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Star Trek the Next Generation - The Inner Light
38 Plays4 years ago
One of Star Trek TNG's most famous episodes, The inner light takes us into a wonderful and sad world where a civilization long since gone is struggling with what their legacy will be through the eyes of an individual man named Kaman who Captain Picard somehow inhabits. This is a landmark episode on the Star Trek Journey, find out what we thought and share your thoughts with us. In addition to our usual suspects, Sean from www.youtube.com/trekonthetube/ and the Doctor we are joined by Monie.
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Transcript
Introduction and Casual Star Trek Discussions
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Starfleet Boy, where we have a casual and informal discussion about our beloved series, Star Trek.
00:00:35
Speaker
Everyone, one, two, three, clap. And we're back on another exciting episode of Starlight Boy, where we have the casual and informal conversation about Star Trek.
Exploring 'The Inner Light' Episode
00:00:49
Speaker
Here we are on one of the all-time favorite episodes of fans and even Patrick Stewart, The Inner Light.
00:00:58
Speaker
I think we're, it's, it's one of our favorite episodes. I'm wagering to guess everyone here really loves it or likes it a lot. Uh, and so today I'm joined by the doctor. Hello, doctor. Good afternoon. Yeah. By Moni. Welcome back, Moni. Hello. And Sean from Trek on the Tube. Hey.
00:01:24
Speaker
Hey, so thank you for all of you, for all of you, every one of you, and for Merry Christmas.
00:01:36
Speaker
Thank you for Merry Christmas, everyone. It's still November, man. You're worse than the long rings. It's been a tradition. Humbert and Moni have known me longer than Sean has, but it's been a tradition in my family to start immediately after Thanksgiving. So I actually started two days ago.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah. At not even midnight, I started to play Christmas music and I'm still, I'm still having leftovers from Thanksgiving. I mean, for credit. All I can say is in these dark times, we need a little Christmas at this very moment. All right. So the inner light, does anyone want to give it the, give the summary? You want to give the summary ago or shall I do it?
00:02:30
Speaker
You should do it. Episode summary. I vote you. I vote you as well. All right. So over a thousand years ago, settlers on the planet Catan. I know. Is this how you started the summary? Why not? Why not? Seriously, Ruth? A thousand years ago. A thousand years ago. That's not how the episode starts. Settlers on the planet Catan.
00:03:03
Speaker
It's our fault. We voted. He's doing a full historical breakdown now. We got the best part that we voted for. And one of those one of those one of those cities. Excuse me, sir. Get get in your seat. So you can interrupt the summary once it's underway. Anyways, these settlers created a new one.
00:03:30
Speaker
created a city called Resik. And in the city of Resik, many fine people did amazing things. It's in the northern province. And they created a probe which they sent out into space when they knew that their civilization was doomed. And this probe happens to meet
00:03:55
Speaker
A thousand years later, the USS Enterprise sends out a link or tether and it latches onto our wonderful protagonist, Captain Picard. And Captain Picard is immediately thrown into a memory, if you will.
00:04:14
Speaker
And we get to experience life on Resik on the planet of Katan, which was settled a thousand years ago. And it's beautiful. In this episode, we just like Picard are suspicious in the beginning of what's going on. He thinks it's a
00:04:34
Speaker
He thinks it's a hologram or, you know, some kind of trick. We know the Romulans love to do this kind of thing. So he must be thinking, you know, God damn it, I got I got trapped by Romulans. So he starts out super suspicious, but we have his beautiful wife, Alina. Right. Was it?
00:04:55
Speaker
Elise, Elise. Oh, Aline. I can't believe I just saw this and I couldn't remember. So Aline kind of reassures him that nothing's going on and he starts to rediscover who he is. He's told he was under a great kind of strain from a fever and that's why
00:05:22
Speaker
his memory might be shaky, but he, or actually he kind of perpetuates that story, but we know he still remembers his whole life aboard the Enterprise and being born, et cetera, but here he is in this weird place. Anyways, he gradually gives into it, and so do we. We actually just totally forget about, because of the great performances given in this episode, we completely forget, I think, most of us that, you know, anything,
00:05:50
Speaker
You know, I remember when I was first watching, I was just like totally captured by the subset. So I wasn't even thinking. It was just like, oh, yeah, like here's Captain Picard. Now he's he's living on this planet. And then just as he so he, you know, he begins to figure things out like he figures out that the reason why the the the water supply has been diminishing so rapidly is because of a drought. But more than that, it's because the sun is unstable.
00:06:19
Speaker
And unfortunately, the technology on the planet hasn't progressed actually much further than what we as current humans are capable of right now. They haven't been able to colonize other worlds and they certainly don't have the technology to escape a supernova, which is what seems to be coming. And then
00:06:43
Speaker
So he just tries to make the best of things. He succumbs to his wife's wishes and asks to build a nursery, another beautiful moment in the episode and has children. And we follow that and it's wonderful. And we get to meet his daughter Marivor.
00:07:01
Speaker
and his son Bataille, who's named after his best friend, who I forgot to tell you about in the summer. Bataille is the council leader of Resik, and they're really good friends. And during the whole time on this other planet, Picard is kind of playing with a flute, a Resikin flute, and he starts out with Frasjaka, but ends up creating a melody that seems to be of his own making. And...
00:07:31
Speaker
that goes on throughout the episode as well as a motif. And then Bataille, the namesake, you know, the son becomes a musician himself. It's beautiful, wonderful stuff happening here. Lots of teary eyed moments.
00:07:49
Speaker
And then we end with an old, you know, after his wife's death, we go to another scene where he's very old, and they're about to launch a probe, the very probe that Picard runs into later, but unbeknownst to Kamen, who is his Mexican self.
00:08:10
Speaker
They bring him out to witness the launch of this probe, and that's when the program that the probe was delivering ends, and everyone reveals that the whole experience was just all in his head, and that it was a way for the civilization of Catan to live on. And then, of course, we know this is actual truth because the Settlers of Catan board game exists.
00:08:40
Speaker
No, I'm just kidding. Okay, anyways Star Trek edition of Katan has nothing to do with the planet Katan. No, I know it's funny. It's very interesting. It's very cool
00:08:53
Speaker
It's a cool parallel. We could talk about it more. But anyways, the episode ends and Captain Picard is, once again, he's revived. The probe does its work. It finishes. By the way, there was a scene in there where they were trying to revive him earlier, but he looked like he was going to die. So they just let the probe stay connected to him.
00:09:12
Speaker
But anyways, the probe finishes its work, and then they beam it aboard. Picard's super happy to be back. He actually like, it's kind of reminding me of a Christmas carol in a sense, where he's just like, where was I, you know, different message, but similar emotion, I think. And then he turns around and smiles at his crew before he's led to sickbay by Beverly.
