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Star Trek - Red Alert! Special Episode
152 Plays1 month ago
UNIVERSAL FAN FEST has kicked off at Universal Studios Hollywood and fans can stand on the bridge of the Enterprise-D as used in Star Trek: Picard - Season Three for a tour-turned-adventure. But does it and the themed food make the event a TREK, MARRY, or KILL? Bryan and Kristen take you through their experiences to decide.
Recommended
Transcript
Show Introduction & Event Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Next on Trek, Marry, Kill, Brian and Kristen on an away team. Universal Studios.
00:00:14
Speaker
Engage.
00:00:30
Speaker
Really go there. Universal Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, an all-new immersive fan event. Experience the best of sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and anime all in one night.
00:00:42
Speaker
Start select nights April 25th through May 18th. Universal Fan Fest Nights, only at Universal Studios Hollywood.
00:01:00
Speaker
Merry, kill.
Heading to Universal Studios
00:01:05
Speaker
All right, Kristen, we're on our way to Universal Studios Hollywood for the Universal Fan Fest nights. I'm debasing myself and going to the nerdiest thing.
00:01:19
Speaker
They're going to have ah ah display of the Starship Enterprise. Are you excited? I am. Yeah. I ah didn't dragoon you into this.
00:01:30
Speaker
I didn't have to do much convincing. There was no convincing. The only convincing was like, you had to convince me to do it on a Sunday night versus a Saturday. And I was like, you know what? It's fine.
00:01:44
Speaker
That was my way of skirting my usual Sunday scaries. of like but If I start the week with Star Trek Fresh from my mind, maybe not. Anyway, we're on our way there. You can hear the turn signal. We're driving.
00:01:55
Speaker
And we're just gonna record real quick our expectations or excitement or whatever. I've done the a Star Trek experience that was in las Vegas way back when. And that was not like a formative experience as I was in my 20s.
00:02:10
Speaker
But it was really fucking cool. and And so to me, this has to match that to some extent. That tour starts with you being a tourist in Las Vegas, being beamed aboard the Enterprise-D.
00:02:24
Speaker
And it's such an amazing ah magic trick that they do to make you do that. I really hope you get to experience that, Kristen. Okay, yeah, I don't think they're gonna have that, but I think it'll be fun.
00:02:36
Speaker
So, uh, this is just a little setup here, and then we're going to go and do it, and then we'll record our reactions. We're also gonna test all the, ah test some of the food.
00:02:47
Speaker
You know, I'm not, I'm not a young man. not a young man. i can't a can't eat all the food. Some of does not look good, let's be honest. Yeah. Some of it looks horrible, but I think I'm gonna have to try the Chateau Picard. for sure. Just to see how bad it is. i don't think it's bad because on the menu, on the app, it's $25 for one glass. And that is high price for even a theme park glass of wine.
00:03:14
Speaker
It's going to be similar to when we went to that Jonathan Frakes Patrick Stewart event and the cocktail was $25. Oh my God. $30, Brian. It was $30. It was a double, but still.
00:03:27
Speaker
Usually they don't charge you like double the price. So we'll be back with our reactions shortly.
Past Experiences & Expectations
00:03:34
Speaker
oh wait, but we are, we should say that we are doing the very Star Trek thing of going to the San Fernando Valley.
00:03:42
Speaker
um That's right. Our away team will take place where so many away missions have been in the San Fernando Valley. We're not going too far. wait My experience with Universal Studios Hollywood is I've worked on that lot many times. I've certainly in my 20s again, ah had I had one of the l L.A. resident passes. So I went a lot of the time around the Simpsons ride opened up. That's how they got me. I'm also an annual pass holder, so...
00:04:08
Speaker
And it's kind of like when I was going to Disneyland frequently when I had the employee park pass. Like, you do it kind of enough, and that's it for me. But I know other people still keep that twinkle, that youth in them. And so, I don't know.
00:04:21
Speaker
But I'm going to try. I can't wait to see the Star Trek thing, obviously, but then the Mario world. Because this is going to be the only time I'm going to be able to okay see that. okay. We can do that. Because that just, I mean, again. me prepare you, Brian. is an assault on the senses. Okay.
