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TNG: "Schisms" (s6e5)
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POETRY IN COMMOTION. Data's Ode to Spot is about as lighthearted as it gets in an episode inspired by the alien abduction pop culture phenomenon. It's a terrific episode to watch ahead of Halloween, but is it a TREK, MARRY, or KILL?
The grades begin at (18:19).
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Next on Trek Mary Kill Spot Mot Clicks Energize Without warning and no explanation, an experiment in terror has begun. I've been in this room before. We've all been here before. Have crew members been kidnapped and memories erased? I need to know if anyone comes on or off this ship. It looks as though your arm has been severed and then reattached. And will they be sacrificed as human guinea pigs? Amanda Riker has been taken from the Enterprise. Next time on Star Trek The Next Generation.
00:00:42
Speaker
Hi, I'm Brian. Hi, I'm Kristen. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, wait wait i am i click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, there we go.
00:00:55
Speaker
Welcome to Trek Mary Click, a podcast where we dissect and analyze episodes of Star Trek, like a Solana gym based life form, conducting science experiments from a discreet subspace domain for reasons that we will never, ever learn. Kristen, we are deviating from the idea of themes for just a moment and taking a little pause from Star Trek Discovery season five, because even though you and I are on the record. Yes.
00:01:25
Speaker
I haven't seen any of it. Even though you and I are like... indifferent to Halloween at best. no It is still the time of the year where scary things are potent. And I thought it would be fitting to do a scary, as we've been doing in previous seasons, do a scary-ish episode or trending towards haunting episode of Star Trek. Cat's Paw last year in fairness was much more of a goofy ha haunted house situation. That was a legitimate Halloween episode.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, this is just creepy. And we're talking about Schisms, the sixth episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation's sixth season. It debuted in syndication October 19th, 1992. See, even they were saying like, we got to have a Halloween show for the kids. I can't do something spooky. Teleplay by Brandon Braga from a story by Jean-Louis Matias and Ron Wilkerson, directed by Robert Weemer.
00:02:22
Speaker
This episode has a lot of names that I'm very uncomfortable with the pronunciation of. I don't think it's Jean-Louis Matthias. I think it's Jean-Louis Matthias, because if it was Jean-Louis, wouldn't it be a compound word? Wouldn't it be a Jean? Not necessarily. no No, it could be Jean-Louis Matthias with Ron Wilkerson, but directed by Robert Weimer. I tried to find it online. I could not find a pronunciation guide to my satisfaction. You know what? i But he's got one of those families. It's like either one's fine.
00:02:54
Speaker
I know someone like that in real life. Oh, okay. Interesting. um Yeah, I guess there are other people like that where they're like, yeah, either way. I hear it either way. Or I was, you know, it's supposed to be this, but no one got the memo. So it's always, it's been this yeah ever since.
00:03:13
Speaker
ah Memory Alpha describes schisms as, Enterprise crew members report that they go to sleep, but wake up exhausted. A mysterious subspace pocket forms inside a cargo bay. This is teetering on a Mad Men description, Memory Alpha. Yeah. But Memory Alpha is Peggy has a decision to make. Don thinks of the future. Yeah. Roger gets a new car. Yeah.
00:03:45
Speaker
Roger's relationship is in trouble. Yeah, that's right. Actually, it would be like, it would be like Lane gets a new car. Oh, o oh, my God. It's such a good fucking gag, though. Oh, my God. It's amazing.
00:04:01
Speaker
British car is so horrible that he can't even kill himself with it. That's right. That's right. Spoiler alert for a 15 year old. Sorry. oh Sorry. What memory was not telling us about schisms, though, I don't think memory alpha has any mad men details in here. But anyway, but schisms is actually it's an alien abduction story, which and and that's happening to the crew of these aliens that that are accessing our basically our universe through a subspace pocket because Geordi was tinkering with the sensors to scan a very large area of space efficiently and in a cool way. It got their attention. They're like, where's the signal coming from? Let's examine it. There's some sort of beings. Let's take them and study them.
00:04:48
Speaker
And so that's what's going on there. Alien abduction stories, the alien frenzy of the early 90s, which was really a culmination of the paranoid 70s and the drug-fueled 80s. You know, we've got the MK Ultra program has fully come to light now.
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, there's lead in the air. There's lead everywhere, really. Drugs. People are using drugs recreationally, not ah message boards. The early Internet is kind of happening. yeah That's on top of zines and and people is going to Grateful Dead concerts, whatever. But the conspiracy stuff and the alien shit was in the air, which partly was fueled by print journalism.
00:05:32
Speaker
Yes, the ease with which you could print a grainy photo and have it remain grainy. In the crummy tabloid really perpetuated this, there's aliens out there, they're all going to get us. And like, they're going to abduct you. And of course, it's a joke, because people who lived in like the big cities, were like, why are aliens abducting only people from like, Iowa?
00:05:58
Speaker
and anally probing them. Right. So it's like obviously sexual assault. It's like ah it's a lot of of crop circles. By the way, I don't know if anyone's aware of this crop circles. That is a like people do that to get on the news. I just I don't know if anyone's aware of that. There's no phenomenon that does that. It's just people do it to get in the news. Well, that's the phenomenon. It's very easy to do. Like if you know anything about farming, like and you and a couple of buddies can go out and make a crop circle.
