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TNG: "Darmok" (s5e2)
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THE MEME TEAM. Captain Picard fights a dude in a rhinoceros suit alongside an alien captain whose species only speaks in memes. It's an episode that's gained in notoriety exactly because of our cultural evolution into being -- or at least communicating more -- like the Tamarians. It's also a chance to look at the episode that begat Lt. Kayshon on Lower Decks. But is this famous episode a TREK, MARRY, or KILL?
The grades begin at (25:26).
Recommended
Transcript
Recap and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Marin, when he locks the gates. Patrick Stewart and Paul Winfield at Bronson Canyon. Marab with sails unfurled. A savage kidnapping. You're holding our captain. I want him released. And Picard is forced to play a dangerous game of survival. No! Now there is only one way to bring it back alive. And it's going to take me at least a full day to do it. Captain Picard could be dead by then. And it could lead to a full-scale war. Stand by the fire, Mr. War.
00:00:30
Speaker
We cannot survive another hit. Deadly encounter on another exciting episode of Star Trek The Next Generation.
00:00:49
Speaker
Hi, I'm Brian. Hi, I'm Kristen. Welcome to Trek Mary Kill, a Star Trek podcast with a sufficient measure of patience and imagination. And this week we'll be using every last ounce of both to create a rather famous episode of Star Trek, certainly of The Next Generation anyway. If you didn't understand what we meant in our opening there, that's fine. It all makes sense soon. Or will it? Yeah, that's true.
00:01:13
Speaker
I'm not so sure. You know, I'm not so sure. Maybe you'll just start firing phasers indiscriminately and hope it all works out.
Exploring 'Darmok'
00:01:21
Speaker
ah We're talking about Darmok, the second episode of Star Trek, the next generation's fifth season. It premiered in syndication September 30th, 1991. Teleplay by Joe Manosky from a story by Phil Lezebnick and Joe Manosky. They wrote it separately, worked on different parts of it. It was directed by Vinrich Kolb.
00:01:39
Speaker
Memory Alpha describes it. Picard is captured, then trapped on a planet with an alien captain who speaks a metaphorical language incompatible with the universal translator. They must learn to communicate with each other before a deadly planetary beast overwhelms them. Perhaps the best way to describe this episode is that the Enterprise comes across a race of aliens that only speaks in memes. Yeah, so like if you've seen the film Arrival,
00:02:06
Speaker
This is not that. it Right.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, in Arrival, they try everything and they can to figure out what these people, what these aliens are saying. And in this, this show, we've learned that everyone in Starfleet just throws up their, anyone who encounters these people just throws up their hands and walks away.
00:02:29
Speaker
Seven times over a hundred years, they're like, uh-uh, nope. that wasnt that Those five minutes were enough. We're discussing this one because as this month of October, we'll see the return of our monthly animated spotlights. I'll be joined once again by Katie Hampton, and we'll be going through Star Trek Lower Deck's second season, which kicks off its second season by introducing a Tamarian character,
00:02:52
Speaker
which Tamarians are the aliens in this episode, the ones who speak in memes. And so it's only fitting that we take a look at when the Tamarians debuted beforehand. Do you remember the first time you saw this episode? I don't remember the first time, but I was um a child, for sure.
00:03:09
Speaker
So was I. I definitely saw this. This was when my Star Trek fandom had taken hold. So 1991, this is the summer. This is the 25th anniversary year, ah which is crazy to think about. We're now approaching 60, but.
00:03:25
Speaker
You know, this is like I've watched the last half of last season and and I'm excited for, and yeah, and I'm excited for this one.
Cultural Impact of Memes
00:03:33
Speaker
I've watched that Viewer's Choice Top 10. I was ready to go. um Didn't understand the season premiere at all because it involves ah Tasha Yar's Romulan daughter. And that didn't I didn't understand what was going on because I had not yet seen both Tasha Yar dying or I had seen Tasha Yar die, but I didn't see yesterday's enterprise yet.
00:03:54
Speaker
So that was the season premiere. I was very confused. i kind of I don't think I saw the season finale, the the part one. So you just jump into- Our girl Tasha Yar. Yeah. Sorry, Tasha. Yeah. that Maybe if we'll do that episode, I mean, that's a best truck trope. She did try to fuck her way out of a situation. Ooh.
00:04:14
Speaker
but just like Tasha Yar. That's why she's our girl, Brian. That's right. it's um Yeah, i so I saw this when it when it first premiered as a child and many times since, which I'm going to mention again later, because it actually influences my view of this episode. But anyway, I think the meme comparison is an apt one.
00:04:32
Speaker
The term meme is a shortening of my meme, which comes from ancient Greek memema, meaning imitated thing. It was coined by British evolutionary biologist.
00:04:44
Speaker
Richard Dawkins, who I only know is problematic. ah But anyway, in the in the book, The Selfish Gene ah is a concept. It's a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles and explain the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. ah Examples of memes given in in that 1976 book include melodies, catchphrases, fashion, and the technology of building arches. OK. Was he one one of the guys that like smarmy, a little bit like smart teenagers we're into, but like to be edgy. I think so. And I also might be conflating him with somebody else. Just going to scroll to the controversies section of his Wikipedia page. Oh, he's transphobic. I knew there was something. Okay. Yeah. You come back to me there. There we go.
00:05:33
Speaker
Well, he's British. they yeah They seem to have a ah rash of him. Yes. ah Mike Godwin, literally the Godwin's law dude, is the one who coined the term Internet meme in 1993 when he discussed memes as spreading via message boards, Usenet groups and email with the rise of social media platforms. You know, that's that's all really taken off. ah Memes kind of in another way are sort of running. They're basically running jokes now. I think that's kind of the the broader understanding of what they are. ah But I know I was going to ask you what your favorite memes are, but I was trying to think of them and there's kind of like a vaporware quality to them where I know a meme when I see them, but I think my brain has them stored under basically Simpsons and 30 Rock jokes, which means they're deployed when my muscle reflex says time to use it. Yeah. and so with them Yeah. So yeah, it's like ah your body's fever response.
00:06:31
Speaker
But anyway, so I think some of my favorites are actually honestly like the very short lived ones where it's like a very it's based on something very timely that happened like the um Justin Timberlake. This is going to ruin the tour. What tour the world tour. We've already forgotten about that happened probably a couple of months ago. Yeah. And so I actually enjoy those except when people start thinking they're too funny. And then I'm like, no, this is like when people try to join in and there's not funny.