00:04:36
Speaker
Oh, great. Again, i think if we had had that when we were kids, I think that a lot of kids would have been like hospitalized. Super Mario was so popular. I should have brought my power bands. I didn't know you wanted to go down there. thought
Immersive Star Trek Experience
00:04:50
Speaker
it was going to be all Star Trek, and you're going be like, Dungeons and Dragons? Fuck you guys.
00:04:54
Speaker
now the dungeons We're going to stuff a Dungeons and Dragons kid in a locker and... I might, but I also want to check out, there's some, apparently some cool animatronic thing that they put in for that. but So that's on the menu, I think.
00:05:06
Speaker
But we'll we'll explore that later. Welcome aboard Enterprise D. Everyone, fire them and fire them as far as you Is everybody alright?
00:05:19
Speaker
Yes? Okay, we should be safe in here. I'm so sorry about the interruption to your tour. We are trying to figure out what's going on as quickly as possible.
00:05:30
Speaker
That can't be right. There's no... The engine room is the last place we should be in. It's an emergency.
00:05:41
Speaker
You did it, everybody, drop in! We're all out of the way together, okay?
00:05:59
Speaker
Okay, we're about to record this and lot of music in the background which will probably cause us to get a social media YouTube strike so no one upload us to YouTube. It's ephemeral use, okay? Okay, it's very... We are inside the exhibition. We're about to We're at the 10th forward bar. yeah That's right, we're about to try out two of the drinks, the Chateau Picard wine and then the tea Earl Grey cold whiskey Earl Grey tea honey and lemon juice topped with peach white claw garnished with the dehydrated lemon. Let's get into it. Let's have sip. Our first sip.
00:06:33
Speaker
I can taste the peach and the white club
00:06:38
Speaker
claw. mean, it's wine, that's for sure.
00:06:43
Speaker
just want to clear, this cost me 25 US dollars. That's right. So Picard, The prices are outrageous. Well, Guinan's setting the prices. We're in the 10 forward lounge. thought money didn't exist. That's right.
00:06:59
Speaker
Well, all we're in is... I only got for over 25 US dollars. So we're having a drink. We've walked through the exhibition. Walked right on, because we got here right when it started.
00:07:10
Speaker
So we're gonna play Trek, Marry, Kill with ah Star Trek Red Alert. That's the name of the like experience. First, Kristen, as you as you easily imbibe your drink, there's nothing disgusting about it at all. Impressions! Would you like to try the... No, I'm alright. If I have wine, I'll go right to sleep. Okay. yeah It's fine.
00:07:32
Speaker
It's like a Cabernet. It's fine. Is it $25 worth? No. No.
00:07:38
Speaker
And the experience, how you say that? Also like a cabernet? So I thought it was cute. There's an actual narrative and there's actors who are really acting their asses off for a theme song. That's what you get when you are in LA. Yeah, this isn't like the Jungle Cruise guys who, you know, they've given up on life.
00:08:01
Speaker
These guys have an audition probably in the morning. That's right. ah It was not what I was expecting because actually had a pretty high bar by virtue of actually using a real set from Star Trek.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah. The recreated bridge, which they have obviously... Are going hold for music? Let's hold for music. It's going to swell. going to swell for a second. Okay. We came here because we thought it was quieter.
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like they turned up that shit as soon as we sat down. They absolutely did. Maybe we'll hold and record our impressions when it's quieter. Oh, there we go. Anyway, uh, had a high bar because of the set.
00:08:41
Speaker
They did some modifications to the set to make ADA compliance fine. None of that is an issue. Experience, however, I can only compare it to the Star Trek one in Las Vegas. yeah We did not get beamed aboard, which is bit of bummer.
00:08:54
Speaker
We did get beamed out, though. We got beamed out, but it was basically just walking through vapor or, like, dry ice and a little weak, little wimpy sound effect of being beamed out.
00:09:05
Speaker
But got to see the bridge of the Enterprise-D.
00:09:09
Speaker
That Dave Blass and co spent three plus months reconstructing from the moment Star Trek Picard season three started rolling. Carpet and sickbay. Carpet and sickbay. Carpet on around the view screen. That was my thing I was looking out for.
00:09:24
Speaker
There are some chips to the stations. Dave, if you're hearing this, so maybe during transportation or use, there is a one of the sidewinder or like view little mini stations like where Riker would look. There's like a little chip on the corner I saw there. It was cool seeing all the LCDs. It looked very cool in the non-studio lighting format. um You know, but you look up and you don't see the top window with the star field. You see the lighting.
