The Greatest Generation - A Smattering of Loaf (S4E9)

Episode Date: November 7, 2016

When a twist beginning crash lands Captain Picard and young Wesley Crusher (The Boy?!) onto a desolate planet, the constant bickering drives the third wheel of their group to drink. It's too bad Commander Riker is too busy taking out someone else's trash to mount a timely rescue mission. What does it take to get a 6 star Uber rating? Are children chained inside the saucer section? Is this how radiation works? It's the episode where we introduce a new mountainside sculpture to our repertoire!

Priority 1 message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Hey friends of Disodo. Before today's episode, we just wanted to take a moment to talk about the historic labor actions being taken by writers and actors in the American Film and Television industry. If you're a fan of the work done by the people who make Star Trek, we hope you'll join us in standing in solidarity with the folks who actually bring these adventures to life. Over the past several years, the AMPTP, the organization that represents the American Film and Television Production Studios, have reduced the profit from movies and TV going to workers. And in so doing,

they've attempted to weaken the labor unions that represent those workers. They wouldn't even engage the unions on many issues in their negotiations. And so a strike was the only course of action to take. Adam, Wendy and I have been having a lot of internal discussions about how best to stand with the unions and we are continuing those conversations in a dynamic situation. We're doing our best to understand where the picket lines are in these digital spaces,

and we would never intentionally cross one. With the information we have, we feel like we can do more good talking about and supporting the strike and continuing our show as planned. We'll keep you informed about what all this means for greatest trek specifically. Today we're making a contribution to the Entertainment Community Fund. This fund exists to help all the people whose livelihoods have been put on hold because the AMPTP refuses to negotiate

in good faith with the unions. It provides financial support for writers, actors, and all the thousands of laborers who make the shows that we talk about here and without whom we wouldn't have Star Trek to cast pot about. Those folks are all out of work because billionaires, company shareholders, and the executives of these companies don't want to compromise on the length of their yachts. We hope you'll join us in supporting entertainment workers in a challenging time, especially after they've already endured several years of challenges brought on by the pandemic

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. Engage! Welcome to the greatest generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast.

I'm one of your hosts, Adam Pranika. Hi, I'm your other host, Benjamin R. Harrison. Ben Weir Waste Deep in our West Coast tour plans. Yeah. How are you feeling about it so far? I'm feeling really excited about this tour. we are waste deep in our West Coast tour plans. Yeah. What are you feeling about it so far? I'm feeling really excited about this tour. I'm like, you know, it's been like a lot more work

than I think we either was anticipated getting it ready. And I don't know, I guess this will come out like kind of close to when the tour starts, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it's been, I'm just getting really excited thinking about like actually going and doing this in front of people. We've got some real fun surprises also.

I think the poster thing might be one of my favorite parts of this whole deal. This tour poster is outrageous. And we've only seen like proofs. So they aren't like the finished designs, but holy shit. is outrageous and we've only seen proofs. So they aren't like the finished designs, but holy shit. The concept might be not safe for work, for hanging in your cubicle, but maybe a little bit of gaff tape will help you out there.

Sure, yeah, a little dutch out some of the more racy elements of the year. Because when you think of us and imagery of us, that's definitely where the mind goes, right? Yeah, so if you want to come see us do this for the first time, I'm sure it will be memorable and I think it'll be pretty fun. Like everything you do for the first time, it's going to go great. All parties are going to be satisfied. It's something you'll remember fondly forever.

So we're going to be doing this a lot, but you definitely don't want to miss the first ones. Yeah. If you're in the environs of Seattle or Portland or the San Francisco Bay area. It's going to be hot. Yeah. With that, I think we should probably turn the page over

to the episode we're gonna be reviewing today, Ben. Yeah, let's do that. That's season four, episode nine, the final mission. This is becoming a speech. So the captain's so very entitled. I'm not gonna type a ramble on about something everyone knows. So Wesley's in big trouble at him. That is how this episode starts. about something everyone knows. So, Wesley's in big trouble at him.

