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Star Trek the Next Generation - Season 4 Recap
32 Plays6 years ago
We go into a brief discussion about every episode and give the season an overall rating.
Recommended
Transcript
Casual Star Trek TNG Discussions
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Starfleet Boy, where we have a casual and informal discussion about our beloved series, Star Trek.
00:00:34
Speaker
And we are back on a beautiful Wednesday morning here on Starfleet Boy, where we have a casual and informal conversation about Star Trek. Particularly right now, we're focused on Star Trek the next generation. We finally made it to season five, episode one. Redemption, season five, episode one. I thought we were doing the recap.
00:01:02
Speaker
I didn't tell you we're going to do the recap in this episode. It's going to be very casual and very informal. We can't do that. We've never done that.
00:01:13
Speaker
Are you sure? Do you want to just do a whole... Yeah, we always do a recap and then a separate episode. I mean, you're a Starfleet boy. You do whatever the hell you want. But it would be very confusing to do a season four recap and then the first episode of season five. So you're saying let's do the recap and then go and then stop and then do the other thing.
00:01:37
Speaker
The redemption party that's what we've done before but you are you're the boss rewind everybody Today on this beautiful Wednesday morning, we're going to do a recap of season four I Didn't think you'd mind Joining them together, but I I I'm all
Independence Day Recording
00:02:00
Speaker
for it. I'm all for doing a whole separate recap of said
00:02:03
Speaker
But that doesn't change something very important, which is today's Independence Day. So happy Independence Day in America. Sorry in the United States. I'm wearing my Paul McCartney shirt in honor of that. I've got red, white, and blue somewhere everywhere. So did you like that thing I sent you with Paul McCartney and James Courtney? That was great. That was great.
00:02:26
Speaker
The whole Penny Lane thing and then the gig in the pub. That was glorious. Let me tell you, he doesn't age. He's aged as that guy. It's amazing. It really is. He's a treasure. Now you've seen Paul McCartney in concert, right? Am I not mistaken? What? Have you seen him in concert? Yes, that's why I'm wearing the shirt.
00:02:52
Speaker
Oh, is this from the more recent concert? Yes, this is from the last tour that he's doing. I know he's got a new album out, but the concert I went to see him in was for his last album, which was like a year ago or so.
00:03:14
Speaker
He's a powerhouse. It's inspirational. Hopefully Starfleet boy will be just like Sir Paul McCartney. Will be like 900 years old and still doing that.
00:03:31
Speaker
That's a lot of Star Trek episodes sir. Hey Star Trek doesn't seem like it's ever gonna end So I feel like we have a lot to talk about But then we might be doing our TNG discussions redux Discussions about the discussions remember when we said that in the discussion in Completely wrong
00:03:57
Speaker
So since we're going to stick to our usual format, and this has now been reassigned as the recap episode, Doctor, I want to point out that you haven't been on a lot of the episodes this season of Starfleet Boy. So do your best.
00:04:16
Speaker
I personally it it's too early in the morning I'm still having my cup of coffee for me to recall who I did every episode with but needless to say there were a lot of episodes this season plus there were
00:04:29
Speaker
Within the Starfleet Boy discussions, there were also Star Trek Discovery discussions, so it was a pretty big chunk of episodes we did this last season of Starfleet Boy, season four of Starfleet Boy.
00:04:47
Speaker
Think also I just want to point out
Virtual Reality Experiences
00:04:50
Speaker
a few things. I want to give a few freebie plugs These are not endorsements. No one's paid us for this, but perhaps one day we will be paid for these things Wouldn't be bad but as you know doctor I went to Las Vegas recently. Oh, yeah Yeah, and this ties into two things. So I've always dreamt of a Experience like ready player one depicts, you know like kind of you put on the
00:05:18
Speaker
the goggles and like a body suit and you go into a virtual environment which by the way I saw the movie recently on digital and there's even more little Easter eggs that I know or just references I guess that I noticed that I think you'd appreciate like the silver cup
00:05:37
Speaker
building from Highlander. Oh, I did see that. That was unmistakable. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, oh my gosh, that's crazy. And then I didn't know this, but Gizmo's box is what holds the orb of whatever you would call it. So yeah, anyways, the point is, is I've always wanted to experience that because up until now you kind of put on your oculus or whatever and you're just sitting in your chair and you're like looking around and your character kind of
00:06:06
Speaker
Moves for you Well in Las Vegas and they also have one at Disney Springs and they might have one in Los Angeles there's this company called the void that does a virtual reality experience and they already have a And they've already been doing this for a little bit now But they have secrets of the Empire, which is a Star Wars. I know that's not Star Trek related Star Trek should get I'm gonna get comments on this
00:06:31
Speaker
It's alright, it's alright. But Star Trek should jump on this bandwagon. Anyways, the difference with this situation is you strap on all this gear and you actually walk through environments. Like you're on your feet and you're Stormtrooper and it was indescribable. It was like...
00:06:49
Speaker
What gear do you put on? Could you describe how much stuff? Yeah, so you have your virtual reality helmet with the goggles that slide over your head. And then you have a vest that you put on with a backpack. And that's it. So you don't have anything else on. And how heavy would you say all this is?
00:07:11
Speaker
It felt like five pounds tops maybe maybe ten pounds tops so you put this the stuff on they put you in a room and and I was there with four people so each of us stand in a corner and You enter the the dimension as they call it the dimension and it yeah, and as soon as you put your helmet down
00:07:32
Speaker
You're in the world. And not only that, the people that you're in the world with are in the same spot where you left them, but now they look like stormtroopers. And when you look at your hands, you know, I was doing this kind of like motion. I had virtual hands and they were exactly synced with my actual movements. You weren't wearing gloves though.
00:07:54
Speaker
No. Interesting. It was so wonderful. It was like an outstanding experience. Anyways, you navigate through this experience. There's one point, I won't give away too much of it, but there's one point where you're riding on this like kind of levitating skiff on Mustafar and you're outdoors. First of all, it feels like you're up high and you're moving because the wind's blowing through the environment. There's heat in the environment.
00:08:21
Speaker
the smell of Mustafar, you can smell Mustafar. Now, when you say you can feel the wind, is there something in the room blowing air at you? There's all kinds of mechanical tricks that augment the experience, I'm sure. And that's what I'm trying to tell you, is that you feel like you're there.
00:08:41
Speaker
It doesn't feel like anything I've ever experienced, and I was just so excited about what the future of virtual reality holds. And this is your glimpse at it. It's totally worth the $35-some-odd US that it costs to do this experience. So next time you're at Disney Springs or... I think I told you about this when I got back, didn't I? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. So this is for the audience then. Yeah, I'm curious about it, yeah.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah, so this is for the audience mainly. But yeah, I highly recommend this experience. And the reason and it's totally selfish. It's because the more people that do this, the more experiences will have like this and Star Trek, higher ups, less moon vests, if you're listening to this, you need to invest in a Star Trek virtual reality experience to talk to the people at the void. Is there not one in Vegas somewhere?
00:09:33
Speaker
Now Vegas used to have a Star Trek hotel, didn't they? So there used to be an actual, this was around the time of Star Trek V, there used to be an actual Star Trek experience in the, I think, what is it, the Hilton, I think? I'm not sure, I forget now. Which you went to.
00:09:54
Speaker
You went to? No, I didn't go to the experience when it was alive. I stayed in the hotel when the experience was closed and recognized because the bar still had all the designs. Oh, you got them forward. No. Quark's bar. It was supposed to look like the Nimbus Five, I think, or Nimbus Three rather. That bar, you know, kind of like... Oh, I thought it was Quark's bar. Okay.
00:10:20
Speaker
No, no, no, no. I don't know if it changed later on. Like, I'm sure they, like, tried to keep it going throughout separate iterations. But the prominent design features reminded me of the Nimbus 3, um... Okay. Uh, bar, yeah. So it had already been closed. Like, this was, like, something that I saw after the fact. Like, there was no more Star Trek memorabilia or paraphernalia or anything. You couldn't get any... It wasn't, like, supposed to be Star Trek themed anymore.