00:06:27
Speaker
ah Yeah, but I was into that because I was like a child. And I was like, what aliens? Not fully understanding that the military had experimental aircraft, our vision, the way light works, especially when you've got distracting light, you know, you've got light pollution, ah when you don't know anything about the world.
00:06:46
Speaker
It's all very exciting. It's all very cool. Did you remember when some guy was like, Oh, we felt weird. It was recently. They're like, we're releasing the aliens, the bodies of the aliens, but it was like in Mexico and it was absolutely just a pay from a Shay.
00:07:06
Speaker
Aylin, do you remember that? It was like maybe a year ago. I didn't see that. I just remember the train car or not the train car. I'm confusing that, complaining that with the X-Files. But like Fox, because Fox was the fourth network, they were very big on putting that stuff. The Jonathan Frakes meme of beyond belief that is That is dovetailing off of it's drafting off of unsolved mysteries, which would occasionally delve into alien stories. It's just an like and out it's extension of that whole thing foxx always had a special. Yes. On like Friday night of some like you know tales from, you know, and then they just made the action. X-Files, which encapsulated that was, so the X-Files is basically ah the culmination of it all. It's the, you know, Fire ah fire in the Sky came out earlier in 93. This episode came out in 92, schisms. X-Files came out in September 93, but that remember that D.B. Sweeney movie, Fire in the Sky, about the guy from the 70s who was abducted by Elanes?
00:08:06
Speaker
I can't say that. I don't know if it's a good movie. i've seen I saw it when I was younger, but the the last 10 minutes is him being hypnotized and recounting what happened to him. And so it's on this alien spaceship and it's all very alien and terrifying.
00:08:26
Speaker
You don't. And as a child, it scared me. And ah and I tried to watch it again as an adult. And I was just like, I can't can't do it. Not not at night. I got to watch it during the day. So it's too intense. But that was what's going on going on around what caused that what compelled this episode to happen. I'll talk about the development in a little bit more. But do you remember the first time you saw this one? I have no memory of seeing this before now, um except for the the poem.
00:08:53
Speaker
Data's poem that i've I've obviously seen but that is not really part of the story really. Right. As we'll find out, like the, that is a floating bit. Like they were trying to find the, like, they just had an idea card in the writer's room. Data has a poetry recital and then you're just going to find an episode. That happens in writer's rooms. Um, yeah, I remember this episode very much because again, into the alien stuff, but also this was like an episode where, uh, it was a, I was really in a Star Trek by this point.
00:09:23
Speaker
And in Northern California, I lived equidistant Sacramento and San Francisco, but we didn't have cable. Too many kids can afford cable. So the Bay Area station that you could get if you had cable, they showed their Star Trek U episodes next generation on Thursdays, but I had to wait for the Sacramento one, which was Saturday. So I spent a whole excruciating day. Did you guys have like the biggest antenna in town on your roof or what? No, we didn't have a big antenna. We just had a regular rabbit here. We got a lot of channels, just the rabbit ears. Uh, and then the, the, the ring for the UH, I currently have rabbit ears and the ring. It's the best way to get thinking you can get 10 80. Yeah. Uh, well, the picture looks great. yeah Yeah. So, I mean, I mean, it's it's a digital receiver, but so that's great. I was trying to explain it to my dad and he's like, Oh, well we don't have the service. Mike, what do you know?
00:10:19
Speaker
yeah Just like way back when you plug it in to the back of your TV and that's the service. There's no service. You just change the channel. Yep. He's like, hmm. It is funny, though, with all this technology that's put in TVs now, though, ah they don't have souls, but it does seem like they're like, you shouldn't be doing this. Don't you want to use the smart TV and connect to the Internet? Well, you see my remote and my brand new television doesn't have a number panel on it.
00:10:50
Speaker
So you can't type in the channel you want. You have to like scroll. Oh my goodness. It is, Brian. i I'm like, what what is this? could And by the way, nowadays, I don't know what it was back then, but yeah there's like 100 channels.
00:11:03
Speaker
that you can get locally. Oh yeah. I love all these new sub channels that are in here. There's one that literally just plays like gun smoke 24 hours a day. Yes. And then there's like a game show network, but it's not like good game shows. It's like where game shows went to die. but That's right. It's like the worst things you've ever seen. It's so boring. It's like a 1960s game show that clearly should not have gone past radio.
00:11:30
Speaker
This was the the episode that that actually helped me ah get along with the teacher that didn't like me and I didn't like because none neither of us didn't know neither of us knew that the other like Star Trek. And so this was like a like a crossover because they told me about it before I saw it. So I was like, ah.
00:11:50
Speaker
Cool. All right. So I remember very well and also being not, not creeped out or not, not terrified, but just creeped out by Star Trek, which it didn't usually do. So it was like a nice emotional change of pace. And I'm saving all that for the stuff I really want to talk about for later, because we're going to, we have categories for that. but Can we talk about how um spooky season is getting out of control?
00:12:19
Speaker
Is this a thing that grinds your gears? Yes. Speaking on it. I was at a day spa getting a massage on Friday, but you know, they play like that, you know, like the weird spa music. Yes. OK, they were playing like a spooky spa music that had like owls and and wolves like howling in the background like, like werewolf bar mitzvah.