That is how this episode starts. He's been called up to the bridge. He's like late and he's trying to stumble over some chicken-shit excuse and Picard is having none of it. Because I'm going to assure you that will not go down well at Stoffie to Catebra. Yes, sir, I'm aware of that You get a real reversal of emotion. Yeah, in one will weathen at that moment the Academy the scene is directed by M Nightchemelon

A twist beginning at him Yeah, Wesley drops his coffee mug in slow motion. It's made by Starfleet Academy mug company. Oh man, just seeing that milky coffee go into the pile on the carpet there, tragic. That's not going to come out easy. You hope they've scotch-guarded that bridge carpet. Yeah, it's definitely been replaced at least once since since this mission started, right? Yeah, and you can definitely see all the places that

That they've they've wheeled desk chairs across it. Yeah, I mean, it's not great So it's that's that's why all the angles are up if you notice like they're trying to shoot up towards the tap at the horseshoe whenever they can Yeah, well that and it just gives Captain Picard that masculine attraction. You know what? You bring up a good point with that. I know you were joking, but shooting people up is often their worst angle, and yet they do it to Patrick Stewart all the time to show Warf in the background in bridge scenes. Yeah. How does it work for him and it works for so few other people?

Is he just a better-looking person? He is, yeah, definitely that. But I think also, I've read that some directors think men look better looking up at them and women look better looking up at them and women look better looking down at them and it's like a because men are taller on average than women thing that they theorize that's true. But yeah, as a leading man, like Patrick Stewart, you definitely got to keep your nose hair game in check.

Well, that and you've got to keep the chin out. It really forces you to do that because you get the meatbeard look if there's if there's some soft chin there. Yeah, I don't know. That's a that's a great point. We definitely haven't talked about that. So they don't have much time to bathe in the in the happy emotions with Wesley getting accepted to the Academy because evolution's worst mistake gets up on the FaceTime and says that her planet is under attack

by some unknown ship. This is a woman who, this is maybe the most loaf we've seen on a character yet. She's definitely on Mount Loaf. She, I mean, we're getting pretty close to Halloween here, Ben. Yeah. At the time of this recording, I think the episode will come out far after. But she struck me as someone who had walked into a silly,

string spatter web. Do you want to hear my Halloween costume? Okay. Going as sexy, sexy, westerly, Silly String Spider-Web. Do you only hear my Halloween costume? Okay. Going as... Sexy... Sexy Wesley Crusher. Wesley the boy.

The boy. Young Wesley Crusher. My son. That's great. Yeah. I told my wife that and it's as close as we've ever come to not still being married. Is this a couple's costume situation where she will be dressed as a

heroin golf video game? I think she's going to be dressed as sexy, embarrassed wife. That's a costume that you can wear the entire year through. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, she didn't have to go to rickies and pick up any special, special kutrimon. She had everything already in her closet. Did you have everything already in your closet for sexy Wesley? I bought a Wesley sweater, but I'm going to do my hair Wesleyish and make myself a little starfleet badge. Oh man, that is a lot of depth, brand, hair gel. And you better buy two.

You talk! Give me two! Yeah. The kid uses some gel. So, at this point, we've arrived at a choice. You've got a planet in trouble asking for help and you've got a diplomatic mission. Yeah, we haven't really said what the diplomatic mission is, have we? No, I guess not. So the episode starts with Picard recording a log about how he's on his way out to mediate a dispute between miners. And that's the story.

Before they get this distress call from the planet. And he's got to be pretty nervous about this, because we know that Captain Picard is very uncomfortable around miners. Yeah, so Picard is going to hop in a shuttle with Wesley and go deal with this and the enterprise is off to sort out the strange ship attacking the planet. Does it seem like one of these is more important than the other, Ben? Because I sure think mystery ship attacking a planet probably takes precedence over cranky miners. Yeah, well I mean I think that ship attacking a planet probably takes precedence over cranky miners. Yeah, well I mean I think that they're like...

Get yourself a ship that can do both, is that what they're doing? Yeah and they're like, you know, Picard doesn't need to be here for mystery ship. Like, Riker can handle a situation like this. So, and you know, like they don't even need to spare a Previa. Like Picard's getting a ride, you know, like they don't even need to spare a Previa. Like they've got, like Picard's getting a ride, you know? Yeah, and this is like the Gypsy cab from Royal Tannenbaum's level Shuttlecraft. It's a total Jolopy. Yeah.

