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Star Trek the Next Generation - Transfiguratioms
36 Plays7 years ago
Doctor Crusher and the crew are part of a rescue mission in which they are able to save a severely injured Alien and bring him back to health, but his rapid healing suggests there's something else at work beyond the medical attention he's receiving. The Alien is unable to remember who he is so Beverly names him John Doe for the time being. We find out rather quickly that something is happening to John that's bigger than even he is aware and he is the first among his species to evolve. Lots of interesting concepts arise in this exciting episode.
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Transcript
Introduction to Starfleet Boy
00:00:09
Speaker
space the final frontier these are the voyages of the starship enterprise its continuing mission
00:00:21
Speaker
To explore strange new worlds To seek out new life and new civilizations To boldly go where no one has gone before
Focus on 'Transfiguration' Episode
00:00:44
Speaker
Welcome to Starfleet Boy, where we have a casual and informal discussion about our beloved series, Star Trek. You are listening to a previously recorded conversation.
00:01:11
Speaker
And we're on the air on another exciting episode of Starfleet Boy, where we have a casual and informal discussion about Star Trek, where we're focused on Star Trek The Next Generation. And I'm joined once again by Tracker Prize Gary. Nice to be back.
00:01:30
Speaker
Welcome back. We thought we might have the doctor. He might still appear, but family calls and we totally appreciate that. And so he may or may not pop into this episode so that there's no surprises there.
Discovery of Injured Survivor
00:01:48
Speaker
This is the episode before the last episode of the season. So it's very exciting for a number of reasons. And it's called Transfiguration. Do you want to do the summary or should I? I know it's yours this time.
00:02:08
Speaker
Well, okay, so the crew and dr. Crusher are called they're responding to a distress call and there's a crashed Shuttle pod of some kind on a planet and they discover that the the three out of the four Crew mates crew of the pod are are dead and one is is extremely Injured like severely injured. I mean like
00:02:38
Speaker
actually, it's pretty cool the in the scene you you actually see like the whole side of his face is ripped off and you see his like jaw and things like that, so this is a really heavily damaged person and so they beam him back to the enterprise after doing some really cool techie stuff and Start to restore him back to health, but there's more
00:03:01
Speaker
to meets the eye his recovery is extremely quick and dr. Crusher thinks that her efforts shouldn't be yielding the results that they're That they're yielding and she discovers that he's actually a time Lord and that he's regenerating on the table Wow No, okay. Sorry. That's a lie. That was a clever lie But he does
Mystery of John Doe's Identity
00:03:30
Speaker
He does regenerate. He does regenerate. He has a gold light that emanates from him. But anyways, that's for the deeper discussion. So John Doe starts to heal. And he can't remember anything about himself or who he is or what his race is. And so the enterprise is working on trying to figure that out.
00:03:49
Speaker
the Enterprise crew is trying to work on figuring that out while Dr. Crusher is responsible for his rehabilitation, but she finds herself becoming extremely attached to John Doe more than you normally would be for a patient. There's something about him she describes to Wesley as extremely charming and compelling and so she's not quite sure how she feels about him but she's very drawn to him and the same seems true for John Doe.
00:04:15
Speaker
Throughout the episode we have some really interesting moments while we're trying to uncover the mystery of where he is and finally Jordy and Data, you know, crack the code on one of his ship's computer components and they're able to use some fancy computing skills to figure out where the the shuttle pod
Zarkonian Threat and Conflict
00:04:38
Speaker
Originated from and when John Doe is informed that he's going to be going home Suddenly his feelings and memories start to awaken and he realizes that that's not a good idea and he's resistant to it But he still can't remember why so the mystery continues finally we encounter the zarconians We encounter the zarconians
00:05:04
Speaker
and they inform Picard and the crew that John is actually a prisoner and that he's dangerous to society and that he must be killed and when Picard and the crew who are baffled by this because he's so amenable
00:05:20
Speaker
Then the zarkonians get mad and threaten everyone by using some kind of interesting weapon which causes everyone to choke to death. John meanwhile has been going through a transformation where his body glows this golden light and it has to do with the mutation of his cells and everything comes to kind of like a head where, oh I kind of skipped ahead. Going back.
00:05:44
Speaker
Anyways, he starts to exhibit extraordinary powers like healing Miles' arm that might have been broken and then even bringing Worf back from death. Worf dies in this episode and John actually brings him back to life. It's a big deal. Anyways...
00:06:01
Speaker
So the Zarkonians are afraid of him, but the crew of the Enterprise can't understand why because everything they've witnessed about him is the contrary. So Captain Picard tries to stall and takes up the defense of Jon, but the Zarkonians are
John Doe's Transformation
00:06:15
Speaker
absolute. They start choking everyone on the Enterprise and that's when Jon's full memories awaken and he realizes who he is and he starts saving everyone on the ship by emanating this wonderful healing gold light throughout the ship. And then he confronts the Zarkonians
00:06:30
Speaker
and evolves right before our eyes into the next plane of existence for this species and it's like this, you know, basically a ball of energy and then he offers this to the Zarkonian commander but the commander's afraid and startled by all this and refuses and then he says, if you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine and he influences his planet hopefully to evolve as well.
00:06:59
Speaker
i think that's it that's it that's the whole episode so yeah what were your thoughts about this episode wow there's silence i don't even know where to start i mean uh
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, Jon, though, as a character, he's kind of interesting. The alien who doesn't know where he's coming from, and then he regains consciousness later by later, but then his instincts are working as well. So every time when something's happening with him, he don't know why, or he don't know where he's coming from, but... I just heard something.
