Yet Another Star Trek Podcast - Ep 036: (TOS S01E23) A Taste of Armageddon

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

This week, The Gang watches crew of the Enterprise play War Games... and everybody dies! Drew hosts this week's episode while Brad and Majeed try to avoid the disintegration chamber. Be sure to check out our website, social media, and join our Discord! Links for all are listed below: Website | Discord | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube Drop us an email at [e-mail]! “Warp Speed” and "To the Stars" was written and performed by William Grobbelaar Music: https://soundcloud.com/williamgrobbelaarmusic Additional artwork by George Rateau: https://www.fiverr.com/georgerateau

Hey everybody, welcome to yet another Star Trek podcast. I am your host, Andru. I am joined by two very wonderful people. First of all, I'd like to bring in sleepy Brad. I feel like I'm gonna be sounding like you were the entire day. Hmm, I can relate to that, man. I got like four hours of sleep, and somehow I think it's probably still more sleep than you got. Um, you know what? I did try to calculate how much sleep I couldn't get past number three, so I don't really know. One, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, no, no, seriously though, I'm extremely tired. If anybody ever is thinking about having a child, please feel free to message me and I can tell you all the negative things about having a child, please feel free to message me, and I can tell you all the negative things

about having a child, but I can equally also tell you some of the positives, but I don't really know if those positives will truly outweigh the negatives for you. Probably not for about 18 years or so. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. But for those who may be able to tell us a little bit more, though, about that is

Majeed. Majeed has had a child for quite some time at this point. Majeed, there's only been 11 years. It's not that long. Can you do me a favor Majeed? No, yes, sorry. Can you... I'm waiting for you to settle the microphone down. Yeah, no. You're like moving a microphone around and I'm expecting all this noise come from it. But she has a brand new microphone that he has not taken the time to set up prior to recording and has no idea how to use. I've been editing photos, drew.

And I just, I don't know, I feel like I want to get the mic closer to my mouth. Ooh, is that sound weird? It does not, this is how it starts, man. You get a microphone that comes with a stand that's about two inches tall. Next thing you know, you're buying a boom arm on Amazon for $150.

So I was thinking about doing that. Ever since I moved to the house, I've been like, man, I really would like a boom arm because I'm tired of hunching over, trying to talk into this thing. Yeah, it's not doing good things for your shoulders. I mean, your shoulders aren't great, but it's not doing good things for your shoulders as it is.

Yeah, I know. I need to go to the gym more like somebody else. Just lift the baby. Oh, I do that all the time, man. That's like I lift her, put her over my head, and you throw her around. Maybe we don't say that you throw the baby around. I mean, we're just like a... We're just like a doctor. I mean, we'll technically, it's probably just one. maybe we don't say that you throw the baby around. I mean, we're just like,

I mean, technically it's probably just one. So it was only, they're only one time, but you know, we have a very, we have a very avid listener. She happens to be a lawyer. We talked about pooping at the Metz stadium and she told me all the things that, all the laws that we violated so I just want to I just want to make sure that if you're gonna say you throw your baby around Brad. It's it's above board

Well, okay, I'll correct that. I I imagine early through my baby above above my head and her in her mind in her mind It's probably me throwing her around because she's so small. She doesn't really know anything. So hold on, hold on. Let me get this straight. You imagine yourself throwing your child around. I feel like this is somehow that's worse. I feel like this is not worse. That's somehow. Oh, no, you got to play catch with them some time. With the baby. That's not how you play catch. Yeah, technically, that's not the correct forbige, but you know, it's, you know, throw them around, have fun, you enjoy them. Hey, Drew, you might know this. Are we protected against his views? Like legally speaking, like if something were to happen with Brad, are we going to get in trouble?

Legally speaking, I'm like if something were to happen with Brad are we gonna get in trouble? You have to ask our lawyer friend, you know, I think I think I can probably find a way to To incriminate the two of you with maybe some of our pre-conversation talk that we have You can't because a those are not recorded and b if you go down I am not going down with you Listen, I am not an expert in baby law, but I could tell you that I am an expert in bird law. Nice. And four minutes into recording, we have our first always studying reference. Nice.

I am to please. Gentlemen, how is your Christmas holiday? My Christmas was very exhausting. Not because of the baby, but because my mother flew in from Connecticut and like a flight kept getting delayed, but thankfully she actually made it. You know, we also had to wait for like an hour for our baggage to arrive on the carousel, but we got home finally at 3am, just in time for me to take over watching the baby at night and not sleeping until 7. Ooh.

So you had a great time, this is what you're saying. So I had a great nap that afternoon. I can tell you that much. Nice. How about you, Mijit? It was all right. I took some big swings in terms of the present for my wife.