00:09:35
Speaker
Anyways, at the end of the episode, in a later scene, it's assumed that Picard's downloaded everyone, or briefed everyone on what he experienced, and Riker walks into his quarters with a little box in his hand, and he goes, we found this on the probe. And he hands it to Picard, and I know Riker's looked at it because the acting in the scene's really beautiful, and he kind of acknowledges like, oh yeah, this is gonna be heavy for you.
00:10:01
Speaker
And so Picard opens this up when Riker leaves. It's the Reskin flute. It's the very flute that he'd been playing and that was given to him by his, well, that he had and that his wife presented to him in the beginning of his experience on Resick. And he hugs it. He like holds it. It's like really awesome. And then the episode ends and I want to cry just thinking about it.
00:10:28
Speaker
That's the summary. What did you think? Did I leave anything out? Is this, is it good? I mean, you want to, um, thank you.
00:10:45
Speaker
Okay, you went all in, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so it's a very personal episode,
Impact and Themes of 'The Inner Light'
00:10:52
Speaker
I think. You can't help but get really attached to this episode, so I couldn't help but make it a very personal summary. But I would love to, I guess...
00:11:03
Speaker
You guys probably already know what my rating for this episode is going to be. So there's no there's no there's no guessing as to that. But I guess I want to talk about first what I want to hear is like when you guys first saw this episode, what did you think of it? Like, what was your inner light story? I think I was there for your testimony, if I'm not mistaken.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, you probably were. Hands down, it's one of my favorite episodes. I was trying to think about what exactly makes it so powerful. And I think it's just like...
00:11:43
Speaker
Part of it has a lot to do with just Patrick Stewart's performance, but he really pulls off the experience of, the points of an experience of 30 to 45 years of life lived on another world with a completely different family, something that he never got to do personally as a human. And then he wakes up and discovers that the cell transpired in 25 minutes on the enterprise.
00:12:16
Speaker
So I think that's my favorite part of it, but I'll cede the floor to you guys.
00:12:27
Speaker
I don't remember what my impressions were when I first saw it. I kind of do. I kind of remember the discussion after. Do you? Yeah, I kind of actually do from the library. Oh, my God. Give us insight. Well, so our friend Jisoo was flipping out about this episode. She really loved it. And then I think you
00:12:51
Speaker
I think you really liked it too. I just remember all around the vibe was pretty positive about this episode, but like, I don't know that like, for Jisoo it was like mind shattering because we talked, what we talked about at the time was that the experience that she was, I think that was so profound for her was what you said, Moni, she kind of echoed that, but also many humans I think experienced, and I've had this and she's had this and I don't know if, I don't think you remember your dreams, Humber, but
00:13:21
Speaker
But I've had dreams that are reoccurring, and they take place in this other place, like another land that is very consistent. When I dream about this place, it's always the same, and there seems to be a continuation, but it's not here, and I know it's not here. So there was this quality to it of, is this another live flip? What is the nature of experience? Can you experience something? In a sense, this was the first episode that evoked thoughts of virtual experiences, right?
00:13:50
Speaker
Like if you go into a virtual place, are you, you know, live there for, uh, for what seems like 35 years to you, is it, is it a real experience, et cetera? So I think we were all talking about crazy shit like that. Sounds right, doesn't it? What about you, Sean?
00:14:14
Speaker
I really couldn't tell you what my first experience watching this was, because I used to watch TV. Probably five. Yes, I think I was watching TV in general with my mom, but I was a kid. So I don't remember half the episode. I don't remember the first time I've seen all these episodes. I just know that as I rewatch all of Star Trek as an adult, there are certain episodes that I keep on telling my wife, wait until you see this, right? And the inner light was one of them. So it clearly had an impact.
00:14:45
Speaker
Why do you, why did, what's your personal reason, uh, if you don't mind sharing for like the impact, what's the biggest kind of reason why this episode impacts you? I think just, um, I dunno, it's so creative. Like on a storytelling level, just to, to.
00:15:06
Speaker
to put this character in this outlandish situation where he gets to live an entire other life is just mind-blowing. And then, of course, it's so deep because it's Picard, and we know that he never has kids, and they just brutally burn all his family into fire in generations. And so we were like, this is so...
00:15:38
Speaker
Because his son Daniel plays his son But I in the episode too, so it's like it's like especially deep it's it goes meta for that reason I actually
00:15:52
Speaker
I actually thought about you when I saw this episode because I know that you just recently had a kid and so I wondered if those kinds of emotional notes now played a different like punch different parts of your heart. Absolutely. As I said, I rewatched The Visitor recently from Deep Space Nine. It's completely different now that you have a kid, right?
00:16:19
Speaker
And then you rewatch I mean there are certain movies certain Episodes that kind of have an impact like it's very different when you watch them interstellar I saw that when I was a teen when it first came out and then I rewatched it like as an adult being married and then I rewatched it, you know having a kid and Every time you rewatch that movie, it's kind of different. You have a different comprehension or different interpretation and I think the inner light is the same thing and
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's like 20 years, right? Well, it's a sage episode in space because we're all dying out here. It's true. It's true. It is a sage episode. I think that's a good good word for it because it does have that quality of like
00:17:05
Speaker
somehow having something within the span of just 50 minutes that connects on some level to every human, it kind of addresses a very basic message. And now, 30 years after it aired, well, a little under 30 years,
00:17:25
Speaker
No, no, maybe now it's like the 30th anniversary of it, close to there. We're kind of still, you know, we were just starting to be worried about the environment in the 90s. And now we're kind of facing some really devastating effects of climate change. And so you can't help but wonder. Yeah, I mean, it's nice to truly start to get its best because it's not just like this completely outlandish
00:17:53
Speaker
Amazing story that they've created where like this guy has to read like gets to relive this other life, but it's it's also that classic pre-cheese Star Trek Where it um it shows us the problems that we have with our society which in this case is the environment Yeah, it's just it's it's just amazing
00:18:14
Speaker
I yeah, those are the points to it proves that them the point of like Star Trek like you don't have to have something that's action-packed to be not boring because a lot of people say oh Star Trek is boring because nothing happens like Not much happens in this episode But every scene is so heavy Every scene is so important that you know, you don't need all this action or what's going on? Yeah, totally
00:18:44
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Go ahead.
00:18:47
Speaker
But before we get into the global warming, I was just going to say one of the really powerful parts.
'The Inner Light' as a Star Trek Gateway?
00:18:52
Speaker
I think one of the magical qualities of this episode is even like, for instance, you know, Picard's friend, Counselor Bataille, he has literally four or five minutes of screen time on this movie. And yet, when he reappears on that screen and his disembodied voice at the very end, he says, hello, my old friend or something like that, you're literally brought to tears.