And the captain of the Jolopy, we will come to know is Captain Durgo. Yeah. Who is very sure to use the word captain when he refers to himself and his ship. Yeah, Durgo has like a industrial size inferiority complex. And, you know, Picard is very like cool about Durgo, but, you know, we know who the big dick is, and Durgo really, it really eats Dergo up that he's going to be ferrying this greater man around. If you called an Uber and the app said your driver is Dergo and this is the car that showed up,

I think you'd cancel the ride, right? Yeah, I mean his his shit is looking pretty rough. Like it's definitely got, like, it's definitely like that car that you see driving around where there's like a primer door because they got in a wreck. And like, there's some evidence of the wreck on like the side panel,

but they only had enough money to replace the door and it's like a different color from the rest of the car. I one time got into an Uber that had towels across the back seat and smelled of vomit. And I didn't cancel the ride like I should have. You're a hero. Your Uber rating should be 6. Well, I found myself feeling a great amount of similarity to Captain Picard here because he goes through with the mission too. He gets in that car.

So let's talk about Durgo a little bit. He's got kind of a Halloween store level hand solo costume on. And he's got like a smattering of loaf, I would say. Like they used most of the loaf up on the lady at the beginning. So they just had like a little bit left to give him some eye loaf or whatever.

But he's like not much of an alien, right? They told him they're like, look, we, as far as building character, we can't loaf you out. So you're gonna have to play big. And that's what he does. And the Picard and Wesley get down there and they're in the shuttle bay and Jordi, like he's like on a mechanics creeper coming out from under the shuttle and he's you know shammying off his the grease on his hands and he's like, man this thing is ship shape. Good to go.

Like it ain't pretty but it's put together good. And he's like, by the way, I noticed your maneuvering thrusters are a little weird durgo. And he's like, oh yeah, I wouldn't worry about that. He says foreshadowingly. Yeah. And so they're like, all right, great. We're all feeling great about this.

And Turgo offers Picard a seat at Ops and Picard's like, nope, I'm gonna take this opportunity to Big Dog U and Wesley, and I'll be sitting in the back reading an ancient book and Wesley will help you. One of the great devil Big Doggings right here. It's like a trick shot in pool that he sets up where he strikes the cue and knocks two balls into the corner pocket at the same time.

Real nice. Yeah, he's the best. Yeah, so they take off from the enterprise and they're flying in the shuttle craft and it really does not take long before the shuttle craft completely loses control and they're like, they're getting bangers left and right. There's a fun moment where Picard grabs a handhold

and the handhold falls out in his hand. Yeah. Did you notice that part? That was great. Kind of reminded me of that inanimate carbon rod from the Simpsons. Yeah, like they had fun making this ship a dumpy interior as well as exterior.

Like when Picard comes in from the back compartment, he throws the door open and then Wesley is over there like trying to use the computer behind the door and He can't get the door to like stay shut Which I that was really fun like that was definitely Designed into the into the set like what if what if the latches on the doors are even kind of shitty on this ship Yeah, I like I like the imperfect interactions Yeah, cuz I mean, that really sets it apart

from the average enterprise door, which doesn't even lock, but it's definitely gonna open and then close. It really, they glide so smoothly. It's a real dream. But they manage to. Now, when you install enterprise door casements You want to make sure to have all four corners completely level That way the door slides freely

I like to I like to put the hinges on the door before you hang the frame that way you can be a hundred percent sure that yes square on all four corners We're using two pin hinges. Now most space ships would use a sliding door here, but because this is a piece of shit space, I'm like doing Australia and all of a sudden. Yeah, look, forget about that. All right, this scene made me think about how similar depicting a plane crash is from a, from a shuttle shuttlecraft crash because like the terminology is very similar We're going down We've got to pull up before we hit the planet. Right. It seems like they're out in the middle of space And then they are they are like looking for a place to ditch pretty fast. Yeah, so I mean West is on the computer