What up big swings? I took thoughtful swings and I missed. I didn't go the normal route this year. And the what I did get for her was, it's just a couple of things, but the one thing I got her was a headset for the TV. So when she's watching her hallmark movies at night, she doesn't disturb me. And she could listen to the volume as loud as she wants to. Except this does not work

with the TVs because once you plug the headphone jack in, it takes out all the sound, like you get to know the sound. And then buying another TV to see if that was a problem. So if you're like Brad and Drew like right now, if you're wondering what that big green box is behind me, that's the new TV I bought trying to fix this problem. Oh, so your headphones that you bought weren't working. So you bought an entirely new TV to fix it. I think this is some elaborate plot to buy a new TV. Yeah, that's a giant leap to a different conclusion, man. It was for the TV in my bedroom because she likes to watch

hallmark movies well into the night. She doesn't have the same sleep schedule I do. So while I'm in bed, it may be 10 o'clock, I'm up at six to get to the gym. She's still watching movies until like two, three o'clock in the clock. So I'm up at at at six to get to the gym. She's still watching movies until like two, three o'clock in the morning. I guess loud. I have a question. Yeah. How many TVs do you have in your house? I don't legally have to answer that question. 37. He's got 37 TVs. So, so I would imagine more than one, right? So there's one of my office. There's one of my office.

It's old. It's my very first big screen TV. It's my, my Sony 1080p. I keep it because I love it. I have the one. I know, buddy, buddy. I didn't ask for models. I just asked how many? Oh, I don't know why then. Does that humble brag? Whatever. You are totally humble. Why then, is that a humble brag? Whatever. You are totally humble, Brian. Let's see, so set up, I have, let's see, living room kitchen bedroom,

I saw some TV's, like you, you've like, takes you this long to, to give me a four. I want to make sure I give you the accurate number you lose there. So, what I want to ask then is, did you, instead of immediately buying a new TV, did you at least check the other TVs to see if it did you, instead of immediately buying a new TV, did you at least check the other TVs to see if it did the same type of situation first?

They do. Of course they do because what happens is a lot of these TVs don't have composite out. They only have composite in and they only have headphone jacks with the headphone jacks. Unfortunately all the sound is, there's no sound. That's not the headphone jacks for so. Yeah. I didn't love that. When I plugged my headphones into any speaker in this house, it overrides the speaker. What sucks to me? That's kind of garbage. That's by design. So you wanted to basically listen to audio in the headset as well as the speaker TV. I want to be able to control the sound through the speakers independently. So if she turns the headphones on, the headphones override the TV speakers and she can listen

to on her headset. While even if it's not, even while it's plugged in. Yes. Yeah, that doesn't work that way. Yeah, I mean, I've... It can, because with even my surround sound on the TV up front, it's not the headphone jack though,

it's digital optical in. But that's a different plug. I know. And the TV that I had in the bedroom originally doesn't have digital optical in. It only had a headphone jack. Some of these have low energy Bluetooth, but that's for other problems.

Listen, I went down. So basically your plan was to buy your wife's headset so you could buy a new TV. When you say that way, it's absolutely wrong. But it's not, it's not actually, but it's how it ended up though. It's out and it's definitely how it ended up. And I'm going to figure it out.

I'm going to get the results that I'm looking for. I will get satisfaction. And I think it's going to be with what, sure. Just the way you said that was a little. No, I'm going to get satisfied by this. I'm sure it's going to be with the digital optical port. I think that's going to be the way that I go. Digital optical port to I think you are going, you are going to great lengths to try

to solve a problem that she is going to completely ignore once you have it set up properly. Yeah. You know me. So Drew, you know me. You know this. I want to know how many times wait Hey, I'm Brad. No, I'm sorry Brad Drew. How many times have I come to you say man? I'm having this problem in Photoshop. I cannot figure this out and I spend three hours trying to figure this out

And it was completely different because with Photoshop at least you're using this knowledge to make wonderful memes for our social media that all the Listener should be following With with this though you're trying to please your make wonderful memes for our social media that all the listeners should be following. With this though, you're trying to please your yeah, yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. With this situation, you're trying to address a problem that you believe that your wife is having, but in reality, it's a problem that you are having because your wife is enjoying her hallmarked movies at the volume she wants to enjoy them at. You need to find a solution to stop the sound and by making her listen to these movies on headphones. I feel like Ultimately, it's just going to be setting yourself up for failure. Do you and getting in trouble?

By the way, you're also going to be getting in trouble because I put it in a TV Yeah, no because you're asking your wife to use headphones to listen to hallmark. She, no, listen, she loved it. She loves the idea. Um, early, she says she loves the idea. By getting a new TV though, my field is like, you're getting in trouble. How much do you spend on the new TV? Um, so before I answer TV? So before I answer the question, before I answer the question, I will say that the money I spend on the TV is what I used is what I used or what I had saved up to buy a new lens for my camera. That's that's that's what happened.

I had it set up for. It was only it was only 200 with tax. But again, yeah, yeah, it's it's not it's not bad, but it's the money I had saved for for my lens. I wanted to buy new lens. So that was that money. Well, I'll take a moment right now and think our listeners for tuning into tech talk with Brad Drew and Majid It was been a wonderful podcast with everybody. Do you think anybody actually comes here for the Star Trek reviews? They come here for the sunny references. I mean, well, hey, we're coming up with all these do podcasts on the fly every single week That's right Every other week every other week. Well every time we publish an fly every single week. That's right. Every other week.