00:19:16
Speaker
And it's incredible that they were able to evoke this emotion within a 45-minute episode. It's almost as if you can experience what Picard must be feeling like waking up 25 minutes after the probe attaches to him, and yet he has these 45 years of experience now. So I think that's one of the masterpiece qualities of this particular episode.
00:19:48
Speaker
It's beautifully pulled off by the makers of this episode. We should give credit. Let me go on to IMDB here. But yeah, that isn't like, I don't know what that's called in film techniques, your brother might know, but like the whole way the episode is constructed and we're
00:20:11
Speaker
Even having seen this episode over 10 times, I still get lost in the experience because the way it's done is just so clever. And again, everything was operating at the best Star Trek can operate for this episode, in my opinion. So the director was Peter Lauritsen, who's done a ton of TNG episodes. And then Morgan Gendl and, let's see,
00:20:41
Speaker
Peter Allen Fields wrote the teleplay, but the story was by Morgan Gendl. I'm pretty sure there's YouTube interviews with him and stuff like that. I recall on my many journeys on YouTube late at night looking into this episode.
00:21:04
Speaker
Yeah, it was beautifully constructed. And it gets you every time. It's also one of those episodes that I feel like, and I don't know if you guys agree, but it's a great way to introduce someone to Star Trek in general. If you don't want to introduce them right from the beginning, if you just want to throw them in to Star Trek at any point, this would be a good starting point, I think. That's actually something I wanted to ask you guys, because that's probably the only note that I have. I didn't need to take notes with this one.
00:21:33
Speaker
That's the only question I have. This episode is amazing, but it's because I know Captain Picard, and I know that they're voyaging and they're traveling across space and they've got all these adventures. And then so we also know what happens to him. We know the story of Picard. Does this episode work for someone that's never seen Star Trek before? Yeah, I think I agree with that point. You need to have
00:22:00
Speaker
You need context, right? Yeah, you need context to the change. Because certainly, I mean, by this point, Picard is a lot nicer, I guess, than when he started off in the earlier seasons.
00:22:15
Speaker
you know all that is context for You know when he has lines when he's in the other life and the alternate life where he says, you know I never thought that Having children would be something that I would need to fulfill my life I mean, you don't you don't understand the gravity of that statement coming from Picard until you've seen the previous seasons where he's basically dismissed children, you know outright and
00:22:42
Speaker
You need that in order to understand how much of an impact this interaction with the probe has on him. So yeah, I would agree with that assessment.
00:22:56
Speaker
That's a fair point, but I think that like the episode kind of, I'm willing to wager that the episode, the story of the Cayman story, in other words, is so captivating that it's almost like launching up. It's almost like showing someone a pilot of a new show. Like imagine if you if you're going to watch
00:23:15
Speaker
a show where this man got accosted by a probe and was going to live out his whole life on this other planet. That could have lasted by today's television standards. That whole thread could have lasted three or four episodes.
00:23:38
Speaker
people will still connect to that story, not even knowing Captain Picard. And I'm willing to wager that they'll be curious enough to go, well, this guy's pretty cool. Let me find out more about him. Because I think the messages that are conveyed, love, falling in love, what it's like to have children, even without knowing Picard's specific
00:24:04
Speaker
his specific struggle with this, I think that it's something that just about any human will connect to in some way. I don't have children and I would love to have children. My reasons for not having children are totally different from Captain Picard's reasons. Maybe they're not, I don't know.
00:24:28
Speaker
But but I still have that like feeling that like strong feeling of like, oh, yeah, you know, like this is what it was like. And he says it in that scene. He's like, before I had children, I never really even thought there was a place for them in my life. And now I have them, you know, I can't imagine life without them. And it's kind of yeah, it's kind of a cool, I think a universal theme. Yeah, but I still think it helps to have
00:24:56
Speaker
all that, you know, all the other seasons to sort of, you know, to color in the gravity of the change. It enhances it for sure. Naturally, but I'm just saying, I'm just saying as an introduction, like it might be successful. I think it might catch you a couple. It might catch you. We'll let the Picard desk crystal decide.
00:25:22
Speaker
You'll notice that if he disagrees with you, he won't let you have it. He'll just go and do a Twitter poll.
00:25:31
Speaker
It's true. I've won every argument Sean and I have had through Twitter polls, actually. So I'm adding three for zero. Yeah, it's true. I'm not aware of the results of Twitter polls. And Sean's wife supports me on a couple of issues, too. Oh, man, that's a lot of love. Just bring the wife into it. Wow.
00:25:58
Speaker
Man, I might have the more generic voice in this in this in this group here.
Real-world Parallels and Environmental Concerns
00:26:06
Speaker
I Also wanted to echo the the comments made about the the environmental The slow environmental catastrophe that's happening on the planet. I think that's the thing that in this rewatch for me personally really stood out is just the subtlety of
00:26:26
Speaker
of what's happening to the planet. You know, especially when you get to the end that the daughter says, yes, I put on, you know, whatever the sun protection and everyone's wearing these hats. And if you'll notice the lighting when they moved out to the exterior sets is a lot is a lot brighter. Well, it even gets bright. It gets brighter throughout the episode, too, which is right. And all of that, I think, is
00:26:53
Speaker
is, and then the scene where Picard speaks to the, I want to call him the pro council, but he's not. Whoever that visiting, the councilor, right? Was he? The administrator. That's right.
00:27:09
Speaker
for over 30 years because he's still an administrator already in his old state.
00:27:25
Speaker
subtle right yeah there's a subtle reference to like some kind of change in in the in the way things were governed before on Katan or on you know or in this region or whatever so yeah it's kind of interesting that you you pointed that out but it's true he does hold his position for like 40 years for a long time and even more interesting is that he's lying to the people he know he admits that the government knew that this catastrophe was happening and and I think that is such a
00:27:54
Speaker
I mean, that's one of the bombshells of the episode is when Picard learns that they know that it's happening and they're not telling the people. And then it appears that Picard was worried he was going to be thrown off the council.
00:28:10
Speaker
Right. But that is, I think that's one of the more haunting parts of the episode. It's like, how do you, it's not like global warming, which is like, it's a little worse than global warming, honestly. Yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
There are gradations of how catastrophic it will be, but we have things that we can do to lessen the impact on human civilization, and it won't necessarily do the death now, right? But this is like a star going supernova. What effect does that, or what impact does that have on saying the apocalypse is coming in X number of years? What will people do if you just say that?
00:28:54
Speaker
And I think that's why that that was the motivation for hiding it but there's crazy things who knows that the card encouraged his children to have children themselves with the probability that they'll die at the age of like 10 You know, I don't know when I come down on that but I think that's another point of discussion Yeah, actually That is an interesting point
00:29:21
Speaker
Oh my gosh, there's grandchildren at the end when they're all like, oh my God. I mean, that may not have been, I mean, he may have discouraged that for all we know. It says, don't have kids. And his kids just like wipe their ass with it and say, no, but there's a team. He says get married. He doesn't talk about kids. He says get married. He's his daughter to like live a full life.