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah I think the Alzheimer's I think is one of them is the my blank shirt has a lot of people asking me questions already answered by the shirt. And also, of course, the sura second plan has hit the World Trade Center. That's the latest one. Yes. um Just that one's great. Anything with like some of the guy throwing a shoe, his shoes at George J. Bush also great. A lot of drill tweets you can repurpose or just you absolutely don't got to hand it to ah turning a big dial that says racism and looking back at the ah yeah ah jail isn't real. I tell myself as I close my eyes and try Chevy Bronco into the mall. ah Yeah.
00:07:47
Speaker
are Well, well, well, if isn't the consequences of my own actions. Yeah. um But a lot of these are just jokes. Yeah, those good ones. And in the episode, they do a really nice job, I think, of saying, you know, Juliet on the balcony, you know, they yeah give an actual example that's much more meaningful and sort of basically like our cultural ah shorthand. for But imagine trying to explain any meme. Yeah.
00:08:14
Speaker
Like the Castellanos meme or whatever, like any of it. Yes. To be an alien, you would you'd be there for 100 years. You still could. Like, it just doesn't make any sense. Boyfriend, his his gaze distracted.
00:08:29
Speaker
um Yeah. um Also, oh, gosh, what was the one I was going
Production Insights and Inspirations
00:08:36
Speaker
to? Oh, the ah the funeral guys. yeah afraid dancing around with the ah yeah coffin. I like that one. I mean, these are mostly like gifts, but like, you know what I mean? Oh, or like someone who's good at the economy. yes that's again trip That's a drill joke. this out My family is dying. Well, it's also like based on like a Kanye thing too. that's surprise
00:09:02
Speaker
So ah anyway, so this episode, like in the 90s versus today, I think there's there's a divide. This episode also at the turn of the century, as I guess millennials started getting, you know, positions with web websites and all that stuff. They start writing about this in kind of more pop culture ways of like, remember that time Star Trek did a meme episode or or this or that? And And I remember at the time it was a good one and people enjoyed it. I think it's gotten a second life here in the 21st century as actually resonates a lot more with the culture in terms of what it's about. But ah Memory Alpha, again, has a lot to say about this one. ah The episode had the longest justest gestation period of any episode during Michael Pillar's tenure, the showrunner of TNG, g taking around two years to make it to the screen. Rick Berman hated the premise.
00:09:53
Speaker
But pillar thought it was interesting. It was determined to make it work. So he finally gave it to Joe Manosky, who I think I told you about before he at some point got to a place where he could just go and like get high and big there and just send his scripts. And it's like, oh, Joe is tripping on mushrooms again. This is what he wrote. Like, that's that's what he was able to pull off like the super trippy ideas. And that's what ah the so the writing staff was kind of delighted by him in a way. So they thought, you know, Oh, we were stuck. Let's give it to the weirdo and see what he comes up with. And Rick Berman did change his mind eventually after this one was made. And obviously people liked it. He said this is one of his all time favorite episodes. um And also, I guess, credit to him for letting it go, even though he didn't like it. But maybe that was also just like the necessity of 26 episode seasons where it's like, oh, we got to we got to shoot something. What do you got? You got the weird one where they're all talking in weird. Nonsense, fine. Manaski's development. I have a little arc here. He was assigned to write this rewrite the script and he struggled for several days with no results. You can go on memory alpha and you can read sort of what the general but the original kind of idea of it was. And not as interesting, it was about them finding a kid who just wanted to play and kept repeating Darmok over and over. And it was basically like,
00:11:09
Speaker
Ball fetch like play not as good anyway, so he recalled so when Michael reconvene the staff to talk about it I truly thought that I might be fired but Michael was really excited He just seen dances with wolves and was completely Bono blown away by the scene with Kevin Costner's character in the Native American warrior around the campfire who don't speak a word of each other's language and but finally make themselves understand. Michael announced. That's it. One man, one alien alone on a planet around a fire. They don't know each other's languages. They struggle to overcome their differences and finally break through to communication. And maybe this big monster. It's I love TV, Kristen. Like where they like press for time dances with wolves. So I saw the way dances with wolves had a fucking choke hold on like
00:12:01
Speaker
white people of a certain age. That moot was the first movie I ever saw with an intermission in the theaters because it was three hours long. And my first time seeing that movie, that was the night where I got my chickenpox. Like I got chickenpox in the theater. Oh my fucking god. I was I got the like a chill. Kevin Costner must pay for this and that fucking haircut he has in this movie.
00:12:27
Speaker
Oh my God. yeah He doesn't change his hair at all. No. It's Kevin Costner 80s hair. It's ah his Robin Hood Prince of Thieves hair. Or is that afterward? That's afterward. Whatever. It doesn't matter. He didn't change his hair for that either. It's Field of Dreams. Yeah, Field of Dreams hair. Never change his hair for anything. Except maybe Waterworld, which it turns out that didn't matter. Waterworld, he changed his hair because he was balding. Yeah. yeah It does did not matter for that. He couldn't. It didn't matter.
00:12:52
Speaker
but it but yeah he By the way, this if you have not seen this film, it takes place during the Civil War, the American one, like a long time ago.
00:13:05
Speaker
Uh, I just remember getting the chills and putting my knees and my arms inside my shirt and like sitting in in the chair in a ball. Cause I was so cold and I could feel the first, uh, I had like a third nipple. So the first like, uh, get it from that feed. No, no, I know. But I'm saying, but in my as a child, that's how I always interpreted it. You probably gave it to some oh probably did. Yeah. So anyway.
00:13:33
Speaker
So a few happened to grow up in the Sacramento area and went to go see Dances with Wolves and got chickenpox circa 1991. That's, there you go. That was for Brian. ah He wrote a four-page memo Joe Manosky did, not Kevin Costner, after this meeting where he thought he was going to lose his job. yeah Uh, and then I'm not, I'm not going to read the whole for four page memo. There's a ah Twitter account called Trek docs and and they post a lot of like old memos that people had laying around that they never threw away. They scan them and post them. So I'm just going to read the conclusion of his four page memo in terms of what the average viewer might take away.
00:14:11
Speaker
Too often we see communication difficulties between individuals and countries as a problem of ignorance or even as a result of one side's madness or refusal to listen to
Philosophical Themes and Storytelling
00:14:21
Speaker
reason. In reality, we could be dealing with very different ways of looking at life in general. So I think that's like an interesting germ of an idea. And I think the final episode kind of is a couple of football fields removed from that thinking, perhaps, but it's it's there. I can see it. I just think it's a nice idea to think kind of a ah thoughtfulness that feels absent from a lot of TNG g and on-era Star Trek. Like I told you about Plato's stepchildren and
00:14:52
Speaker
And, uh, Oh, the one where they're half black, half white. Why can't I remember if the episode now, but so absolutely married your last year, let this be your last. but Thank you. Well, I, I remembered one of you nailed it. came mark the Time and day. I got the Tamarian's language in my head. Okay. I was, uh, so. hu But in those, you could see the development. They had an idea that they very much wanted to put in the episode. And again, in the later shows, it's just like we the trains moving. What are they doing in this one? Sci-fi shit, let's do it. So is it emotional? Barely fine.
