The Greatest Generation - Wormhole Ambergris (S1E1)

Episode Date: October 16, 2017

When a reluctant and somewhat recalcitrant Ben Sisko is given command of the worst neighborhood in Starfleet, a tone is set for a very different kind of Trek. But when the locals identify him as potentially playing a major role in their religion, the commander's commitment to his job comes roaring back. Is the space station a metaphor for urban Detroit? Did someone tell Nana Visitor that she was going to be the star of the series? Is Picard looking at Sisko’s junk? It’s the episode where we trade Picard’s Beavis and Butthead for Sisko’s Woo!

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 friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdisotoforlabor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Welcome to the greatest generation DS9, Star Trek Podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek Podcast. I'm Adam Pranaka. I'm Ben Harrison.

Here we are Adam. This series is about as new to me as Discovery is. Just level with you. Did you watch it when it originally came out? I think I did, and I'm almost positive that I kind of rejected it at the time. Really? Yeah.

I remember. I should say not that I rejected, it's just that my preference was so next generation that I didn't have room in my heart, Ben, for two. I chose a favorite. I remember my parents showing me an article in the San Francisco Chronicles Arts and Culture section, which I think was called Datebook for some reason. About there being a new Star Trek show in production.

I heard about Deep Space Nine in Parade magazine. And I remember being pretty excited for it, and like getting special dispensation to watch an extra hour of television on the day that the new episode came in. Oh boy. Yeah. There was otherwise pretty strict regulations on how much DVA was allowed to consume. Really cut into your tennis practice, I bet. Yeah.

Yeah. My parents were like, well, this show seems pretty harmless and we've turned our son into a person who is pretty harmless. So it's not like he'll be going out on any dates. turned our son into a person who is pretty harmless. So. It's not like he'll be going out on any dates. If this is his vice, no problem. If you're a parent of a precocious and probably too smart for his age, son, this is probably the best thing for him, right? It was nice when I was smart

for my age. Those days are long gone. That ended at about 13, right? No, but I remember, you know, this show I liked it and I liked that it was very different. I remember getting goose bumps when they when they played the theme song for the first time, and really liking the opening sequence and thinking it was pretty edgy to not have the space-to-final frontier portion of it. Yeah, I really want to get into it, Ben. You just want to get into the show, I've got a lot of shit about it to talk about too. Let's jump in head first Adam. Head first Ben

into season one episode one, Amissary. This episode starts kind of almost with with a Star Wars scroll. It sets up the events immediately preceding the Battle of Wolf 359. And we get to see the perspective of Ben Sisko as first officer of some fucking doomed ship. And Wolf 359 resistance is futile You will disarm your weapons and Escort us to sector 0 0 1. This is something that we wished we had for a long time on next gen Yeah, right like we wanted more wolf 359. We wanted different perspectives and

and more Wolf 359. We want a different perspective. And I was super pumped to see this, like, to see it from a perspective outside of the Enterprise. Yeah. What I wish we got here that we didn't was just a bedraggled Cisco, like, raising his fist to the sky

at Admiral Hanson, like fucking Hanson. Who is really the reason for the season here? Yeah, I don't know why Cisco holds on to his Picard Anomest, but never brings up Hanson's culpability in this plan, going as spectacularly wrong as it did. There's no grave to spit on where Hansen's involved. He's just a floater, right? Yeah. Well, you know, this, this, uh, this scene kind of does with its, with its five minutes of existence, what the entire first episode of Discovery does, which is just like set up the motivation for the main character.

It also really reminded me of the 2009 Star Trek films opening sequence. Yes, yeah, that's a great call. It's not the introduction that we got to Picard. No. That's for sure. We got to know Picard really over the long term, over a period of seasons, before we really got to understand what made that guy tick. I mean, here in the first five minutes we see a man's most intense pain. Come on down! Help me! Indeed, he rescues his young son and it fails to rescue his wife as the ship that he

has stationed on and they live with him on comes apart in space and they like make for the escape pods. You watch as the ship explode in space. Damn it! We don't can't leave her here! Oh! You watch as the ship explode in space. That shit is fucking intense and he is so sweaty. It's probably because of the fires. Yeah, I'd say it's probably that and the fact that he's wearing a wool uniform, you know? Those two things. That's just that's hard hitting commentary by by Ben and Adam right there.

This is what people tune into the greatest generation for. I really loved seeing the inside of an escape pod. I loved seeing the punch out from the escape pod window. That was exhilarating to me. I copped to not really watching the show very much when it first came out. The episodes I did see, I believe were toward the end of the series run. And I know this gets better. I'm confident that it does. But the, I feel like every Brooks is, he was given direction to not be Picard, to, to play really big. He, like, and I gotta say, it's not working for me right now. Like, he's, he's acting like a guy who went to the Andre Brower School of acting and got a seat Whoa, I know that's that's so withering But the I think the reason that I can go hard on him right now is because I know it's not like this forever

Yeah, I mean, I don't think every Brooks does does the same kind of acting that P. Stew does. I think his style and technique are in a really different category. Sure, yeah. What I will say is that the bigness of it really works for me when he's happy. Like when he meets his wife on the beach and you know, just a spoiler alert way ahead in this episode, it's like the most infectious and awesome thing in the world. But the grief part is like, hey man, like we get it.