Every other week. Well, every time we publish an episode. Every other week. Hey, Brad. Hey, baby. What's your Twitter handle, buddy? I don't even know. Yeah.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, I know I know fine is that at yet another ST pod I Will I will kick you through and let's I got that one I know that much at least

Gentlemen, I have a question for you. Would you like to play a game? I think I saw. I'm going to go with yes, yes please. Is that a soul reference? He's not getting the whole thing. No, the movie was made in 1980. He wouldn't understand it.

I don't watch movies in the 1980s unless it was Ferris Beauty released in the 80s. Pretty sure it was. Okay, so Ferris Beauty counts. Okay. You watch Ghostbusters? God, look, Ghostbusters. Yep, that counts too. Back to the future.

Oh, God, yeah, yeah, yeah. Star Wars. 70s. But yeah. Well, the first one was the other one. The return, uh, return the Jedi. Yeah, return the other one star war. The other one's the right here. Right. Go by yourself a star wars.

That's the reference I guess. So so you you lie. You do watch movies from the 80s. But anyways, Drew is talking about war games. It's what Frank sold me. Frank's Toby. I don't watch movies in 80s. He's a loser.

All right, guys, let's talk about a taste of Armageddon. Mm, tasty. The Enterprise approaches M&R. M&R? I'm going to try to say M&R, because there's a weird eye in this one. The Enterprise approaches M&R 7 to open up diplomatic relations.

After repeated unanswered hails, they finally get a response. And it's a Code 710, which basically translates to stay the hell away from us. Ambassador Robert Fox is on the bridge of the Enterprise with Captain Kirk and Company, and he big dogs Kirk and overrides his desire to honor their request. Ordering the Enterprise to proceed, Kirk orders yellow alert and proclaims. We're going in gentlemen peacefully, I hope, but peacefully or not, we're going in. Also yellow alert, now you got in trouble the first time.

With the skate pod. Yeah, plus nobody was in the pod this time. So when he accidentally ejected it, it was fine. So Ambassador Fox reminds Kirk Kirk his orders are to establish diplomatic relations at all costs. Kirk Spock, Yeoman, Tamura, Richard Galloway, and Richard Osborne all beamed down. They're met by a woman named Maya 3. I don't know why all these people have numbers on this. So basically it was just Spock and Kirk and three red shirts got it. Yeah, yeah, but the the Elman being a woman she's she's not gonna get phased so she gets the pass. Okay, got it. She gets the pass

Yeah, red shirts always die unless they're women. Yeah, unless there's a uprising Richard uprising. Yeah Video game. I was just gonna say those exact words, Brad. That sounds like a great video game. What would it be about? Like what kind of game would it be like a real-time strategy and action game and RPG? I think a real-time strategy would be great because then you could just build a base and just continually spawn red shirts, kind of like Zerglings and Starcraft. Ooh, nice. So Maya III meets them at the division of control and tells Kirk that they are a grave danger. She brings Kirk and company to her leader, A-Nan-7,

not to be confused with Anan from Forchan. He rejects diplomacy immediately because of the war with their neighboring planet Vendekar, and as they're discussing the situation, the city is hit by enemy fire, but there's no evidence of an attack whatsoever, no evidence of war, no damage, no radiation, nothing. Spock figures out that somehow, they're in war games. Yes, the Matthew Broderick movie. Except the computers aren't playing with real nukes. Instead, they function on the honor system, and the plans are required to kill their casualties after the fact.

The computer calculates the casualties after they're equal and quote, quote, quote, attack, and then the appropriate number of victims have 24 hours to report to a disintegration station to die. Let's just let's just be true. Like this is like a star. A Futurama reference to the suicide booth. That's really what they are. Oh man, everybody go to a suicide booth.

It's like a cross between that and Zap Rannigan sending waves and waves of men to die. And also, I think Disintegration Station is a wonderful name for an album. The entire time I was writing up the synopsis, I kept thinking of the cure. Yes. Anyway, that would be a great band name disintegration station in any case the rationale behind this whole thing is it preserves a culture and civilization But still lets the generals and leaders of both cultures get their rocks off Get their rocks off I'm not going to explain that on the air. I think we just just continue.

Eight on seven then tells Kirk that the enterprise was quote-unquote destroyed by a tri-cobalt satellite, the moment they entered orbit, and that he and the entire crew are to report to a disintegration station within 24 hours. Kirk and company are then locked up in a room. So, gentlemen, what is your thoughts on this story so far? I think I said it last night, Drew. It's a lot, this episode was a lot of me being like, I guess that's how it's going to go. I was like, why are there humans? I mean, you know what's funny, I was thinking about that.