00:07:52
Speaker
But it's fine. I hope it's fine. Uh-oh. It's late night in England. And those 500-year-old buildings, they have creepy stuff going on. It's very concerning. But anyhow, so it's like his instincts are working still. So in a different level, he's still aware of what's happening with him and who is he.
00:08:16
Speaker
but at the same time he doesn't really remember anything and he doesn't really know who is he or why is he there or what is he going through.
Exploration of Themes and Technology
00:08:26
Speaker
It's like an interesting struggle that I think in this case we can see going on in an
00:08:36
Speaker
individual case so and obviously he's really he's really affecting well positively of course the crew of the enterprise and he does like healing stuffs as well that he don't know why he did it but he did it and then all later on we get to know we all that's all part of the transformation the transfiguration process and all the mutation as well so
00:09:01
Speaker
I think it's, in a way, it's really interesting to see really how he becomes the next step of the evolution of his race. You can witness it through this episode and it's just something beautiful. And obviously then you have Sudan of Zagdor, then... Sunad. Sunad, yes, sorry. So you have Sunad and...
00:09:27
Speaker
They're a zirconium which sounds doesn't in the or maybe I'm mixing it up, but isn't that the name of? In a galaxy quest is aren't the zirconians the enemies or something like that or no like the good guys No, those are
00:09:49
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
00:10:23
Speaker
Okay. Well, I don't remember where you were either. Yeah, we've been talking about, you know, the regeneration and the... Oh, Zunad. Zunad was in it. That's why. Oh, yeah, that was it. So he was basically afraid of the new. He really thought, okay, this is a threat against the race and against his people. Although it was just a natural course of evolution in this case. At least that's how it appeared to be.
00:10:39
Speaker
Okay, so thank you.
00:10:51
Speaker
Obviously, there's gonna be a long evolution of process, but some people... But could you imagine? Okay, let's just say you are hanging out with one of your good friends and she suddenly starts glowing from her chest and having a convulsion and strange things start happening around her.
00:11:13
Speaker
Like it must be really, it must have been really shocking for this society. Like what got them to treat these people as though they're fugitives, I think was not addressed in the show very well. And it's something that I would have liked to have understood a little better. Like I still liked the episode, but I felt that that was something that might've been missing from it because it is kind of a weird,
00:11:42
Speaker
I think Captain Pickard tried to touch on the topic and the subject. He wanted to get to know more about why he just ignored all of his requests. Like, no, it's not of your concern. None of your business. It's like, just what the hell are you doing? Just give me back my person and I will do the necessary steps, but it's nothing to do with you. Which in one way, it's totally fair because it's internal political
00:12:10
Speaker
this thing that they should not interfere with, as long as they are not part of the Federation. And even if they're part of the Federation, they shouldn't do that. That's against the Prime Directive.
00:12:21
Speaker
I mean Picard has that conversation in the conference room with the team and even though he agrees with Dr. Crusher, which by the way I really loved all the dialogue in this episode was some of the best I think to just like
00:12:42
Speaker
The episode's not very complicated, but I think there's a lot of great dialogue, and that scene stood out to me as one in which Picard's trying to show that, yes, he does care about John Doe, but that he has to consider the prime directive. And we have to remember also that the Enterprise is the furthest out
00:13:05
Speaker
its mission is to keep going further into uncharted or like lightly charted mostly unknown space so when they encounter beings like the zarkonians they know of the federation and they probably have had dealings with the federation but they're not super well known so i guess there is an air of mystery
00:13:26
Speaker
to the zarkonians and they just don't want to be well known as we saw, like they're a very close society. But it is cool, I do love the scene at the end where Picard says that they feel privileged to be the witness to the birth of a new species, because that's really what's happening.
00:13:51
Speaker
Uh, but, um, I wrote in my notes that I felt this was an extremely heavy science fiction and medical science episode. There's a lot of, uh, jargon and technical dialogue between the characters. Like the whole opening, it's like, I don't know. Is it like, I remember being very fascinated as a kid, like, whoa, like, is any of this stuff based on reality? And of course nowadays I remember, um,
00:14:17
Speaker
When this episode came out, I had a discussion with a friend of mine. She later went on to pursue biology as her career, as her degree, and we actually got into a fascinating conversation because she was
00:14:33
Speaker
really fascinated by the idea that Dr. Crusher says that they're going to create a virus to help heal him. While they're trying to resuscitate him in the medical scene after they've been back to the enterprise, she's like, I can't repeat from memory what she says, but it's like,
00:14:51
Speaker
You know, the inter-physics plasma, blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff. And she says, we're going to create a virus to do some sort of healing factor thing on John Doe. And she was so interested in that. And we were having a conversation more recently. And she said that a lot of the things that resonated with her in Star Trek had to do with the hard science. And that even though it is mostly
00:15:18
Speaker
you know, technical babble. It's not a lot of its nonsense. There's a lot of it that's actually based on science and they hire technical and scientific consultants all the time to come and help out with the script. So I wouldn't be surprised if like that were the case. And nowadays we're finding that, you know, a lot of the and there's a really great interview with LaVar Burton where he's talking about this at one of the comic conventions or something.