00:15:29
Speaker
And so the final bit about the development is the story about Gilgamesh and Enkidu is from one of the world's earliest known literary works. It's a Babylonian poem entitled The Epic of Gilgamesh, said to have been dated around 2150 B.C. to 2000 B.C. According to Manaski, the similarity between the actual story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu mirroring Picard and Dathan at Ella Drell is, quote, a combination of writer's luck and the inevitability. I don't think so. But that's such just like a nice thing to say. Oh, it was a happy accident that I actually that the plot mirrored the story. I have the character tell um anyway.
00:16:14
Speaker
Michael Pillar remarked of this one, I just think Darmock is the prototype of what Star Trek should be. It dealt with a very challenging premise and many of our best shows are scripts that have been around a long time. He created a whole language for that episode and it's just astonishing. No, he didn't. The episode worked on every level and had the philosophy dealing with language and what it does for us, two great acting performances. It had a monster and a space battle. It had everything.
00:16:40
Speaker
This is why we're doing our show, remember? Because sometimes the producers will come out and say like, doesn't get better than this. Like, well.
00:16:50
Speaker
This is not me tipping any grades. i've just been like When I read the comment after watching the episode, this again, I have thoughts on how many times we've seen this episode, but on this ah last series of rewatches, I could not shake this feeling watching it. A couple of other notes. These are production ones. This is also the first appearance of Data's redesigned quarters, the previous set used for Data's room. I like them. They're nice.
00:17:12
Speaker
ah The previous set used for Data's Room was modified to serve as Kirkenspock's quarters in Star Trek VI, the undiscovered country, and was demolished after filming was complete? That sucks. Yeah, by accident. So that those quarters in the movie are like too nice for Data. Are we thinking of the same movie?
Production Quirks and Fan Interactions
00:17:35
Speaker
No, and in Star Trek VI, they're pretty basic. Oh, wait, no. I'm thinking of... um They split. No, yeah. but No, it's basically, it's like too spacious for data, if I remember. I just watched this one, right? Didn't we just watch this one? Star Trek VI? Yeah, or for that other podcast that we were on.
00:17:54
Speaker
Oh, right. ah Well, they what they did was they just took Data's quarters and they they made two rooms out of it because Kirk is like in a bunk ah basically when he's recording his captain's log and then the other side of the wall would have been Spock's quarters where he's giving Kim Cattrall the wine, yeah talking about how she can she's going to succeed them and all that. So like that's what they did. They just literally split that big quarters that data had and they made two quarters out of it. And then they demolished the whole thing. Oops. Yep. Doing like the TNG gs ah crew got the set and like, hey, what happened to our set? Like, oh, we threw it away.
00:18:37
Speaker
yeah like um OK, ah they they might have looked at it as these changes were so extensive that it might actually be it might just make more sense to build a new one, especially one that we could because that set existed from when like Gene Roddenberry was alive.
00:18:55
Speaker
ah or he wasn't dead yet. yes Yeah, he was still alive. But yeah yeah, but I mean, like it was built in the 80s under slightly so like now we know what the show is all this other stuff. Maybe we just need to get and like we can make this set modular for our other needs. You know, I mean, like we can make this its own swing set. So maybe they that's what they did. Yeah, there's some sets in television that are like they don't look that complicated, but they actually kind of suck to shoot around. So but for a film, it's like you don't really care. Yep.
00:19:23
Speaker
ah For some reason, in the original version of the episode, the Enterprise fires phaser blasts from its torpedo tube, which gets corrected in the remaster. But you can still see it on the Blu-rays in the episode preview, the original shot. And I'm not kidding because I saw this as a child. Again, Star Trek fandom, I'm in. i'm until like i've I've been brought into the fold. I'm ready to go. And I was as a child going, what? That's where the torpedoes come. Do you think they got they they had to get letters like right away? months From 12 year olds to 72 year olds.
00:19:58
Speaker
dear radtenberry care of paramount studios The only thing I can think while rewatching this episode is that Jordy and Worf were doing modifications to the phasers to get the exact kind of beam they wanted and so someone must have had the idea, well then the fire the phasers might come out of a different spot to do that. Yes. Especially if we're looking at where they're positioned, the two ships, maybe that's what they were thinking. But it was weird. I didn't mind it enough. But I guess if you're doing a remaster and you have a chance to do these little tweaks, why not? Yeah. So there you go. Yeah. I wonder if they're and I bet at conventions, they're like, M, excuse me. That's what it was. All those years. All those years. And every fucking convention. M, excuse me. I have a question about Darmock. It's the SNL sketch with William Shatt, if you have not seen that, you absolutely
00:20:59
Speaker
Need to. That was the style of question I asked Michael Dorn when I was 11 years old. That makes. Actually, my question was, I'm just going to say it was, why don't you fire more photon torpedoes? They're more destructive. And he goes. He was like, what? Well, if I did that, ah there's I would be out of a job because the ship would blow up. So he had a great answer. OK, good.
00:21:24
Speaker
because he's probably used to being asked embarrassing stupid questions. So, I mean, they don't let people do Q&A's that much anymore, but like at, I was once at Comic Con and they're doing like an adult swim panel and like the guys are just asking the dumbest fucking questions and one's like, um, the music you guys play during the, um, the commercials. Can we get a CD of that? And there's talking about like library music that like the studio has and like, no.
00:21:51
Speaker
yeah I mean, you can probably just find it and it's like, OK, thank you. Do you remember that Twitter thread of someone obsessing over a song ah that was being played in in a bar scene of the X-Files episode where Michael McKeon and and ah and Mulder switch bodies? No, I have I missed that one.
00:22:12
Speaker
So there was a very long Twitter thread of something like, what is this song? It sounds really cool. It's like a country Western song. It's like really interesting. And someone found, they figured out that it was, cause not just as their library music that people get, but there's also sound alike and not ah mainstream music. What am I trying to say? It's the same. no that there is Okay. So it's still library music yeah still library music, but there's some library music that has vocals and lyrics.