00:29:47
Speaker
uh-huh um i guess the i guess the way to look at it is that i guess the way to look at it is like he is a bit of a scientist so there must be some aspect to his thinking where it's like well they're they're in love they're having children at least the children will enjoy a short life and they'll have the best short life that you could you could imagine i can't imagine these kids they looked extremely happy and so it's like
00:30:13
Speaker
I think that on one level, as a scientist, you can't help but remember that as humans, we're just a part of this enormous nature. Yes, we have an immense capability of controlling our environment, and these are not even humans, these are the settlers of Catan.
00:30:35
Speaker
But as sentient beings, we have this special place, we think, among nature, as custodians of nature, as manipulators of nature, as builders, as creators, things like that, all these things that we think of ourselves as. But we're just part of a huge system where to another, there might be a more...
00:30:56
Speaker
advanced type of being that looks at us the same way we look at ants, you know, and that's certainly a thought. So when you're when you're when he's I think that in that sense, like, you know, again, like a 10 year it is it is it is unfortunate, but it's it's not a cruelty that we would place upon this child. It's like it's just the way of life like this life is just going to end at some point soon for these people. So why not live it to the best
00:31:23
Speaker
the best you can. And it also adds in room for that little hope that we all have. We all believe that there might be a miracle or something like that. And it's like, well, something might change in 10 years.
00:31:43
Speaker
You know, the Sun is not going through a supernova. Maybe their calculations were incorrect. It's just like a Spurt in its life, you know, so I think that it's okay. I forgive captain Vicar. I forgive Cayman Yeah
00:32:04
Speaker
I mean, granted, I think Picard, especially early on, was attempting to fix the situations. I'm not so sure how aware he was of the supernova aspect of it. I mean, I don't know if at the end he was aware of it. I know obviously the Enterprise crew knew of it because they're looking at it from the future.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know that they know as a supernova, they just know that the planet's life-supporting abilities were fading, right? Because the anaerobic bacteria was disappearing in the soil. Like, basically, they would grow crops and they'd all starve to death.
00:32:43
Speaker
Yeah, some of it reminded me of, and maybe it's because the director just passed away, and so he was kind of, the movie was in my mind, but The Man Who Fell to Earth, the opening of that movie, when Bowie is going off, and the landscape of his own planet kind of reminded me slightly of this planet, and the sense of that planet was also dying, and that's where they're sending off Bowie.
00:33:11
Speaker
and all that and uh but so this is the landscape of southern california yes exactly
00:33:24
Speaker
But, go ahead. Sean mentioned Interstellar a little earlier, and I think that it's interesting that Interstellar kind of proposes the same idea that like, except in that one it is, I don't think it's a supernova, but like the Earth has just lost its ability to
00:33:45
Speaker
to grow food, you know? And so they build these gigantic spaceships with the hope of saving civilization. So that's a big idea from this episode that I thought was important too, which is like, I think that there is like this feeling we all also have of like preserve. We think on the whole, it's good to be a human and it's good to be part of the human civilization. It's like there is some, there's so much worth saving
00:34:13
Speaker
about our civilization, should this kind of end ever occur? And so I think that's like a deep idea that I think that's another reason why this episode is perhaps so timeless, is that this is something that we all feel. What do you guys think? Well, I wanted to ask what you all think about the technology that we saw in the episode, because the impression I got from this civilization is that they weren't very advanced.
00:34:41
Speaker
And yet we get this probe that is able to bypass the shields of the enterprise and hit on Picard, just boom. Well, they didn't have that.
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah, they didn't have their shields up, but I think that, um, I don't know. You saved a fair amount of evidence of technology. I mean, on the one hand, it could literally be anywhere at any time because it almost looks pre-industrial. But then you see Picard walk in after it's the first night he spins and Resick wake and he returns and Aline lets him in and she opens the door with like an electronic panel. So the door is electronic.
00:35:26
Speaker
Right. So and, you know, they throw some things out about like atmospheric condensers. So clearly there is some level of industrialization and scientific advancement. It's just. But no, I think that long distance travel. I just don't travel. One could argue that like the scientists that have been aware of the situation or how dire the situation was for like two years now, one could argue that they kind of just realized that this is it. We're fucked and we can't we have no way of actually
00:35:56
Speaker
leaving this planet or saving ourselves. So they invest and develop this technology because this is the solution that they found and they invested everything they could in that. And so that's why that specific piece of technology is so advanced, maybe.
00:36:11
Speaker
There's also I think there's also really strong evidence that this is a very artful civilization like based on the the clothing and like the The the the flute etc like just like the way the buildings are there's a lot of like iconography What's that the vessel that the soup is served out of is very?
00:36:31
Speaker
I don't know. Right. Everything about there's. Yeah. And even the shape of the probe, like it's based, either it's based on a design that, you know, a lean had, or the, that was like some kind of inside programming joke that the programmers, the rest of, I mean, the Katani and programmers decided, oh, let's make a necklace in the, in the, in the illusion that looks like the pro, you know, whatever.
00:36:57
Speaker
Whatever the case is that you could see that this civilization somehow, much like the Baku, they hide their technology or seamlessly infuse it into their world to not make it the emphasis. We never really see a computer, if I recall, anywhere in the episode. No one really ever talks to a computer, but one can imagine if they can build this probe that they definitely have computers or some kind of computer interface.
00:37:27
Speaker
I don't remember. The advanced thing you see is the panel that opens the door. Yeah. Yeah. I think that based on kind of just like my feelings of all the evidence, like even the doctor comes in with a medikit that resembles, you know, obviously that was because it's easier to get the same prop, but like it resembles, it resembles.
00:37:51
Speaker
Dr. Crusher's better kid. It's not like today a doctor who would even do a house call, by the way, would come in with like a huge bag or a suitcase, you know, full of equipment. They are a very personal kind of culture, aren't they? Because I mean, I'm assuming they have big cities and what have you. It can't be just like, well, it isn't just this one city because the administrator goes from city to city. But it does seem like a very kind of personal community that they have.
00:38:21
Speaker
So maybe they could do, like maybe they do have big hospitals and stuff, but the doctor prefers to actually do the house calls and negotiate the patients. Well, their clinical technology must not be that advanced either because, you know, the tide dies at an early young age.
00:38:35
Speaker
Also, yeah.
Cultural Preservation and the Probe
00:38:37
Speaker
Right. Well, he was probably he probably found out as a council member, he probably found out the news and was like, I'm just going to eat, drink and be merry and die, you know, because everyone else is. Sorry, that was dark anyway. Wow.