This is not an easy experience for you to be going through right now. You need to have both, right? You can't just have the sand, you gotta have the sugar too. And I think he's so unique because I don't think we've ever gotten a character that felt emotions as broadly as Cisco, as this Cisco we're seeing in this episode anyway. Yeah. And I mean, it's interesting, like, I mean, we have to talk about the fact that this is

coming out in the mid 90s and it's like not necessarily a, I'm sure the suits at Paramount or UPN or whatever it was that were shelling out for this were, you know, skeptical that a black male actor could carry a series like this, You know? I mean, we're talking about $23 million per episode of budget, like 24 episodes a season. If people don't tune into this, that's no good. And I think that there's still hesitation in Hollywood, putting people of color in prominent roles and giving them

complicated characters to portray and And so like not to like path the producers on the back too much But like this is a this is a big a big deal at the time, I think he is profoundly likable I think for all the reasons stated, like for his interest in showing his emotion, and not only in his intense joy and profound pain, but he's also very affectionate, like he's affectionate with his son in a way that initially I was like, oh, this is weird. But I think that weirdness is just about my own.

Like I grew up in not a very affectionate, showing family myself. So like to see that happen for other people was new to me then as it's different seeming to me now. It's not just joy and pain that Cisco is emoting. It's affection and the spectrum of things in between. Things that zipped up all the way professional, starfleet crew people have not really been into showing

in the seven years of next gen that we've seen previously. Like, you know, on Star Trek, the next generation, you cry in private. Sure. Just like the only place that anyone sees you laugh is the poker game. But, you know, Asisko is walking around his new station in a very, like, Schmitzge kind of way, like an egg. Nice house sitting job you got here. This place is a dump, like they're regarding this place as the dump that it is. No water. He's willing to cop to his disappointment.

He's willing to tell Picard in a little while what a shithead he is. And how he doesn't want this station because he wants to raise his son as a civilian. Like he's willing to... Yeah, he's willing to- He's got one foot out the door, and that's very unlike the Starfleet characters we have met previously to now. It runs totally contravenes the Starfleet exceptionalism we've seen almost entirely up until now that Starfleet is aspirational, who wouldn't want to be in starfleet. It was the weirdest thing everyone Wesley chose chose not to pursue a career in it. So now we're getting a little bit more of that and I think that makes Sisko a real interesting

character. Sisko and his son Jake are moving into basically the worst neighborhood in the Federation. The station is in orbit over Beijor and it was like the tip of the Cardassian spear when the Cardassians occupied Beijor or as it is pronounced in this episode, Beijor. Welcome to Beijor. Sure. They definitely changed what the way they say the name of the planet at some point in this series. I don't know if it's like the next episode or ten episodes from now, but everybody's going around saying Bejor.

Bejor isn't great Japanese. Everyone, I would say 80% of the time people call the station space station two. Instead of its name, Deep Space Nine, that also caught in my ear. Yeah, like, like, is that... Are we misremembering the the arugula that they settled on? Or is that, is that just how it is? Who knows? I don't know. It's been a while since I've watched this series

and I didn't remember the pilot much at all. I mean, I was watching it and the different dramatic twists and turns came as genuine surprises. So this whole redrawing of the district between the Federation and the Cardassians has resulted in the Federation occupation of this station, which was previously a Cardassian station. It's like house flippers moving into what was previously a foreclosed on home.

Like, all the fixtures are ripped out. It is totally garbagy. It is a project. We're here in urban Detroit this season. Fixing up houses and helping end the blight that is brought to Detroit to its knees. As an electrician, I won't have much to do until episode nine.

That's why I'll be going. That's why I'll be going to museum. I have no business being in. There's nothing more Detroit than a Boston guy go into the Motown museum. Man, have we talked about that on this show? Adam. I think you and I have talked about that on this show? Adam. I think you and I have talked about it privately. I think we've talked about it privately.

But if, man, if you are listening to the sound of our voices and you have not seen the episode of this old house where they go to the Motown Museum in Detroit, pause the podcast, like stop everything you're doing and go watch that. It's the most hilarious thing I have ever seen on television, period, end of story. It burned out the thing in me that cringes. Like, I cringed so hard, I got a hernia. Didn't you tell me you like woke your wife up from a dead sleep to show her this? Yeah, yeah, like I I mean when my wife's asleep, that's when this old house time for me. I'll get into something comfortable. Oh, you naughty boy. I'll pour myself a glass of wine, get into a robe and watch this old house. Yeah, it was, this moment was

so shocking to me, I had to wake around. She did not see the humor in it the night. That I did. The lesson of course being do not wake my wife for any reason. Yeah, because if she can't see the humor in this, that's just something that is happening to her brain when it is trying to be asleep. You know, this idea of like Tom Hanks's the money pit being said in Star Trek is super fun to me. Yeah.

This is such a fresh perspective. I love it. The, we are used to being on these clean and tidy starships. So when you know, when the commander finds Kirin Arise shuffling twisted scraps of metal out of a hole in the wall and she accuses him of being a goody goody, it's fun to see him like, you know, actually get his hands dirty to quote the scene. Ben, it occurred to me during this scene that I may in fact have a type. Oh really?