He's dialing up the map of where they're at looking for class M places to dump it. They're in like a system that has a bunch of planets and a bunch of moons and they got to pick one that will sustain humanoid life because otherwise, no bueno, can't put that thing down in a gas giant yeah and in a pinch west finds one he's like it's super hot

but uh... it's the best i can do in the moment and so they they aim the nose for planet desert and and they take her in. Brazier's on fire, back. They put it down pretty soft considering. I mean, the ship is all in one piece. There's no field of wreckage behind them. They didn't get it to a stop or anything. They just literally sit it down right side up on the desert floor. And-

You were deprived of an exterior- Yeah. Of the shuttle going through the atmosphere or punching into the sand. Like we don't get any of that. It's a fade to white bin which is as editor, a real nice crutch to have. Yeah. I mean, I didn't hate that. I imagine it would have been pretty tricky to build a miniature that had a plausible looking retro rocket and then shoot that, setting down on the ground. There's a classic dissolve to sun, like in the space balls. Yeah.

And then they're like hopping out of the hatch on the top of the craft. And Picard is already like, he's going down the like Boy Scout checklist of, we need to find shelter from the sun. This thing is gonna serve like an oven. We need to get food, water, rations, something to protect our heads.

Like, it's fun, you know? He's like, he's like, Dergo, grab the big box of granola bars that every shuttlecraft should have. And Dergo is like, what the fuck are you talking about? Like, I have nothing but these rags and the porn magazines that I keep in the foot wells. So I got nothing. Yeah.

And Picard is like, well, there's some mountains over there. I say we make for those and we should gather all the provisions that we can before we head out. And kind of like, ohother, where are our thou? There's a great like who puts you in charge, seen between Durgau and Captain Picard. And Picard is like, well, Pete, I figured it should be the one with the capacity

for abstract thought. But if that ain't the consensus view, then hell, it's put it to a vote. God, I love that scene. Picard really kung fu's Durgau a little bit, like uses his aggression against him. I think you're thinking of Akito. Oh yeah, that is what I'm thinking of.

Anyway. Yes, Anne. He soft plays his big dog against him and is like, no, man, I'm not going over your head. What do you think we should do? And gets him to sort of agree to the course of action in a weird way that that satisfies him? Yes. It's a some masterful leadership on Picard's part because he's like, he's dealing with

like Wesley who is all too eager to defend him and and kick shit on Durgo whenever Durgo resists. And Picard is like, so you're role-wessly, I'll handle this. I can make this guy my worker. It's just going to take... Like, you're not playing it right, essentially. The great leaders, Picard, always make their subordinates feel like they have some sort of control over their life when they don't and this is a great example of that. Yeah, I mean Wes is being a baby like every time Dergo says says something to counter counter man something Picard says Wesley is like if you want to get out of this I suggest you listen listen to Captain Picard. He's one who's going to keep us alive. He's scrappy do's him.

Yeah, yeah. And Picard has to hold him back, you know. It shows how deep the pathology goes between them. Yeah, but I was also thinking like this is the episode in which we're saying goodbye to Wesley. And they wrote this part for him and this where he is kind of super immature. And I felt like he'd matured a lot in like over the last couple of seasons. Yeah.

So it was kind of a surprising tone, I think. Before we get off this scene, which we are just beating to death with a shovel. Yeah, this is a 35-second scene that we've been talking about for a good five minutes. The card's listing all the things that he needs and wads before this trip to the mountains. And the last thing he throws in, almost like a throwaway comment is, we've got to breathe through our noses

to prevent dehydration. Mm-hmm. Stan, is this a real thing? I've lived my life under the assumption that it's a real thing. The card's lucky for you guys. I brought my little billfold full of breath-right strips. It's a tiny principle of a soft baby's face. Are you not finding within yourself to stand up telling truth?

You don't deserve to wear that uniform. We get off this scene with one of the great desert montages. Again, very space ball-like. We get our single brass instrument that's doing the music bed for this walk. You get a lot of those three-shot inner cuts of far away medium and close, like really long 30 second dissolves between each of them. Yeah, somebody... All the tricks. Somebody came with the Hollywood checklist of how to shoot a walking across the desert scene and they hit every single point on the checklist.

Yeah. Guys, we've got to do a tilt off of the sun. Check. We've got to show like the heat waves from people being far away in the desert. Check. We've got to put towels around these actors' heads. Check. So, we cut to the enterprise in orbit of this planet, and it's like a blue and green earth looking planet, and there's this big, like, dirty brown barge ship in orbit of it.