00:38:55
Speaker
But where I was going with that is that it makes sense then that they would create this probe to me, like that the pinnacle of their technology was a device that would give you an experience of what it was like to be from Catan. And Resik must have been a celebrated city to have made it into the...
00:39:16
Speaker
You know, into the story, if you will, and, and, and Cayman must have been obviously a real person who was an inspiring figure in there of that time. So I think that's why they chose to, to convey Resekan.
00:39:33
Speaker
experiences through, yeah, and culture through this, this person. Um, you know, who knows it's, it's pretty cool to think about to link to the amateur archeologist. Exactly. But you, but you did ask, uh, like, why did it lock onto captain Picard, right? Like that's, that's a really good question. Like it could have been anyone, uh, cause you know, I always, whenever, uh,
00:40:03
Speaker
Situations like this come up on Star Trek, I always ask myself, but what if it had been a Klingon ship then? Yeah, exactly, right? What would the Klingons have done if they had put in that situation, you know, let's say, Martog or whatever. The captain would just carry on, right? I think it would have been a very different episode.
00:40:25
Speaker
I think it would have been, I think it would have been a profoundly changing experience for whoever the pro latches on to. Do you know what I think, like some fraying it would have reacted well to this?
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. I think why are you wearing clothes? His first reaction, if you're my wife, why are you wearing clothes? You know, that's a really good, that's a really good negative sound. You can see them over there. Inconceivable. Right. I mean, just like.
00:41:00
Speaker
the episode has kind of this almost fairy tale kind of component to it where oh and the the pro just decided to shut down once this the thing was over for Picard and and I didn't decide to it it was programmed to do that
00:41:16
Speaker
OK, but why? It doesn't make any sense. Why only touch one person in the entire universe? I do agree that the probe needs to be reusable because it's like a one time thing, which, first of all, it's pretty impressive. It stayed around until Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise arrived. Well, that's the part that we just chalk up to chance, right? Like we can get we can roll the dice. No, no. What if it had been that stupid race, the ones that kidnapped Geordi?
00:41:46
Speaker
Oh my God. What would they have done with the probe? You know, it would have been a total waste. Well, isn't it great? Isn't it great that Picard is the is the only person that that got the actions? I'm going to say I'm going to say that like this is actually time for this. What's that? We know that that's the one that you get some time.
00:42:07
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. Is that made explicit? You think there are other I think there are other probes. I think it's necessarily foreclosed by what they've said in the episode. They just said they watched it. True. I just I just assumed it was the only probe. But then it would make sense that they singed out multiple. Yeah. Because like maybe there are. Maybe there are. Maybe there are. Maybe there are. Maybe there are. Maybe there are.
00:42:33
Speaker
I like that idea. I like that. See, it increases the probability of the chance, right? Like it makes it a little better to imagine that Picard just hit one of those probes. So is there like a, what do you call it? Is there like a group, a galactic group? People have been touched by these probes and they get together.
00:42:54
Speaker
It'd be cool. It'd be cool, though, if like every probe had a different story and a different artifact from that sort. Yeah. So maybe this could have been the right. This is the rest again probe. There could be a probe for the other cities. Each city could have its own probe with its own. It's like a time capsule. Actually, it works actually in that way. He's going to go meet all the other people that were touched by the probe.
00:43:17
Speaker
That's already hard. Yes. Well, and they'll they'll form an orchestra because everyone has a different someone has like a russic and tuba and a russic and like violin and they're like The russic and orchestra it'll be perfect There's one guy that has the triangle because he couldn't get anything the russic and triangle he's like it's like oh
00:43:39
Speaker
You know, it works perfectly. The Catanian, actually. Wow. I do want to say that on a personal note, and I think I know how Moni feels about this, but I don't think I ever talked to you about it, Humbert, and I know I haven't talked to you about it, Shanti.
The Significance of Music and Awards
00:43:56
Speaker
But I love the whole musical
00:43:59
Speaker
character of this episode as well like throughout the episode there was this component of like uh one of the things that helped you kind of like uh understand how much time had passed and then also just like something to focus on that was like touching was the music the reskin flute and he starts out playing fair shaka which we heard him sing earlier in the season um
00:44:20
Speaker
And then that involves into this melody that it sounds very human, but it's not something that's familiar. Although it does sound a lot like the theme for that show, Outlander, which is a Ron D. Moore show, if I'm not mistaken. It could be that they're related. That's funny. But anyways,
00:44:44
Speaker
That was one of the like four episodes they selected including the like Star Trek 30th anniversary of soundtrack when you said that you said
00:44:57
Speaker
The music is actually very, it's like the number one requested thing from the Paramount vaults, like from fans and people. Oh yeah, you read that too, right? Yeah, I did read that. Yeah, I thought that was interesting. I thought that was cool. And then also, it was so popular that they made an orchestral version, which I sent to Moni this morning. They made an orchestra, the composer, who is, let me see here.
00:45:22
Speaker
Is it Chadaway or whatever? Yeah, thank you. Jay Chadaway, who composed this this piece, also did a full orchestral six minute version, which you can find on the 30th anniversary album. This episode also won a Hugo Award. Yes. Really?
00:45:43
Speaker
Yeah, it did. He goes once to TV. Oh, yeah. Star Trek's won five, I believe. Oh, wow. Yeah. And Doctor Who has won three. Ooh. I think Babylon Five has won three as well. And then lots of people think that Patrick Stewart should have been nominated for an Emmy for this performance. What do you guys think? I think so.
00:46:10
Speaker
Um, okay. In my mind, there are so many episodes in which he should have been nominated for like an Emmy because they can take the worst script and actually make it, you know, believable. Yeah. And so when you give him something, that's just genius, he's, he's amazing in it, right? This is, what did you guys, yeah.
00:46:37
Speaker
Right. Let me ask you, because one of the things that was that was very much praised at the time about the episode was the makeup.
Critique of Makeup and Casting Choices
00:46:48
Speaker
And yeah, I was thinking about that, actually, to make up the same promises.
00:46:55
Speaker
Yeah, but the makeup effects in particular, and obviously the one major difference now is I'm watching it in HD. As a matter of fact, this episode was part of the first Star Trek Next Generation Blu-ray sampler pack.
00:47:11
Speaker
When they were kind of testing the waters for next generation on blu-ray remastering it right they put it out they remastered this one and the pilot and One of wharfs episode and they put it out on the market. So I Watched it and very very high quality and the makeup I have to admit looks like
00:47:32
Speaker
like makeup. I mean I mean obviously at the time our televisions were not as high definition uh so we didn't you know it didn't jump out but they it I think the makeup at least for me personally not saying it's not good makeup uh but I'm just saying is that it stands out more as masks
00:47:54
Speaker
I think that also has to do, I think that also has to do with something that you've actually seen Patrick's age 30 years in front of you and it doesn't look anything like 30 years. No, but it looks like a mask. It looks like a mask. You can tell there's... It leans aging a little better than the cards. Yeah. I thought it was very believable and elementary is under deathbed.