00:22:39
Speaker
Yes. That are just songs, like straight up. They're just songs, they're written, but they're royal they're royalty free in so far as like, you don't have to, like, yes, you still have to pay like ASCAF and BMI and all that, but you don't have to like send a check every time, like individual check every time it plays or something. It's a pretty solid tune and and they did find it in this Twitter thread, so that was pretty cool actually. That's the stuff you like to see.
00:23:04
Speaker
The call sheet dated July 18th, 1991 featured, quote, an uncast actress in the role of Lieutenant Larson. In the final episode, this role was not Lieutenant Larson. It was Robin Loeffler and the uncast actress was Ashley Judd. Oh, wow.
00:23:25
Speaker
Did you see her? Did you catch her? No, I don't think Jordy's asking about the resonance frequency of the beam. And she's like, that's Ashley Judd. Oh, OK. Yeah, I actually have that down in one of my one of my grades. And I believe she is basically like, don't ever talk to me about Star Trek. It never happened. Yeah, that I did not clock that as Ashley Judd.
00:23:48
Speaker
But if that was her only time, then yeah, don't ask her about that. She is in it another time. She plays Wil Wheaton's love interests in the episode where video games give the crew orgasms the game. Cool. Yeah.
Character Highlights and Themes
00:24:03
Speaker
This is the first episode which introduces a new captain's uniform, a gray undershirt with an open red jacket. Again, being new to Star Trek or like my fandom being fresh. I was like, what's going on here? Why does he look different?
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah. ah The uniform was designed by Robert Blackman to make Captain Picard stand out from the rest of his crew at the suggestion of actor Patrick Stewart. I mean, I i have another explanation. Bobby. Until later. Oh, I can't wait to hear it. You know, Bobby, I don't look distinguished enough. Anyway, ah Patrick Stewart referred to the this episode during the funeral service of Gene Roddenberry, who died less than a month after the episode aired. Stewart noted that the cast had just appeared in an episode dealing with the roots of mythology and metaphor. Joe Manosky recalls, he used it as a way to validate and praise Gene's creation. That moment might have been the proudest I've ever been about anything I've written for Star Trek.
00:24:56
Speaker
Imagine being eulogized by Patrick Stewart. I bet that's great. But if if Patrick Stewart elives me, that that would be sad. But still, if it has to happen, ah see if see if he's available. If OK.
00:25:16
Speaker
You heard it here first, folks. It's what Kristen would have wanted. ah Time for great scenes. I don't know. I don't have the Temerian version of podcasts when the format changes. atto mime Yeah. when Yeah. Okay. I have four. Me too. My first is Worf.
00:25:42
Speaker
is convinced that the captain has simply been put into some kind of fighting ritual and he has so much faith in his abilities as a warrior. He's not worried about them when um they're all in ah the ready room talk or wherever the conference room. Observation now. Observation, I'm sorry.
00:26:02
Speaker
you know, the conference room. yeah ah They're all talking about ways to get him back or what's going on, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, well, no, I have confidence in him as a warrior. And that's nice. But everyone else is like, no, this seems dangerous.
00:26:17
Speaker
ah Mine was before, my first great scene was before that. It's the first night on the planet with Picard and Captain Dathan, when Picard can't start his fire. So Dathan offers him some, and we see this Tamarian spiritual practice, which is like throwing dice blocks up into the air, seeing where they land, and and saying, oh, I guess i guess the that guy in the weather balloon going into the power lines, that's bad.
00:26:43
Speaker
ah But Picard's slowly realizing in this moment that Temba has arms wide as a sign of generosity or sharing. Idiot. What else do you think he was doing? He saw you, you were struggling with the fire. He tosses you fire and you're sitting there hemming and ahing and trying to understand it. Anyway, it still was a really great scene. ah What else do you have? So, I mean, calling it great is um
00:27:10
Speaker
Uh, maybe it's not the right word, but it's entertaining. So that wacky fight with the stupid dinosaur entity monster thing. I was dying. Like it's very corny, but at the same time, like serious. yeah how was a corn really Because the special effects are really bad.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yeah, it was very serious. It's a guy like it's a guy like a Triceratops. Yes. Head head thing. Like it looks like ah it looks like a Power Rangers ah villain or something. Yep, it is just a traitor.
00:27:44
Speaker
so and they And they obviously were like, well, that we can't put this on air as is so like, well, let's make it some kind of being that.
00:27:55
Speaker
You know, an electro an electromagnetic creature. Yeah. So we'll just have, you know, static around. But it's like perfect television of Justice Picard is figuring out what's really going on here, what they're what he's communicating to him, actually. And he's like Cappy. And they actually are fighting this monster together. Then, of course, the Enterprise sticks Riker sticks his dick in the situation and they beam out Picard, try to beam him out at a critical moment, which leads to like Oh, yeah. That was great. And you said you had four. So you have two more. What else do you have? Because that was one of mine as well. When Captain Picard and the other captain are talk telling mythology around a campfire. It's heartwarming. Yeah, that's I wrote. It was a ah very long and beautiful scene. um but You know, Picard realizing a danger shared might sometimes bring two people together.
00:28:54
Speaker
And then Picard tells Dathan the story of Gilgamesh, Dathan dies, it's it's just beautiful. it's I have watched this episode so many times though, Kristen, you know it's like when you read a word, so many times the word loses meaning and you're like, what is, am am I saying that right now? like i forgot So as I was rewatching, I'm like, are there any great scenes in this episode?
00:29:17
Speaker
ah Yeah, i I've seen it so much. I'm like, is that grave? Is it? Yeah, of course. It's Darmock. It's it's just been picked over and watched so many times. But I just have that feeling. And I'm still not getting to the point of the thing that stuck in my craw the whole time.
00:29:34
Speaker
since watching it again. But yeah, just it's just a very nice moment that I guess I kind of forgot. Like, no, it's actually great. Just you've internalized it so much. It's like part of who you are is that that campfire scene where they're exchanging the stories and Dathan's dying and all that. um And then I put. Oh, go ahead. What else? yeah um My last one is Jordy and Ashley Judd in engineering when Riker tells them to, you know, like hurry up and fix the transporter.
00:30:02
Speaker
And they're just like rolling their eyes like, okay. That's like a moment. Well, see, you're touching on the part of the episode that bothers me tremendously, and that's the whole Riker part of this episode. um But I put as a great scene, my last great scene was when Picard comes to the bridge and reports to the Tamarians after he's been rescued, but, you know, reports that he's understood the lesson. And having watched the episode so many times now, I'm like, I completely understand what he's saying to that. Like as a child, I was just absolutely stumped. I'm like, I guess he's saying the right words. ah But yeah, it's it's great. the Those are all great scenes. ah Best Trek tropes.