00:12:46
Speaker
It was like spa music, but then like doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Like an organ and a theremin start coming in. Kind of but like the background was still like the normal like, you know, spa, you know what I mean? Like that, like easy, not easy listening, but like that weird.
00:13:08
Speaker
Any type stuff like but like ah not any of but any of the knockoffs, you know, I'm like, you suddenly realize you're listening to the Gone Girl soundtrack score. Yeah. And I'm like, this can't be fucking for real. Oh, but it is. Oh, my God. It's too much. That is too much. It's ah it's it's very. By the way, it it was September still, so.
00:13:32
Speaker
No, Halloween, it needs to be cordoned off. It belongs to October, just like Christmas belongs to December. And we we have Christmas creep already. there but we We allow Christmas after Thanksgiving here and the u in the US, God's country. I still think in Europe, they do it. Oh, they start now. Unacceptable. Yeah, it is. Unacceptable.
00:13:58
Speaker
But i' also, my son today, we're trying to get him to pick a Halloween costume. He's like, I don't like Halloween. I will not have a costume. And like, well, you need one to go trick or treating. He's like, then you'll be a pirate. I will be a boy.
00:14:15
Speaker
You could attempt him with the Solange in base life form. No. OK. Here, do you want to be a creepy alien for Halloween? Exactly. scare all the kids in school. Some production notes. This is from Memory Alpha. Although hardly the first Trek episode in which characters have been abducted by aliens, Skisms marks Trek's first foray into the phenomenon of alien abduction in the popular sense. Set designer Richard James compared the episode to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I love that that's his touchstone for alien abduction.
00:14:51
Speaker
like ah Brandon Braga noted, quote, getting kidnapped by aliens is not very fresh. I was more interested in those first four acts, the mystery and the weirdness and seeing our people losing their minds, which is not something you get to see ah very often.
00:15:06
Speaker
That's correct. An aspect Braga was very proud of in this episode was Data's poetry reading. He stated, quote, that was a decision to do a cold teaser and the poetry reading was an idea that we had been kicking around for quite a while. The things that's great about it, the thing that's great about the teaser is that it's still advancing the plot with Riker falling asleep, even though you don't think that's going to have anything to do with the story.
00:15:29
Speaker
Also correct. Great point. ah Actor Brent Spiner was highly impressed with Data's poem Ode to Spot. He recalls, I couldn't believe it because not only did it rhyme, but it's technobabble and also had something to say. It had a really sweet point of view towards the cat.
00:15:45
Speaker
I love when when you call ah your family pet the cat, the dog instead. Yeah. It's like, are you mad at it? Are you like trying to other it in a weird way? Like, it you know, the animal's name. No, it's the dog. I have two cats and I still go the fucking cat did blah, blah, blah. And like almost all like 95 percent of the time the other person will be like, oh, I know exactly what cat you're talking about because they do certain things.
00:16:17
Speaker
Well, maybe we'll talk about Data's poem in a second, though, because... Oh, we're going to talk about it later, for sure. She seems to not think that they have distinct personalities. Anyway, co-producer Wendy Noyce... Again, is it noose or noise? Sound editor Jim? Noose? Let's go with noose. Alright, Wendy noose. Sound editor Jim Wolfington and supervising sound editor Bill Wilstrom were the ones tasked with generating the clicks for the Solana gym based life forms. Was it a big pen?
00:16:50
Speaker
They wrote a whole script for them and then hired a group of five people to come in and do them. And then Wendy News, by the way, she was married to Patrick Stewart for three years. She was also in attendance at that Patrick Stewart Jonathan Frakes talk we went to. oh She was one of the people singled out in the crowd towards the end. In a way that made me go, wait a minute.
00:17:10
Speaker
Now that when I read it, I'm like, they were married and it was like, Wendy, from our production, not. That's why Patrick Stewart didn't say anything. He's like from my bed. Yes. From the farm, Mrs. Stewart. That's right. Director Robert Weimer, Brandon Braga and Michael Pillar were all disappointed at the look of the aliens and decided not to put him back. Oh, but for real?
00:17:36
Speaker
They decided not to bring them back despite the open ending. Braga stated, I felt they looked like monks, fish monks, and monks aren't terrifying unless you're a plant because they breed them.
00:17:53
Speaker
ah This is the last time we see Mott the Barber and Ensign Rager, and it's also the last time in the next generation that Captain Picard's Antedel is mentioned. RIP, Antedel. Yeah, another... They blew it with Star Trek Picard. We don't get another Antedel story or recipe or anything. It's like it never happened. Anyway.
00:18:16
Speaker
All that said, let's get into the grades. Sure. We'll start with grade scenes and I'm going to jump the line even though, because I'll let you talk about it, but it's status poetry reading is the first grade scene. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Like there's no question about it.
00:18:30
Speaker
I kind of think this is like one of the best scenes that the show did, ever did. One of the best scenes the show ever did. And certainly one of Data's greatest bits. And um going out on a snore, my goodness, what a tonal shift from what we used to see. Everyone there looks like they're sitting on a pin, like they're so...
00:18:53
Speaker
They'd rather be anywhere else. They sound like they're at church in the middle of a bad sermon and they're all- No, they look like they're on like hour three of some mass in Catholic church. there And it's like and and the um the the service isn't done in English, it's done in Latin ah still. hate So they're like, oh boy.