00:09:51
Speaker
You see the seams. didn't even look actually. Yeah. Well, I did. You see the seams, though. In Star Trek, the the exhibition in Vegas, the experience, you do not see the seams. So I have only that to compare it to. Did you get to, on that experience, do you got to walk around more or, like? You did get to sit in it more and it was ah like a tour, you were tour group, again in an emergency situation and had like a a concept of the Klingons are trying to kill someone in your tour group because they're an ancestor of Jean-Luc Picard. Oh,
Interactive Features & Themed Drinks
00:10:20
Speaker
okay. they're trying to, so every ride it would be like Star Tours, it would be like there would be a spy in your group. Oh. But in this case there was somebody that was an ancestor they'd highlight a random person. That was always fun.
00:10:29
Speaker
ah This one, that one also only lets you be in that aft area, wharf station the sign stations. This one lets you walk around the sides. Oh, okay. Rather than walk through that area, so I'm not sure which is better.
00:10:42
Speaker
Six of one, half dozen of the other, I guess. I thought we'd get to interact with the set more. Yeah. can I saw the press preview, I guess, you know, the press, they get to let let them do whatever the hell they want, I guess.
00:10:53
Speaker
Yeah, so like, an engineer we're in engineering. They have the pool table. Pool table there. That was gross. That piece of ice just flew out of my mouth, as i was talking. And they had a little mini warp core.
00:11:06
Speaker
You know, so there's these little things. we're play Check, Marry, Kale. We'll start with great scenes.
00:11:14
Speaker
So our options are the cargo bay, where the tour starts, sick bay, and then we get the engine room, and we get the turbo lift, and then the bridge, and then we're out.
00:11:37
Speaker
Sickbay was pretty cool. I think the cargo bay was... It looked like a cargo bay. I got a kick out of there. They had like those barrels everywhere. I took a picture of the barrels in the corner. It's like a huge space and then just a few barrels in the corner.
00:11:55
Speaker
The turbo lift was weird. The turbo, yeah, well... i was That pork actor, he's he's all alone in there. Yep. And trying to interact with people. Now, the turbo lift is interesting because they at least put vibration in the floor so it would make it seem like it was moving. That was good.
00:12:11
Speaker
Engineering, I think it's knocked down. The pool table being there is cool, but also... And then the main the master status board, also cool, but the warp core being a little... The warp core is a little chintzy. Yeah, it's like a third of the size of the real warp core. Yeah, couldn't really see because it's like, our it's two groups and like you can't really see past the first group.
00:12:30
Speaker
So we're in the back. It'd be hard not to say that the great scene is the bridge. Well, obviously. So there we go, that's the great scene. Yeah, the carpet and sickbay, I was like, oh yeah, they got it.
00:12:40
Speaker
Yeah. The bio beds were cool. The actor, they they were all good. I'm with you. Yeah, actors were good. They're all good. She had her tricorder. That's why I think I'm responding to sick babe one more.
00:12:52
Speaker
She had a medical tricorder with, and so she was scanning it and then she, holding for swelling music.
00:13:02
Speaker
So I think that was what was cool. She was the one that had a prop and she used it well. Yeah. right, so we'll go with the bridge.
00:13:13
Speaker
Best Trek tropes. Well, the thrust of it is first contact, so that's good. Got that. Let's see. Worst Trek tropes.
00:13:27
Speaker
I... They were like, you should go to engineering. Yeah. Because there's a warp core problem. That's right. And Ryan's like, that's the more least last place we should be. I believe in sickbay. She's like, maybe one of you can help secure the warp core or figure out what's going on.
00:13:44
Speaker
I'm like, don't think saying it's, we are a tour group. Like, they acknowledge that. I don't know. I think a lot of times they're like, this is not the right time for tour. So technobabble, let's say, is the worst change it.
00:13:58
Speaker
Both cosplayable character or moment, I mean... They had the makeup was pretty good. They all looked great. Everyone looked great. Everyone was fantastic. it It felt kind of... It felt like the Enterprise, which is... That's the conceit. So there's that.
00:14:11
Speaker
What are our other categories? Now it's time for the line, Mr. to John. Yeah, great lines. I don't remember anything anybody said except... Something about... Engineering be able to fix it today. You know what? They can get story. They can get it. I didn't have any great lines, I just thought it was funny that we get to, there's a distortion in space which causes us have to go to the, onto the ship.