00:15:48
Speaker
that I saw on YouTube where he basically says like Star Trek really has been very important in dreaming up the future of technology so the things that you see like the pad and like you know the way the computer they interface with the computer are all now 30 years later
00:16:07
Speaker
Things that don't seem like science fiction anymore. They all seem like very real to us because we all have these devices that resemble what you see in Star Trek and you know not Star Trek alone, but But in at the time of the of Star Trek there was so much
00:16:24
Speaker
technology on the show that inspired young engineers and scientists and things like that. And so you can see the influence on the modern day. And I love that kind of thing about it. And that's something about this episode that now watching it
00:16:40
Speaker
all these many years later, I'm seeing it. I'm like, wow, you know, we really have come a long way in some areas. And like, as far as human, you know, advancement is concerned, and we're not quite glowing gold and turning into beings of light yet. But we're certainly in my own personal time, we've seen some pretty cool advances in medicine and technology in general.
00:17:04
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. And then I've just been reading articles as well because I'm currently looking forward to develop a tricorder, a medical tricorder. So they, there's quite a big research for, for that sort of error as well. And also ward drive.
00:17:22
Speaker
Just to mention that that's been theory free rise as well and it's it's not impossible to have to have one day So it's like incredible and Google Glass was first Well, no, I mean we kind of saw it in TNG in the episode where Wesley's playing that video game that he's addicted to Oh, yeah, but of course
00:17:46
Speaker
But of course, Jordy's visor is another kind of interface. I mean, it's doing all kinds of things, including recording interactions, if he wants them to, as we've seen on the show. So really amazing, but not surprising because the people who
00:18:06
Speaker
who have gotten to dream up. Well, Gene Roddenberry, of course, who's a visionary, considered a visionary, he's also considered a futurist because his whole mission behind Star Trek was to show a better
00:18:24
Speaker
how humanity could be in the future, like what we could look forward to if we apply ourselves and focus on the imbedderment of humanity and every person, not just a few people. Absolutely. I totally agree with you and between as well. Bless him. Yes, the great bird of the galaxy. He's still with us, still guiding us through. He's still with us.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, so I liked a lot of that stuff. The neural link was pretty cool. Oh, yeah. So what was happening there was, here's this, you know, John Doe's in like terrible condition, he's dying. And so they use Jory's neuro infrastructure and remotely line it up so that he can stabilize his heartbeat and things like that.
00:19:18
Speaker
But I have to say that makeup on John Doe in the very beginning, that was something incredible. I mean, all the brain parts we're seeing, and all the jaws, and the teeth, and everything. Well done for the makeup department, because that's something, wow. By that time, I think that was something really big. Oh yeah, there you go.
00:19:45
Speaker
And yeah, for the audience that is watching us on YouTube, it looks like a behind-the-scenes photo from next generation. You can see here, as Gary referenced, it is pretty gruesome. Although it was done very tastily, and I also noticed on the remastered version, it seems like the background of that crash land site was different too. But anyways, there's definitely exposed brains and teeth, and it shows what a genius, Michael Westmore. Did I get his name right?
00:20:14
Speaker
I think, yeah, absolutely. Yes, Michael Westmore, the makeup artist genius behind Star Trek. There's a cool, one of the commenters on our comment section, he presented a link to a feature, an interview with Michael Westmer that I haven't finished all the way through, but it was pretty compelling to start with. And if I didn't have to go to work, I would have totally watched it all. Oh yeah, I remember that. I saw that on Twitter as well.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's where the exchange was yeah, it's all time me why me wibbly wobbly fine I can't remember where where everything everything is these days. It's a lot to keep up with for this old Android over here, but
00:21:00
Speaker
That was another thing that was really great was to see his different stages of healing and then he you know they reattach his arm of course and I like the set with the lasers reactivating and then the the muscle there's a lot of medical
00:21:15
Speaker
Technology in this episode actually I just I'm realizing how much of a showcase it was about what the future for medicine could be like But anyways they had the muscle stimulation things and of course we can imagine Those work with something kind of like Bluetooth nowadays, and she's probably just like you know sending signals from her iPhone It's awesome Which she doesn't have she's a pad
00:21:39
Speaker
The personal access, is it personalized access device or something like that? Or I forget what its pad stood for. I also wrote a note here. What did you think of the scene where Wesley and Beverly are having a discussion at dinner? Do you remember that scene? Yeah, I do. I felt kind of Beverly had a crush on him.
00:22:08
Speaker
Not on Wesley, obviously, on John Doe. She was expressing, actually, her feelings. She liked him, obviously. But then Wesley pointed out, it's like, well, there's more just an admiration towards the guy.
00:22:26
Speaker
It was a really cute scene. I mean, of course, there's all that in there, but just the way they're talking so naturally with one another is such a refreshing thing to see between... Yeah, and we have to remember now, it's kind of cool because we're actually seeing... I think it's funny because...
00:22:50
Speaker
It's easy to remember. It's easy to dismiss Star Trek as a like a series that you could pop in anywhere and and watch. But if you do watch it in order, I feel like there's a lot of really wonderful moments, mostly centered around characters. And you get these like little scenes that mostly I think you don't you don't remember them at the end of like, you know, when you think about Star Trek, you think of the Battle of Wolf three nine five nine and you think of like
Impact on Characters and Viewers
00:23:20
Speaker
you know all these like kind of epic things but then when you really think about Star Trek I think when you remember some of these like moments like this one I do think it's it's a wonderful way to inform people just of different kinds of ways we can interact in different relationships and I do remember like
00:23:39
Speaker
Watching this episode and thinking gosh like could I ever have a relationship like that with my parents like I? Couldn't even imagine like I thought it was fake at the time like no kid talks to their mom so So freely and so wonderfully right I think effective
00:23:58
Speaker
But the fact is that's not the case. There are a lot of relationships like that. And now, as an adult, I was way younger than 18 when I saw this episode. Watching this episode, it started to make me realize in my own personal journey through life that I really enjoy where my relationship is with my parents now because we talk
00:24:20
Speaker
just like this it's very like you know there's not a there's not this like oh mom you're telling me what to do anymore like we had with with uh loxana troy it's more like you know mom this is what i'm doing or hey mom you know or dad this is what i'm doing so it is refreshing to see that you know
00:24:41
Speaker
A relationship like that is portrayed on Star Trek and it's a good positive reinforcement for kids to realize that, hey, you can have a really great relationship with your parents. And this is the end of my public service announcement. You can come down in time as well and you have to grow up to become that person who will have that sort of relationship with their parents.