00:19:16
Speaker
ah Uh, should we talk about the poem now? The ode to spot specifically? Although the one, the one just came in. I have it in the best lines, but I didn't write the whole thing down, but I, yes. So it even has a chat. I mean, yeah, the other one is fine, but the ode to spot is the winner.
00:19:36
Speaker
ah It is such an amazing piece of writing that's like perfect for data, and it's just kind of fun to think about if you would not be so agile without its counterbalance.
00:19:51
Speaker
um But yeah, it's ah it's just very sweet. Again, no mention of that poem in Star Trek Picard. That would have been fun too. We did get spot though, so I won't. That's true. um Just all time. All time great scene. and Should we say anything? We're about that. Probably not. Yeah. What other great scenes do you have? And then after that, Jordy trying not to hurt Data's feelings. ah He's giving feedback about the poem. And the day's like, I don't have any feelings. It's okay. You can just tell me for real what you think. Right.
00:20:28
Speaker
Now, have you ever been clever? Yes. All right. One of the other things he says I have in a great life because I love their friendship so much. But I even as a kid, I was like, I think, you know, data enough by now to just be honest with him, you know, the answer. And also it's like because LeVar Burton is so, you know, he inspires people. Yeah. And it's like, you don't want to.
00:20:57
Speaker
Say, well, it was boring. It was boring. It was bad. Like, technically, it was fine, but. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like when he tells data like, no, you you accomplish something and it didn't sound mocking. Like if Nurse Chapel and Strange New World said it to you, you'd be like, are you being serious? Are you being? Yeah, I'd be insulted. It'd be a little insulted. But because that's not how Jordy is it, you know. So, yeah, that's a good that's good. I like that moment. Anything else?
00:21:26
Speaker
So I did actually enjoy. a little bit when everyone's on the holodeck and then they're trying to recreate what turns out to be ah basically a dentist chair. You enjoyed that a little bit? that i I love that. Well, I enjoyed it, but then when I saw that it was a dentist chair, I was like, oh. But I like that they're all going around. And by the way, when you're talking about dream interpretation, this is the absolute worst way you could go about it. You should not have people free associate or even like
00:21:57
Speaker
talk to other people about like, well, no, and then there was this, because then you actually aren't going to get an accurate a remembrance of the actual dream or an interpretation. But anyway, so for a while, it was like, Councilor Troy, the wheels have come off here.
00:22:12
Speaker
ah i That's part and parcel with the moment, though, is like they're not there. They weren't actually all having a similar dream. They were literally in and the same experience that actually happened. Yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of like she gets saved by the bell in a way. Yes, for sure. Because I was like, well, it was metal. And then I'm like, oh, man, we're going to go through like it's six different variations of what this is supposed to look like. But then it turns out it wasn't a dream. It was an experience.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's just a great sequence, a nice great use of the holodeck, creepy with the clicks and then, you know, people being shocked like we've been in this room before. I love the wharf part of it, where it's like wharf clearly seems affected by what happened to him. Like this is whatever happened to me was some dishonorable shit. I know it. But he's like, he's like, all all you can do is like share in the experience to try to understand what's going on.
00:23:11
Speaker
um And then, of course, we'll talk a little bit more about the the random basically the random Enterprise crew member who's yeah participating in this to make it clear that it's affecting everyone on the ship. Yeah, it can't just be the core crew because... yeah yeah Any other great scenes? Because really, the poetry reading and the trauma group and the holodeck were the only ones I had.
00:23:34
Speaker
My last one is, we've got a plan. We're going to pump Commander Riker full of amphetamines and put an air tag on him and hope he comes back.
00:23:48
Speaker
His tricorder will still work even when closed. Look. Which is a modification that the chief engineer of a starship needs to do for a tricorder. Yeah, that's funny. um Yes, that's good. That's the plan. I think I agree with the the production crew who are kind of like or Brandon Braga, the writer, was kind of like, I like the first four acts, the final act, not not as much into. Well, it's fairly hokey, like the effects are are really let it down and that those weird costumes
00:24:22
Speaker
um I was like, what do we do in here? Yeah, the the weird like moss that they have on the on the arms of the ah that thing, the platform they're in, the ceiling basically, it's like weird and you can kind of, I don't know, I remember it looking differently when I was younger because you had the 480 resolution and it was just dimmer. And somehow when they went and remastered it, I'm sure it was closer to what it was supposed to look like, but I probably might've said, let's see if we can darken this hole.
00:24:53
Speaker
it's Let's see less. like like started Like Star Trek Picard. Yeah, exactly. Turn the lights down. but no the worst I feel like the worst one is when Riker is pulled through the...
00:25:08
Speaker
Um, it's a bad effect. Yeah. yeah that effect It reminds me of this happened later, but on days of our lives, Marlena got possessed by the devil and they did this type of effects, which is soap opera. It's actually kind of impressive because they have like no budget, but it looked like worse than that. You have no reference point for this, but I'll send you a link. Best trek tropes. The lycra bedding and material in, uh, and towels in Riker's quarters.