Star Trek Tropes and Humor
00:30:48
Speaker
First contact. Yeah, this is well, I mean, it's not really first contact, though, is it?
00:30:55
Speaker
true but let's just do it anyway yeah i mean it might as well for its de facto first contact because every asshole who's ever come into contact with these guys like uh they speak of gibberish let's go yep like uh you guys want to figure this out no no no and they probably just wanted like trade natural resources or something right um yeah jordy is going to fix fix it, but he's going to need a certain amount of time, but he's going to get done much faster. First officer's log. We got a lot of them, and they get the bad part is that they get testier and testier. Why at this first captain's log? I thought that one was the best of all. Oh, yes. Yeah. um And being a little bit up like disappointed, he doesn't get to land the shuttle on the planet and then like die defending his captain.
00:31:46
Speaker
We're being upset he doesn't get to die. It's always great. So 47 that when the computer begins listing all the known meanings of the word Darmok, we get a summary. And in the conclusion, there are 47 known things called Darmok. Computers search for the term Darmok in all linguistic databases for this sector. Searching Darmok is the name of a Seventh Dynasty Emperor on Conda Four.
00:32:16
Speaker
A mythohistorical hunter on Chantill 3. A colony on Melindi 7. A frozen dessert on Tazna 5. A stop search. Computer, how many entries are there for Darmock? 47.
00:32:33
Speaker
But the reason why I'm putting as the best Trek joke is Joe Manosky, the writer of this episode, is the one who first started including references to 47 in his scripts in the fourth season of TNG. g And it became an end joke among the staff, which eventually died out in Deep Space Nine. But there have been, ah but there's been references to this number 47 in all the TNG era shows, I think, and in the movies, the newer ones. ah The origin of it, the significance of it is traced to Pomona College, where Joe Manosky went to college. ah There's a club at Pomona called the 47 Society, which claims that there exists a mathematical proof that all numbers are equal to 47 and that the number 47 occurs with greater frequency in nature than other numbers.
00:33:19
Speaker
74 makes frequent reappearances as well as 23 half of 47 rounded down. So I'm just putting in here as the best Trek Chope because I mean it comes up and I think I've ignored it for the most part but I think it's just the Monosky Monosky Monosky stuff. This is like very much his brain this episode and ah and that should include it here.
00:33:41
Speaker
Data providing a specific number for for a general thought. You know, Troy says she's encountered more civilization, aliens than she can remember. Data remembers his body count. He goes, I've encountered 1,754 non-human races. And then I'm putting it as a best trick joke for the first time. Calling out shield percentages.
00:34:04
Speaker
Oh, this is the first time it actually makes sense. The first volley from the Tamarian vessel knocks out the starboard shields to half and takes out the forward shields completely. So he goes forward. He goes starboard shields down to 52 percent. Forward shields are gone. That's the first volley. I got it. I got the jeopardy right away. ah So don't mess with these people. The only time you will see this, you think?
00:34:33
Speaker
I got to imagine it's incredibly rare. It's certainly the first appearance on our show. I think so. Yeah. Sure. I mean, so we'll have to keep a running tally. Yep. Just like worse. Yeah, that's right. Previously, there have been one thousand seven hundred and fifty four instances where it was a worse trek draft yeah ah worst Worst trek tropes, speaking of. Good thing Captain Picard was wearing his jacket in case he got kidnapped to a location shoot.
00:35:05
Speaker
You think this is the reason? Yes, because it's cold out there in Bronx and Canyon at night. So they redesigned a whole new outfit for this outdoor shoes. Yes. Exactly. He's like, Bobby, dear boy, sometimes we go outside and I get very cold. It's cold in here. Rather cold.
00:35:28
Speaker
I should like to avoid keeping it dry. Sure. Oh, I just wanted to stand apart. OK. All right. Sure. Sure. Yeah, I'm not a fan of the of the captain's coat and sweater. Not really. It wasn't really. Well, when they're when they're going to be outside. Makes sense, but he didn't know he's going to go outside. So why are we wearing it indoors? We all know. But luckily he was. I'm I think this is one of the most egregious
00:36:00
Speaker
times for this horse trek trope, and we know it's a TNG one, but smacking down Worf, it literally happens twice. I got that, yeah. It happens in the end of the teaser. And Worf is right. In the first one, it is sort of a ritual. It's a gambit more than a ritual, but it's- It's like, but I have faith in his abilities as a warrior, he's gonna be fine. And everyone else is trying to mess with it.
00:36:30
Speaker
That's how racist it is. Like, Worf is saying like, ah our captain will be fine because he's awesome. And they're like, no. We have to save him. You're not appropriately worried enough, Mr. Worf.
00:36:43
Speaker
But the first time was, you know, Worf's questioning the Tamarian's intentions, and both Troy and Picard give him the business. They're like, everything they've done is peaceful. They've extended a hand, let's be kind. And then again, that second time, at least he stands up for himself the second time around, where he's like, well, if we fight, at least it ends the stalemate, which is that's what you want, right, Riker? And then Riker's like, well, we'll do it if we have to. And then Worf's like, that's all I'm saying. Like, that's literally all I'm saying.
00:37:12
Speaker
And I think this is, I don't know if this is the worst Trek trope, but I have to put it here.
Character Critiques and Linguistic Challenges
00:37:16
Speaker
So Paul Winfield, this is his second appearance in Trek, of course, the most famous one. I don't know now, in the 21st century, this might be the most famous one, but in the 20th century, it was 100% Captain Tyrell in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. In both instances, he's dying.
00:37:33
Speaker
for the captain of the show. And I think even in like his autobiography or something, he's like, yeah, I played a lot of roles where I died for the white man. Like that was kind of his legacy on film and TV. And so I'm just putting it here because it's like i I'd like to think we're doing better in the 21st century with our tropes and our storytelling. And I'm not sure, but it's worth putting it here. He's doing the same here, teaching Picard a lesson. And it's Riker's fault, to be honest. He that death is on Riker.
00:38:03
Speaker
Um, that is, I'm just going to say it here because I don't, I don't think I actually wrote it down anywhere. I thought I would just come up in anyway. I really fucking hate Riker in this episode and maybe that's the point. Maybe you're supposed to, maybe the whole point, you know, Troy says it, she goes, one word could turn this into a disaster. and But the whole point is like, if we can't communicate, it can cause conflict and chaos and death and destruction. And that's what Riker is doing. Nothing, but he doesn't have a moment of consideration.