And that type is bejorin female. Ben. Sir, have you ever served with any bejorin women? No, why? I was just wondering. I immediately transferred my role-air and attraction to Kirin Arise. I am all in on Kirin Arise. Jesus! Nanavisitor, I feel like, was given the direction that she is, in fact, the star of the show. She is there to fucking dominate. As an actor, I feel like she, I think she's trying to bury every brook

and every scene that she's in. It's almost like she's acting at him. Right. In a way that is not playing as like cheesy or false or whatever, like, you know, there's the type where the actor is like, look at me acting. She's not doing that, but she's like really swinging hard. And I love that.

Yeah, she's throwing punches at every character they put her in a scene with, you know, you write characters that think they're the star of their own story. And she is for sure like inhabiting this character in a way that is really fun. Sisko sort of uses mental aquito on her and I think a lot of people in this episode because he sort of smiles into her fury in a way that initially I felt was kind of patronizing. I'm Benjamin Sisko. I suppose you want the office. Well, I thought I'd say hello first and then take the office, but we could do it in any order you'd like. Well, he was thinking about using Enbo Jitsu on her, but he left his Q-tip on the ship Cisco gets to run the station. He's the top cop. And Kira is the attache sent from Bezier, who represents the planet and all matters security and political. Because Bezier is not in the federation. They're just kind of like

catching their breath after the Cardassian occupation pulled out. And so they've like, they've basically asked the Federation to provide a, a like stabilizing force to the station so that they can get their affairs in order. This creates a natural, professional and personal tension between them because they do not often arrive at the same conclusions about how to do things. Up to the point where Kira undermines him fairly often in this episode and in front of other people. Yeah, he's got a little bit of an insubordinate first officer and like he kind of leans into

that. He's like, hey, I don't think I can do this if I'm not seen as cooperating with the locals. So you're it. And we got to figure out a way to work together. But it's pretty clear that that's's gonna be a process at this point. I also got a little sprinkle of if Cisco thinks he's a short time in there anyway, he's like, what the fuck?

Yeah. It's not worth fighting with Kira. Like, I'm not gonna be here next week anyway. Yeah. He explains that he doesn't have any intention of being here next week to Captain Picard, who like, you know they've introduced a bunch of the characters, and there's been some excitement on the promenade, and Cisco gets, like, told again and again over the, you know, first 20 minutes of him walking around the station that Picard is docked at the station and wants to talk to him. So he finally goes on to the entrepreneur and the beginning of their conversation is like very

embarrassing for Picard because like Cisco is like, yeah, we've met. And Picard is like, oh, shit, I don't remember, I apologize. And he's like, well well you were lecuticing around and Did make a great impression. This is such a fatal flaw for Picard here like he's poured the T of tough conversations for him like Like he sort of tries to net Cheyves Cisco here. Yeah, but how does Picard not do his homework before every conversation? He has after being Lequitos? Like, you've got to do that, right? Before any conversation, you've got to know if you've killed a guy's wife. He doesn't know that, and he also doesn't really address it.

Like, he, it's the first time we've ever seen this depicted, you know, despite it being something that's been on our minds, like the entire time since best of both worlds. Like we've never had a character who had like a significant and real grievance with Picard based on that. And he just kind of like pushes past it and he's like, all right, well, here's the deal. Like the admiralty wants you to make sure that the bejurians don't devolve into civil war and get ready to become members of the Federation. That's what everybody wants.

This problem should be very widespread. After best of both worlds too, like this almost should be the prevailing feeling about Picard. It makes me wonder why we didn't see more of this depicted for the last two seasons of next generation right because this This is happening concurrent with like season five TNG, right? Season six is when deep bass nine starts so Somebody had the good idea that this would be an interesting scene to write you know Yeah, and we know that there was some crosstalk between the two series. I mean, mostly deep space nine, taking resources away from TNG, but

but also the occasional episode where there was some crossover and characters interacting from the two different shows. One funny thing at the end of this scene is that Cisco gets up out of his chair and sort of does parade rest in front of a sitting Picard. Picard's eye line remains straight ahead. And like Picard's basically staring at his junk before Cisco leaves the room. That space station uniform reveals a little bit of knuck, if you're not looking at it on television.

It's a total big dog move by Cisco. And it's a bit intimate. It's a bit intimate. It's hard to reprimand, because I think, you know, you can kill a guy's wife, and you're gonna reprimand the guy, I think that's probably a bad look.

Probably gonna let that slide if you're pick card. What do you think is behind the choice to make the quote unquote captain of this series a commander and not a captain? You know, I think in a lot of ways the theme of this show is is to be the underdog, you know, to be outgunned, to be undermanned, to be underweaponned, to be understaffed, and to have some more aspirational to go in all of those areas, including including career. And so I think that's just in keeping with with the other elements on the station

That's how I read it anyway. Yeah I mean, I don't know if it's technically that you can only be a captain if you have a ship I don't know if that's a thing right? I think also that like deep space nine is seen as not that big a deal until They find the wormhole and then it suddenly is a big deal But maybe there's just too much political inertia to replace this go at that point. But yeah, the idea is that this is a backwater at the beginning. I mean, the doctor is excited about it being a backwater, but everybody else is like, give me a fucking break with this post.