00:25:39
Speaker
ah his He's got a regular pillowcase that looks like it's possibly at the very least. Hold on, so you're saying a microfiber, but the ah pillow underneath is Lycra for sure. It's like a shiny polyester fabric. So what you're saying is your best trek trope is I like when the production design reminds me of stuff I could buy at Marshalls in the 90s. You could not have bought this at Marshalls. OK. Because it's impractical to have Lycra as a bedding or towel material.
00:26:10
Speaker
That's why I like it. It doesn't absorb. like I see, I see. It looks good. It's so bad. um And we've already touched on this, but Data, he doesn't have feelings, so his art is not going to have the same feelings and soul as other art created by humans. But he has like the skill set that makes it technically like correct. He also has the inspiration to do it. Yeah. Why does he want to do it? He just does. and Yeah, because I mean, creating art is part of a human experience. He wants to be more human.
00:26:49
Speaker
Um, but I will say for anyone listening who's like, well, I don't know if I could ever write a poem, like honestly, just take that, take the ode to spot and even like just work on the, on the technique of it. And then you can just fill in the the rest of it with stuff that makes more sense. And the same for like painting, drawing or whatever. And Jordy's point actually, I think Jordy gave him some good advice, even if it's,
00:27:18
Speaker
maybe something he's got to kind of figure out a little bit more than certain things. But like, Jordy's like, focus on what you're saying, not how you're saying it. Like, what is your intention? Yeah. And and I thought that was nice. That put that as one of those two. I love that data as an artist or, you know, always tries to create something. That's great. I have many. I have many. So keep going. Okay. My last one is, let's try to work this all out on the holodeck.
00:27:46
Speaker
Oh, so great. I love, I love when they use the holodeck, uh, as like a forensic analysis tool. They recreate scenes and all that stuff. That's, I love that use of it, but also here's a great example of it's a great as a therapy tool. You know, you exposure therapy is like the obvious one, but like, here's this thing where they can like come together and, and you're completely right. Like this is not how you would want to like do the dream analysis thing. Yeah. At the same time, what is the harm? Ideally, you would have separated everybody and gotten them to write down what they remembered first and then gotten to the group. Think of it.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah, it was still I still think it was good that they were able to do something, you know what I mean? Like, even though they're just telling the computer to do stuff like the fact that they participated in making something together, that would be like a hundred thousand variations of tables. Yeah. ah This fucking computer is not going to be and then everyone getting just more precise in what they're saying, like more of saying it's a curved edge with that's three centimeters or whatever. Yeah.
00:28:46
Speaker
Uh, spot. I'm just going to put that as the best Trek trope deserves. It's own his own trope, his or her own trope. Cause the sex changes in the run of the show. That's is why I guess was spot dead or something or not around. Well, so.
00:29:05
Speaker
And it's an entirely possible spot. That is not the first spot that Data has had. Yeah. Because again, the sex change, but also, you know, he's an Android. Does he know? Did he know right away defeated all the time or? I thought he was saying like the last version was like more of a hologram or something. No, no. I mean,
00:29:27
Speaker
In generations, when the ship crashes and he cries because he's found Spot in the rubb in the rubble, um that that cat's alive. And that's the last time we saw Spot. OK. We didn't see him in the other movies. Well, it would have been funny if Spot was on the ship when the Borg assimilated it, though. That would have been some crazy shit. Or the alien ship took Spot and performed experiments on it, and the cat's like, meow! That's right.
00:29:55
Speaker
Or if when Riker was there rescuing Riker, Spott's just there, walking around her feet. Yeah, I was a little gutsy. That would have been epic. Like I can only save the cat or. And then they leave behind, which is sad, but then the aliens die because they're allergic to all the damage. Oh, yeah. And so I put Riker and Troy just hanging out platonically like they're at the poetry reading together and she's nudging him and all that stuff. ah The crew humoring data.
00:30:25
Speaker
which is a meaner version of everything Jordy did. But just the fact that it was so well attended. his yeah and And the fact that Jordy was willing to give advice when it was, it's what you said. It's like 99% like, well, I don't want to hurt his feelings, even though I know he didn't have feelings. But it's never nice to deliver, you know. you mean mean friend But also I think there was like a part of him was like, I don't want to have to go through all this. He gives a shit.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah, I have to say though, like every actor in that scene, even like a background guy that's not even fully in focus is like, Oh, Jesus. Yes, every single one. I mean, like, everybody and it's great. But I love it because it gives you that sense of like, where it is a community on the enterprise and like, Oh, that's data. We know what we're getting there. you know So it just I like that. And then It's not the it's not a best trek trope, but I have to put it somewhere because I want to say I just think the concept of a globe globular cluster is fucking awesome. It's a starburst of stars, tens of thousands or even millions of stars just chilling out all pretty, you know, in like a gravitational.
00:31:37
Speaker
ah They're entwined. They're just there. It's just this a section of space where guess what? It's a forest of stars. How awesome is that? Let's just be cool. And of course we don't get to go into it. That would have been cool to see. Anyway, yeah I like when Jordy's visor is a part of an investigation. If it's, it's like a clue, like either he sees something or as we see in this case, something's messed with the visor cause they he's been experimented on and he got an infection.