00:38:33
Speaker
He's like trying to figure out a way to tech the tech. He's like, maybe I can get the Android and the woman to figure out the right words I can use for them to lower the beam or something. But he never even tries. He never remember. He never stops asking. Was there anything I could say that maybe would change their minds? Never like he's just like, what have you got? And they're like, it's it's all kind of a shit show, sir. And he's like, great. Can we shoot him? Like that's literally. Yeah.
00:38:59
Speaker
So I don't know, kind of this is like the most fuck Riker I've ever been. Because remember, I think I've said this before, Riker has never been my favorite character. It's because Jonathan Frakes is now the mayor of Star Trek that I've come around on on the character of Riker. And obviously I get emotional when I think of him in season three of Picard. But this is the shit that really never got me on his side in the original run. We're just like, calm down, dude. Even worse being more more reasonable here. And um I have one last one.
00:39:29
Speaker
What happened to all the linguists? Yeah, that's right. You know how to crack this fucking case wide open? Ahura. Yeah, that's true. Not even Data and Troy and the computer just like, oh, like they were like, oh, Lynn, tell us more about this mythical creature. Anything else we need to know? Like nothing. Well, I have a lot. I have an idea about that in lieu of linguists to the computer.
00:39:57
Speaker
ah later on in one of the other grades, but I totally agree anyway. Most cost playable character or moment? It's got to be the alien captain with this bedazzled outfit on the planet. Yes.
00:40:12
Speaker
ah This is the part of Lower Decks, which I thought was annoying, was that ah we see the Tamarians and they're all different shapes and sizes. But because Lord X is so much like, remember this? That the K-Shawn that they bring in just looks like Paul Winfield, where he's, you know, kind of top-heavy. He's kind of a chunkier guy, but skinnier legs. And it's like, they look like different people. Like, even in this episode, they have different looks. There's petite. There's a petite one. The first officer is skinny and whatever. And it's like, there it's just just different ones. Anyway.
00:40:47
Speaker
Um, so you could play it to Marion. That's a great one. I did put the electromagnetic entity because as you say, it really is just like a rhinoceros head. And then you could probably do something cool to make it look like you have electricity lines around you or like a negative space. That might be fun. Uh, you could also, though, honorable mention, this is my honorable mention. You could do the slashed Kirk slash and yeah but in the Jersey. number two Yeah. Of Picard, uh, when he's after he's been attacked.
00:41:17
Speaker
Now it's time for the line was drawn here. Great lines. I had a really hard time because I the dialogue in this episode is difficult. Yeah, because it's the follow. So I have just one by metaphor.
00:41:36
Speaker
By metaphor, yes. yeah I mean, Darmok and Jalada to Nagra, that's a famous line. You gotta put that there. Okay, fine. and did I mean, fine. It's a famous line. It's a famous line. It doesn't mean anything. Shaka when the walls fell, that's not the great line. It's it's the way Picard goes Shaka indeed.
00:42:00
Speaker
that
00:42:03
Speaker
It reminds me for some reason of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air or something when he would say something that's, you know, street or young. And then, and like Jeffrey the butler or any of them because they're upper, you know, uppity rich people would kind of be like, that is dope. so he's gee so besides going shaka indeed i just thought was funny I love the Temerian First Officer's delivery of this line because you know he's throwing some shade on Riker when he goes, Kerlash when it rises. He's like, I got you motherfucker. That was perfectly delivered energy there.
00:42:43
Speaker
I've never forgotten the way Picard delivers this line ah when he's figuring out what the whole plan is. And he tells the story of Gilgamesh. Oh, when he hears the story about and um the beast of Tanagra, and he understands what's going on, he goes, you and me here, at El Adrell. I can't do the little voice, but just when he goes, at El Adrell. It's always been stuck in my mind. It's very funny.
00:43:09
Speaker
I'm just going to play the clip where Picard tells the whole story of Gilgamesh, because that was as a child, a very I was captivated. And you literally have a Shakespearean actor telling an epic story from history. Right. And he's doing it with all the theater when he was like, I'm not a very good storyteller. I was like, yeah, Patrick, how dare you? That should be a worst trick. That is the worst acting he's ever done. I'm not a very good storyteller.
00:43:39
Speaker
But card pretending like you can't act because he's Patrick Stewart doesn't know like and he' like let me try to think of a story like he's never heard any fucking Mythical stories in his life. Give me a break. He probably knows King Lear backwards and forwards
00:43:56
Speaker
I mean, I'm supposed to be French. At the very least, you'd be like, yes, there's this guy named Jean Valjean. And well,
00:44:04
Speaker
ah Riker prompts the this great line. He goes, new friends, captain, can't say number one, at least they're not new enemies. Well, but still, I like the line anyway. Would this be a fun episode to play out on the holodeck? For me, no, this shit would drive me crazy.
00:44:26
Speaker
No, I put maybe it might be fun to do the level where you're fighting the the monster together and you're trying to strategize in these different languages. That might be like an interesting fun challenge. But like these the.
Performance and Visual Storytelling
00:44:43
Speaker
Tamarians don't understand, they apparently don't understand like pictograms or something because like, why hasn't anybody been like, there's me in the house and then like you look, I don't know, like no one has ever thought to communicate with them in like a visual language. Well, Picard at least takes a moment to draw the sand, like on the sand to kind of give him a frame of reference. But I have that in a moment here.
00:45:07
Speaker
Uh, I put, so I put maybe the Anton Krutian award for best performance. I think it's a tie, but you might be the tiebreaker here. If you feel strongly. Oh, I think it's either Patrick Stewart or Paul Winfield, but I tied them. I, I think Patrick's like for Picard is kind of so annoying because even as a child, I'm like, they're kind of, they seem dumber than usual. Like I just expected them to go into this.
00:45:35
Speaker
with a little more, like, I don't know what to expect. mark q but not figure yeah Also, theyve this is the eighth try to communicate with these people and they they don't go into it with like, well, they don't respond to the first but engagement with like, well, we knew it was going to be difficult.
00:45:54
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like, they don't have any sense of like, well, this wasn't going to be easy. ah and And so I was just surprised. But, you know, Patrick Stewart just then has like three haymaker moments in the episode where it's like, this is why he's the best. But then Paul Winfield, he imbues this character we literally cannot understand with emotion, with heart, what he conveys what the meaning is ah by basically and ba basically speaking gibberish the whole time. so I think it's a tie. It has to be. Also, I think we should give a special honorable mention to the Temerians as a species for being the biggest fucking drama queens. The only way we could settle this is we put ourselves in this crazy situation that is a metaphor for another thing.