Dr. Bashier's introduction to the show is very much a, what the fuck is a matter with this tri-hard? Like that kind of vibe? He's like trying to pin DAX down on a date in front of his new boss before he's even really made a proper introduction. Maybe we could get together later, but dinner. Or drink. I'd be delighted.

Nana Visitors background acting here is especially great. Like, I need you to give me a two out of ten on what an eye roll would be. Like, that sort of her vibe back there. Like, oh, give me a break. Yeah, really? This fucking guy is gonna patch me up if I take phaser fire. Oh, man. It's interesting how we've seen people with great charisma on Star Trek before.

Beshear is not that guy. He tries really hard. He looks like he's a guy who wants to be that guy. But I think he doesn't quite pull it off. Yeah. He's like a less self-possessed bones. Like, right. He's got like some of the like pointy edges to bones, but doesn't have the, you know, like any's like

brimming with self-confidence, but he's also like kind of socially awkward and scattered in a way that bones never was. He's got that kind of self-confidence that comes without self-awareness. And so he says stupid shit all the time without realizing he's being condescending, like about, oh yeah, I totally want to be on this Jolopy because I love challenges. Curious like this Jolopy is my home ass wipe. Right exactly. The other big

Political figure that Cisco has to commune with is Kai Opaaka who Comes to her meeting with him straight from her other job at medieval times and doesn't have time to change Kai Opaaka's shot exclusively through Promist, which is one of the only ways they can tell the viewer that she is a mystic of some kind. Little on the nose, camera crew. So, yeah, I think the spirituality of Bajorans has been heavily implied in TNG, but this is the

first time we've got any kind of tangible depiction of it. And they have this religion that is centered around these tiers of the prophets that have appeared in orbit over Bayjor over the last 10,000 years. And Cisco has sort of given like an RPG quest at the beginning where like, there are like nine orbs and the Kardashians have eight. And Kayaopaka gives him the ninth, the last one that the Bedurans have.

And he has this like transcendental experience where he's like, like they open the zombie box. Now everyone at home, mecha like a high mecha, high knee home. And he looks at the orb and he's transported to the beach where he met his wife years and years ago. I don't like sand. And this is like one of the most fun scenes in the episode

because he's like, it's kind of an extended scene and at first he's disoriented and is confused about where he is and why he's there. But the second he meets his wife, he just throws himself into the reality of it. And when it's over, it's that reality that he wishes he was in, and not the one that he came from. They're making specific choices here that read differently to me than they did to you.

Like, I really, I got off on the joy that Cisco has in seeing his wife again. Do you realize how incredible this is? But what I hoped would be here in equal amounts was like the profound sadness of it also. Like later on in the episode we come to realize just how damaged Cisco is and how much his wife's death is hanging around him. It has yoked him basically in place. And for none of that pain to register in the moment that he sees his wife alive again,

I thought, like I missed that. I missed it. I wish it wasn't 100% joyful here. Because I felt bad for him during this scene and he's so happy, you know? Yeah, I mean, I see your point. I guess my read was that it was just like, it was so convincing for him that he just kind of abandoned,

like it's like, I like this reality better. So I'm abandoning my attachment to actual reality so that I could live here forever. Cisco's woo is as crazy sounding as Picard's Beavis and Butthead laugh in the naked mouth like he is. Fucking bizarre as a sound that someone makes. It is a crazy sound. It's both that he's excited to see it as his wife and that his feet are being burned by the sand. This is not the only scene that they do this, but so much of this episode is looped in a very close to being distracting kind of way. Yeah, the sound is interesting. I mean, there's some parts of the sound design

that I thought were great. Like, there's a scene where it is discussed who's going to have the big office in Ops, and it's basically an opportunity for Cisco to big dog Kira. But every time there's a scene in the office, it's like Boomey and Hollow sounding in the way a room that has been emptied out

and doesn't have any furniture or wall coverings sounds. It sounds like a room that is kind of in transition. Yeah, it was very noticeable. I thought that was a really cool, like if that was an accident, that is the happiest accident in sound design history. But I kind of think it was on purpose.

Yeah, it sounds diagetic. Yeah. So he takes this orb back to the station from Bejor. Like where is it? And he gives it to Dax, his old friend in a shiny new body. Cause Dax is a trill. And they, I guess decided to redesign what trills look like

to look more like Famke Cajensen in that episode about being a sex slave. It is fun to see another ankle sore transfer happen. Little bit disappointing that it's not a psychedelic ankle sore though. Yeah. Does that mean that like, different symbiotes have like totally different looks,

like one of them's like, like all murdered out and like, you know, black with dark gray accents and one of them is skin color like this one, one of them psychedelic, one of them's got like camo, army green. I can only hope that we see all the different varieties going forward. We get that scene of transfer, we get here, is a little different from the one we got on the Enterprise with Beverly and her, what the fuck are these people with Beverly and her her trail relationship like this scene of like side-by-side bodies looking at each other and the moment where the ankyo ankle sore is put into Jadzea. Like, the idea of looking at your previous body,