00:32:02
Speaker
um you already talked about the holodeck uh i'm putting this as a best trek trope even though i usually don't like i think it's a worst trek trope because it's usually an affectation here it's it's a symptom of the story which is very rare and that is everybody being sleepy and being ordered to get sleep remember You know, you notice in a lot of episodes, especially in Deep Sea Stein, they're like, and it comes around to like, the doctor can order you to get some rest. Get some rest, Major. I order you. Get rest. When was the last time you slept? And I know it's because, again, for network TV or like broadcast TV, you people are only watching one i of every four episodes. But for those nerds like me who watch every single one of them, seeing people talk about sleep every other episode was annoying.
00:32:45
Speaker
um I don't like when it comes back into the Berman era shows, but here it was integral to the story. So I think that's a good use of it. And then I'm putting this at my last best trick trope, the rotating frequencies as a defense mechanism, a little lingering ah tactical skill from the Borg encounters.
00:33:06
Speaker
Remember when the aliens are trying to close or trying to keep the aperture open to keep experimenting on our universe and Jordy sending that burst to close it and he's like, what if I change the frequency? I'll try to rotate the frequencies so that they can't keep up. So I don't know if that necessarily would work in practice. I just like it as a trek trope for techno battle. Where's trek tropes we have? um So two crew crew members are missing and I've left the ship. But is there there's no.
00:33:36
Speaker
The computer doesn't go, hey, two people left the ship. Yep. Like I can't get into my office without a key card. I can't use the elevator without one. Now are two, ah multiple crew members just leaving and coming back and there's no, like, oh, where'd they go? I guess it isn't that nice that they're not spying on them, but still.
00:34:00
Speaker
Right. that is the So that's the key is that that would not be the case now that we know how technology is used. It's like everyone's health would be tracked constantly by the computer. We can do that with our phones now and all that. I mean, that's what NASA still does and did back then was constantly track everyone's health stats and whereabouts. That's a great one. And that that one's like goes the story right away because then you wouldn't have a story. Yeah. Or the story would be different. Maybe I guess is probably the more fair way to say it. Why didn't they just beam the subspace material away immediately when they noticed it instead of going, well, we could cause it. We can't let's keep it in the back pocket as a solution. Like just do it now.
00:34:46
Speaker
This ship in Jeopardy in the final act is such false Jeopardy, not and only because everyone does not seem to be sufficiently alarmed initially. And even when it's revealed that Riker's arm has been dissected, amputated and sewed back on.
00:35:04
Speaker
It's still like, oh, well, OK. You know, oh, I guess we're dealing with a horse of a different color. Like, come on. ah The bit I love about it is like Riker comes back into the story because like the first act or so is like focused on Riker and then it kind of falls away as other people get brought into it. And then it comes back. He's like, they've taken me every night. And I was like, even now on all these rewatches, oh, right. This kind of was like a Riker POV story.
00:35:30
Speaker
Uh, I just think it's very funny that Jordy's listing all the weird things happening in the cargo deck. Like you're totally right. Like nothing that's happening to Riker is registering to people as that's not that bad. it's ah now It's not a concern. We don't even find out what happened to everybody else. That's true. That's true. Well, I mean, yeah, we get a sense of sense of like, something what did they do to data? and don't warf yeah yeah and Well, they probably were trying to cut him open like, Oh shit, this isn't even a person.
00:35:59
Speaker
I like kind of like the data part of it. I mean, that's kind of a whole other thing of like, oh shit, they got to data. That was, that's a big turn in the story too, but it's very consistent with what's established in the second episode of the show. When everyone's getting drunk and like data, you're a machine. He's like, ah, but I've got fluids and all this stuff. You know what I mean? Like to try to say like, I'm pretty close to human, just not totally human to be like, well, even their knockout gas or whatever data was pretty cool.
00:36:26
Speaker
um go well Oh, which, by the way, I don't understand how that worked. The knockout gas, the serotonin, a narrow. ah What do you call it? Like anesthesia, basically. That makes that releases serotonin. Oh, right. As well. I don't know, whatever. OK, but I like that. Just a little bit of amphetamines will counteract that.
00:36:55
Speaker
They, you know, the aliens didn't count on us having invented a whole bunch of central nervous stimulants. And my last one, alien abduction. I i don't like alien abduction stuff. Well, that's that's a you problem. OK, fine. I'm kidding. It's just this is done when they're revealed, it's done in a very hokey manner.
00:37:24
Speaker
yeah I do like the idea that these are aliens from a different universe and they've managed to sort of create a small portion of our universe in their ship or where the hell they are. And so that their abductees can survive. Right. But like I would like to explore that more, but not the clickety-click, click, click. By the way, the clicking would have driven me f-ing crazy.
00:37:54
Speaker
I don't think I'd be able to hear clicks again. Yeah, without like losing my shit. So especially if I was, you know, abducted him, I had my arm taken off and reattached. I think the show kind of agrees with you, though, Kristen, because it was executed so poorly. They're like, let's not do that again. Yeah. So even they they would agree. yeah I like the first parts of it and then the end. So that's actually a great worst trek trope. You totally nailed it. So um I still think it's a worse trek trip to have the open-ended mystery with this beam of light. What do they want? Where where are they from? but that You're setting this up. What happens? We get nothing. depend so and We better warn the rest of Starfleet. Yeah, and that's it. Never mention it again. And also, when did you notice when Riker is rescuing Rager? I practiced saying that before I said it.