00:25:02
Speaker
Because you can expect like a five or six-year-old to have like that sort of thing going on with dads or something, or even 15. You have to be at least, I don't know, 20, 30 or so. You have your own opinion, you have your own person to develop, and then you can communicate with your parents as they are not just your parents, they are like your friends, and they, I don't know, it's a bit more complex as a relationship than just, you know, having your parents around.
00:25:32
Speaker
Like, mom, can I go to the shop? It's like, no. Can I go to the shop? No. You know, it's like, can we talk about this? Yes, no, we can't have that. So I'm pretty sure it requires... It requires maturity. On both sides. From both sides, that's true, because not just the kid has to grow up, but the parents has to grow up as well. Parents have to grow up too. They have to see it from a different perspective.
00:25:57
Speaker
Very true. Deep thoughts on Star of Sleep Boy with Checker Prize. I noticed, I don't know what's that? That's worth a t-shirt too. Deep thoughts on Star of Sleep Boy.
00:26:16
Speaker
I love that. I noticed there's something different in Picard in this episode. I couldn't quite place it, but the closest I can come to it is that I got the impression that Captain Picard was being respectful of Beverly's relationship with John Doe, but he might have also been a little bit, like, interested to see if she, which, you know, like, without asking, like, I thought he just, I don't know, there was something there. What do you think? I didn't even notice that, to be honest.
00:26:46
Speaker
Okay, I thought like Picard was like a little jealous maybe is maybe you're thinking but I don't know I don't know. It's a tough one We might have to ask the audience to let us know what they think about that part. I
00:27:00
Speaker
I like the part in the, there's another story, a whole plot with Wesley, sorry, with Jordy and Worf. Well, Jordy and Worf, but also a romantic interest for Jordy. What was her name?
00:27:19
Speaker
Mrs. Henshaw. Now is she just a civilian? Because Riker doesn't give her a rank. He says Mrs. Henshaw. So I'm assuming she's a civilian, which is interesting. Maybe she's just a botanist or something. She was going down to the botany lab.
00:27:39
Speaker
Well, the neat thing about the Enterprise is because it's a mixed vessel, there's both civilians and Starfleet personnel on board, you do have like scientists that might do a tour of duty on the Enterprise or even just like family members of the crew along for the ride. So it's a very interesting ship. You don't necessarily have to have to hold a degree or education for Starfleet Academy. You can just be a normal scientist and you can be assigned to the Enterprise because, you know,
00:28:08
Speaker
along the way they go in there and then your services will be useful. Or you could be lucky enough to be married to one of the Starfleet officers or something like that you know it's like and there's certainly we know there's a lot of kids on the Enterprise so you know I mean they're not even they're just going to regular school and stuff like that very very different from every other Star Trek that we've never gone back to this. It's a space city basically it's a small station that goes planet by planet system by system.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah, we've never gone back to that. I think it would be interesting to go back to it though at some point. It's not a bad way to tell a story. But I like the scene where they're trying to figure out the...
00:28:47
Speaker
the way that the the gel pod memory drive or whatever it is works and Worf's like less talk more synth the hall oh yeah he was so upset upset at the beginning it's like what the hell's going on guys we came here to relax and then Jordy suddenly just yeah you're right actually i have something to take care of it's like
00:29:10
Speaker
I think we need to devote a little bit of time to something in the episode that's just a teeny bit disturbing. And I'm going to pull it up right now and share it with the audience if I can. Here, hold on. Let's see here. Come on, there's got to be a...
00:29:39
Speaker
a good picture of this horrifying thing. One second. Oh, here we go. I found one. Okay, this will be a good thing.
00:29:51
Speaker
All right, so I think we have to devote a little bit of time on the show to talk about John Doe and his outfit that he's wearing. Oh. What's wrong with his arch? It's just a little bit too tight for my comfort and a little bit too form-fitting. I think we saw a little bit too much of John Doe, if you know what I mean. Oh, I see. OK.
00:30:21
Speaker
But I mean, whatever. Future fashion is really weird. On the one hand, you have some things that are really cool. And then on the other hand, everyone's wearing a onesie or they call it a spacesuit. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Remember to pull, you know, his power or seven of nine, just.
00:30:37
Speaker
I mean personally I enjoyed some of the the way that the outfit contoured you know certain features of of this performer but at the same time I'm like would people actually just like walk around wearing that on in the future like it just doesn't seem I don't know it's a little cold on a starship like I mean I think something similar they were something similar in the motion picture the first feature movie
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah, so I think sometimes Star Trek for the Expiration just totally misses the mark with costume choices, but at the same time it is, you know, it's very, I do remember my, the same female friend who went on to be a biologist, she was quite taken with the male, the John Doe character as well, so maybe something to do with it was that you could see that he was pretty fit.
00:31:26
Speaker
You're right, it was a little less... I don't know if the material was different.