00:46:44
Speaker
It's kind of a weird boy logic thing. I remember getting into a fight ah in school and being told after the fight by an adult, usually when boys fight or whatever, you become friends afterwards. Like it resolves the tension. Yeah. Depending depending on the circumstances, not every circumstance. Yeah. Like if it's a physical fight for life. Yeah.
00:47:07
Speaker
Uh, and so it just basically, that kind of happened or at least like the, the enmity, the tension was resolved. So there is that I can, see like boys who are friends, like get into a fight over shit. And then like, I don't know, I guess they patched it up later. I know it's very strange, but the physical fight with a friend for me, that sounds crazy, but boys do that, I guess.
00:47:31
Speaker
Well, and just also and in human behavior that on those dating shows, that's why they'll do these somewhat dangerous activities or kind of thrilling activities. kind It has apply yeah it has the ah the the tendency for human beings to bond during these tense experiences. So it's all kind of based on that. But I still agree with you, like they are doing the most dramatic thing possible, like the scattering field, like the perfect shot on the shuttlecraft so that it can't land and take off. Like, yes, they're they're being very extra. I mean, you couldn't just play them a video or something. That's that's in my Starfleet show them some pictures. All right. So the Shatner then. Oh, it's got to be the monster.
00:48:15
Speaker
Oh, I put the first officer. Okay. Well, I put him down from honorable mention. It's one of the two, but the monster was certainly going for it. But ah the monster gave it to the first officer. oh i love your because I love your, your answer actually. It is the monster because just go back and watch and look at the way it dives at Picard after he's away.
00:48:37
Speaker
It looks like I've seen the Spider-Man Broadway show with the U2 songs. all Yes. And all the villains are basically inflatable pull toys. Like that's what they look like. It's really, it's like you can tell after everyone started killing themselves in the show or no, but you could just tell that money was being stolen. Like this was a, this, this was a money laundering scheme. That show Julie, Julie Tamar, you will pay for your crimes.
00:49:04
Speaker
But that's what that's what he looks like. He basically looks like a pool toy inflatable, like or those those wrestling buddy pillows. yeah like He just really looks like one of the Power Rangers. Yeah. ah You know, yes. So I think the villain of the week. I think you're correct. Shoot to thrill most exciting image or sequence.
00:49:30
Speaker
I like the shuttle scene, I guess. I don't know though. Oh, I align put the phaser fight. I put the the the actual ship battle. I agree with Michael Piller on that regard. I'm like, this episode does have quite a lot of things I like in an episode of Star Trek. Even though the two ships are not moving, it was cool that they shook the camera with the phaser hits and and all that stuff. ah So I thought that was pretty cool. And it it's going on at the same time as a they're about to affect this rescue, right? So I liked it.
00:50:00
Speaker
What part of this will they teach at Starfleet Academy? All right, I just got to get my answer out of here. So all worlds need cinema, cinema, sight and sound people.
Lessons and Ratings Debate
00:50:13
Speaker
The filmic language would have resolved this conflict within minutes. Yeah. Why didn't Data and Troy put on a skit? Just like shoot a short film.
00:50:23
Speaker
but That's what they brought to Riker and Riker's like, I don't like this. It's not Marvel enough. Shoot them. I mean, NASA has already had like a plan. How do we communicate if we can't, you know, and part of it is cinema.
00:50:40
Speaker
part of its music, part of it's all kind of, you know, written things. But yeah, like here's what's happening. So obviously they couldn't like if they had that thought, they were like, well, this episode ends in 15 minutes. If we have the holodeck solve our problem, basically. But if they were doing this episode today, you would have to work around that. Why don't they just pull out their phones and show them something? You know what I mean? Like,
00:51:05
Speaker
Or whatever, they would they just be like, how do we convey to the audience that this is actually something you have to do? You have to detect them entirely. um So that's still that's the main thing I would teach. This is we are very much Trek Mary Kill pushing the Starfleet Academy show to make the characters take acting classes. We're saying cinema here, but also they need to be good theater kids, be able to act. I mean, if if Picard was not a good actor, would he have been able to convey the emotions of that Gilgamesh story to help with first contact? ah So ah or just improv being good at improv. So I think that's important.
00:51:44
Speaker
I had one more, but do you have another lesson? you think that Well, Tamarian mythology, I guess. Well, yeah, that's gonna take some archeology, right? Or some anthropology to discover what any of that any of these stories are about. i I think this entire incident is an important chapter in the first contact curriculum. Whatever, if that's its own course or if it's part of Zeno anthropology, I don't know. But ah if we have Cisco meeting the nonlinear entities as one end is like perfect first contact, well, that's what I declared it when we did emissary. So that's like one end of the spectrum.
00:52:19
Speaker
I feel like this is definitely closer to the other end of the spectrum. It's a it's mostly disastrous first contact that gets saved at the end with Riker trying to shove his dick into the matter or fuck his way out of the problem. And it really exacerbates everything. It's probably a lesson of what not to do. Sometimes you should just do nothing. Yeah. Oh, the captain's alive. OK, well, that's that takes some of the other guy. Not so much. By the way, we left his body there. That's right.
00:52:49
Speaker
y'all want that back or what? That's right. We can't just fly around to the other side of the planet and then just come in the long way. Get under the shield that way. Also, I shouldn't have I think Captain Picard should like photocopied that book.
00:53:07
Speaker
for handing it back to the Tamarians, like that journal or whatever that had all the higher pictographs in it. If we're being super geeky, theoretically, the transporter has its pattern stored. So they could just replicate it from that. Theoretically.
00:53:27
Speaker
Could this episode have been hard? He's going to get right on that. He's like, Jesus Christ. After Riker screwed up half the ship. Yeah, they like they messed with the transporter and broke that. They broke the phasers. The shields are down like Riker did a lot of damage to the ship. Could this episode have been hornier and would that have made it better? I don't think so. Yeah, nope, nope. So Trek marry or kill Darmock.
00:53:54
Speaker
I don't know, Brian, what do you think? Oh, I'm curious to know what you think. So it's a dumb episode. Oh, it's a dumb episode. Controversy. I don't hate it. I think like I think Patrick Stewart and Paul Winfield save it for me. So I guess I'll say it's a trick. But otherwise, no.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of feel like we're taking maybe a controversial statement here, but it's perhaps an episode that's more famous, not than it deserves credit for, because I really think the conceit, you're annoyed by it, but I like it. I enjoy it. I just think that we've seen Star Trek be even better with either worse ideas or better ideas. And I don't know, there's a lot to like in this one, though. One thing I didn't mention earlier was I really appreciated everyone and being in like their hiatus weight.