like a car wreck you've just walked away from. I thought was like profoundly interesting. Yeah. Like, it seems very pleasurable to go in, Ben. It seems very pleasurable to go in, Ben. Speaking of walking away from a car wreck, there's also a very funny scene with Chief O'Brien. He's walking around the entrepreneur and he goes onto the bridge and he's got the back of his knuckle about to knock on the captain's ready room door and kind of loses his nerve and just heads down to the

transport room. And he's about to beam out when the captain catches him. And man, I could not watch the scene without thinking about the way that John Adams, chief O'Brien at Workcomic, has colored my understanding of that character. This is your favorite trans-ballroom, isn't it? Number three, yes. Just like every part of the interaction is 10 times funnier because of the idea of O'Brien being just a lonely person with a job that doesn't need to exist.

He won't be quite the same. It's just a transporter room, sir. Have you ever worked in an office environment where you moved to someone else's desk and there was still some of their shit there? You know, yesterday I called down here, and I asked for you without thinking. I have not, but I can imagine. I'm just thinking about what are the things

that O'Brien left behind at his workplace? Like the pack of tic-packs, the fidget spinner. Yeah, the Kathy cartoon taped to the wall. This standing mat. Picard treats O'Brien, you know, not as the friend that he isn't, but with the profound professional courtesy and humanity that I feel like you don't get very often in in button up corporate America anymore, you know, like like the any semblance of closeness is neutered out of a professional office environment. And so to see this felt really good to me. Like you can do this when you're a leader. Like you can be a good person. And that's and that's and that's what Picard here

is. He's professionally good. He's not given him a sheet cake and a balloon party. They weren't that close. Right. But this is an appropriately good send-off. You've been here since episode one, and we're gonna miss you. I for one have no idea how you got on this career path. There was no place for you to go anymore on the ship. By the way, is your wife still here? Did she leave her behind or?

Can she go with you or... Picard's like, boy, I saw this coming. It is really weird that there's no Keko anything in this episode. Especially for how hard they tried to cram Kako down our throats. Yeah, like, one of the only characters to get bottle episodes that wasn't even in the crew. Like, I feel like Kako got more bottles than O'Brien did. Yeah. Yeah, what's that about? 99 bottles of Kako on the wall.

Really got great hair on Kalamini this episode. The curls are especially frowy. And in almost a riker amount of fras goodness associated to them. His hair gets especially big when he's messed up about something. When he walks onto the bridge and like loses his nerve, but then just like walks out onto the, into the bridge itself to like, you know, take a deep breath and take it all in for one last time.

There is a lieutenant sitting in one of the like, it basically in Riker's seat, I guess, who in a gold shirt and she like gets up and walks over and talks to him, and she has the same hair. It's a really weird choice. It's, O'Brien's like, I've been replaced. Hard not to take that personally. If she'd had an Irish accent, I would have fell backwards out of my chair

Jadzee attacks is studying one of these orbs and Is this the scene where they were both she and Cisco do the thing or did I skip a head? Oh, you mean where she has her experience? Yeah. No, I think that's around here. We're not clinging to the plot quite as much as we normally do because I'm on such a terrible internet connection that I cannot scrub through it.

I think in a large degree, well, God, this is going to be two on the nose. But like telling the story of the pilot episode of this show, like does not necessarily have to be so linear, you get your introductions to every character, you get your introduction to the master problem of the show. The show being this wormhole. Right. And so like Cisco and DAX based on something she finds in studying this orb head out to the denorious belt, I think it is called.

And they're like looking for the origin of this object. It's like some alien object. There's a lot of interest in what's going on in the denarius belt on the station. The other character that's very interested in this is Constable Odo, the shape-shifting security guy who says that he was found in the denarius belt and is very curious about what's going on there. So this was an incredibly hard scene for me to take because he practically like he inserts himself into the scene and then turns to camera for his monologue about being the only one

of his kind in the universe. Like, he totally line us from the peanuts gang this moment. I'm surprised at you. You usually don't do dumb things like that. All that's missing is a blanket and a biblical reference. Yeah. Yeah, he puts a pen on the desk and then brushes it off the desk

and goes down to get it and then in the camera Follows him and he says Does it seem weird that I'm from the denarius belt and they're going to the denarius belt and that's where all of the mysteries of the Show are pointing at pretty cool huh I gotta go this Odo is a guy who looks like he's been He's been covered in in filler ahead of being taken to a paint. Like he's got he's got he's generally humanoid looking and it has been shown to us that he is a type of shape shifter. Ben the show premiered in 1993 two years after Terminator 2. It's premiered in 1993, two years after Terminator 2. It's shocking to me that that effect from 1991,

at the time, the most significant special effect in movie history, really, had already made it to television. Right, well, that's kind of the magic of computer effects and like it looks great. It's, I think it pretty much holds up this effect of Odo shifting shape. We get a fun scene of him dissolving his head as a mace gets thrown through it. In a bar fight earlier, that was the big reveal that Odo is just liquid. Also a big reveal that people are using maces in the 24th century. That's fun.