00:14:34
Speaker
We get to the bridge, the distortion immediately says, hey, sorry for the trouble. We just wanted to say hi. And that was it. So I think maybe the great line is just the actors having to be like, did we just make first contact?
00:14:48
Speaker
Woo! Um... In that sense, you know, now I'm thinking about it, it might have been fun if the conceit was for some reason the Lower Deckers are on board the Enterprise and it was Boimler and Mariner and all them on the bridge when we got there.
00:15:02
Speaker
Then that would have given everything a little bit more weight about why is this happening? Anyway. The story is we're in Los Angeles and we go through a shuttle port.
00:15:13
Speaker
To the museum. Yes, that's right. To the fleet museum. ye And so we're tourists at the museum. The Anton Crudion Award for Best Performance. and it's got a I think I'm going to give it to the sickbay. I like the cargo bay woman, though, at the front. She is good.
00:15:31
Speaker
She's good. But I'll give it to the sickbay woman. So then the Shatner, going to give it to whoever was the captain, the commanding person there. She was like really trying to sell something amazing was happening.
00:15:44
Speaker
All right, we're doing a pickup here because we just did it a second time. Oh, wow. Fireworks. Something always. Okay, the the Shatner has to go to the... Take up here. Oh, the Shatner has to go to the engineering team the second time around. Yeah. First of all, the second time around there are way more people playing as Vulcans. My guess is everyone was given a choice of aliens and they get pick their own. Oh, And three people pick Vulcans. Sorry. but the the women were in unison. One was a Vulcan, like, remain calm, and the other one was freaking out.
00:16:12
Speaker
And then they did the Star Trek thing of, like, what if we reverse the polarity? And they timed theirs to coincide at the same time, so they both said, what if we reverse the polarity? And they did the same. They tried it in the first one, but they didn't do it very much. It didn't work? You can only hear, like, one of them say, yeah. The second time around the engineering scene gets a great... that was a great Shatner of going for it.
00:16:37
Speaker
What did you notice the second time around? Well, we were closer so we got to see like more of the displays. Yeah. And so I thought it was just better. Yeah. Because there wasn't as many people. Yeah. And... yeah. how That's our check, Mary kill guarantee. We're go to give it more than one shot when we do these reviews. But also another thing about the Universal fan night as a whole is the lines are very short for all the rides and all the experiences, not like Halloween Horror Nights where you can barely get in to do anything. Is this when I say that I lost my mind on the Mario world? Yeah. Did we talk about that? Yeah, it was very cool. So I didn't realize how excited I'd be about seeing Super Mario Land come life, but I was. Anyway. The Astro Burger Award for food styling. We have a lot of candidates here because afterward we went to Quark's.
00:17:28
Speaker
Quark's Cafe. And we sampled the food. They had hasperat, which is what I wanted. It's basically banh mi burrito. It was delicious. It smelled really good.
00:17:39
Speaker
It had jalapenos to make it spicy because you've got have really spicy hasperats. But it looked like it was knife and fork job. Yeah. But it was... Yeah. But I held it together okay. But yeah, it was pretty... It should have had like a sleeve. Yeah, or being cut in half and then have the little toothpicks in it or something. Now the alcohol. We've already sampled two of the drinks. We've sampled four the drinks.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah. Just to let everyone know. There was an Andorian what? That was my favorite. The Orion Hurricane? Yeah, the Orion Hurricane was my favorite.
00:18:12
Speaker
Yeah, it was actually pretty good. I thought going sickly sweet. And then the Majoran Ale, it was a little smoky, too smoky for me at first, but then as was drinking, I was like, that's pretty good.
00:18:23
Speaker
But then me and Brian kind of switched. We were like, well, we were going to have half of each, but I stuck with the other one. It went down pretty easy. And now I'm having my Chateau Picard here having the wedding that you already ate.
00:18:36
Speaker
Oh yeah, I'm trying to suck down this sickly sweet. So, I guess the Astro Burger award should go to the fact that that drink comes hot if you want. Great point. great point I just don't like hot alcohol. let's kind I can't do it.
00:18:48
Speaker
So, that's a good one. um Could this experience have been hornier? And would that have made it better? Well, we just witnessed. What did we just witness?