00:54:49
Speaker
they've They've all worked out. They've got their haircuts. You know, they've got their tans. I always like that whenever I rewatch it. I'm like, they all look good. the The summer was kind to them. There's a good energy to it. I think it was well. I think it's pretty well directed. um ah Just now in the rewatching, like the Riker stuff is so annoying. So it's like, what are the elements that the story has to have to create the drama? It's a little.
00:55:14
Speaker
It's a little sweaty in that regard. But as a classic Star Trek type of episode, like this is an episode only Star Trek could do. And so is it it a to me, as an example of great television, that would make it a marry. And I kind of think it is. But for some reason, my t I cannot feel a marry for this one. But also when I think about what a marry is, it's like a quintessential or an essential episode of Star Trek, the next generation.
00:55:42
Speaker
And I kind of feel like this one qualifies just on the historical perspective. But also, if we think about it, and I know i know I'm now venturing into rambling, its it's a credibility, its popularity has increased over time. So should technically, it should be a Mary. We're talking about the canon of Star Trek here. I am, at least. You're just like, I don't feel it. I'm not going to marry this shit. Well, the thing that gets gets me though is it doesn't make any fucking sense. like It doesn't make any sense that these this highly intelligent species that somehow figured out how to go do intergalactic space travel can only communicate in three or four word sentences that are also metaphors. like howard How were those myths relayed to them in the first place?
00:56:34
Speaker
it doesn't make any sense and like how It doesn't make any sense for an intelligent species to not pick up on any other way of communicating. Oh, that's the OK, so that's the myths are ah are ah not really their own, right? Because we learn that one of them comes from some other planet, right? You've backfilled an issue that's bothered me all these years because they they're able to. Doesn't mean it like how was how was that? Did they just learn to like telepathically? They learn this myth and the only way they can all collectively talk about it is through metaphor. It doesn't it doesn't make any sense. You can't. Like, how are you teaching a baby how to communicate, how to talk? If you're only speaking in, like, forward sentences, you don't actually have words for anything? Well, that's it doesn't make any sense on how you keep saying it ah doesn't make any sense. But we you also mentioned arrival, where I don't it doesn't make sense to me that you can communicate in time. Like, time is a form of communication. They don't communicate in time. They just it's just a non-linear
00:57:37
Speaker
Like what I'm saying is data data hypothesizes that they have an unusual ability to engage with metaphor or understand it. So maybe there is some sort of psychic component that part of like it doesn't make sense. Yeah, because I'm that's the point where it's like how human beings cannot understand how people ah exist in this way. And so that part is less of an issue for me. It's what you said. This part, I think, makes a lot of sense. They don't show the ability to grow and learn either, which is very strange. Yeah. They have no desire to learn anything else. Like they will not draw a picture. They will not use any kind of like hand motions or anything. It's a very strange way.
00:58:24
Speaker
to communicate, it's like almost like they feel like they're so intelligent, they can't be dumbed down. It's like me trying to talk to a dog or something.
00:58:36
Speaker
But even still you're like, hey, come here. You know what I mean? Like you do something if like your life is on the line. It's just, it's it's wild. I still, yeah. So I think that's why this can't quite be a Mary because ultimately as cool as the idea is, this is half an idea. Like it it gets to, it raises an important question. It puts our characters in a dramatic circumstance that forces them to show sides of their character we haven't necessarily seen before or puts them in a situation that they're very uncomfortable in, which is great. That's the kind of drama you want. And this is also very much a Star Trek issue. ah So it gets a lot of credit for that. So I think you're probably more of a soft Trek and I'm a strong Trek.
00:59:19
Speaker
But i yeah, I don't know. I don't know what they relate to they you know. I just need more information like, oh, that do they have a collective? They're born in part of a collective unconscious, and so they are already born knowing the the myths and the metaphors that are the language. I believe in the collective unconscious. Yes, no, the collective unconscious is a real thing. It's not a real thing to the point of you're born knowing, ah you know, so and so with sales on FLIRD means, you know, I'm hungry.
00:59:45
Speaker
But well, that's why there it suggests that other with other alien races that that is possible. How does my little niece, when she was barely able to crawl, understand what I'm going to get you means? I don't know, but she did. That's got to be something. So it just seems like. I get what you're saying, but I'm also like, maybe that's not so much the issue of like, how does it get portrayed in this episode? Because yes, no one tries to understand that. You know, it's like, do they have some running inner monologue?
01:00:15
Speaker
that makes total sense to all of them. And so when they speak in these like very, like three word sentences, it's just like a way to kind of cut through the noise of like just getting down to brass tacks when they're communicating, but it doesn't make any fucking sense the way they presented it. be So then you're actually suggesting that this episode would be even better if it was an original series episode, because then Spock could just mind meld and explain exactly that.
01:00:43
Speaker
Well, could Troy be like, Oh, I sense. No, Troy's always just like, I can feel what they're feeling, which is what you're seeing. Mine, she's just like, it's we don't do telepaths. If they're telepathic, she she can connect with them. That's the only way.
01:00:58
Speaker
Okay, so a trek. All right, stay tuned because we're having another episode. Right now, our monthly animated spotlights kick off. It's the first of the month. We're going to do Lower Decks, the first two episodes. Katie Hampton's back. So check that out. And Kristen, you and I will be back next week to go on an adventure into TNG's sixth season so that we can judge the episode that sets up the central mystery of Star Trek Discovery's final season. It's the chase. Do you remember that one? Yeah.
01:01:26
Speaker
ah Not by the name, I don't, but okay we'll see. Also, I have a um suggestion, a proposition, really. After our last correction, our emergency correction, we had to issue about Egg McMuffins. Yes. I was wondering if occasionally when it is applicable that we have an Astro Burger Award for worst food styling,
01:01:55
Speaker
Do we have a candidate this this episode or recall? there No, we do not have a candidate this episode. Not ah not applicable here, but there are some that could be applicable. All right, I want that. Yes, we're going to do that. All right. I guess it was going to be worst food styling, but just food styling, ah ah you know, the after burger.
01:02:18
Speaker
For. for ah Astroburger does not put presentation over yeah flavor or quantity, so. Yeah, because there's been some questionable looking food. Yes. On all the Star Trek and sometimes it's on purpose. I like the food styling grade or award. Or drink. It could be drink too. Yeah. The Astroburger. We'll workshop that. All right. And listeners, if you want to workshop that, drop us a line at trekmarikipod at gmail.com. You can also check us out on the web trekmarikipod.com for all of our standings.
01:02:56
Speaker
If you feel so inclined, rate and review us wherever you're listening. So until moments from now, if you want to listen to the animated spotlight or next week, TMK out. Bye.