00:10:48
Speaker
but the bar looked like a future bar and I could tell that it used to be this thing.
00:10:53
Speaker
No, I wish I had gone to it when it was around but apparently there are a lot of rumors that there are going to be more Experiences now that Star Trek discovery is kind of re-energized the Star Trek You know, whatever you want to call the if you want to call it reenergizing You know
00:11:20
Speaker
Whatever qualms I may have about Star Trek Discovery. I do have to say that like there's a lot of Star Trek Interests now and it's not a bad thing. So
00:11:28
Speaker
Let's get to, so I covered those things that I wanted to talk about. Okay, your plugs.
Nostalgia and Recommendations
00:11:35
Speaker
My little plugs that I just felt very compelled to give. Was it just the one? I thought there was more than one. You seemed indicated. Well, no, I said Ready Player One. I just kind of, it came out on DVD or digital or whatever. So I think it's worth giving that movie a look because it's actually quite delightful, especially if you're around.
00:11:55
Speaker
Our age and our those of us that are entering our 40s or have been there
00:12:02
Speaker
are already residing there, yeah. Yes, exactly. I just joined the club recently, and it's, you know, there's a few complaints I have about body pain, but other than that, it's been good. Just more... Starfleet, boys. Starfleet.
00:12:26
Speaker
So season four started out with Best of Both Worlds, which we don't really need to talk about that episode because we both agree. I think many people agree that it's a phenomenal follow up to the Best of Both Worlds. And it kind of started doing this whole thing of part one, part two season closing and season beginning on a cliffhanger.
00:12:53
Speaker
which we get again this season. Then the next episode I did was Family, and I did that with our good friend, Moni, Ramon Miar, and that was a good little recap. It was sentimental for many reasons.
00:13:10
Speaker
for me personally but also again another phenomenal episode one of my favorites uh what do you think of that episode i don't know if i ever got your uh your thoughts i was i was on that episode were you yes
00:13:28
Speaker
No, you weren't. Doctor, you were not. No, doctor. You want to check the YouTube? While you talk about it, I will check the YouTube and I'll let you know. No, I think that's one of the best episodes of this season and the show. And I really wish that they had done something
00:13:52
Speaker
similar to to that little you know you had the this season opener concluding the cliffhanger from before and then you had a sort of a third epilogue you had a third episode acting as an epilogue to all that and and I wish they had done that going in in the future and that's a
00:14:19
Speaker
That is gonna echo later on in my assessment of season five opener that which we're gonna- I just scrubbed through the episode discussion for family and you're definitely not on the episode. Are you serious? Yes, I'm really honored that you thought- I could've sworn I was there. I love that you felt like you were there. I'm pretty sure I discussed it.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yes, I think we did brothers together, which is the next one. No, I don't think I did brothers. But maybe I'm wrong. Wow, that's crazy. This is a really great moment here to discuss how actually our memories are terrible. It's not just a thing that like, this is what neuroscientists have discovered. They've discovered that memory is very unreliable.
00:15:16
Speaker
I can't believe I was not on that episode. That's crazy. This is one of the reasons we need a database person. Tell me about it. For real, man. So anyways, by the way, I think it's very important we show Gary's artwork while we go through these. Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. But yes, Doctor, you were definitely not
00:15:44
Speaker
on that episode. I think it was something you would have liked to have done but schedules just didn't coalesce as it were for that so we didn't get to do that but by the way I don't know if I should be
00:16:05
Speaker
This is one of those moments where I'm gonna just go ahead and err on the side of erring. But our good friend Gary, who does all the artwork for the show, and he hasn't been on the show in a while, he's been very busy with his own content and also work. And also, now I understand a little bit more, he just got married.
00:16:27
Speaker
Oh, is that what his trip was? To Las Vegas. Yeah, he was there like a cup. We missed each other by a few days. I could have been a witness. Oh, you're kidding. At the wedding. Wow. So I just want to give a live long and prosper. Live long and prosper indeed. Gary and his wife who I don't know yet. Hopefully we'll get to meet her pretty soon.
00:16:51
Speaker
Wow, congratulations to him. Congratulations to Gary. And now we're going to talk and show the artwork that Gary does. It's so beautiful. Let's see here.
00:17:07
Speaker
All right, episode art, season four. And he just sent me over the first part of season five.
Art Contributions and Enhancements
00:17:12
Speaker
I'm so excited because it's like, it's bi-outiful, as they say. You know, it's great that he can, you know, despite it all, whatever he's doing, he still manages to shoot those out to you. He's a darling of the show, not just a friend of the show, but yeah, he's a darling of the show, Gary is. And so we really appreciate
00:17:35
Speaker
everything you do for us on Starfleet Boy Gary. And we can't thank you enough. So here are, let me see, getting a little rusty here with the sharing. So those of you listening on audio, I'm sorry you can't see this.
00:17:53
Speaker
Okay, let's see. Oh, it's all weird. So we're having a moment, a technical moment to install PlayPoint. Okay, next. Let's try it this way. There we go. And share screen. Application window. There we go. Share. All right, are you able to? I see a list.
00:18:22
Speaker
You see a list of images. Oh, hold on.
00:18:31
Speaker
There we go. I did the wrong the wrong thing. Now, now it is correct. There we go. That's great. All right. So the best of both worlds part one. And then season three. So then here's part two. Oh my goodness. What's going on with me? All right.
Recapping TNG Season 4
00:18:56
Speaker
Part two.
00:18:59
Speaker
And there's the beautiful artwork for that. And then family. The Rojankos and the Pickhards. Yeah, that's a great episode. Strong start to the season. Yes, indeed. And then if I'm not mistaken, you and I did this one.
00:19:20
Speaker
No. Nope. Nope. That was, uh, I believe that was Simon and Jamie in Canada. If I'm not mistaken. I think, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I'm, I think I'm, I enjoy the episode, but I, I wish they hadn't had so much family stuff back to back. I think that was a bit of a bit of overkill, but.
00:19:45
Speaker
Good episode. It was. And then we go from that to like, you know, Picard surrogate son, suddenly human. What did you think of that episode? Yeah, that's crap. That's crap. I remember me. I'm pretty sure it was you. I was on and I adore that episode. It's a great episode. It's a good episode for you too.
00:20:07
Speaker
Alright, and then we have, I think we both did this one and I love this episode. That's another good episode. Also continuing sort of the theme of family. And, you know, we're- And a lot of Tasha, so not, you know, knowing what we know now, there's a Tasha,
00:20:25
Speaker
Reference, you know a harkening back to Tasha here. Yeah. Yeah, the whole thing is yeah It's almost acts as a precursor to to what we're gonna find revealed
00:20:40
Speaker
with Cela and of course it's interesting, this is what we get when we look at the season as a whole, we can see these patterns and certainly the issue of family seems to be something, whether conscious or unconscious, seems to be running throughout the season.
00:21:05
Speaker
Then we have Reunion. Again, this is the theme of family. Future Imperfect, another kind of son moment here where this time Riker has a son and it postulates what gives you this idea of what would have happened if he had married his dream wife. Can we pause for a minute and just point out that
00:21:34
Speaker
We've got Romulans here in a major way. Yeah, it's true. And, you know, this is sort of, you know, my whole thing is always that, you know, Romulans are kind of like always in their early seasons, kind of at the edges of becoming the big baddie of next generation, but they never really
00:21:57
Speaker
Get there. I think they're undercut by the Borg or whatever but but yeah, that's sort of it's What if family episode in a way what if you know this had happened? And also, you know the the one with Tasha's sister also kind of what if we could have Tasha's sister on board the enterprise, you know indeed so yeah, I
00:22:27
Speaker
final mission the send off of Wesley Crusher as a reoccurring regular on the show and now he'll be just a guest star so we get Wesley's story wrap up nicely here with
00:22:45
Speaker
a mission with Captain Picard where they both have to use their Starfleet training as well as their friendship comes into play to survive a dire situation. So final mission. I liked this episode. I don't remember how much I liked it, but I do recall liking it. What about you?