00:48:24
Speaker
I've never I've never really seen until until maybe very recently I've never really seen great aging makeup any any in anything like it always it always seemed like it always seems like that's a tough tough
00:48:42
Speaker
a really tough area of prosthetics is aging an actor. How are they going to look when they're older or whatever, et cetera. It's never really believable, I don't think. Until, again, until recently with CGI, there's been some really cool times where you're like, oh, yeah. And again, de-aging seems to be the thing that works better. Ironically.
00:49:09
Speaker
You have a guy that has who they looked beforehand. Yeah, that's true. That kind of look like... I never would have noticed that the makeup was not good. Simply because... I feel like aging people has always been tricky. And especially on TV. It's never been flawless. So this doesn't stand out to me in that way. It's like, okay, they aged him and you know it's not him, right?
00:49:39
Speaker
Especially now that we've seen him. There's like, and that's why I think the most successful like age, aging in films has always been casting an older actor in the park. I mean, but like, you know, well, except for wish a young man.
00:50:01
Speaker
I did like I did like how similar Patrick Stewart's son looks to Tom Hardy, which kind of like, you know, it it shows that Tom Hardy was a great casting for nemesis. So I love Tom Hardy and I think he's great. I know. I think he has the back to Daniel Stewart, is it?
00:50:28
Speaker
Yeah, Daniel suits awesome on Twitter, by the way. If you don't follow him, he's a pretty cool character. He's totally different from Patrick Stewart, which is, of course, he would be. But he's a little rough around the edges, but he's a beautiful heart. And he always talks about really great issues. He gets really pissed really easily, too. It's kind of fun to watch. I don't know why. Get off my fridge. It doesn't look like.
00:50:58
Speaker
Tom Hardy at all. I know, he doesn't at all. He doesn't look like Tom Hardy at all. I know. I'm looking at Daniel Stewart right now and that is not Venom, right? Are you looking at young Daniel Stewart and young Tom Hardy? They look nothing alike. At any age, they look nothing alike.
00:51:30
Speaker
Nevermind. I concede, I concede. Do a Twitter poll! Do a Twitter poll! Actually, I might. Let's just see what happens. Sean may win his Twitter poll here. I have to start creating many Twitter accounts so I can vote in one of those polls that you do.
00:52:08
Speaker
What do you guys think about did you think there was too much of the
00:52:17
Speaker
The cut cutaways back to the enterprise. Did you think the episode could have been more about Picard? I mean, what do
Narrative Choices and Crew Dynamics
00:52:26
Speaker
you think? Do you think the episode would have been better if it had just been Picard gets, you know, bumped in the head. He passes out. He wakes up in this alternate reality and you don't find out as the audience what the hell is going on until
00:52:40
Speaker
that you know that sequence where where people start coming back to him and then the missile goes up and i mean the probe goes up what do you think yeah what do you think of that i think i i think it i've personally found the cutbacks the enterprise like very jarring and i was like oh i'd go immediately back to katun right
00:53:01
Speaker
They're kind of like filler almost. Yeah. Although I guess they were, I, you know, I should have been paying more attention, but I guess that they put, they, those were the pieces that separated the various segments of, of Cayman's life. Right? Like, is he? Yes. Well, we do go back to a little bit. But those could have been commercial breaks just as easily. Oh yeah. I guess that's true. I keep forgetting that there are commercials and two.
00:53:31
Speaker
I think, I think that like, I've had them, you know, again, gotten an explanation at the end and just been completely immersed the entire time. But say, what, what do you think? Well, I think it, I think the only reason that those scenes work is because of the last scene where the tether is broken. That scene is so wonderful. Like you could tell like the actors show genuine relief that Picard is okay. And like the way Beverly is just staring at him, the way Riker is staring at him in that end scene. Like if you didn't have these like,
00:54:00
Speaker
If you didn't have these occasional cutbacks to show that they were genuinely worried that Picard was going to die, I don't think that that scene would have been as impactful. And you needed that scene to bring us all back to the Enterprise. So I think that they support that end scene more than maybe they are filler, but I think they're useful filler, if you will.
00:54:22
Speaker
I would compare them to what they do in X-Men Days of Future Past. Like, I don't know if you guys have seen it. Oh, yeah. Essentially, they send Logan, you know, to the past. He like embodies his past self. Right. Now and then they cut back to the dystopian future thing where they're trying to defend themselves against the Sentinels. And none of those scenes are really good because it's all like dark and gritty.
00:54:49
Speaker
And it's all very cringy, because every X-Men is always cringy. But those scenes are kind of necessary in a way. I mean, they show you what the reality of the situation is, compared to this kind of, well, I suppose there's a future past. There's still reality. It's just the past. But in this episode, it is like an invented thing. What is this thing?
00:55:16
Speaker
Oh, this is the B-side, right. This is where the title comes from. The writer had this idea that he would name all of his episodes after a B-side of one of the Beatles singles. Oh, really? But it never worked because he wrote something else. Oh, he wrote one episode that was going to be called Revolution.
00:55:43
Speaker
But they didn't let him use it. Isn't that the episode where Hugh comes back? Isn't it called Revolution? No, maybe not. No, it was something else and they wouldn't let him use it because they'd already used Evolution and he just kept the inner light as just his own personal intro. But that would have been funny to have Beatles be singles as titles.
00:56:14
Speaker
It's kind of interesting though, Humbert, if I may share something that I still remember to this day is that a lot of short stories that you wrote were in high school were based on songs that you like, and there's still one story. There's still one story. I won't say it on, I'm not gonna say it on here, but I know that it's based also on the song, so I think that's cool. But it's interesting there's,
00:56:41
Speaker
There is some connection to the song, to the themes in this as well. One of the words, the lyrics from the copyright is, arrive without traveling, see all without looking, do all without doing, which is basically what Picard is doing or experiencing throughout the he's not actually there on Katan, you know, and
Universal Connection and Viewer Impact
00:57:01
Speaker
And I thought that was a cool link to the story and adding to its profoundness in a sense. And creating this tether out into the broader human world that connects back to Star Trek. One thing to bring it to a wrap.
00:57:22
Speaker
Oh, are we bringing it to a wrap? Are you saying it's... I'm trying to keep... Yes, I'm trying to control it here. The final scene... Is there a mutiny on my goddamn ship? Indeed, sir. I didn't say slow down. We're still at warp nine, damn it. The line must be drawn here. No further. I'm drawing the line. The final... I really like the final scene.
00:57:51
Speaker
After Riker brings him the flute, did you notice that there's two glasses on his table? I did notice that.