You can get that through a transporter, right? Yeah, I guess it'd be impossible for a transporter to dewebinize a mace. Guess so. Well, anyways, as they are heading out to the denarius belt, they slip and fall through a hole. And from the belt, they like slip and fall through a hole. And like from the station, they're monitoring this and... What the hell is happening out there? I don't know.

They're just gone. The rest of the episode is this kind of like, knife edge tension of... We think we just discovered a... a wormhole, but the cardacians want to control it and the bejurans want it. And like, like Kira basically takes charge and it's like, if we fucking control this wormhole, then Beijor has an economy.

You know, Beijor got totally plundered while the Kardashians are here. And if Bejor provides access to some distant part of space, then it's a hot and hop-in transit hub now. That wormhole might just reshape the future of this entire quadrant. The bejorns have to stake a claim to it. And that would be great for us. So they're like modifying the station to make it move, which it is not really designed to do. This isn't a starship major. And meanwhile, in the wormhole, Jadzia and Cisco are having

this totally crazy experience where they like are in the runabout and it lands on something that has atmosphere and they get out and she's on planet Edo and he's in anybody canyon and they are like talking to each other but having totally different experiences of what's going on. It's a real trip. Yeah. They get the sense that these orbs have been vammed out of the wormhole, like wormhole ambracrists. And you find one of those wormhole orbs on the beach and you can sell it to a perfumer for big money.

And so it's kind of a race against time with the cardassians because the cardassians want to control whatever the valuable thing is that these things point to also. And. Yeah, this idea of wormhole value was teased fairly early on in the next generation during that infamous episode where the where the Ferengy, the two Ferengy and the in the shuttlecraft got trapped on the other side of one. Right. Unaccident.

Yes, speaking of Ferengi, so we haven't even talked about Quark in his bar. Yeah, Quark is one of the early character introductions we get on this show. And so the idea of this station is that it is a military installation in a shopping mall. Yeah. And the mall in the middle, known as the Promenade,

is a place where gambling happens. There's a bunch of shops in it. And Cork is the owner operator of the gambling hall in Saloon. And he wants to get the hell out of Dodge. But Cork's nephew gets pinched during a failed robbery. And instead of kicking them off the station, Cisco holds the nephew hostage basically and tells Cork, you know, you should be a community leader, you should reopen your bar and stick around. Which is super fucked up.

Like, how does Cisco have the power to do this? Well, I think he's got some latitude in this like in this period of confusion and he's basically going to take advantage of it to try and like stabilize the social and economic part of the station. You ask anyone who lives within five miles of a casino like that's that's what you want right there for neighborhood stability. Now I hesitate to bring this up but a number of cities have rejuvenated their economies with legalized gambling. Yeah so he's able to persuade Quark that it's a long bet but if he sticks around and keeps his bar open, this might be a great thing for him.

There is an added bonus, some of the revenue can go to help our underfunded public schools. Well, I like the part about the gambling. I guess it's more that Cisco has the power to dismiss the charges against Nog, than that he's holding him hostage, because Nog did commit a crime. So it could be an actual big trouble,

and it's more that Cisco's like, hey, if you help me out, I'll help your nephew out. Yeah, it's a little quid pro quo. Nice nephew, be ashamed of anything happened to him. I am a cute disabore. You will assist us. I am a cute disaball. You will assist us. I am a cute disaball. You are a...

Inside the wormhole, one of these orbs, like, captures Jetsia and Poops are back out to Deep Space Nine. Deep Space Nine is desperately trying to defend itself from Cardassian warships. But inside the wormhole, Cisco is like a wash and white light. Kind of reminds me of that Annie Leibowitz picture of whoopie Goldberg and a tub full of milk. Yeah, that's a great call. I definitely got a end of 2001 Jupiter and beyond the Infinity vibes. Sure. And he starts talking to the aliens that live in the wormhole and they're a weird kind

of alien. They're using like characters and scenes from his life to make place and people. And so he's like- They're also super annoying, Ben. They're like lulling him the whole time like your son. What is that? Fishing pull. What is that? Time. What is that? They're also kind of negilaming him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you're a corporeal

Bing and you use language to communicate. Let's see you fuck. Not likely. And yeah, like for aliens that have like the same plan as the federation, which is seek out new life and new civilizations, they're remarkably ignorant of the possibility of the kind of life that Cisco represents being a possibility. Yeah, it's sort of like that thought that any race technological enough to find our world would also ignore it

as being too tiny to care about. It's like they're too big to give a shit, but they're also all questions. Like they're like a 200 foot tall two year old. Yeah, they are really annoying. But, you know, he basically leans on his first contact training, I guess, and talks them through, like, what he is and what the significance of that is. But she is part of your existence. She was a most important part of my existence.