It was like, hey, you know, these are just basically humans on a different planet before the federation really even existed. You know, how is it even possible? But, but you know, it's just a budgetary thing more I thought about it, because I think about Star Trek, you know, TNG and all the other stuff. They, well, they had a little bit better of a budgetary thing more I thought about it because I think about Star Trek, you know, TNG and all the other stuff, they,

well, they had a little bit better of a budget. All they did is they just slapped some sort of prosthetic between somebody's nose or on a forehead and they called it a different species and it was like, and I was thinking about that I was like, I gotta give this show some credit because you know, they did have some pretty good special effects in this episode you know blowing up doors with fire and smoke and everything like that that's for probably

most of their their budget went. But if you're disappointed by the way the the civilization looks on this man you're gonna be real sad when you meet the Klingons for the first time. Oh, no, I know. I know it's funny. Like, I for half this episode, I kind of sat there in this haze where I'm like, I really feel like I've watched this episode before. And I don't know if it's because I did actually watch this episode before or it's because Star Trek timelines that they've, they've game we played before. Like, like, all the characters showed up there And so basically I knew the references because of that game You know what as an aside

That game actually Kind of helped me like throughout this this Watching of the original series. There have been countless times where somebody has popped up that I had in that game and I've been like, you! I know who you are! Exactly, even though I really don't know who they are, I just know them from the game. Because like Fox, the master, I know I knew exactly who it was once I saw him because it was like crap. Actually, at first, when I first saw him watching, I was like, did I watch this episode before? Cause I remember this guy specifically, but I was like, I'm thinking about it.

I was like, I think it was because of the game. Yeah, yeah. I didn't get any of that from this episode guys. I was just like, okay, this is not hold my interest, but there was a gift. There was a part in the episode. It relates to a gift that I've used on Twitter before where they blow up a console and they're like, let's get drunk.

Hey, Eugene, you know what? What was that guy's name? And seven, and on seven? And on seven? You know what they're reminding me of the We Are Legion. We are Bob series uh annex 27 I don't know if you remember from the uh last book uh I only got I think once that series was over I think I was well three books in I was I was done damn it I'm the only person that did that fourth book well yeah it makes no sense any listeners you should totally listen to We Are Legion, We Are Bob series, because then somebody may actually get my reference to what I was thinking about. You don't have to do that. Please.

We Are Legion, We Are Brad. I don't want to be alone. Ooh, that was so desperate. I want to give you a hug, Brad. You need a hug. I can use a hug. Thank you. So, May 3 is actually one of the casualties in the last attack, and she is due for death. But despite that, she defends the system, believing that if people don't honor disintegration, then Vendorkar will send real weapons with real impact, and then M&R will be forced to retaliate and then everybody

would be killed and then the civilization would die too and then nothing would exist. I want to jump in real quick. Yeah. So I found that hilarious that so the way they're doing the games or the simulations is that it's not necessarily based on where your location in the city is. It's just they pick people because she during the last attack she was with all of them. And like, she, well, I think the implication was that they suffered the city that they were based in suffered the attack. Is that that's a gist that I got? Yeah, and so they doesn't necessarily mean the area that got destroyed. Everybody dies. It's just basically people from that city are dead. You say implication and I immediately think sunny.

What do you think I said it? No, sunny. Oh, well, that's okay. No, sorry, but still though, it just, it's a, it makes sense. I understand their logic process because if you think about it, if you just destroy an entire area of the city, then that area of the city is entirely dead. Right, and then those people would just not like people would not move back to it. Yeah, you know, but yeah, I mean, I guess that's fine.

It's yeah, anyway. Continue, Drew. You can continue. So Anon Seven reaches out to the Enterprise and tries to trick them by using a voice modulator to fake Kirk's voice. He tries to lure the crew to the surface, but Scotty is smart, suspicious, and analyzes the message, realizing it's a trick. Spock has his own tricks, and he uses his Vulcan mind powers to tell the guard to open

up the door. He's overwhelmed by the prisoners, and they escape and destroy one of the disintegration stations. I'm sorry, that was like the most hilarious part of the episode. Where Spock is like putting his hand against the wall, and kind of like using the force I'm sorry, that was like the most hilarious part of the episode where it's Spock is like putting his hand against the wall and kind of using the force to move the guard back over to open the door Did either of you guys ever watch a Harvey Birdman attorney at law? Yeah, yeah, I watched that. Mijid, have you seen that you've told me about it and it's the one show Nope, it's one of the two shows that I haven't watched based on your recommendations

I was gonna say it's gotta be one of the two shows that I haven't watched based on your recommendations. I was going to say it's got to be one of the 14 shows that you haven't watched, but I want to say because of you. Well, that's like one show. And now you're watching Star Trek because of me. So I guess there's that too. It's not definitely not because of Brad. There's a character in Harvey Birdman called Men Talk to Mindtaker. And he's the judge, and he frequently does this thing where he raises both of his hands up, and you guys can see me on camera doing this. And he like waves one hand in a circle, and the other hand in an opposite circle,

and takes their mind. And that's all I could think of when Spock was like trying to mind control his dude through the door. It's like Men Talk to Mindtaker.. Yeah, that's I can totally see that. Anyway, back on the Enterprise, Scotty was right. With the shields up, the Enterprise is able to withstand an actual attack from the surface. Scotty ready to fill town torpedoes, but Fox takes command of the ship and halts Scotty's orders. And Fox insists on opening up dialogue with the planet. In a while Kirk realizes the only way he and the crew can survive is if they end the war.