00:38:44
Speaker
Uh, when he lifts her up off the the table, her foot accidentally knocks the phaser prop off of Jonathan Frakes belt as he rushes out with her. So technically it's cannon that Riker left behind a piece of Starfleet technology for them to study. So it's like a whole, it's right there on screen. It's like a whole thing. Um, wharf gets slapped down.
00:39:08
Speaker
Can't believe it. He suggests, well, maybe we could track them. And Jordy's like, good idea, but idiot, how are we going to get the signal to the source? And then Riker's like, give it to me. I mean, if you were to tweak that, how did would you tweak that? It's like, Worf might say, like, everyone should wear a tracker. You know what I mean? Why everyone isn't wearing one anyway. Yeah. Right. At the second, we don't know. I mean, he is the security officer, so I guess that's on him.
00:39:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah, this is all his fault. war It's not only slapping down war, but giving, shouldering the burden. And then the last one I have is the stilted dialogue in parts is kind of stands out as funny. The generic plain speak like.
00:39:56
Speaker
Troy's asking Worf about his dream, he's like, I do not recall. You know, i like just very straightforward language that everyone understands, but it's not character specific. And then you get lines where it's like it's a day player. And so she's not really delivering it with a lot of juj. So Kamenor is the name of the crew member. I think it's a last name.
00:40:18
Speaker
And it's played by the she's played by the actress Angelina Fiordelisi Angelina Fiordelisi, who was in Zorba on Broadway with Anthony Quinn. I went on to read. But this is her one episode. But I just thought there's still the dialogue in that sequence where they're all getting together and talking about the stream and then they go to the holiday. There's still those moments where she's like, yes, cold.
00:40:41
Speaker
And then like, long, it was long, the table. And just the stilted way it's being delivered is kind of, it's a worst trick trope because sometimes that happens. And I know that those moments are what stick in people's minds when they're not Star Trek fans. And that's what Star Trek gets remembered for. Sometimes it's the rough stuff. Most cosplayable character or moment? I put the barber. That's a good one. With the scissors. I put Lieutenant Hagler.
00:41:10
Speaker
the The dude who died. Not only do you have to wear the gray makeup on your body, and you get to wear the Star Trek TNG g red silk pajamas, and you also get to frost your tips or half bleach it in that 90s surfer style that he had. So, yeah don I'm going to pretend haggard. Now it's time for the line, Mr. Jordan. Great lines. So many great lines. I just put the whole onto spot poem, Fela's Cattus.
00:41:40
Speaker
Is your taxonomic nomenclature an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature? Your visual olfactory and auditory senses contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.
00:41:55
Speaker
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations, a singular development of cat communications that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection for a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection. A tale is quite essential for your acrobatic talents. You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance. And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion, it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
00:42:27
Speaker
Commander, you have anticipated my denouement. However, the sentiment is appreciated. I will continue.
00:42:37
Speaker
Oh, Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array. And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
00:42:55
Speaker
Right before that, I put the captain's log because there's a great insult in here. The enterprise has entered the Armagosa diaspora, an unusually dense globular cluster. Could you imagine? You're an unusually dense globular cluster. It's like a good insult. Unusually dense. Yeah. But in the in the poetry scene, I have always enjoyed commit Data's line, Commander, you have anticipated my denouement. The sentiment is appreciated.
00:43:22
Speaker
That was great. Jordy's line is reviewing Data's poetry. Well, it was very well constructed, a virtual tribute to form. Yeah. Okay. I also have, um, and so she said, if they're not squirming, we won't eat them by the barber. It's great. yeah Love it.
00:43:44
Speaker
Jordy, I've been in this room before. Riker, we've all been here before. It's it's a line for the trailer, but greg guess what? It fucking worked. Good job, everybody. Yeah. um Any others? ah No. Would this be a fun, hollow novel to play out? and No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Alien abduction shit is scary. They even got data. No, thank you. Yeah, it's gone too far.
00:44:11
Speaker
The Anton Carudian Award for Best Performance. I'm not jumping the line here. I'm really interested to hear how you wrote this down. um I'm going to put Prince Spiner for me for mine, for the poetry reading. Wow, we we picked the same one. I went back way i really want to say like I was ah it was a little difficult because I thought everyone did well in this episode. I think everyone had to play a couple of different shades. And I thought I really appreciated that. Even Patrick Stewart, who gets kind of goofy techno babble lines for most of the episode. yeah I thought he was great when he's trying to stay awake and kind of laugh at a joke and date his poem at the beginning. So like he's doing something throughout the episode. I thought that was great. But yeah, I mean, the Oda Spot is a timeless classic. So that then the Shatter, who do you have? The probing aliens.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's probably what it is, but I'm honorable mention then. He goes uncredited in the episode, Kristin, but I'm crediting him here because I don't think the Shatner is a demerit and Bro's blood got turned into liquid polymer. I'm talking about Tice Bune who played Lieutenant Hagler. He gets the wheezing and he dies and that's it, so.