00:23:08
Speaker
I haven't seen it in a while. I have very few memories of it. But again, continuing with the theme of family.
00:23:20
Speaker
on board the ship and you know continuity continuity is very strong this season as opposed to earlier seasons you know this episode has no residence unless you've been a longtime fan uh... you know same thing with uh... the tasha sister episode and
00:23:38
Speaker
and future imperfect. Obviously, if you didn't see that episode with Minuet all the way in season one, you have no idea about the reveal. So these are episodes that are rewarding long-time viewers of the show. I think the series at this point realizes it's got a lot of fans and it's time to capitalize on the love that fans have for the show.
00:24:04
Speaker
Um, excellent. Really good point. And I do like that. And I think that's why the later seasons to me are so much more rewarding is because while we don't get like the, you know, uh, sequence sequential, uh, um, uh, events that you see in modern television, as so many people like to point out. Um, I do think there are threads, as you say, tying you tying into other, you know, tying into past moments and they create this almost this kind of like,
00:24:36
Speaker
like story arc of sorts, but it's more character driven for sure, but I still like it that you get a lot of these moments. Then we go to the loss. I see Troy's crying in this episode. Yes, I can't even remember what this episode is about. No loss there.
00:25:06
Speaker
Let's let's glance real quickly at the at the At the description she loses her her abilities her empathic abilities apparently. That's her. That's right Didn't that happen before with the ox bridges is that this is that this episode might be the episode Yeah, yeah, how was I not on this episode? How was I not on this discussion?
00:25:30
Speaker
I remember this is the actually so this has this episode has like a really great sci-fi thing going on which is the the 2d creatures that are Causing the enterprise to be moved towards a cosmic stream. Yeah, I think that's the part I love about this They're 2d it's like that novel flatland
00:25:52
Speaker
Yeah, remember, I think you may have been on this discussion and we may have talked about the Doctor Who episode. I was not on this discussion. No. Do you want to know for sure if you were on this discussion? Yeah, I want to know for sure and I'm almost guaranteed that I was not on that discussion.
00:26:11
Speaker
Let's find out. I'm gonna go to our episode discussion. You know what's awesome is that you can Google search Really easily here. Okay, so no it's Sean, but I thought you came in at the end. Let me let me just make sure Well cameos don't count
00:26:33
Speaker
Oh, and Gary's on this episode, too. And yeah, no, you're not on this episode. This was cool. This was a Gary and Sean episode.
00:26:44
Speaker
Sorry, I didn't remember you guys. Or this episode. So I don't remember what I gave this episode. I'm sure I gave it an average rating, because I do really, now that I remember, I do like that science fiction part of it, like with the new life, the strange new life form that is introduced in this episode. And do you have anything to say about it? No.
00:27:15
Speaker
Data's day. Geez, what a creepy smile. So this was just an episode that followed Data throughout his day, just like an average day and Keiko and O'Brien get married. So that's about the most important thing that happens in this episode.
00:27:40
Speaker
We also find out that he has been in continual communication with Commander Maddox, the guy who tried to acquire him and take him apart. So I actually, I recall liking this episode. It was pretty good. You know, not, not the best, but pretty good. No, no, uh, no opinions, really. I don't remember it.
00:28:02
Speaker
great episode called the wounded and also the introduction of the Cardassians was the next episode and this had like a nice little reference to the man who would be king because the captain I forget his name and O'Brien's old captain and he sing and sit and sing that song at the end when they realize they've been defeated but here once again we have
00:28:25
Speaker
some interesting kind of like intrigue going on on the bigger scale. We find out that the Cardassians are moving. Again, this kind of sets up things for Deep Space Nine intentionally or not intentionally. I'm not recalling whether or not it's around the time, but I know DS9 I think starts this season or season five,
Introduction of the Cardassians
00:28:48
Speaker
right? No, season five. I think it starts in season five of TNG.
00:28:53
Speaker
We'll have to cross-reference it and verify. But anyways, good episode. I really like this episode a lot. Would you remember this episode, Doctor? Yeah, I think it's a great episode. Of course, it's also a showcase for O'Brien. Call Meany gets a larger role in this. And it's well deserved. And of course, he goes on to be
00:29:20
Speaker
one of the regulars on Deep Space Nine. And in the episode prior, he just mentioned, you know, it was his wedding. So it's interesting how he got, you know, a bit of a bump this season in terms of screen time and attention by the screenwriters. And, you know, the Cardassians are
00:29:43
Speaker
I mean, obviously they'll go on to be one of the landmark aliens of this era of Star Trek, and in many ways I think they finally fulfill
00:30:01
Speaker
what the Ferengi were supposed to be. They were supposed to be this new antagonist for the Federation, and of course the Ferengi didn't work. And it took until now for an alien species to fill that void. And the Cardassians are just, I mean, they're great. I mean, the designs,
00:30:34
Speaker
the aspects of their culture that we get to see in the episode.
00:30:40
Speaker
Really good episode, strong episode. Yeah, I actually, I think that's like something that's really difficult to do in Star Trek. I mean, obviously you can see with Star Trek Discovery, we keep going back to the same old stories about the same old wars and aliens since it chose to focus on the Klingons. And of course they're kind of bound by the fact that they're set in a time period where the Klingons were a main antagonist.
00:31:10
Speaker
I think Next Generation did something really wonderful with the Cardassians because, like you said, it introduced a brand new alien species. And one of the things that we talked about on the episode, and I think it was mentioned in Larry Nemechek's notes somewhere about how the Cardassians were head-to-head with the Federation.
00:31:35
Speaker
you know the goal in this episode went to a military academy and got trained this thin strategy the same as Picard and so you're right it wasn't like the Ferengi who kind of like you know are marauders or whatever you know pirates if you will and so
00:31:49
Speaker
This was a really interesting introduction, and of course the Cardassians become extremely fleshed out in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. But we don't stop seeing them in TNG, they come up quite a few times. They do, and you know what?
00:32:08
Speaker
It's a shame that for Star Trek, you know, for all these attempts like continuing Star Trek, we keep going back to, like you just said, you know, we keep going back to Klingongs and this, but, you know, all these, you know, I would love to see Cardassians
00:32:27
Speaker
in today's Star Trek.
Discussion on 'Devils Due'
00:32:29
Speaker
What would their ships look like? What would they look like? What actors could we get in Cardassian makeup? The Cardassians are really an interesting race.
00:32:48
Speaker
Devils do. I'm not sure, but I kind of think you were on this episode. Yeah, actually I was, yeah. I don't remember what we said about it necessarily, but my feelings are that whatever we said about it, it's probably on the average side of things.
00:33:10
Speaker
Although there are some great moments of acting in this episode, as I recall, especially on the part of Picard, but one thing we did notice is that he does suspect the Romulans are at play. There we go. Picard's very Romulan-centric here, but yeah, devils do, Ardra, kind of an episode that you might have
00:33:34
Speaker
even given to the queue or something like that classic charlatan exposed type episode something out of a book rogers episode yeah actually even the costumes had that vibe clues was an interesting episode kind of a little I guess a mystery caper
00:33:57
Speaker
episode that I thought was also very good because of the kind of the idea of this xenophobic civilization that tries to peacefully, as peacefully as possible, fend off visitors by erasing their memories of their encounter with them.
00:34:16
Speaker
But it goes wrong of course because data cannot be influenced by their technology and is therefore creates a conundrum and data has to follow Captain Picard's orders and so it looks like he's lying throughout the episode which
00:34:35
Speaker
brilliantly acted by Brent Spiner. And I just remember that the episode still, even though you know the outcome, the episode holds up because of the acting and all the technical, you know, things that go into this episode, making this episode what it is. So I really liked this episode.