And the enterprises like positioned itself between the barge and the planet. And this barge is like mega radioactive. It's not lethal for the planet yet, but they're like, yeah, like it's starting to cause ill health effects and if it's up there much longer, we're pretty much fucked. And the trick is they want to move the barge out beyond the asteroid belt in the system, but if the enterprise gets close enough to tractor it, they won't be able to, like, there's so much radioactivity that their shields will be useless against it at the proximity that they would need to be to tractor beam it. So one of those things where it's like they have conveniently left out like what the shield are capable of with radioactivity and what the tractor beams ranges

and a bunch of other factors that are like, well, all right, I guess we'll just take your word for it that this is really a problem. There's a level of trust you have and Jordy's take on things at this point. Yeah. You really don't have anyone else to ask? This whole storyline is about forcing, like're dealing with this as they discover the

news that the ship that was carrying Wes and Picard never showed up at the mining colony. And so Riker is like, again, forced to make this decision between the enterprise and its captain. And you know, at this point it's just a reflex. He's like, fire. We're doing the enterprise. Like, don't even... He's getting really good at sacrificing Picard's life. Yeah, yeah, totally. So, this to me, Adam was a classic episode of Why Not Separate the Ship and put the

saucer section on garbage-scow duty and warp back to do search and rescue with the star drive section. I mean, ordinarily, I would agree with you, except the saucer section is full of kids. Are the kids like chains to the saucer section? They can move them. There's elevators. Just be like, hey kids, get on the Star Drive section, you know, play in Holodeck 3 for a while. We're gonna go, we're gonna go do some search and rescue, skeleton crew on the, on the, on the saucer. I know, man, I'm with you. I was I was of this thinking when they were about to get on Durga's Jolopy. Why not separate the saucer right then and there and take the saucer to the mining colony and and send star drive section over to the garbage

scale. Yeah, I mean they would have but Jordi was just so impressed with how this ship was set up and how ship shape it was. Right. Yeah. He was just dying to get the card on board of it. It's important to have a mechanic you can trust. Yeah. And I think the jury is still out on Jordi. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, on the one hand, he's not like constantly trying to insist that they need the fan belt replaced. On the other hand, it's definitely made some dubious calls. W slash R slash T shuttle safety.

He's like, look, guys, you could separate the saucer section, but I haven't had a chance to spray the underside with the special rust-proofing material. Like, I mean, you can do it if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it. We have got to push through the end of this episode. We are dragging our feet, Ben. Yeah. All right, so as they get across the desert, they get into this system of caves and they discover this water fountain. For our Midwest viewers, it's a bubbler.

This bubbler is a big problem. Well they do that thing where they see where people who have been walking through the desert see a mirage and they go running headlong into the water and I think it's Durgo that does it. He gets thrown across the room as soon as he tries. Durgo has at this point revealed that he's been hoarding the booze. He's got a, he's got like a giant flask of tequila that he's been, he's been sipping off

and Picard is like, you fucking idiot. Alcohol is a diuretic. You're making yourself more thirsty, not less. And he's like a classic dumb guy retort. I'll take my chances. I'll take my chances. I'll take my chances guy in this situation is always the one to die first. He gets rocked back by this force field. And the entire rest of the episode

is based around this force field situation because like they've angered something in the rocks and part of the rocks being angry meant that several of them were gonna get dumped on Wesley's head and Picard did that classic thing in television where he runs and pushes a potential victim out of the way and then instead of keeping running,

stops in that spot and looks up at the falling rocks. He catches several rocks to the dome and body. And he's got like a broken arm and a broken leg. And he's got a big gash on the top of the dome piece. And he's in bad shape. He's definitely like concussed and in just generally very rough shape. And you can tell things are bad because his uniform is real dirty

and Wesley's hair is all uncamped at this point. I mean, they're stressing. You can tell that he's in really bad shape in one other important way, which is, they don't rest his head on anything soft like his head is resting on a rock It's pretty fucked up. I think if I were a part of that's the first thing I would ask for be like man my my leg in my arm Really hurt right now, but also you You think you could you could grab the turbine I was wearing and maybe yeah Yeah, you know all those headwags we had?