00:45:33
Speaker
way to go. It took me a minute in rewatching to realize that she rings the bell like the the buzzer and he's coming to the door to answer. Yeah. So he like woke up in bed he's like great bit my blood is so thick. Yeah. The polymers I can taste. ah Shoot to thrill most exciting image or sequence. I also couldn't come up with a single one like I don't know, because a lot of this stuff is very hokey looking. Yeah, I'm double dipping here. I mean, this is probably one of the drawbacks of doing this grade for the 90s ones in particular. But like I think the the holodeck sequence is simply too good. Like that is a thrilling sequence where they're just going from a wooden table to a dentist chair. Yeah. And it still is pretty compelling. And the clicks and all that and the acting and
00:46:28
Speaker
Also, it's like I don't want to see Jordy in pain. I don't want to see Worf look like a shell of a man. Yeah, we all get that something bad happened, but we don't need to know who was sexually assaulted by the aliens. I do appreciate that Riker seems...
00:46:41
Speaker
Like he's glad to actually realize that, oh, this is real. You know what I mean? Like, cause for him, as we've been tracking him in the story, this has been tough and he's like, what's going on? But, but he's the only one of this group that actually seems to get some relief from like, Oh yeah, cool. It isn't, it isn't in my head. Uh, what part of this will he teach at Starfleet Academy?
00:47:04
Speaker
Don't modify the sensor arrays. when you show Sometimes when you shout into subspace, subspace shouts back. yeah with Could this episode have been hornier and would that have made it better? um I don't think anyone wants a horny alien abduction with non-humanoid super hot aliens, so no.
00:47:26
Speaker
You could have done a hornier version that's like the flyer crimes of the future or the substance, which I just saw. That's why it's on the mind. So maybe you could have, but no. And what does that made it better? No, the substance is an alien abduction. movie It's a body horror movie. So unless's i like you could have done it in a way that it's like in a body horror way, but.
00:47:45
Speaker
You know, if people if body parts are being removed and reattached, you know, their bloods being turned. There's things that could have made it even weirder. ah with I mean, yeah, I mean, the people are already being taken away, like without their consent. Let's not bring horniness into it. ah Yeah.
00:48:07
Speaker
And it wouldn't have made it better. I don't think I think I was um so needed to play on the the fears, the alien abduction, paranoia and all that stuff. And it was a great job of that. So that leads us into Trek, marry or kill schisms. I'm a trek for me.
00:48:22
Speaker
Yeah, Trek. I really am surprised, though, on the rewatching, because i this was an episode I taped and why i watched many times, that those the the poetry scene and the holodeck scene do so much of the heavy lifting to make this stand out.
00:48:37
Speaker
I, um, the credit though, I still agree with Brandon Braga's assessment of like the first four acts when everyone's kind of losing their minds. Like all that stuff is interesting. Does any of that stuff like equal great scenes? Not really. Uh, but those, those two scenes are so great. Uh, and, and Kristen pointed out a couple of other moments within those in the pockets.
00:48:59
Speaker
I also think like when data is like, oh, I left the ship for sure. Yeah. but I don't remember any of it. And it was like, oh shit, this is serious. Yeah. Yeah. Finally. My last, yeah, when data confirms.
00:49:14
Speaker
It's like, well, you guys are having weird dreams and can't sleep or whatever. So there is a moment when, uh, Jordy has been gone for 90 minutes or so getting examined and he comes back and data's like, I thought you were going to sick bay. And he's like, I wasn't sick bay for like an hour and a half. He's like, no, you left a minute. And they go, and then they asked the computer for the time and data data act surprised. And he goes, you are correct.
00:49:38
Speaker
And yeah I was so tired the last time I watched the episode, like I was kind of punchy. And I was like, if that was my friend that I was an android and he reacted like that, I'd be like, that looked like an emotion, Mr. Data. You looked kind of surprised. Yeah. So I just thought it was funny. But I also find it like now that we know what artificial intelligence really is like in day to day life, that it being more correct more often than not is like laughable.
00:50:07
Speaker
yeah So like, oh, you were correct. Yeah, no shit. Yeah, I know what time it is. Data, look at the clock. Yeah, come on. Don't make up what time it is. Yeah. Another successful trek in the Trek, Marry, Kill podcast next week. We're not going back to discovery just yet, baby. A couple of days, we're going to have lower decks. And then next Tuesday,
00:50:33
Speaker
Relativity, that'll be you and I discussing a 25 year old but old episode of Star Trek Voyager that has a thematic similarity to some Star Trek Discovery episodes that we're going to be doing after that. So. OK, well, then I will tell everyone check your voter registration.
00:50:51
Speaker
Yes. you should It that might be too late to register in some places, but a lot of places have same day registration or you can you know get a provisional ballot if there's something weird with your registration. That's right. The real spooky season is your voter registration. Wait, hold on. There's like a website. Is it just... Hold on. Is it vote dot.gov? I think it is, but let me just make sure.
00:51:17
Speaker
Yes. So you want to go to vote dot.gov to register to vote or update your registration. All right. That's an important civic tip. Also don't mess around with sub space. No in life lessons, uh, that we learned this week. Uh, be sure to rate and review us wherever you're listening. If you feel so inclined, we're on social media at check Mary K pod and on the web at check Mary kill pod.com. So until a couple of days from now, Katie Hampton will be joining me for lower decks. And next week when Chris and I will be looking at some Star Trek voyage episode, TMK out. Bye.