00:58:01
Speaker
And I thought, wow, that's a nice visual. The lighting in that scene is also really beautiful and unusual for Star Trek. It's very backlit and dark. But I like also how, yeah, there seemed to be a spotlight on the Mexican flute, but it was just done in such a way that it seemed natural. It didn't seem like unusual.
00:58:26
Speaker
I do have a request if you do want to end the episode that's fine with me, but can you let us know what the book says and any other trivia as per our tradition?
00:58:41
Speaker
Oh, well, not every episode has novelizations. And this one does not. It does have a sequel episode in a sense, in a small sense. There's a there's an episode called Lessons where Captain Picard is in love with this. The pianist, right? Yeah. The pianist. And he actually he plays the rustic and theme and then she creates the riff off of it and they create like a piano duet.
00:59:10
Speaker
Maybe it was the Raskin piano. We didn't know it. It totally could have been.
00:59:27
Speaker
I never thought we would expand this episode, at least in my mind, to where now we have the idea that there's maybe thousands of these probes out there, and that like a Purangi or, you know, even a Romulan might experience what it's like to be a settler of Catan. Has everyone here played Settlers of Catan? Have you played that game? I play it all the time.
00:59:55
Speaker
Yeah, I know you do. How about you, Sean? Have you heard of Settlers of Catan? I have heard of it. And I do play a lot of board games, but I've never played that one. It's a really fun board game. And also, there is really no connection. Catan is spelled with K in this episode. Yeah, it's C-A-T-A-N, right? I tried to look it up. Well, I was at least wondering if the creators of Catan were Star Trek fans.
01:00:24
Speaker
I think that the board game predated the episode slightly. They just popped into culture around the same time, which is kind of interesting.
01:00:39
Speaker
The writer of this episode was captured by a Catan probe, and so was the adventure of the board game. And that explains why. All right, I have here, I'm going to read from a page of a field guide to the Ellington Star Trek, The Next Generation by Joshua Chapman, age 11. I guess I'll read from the book then later.
01:01:07
Speaker
So these are, he's writing about Catan and he gives a rating of three stars. And this is Joshua Chapman rating age 11. These are some aliens that died out like a thousand years ago. The enterprise comes in contact with one of their probes and it makes Picard think that he is living out his life on their planet so that people will remember them.
01:01:31
Speaker
In his other life, he has a wife and two kids, and he plays a flute, but not very well. I thought this was a good episode, but I hate it when on TV shows they show happy families like Picard and his kids, because it is all such bullshit. It is fake. It makes me want to set fire to myself. I feel empty inside, like there's just a shell of me.
01:01:53
Speaker
But walks around and I hate that there is even an image of me that exists in the same world as fake shit like this Looking like a normal person feels like I am supporting this lie of bullshit happy families Wow
01:02:16
Speaker
That's actually really funny. Once again, Joshua Chapman. Oh my goodness. I would have told you to have read something written by Soohill age 11 about this episode. That would be truly hilarious. That's really hilarious.
01:02:38
Speaker
So Hill was age 15 when you're too old when I came out. Guys, did you notice that counselor Troy is not in the episode? I did.
01:03:10
Speaker
Picard's under, do you not think it'd be useful? 25 minutes was missing from the bridge. Where was she once again? Where was Counselor Troi? Like, where was she having chocolate? Was she sleeping? Like, what was Counselor Troi doing? She's having the bananas split Sunday on 10-4.
01:03:24
Speaker
as all of us in this generation
01:03:29
Speaker
And all this, all the while Picard is possibly dying on the bridge. I would think that would stick. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Riker and Worf's stupid solution to dealing with the throne. Worf is just destroy it. Once again, Worf is overruled. He always has the same plan.
01:03:59
Speaker
Oh my gosh
01:04:12
Speaker
All right, so Patrick Stewart remembered I'm having the earliest makeup call. So to your point about the makeup doctor, he had to he had to he had makeup being put on him from 1 a.m. in the morning till his his set time, which was 7 a.m. Can you imagine? Yeah, crazy. Let me ask you about Old Man Picard. Do you think
01:04:38
Speaker
I mean, of all the episodes of Next Generation that could possibly have any real impact on the new show, do you think the inner light should have any kind of impact in any way, either in the form of just a nod to it somehow? Because really, when you think of the experience that he had,
01:05:05
Speaker
You know, he lived, what, like 40 years of life? Yeah. I mean, one of the things that I hate about Next Generation is that these things happen. These episodes happen. It's a good episode. Very impactful thing happens. And then next episode, it's like nothing ever happened. On any other show,
01:05:26
Speaker
There would have been some like, oh, gosh, yeah, I'm still getting back into the groove because I'm still not used to this being my reality. No, because it's just like, boom, boom, you know, on all cylinders. To be fair, it's very compassionate. He has a recovery episode from Wolf 359. Right. And that's it. But I mean, this is, you know, I don't know. But you know what? Also, to be fair,
Character Development in Episodic TV
01:05:52
Speaker
like you all three of you know i think that i had a concussion like a few weeks ago and was injured for a minute and but you don't know what i've been struggling with because i don't share it with you maybe pick a card just as you know i not not intentionally by the way i would love to share it with you but we just don't have the the luxury of time to spend with each other and things like that so i think that there's a component of that's not true you're
01:06:14
Speaker
That's not true. In our previous episode, if this is, in essence, your show, okay? This is all it means to hell, this show, okay? And there are continuity bits because I've been present for them where you've said, oh, I'm recovering from my thing. Oh, I'm feeling better. There are little nuggets.
01:06:36
Speaker
to their little continuity tissues that unite the episodes so that even if some future audience for some reason is watching this Starfleet boy, they can kind of gather which episodes come first, you know, if they don't know the order of consideration to begin with. I can't I can't remember where I read it, but like Ron Moore or somebody said that like that this was
01:07:05
Speaker
Of course, there was there was an element of this where like TV of the time was episodic and not necessarily the idea was that in syndication, it wouldn't air in order. So you should be able to just like kind of watch a couple of episodes out of order and still enjoy the show. But they also said that like they're
01:07:23
Speaker
definitely as we've noted watching tng there are things that do keep coming up and Kind of like they actually do like characters actually do seem to grow from them And it is sad that the only other mention of this episode I do agree that the only other mention of this episode is that lessons episode and it's only because of a musical nod to it I don't think he really goes out of his way to tell you know to talk about his experience on Katan another
01:07:50
Speaker
Well, he could have talked about it then, but he never really talks about it again. So I do agree with you, all kidding aside, that it's one of those missed opportunities because I think it would enhance Picard. Going back to Old Man Picard, the future show coming up, the only thing I can think of, the obvious thing that comes to mind, is that at some point I can imagine Picard going to Catan
01:08:16
Speaker
and looking at more evidence of what happened to the civilization and maybe like trying to like in a way um give them a proper memorial you know like so maybe the maybe he's part of a federate or he starts or like you know creates a federation uh excavation or uh expedition rather i should say uh to katan um it'd be neat also if he's
01:08:41
Speaker
like in the Picard series, if archaeology is kind of like the emphasis to his career at this point, it'd be neat if like there are lectures that he's giving about the environmental impacts. You know, there could be things like, you know, in the ideal world of the Federation where like Earth has been restored to an idyllic, you know, environmental condition,
01:09:04
Speaker
There could be other things like resource management and things like that that could be a way to relate those ideas to us that we're going through today. And Katan could be an example that he uses for that. Katan could be like a what if for earth, of modern day earth still. But don't actually offer him a job.