Yeah, could you find one of those, please? Uh, God. That don't treat him super well here. My love is a people's long and chill for that which long and thus has a busy How many more you'll have to hold here? So Picard is a slip slipping away. The Enterprise is like not having a great time

trying to move this garbage scale. They like try putting some thrusters on it that one of them breaks off and it compromises the whole integrity of the thing. So they're like, fuck it, we gotta do the Goddamn tractor beam, which means we're all gonna get cooked with radiation. And it's like not how radiation works, where the computer's just like telling them how many more minutes they have until they're dead.

Yeah. But yeah, so they're like towing this thing. And I guess this is one of those things where I felt like the thrusters must have made it start moving, and like inertia should have been doing most of the rest of the work, but I guess they have to get it through this asteroid field so there's some steering involved. Yeah. And they didn't want to like irradiate the asteroid field also. So I don't know.

It's, this is a very maguffin-y plot line I felt like. Yeah, they could have called this episode, you're just gonna have to trust us on this one. And the one guy who's great at driving the ship through asteroid fields is, is concussed down on a plane somewhere. Yeah, they don't even know where he is. So in this cave, have attempted a new strategy of phasering the force field around this

water fountain, because they're like desperate for water now. Like if Picard doesn't get water, he's definitely gonna buy the farm. And the first time they try it, it like knocks a phaser out of Durgo's hand, and it's like wrapped in spider webs. These are selenium fibers, electrically deposited. And so they try a second gambit where Wesley is going to shoot like a lower intensity beam and Durgo is going to shoot a higher intensity beam. They're going to try and distract the cave race that keep fucking with them. And this this plan backfires big time on Durgo. It uh it encases him in a ton of spiderwebs and uh he dead.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh true to his nature, he does something wildly uh unproven. He forces Wesley into it and he pays the ultimate price. He forces Wesley into it and he pays the ultimate price. Wesley comes very close to like, to saying like, stop not using science. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, and he pays the ultimate price and so. As shitty as Jericho is, like,

now it's just Wes. Because Captain McCart can't do shit. And Wesley's like hitting this point of like near despair. Like he goes and like leans over Picard and Picard is on Death Star and he's like, Wesley, you'll see, I'm not long for this world. I'm dipping, dipping blood, and there's a tap of my head. H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h That's how you can tell the Pekasvi is dying. Wesley has this kind of long monologue where he explains to Picard that all of the hard work he's done on the Enterprise has been to try to impress Picard. Like, he basically tells Picard that he's been

a father figure for him and he just feels like this, he feels tremendously lucky to have gotten to know him and serve with him and, you know, he talks about how he was intimidated by Picard at first and, but yet he always admired him and Picard, you know, says like says like hey listen. I've always been really proud of you and when you go to When you go to Starfleet Academy, make sure you introduce yourself to the groundskeeper. He's great He's one of the best groundskeepers believe me. The edging is immaculate. Believe me

It's got the best grounds. Everybody, everybody talks about how great the grounds are. The best grounds in the galaxy. Believe me. I thought this scene was effective, very effective actually, and it made me think that if you were starting from zero, Ben, and writing the quote-unquote last Wesley episode, you want there to be that moment where there's like truth in their relationship, like where they finally say the things that they've been acting out the entire time the fact that

Wesley does have a dad and Picard always has been that for him and Fie's Versa that that Wesley is the child that Picard never had and That relationship needs to be underscored. I almost feel like you start with this scene as As you're breaking this story, right? How do we get to a moment where they could actually do that? Well, you make one of them face death probably because neither of them are gonna say it as long as they're at full health. To me, it just felt like, right this part first

and then right your way there. Yeah. So they have this scene which is touching, but they're still shit to do. Wesley hasn't, Wesley sort of verbally, like has last words with him, sort of sets the tone that Picard's going to die, but Wesley still has to live somehow, and it's all about getting to this water.

And he does a bunch of science and figures out a way to use the try, like he uses the phaser to bring the rath out and then the tricorder to turn it into a scribbly ball of confusion. And it's just like a lot of button mashing. It looks like, kind of looks like a guy that's playing Mortal Kombat, but doesn't know any of the combos. He's doing like Mavis Beacon teaches typing.