00:31:41
Speaker
under this
00:31:57
Speaker
Well, rarely. They don't do honorary characters, let's say. They do the Mudwomans, they do Mud, they do obviously the main characters. I saw a really good cosplay once. You never saw an Okana?
00:32:15
Speaker
like no one ever dresses like O'Connor. Not an O'Connor. You could pull off, you should do O'Connor. I have to grow my hair a bit longer. A little bit, not too much. I have to build my physics as well because I'm not as good at looking at him.
00:32:33
Speaker
But I saw Indians once, I saw Talaxians. I do remember them. I think Antideans from the earliest episode. The Salaeans and the Anticans, I think you told me about that. The doggy, the dog looking. No, the other one, the fish creature.
00:32:52
Speaker
The Celaeans are lizard creatures. Oh, the Antidians, the ones that... You did say that. I thought you meant Antidians. I even saw someone cosplaying a dilithium crystal. Did the Antidians have the fishbowl that they like...
00:33:13
Speaker
You know, like, yeah, it was really cool. It was really cool. But no, no, no one really cosplayed anything with any one with latex apart from seven of nine. So, okay. So what did you think? I saw a drag beam once as, uh, as like, so much way. Oh, yeah. That was kind of interesting. That is pretty cool.
00:33:38
Speaker
I'm dying to go to a convention, and one day I'll make it to one. It'll be super fun. Now you're going to a few conventions this coming season, right? Just on this month, the end of this month, I'm going to London Film and Comic Con. And on next month, there will be another Star Trek event from...
00:33:58
Speaker
in close to London, actually. I think it's one of the oldest UK podcasts, Trackmate, that they do their first convention called TrackOn. So I'm actually going there. It's going to be really interesting as well. But that's next month. I'm privileged. Let's say I can go sometimes, but it's rare.
00:34:28
Speaker
Especially Star Trek fans. We look forward to seeing your updates and stuff. I always have a fun time when you go to the conventions. I vicariously feel like I'm there with you. It's cool. No, definitely. We'll be there.
00:34:44
Speaker
So the score for this episode was pretty cool and it was I sensed Especially in the scene where he heals miles I sensed a little bit just from the way that it sounded Dennis McCarthy and sure enough it is It is him scoring here. Yeah, pretty sure it's him Wow, I heard just heard music It wasn't me
00:35:12
Speaker
Really? I didn't do anything. You didn't hear that just now? It was like... No. That might be one of your neighbour. No, it was like a pre-recorded thing. It was pretty cool. It's probably something that's happening on my web browser. Oh, maybe on my web browser, yes. Oh, that's so weird.
00:35:40
Speaker
Audience, I'm hearing voices. Oh, here it is. That's what it is. Okay. See, it's totally in my mind. I've never lost it. Some of the other scenes with Worf and Jordy we were talking about, which were interesting earlier, were the just Worf's idea of
00:36:03
Speaker
how you should, you know, court a young lady versus... That was hilarious. I mean, Worf. Worf teaching Jordy how to date when he can't get a goal. I mean, he's like, you have to learn a lot from me. He's like, from you? Little? Really? I mean, you got turned down by Kahler before. But Worf doesn't think of it that way.
00:36:29
Speaker
I think he thinks there's no woman on the enterprise that's capable of handling a Klingon, so he doesn't even try to date. And I'm pretty sure if he would go for dating, he would be more like, as a conqueror, because Klingons are warriors, and he's a warrior. Right. And he wants to conquer the woman. But he was successful with Kalar. Well, yeah. Sort of. He was. I mean, you know. And even he had a thingy going on with Liana Troi.
00:36:58
Speaker
That's true. And then he got together with Jesse Addox. That's true. So, you know, Worf is quite the ladies' man. Well, not as like Captain Kirk. Well, yeah. Yeah, Worf definitely has a couple of, like, I was just thinking, why are you teaching Geordi? Well, then Geordi became really extremely confident, actually, after this encounter with John Doe.
00:37:23
Speaker
which is also an interesting thing how the character changed because Jordy had a lot of problems with ladies before. And it's interesting in the show it's just like a flip of the switch because of this encounter and now I don't think Jordy goes back to the old way I think from now on if I recall Jordy's a lot more confident in general so I wonder what what's really happening there like is the show trying to say that like
00:37:48
Speaker
somehow the whole crew evolves, you know? It's interesting because at the end of the episode, when Jordy woke up to John Doe and said, it's like, I don't know what did you do, but since I'm in the country, I'm feeling more confident and you just gave me so much. And John Doe said, OK, I didn't give you anything. I just I might just help you to find that that you already had.
00:38:15
Speaker
It's true. It's actually quite interesting. That comes down to normal life as well if you think about it. I have a talent, like we talked about this in off-camera, I draw, but I don't think I'm a good person who has good drawing skills.
00:38:39
Speaker
I have it but I just can't see it and I think it's not worth it but then someone comes along and says wow this is amazing and you know I just want you to do all of these and like I want you to do this because it's awesome and it has value and quality in it.
00:38:59
Speaker
You might just, you know, realize, okay, that actually, you know, if it connects with people, then that fits to the picture. But in this case, in Jordi's case, it's really just that what happened. The encounter with John Doe helped him to find his inner personality. That's something that he had, but he just didn't know how to bring along.
00:39:25
Speaker
Very, very well stated. I agree. And on that note, I would like to take a moment to say that I'm one of those people that appreciate and value your work as an artist. And I'm pulling up. I'm pulling up. This is our Starfleet boy YouTube. And the reason it looks so slick and amazing is all because of Gary, all of the artwork that you see on Starfleet boys.