00:34:55
Speaker
You know, these, I think one of the things that Next Generation seems to excel in are these little sci-fi puzzles, you know, sci-fi mysteries that they throw in every once
Sci-Fi Mystery Excellence
00:35:08
Speaker
in a while. This echoes the one with Dr. Crusher earlier in the season. It echoes even the one with Riker. You know, there's a mystery to be solved. And these little mysteries also serve to showcase
00:35:26
Speaker
A particular cast member and push them forward and they're the ones that really have to figure out what's going on and And that's what I like about episodes like this clues I wasn't on the discussion, but I would have given it high marks for sure excellent
00:35:46
Speaker
First contact, another great episode in my opinion. This shows kind of what happens when first contact goes wrong with a civilization and then you get a kind of a behind the, I don't know about behind the scenes but just a more detailed understanding of what
00:36:05
Speaker
one of the missions of Starfleet and the Federation is to discover new life and to welcome new civilizations and worlds into the Federation. And so on this episode, we start off with Riker kind of in a hospital and a bunch of alien doctors realizing that he's not quite from their planet. And I love it because it just
00:36:33
Speaker
this is something that like there's so many conspiracy theories and like kind of ideas about like aliens that have already been kind of on our own planet and it just kind of like highlights those kinds of ideas and I think it's just a great way to kind of
00:36:52
Speaker
parallel that in a science fiction story setting. Especially in the 50s in Roswell, there's a lot of stories and anecdotal evidence about the idea that aliens have come to our planet already. And then again, Enterprise does this as well with the Vulcans. And I just love these kinds of episodes that kind of like
00:37:17
Speaker
Linked to that idea and so this is a really fantastic episode in my opinion. I don't remember if if I talked about it with you I Have no memory of it to be honest, but it does recall Last season I think it was they did one called who watches the Watchers and
00:37:43
Speaker
where it's also kind of, well, they're trying not to make first contact. They're just kind of hiding amongst the, they're doing, you know, they're studying these people without initiating first contact. So, I guess as an example of the show trying to demonstrate the different types of
00:38:06
Speaker
I guess you want to call them planetary explorations where there's already an existing society and you know it I think maybe calls into question the you know the
00:38:23
Speaker
I don't know when you call it the morality of it, but, you know, maybe Starfleet needs to not do so many planetary investigations like this and just kind of... We totally... I think this episode, I definitely was on with Sean, maybe, and I think we went
Guest Appearances and First Contact
00:38:42
Speaker
over that. Also, by the way, this is BB New Earth's guest appearance, you know,
00:38:48
Speaker
She's also famous as being Dr. Frasier Crane's wife on Cheers. And I think she may have been on Frasier, I'm not sure, I can't remember. But anyways, but yeah, no, it was definitely something that comes up. Actually, it comes up in this episode. You realize that maybe this kind of sneaking around isn't a good idea. But of course, the Federation doesn't really learn that lesson because Star Trek, insurrection.
00:39:20
Speaker
We can all learn a lot from that movie. Many mistakes in that film. We get a whole film centered around the idea of relocating and interfering with other civilizations.
00:39:35
Speaker
yeah very good it was a very good episode doctor i highly recommend that if you do have some spare time that you go back and see this one because it's it's pretty pretty good uh good story there then we have galaxy's child uh which i think that that image says it all right there
00:39:55
Speaker
Which features the actual Leah Brahms. Geordie finally meets her and it's very awkward and very strange and very weird. And then on top of that you have this strange kind of, you know, charming maybe.
00:40:11
Speaker
a subplot about the Enterprise accidentally killing a space whale and then the space whale has a baby and Picard's totally obsessed with making sure this baby stays alive. So I don't know. I have mixed feelings about this episode. I don't remember how I rated it exactly.
Reflecting on 'Galaxy's Child'
00:40:34
Speaker
But, you know, just recalling now, I do remember that it's both delightful in some of the interactions between Jordy and Leo Brahms and just like kind of them getting to a point of friendship by the end of the episode.
00:40:51
Speaker
But then also, you know, the space wheel thing is just a little bit overdone, maybe. But that wasn't necessarily the A plot, so I don't recall. But I think it was an average. I liked this episode. Yeah, that episode sucks.
00:41:10
Speaker
You're just not. Simple, very simple. Then we have night terrors. That actually I enjoy. That's one where Troy is floating in the dreamscape or something. Yeah, so there's this the Enterprise is caught in an anomaly along with
00:41:31
Speaker
another ship and an alien ship and they each have something that the other one needs to
00:41:41
Speaker
I think the other, the alien ship is releasing hydrogen and the Enterprise has to release, uh, no, sorry, the Enterprise has to release hydrogen and then the alien ship releases something to trigger it and cause an explosion to free them. But throughout the episode, uh, you know, Troy's having these nightmares and, uh, the, there was a ship that was caught in the anomaly also where everyone kind of just killed each other cause they weren't having REM sleep.
00:42:06
Speaker
It was a very cool little science-heavy episode and I kind of liked it. It was actually a very strong Troy episode. I think Troy was actually used very well in this episode. And again, it's kind of a sci-fi mystery.
00:42:23
Speaker
Format and you know it allows for Troy to come to the you know to the center of the of the plot and Kind of figure things out so Totally and the only critique was of course the the effects sometimes are now dated
00:42:42
Speaker
I don't know what effects you're talking about there and you know where she's floating in that cloud it looks like she's on a chair and that the chairs but you know like I don't know no no no no comment
00:43:02
Speaker
Identity crisis where we have Jordy and several of his former crew mates are turning into these creatures and from your side I can tell.
00:43:18
Speaker
that you want to just glance over this episode and you know I think it was an okay episode I don't think it was great I don't remember what I said about it at the time but at the moment I can't remember anything cool about it except for the fact that you know LaVar Burton gets mad props for dressing in this awful weird alien outfit and performing
00:43:43
Speaker
I do remember that there were performances by him that all things considered were really good in this episode. Yeah, this episode sucks, man.
00:43:58
Speaker
The nth degree of Barkley episode. I love this episode. I think it's fantastic You know, I think Barkley episodes now are their own thing and and and lieutenant Barkley it just like this was like a wonderful example of just like a mystery unraveling and also, you know seeing what what
00:44:26
Speaker
what can happen to a human whose potentials are unlocked in this wild way. And so, Berkeley gets to be the unwitting recipient of mega intelligence and hurdles the enterprise towards the center of the galaxy.
Human Potential in 'Nth Degree'
00:44:44
Speaker
where we speculated that the inhabitants of the center of the galaxy might, in fact, since they're just giant heads floating around, that the god of Shakari may have been one of these aliens that was exiled to a planet. Oh wow, that's great. That's fantastic. That's fantastic. I mean, whatever, right? Why not?
00:45:13
Speaker
I do remember enjoying the depiction of the center of the galaxy in this episode much more than I enjoyed in Star Trek V.
00:45:28
Speaker
And that's all I can say about it. Great episode. Do you remember anything about this episode? No, I don't. And like you said, you know, Barkley episodes are just sort of a genre unto themselves at this point.
00:45:44
Speaker
And it's interesting that the show is expanding its palette of recurring guest stars. One of the things I want to do when we're done with listing the episode is just take a look at who's come back, who did we not see, who did we see.
00:46:02
Speaker
and Berkeley kinda joins the roster with Troy's mother, with Q. They are these characters that fans look forward to. It's like, oh, are we gonna get a Berkeley episode this season? So I think it's interesting that Next Generation has found, that they found success with Berkeley.
00:46:31
Speaker
Yeah, and I remember this year, I don't know if I ever discussed it on one of our episodes, but I listened to a podcast interview with Dwight Schultz and he's delightful. I would love to meet him. I would just actually love to sit and talk with him about anything. I mean, he seems to know a lot about technology and science and has an interest in it. And just Dwight Schultz, a huge
00:46:54
Speaker
Huge fan here of yours, especially after getting to know more about you as an adult here. I always liked your performances, but now I enjoy you as a person as well, or what we've seen of you as a person rather. I'm not a friend of Dwight Schultz yet.