He's like, if he misses a letter, this race is going to attack him. His hands are on the home row. They're tapping away furiously. This race really headfaints, but it's like going right for him, but then it goes through him directly through his chest and into the fountain and it drops the force field and he's able to, you know, get a, get a briefcase full of water that he takes back and gently drips into Picard's mouth. Yeah, that was a fun choice, like as far as art directing that scene. Like, we know there is a bottle.

They have one of those. Why use the suitcase? Yeah, there's still little booze in it. Yeah, I guess so. Oh, maybe it was in Durga's jacket at that point. Oh, yeah. And when you got enrobed in the spider webs, they lost the bottle.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I don't know. One of the other. Captain Picard seemed to think that they could use the alcohol as coolant at some point, which was like, oh yeah, good point. They leave the mechanic work to Jordy the card. I don't think you know what you're talking about.

You ever feel your radiator with alcohol? How can I have a good day? That's a DIY you don't want. Sir, do you know why I pulled you over? Your car smells like tequila, sir. This episode ends with Wesley like passed out in the cave and his mommy is waking him up and the car just being carried out on a stretcher and throws a jab at Wesley like like why do you look like shit kid. Wesley fires one right back and they're all real happy that everybody got out of this scrape okay and you know Wesley was the hero. That was the the mirror image to the scene that opened the show. The scene opening the show was Wesley being totally

deferential and getting his dog big completely. And at the end, they're both letting their dogs loose on each other a little bit. Yeah, they have become, they become more partners than master and subordinate. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. Did you like this episode, Adam? Yeah, I did. Boy, scenes in this episode walked right up to saccharine But but didn't go all the way and I think in saying that I mean specifically that scene where West and Picard like have their last words for each other like that could have been an atrocity If they if they take it a little further than that and they didn't and West as a character and Will as an actor,

has had some challenging times, making an emotional case that seemed believable. Sure. And good. And this was a moment where they rose to that occasion. And I thought they did a great job. So I think that is the moment in the episode that redeems everything and makes it good to me.

The biggest problems I have with the episode are the dumb storyline that they used to get the enterprise and the rest of the crew out of the picture. But I thought that desert Stuff was so strong, like it's so fun to see them on a planet that's like color graded differently. Yeah. You know, like, I guess that's probably not even grading, right?

They probably shot that through like a tobacco filter or something. It's a more alien feeling planet than we typically get. And I imagine they probably went to Death Valley or something to shoot it. I mean, it just feels really, really cool and it's really like top tier production work compared to some of the other stuff we've seen. And I think the only thing I was really missing was a scene where Wesley was riding on the top of a bus with giant

silken scarves flying behind him Yeah, I was missing that scene too That's good head cannon though Yeah, maybe he's not rich enough yet. Oh geez. I I just realized there's a there's a light beeping on my keyboard Ben lights don't beep, but this one does. It's saying that we have a priority one message. Could be, could be.

Should I hit this button, Ben? Is the word given? The word is given. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. I need a supplement on. supplement on? supplement. supplement. Yeah, it's extra. secure channel. Need a supplement on top of the income. Stop a little.

Stop a little. Yeah, it's extra. How do you interest alone could be enough to buy this ship? Our first priority one message is of a personal nature. It is for Ricky, and it is from Matt. And it goes like this, Ben. Since the early days on the USS Dumpy, it's been a pleasure to be a TNG fan with you,

especially when the IPAs make a strum. And in parentheses, it says, or turn us into drunk Shimotis. I'm glad that our wives put up with us. See, people write stuff about their wives like we're supposed to just believe them, whatever. All right. I'm glad that our wives put up with us.

Here's to another year, another 24-hour marathon. There's another parenthetical that goes as long as we don't have to watch Nemesis again. And the finest crew and starfleet. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Ricky from Matt. That's a beautiful birthday message. Really is.