00:39:52
Speaker
on our YouTube and our website too. And anytime I try, I try to, I hope I do a good enough job. I try to post as much of it as I can everywhere. But just to let people know how talented and how creative you are. This is like really wonderfully done. And it's, ah, I love it. Okay.
00:40:15
Speaker
So yeah, go check out Gary's Gary's work and if you need a designer or an illustrator an artist Of many talents, please consider working with Gary
00:40:34
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's fine. It's fine. I just hope that wasn't too awkward for you. That's very kind of you. If you need a really good photographer, then really, honestly, contact Starfleet boy because he's amazing. He's really good. I can do the same thing and I will.
00:40:49
Speaker
I will spread the word around. Thank you. Thank you. That's very kind of you. Okay. Now that we're done with promoting ourselves. Yes. Back to the episode. I was wondering when, um, when, um, when, um, we've died. We, um, I don't know if it will come back to an episode or something, but, um, it would have been interesting to actually know if he, uh, so stoked or not.
00:41:19
Speaker
the Klingon afterworld? This is just a totally distanced thought because obviously the episode didn't really go into that scene and I don't recall any episode that actually went into the explanation like, okay, if you die, because he basically died.
00:41:40
Speaker
There was one episode in Voyager when Neelix dies, and he came back to life because of Seven of Nine, but then, sorry, that's spoiler if you didn't see the episode. 4140 audience too. So basically, there's an episode just based on this fact, he believed in something, he believed in afterlife.
00:42:01
Speaker
And he knew, okay, there will be a garden and there will be all the people who he lost all over his life and they will join and unite together. But then he came back to life and then
00:42:17
Speaker
Maybe that's the explanation of Worf. I'm just so obvious I didn't see it. And technically he was so upset because he didn't see the picture that he was imagining. So basically Worf came back to the life of the one he died.
00:42:35
Speaker
It would have been interesting actually to go into this part. That's true. Even on the next episode or something because, you know, he'd been just healed. He died on the floor and a couple of minutes later he was alive and... Wow, what did he just do, you know? Maybe he didn't remember because it happened so fast. It would have been a really... I don't know. I mean, like, that sounds like it would have been a really great story for a comic book to explore or even for a novel. Yeah, it's very nice. I wonder if that already exists. Like there's so much...
00:43:05
Speaker
Star Trek stuff out there and stories. It's amazing Yeah, and you can't we're at a point where you can't even possibly I don't think explore all of it in your lifetime it would take a full-time devotion Like more than a full you need a team of people devoted to to keeping track of everything which I think there is basically more or less it and
00:43:30
Speaker
at CBS and Paramount. And if not, I would love to create this team for you, CBS, and hire a few people, including people that are already wonderfully involved with Star Trek on this team. George Lucas created a team like that for Star Wars.
00:43:52
Speaker
Paul had all go I think his name is and there they are the keepers of the cannon if you will oh Yeah, it's pretty cool, and it helps a lot. I think cuz
00:44:02
Speaker
That's the one thing I really, you know, it's one of those arguments like people like myself enjoy when you go out of your way to keep the continuity as tight as possible. And then other people are like, that's bullshit. Who cares? Why are you so caught up in that? It's about the story. Well, I agree. It is about the story. It is, but you have to follow certain rules, especially when it comes down to Star Trek.
00:44:28
Speaker
It's true, but it's delightful when you do see those rules as it were, or the continuity being closely followed, or valid explanations for when it's not followed. So I do think it's not necessary, but it is delightful. But yeah, that's cool. But I knew even just to connect to this topic as well, and while I was watching the episode,
00:44:55
Speaker
The Enterprise basically just went on his route. They didn't specifically go to somewhere or nothing happened in terms of the ship. Everything happened in the Enterprise. And I was kind of thinking, OK, in terms of Star Trek, we only saw the Adventures of the
Potential Stories in Star Trek Universe
00:45:14
Speaker
Enterprise. The Enterprise is the Adventures of the S-9, and obviously Voyager, and Enterprise. And we're going to see Discovery and the Shansu.
00:45:24
Speaker
We were going to see Space Trek one day. But there's so many ships, so many crew and so many adventures going on. So basically everyone can just start a Star Trek story and then just tell their story in the Star Trek universe. Obviously respecting the canon and the continuity.
00:45:45
Speaker
It's just such an interesting thing. You got to see all this episode, all these wonderful stories in Let's Talk About Next Generation. And you can do your own next generation. I mean, there's a lot of people out there who are really carrying the Star Trek flame. And they do wonderful jobs with telling their story in the Star Trek universe.
00:46:15
Speaker
I don't even know where I was going with this. Well, I kind of sense you were just expanding on the idea of how big Star Trek is and how expansive this universe is really. And it's a fascinating thing when the creator of a series like Star Trek passes away, there essentially is a
00:46:38
Speaker
someone has to pick up the torch as it were and fortunately I think the Roddenberry family is quite heavily involved as consultants and just thought makers and just like thought leaders I should say and like you know people that I think who are involved in the production of Star Trek I I wouldn't doubt that they're
00:46:59
Speaker
going to the Roddenberry family and all the people that were involved that are left that are still around from the original series and you know the next generation and the other productions they all in some ways i think many of them are still involved with Star Trek even if it's just by expressing their opinions about it which in my opinion has a lot of weight uh...