00:47:15
Speaker
How very barkly of you to say that Then we have Cupid and speaking of returning characters exactly Vosh returns in this episode and then cue of course we get our annual cue appearance and this one takes place in Sherwood Forest and
00:47:38
Speaker
puts the crew in the role of the famous, you know, Merry Men and Robin Hood as Picard in the role of Robin Hood. And I just remember having a lot of fun with watching this episode and it did make me laugh out loud a couple of times and, you know,
00:47:56
Speaker
uh probably not an episode that i would just watch uh you know just you know not one of those episodes where i would be like oh i'm gonna watch cupid but since we had to do it for discussion it was pretty delightful to watch um and i enjoyed it and i do love vash and uh we find out at the end of this episode that um
00:48:15
Speaker
It kind of sets the stage, actually, for a future DS9 episode, which is really interesting. But Vosh and Q go off to explore the galaxy or the universe together, actually, because Q works on that scale.
Vash and Q's Adventures
00:48:30
Speaker
And later on, you know, she dumps him and ends up on Deep Space Nine. So that's actually the next time we see Vosh. I don't think we see her again on TNG, if I recall correctly. This is her last appearance on TNG.
00:48:44
Speaker
Which is a real shame. But I think that, to be fair, Vash wasn't ever going to be the love interest that Picard and the fans want for Picard because she's never going to settle down on the Enterprise and he's never going to leave the Enterprise. Well, that would have been the tension. That would have been the constant tension. But I will add to this is that this episode came out in, I believe, in 1891.
00:49:15
Speaker
And 1981 was a big year for Robin Hood. That was the year that Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was on the big screen with Kevin Costner and Also there was a and actually a I think actually a far superior version of Robin Hood with Uma Thurman and
00:49:36
Speaker
And Patrick Bergen, which was supposed to compete with Prince of Thieves, but instead it did in Europe, but on American screens it ended up being an ABC movie. Really? Yes, and it has an amazing cast. It has Patrick Bergen as Robin Hood. It has Uma Thurman as Maid Marian. What's it called? Is it just called Robin Hood? It's just called Robin Hood. And it has Jurgen Prochnoff,
00:50:06
Speaker
As, yes, I just have to say that name. So, yeah, I mean, you know, the great actor, of course, from the great German film, Das Boot.
00:50:21
Speaker
And many other roles. And many other roles, but I don't know how he's never been on Star Trek, to be honest. But Robin Hood was just something in the air. It was very, it was kind of odd. I'm not sure why Robin Hood was just of the moment in 1991. And of course, you know, Next Generation somehow managed to tap into that as well. Was the Robin Hood Prince of Thieves a Paramount?
00:50:49
Speaker
No, it was a Warner Brothers. Interesting. And then the other one was the entry from Fox. Oh, interesting. So everybody kind of had their little, you know, their little stab at Robin Hood that year. Well, I haven't seen the British version that you talk about from 91 with Uma.
00:51:12
Speaker
You're again proc now in it, but I can say that like Prince of Thieves is very much high up there on my list of Favorite films and I think it's kind of like it's just one of those movies that like really worked I remember I mean, of course I was a kid at the time and so, you know epically exciting especially like some of the camera work where the you know the
00:51:37
Speaker
the the camera looks like it's attached to the actual arrow remember yeah cool like interesting camera work and cinematography I guess and a fantastic score by Michael Caiman yep yep it's true and yeah and that's a Kevin Reynolds film Kevin Reynolds yes sir good job yes well I have it in front of me now so
00:52:01
Speaker
I'm cheating. I have the benefit of the internet ear with me but I didn't recall that it was a Kevin Reynolds film until I saw it. Michael came in and of course it was supported by probably an iconic song by Brian Adams which
00:52:21
Speaker
Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for. There you go. There you go. I think he should do a cover of the Enterprise theme song. He's got the. He should. The chops for it. Although the singers that does it.
Robin Hood and Early 90s Zeitgeist
00:52:45
Speaker
total props you own that song, so no need for it, but just as a lark, it wouldn't be a bad thing. Yeah, for sure. But odd that you would talk about how the mood of Robin Hood was around that time, so I saw a trailer recently for yet another... Did you see that? What time period is that set in?
00:53:09
Speaker
So there's this weird trend now to remake all these kind of classic medieval tales with a lot of just like modern music and
00:53:25
Speaker
out of context language. Yeah, and even the costuming, like there's a lot of scenes that looks like they're just, it's just happening at a club down at South Beach. I mean, it's weird. I think there's a specific audience that it's targeted to like the, it's like this teenage CW network audience. I know, but they don't come out in droves because that King Arthur movie
00:53:54
Speaker
Tanked famously the one that guy Richie directed and I watched it and it had its major problems Major problems it had some things that were interesting though I did like for example how Uther became the stone, you know like there were some really interesting things in the movie but I look at them as just not you know, there's already definitive versions of these stories and
00:54:16
Speaker
that we can rely on. Excalibur, Bormans Excalibur, Robin and Marion, Lady Hawk.
00:54:33
Speaker
Don't get me started. Speaking of Lady Hawk, and going back to Ready Player One for a moment, if you do have the chance to review that film in a digital format to rewatch it. Or Blu-ray. Or Blu-ray, sorry. Yes, so if you do have the chance to see it again, if you really enjoyed that movie that much, because I know you invest only in the movies that you love.
00:54:59
Speaker
In the guy who creates all the oasis at the end scene in his bedroom, there's a Lady Hawk poster on the wall next to Raiders of the Lost Ark posters.
00:55:16
Speaker
So yeah, it's cool. The references in the film just keep getting better. I just really appreciate, you know, I have to say for Ready Player One, you know, just another note is that I haven't had so much fun just re-watching a movie in a long time, like where I just want to, I want to watch it over and over just to keep seeing more of these references, which is pretty awesome. I haven't had that feeling in a long time. Usually I'm like, these days I'm like, oh, I've watched it once, I'm done. Right, yeah.
00:55:45
Speaker
So the Drumhead is a phenomenal episode. I think that it's just worth it to go watch our discussion because we pretty much talk about how awesome this episode is but has one of the best Captain Picard monologues. It has a few of those and just a great theme and discussion. The episode evokes a lot of discussion around
00:56:13
Speaker
the state of justice and it's always good to kind of like pause and wonder about those things. And also just a side note, this was an episode I did with Jamie and Simon in Canada and we went off on this side tangent about how the legal system's different maybe in Canada and we got quite a, stirred quite a bit of controversy with that episode. So it was a controversial Starfleet boy episode.
00:56:37
Speaker
Of course, the great Jean Simmons, who we see her photograph there, and she was a phenomenal actress, just a great actress, and it's probably one of the best guest stars to have been on the show.
Impactful Guest Stars
00:56:59
Speaker
Indeed.
00:57:01
Speaker
Kudos, kudos. Half a life, David Ogden Stires, who we lost this year, departed the Earth. And I think this is a really good Troy episode. I don't remember what you thought of it. But I think this is one of those episodes where it goes for, you know, it shifts from her usual comedic, you know, the expectation of her being a
00:57:27
Speaker
Comedy relief to like kind of a serious subject and I thought yeah, and I thought that Majel Barrett Roddenberry Delivered I thought she was phenomenal in this episode. I thought the performances were great the themes were great. We also see What is her name Admiral Kane From Battlestar, but Ensign Ro She's on this episode
00:57:56
Speaker
Yeah, she plays his daughter. Oh, that's right. Michelle Forbes. You're right. Michelle Forbes. Thank you. Yeah, Michelle Forbes, uh, plays his daughter in this episode. And of course we get her later on as a reoccurring character. And then Michelle Forbes is just the legend. Um, uh, and you know, Battlestar Galactica, I can't say enough about her as Admiral Kane.