But I lost her some time ago. Lost? What is this? They're able to see inside his mind in a way that is both like a way to understand, but it is also profoundly manipulative, right? Like, as you said, they're taking the form of the people in Cisco's memories. But in so doing, they're also understanding

his relationships to those people, both because of how he treats them, but also because of how he feels. Like, they sort of, they sort of go around the horn to a couple of different scenes. They go to fish and hole with Jake, they go to the beach and a couple of other scenes with Cisco's wife. And they also go to Wolf 359

and they keep returning to Wolf 359 and they keep saying, this is where you live. Like, this is like, why do you keep going back here? And Cisco is tormented by this. Cisco says he doesn't want to be here. He doesn't want to relive that moment says he doesn't want to be here, he doesn't want to relive that moment. I don't want to be here. Then why do you exist here?

And by saying that over and over again, it becomes this form of hypnosis that finally gets Cisco to understand how damaged he is. I mean, he knows how damaged that moment has made him, but I don't think it's clear to him at what point, you know, the degree to which that has become the underpinning of every moment of his life ever since. Right. They really put him on blast for being, you know, for letting this govern his existence

It's a little bit goodwill hunting. This is not your faulty, you know like it's the it's the repetition that really brings it home Right these aliens are a bearded Robin Williams Cisco does not like these apples, but he sees the logic in what they're saying. Back on the station, they come up with the plan to move the station to the wormhole, and science is involved. The sort of science that makes sense within the world of Star Trek, and that if you can create a subspace feel to surround the station, you will change the weight of it to such a degree that you can lighten it up so that its meager thrusters can move it across space and outside the front door of the

wormhole. So they're furiously trying to do that because Ben, they have six torpedoes and no shields. This is insane to me that the flagship of the federation was there to drop off a couple of winabago shuttles and did not arm them at all. Well, but with what the fuck? But this is a cardazian station. So they probably, you know, they probably have like

45 millimeter photon torpedoes and this thing shoots 44 millimeter photon torpedoes or whatever. Like that makes sense, like they are like given how fucked up just like walkways and stuff were when they took over. Like it does not surprise me that they haven't had time to like totally weaponize it yet. Right. And their assumption is also not that it necessarily needs to defend itself from a bunch of warships. Like it's more just gonna like hang out in orbit and be where they like stage their diplomatic conferences or whatever. I don't know, Ben, I would submit for evidence every single episode where the

Kardashians have had to either occupy or release a planet in their care and then has returned to fuck with it later. Fair enough, Adam. Well, the commander comes out from his religious experience. Having kind of fulfilled what Kayaopaka said was gonna happen. She, like, when she met with him, she's citing, like, prophetic future predictions that he's gonna be the emissary of the prophets. And so, like, this sets up the Bedurans to believe that the wormhole is the celestial temple

of the prophets. They scare off the cardacians and Cisco even manages to rescue Gildu-Cott's spaceship. And we can tell that we're not going to like Gildu-Cott based on the way that Kira and Odo say his name. They really like stick the landing on that last tee. Gildu-Cott. His name is like the F word. Yeah. And so yeah, now we have a new TV show, Adam.

Quark tries to ask the major out on a date at the end and manage just to get a little grabby with her. So I guess, he sort of Weinstein's that moment. A little bit. Weinstein's that moment. A little bit. Yee. Not exactly making a sympathetic character out of quirk at this point.

Yeah. Kira threatens to shatter his hand in such a way that he won't be able to pour another shot for the rest of his life or something. I wouldn't have minded that being the end of the episode. rest of his life or something. I wouldn't have minded that being the end of the episode. Kira positioning herself as a person with whom you do not want to fuck. No.

Did you like this episode, Ben? I did. I thought it was a pretty interesting opening episode. I mean, it definitely has some of that like, okay, we're just gonna spend some time setting up some characters, which is kind of a boring thing to watch, but they managed to do it artfully enough for the most part that it was, it didn't like grind things to a halt.

And I think it's a remarkable episode in that it kind of sets up so much of what's to come in terms of like the kind of political situation on Beijor and with the Federation and the deal with the Cardassians. And, you know, like, there's that great scene at the end where Picard is checking out with Cisco. And he says, like, you know, I haven't actually, like, mentioned your intention to hang

up the towel to Starfleet yet. And Cisco is like, oh, please don't, you can keep that to yourself buddy and like you believe it, you know, his character has already changed in an interesting way and this is only the first episode and that sets a pretty different tone to Star Trek and I'm excited for it. That scene is so good to me Ben because They both characters have changed in their relationship to the other right in that Picard is hyper stiff and defensive and professional and It's Cisco that is loosened up and and need something from Picard at that point

It's a total reversal. Totally. In a really interesting way. I like the episode too. I disliked the parts that you also disliked. I mean, it's interesting, like, I'm gonna try not to draw too many parallels to, I'm gonna try not to bring discovery into this too much,

but, you, but discovery introduced basically three characters in its first episode. It's interesting to me how in shows of its time, a show like Deep Space Nine feels compelled to introduce everyone. Everyone gets their little moment where you meet them and then you know a little bit about them and then you move on. And that urgency is something that I'm glad did not remain a thing forever and ever in science fiction and in Star Trek specifically because that feels played out for sure.

