So Worf beats the shit out of this girl and then is finally like I'm not attracted to this Like like this is not what I'm into anymore. Yeah. And then, and then Riker takes her away. Yeah. And Riker is duly embarrassed that he kind of thought giving everybody a saccharin sweet gift like this would, would make them want him to have these powers and use them. And so Picard has sort of vindicated in his wager and the queue starts yelling at the sky. I guess he's in trouble with the rest of the continuum.

And I guess he gets sort of like beamed away or whatever the continuum equivalent of that is. And Picard is duly pleased and his trust in Riker is confirmed. Yeah, I mean, from the moment that Q beams away and the conclusion of the episode where they journey along along their way, I feel like it's maybe 15 seconds. It is a really weird transition where Q's gone, Rikers powers are gone. Okay, back to normal.

They all sit down on the bridge and Picard's like, engage, let's go on to the next. They don't really take any time to unpack what just happened. Yeah. Unlike us, we've unpacked the shit out of this episode. We will dwell on every little weird thing. Hey Ben. Yeah. Here's your drunk Shimoda. I gotta go with YAR on this one. It's not, uh, not the New East Crosby's fault. It's whoever wrote

the scenes that have YAR in them. just really, really whiffed big time. But the character is hugely problematic and ridiculous at this episode. And yeah, I put her in my penalty box. Yeah, I think your vote of Tasha, like, underscores something that I wanted to talk about, which was like, she has not given much of a chance with the dialogue that's given to her. No. It's sort of the first time that she's had anything to talk about that wasn't sort of a security

matter. Yeah. Like, this is the first, I mean, I guess other than banging away on data, this is the first time her character has kind of had a personal moment. And they just really, like, it's very ham-fisted. I think Denise Crosby left the show because she wanted to go, you know, do something more serious as an actor. That makes sense.

And that's why her character gets killed off very soon. But I really can't blame her for that decision based on the fucking scene where she's crying and in Picard's arms. It's just really, really weird and uncomfortable to watch. I think what's interesting is like, the character of Q is given dialogue this just is bad. I mean, as I was watching this episode, I came away really impressed with John Delancey's ability to deliver with a straight face.

And like, give a line reading that really took the attention of the viewer to himself instead of the shitty dialogue. Totally. It's sort of a magic trick That was really impressive and he does this time and time again They put him in these silly costumes and and they make him be super dramatic and I am never laughing at him or his performance I am amused by laughing at him or his performance. I am amused by by what he's doing to the crew in a way that like makes all other considerations fall away. Like I think John Delancey's awesome. Yeah. He and Patrick Stewart both kind of pull that pull that magic trick and there's a really fun scene where they're kind of trading Shakespeare quotes in the in the captain's ready room. And it's pretty clear that they can both do some Shakespeare justice. And almost that scene justifies the turret of an episode that surrounds it.

For the longest time, the viewer sort of understands that Wesley is their proxy for this universe. But after this episode, I sort of wonder if Q isn't a better proxy because like time and time again, he sort of sees the potential of the crew and you know in, the potential of the TV show, and is like constantly frustrated with them. He thinks they're being stupid. He challenges them in a way that they're not usually challenged. And it sort of made me think that like, maybe Q is actually the proxy for the viewer instead of Wesley.

That's very interesting. He's definitely runs through the entire series. Like, I think he has an episode every season, and he's on the first episode and the last episode of the series as well. So that's an interesting theory. Yeah. Maybe I'll enjoy my next Q episode more.

Hmm. Maybe you will. I hope you do. My drunk Shimoda is Commander Riker. And the reason I say that is because this is a character that we understand to be ready for command. He wants command. He wants more responsibility.

He's got a taste for adventure, and basically he's given the ultimate ability to achieve that. And he throws it all away. And I think I think it's pretty bullshit that he turns down the Q power. I think the far more realistic conclusion to the story is that Riker accepts the power and then beams off the ship and we never see him again. How could anyone resist that power? It's basically like living the holodeck for real.