00:58:19
Speaker
so yeah half a life great episode yeah yeah uh once again uh we're seeing a string of a very uh strong guest stars now and i i would not be surprised if this were a the time in the season where it's um what do you call it sweeps week
00:58:39
Speaker
And they're throwing out the heavy hitters. And people like this would, you know, these are the kind of actors that at that time would get people to notice the show. I mean, obviously, you know, people like Gene Simmons, David Augensteers, they would possibly
00:58:59
Speaker
attract somebody who had not previously watched a Star Trek episode. And they're doing episodes that are very much stand alone. You know, they're not very continuity heavy. You can get into it without having to know too much. I mean, in this case, obviously, you have Troy's mother, but you can figure out, okay, it's Troy's mother, and that's all you need to know, really. So it's a very strong episode, that one.
00:59:29
Speaker
The host, the introduction of the trills, and here we get a proto-trill. Trills change dramatically after this, and the next time we see them is on Star Trek Deep Space Nine in the form of Jadzia Dax. Actually, Curzon, we do see Curzon in that episode too.
00:59:51
Speaker
They're much more fleshed out. But here we have the introduction of the trills and It's a dr.
Exploration of Fluid Relationships
00:59:58
Speaker
Crusher episode. I really like this episode It goes through kind of like this interesting It's interesting now 30 30 years later how how much? humanity has kind of moved on and and and kind of
01:00:15
Speaker
I don't know, like society has kind of taken an interesting view on things whereas 30 years ago it was a different view and so we have Dr. Crusher having to face the loss of her lover who, you know, she was in love with this man and he dies.
01:00:35
Speaker
the host dies rather I should say and then the actual being the uh the trill um uh has to go into commander riker for a few minutes and that throws her into a loop you know for a few hours and that throws her for a loop and she has a tough time
01:00:52
Speaker
Howling that and then and then gets another host and then and this time it's a woman and she she just that's the threshold of dr. Crusher's You know ability to adapt and she can't do it anymore. And so she has to say no, I'm sorry You know, I don't think I'm involved in or humans. She says are ready for this kind of thing, but
01:01:14
Speaker
Of course, 30 years later, I don't know if that's going to be true about future humans. I think future humans are going to be a lot more fluid than Star Trek may have depicted them in this episode. But aside from that, this is a phenomenal episode, beautifully acted by Gates McFadden, and just a really kind of touching episode in many ways, with a set against this really bizarre context. So I really like this episode.
01:01:42
Speaker
I don't really recall the episode that well, to be honest. So, no comment. I mean, I do know it's definitely Sweeps Month because there's a lesbian kiss at the end, isn't there?
01:01:59
Speaker
No, there is no there isn't no that that honor goes to Star Trek deep space 9 as being the first to I thought crusher. Okay, never mind. Yeah, then it's the end of sweeps week Sweeps week is over because the lesbian kisses come out in six weeks Sweeps week I haven't thought of sweeps week in so long. Do we still do this? Oh
01:02:38
Speaker
I don't think so. I don't know. I don't think so at all.
01:02:41
Speaker
putting all these machinations into effect, and one of them is to turn Jordy into a brainwashed assassin. So what did you, this one was so close, we just reviewed it like maybe a few months ago, and I just remember liking this episode, it was pretty good. Yeah, yeah, this was a very good episode.
Shadowy Romulans
01:03:10
Speaker
And the whole, once again, bringing Romulans to the fore, kind of menacing in the shadows, shall we say.
01:03:26
Speaker
The big critique we had for this episode in our discussion was that this sort of hugely impactful thing that happens to Jordy, and it's even echoed at the end of the episode when Troy is debriefing him, doesn't go any further. It just kind of like- Doesn't go any further, no, not at all. Yeah, he bounces right back from it, or it's just not even talked about anymore, and we just have to assume that he struggles with it internally, and that's it.
01:03:53
Speaker
Right yeah, but still a very strong episode, but yeah, I wish they had been more repercussions from this episode for sure
01:04:02
Speaker
Then we get in theory, in which this is just like, I don't know what to say about this episode. It's Data trying to be in a relationship with a woman, with a human woman. It doesn't go quite as we expect or he expects, but it's an interesting journey nevertheless.
01:04:26
Speaker
He's very cold and robotic in the end. I reviewed this episode with my friend Jamie, and I just remember really liking this episode a lot, but it doesn't really do anything. It's just kind of like a buffer before we get to the real exciting stuff at the end of the season.
01:04:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember this episode and I don't think I want to. It does continue this trend of spotlighting data and sort of expanding the boundaries of the character and what he's capable of as an android emotionally.
01:05:20
Speaker
Wait, what was that last thing you said? Oh, that it pushes what data, you know, what his abilities as an android emotionally, what he can do, you know. Right.
01:05:33
Speaker
The actress who played Lieutenant DeSoto in this episode I thought was worth mentioning. She was pretty good. I think that the one thing that this episode
01:05:53
Speaker
you know if you have to watch this episode I think the one interesting takeaway is just that like it does highlight kind of this conventional idea of what a relationships ups and downs are like and I think that nowadays relationships
01:06:09
Speaker
depicted in more complex ways and you know rightly so because I think that like you can describe you can show more more types of relationships nowadays and we're seeing that in Star Trek Discovery and I kind of like that but you know I want to see something you know on Star Trek that's truly unique and and I think this episode tries to it touches on that I mean like an android and a human I mean that's a pretty
01:06:39
Speaker
wild idea for 1991, 92. But nowadays I think people are open to like wilder ideas. So maybe we'll see our first kind of like really crazy interspecies relationship on Star Trek Discovery that might be something interesting. Do you remember the episode well?
01:07:03
Speaker
Sort of, yeah. Does she stay on the Enterprise or does she leave the Enterprise? She stays on the Enterprise as far as I remember, but we never see her again. That's it.
01:07:20
Speaker
And then Redemption Part 1, we just talked about phenomenal episodes, really just kind of great wrap up to the Worf story, or conclusion to the Worf story, where he becomes dishonored and discommodated, this accommodation.
Worf's Redemption Arc
01:07:42
Speaker
from the Klingon Empire and you know Picard supporting him and and I'm excited to talk about redemption part two with you doctor because there's a lot I took a lot of notes
01:07:58
Speaker
I did indeed. I had the opportunity to watch it just before now so I have it kind of fresh in my mind but just we get some really we in redemption we get the introduction of the the Duros sisters and they become reoccurring characters and they're you know kind of a fun fun new aspect to
01:08:22
Speaker
Klingons because we never really see much about you know much from the Klingon female perspective and here it pretty much establishes that Klingons do see women as their equals and so they can be warriors as well they're not just you know serving
01:08:45
Speaker
as one would expect a kind of barbaric look for the Klingons. So I like that, and we get a lot more about Klingon culture and just politics and stuff like that. So this episode and the following episode really flesh out the Klingons in a new way. I thought it was a great way to kind of dive deep into the Klingons, among other things.
01:09:08
Speaker
Plus, we get Cela, who ties into a previous season's episode yesterday's Enterprise and brings this interesting new idea up. And we get her as, I guess, the manifestation of the Romulan threat.
01:09:29
Speaker
Kudos to Gary for that image, because that's from one of my favorite sequences in the episode when he's taking the long walk to the transporter room. Well, this is my favorite part of these season wrap-ups, which is I like to compare how many episodes each character gets
01:09:53
Speaker
and just my rough estimation. Now, of course, you know, Picard really is, I always argue, Data and Picard are the main characters on this show and they get the lion's share of the solo episodes. And by my count, Data gets about four episodes where it's really about him. And he's at the center of it.
Character Spotlights
01:10:16
Speaker
And Picard also gets about four episodes where he's really,
01:10:23
Speaker
at the center of the episode. I'm throwing in episodes like Cupid and stuff where, you know, obviously, and what I'm saying is that the episode would not happen if Picard were not there. And that's my benchmark. I'm not saying, you know, because obviously there's always going to be a captain episode. You know, obviously Picard is involved in all of these episodes, one degree or another.
01:10:47
Speaker
And then there are episodes like Family where it's just, it's really, it's a combination. Although, you know, I could maybe edge it to four and a half if I throw in Family, because really it is mostly about Picard.