Like, we don't need to know everyone. Yeah, that's a little bit. I mean, when the Enterprise left the station, I, I found myself like reaching out towards it, like, don't go. Don't, don't leave me here. Because I really, I missed that show and I missed that crew. I miss everything about them. It helped this episode go down a little bit, having some scenes on that ship,

having some characters show up that are from that show, in a way that helped sort of ease the transition. Definitely. All in all, I did like the episode. It is an encouraging start and a refreshing thing to be in a brand new place in this universe One thing that is not brand new at all to us Ben is the idea of reading priority one messages You think we have any of those? Let's check and see

Priority one message from star fleet coming in on secured channel Supplemental Supplement Supplement Supplement Yeah, it's extra The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship Stoppolo, uncocks? Stoppolo. Stoppolo. Yeah, it's extra. But the interest alone could be enough to buy this ship.

Ben, our first priority one message on the greatest generation, DS9, is a commercial message. Woo! That's a good precedent. Message goes like this. Hi, Adam and Ben. I'm a designer in New York and a big fan of your podcast. My book designed for people has nothing to do with Star Trek, except that it's about a bunch of people working together to make things better. And both Star Trek and Warp Core are in the glossary. Alright. So if you like books, design, people, or any combination of those things, check out a book called Design for People at designForPeople.com. Yeah, Scott actually sent a PDF of this. I don't know if you got a chance to look at that

Adam, but it looks like a really terrific read and you're a designer, I think you would learn a lot from it. I'm going to start with the glossary. Mm-hmm. Gotta find out what a warp cord is Adam Adam we have another Message here it is from the city of Milwaukee and it's for resin plevim and it goes like this It has been our honor and privilege to host such distinguished guests Milwaukee thanks you for your philanthropic contributions to the podcast art. On behalf of Mayor Tom Parrott and the fine people of Milwaukee, we cordially, gratefully invite you to go fuck yourselves.

There it is. Yeah, good to see that the mayor of Milwaukee is a greatest gen viewer and is on board with telling Razz and or Plavim to fuck themselves. I think it was Razz on point and boy, it would really be insulting if I got it wrong. I'm fairly sure it was Razz on that Plavim who posted to Facebook every occurrence of a Razz or Plavim P1 and every utterance or reference to them on the show outside of that by either one of us. And it is, you know like when you go to Costco and you'll get that super long receipt, it

is a way longer record than I would have expected. Yeah. Just gotten a little bit longer at him. Well, if you're interested in sending a personal or commercial message to our greater viewership, you can go to maximumfund.org slash jumbo-tron, personal messages, or $100 commercial messages or $200 and they are a great way to support the ongoing production of the show. Thanks, guys. way to support the ongoing production of the show. A greatest-gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well, it's a great opportunity

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Hey Adam. What's that been? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Incredible. Drunk Shimoda! It's gotta be Cisco, right? At least that's, that's who Shemota is in this episode. He goes on the crazy acid trip.

He experiences both the greatest amount of joy depicted in the episode and it's- And maybe in television history. And the greatest amount of pain. Yeah, I mean, if the definitional Shemota is the guy having the most fun, I don't know how you choose differently. Though I'm positive you did.

Who was your junk Shimoda then? My junk Shimoda was the thief that threw that mace. Yeah. Specifically, like, there was a very incongruous choice that this actor made, which was he and Nag are on a B&E at the beginning when they are introduced. And Nag is like, look out, man, and is encouraging this guy to move quicker. And he is just very slowly reaching for objects

on a shelf and putting them in a bag, like not speeding up at all. He does not, you know, reach his arm into the back of the shelf and shovel things toward the bag. Very deliberate, not fast at all. And then he throws a mace and just I just feel like he's such a drunk Shimoda for being that bad at thief when that is his chosen career. They are super lenient on this station because that guy should be charged with attempted murder by throwing the mace at Odo's face and isn't noggin an accessory to murder at that point? Yeah.

An accessory to attempted murder? Like, why are they so lenient to not? One something has been approved by the government. It's no longer a moral. Yeah! They really want Cork to be a business leader on the station if they're willing to forgive that. Seriously. Also, that's a pretty, a pretty grisly criminal enterprise to be getting into when you're like, what? Like, 13 or something? Yeah. What kind of creepo enlists a 13-year-old to go on these B and E's with you?

Yeah, I like they got a I think they got a little deeper into what this guy's problem is But I kind of got the sense that Nog was the brains of the operation. Oh, man If Nog's your brains then good luck Ben, what do we have coming up on the next episode? The next episode of Star Trek Deep Space 9 is season one episode two past prologue, a reunion with a member of the Bajoran Underground forces Kira to choose between her people and her duty as a Federation Officer.

Who the fuck writes these? She's not a Federation Officer. Who the fuck writes these? She's not a Federation Officer. The worst people write these capsules, that's who. Yeah, everybody that's ever corrected us on calling them Borgs, know that that came from one of these episode capsules. Not from us. We didn't even make that mistake. Somebody at Amazon did.

Well, can't wait to see it, Ben. Well, that is just about it, Adam, for this episode of the greatest generation colon deep space 9. If you are out there listening and you enjoyed this and walked us to continue the project of reviewing deep space 9, you can go to maximumfund.org slash donate to support the show on an ongoing basis. We support the very substantial cost of hosting this show and, you know, pay ourselves for our time and all of the crap we have to do to make this show happen largely through listener donations.

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