He tries to get Mayya to help them and starts acquiring eminent security guard uniforms and weapons. He requires them by attacking the guards and stealing that stuff. Anyways, Fox makes contact with Anon and offers to beam down, but they will have to lower the shields to do so. Scotty is wise to this ploy from Anon and refuses to lower the shields. Fox absolutely loses his shit, threatens to court Marshall Scotty, but Scotty holds firm and refuses the orders. So then Anon heads to his office for a drinky drink. Kirk confronts him from the shadows and convinces him to tell him where the communicators are. He takes a non

as a hostage and they get to as they start to leave his office. Kirk is salted because it's a trap. He is overpowered by a swarm of guards and they take him. Fox beams down with his posse and they're yes cordially disintegration station. Like imagine like showing up to a party and you're like, Hey guys finally here and like good. We're gonna kill you now. I mean I wouldn't say that's how to immediately go for a party. Probably more like, Hey, you're gonna get kicked out and arrested. At least how every party Brad's been to. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'd rather go to a party, get kicked out and arrested than be like, hey, we're gonna kill you now. Yeah, I think I'd rather

take the arrest as well. And just fight him off. Well, Kirk tried and didn't work. Well, Kirk tried and didn't work. Jay got dragged away. So, Spock learns of their capture and he just softers up to one of the disintegration stations and then immediately destroys it. Fox sees this, it has a change of heart, and he's willing to help them fight for their freedom suddenly. So Kirk is held in the council chamber, and he finds out that M&R is falling behind on their killing quota.

Then the car believes they are violating the treaty. And on believes that Kirk and his crew don't report for disintegration, Vendor Carr will attack for realsies. So, so in on context, the so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so I definitely felt that way. Yeah. I'm surprised Drew gets that reference. I've watched Star Wars. Why are you yelling at me? It's seven o'clock in the morning. Why are you saying stupid things? That's fair.

It is. Because it's seven o'clock in the morning. Brad's like, hi, I'm the wedding's attacking me. Brad, you get a dimirot. Wait, what? Drew, come on, you get a dimer. Wait, what? True. Come on, you can't give demerits. Brad, you have a dimer. I hate you, jeez. Ain't I'm threatened as to

hostage his lives as they do not immediately report to the disintegration station, but Kirk says it doesn't matter since in two hours the enterprise is gonna destroy the planet anyway Meanwhile Spock and company fight with security Fox's aid takes a hit and is unable to continue further So Fox just leaves him there to die So I would you yeah some ambassador he is A-Non pleads with Kirk. Kirk is not interested. He loses control of the entire situation and Kirk tells him he plans to save his crew by ending the war. They retrieve their phasers and communicators and destroy the computer responsible for

the calculations. With the computers destroyed the contact with Vendicon is severed and now they must reach out or face real destruction. Aina and suddenly remembers that they do have a communication link between the two worlds, but it hasn't been used for centuries. But if it works, it could save them all. Fox agrees to mediate between the two worlds and Kirk leaves Zaz on the planet to negotiate. Back on the Enterprise, everything is fine again. Uhrah says the peace talks are looking hopeful. Kirk says that a real attack would not have killed as many as the computer simulation, but would have ended both plans ability to make war permanently.

He says it was a calculated risk, but he had a feeling they would not risk real war. Spock tells Kirk that a feeling isn't much to go on, but Kirk says sometimes it's all they can go on. And then Spock says Kirk almost makes him believe in luck. Why, Mr. Spock? You almost make me believe in miracles. Ugh. Ugh, what a... Yeah, that's cheesy as hell.

Oh my God. I didn't write it. I get it, but I mean, you expect them to like make out after a line like that. Well, no, it was after that line. Didn't they have like the freeze laugh? Sure. I'll go with that. I mean, honestly, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm I'm I'm I'm God smacked by the line. I guess I didn't hear one episode. That's a typical. That's a typical ending To solve the episode Going back to where you were held prisoner is a great idea Scotty is a badass doesn't give a crap about Fox and

It's just like war games, but without the nooks Man so That that that episode is I've I've Trying to I'm trying to contain my frustration with that episode, but like general order 24 right? with that episode, but like general order 24, right? Well, let's let's be real. Like in current modern Star Trek, that would never exist. Not for like an away team of five being like Kelt capture.

There would not be any type of order to destroy the planet for five members of Federation being captured. They would either just leave them there or try to figure out other ways to beam them aboard. Yeah. You know, I think that that's definitely a remnant of the past era. Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it. I'd like to think that Starfleet has evolved with the times both in universe and out of it in real life. I'm gonna keep going.

Kylo, what do you think? Kylo just wants to see your pretty faces. Oh, I'm gonna keep going. Let's have a dog break everybody. Oh my god, this is the part where you just kind of put on happy music. And if we had videos, we just, you know, have pictures of dogs scrolling across the screen. Yeah. We had a, this is a way off topic at work.

Somebody put up a one of the like the YouTube videos of like the fireplace on one of the monitors and had it running. You'll log. Yeah, it was a you'll log, but it was like one from Hallmark and they had dogs and cats playing on screen next to the fireplace and it was adorable. That's that's how I want to die. In a fireplace. With dogs and cats playing around.

Oh, exact. Maybe I could, I could, I could arrange the fireplace part, but I'm not sure about the cats and dogs. You should ask for a while. A while. A while. A while. A while.