01:11:02
Speaker
Mm-hmm At least that's who I remember. I mean I know that wharf wharf has Wharf is the next major story there, but I do think of family I think of the picards, you know and the vineyard and so well, then it's then we go to five then we gave it five Troy gets two
01:11:22
Speaker
Um, episodes where it's really her driving everything. I'm not counting the Lok-Sana episode because that's not really Troy. Crusher gets two, so that shows that, um, you know, the female characters are kind of like
01:11:37
Speaker
at the bottom of the ladder here. But I think it's about on par with what it was last season I think. I think maybe Troy got a few more last season to be honest.
01:11:53
Speaker
And then Geordi and Worf get a little bit more than last season. Geordi's got about three, which I think is more than... Galaxy's Child, the Mind's Eye, and what would you say the other one was?
01:12:09
Speaker
the one where he gets turned into the blue creature. That's right. See? I'm not saying they're good episodes. I'm just saying that he's at the center of it. I already forgot that episode again. Exactly. Terrible, terrible. The worst. And Wesley gets one and a half. I still feel like, you know, I mean, the numbers obviously speak for themselves, but
01:12:38
Speaker
I don't know I just get this feeling of like satisfaction that all the characters do get like quite a bit of screen time even if it's not like a whole episode I think that like that like they get like a good good amount of like Representation throughout the season, but yeah, I do think that obviously I can't argue with and don't even intend to I agree with you 100% that like I
01:13:02
Speaker
Picard Data and then wharf. I would say are the top three, you know sort of highlighted Characters if you will or the the ones that the most attention are given to and then I think we go back and forth as to whether Rikers the Number four. Yeah Rikers kind of the mill because I mean obviously wharf, you know, he's he's in the top he's in the top tier now with three and
01:13:29
Speaker
And Riker I think only gets about two by my count, but it's future imperfect is stands out and What else let's see. Well, I think I Think the one where he goes. It's the first contact one. Isn't that all right? So I have a riker one. Yeah, I have a wreck one. So that's two Yeah, so everyone gets about two episodes except for for the
01:13:55
Speaker
You know Picard, Data and Worf. Yeah, well Worf is recent to this list. And you know Geordi got three, so you know it's interesting. Another thing I've noted is that obviously with Wesley having less to do in the show, we have an uptick in O'Brien.
O'Brien and Keiko's Development
01:14:14
Speaker
And we get to see a lot more of O'Brien this season than ever before. And with O'Brien we get a new character.
01:14:22
Speaker
It's Keiko. We get Keiko. Yeah, of course. So it's kind of a two for one deal. You know, with Wesley out of the picture, there is suddenly more room for somebody like O'Brien and subsequently Keiko, who of course both of them go on to greater success on Deep Space Nine.
01:14:44
Speaker
I think Keiko is one of those characters that like I really love because at first you're kind of like oh yeah you know who's this character and you know where did she come from she claims to have had this the show kind of just like pops her in and gives her an instant relationship with Data and like you know all these things but she definitely earns the character earns that kind of investment throughout the rest of the series in Deep Space Nine of course
01:15:12
Speaker
Gosh, I really would love to see some kind of follow-up miniseries and now that there's a rumor. Oh, Arthur's like fast asleep. He's just over there having a nice little nap. That's my cat right over there.
01:15:32
Speaker
There's rumors that Patrick Stewart signed on for some kind of Star Trek gig coming up on TV, so I'm hoping, you know, whatever we call TV these days. I'm hoping it's a TNG-based...
01:15:48
Speaker
I bet that would get a lot of views or whatever. I have an alternate story. Big Finish, which is the company that produces the Doctor Who audios and many different audios. They do audios based off of Blake 7, Avengers, The British Show.
01:16:15
Speaker
Etc. They recently announced that they are doing audiobooks they're releasing audiobooks based on Star Trek and the wake of our and we just talked about this and I I am I am hopeful that perhaps that would be a the opening of a door to perhaps negotiations for them to produce
01:16:42
Speaker
audio dramas with the actors. I mean, right now these are just audio books. These are just a straight reading of these books. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. And they're not even next generation books. They're one of these other series that don't feature anybody that has appeared on television. But I'm hoping that perhaps this is just testing the waters. And I think the only way to truly see next generation as we remember it
01:17:10
Speaker
Is is through audio and in which a hundred percent we can you know, you know, we're capable of our using our imaginations We've seen enough episodes, you know to know what everything will look like Yeah, and and they can do episodes set within the first season, you know the seven season anytime any time and we just have to use our image, you know and and they just get the actors back and we could have You know, oh it would be Truly truly
01:17:40
Speaker
So where do you rank season 4 so far against the other seasons we've seen? I think this one has, right now this is the best one.
01:17:58
Speaker
that we've seen, really. On a scale of one to ten, what would you give season four? I would give season four an eight. That's very good. I think I would agree with you. I'm going to go ahead and give my rating as an eight as well on that. Anything else? Yeah, I wanted to ask you, in this season,
01:18:23
Speaker
Obviously, we saw a lot of returning people. We saw Q return as usual with Loxiana, Barkley. What character is this season? Are you surprised, never returned? That's always my question with these season summaries.
01:18:46
Speaker
I feel like the characters, it's Vosh. That's the only one that I'm surprised at because all the other characters kind of get a resolution to their story within the episode, all the other guest stars. And then Barkley comes back, if I'm not mistaken. He's got a, you know, an episode every season from now on. And then of course, he's also in first contact. He's in first contact. So he even makes it onto the silver screen.
01:19:17
Speaker
But yeah, I'm really surprised that we didn't see Vosh again. Just one more episode maybe in the seventh season or something like that just to say goodbye to her character. To that I would add the Traveler.
01:19:33
Speaker
Oh, and the traveler? Whom we saw and remember, remember me? Oh, you're saying who I'm surprised didn't come back at all. Yeah. But I think the traveler does come back or. Oh, does it? Oh, you're right. The traveler does come back. There's the Native American one. You're right. You're right. So I think he will. He will be back again. He will be back. OK, well, then scratch that off the list. And then I would add to that. I'm surprised that we never saw
01:20:02
Speaker
Any any of Picard's family Okay. Yeah, that's interesting that we don't ever see them and then of course the one part of generation I really disagree with Don't even go there It's kind of like Jedi does Yeah
01:20:23
Speaker
I fundamentally disagree with the choices that the director made dislike the story storyline there To do that to the character Picard. I thought was just like epically unnecessarily tragic and we didn't we didn't need that I don't think but
01:20:42
Speaker
Not at all. Poor Robert and poor, is it, wait, Robert's his brother? Renee and Robert are lost and it's just such a tragic thing. It's like, and then they don't even give us like a happy ending where Picard at least maybe finds love and, and well, I mean, we assume he and Beverly, uh, get married at some point, but we don't know if they have a kid together or anything like that. So.
01:21:07
Speaker
It's still up in the air, but, you know, one never knows. But yeah, Picard's story kind of leans more towards tragic than happy, whereas I think Captain Kirk
01:21:22
Speaker
you know despite like the well the fact that he you know I think Captain Kirk's story actually ended up happy you know like it loses his son demoted at one point put on trial several times loses Spock for a while
01:21:42
Speaker
and then dies out of time and then dies out of time i don't know you know you're right no never mind so i guess these just these two captains are very tragic i i don't know um but i would like to say that picard's story is not over i think despite william shatner continually resurrecting captain kirk um i think that that picard's story isn't over
01:22:06
Speaker
I will say though that I am hopeful that we can somehow have William Shatner's Kirk, his portrayal of Captain Kirk in the Kelvin timeline. I just, I really, I don't know why I'm such a lobbyist for this, but you know, that would be a nice thing. I would love to know what the rest of the audience and Starfleet Boy regulars think of that, but.
01:22:31
Speaker
How? I mean, it could happen. It could totally happen. I was surprised that we saw Leah Brum's back. That was not something I think there was a fan. I don't know, maybe there was, but I was surprised to see her back at all.