01:09:27
Speaker
Regarding something it would do like the oceans or the tectonic plates so like that family yeah Yeah, he turns it down Although he's very very compelled by it regarding old man Picard. I know you guys want something like this I know you guys want something like deep and profound and very connected to one of these big episodes of TNG like I would like some sort of follow-up to the chase and
01:09:51
Speaker
Um, another archeology. Yeah. Actually, you know, we see that the Federation have been working on this, like uncovering more details about how everyone's in to connect all of these species interconnected for years. And so, you know, Picard kind of joins that that won't happen. The only thing they'll connect to, if they do connect to something is the board, because it's an enemy. Like it's, it's an alien race that people are like scared of, right? That's, that's the only kind of connection that they'll probably do.
01:10:20
Speaker
Other than that, they're going to do their own action-oriented Picard. I know you guys don't want that. You don't want to get that. I still have hopes that he'll be Old Man Picard as an archaeologist. That's still my hope, but I know that it's slim. It's slim and none. I mean, there's more chances that he's going to be like a teacher at the Academy and they'll use that to launch the stuff at the Academy show.
01:10:44
Speaker
Mm-hmm. That's true. I'm not even just I'm just trying not to even think about it I'm just gonna let let the Picard the old man Picard present I don't want an old-person wedding
01:11:05
Speaker
What, Moni, do you have anything to chime in about the pending Katzen Picard TV show? Like any expectations? I don't know what they're going to do with it. It would be great if we had some of the, some tiebacks to
01:11:29
Speaker
some of the great episodes of TNG and the more humanistic and archeological side of a card. It would be great. I don't know what they're going to do with it. It's written by the man who wrote the short trick.
01:11:47
Speaker
Michael, Michael Shambaughn. Is it Shambaughn? Shabaughn? Shabaughn. Shabaughn. Shabaughn. Shabaughn.
01:12:06
Speaker
No, that was not me. I would not buy that. Suddenly Sohail stops, leaves the show, drives straight to Humbert's house, knocks him on the head and steals the Resekan flute. Oh, no. No, I'm just kidding. You can't even get... I looked, you can't even get a replica.
01:12:27
Speaker
of it at the moment. They're all sold out. So it's, but it's obviously in demand. So Roddenberry store, Roddenberry store made this desk, you know, the Picard desk crystal. I love this thing. I love to hold it in my hand just like Picard does and fondle it. When I'm thinking I raise it to my head, I'll do these things. How often does that happen?
01:12:54
Speaker
a lot he's always fumbling his death crystal
01:13:07
Speaker
Because of time on Starfleet Boy, when you realize that the episode has dragged on for too long. Yeah, when it brings out the crystal. I tried, dude. I tried, I really did. I know, I know. We're almost done, we're almost done. Anyways, you can get this. We still have fondling to talk about, sir. You could get this, you could get your own death crystal to fondle. 8.5! It's like Picard does. You still have amazing ratings now.
01:13:33
Speaker
8.5. Oh, he is. All right. Fine. Fine. It's up for the rating. So we know the doctor's rating is 8.5. That's a shock to me. Well, we'll say it. Will you say like 14 or something? Yeah, it's a 10. It's definitely a 10. But it's it's also an unradable episode to me because I do have deep, deep connection. No, there are no unradables. That doesn't make sense. That's why I gave it a 10. That's why I gave it a 10. That's why it's a 10. I give it a 10. Yes.
01:14:02
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. Sean, please bring us back to reality. I give it a nine. Yeah. So based on the cumulative. I don't give anything to him.
01:14:14
Speaker
We can safely give this episode a 10 because two 10s outweigh a nine. What? What is that? I gave it an 8.5! 10s are like black holes when there's two 10s. It creates a huge... I'll give two episodes 10s. This episode and family. That's right. That's right.
01:14:40
Speaker
But this averages out to be a nine something, right? Yeah, 9.5. So we're rounding up to 10. So this episode gets an overall cumulative rating. Rounded up to 10. That has never been the hell's strong suit. Why do you even want to...
01:15:03
Speaker
Well, we have to finish. Why don't you just read it yourself? This is a 10 and just nobody else is reading matter. This is the planet Katan. I'm the administrator. Democracy works very well.
01:15:21
Speaker
I've known the right. I think you'll find our form of representational government works very well here on Starfleet. I do have a single. So, OK, thank you, gentlemen. Thank you so much. We do. We do. We do want to take a moment. I don't know.
01:15:48
Speaker
Sean, Sean is doing a series. It's true. I am. If we celebrate Christmas for two months at this point.
01:16:03
Speaker
And after Christmas goes on till January, actually. People don't realize this. Christmas actually doesn't end on December 25th. It actually goes on through January. So yes, that's true. If he made a Star Trek show, there'd be like Christmas episodes for three months. It'd be a Christmas season every year.
01:16:32
Speaker
That's true. That's true. Are you listening to that CBS? Just go ahead and give me one. I'll make it awesome.
01:16:50
Speaker
Go carefully all of you wait before you guys go a quick quick plug for Sean's Podcast called Trek talk which you can download on all the things right is it called trick. It's not it's called trick chat. Oh shit But it's also not it's it's also officially non-existent for the moment because I haven't promoted on my channel or on my Twitter I
01:17:21
Speaker
The first episode is live, pretty much everywhere. If you look for trick chat on any podcast. I found it on iTunes. I haven't privated it or anything, so everyone can see it. It's just that I haven't promoted it officially. I was waiting to record a second episode before launching the project.
01:17:41
Speaker
Which doctor, after we end this episode in just a minute, you have to check your email anyway. Oh. Yeah. Anyway, so that's that's the only thing we're promoting today, right? Unless, Moni, do you have anything to promote today? How about you, doctor? I'm checking my email. Well, OK, you can check it out. You know, all right. Well, I am saying so long and thanks for all
01:18:11
Speaker
the chats and I'm gonna end our broadcast and live long and prosper. Audience, love to hear your thoughts on this awesome episode in the comments section below or you can email me at zohail at starfleetboy.com. Please check out our other episodes and thank you for joining us as always and Merry Christmas. Don't participate in the polls. Merry Christmas.
01:19:15
Speaker
you