00:18:59
Speaker
There's a photo opportunity where you can have your picture taken on like a little bridge replica and sit in the captain's chair.
Humor & Safety Protocols
00:19:09
Speaker
And it's got the wishbone behind it so you have multiple people you can get people in the tactical station as well.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah. Holding music and a person was doing a lewd act with the chair.
00:19:25
Speaker
And having a great time. I need to go back to the must— At least the security guard thought it was very funny. need to go back to the great lines. One of the great lines actually was in the tour leading up to it when I was like, I hope Nurse Chapel is not leaving the tour, otherwise we'll be in trouble.
00:19:42
Speaker
And Kristen said, well, maybe she breaks something and we have to fix it. And that to me was— That was—that could have been the narrative. Anyway, um... Alright, what part of this will he teach at Starfleet Academy?
00:19:55
Speaker
don't know, those kids those kids that were running this museum ship seemed to just kind of fall ass-backwards into this discovery. They didn't really do it. But good security, good protocol from the cargo bay person.
00:20:08
Speaker
The sickbay person sending us to engineering probably needs some retraining. Yeah. And then there was an error. The poor turbolift guy, he didn't know how to get us safety.
00:20:19
Speaker
It somehow redirected us to the bridge. but So I'm going to give it to the cargo bay woman for teaching civilian safety protocol. she She nailed it. She knew right away. by the way, though, they were telling everyone, move as fast as you can.
00:20:34
Speaker
That's also safe. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I don't think she was, it was the turbo lift gang. No, there was lots of people. They kept saying, move as fast as you can, safely. Oh, okay.
00:20:45
Speaker
Because they want you to move through the experience to knock down up the works. I think this could have been hornier though.
00:20:56
Speaker
Listen, it's Universal Studios Fan Fest and it starts when the park ordinarily closes. So it's 7pm, it runs from 7pm to 2am.
00:21:07
Speaker
We get drinks, we have to wear these wristbands, we can work around walk around the park drinking. But obviously Star Trek has a sexual component to it. I don't believe in this puritanical bullshit that's going on.
00:21:20
Speaker
So little horniness would have gone a long way. Like someone in that experience should have been a more like, it's wonderful to see you.
00:21:30
Speaker
You know, but because they were basically rushing us through instead of sitting in it made harder to do So did you get the full Star Trek experience? No, not really But all right, so check marry or kill Star Trek red alert Not compare what I wanted
00:21:54
Speaker
Not comparing it to Star Trek The Experience, which is a Mary, and that's just because I saw it and now you can't see it anymore.
Final Reflections & Comparisons
00:22:04
Speaker
Again, that one, you step on a transporter pad and then the lights go out and there's a big whoosh. And when the lights come back on, you're on the Enterprise. It's one of the most amazing things you could ever experience, so there's that.
00:22:19
Speaker
But... This puts you on the bridge, a real bridge that they used to shoot the damn show on. Yeah, that's sweet. And they do a nice job of trying to create the environment. I think... The photo op is cool too. The photo op is great. And it's in the corner. You would never see it if you didn't know it's there. it's I also think it's one of those things that needs just be up in more areas. They don't have that at Paramount Pictures if you go on the Paramount tour. they just seem to have that lock up there. Who wants to sit there?
00:22:44
Speaker
I think the food stuff is kind of not annoying, but I like that they put so much effort into it because I think it kind of paid off how much effort they put into it. It may not be amazing, but it's nice. So yeah, I'll give it a trek. I think this food is good, really good for Universal Standards.
00:22:59
Speaker
And the tricks. And as someone who is a seasoned pass holder, that's praise. All right, so recommend Trek. It's running the next three weekends here in Los Angeles. This episode is going up on Tuesday, so he's got three more weekends.
00:23:12
Speaker
ah Tomorrow, I'm going to be joined by four panelists, and we are going to, the five of us, decide which are the very best episodes of Star Trek Prodigy. It's called Just the Marys.
00:23:25
Speaker
And I will be joined by, from Mission Log Prodigy, Marina and Charlene. And from Steve Shives Show on YouTube, Steve Shives. And from Jesse Gender After Dark, Jesse Gender from YouTube as well.
00:23:38
Speaker
So looking forward to having all of them on tomorrow. Check that out. Thank you for listening. And until then, TMK out. Bye.