A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. A while. for a Mijid. No, because it's it's it's I'm pretty sure that if I end up and

up dead in a week or so, then you may be held accountable for something. I'm not traveling to Atlanta to kill you, buddy. You better come to Connecticut. If you want to die, you better come to us. Right. Yeah. Mijid, what did you think of this episode? I did not like it the first act was cool I thought the first act was okay the second back I second and third act it lost me So I couldn't even get in I couldn't even get it from the first because like to me like the the order of Oh, this is a planet that's restricted like in general. Starfleet would never do that. They wouldn't go to them. And if anything, if they were to do anything like that,

I feel like that would have been a precursor to them even leaving to go do it. At least in the modern day Star Trek. I have rage if you haven't figured that out. Yeah, well, you're clear. You indicated that by the The gif that you used last night

It's pronounced gif gif I'm not doing this with you. I'll just give you a dimaret move on. I could I could just go for some peanut butter too Well, I like peanut butter and I like gifs on the internet Are we wait, oh right because we're sponsored by jiffy No, not jiffy Lou Jeff peanut butter. I wish we were sponsored by either Wish we had sponsor Hey, brack, can you sponsor us?

I have a baby. I can sponsor us with dirty diapers. That's not how sponsorship works, buddy. That's just another dimaret. Well, that's what you get. I don't like that. Okay. Anyway, anyways, like this episode,

it, man, it frustrated me in the general sense. There was a lot of... I mean, going back to the place of recaptured, be like, this is the least likely place you're gonna look. I'm just like thinking, I'm like, really? That's your plan, or is it just because you couldn't afford more set decoration? Yes.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little bit of both. Did you like the concept of the episode? The concept was good. Um, I was expecting another twist. Um, I was expecting them to be like, at the end of the episode, be like this, the other civilization they're playing against is, is either dead already.

And like they, they're not actually like playing against anybody. Or the other civilization is just like yeah We're not killing anybody. Why would you kill anybody? I was expecting like some sort of twist in the end like that But that never came and so it was kind of kind of let down that they just went with the oh yeah We destroyed their ship or the the machines and you know what everybody's gonna get along now Going from space seat to this, it's very, very jarring. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

I agree. I find myself waiting for something with the world of tomorrow, was it called? City on the edge of forever. Yeah, I was close. Yeah, City on the edge of,. Yeah, I was close. Yeah, city on the edge of, yes, to year forever. Forever. Yeah, I find myself here a few weeks ago.

We still have a few weeks for that. But as we march on, we are closer to the season finale of season one. Yes. We have six episodes left. Wow. That's pretty wild. If it wasn't for strange new worlds, we would be don't the series. Well, actually, that's not entirely true because we like crushed how many episodes back to back, it was like 10 for Strange New Worlds. Yeah, it's 10 episodes like we kept it another so maybe we'll probably be

almost done, I think if we didn't do it. Yeah, I love and hate that decision to go to Strange strange new world because it was such a palette cleanser that show, but then just kind of going back to the original set design again drew the kazoo from cyberpunk. BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM Yeah, yeah, I love that. It makes me so happy. Yeah, yeah, I love that. It makes me so happy. You know, I think this episode was like one of those episodes where you know the plot was just Stretched a little tooth and they just tried to get a little too much out of the taffy and

I like the idea. I like the concept of these two, you know, worlds at war, but not actually firing physical weaponry at each other. They're using these computers to make these decisions, and I think the intentions were good. Let's try to preserve the culture while we hate each other at the same time. I would have liked to have gotten a little backstory about why they were at war, what happened to cause it, maybe something like a throwaway line along the way, whereas we've been at war for so long that we don't remember why we're at war, whatever. Yeah.

Something along those lines to make it seem like it would resonate more with the fact that they've been doing this for centuries. I mean, to me, there was so many things that were kind of just like very met about the episode that didn't like, I felt like the writing was very poorly done. Like, was it a May, May three? Yeah. Um, they capture her and she does zero resistance to try to warn anybody that they're they're coming or like anything to try to get away or stop them.

It was more of like, okay, you capture me. I'm just gonna follow along with you. Yeah, no, she was absolutely there to be eye candy and almost nothing else. She really didn't have a purpose. That character could have been anybody. Yeah, and it's disappointing. Like I dislike having characters in there

for like zero point to provide. I mean, I can understand it's maybe trying to provide the dedication portion, but unless you have like the substance to back it up to like because because remember when they captured her, there was like a guard that they were going after. And like if she was worried about like, why didn't she scream like, you know, they're coming out to kind of like that. And you can be like, Oh, she didn't want to get hurt. Well, dude, she's going into a disintegration chamber and to die in a moment. Right.