Hopes for Star Trek: Discovery
00:47:23
Speaker
so as we go into discovery one of the things i'm actually pretty excited about is that like
00:47:28
Speaker
I keep reminding myself that Nicholas Meyers involved and that everyone involved is a fan of the show, so whatever radical changes are laying ahead, if it has the core of Star Trek, I can't be happier than that. I might have a lot of complaints about little things like the designs, and I might not. Who knows? I might just be like, wow, this is exactly, they nailed it. It might be wonderful.
00:47:58
Speaker
Who knows? I'm pretty sure there will be lots of debates and lots of different opinions about Star Trek Discovery. Oh no, for sure. There's a huge schism online. I got into an interesting conversation a couple times online and I was like, whoa.
00:48:14
Speaker
But I've kind of said they didn't approach Brandon Brago or even Rick Berman. Rick Berman was the second in command while they were doing Next Generation and then he took over the whole franchise and I think he did a wonderful job. A lot of people used to hate him and disregard him but I think he did a really good job keeping the original Trek flame alive.
00:48:39
Speaker
It was a difficult thing because up until, you know, whenever Gene Roddenberry's involvement started getting less and less in Star Trek, which I think is around this season, you know, the show in a way is being, like I said, the torch is being passed. When the creator of Star Trek
00:49:04
Speaker
who was such a person who believed in equality and everyone getting along and conflict not coming from within but from external sources and he was a humanist and he had a humanist agenda.
00:49:20
Speaker
There's just this, like, overwhelming feeling, and this is not based in any kind of- as far as I know Gene Roddenberry didn't make any statements like, people of the world, I give Star Trek to you as my gift, you know? Like, he never- as far as I know, he never did say anything like this. But you get the strong impression that that's what Gene Roddenberry created this show for. It was something bigger,
00:49:39
Speaker
than just a franchise that he owned. It was something bigger than a story that he wrote. It was something bigger than a show that he produced. It was something much bigger than that to him. It was a way to tell a story about humanity and what we can achieve. I know I keep hammering this in, but I feel truly that that's what Star Trek is about.
00:50:04
Speaker
When I look at the different iterations of Star Trek and as much as I may be a nitpicker about it, if it stays true to that, if Star Trek feels more about humans at their best than conflicts and unnecessary violence and just a gratuitous adventure, if there's a heart to the stories, it can't go wrong in my opinion. It will do well.
00:50:31
Speaker
And so I think the best Star Trek series like The Next Generation, the original series, the films, the core of Star Trek is so powerful because it's the closest to that vision if you will. And Deep Space Nine I think is exemplary and I do agree that it's a shame that if what you're saying is in fact true where the new, the producers of the new series didn't even like
00:50:56
Speaker
invite them to the party, so to speak, the people that worked on the previous Star Trek. I think that would be a true shame. But that would be interesting to find out. I haven't looked into too much news. I'm trying to stay open-minded and not expose myself to too many things, but that would be interesting to me.
00:51:18
Speaker
to know how much did the new producers honor or even just talk to some of the folks that worked on the films before and the TV shows. But again, they don't have to. That's their prerogative. They're the new showrunners, the new bearers of the torch, but it would be nice to hear that they did do it. Well, I guess we have to wait and see. September's not so far away anymore, so hopefully.
00:51:47
Speaker
No, it's true. Unless if they changed their year for 2018 instead of 2017. That still can happen. It's totally true. If there's nothing else about this episode that you have to say, I think we can... There's one thing that I noticed, and that's just like a behind the scenes thingy that I just... Wow. I never looked because it didn't really show in the HD version, the normal version, just in the remastered one.
00:52:15
Speaker
When they are in a conference from the very end of the episode when they had this conversation with John Doe and Beverly and Data and Jory, the fabric, the space fabric, you can see where it was folded.
00:52:30
Speaker
I know, that's terrible. So I don't remember that in the original. And even if you can see the lights is, you know, coming a bit. Have you seen on Halloween, like some people will wear that, just the green, like the green outfit. It's like a full body covering like of spandex. Have you seen this? Yeah. That's what it is. It's just a white version of that. I feel like it might have been green.
00:52:53
Speaker
And they chroma keyed it to white like that, or white and gold or whatever. But yeah, it was not very impressive. No, it wasn't really. And at one point I was actually waiting for John Doe, you know, grabbing the window from outside. I mean, you know, just grabbing the, like, because there's no mirror.
00:53:12
Speaker
No transparent aluminum. It's been away from Star Trek IV. Absolutely. No, it was a little bizarre because it's so recognizable what he was wearing as just a onesie. I think that they could have, I would have liked to have seen since it was remastered anyways. And like, you know, I think I remember
00:53:35
Speaker
Vaguely, I remember reading that when they're remastering it's a fine line because they want to be respectful to all the original Effects artists that that that did the the show so they don't want to like completely like
00:53:51
Speaker
Because imagine with CG technology being what it is, you could really enhance the effects. The enterprise, sometimes they could make the action scenes a lot more dynamic and fast-paced and things like that if they wanted to.
00:54:07
Speaker
but they're respecting the original art form, I would say, and I think I like that. But I think this is one situation where I would not, if I were one of the original effects artists that did the show in its original run, I would approve 100% of an upgrade
00:54:24
Speaker
to the John Doe Ascendant Body, you know, I would have liked it if they'd like a CG character would like dr. Manhattan, but but gold would have been really wonderful Did you ever see?
00:54:43
Speaker
can't remember the name of them the show the watchers the watchman oh no the comic book the watch oh cool so you don't know who dr. Manhattan is I'm gonna have to pull up a picture for you this from something totally totally different so the guy with the hat and then the raincoat not raincoat it's like no but that's correct but I didn't watch the movie
00:55:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's a pretty cool movie. It's like very dark. But here's... Here's... Here's Dr. Manhattan. So imagine like the John Doe would have like looked like that, but gold or whatever, you know.