Right. Why would, especially after he already has it, what field he, what field he does he have to Picard to make a promise like that? Yeah, that was dumb. It's sort of the bargain that the energy field alien that takes over Picard's brain a few episodes ago was offering Picard, except for way better and more advanced. There's actually like a tangible upside to the bargain.

Yeah, and that tension runs throughout the series, the whole idea of they could really do a lot of good, but they have rules about doing that. So they would prefer to just stay out of it. Strange. Like, yeah, yeah, riker, good one, man, you really blew it. I think. I'm glad they kept them on though because he's so handsome.

It's very easy on the eyes that Riker. He's just walking around the ship, given given girls boob jobs. Like, that would have to be so frustrating. You're walking around. Yeah, suddenly you've got back pain. Yeah. Your rack is the size it was. God, just another riker blow out. You want to give that guy a wide berth. Yeah.

Yomok. Angelo. And, Sonaga. Yomok. And, Yomok. And, Oh man, what's up next? What's our next episode?

Next episode is called Haven. Councillor Troy is caught between her feelings for Riker and her devotion to family customs when she faces a pre-arranged marriage. So this will be a visit from my other least favorite running character in Star Trek universe, which is Troy's mom, who is, I think she was, she's the voice of the computer and also Jean-Roddenberry's wife. Well, that's convenient. I think what's her name, Majel Barrett or something like that? Everyone hates nepotism. Yeah, and for good reason, she's fucking annoying. Like she's written to be annoying and she succeeds.

Well, the reception doesn't make it sound much better and absolutely dreadful shotgun wedding episode. And Troy episodes tend to test the patience of even the most devoted trek fan. Don't know. I'll tell you what, man, I've got my veto out. I'm sort of rolling it around in my hand. Finger hovering over the veto trigger.

God, what's- but the thing is, like, I'm not reading ahead. If I veto this, we could get an even worse episode after. Mmm, that's a good point. Oh, God, I just hate Troy's mom episodes. Yeah. God damn it. It's so weird like that they, I mean like they clearly know that she's annoying because every time she comes on after this, like the characters like roll their eyes and try

to make excuses to not be there or whatever. Yeah, and look, I think, I think this says a lot about like how good she is. eyes and trying to make excuses to not be there or whatever. Yeah. And look, I think, I think this says a lot about like, how good she is at playing and knowing, like, it's one thing to like, have an annoying character and it be the fault of the actor portraying them. But in this case, I feel like her performance is effective because it's supposed to evoke strong feelings. So like like I don't think it's her fault. I think it's just annoying character Yep, well, I'm a fucking man. I'm an avito. Oh really? I don't want it. I don't want it. Yeah I think I think Adam just because I'm a diabolical asshole, I'm going to nullify your veto.

Oh my God. Oh, that sucks. That means we're out of vetoes for the rest of the season. And this would be the season that you would want to vetoes. Oh, God. I am a beautiful, there are four lights. Wow, well, kind of a lot happened on this episode of the show

and also this episode of the podcast. Yeah, this was a big one. It was no Picard Cosby bit. But. If you have any thoughts on the terrible mistakes we've made on this or any other episode, be sure to reach out to us on Twitter using the hashtag GreatestGen or you can hit us up on our spiffy new website.

Gokdap is. I don't know if there's actually a way for people to interact with us through that site, but isn't that how we would prefer it? Yeah, probably. Leave a message on our answering machine. Our tape reel answering machine. Yeah, also if you really want to stick it to us and help other people find this podcast, leave a five star review at iTunes that will spread our shame further and wider. That's the most damage you could do to us actually. Yeah. Pretty much. Well I guess we'll be back with another episode of the greatest generation. We'll be dragged back to the next episode given what you just did with the Unvito. Yeah, sorry. Alright, yeah we'll see you next time guys. I've been Ben Harrison. All right, yeah, well, we'll see you next time guys. I've been Ben Harrison. I've been Adam Pranaka. Bye

Bye Make it sound, make it sound.