So clearly she doesn't care about dying because she's going to die in a second. Anyways, right, right. That's a very valid point. Did you guys have a good? No, I was going to ask if you had any thoughts on the idea of this integration station itself. So the disintegration station, it makes a spot, you know what, spot did a good line this up. So I can't remember what it was, but it was something along the lines of like, I understand

why you're doing it. I don't agree with it, but like I understand. And so like I understand why they did things like this integration chamber. I don't agree with it, but I understand. And so like, I understand why they did things like this integration chamber, I understood why they did the games. I actually like the concept of not the game is but the the computer simulation of destroying like each other, that was pretty neat, but that was it. It was just that part was neat and then kind of goes through the rest of the episode of being very met. So again, I did not love this episode. And I was totally paying attention to the episode. I had my phone down and everything,

until I didn't, until I said, oh man, this is going nowhere. I appreciated more Scotty, that was nice. Yeah, I think, let appreciate it more Scotty. That was nice. Yeah, I think let's talk about Scotty real quick before we wrap things up. I think this is the most character development we've gotten out of Scotty thus far. You know, where we really get to see his personality and who he is and having him in a leadership role where there were stakes,

you know, actually online. Mm, stakes. But that was fun. He really gave no shit. Yeah, like he did not care, which, all right, so I think probably this is one of the best aspects of the episode is the development of Scotty, because he really was like, no, this is not how it's going down. I don't, you know, the order, you know, Kirk gave, that's not true. He's badass in that sense. Yeah. Like, like, he was somebody that I would want to be like my captain in that moment.

The way he acted, the way he stood up for the crew, the way he stood up against, you know, Ambassador Fox, all of those things. I'm just like, you know what? Hashtag, he's my captain. Yeah, yeah. You know, like I want to I want to show where Scotty isn't command. Let's let's get that. I mean, we Brad, you and I know that he does reach the rank of captain eventually so Oh spoiler alert Yeah, not really not really yeah for me Not really no, they don't even have him in like an episode of his captain Yeah, like he'll never see him command a ship. No, it's it's it's fine. It's fine. It's fine I

Feel like you keep saying it's fine, but it's really not fine. It's fine. All right, it's fine I mean, it's not like I told you he dies at some point. I mean technically Technically, he does die at some point. Yes, we all died at some point. Oh Oh, it's way too early for you to be that dark. All right, good. Gentlemen, let's give it a score. Mijee, you're up first. Five. I-5. I-5.

I would love to get, like, just a little bit more out of you. Which is really fast. I would love to get like just a little bit more out of you Hold on hold on anytime you watch an episode that you don't like you completely shut down like Make something up. All right. I got I was gonna go in some more detail. Please so five You know so the first off usually people give the explanation. And then they go the number when you say people, do you mean you? Me, me and Drew. Okay. And every other podcast and existence.

Yeah, they usually get, they usually give you like, hey, this is what is and they build up because they want to make the get the listeners guess. There's no guessing with you. Magida's taking, Magida's taking the IGN Instagram approach where the number is larger than the review. Too much water, IGN, zero out of 10. So the episode, man, this again, going from space seed, which was phenomenal.

Just tension and stupid fight scene to an episode that was largely just uninteresting to me. It drew my interest for the first act, like I said, but just the rest of the episode, it could not hold my interest. It was very difficult for me. I found myself waiting for this episode to just end. And it did. It did. It just ends as every of that episode does. But this one, it felt better because it was over. Does that, does that make sense?

Like I yearned for the episode the end. I can get that. Okay. So with that, I give it a choose signaling for me to give a dramatic pause, dramatic pause. I give this episode a five. I wanna make note there is no signal.

That's not true. Drew's scratching his beard. That's a signal. I always scratch my beard. That's not true. That's not true. Drew is scratching his beard. That's a signal. I always scratch my beard. That's not true. Look, I'm trying to cultivate a epic beard and by scratching it, it helps like, you know, how you like when you talk to plants. We're almost going to say you were stroking it. I almost did. Okay. You should have. You should have said you were stroking it. I didn't want to open up that. I could use it. I could use it. I know you can say it. You know, to cultivate a good beard, I got

a stroke. It's slowly. Yeah. So this episode was something something for me, man. I don't know from the Gecko of the episode, there was a lot of like okay, I guess moments like that's how this is gonna go. The concept of having like the simulation and people like sacrificing themselves for was was interesting. That concept of the episode felt very TNG to me, Drew. But, but I think that was about it. Like every every moment, like every decision, every line was just like this is ridiculous, like even, even Fox, like his demeanor of being like an ambassador, which like, I don't know, thinking about like future Star Trek episodes, and I think this is probably my problem. I'm comparing it to future stuff.

It feels so off, so wrong. So I like trying to separate myself from thinking about the future stuff and for what it is as an episode. Ah, man, I wanna give this such a low score, but I'm trying to reel myself in because of the future stuff. So I think the things that frustrated me the most were just the dialogue was very, very inconsequential and there was really no,

there really wasn't any learning from the, you know, Kirk and them because they, they, they did the, uh, at the end of monologue of being like, oh, it's all joky joky when like, think about like, that was just a people just died that day. Thousands of more possibly could die even more because of potential future Impletations and and I'm just like this is so ridiculous. I can't believe this episode and I Can't get over that. I just can't get over that even though I'm trying to separate from the future stuff I'm gonna have to probably give this like episode a Two I think I'm gonna say ten. I don't know why I thought you're gonna say ten That is I was ago in that direction. But it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

I'm just, because I was, I was gonna look, I was looking at like my previous scores and I was like looking at like what, like I kind of wanted to give this thing a one, even, but, but I gave like, um, return of the arcons to and I was like, ah, similar, you know, similar disposition of my, my mindset for it. And I was just like, I, like, I can't give this episode like a one because I didn't hate it, but I really did not enjoy. Like I was so tuned out,

like I was trying my best to like not fall asleep. It just didn't hold my interest at all. You rated the arc on so high because of the sex dungeon. You were like, oh my God, that's what I should do with my basement. Hahaha. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna give you a dimmer for that one. Listen, we can pull the taste.

No, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm a G, you're wrong. I gave you a dimmer. True, you're your school buddy. You can't give me a dimmer, you can't give dimmer. True, what's your school buddy? You can actually just mute him in the episode editor and like you can like just continue with him talking and ranting and then when

when we're done talking, you can then like tune back on at the end of his rant. It's not a rant. I have trouble focusing if he's talking over me and I can't mute his mic in in our video call. There's also no mute button in this new microphone. Yeah. Okay, and I just kick him out. I could probably kick him out, can I? He probably could, yeah.

I don't know how that works. I don't either. Anyway, I don't disagree with the two at all. I agree with some of the complaints that you guys both have, and I think that the plot was a little bit thin but I enjoyed this episode. I don't think it was nearly as bad as Return of the Archons though. I mean not even close. I think the plot was was interesting and unique and I think especially like looking at sci-fi to come. I think this is a

classic story. I don't know that the execution was necessarily great but I definitely like the story that they were trying to tell that computers were controlling the outcome of a war and that they were using this as a means to try to keep their civilization. So like there was at least some thought put into the rationale of just sending people to these disintegration stations. But there was no explanation for why the war even existed, no explanation for any type of contact, whether or not it's been made. So there's a lot of logic gaps in there and the dialogue was not great. I mean, let's be completely honest, it was been made. So there's a lot of logic gaps in there and the dialogue was not great. I mean, let's be completely honest. It was not great. I do agree that the ending scene with

Kirk and Spock on the bridge of the Enterprise was a little cheesy considering how serious war is and how many lives have been lost over the centuries to this. What seems like a senseless war. But I enjoyed the episode overall, I thought it was pretty good, it was compelling. I would probably leave it on if it was on a rerun, but I don't know if I'd choose it, you know, as an episode to watch like I would something like Space Seed. So that's putting me at like a 6.5. That's interesting. Yeah, I am. I just don't, I don't see it too out of that for me. Yeah, it definitely wasn't as bad as returning the icons.

We all have our, our, our things that, the bug us. No, I think that was just one of mine. Yeah, it happens. I mean, there's no children in this to upset you, Drew. So that's probably why you give it a much higher score. Yeah, screw those kids, man. Those kids. Bunk, bunk. No, no. No, bunk, bunk. Anyways, next week, we are watching this side of paradise. The Enterprise Crew finds happiness at a colony where alien spores provide total contentment. This one's gonna get a two. What? What are you watching? This side of paradise.

this side of paradise. Absolutely. Didn't we watch that episode already? Oh, this episode. I don't know if it was gonna get too, man. I've never seen it before, but that description does not leave me hopeful. That sounds like the fantasy island episode that we're not sure.

Lane to play. Surely, right? Surely. Yeah, exactly. So is this something similar or? That's what it seems like. Ugh. Yep.

I don't need you. I don't need another 10 minute fist fight with. Well, apparently the planet that they land on is Omicron per CIA. Nice. I don't think we'd get to it. I get the reference. I just still want to spoil the episode for myself. On that note,

anything else you guys want to say before we sign off for the evening? Morning. Morning. I'm so happy to hear you, everybody. Hope you had a good night. Yeah, yours is like in two days for us. I'm so happy to hear you. I'm so. Day. Morning. I'm so much. Happy New Year, everybody. Hope you had a good day.

Oh, yeah. New Year's is like in two days for us at the time of this recording. It's tomorrow. I have no concept of time anymore. It's an overradi concept. Oh, my God. It's just a man made, you know, construct.

What is time anyway true Time is the fire in which we burn All right, let's let's wrap it up now. That's that's the lip the listeners will understand Bye everybody Say goodbye, my G. Good night. Good morning. Bye everyone. Good night. Good morning. Bye everyone. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Sessions Network. This episode was recorded on December 30th, 2022, and is hosted by Brad, Drew, and Majeed. This episode was edited by me, Drew. Majeed is taking care of our social media, and Brad has a baby. Special thanks to William Grobel, our music for our music warped speed, and to the stars. You can find his work on SoundCloud. And special thanks to George Rattau for the additional artwork. He made us look like characters from lower decks. If you'd like that, you can hit him up on Fiverr. And we'll drop a link for both William

and George in the show notes. So check those out. We'd love to hear from you. If you want to hit us up on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, at yet another ST pod, or you can choose to email at yet another ST pod at gmail.com. We've also got a Discord room, so come by and say hello to that. There's a link for all this stuff, including our website in the show notes. Next week, we'll be watching this side of Paradise.

It looks pretty bad. You can follow along with us on Paramount Plus or anywhere you get your Star Trek episodes. If you like what we do, we'd really appreciate it if you left a review in your podcast app of your choice. It could be Spotify, Apple, Podcast, anywhere you listen and give us a review if we'd appreciate that. A 5-star review goes a long way and helps to show out in ways that we can't even describe. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Have a safe and happy new year.

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