00:55:25
Speaker
So interesting stuff they could have done. But at the same time, I do like that the remaster isn't like a reimagining of the special effects. I do like that they're trying to just enhance it for HD to make it look better. And it does actually, by the way, since we're on the topic, the enterprise looks gorgeous. Like the level of detail and everything that you see with the new remastered version is beautiful, in my opinion.
00:55:52
Speaker
She really is a beautiful ship, and with these images, it's just wow. It's just wow. I know, it's a shame that the Enterprise-D didn't live past the first movie, but I really love the Enterprise-E, so I'm not... I don't blame you, I do love the Enterprise-E too.
00:56:11
Speaker
Yeah, the E is a gorgeous ship in and of itself. And it has kind of like those ideas that I love. The nacelles are drawn back by the pylons are kind of slanted and it looks like the A a little bit. Yeah, it's kind of a modernized version of the A.
00:56:26
Speaker
So there's a couple of bits that they kept from the original Enterprise as well. The little details that they implemented to the design of the E. So they really mashed together the two, giving a modernish look of the Enterprise. So it's really interesting, the design process of that. But Starfleet Boy is not about star ships, I guess.
00:56:48
Speaker
No, it's true. A star ship has always stayed dead. But I do love star ships. So if anyone thinks about I'm hating star ships, no, I'm not. I'm talking about star ships too, but not as much. Not as much. It's true. All right. Well, what's your rating for this episode? Wow. I'll give a nine.
00:57:14
Speaker
I give a 9. I don't really see any big major issues with the episode itself. I think that's just a backdrop. Just a star backdrop. That's the only thing that... But that's not really something that... I didn't even notice it at the beginning because I didn't. But yeah, a good 9. A really strong 9.
00:57:41
Speaker
I'm pretty close to you. I really appreciate this episode, too. And I liked, again, that it's a return. It reminds us, not a return to, because Star Trek Declaration does this often. But it isn't an episode about exploration, an episode about something new, like a new species, and ideas and concepts that we don't see often. So I'm going to give it an 8.5, only because
00:58:06
Speaker
Only because there were just a few things that I felt could have been expressed a little bit more. I would have loved to have seen just something more of the Zarkonian life or story or just a little bit more about the
00:58:22
Speaker
about the prejudices that the people have against the evolving zirconians, and although the plot device of having John Doe lose his memory doesn't allow for it, it might have been interesting to have a few flashbacks or something, so just close, but an 8.5 nevertheless, a very high rating. Yeah, it is.
00:58:44
Speaker
There's a couple of behind the scenes. I know the doctor is not here. Oh yeah, the doctor's not here, so if you would be so kind, that would be great. This is also from a track war. So they say the episode was originally designed to be a love story for Dr. Crusher. However, that idea would have to wait for Season 4's host, which is totally
00:59:07
Speaker
I don't understand it, but at the beginning when I thought about the transfiguration episode, I thought, okay, this is the sort of episode when she gets involved romantically with the secondary character. The other bit, it says, newcomer director Tom Bank previously sold scripts to Magnum PI and The Fall Guy, as well as the directing, yes, Code Jack and Battlestar Galactica.
00:59:34
Speaker
The shell pod Albas was previously seen in Timesquared and further featured in The Descent.
00:59:44
Speaker
Most of your assistant bands were seen again in the ethics and I think in the real fear or something that was in episode two. So that's the band basically that he was wearing at the beginning to help him walk.
01:00:07
Speaker
Yeah and the last bit that it says, the last scene where John Doe evolves was done live with no special effects. Actor Mark Lamoureh done a fluorescent orange suit which globed in a special film used as required little touch up. So it was literally no special effect. That's interesting though. That is very cool. Well it's the suit, he's wearing the... He's wearing that suit that just...
01:00:33
Speaker
The onesie. They just made a little glow, and that's it. Done. Sparkles and butterflies, and you have a magical evolution. That's pretty funny. Well, I think anything else interesting out there on the webverse? Webverse. No, I don't think so.
01:00:59
Speaker
I know that the actor who plays the captain on the Zorka was his name again, Sen. Sunad? Sunad. He comes again in Enterprise. Charles Dennis. He comes back to Star Trek in Enterprise and maybe even on Deep Space Nine, but I'm not sure. Let me just check. I'm pretty sure that's the case.
01:01:27
Speaker
Well, he's actually quite an established person. I mean, he has writing credits, directorial credits, producer. He has one in soundtrack as well. He's in... There you go. Cheers to you, Charles Dennis. Start of the video game. Actually, he voices Sura.
01:01:53
Speaker
And here he is, Chancellor Trelit on Enterprise. Oh yeah, Desert Crossing. The Desert Crossing episode. What else? Oh yeah, nothing else in regards to Star Trek. Very interesting. Very interesting indeed.
01:02:16
Speaker
I think we've exhausted this episode, Gary, what do you think? Yeah, I think, yes, we did. We transfigured ourselves as well. We are, yes, I wish we could put this special... Did I ever mention that I love that you beam into your introduction video on your YouTube? That's a cool effect. I'm not sure how you did it, but that's pretty awesome. I totally forgot about that. I should do it again at one point.
01:02:39
Speaker
I don't know if you're willing to do this, but I would like to be beamed in at some point as well. It's a neat trick. So if you want to help me figure it out, we'll do that. Yeah, I'll be the one to do it offline. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. We'll live long and prosper and we'll see you next time.