01:22:52
Speaker
Well, well, what it was, what's delightful about that episode, I think, is that it is the real Lea Brahms and Jordy has to kind of like, fess up to his internet stalking if you, you know, I mean, like, and I, you know,
01:23:09
Speaker
I think that all of us have had kind of an experience, not all of us, but many of us have had kind of an experience where we've admired someone from a distance, if you will, or just like, you know, and then you become their friend and at some point that they realize, wow, you really know a lot about me. Like, you know, because it's happened a couple of times to me anyway.
01:23:39
Speaker
So it's a relatable episode and you're right, it wasn't expected but I think it's an episode that was needed. I think it does help people understand and cope with something that really happens to people, I don't know. It's an interesting thing, it kind of gives you a little moral play, if you will.
01:24:00
Speaker
And of course, of course, Laura returned this season, which I was happy about. And I think after this, his story just gets more bizarre. Well, he has yet to meet the Borg, right?
01:24:16
Speaker
If I'm not mistaken, that's the next time we see Lorde. I don't think we see him again before that. So yeah, it's going to be a really strange story. And of course, my favorite Borg, we're going to be talking about him pretty soon. Yikes. Speaking of stalker. Yeah, there we go. I was very obsessed with Hugh the Borg when I was a young'un.
01:24:44
Speaker
Speaking of bizarre crushes, having a crush on a bore is kind of a weird thing. I don't know if you want to admit to that, but there you go, you just did. That should be an interesting episode to review.
01:25:04
Speaker
You know, with these... It's always interesting to see who clicks and who doesn't. It seemed to me that the character of Audra... Yeah, we talked about that. She seemed to be set up for future...
01:25:21
Speaker
Uh, but it just never happened just didn't I think it's too much like you have ara and once she's you know, she's been revealed as a charlatan and Really? She's just like a like I said, I think she's just like the cue, you know, I mean like the cue handles that type of story Well enough on its own, you know, so yeah, I wasn't surprised that she never came back I was kind of done with her and uh, you know, I thought um
01:25:50
Speaker
I mean, of course, with Cela, you know, probably that would have undercut that, but the character of Tasha's sister, even though she does stay behind on the planet, I just thought, you know, I wonder, you know,
01:26:07
Speaker
What would have been like if they had somehow run into her again? Considering all the complicated feelings that people had right towards her and you know Would we have gotten some redemption of that character? after the ending in that episode and then the episode that that you just we're talking about just the one where data falls in love with the
01:26:30
Speaker
What is the name of that? Lieutenant DeSoto. DeSoto, you know, DeSoto is still on the ship somewhere, right? I mean, I mean, I don't mean just rekindling something with data, but just to have seen DeSoto again as a, you know, in her, whatever her role is on the enterprise. It's curious that we never saw her again.
01:26:55
Speaker
You know, these one-off characters that we see on the ship and never again. There's a really good show that has a really interesting story in the real world called The Expanse. I think I've already mentioned to you. I really think of it as kind of like a love child of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.
01:27:25
Speaker
No joke, it's phenomenal television, phenomenal writing. And you know, I think that it's neat to see that 30 years later how television has truly evolved. And the show was a sci-fi show. Sci-fi does a great job sometimes with shows. I'm really impressed that Battlestar Galactica came out of
01:27:47
Speaker
uh sci-fi channel and and you know made its course but for whatever reason sci-fi was ready to drop the show they were done you know they i guess it wasn't getting the results that they wanted
01:27:59
Speaker
And so it's the first show that I can think of, at least in my sphere of likes, that has been saved by
Fan Campaigns and Media Influence
01:28:09
Speaker
the internet. There was an internet campaign to save the expanse and now Amazon Studios has picked it up.
01:28:17
Speaker
and they're going to continue the show so I highly recommend you watch it but this is something that I would love to see honest this kind of writing is something I would love to see on Star Trek and I think had Star Trek the next generation benefited from that kind of writing you absolutely would have had more interactions with uh lieutenant DeSoto and Data I think like the the
01:28:41
Speaker
the their dating would have been just in one episode condensed it would have been throughout the season like you would have seen them get together break up have to deal with the after effects of it and there would have been room for all of that i think modern television is very dense but if you follow it from episode to episode it's not hard to keep track of everything that's going on so
01:29:01
Speaker
I think, again, we've talked about this until you can't talk about it anymore, but TV, 30 years ago, was designed for syndication. Star Trek was designed to be syndicated, and there was no way to guarantee that audiences were going to see this show in order. But nowadays, with digital delivery and audiences can watch an entire season at their leisure,
01:29:30
Speaker
It's a whole different game and I really like it. I love the way television is now. It's more like faithful to, especially The Expanse is based on a series of books and I think you can be more faithful to those books and not just be in the spirit of and kind of like bring that magic, what you kind of like get out of a cinematic franchise, so to speak. You get it on the television scale and I think it's wonderful. We are truly in the golden age of television.
01:29:59
Speaker
Um, so again, I mean, I think personally, like, you know, it wouldn't be weird to have a second run of Star Trek, the next generation on television. Like nowadays, like, I think that would be a great
01:30:15
Speaker
place for TNG to continue is on television you know like now I'm just thinking about this but like if you had a limited two or three season run of TNG post nemesis like it'd be great because you'd be following Riker on the Titan like it would then you're talking two shows then no one show but following just these different disparate storylines like you would have to see you'd have to see how often is the Enterprise and the Titan gonna
01:30:46
Speaker
It just, no, the show just bounces from story to story. Like, I would be totally cool with that. Like, you know, maybe a whole like three episode run is just focusing on what you're talking about is the anthology format then.
01:30:59
Speaker
Right, yeah. Well, which was, by the way, the original idea that was pitched to the fans about what Discovery was going to be before they even named it Discovery. I don't know if you recall. Yeah, I kind of recall that. Originally, the idea, right. It would bounce around throughout the entire structure of the universe. Different eras, right. And the first one was going to be set in this era. And then all of a sudden, it turned into a show, I think, personally,
01:31:28
Speaker
That's the format that fans would like, and I think it would be great if you could. I don't think it's economical. I think it would be very difficult to accomplish in terms of the economics, because you're constantly building new sets. You're not saving money with sets. But it would be cool to have different eras of the series, of the various series,
01:31:51
Speaker
Reflected and then you could cherry pick and say okay. Let's bring back so and so and let's do this and Bob You know maybe it's not economical if you do it in These kind of like verse that we're used to but it could be economical if you got let's say Three episodes a quarter you know like you know so it would be like
01:32:16
Speaker
You know, just kind of like in the same format that Sherlock is, except a little bit more frequent, you know, not just three episodes a year, but more like three episodes a quarter. They're longer episodes. There's so many ways I think that it can be done where you can keep fans satisfied. And Arthur, Arthur is totally in agreement with me right now. Well, they could have done it like American Horror Story, where American Horror Story each season
01:32:43
Speaker
is
01:32:58
Speaker
It's basically a whole new story and I thought that's what Star Trek Discovery was going to be and I really feel that that's what it should have been because then all of this rancor against the show, well every season you're hitting the reset button.
01:33:22
Speaker
And you say, well, hold on, folks. The next season, we're going to come back with a story set in the next generation. And then you have a different thing. And then if the next generation story is good, maybe two seasons from now, you'll go back to it or something. But you just keep, you know,
01:33:44
Speaker
And it's a beginning, a middle, and an end. So I feel like you have more, you know, it's just, it lends itself to the way
01:33:53
Speaker
viewing seems to be going now, like you said, where it's digital, you go home for a weekend and you binge through the season. Or you watch it, you know, however you like. Yeah, exactly. Cool. Well, I'm happy that we decided to do the season recap as a separate episode. It was very nice. Any more thoughts, doctor, before we say goodbye to season four?
01:34:18
Speaker
Now let us put season four in the rearview mirror. We close the door on season four and we move on to season five and thank you for joining us audience and we'll see you next time. Live long and prosper.
01:35:46
Speaker
you