I don't think they're doing marathons of the watching variety and not the running variety. Yeah, 24 hour marathon. If you run a marathon in 24 hours, why even call that running? That's probably the time that I would log. Yeah, yeah, for a marathon. That's out of shape marathoning. I think these guys might have emailed me about joining one of these

marathons. Uh, oh yeah. Not for the faint of heart, it sounds like. Ooh. I mean, if they're throwing nemesis into the mix. What's tough about the whole nemesis thing is it that comes so late in the marathon, yeah, that, uh, that is no reward at all But then you're like wait a second. Is that Tom Hardy? Holy fuck. That's Tom Hardy boy Tom Hardy

Who knew that he was in anything before he was famous? I will trace you to the end of the galaxy captain because Captain for God you were you adopted the dark. I was born in it You're under the galaxy, Captain Picard. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha in that movie, right? Because he comes from that vampire planet. I still watch the Bane Wrap from time to time for laughs. That is a fun video. Yeah, and you're having a, when you're having a week, just queue up that Bane Wrap. Alright, we have a second priority one message if you can believe it, Ben.

Yeah, we do. It is from DeSoto. I don't know if that's the same Dysodo as Captain's the Hood, but it is too shannon. And it reads as follows. As you fly the Previer with Ensign Finley, the boy to Six Bay. No, you are the best Dr. Crusher, Compassion, Hair Styles, Dr. Polesky, Great, Warfare Traction, and Tasha Yarr, Scarves. Finley is in the best hands, the greatest hands. There's no better hands than these hands. Believe me, PS Warfare's review of O.I. Builds Character, Shitty Parking.

Man, for some reason that was hard for me to read, like the rhythm of it was hard for me, but real funny. And I hope that that is the Disodo from the hood, because that seems like a fun ship if it is. I don't know that we've received a P1 with more inside joke references. Yeah, that really packed them in, didn't it? Well done, DeSoto. Good times.

Well, if you are interested in joining the ranks of DeSoto in purchasing a priority one message you can do so by going on over to maximumfund.org. Slash jumbo-tron is $100 for a personal message and $200 for a business message. Yeah, it keeps the lights on around here. Keeps us in deuterium and we really appreciate it. Hey Ben, what's that Adam?

Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda! I did, I gotta give it to Jordi on this episode. I can't imagine why he would sign off on this ship. I've run safety and operational inspections captain. Everything checks out, all right. Like, the picture when they come down to the shuttle bay is Jordi and like three or four other guys from engineering have

been picking over this shuttle and like and he's like yeah it looks great good to go. Everything checks out right? No qualms about this situation and when they discover that the craft has crashed, Jordi is well, the maneuvering thrusters did look pretty busted up on that thing. I gotta, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that that's what happened. Yeah, good timing, Jordy. What in the hell?

And like, it's carrying his captain. Yeah. A captain that nine episodes ago, they almost lost forever. So you think they'd be a little bit more protective of them. Don't get that feeling. You would think. Yeah. How about yourself? Did you have a Shimoda of a drunk variety? For me, I'm giving it to Captain Durgo, the agro-jolopy minor dude. Who does it? He was getting drunk. He does everything except turn to camera and go,

I'm gonna die. A horrible, horrible death. Just you wait and see. Like, he does everything to make the viewer hate him and the other characters around him hate him. He's just a little too transparently aggro for me. Like he could have dialed it back a little bit and like there's satisfaction in seeing a character you hate die, but I would much rather feel the opposite which is see a character I like die. Like how would it have been?

Or a character you hate redeem themselves in a way that surprises you. Yeah, he was given neither opportunity. He was just like so much meat for the grinder, like killed off unceremoniously and unsatisfactorily. Like, felt kind of empty to me. So I think I'm giving his manner of death the Shimoda. Just the... What was it even about Captain Durago? What does it all mean, man? A greatest-gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre and post show hangs,

to make friends, and share their embarrassment. Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it! The Sherry Reembarishment Tour is coming in August 2023 and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's GreatestGenTour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Sherry Rembarrassment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris and I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go we make pure to like full nonsense. We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level. We get stupid with Judy Greer.

My friend Molly and I call it having the space weirds. Pat Noswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Non-Giani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes which is impossible to use. Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps are already open. Just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard.

Be dumb instead. Oh, rats. Hey, hey, hey, oh, I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line. And boy, what do I? These giraffes do not smell good. No, they do not, and they've such short neck.

But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art. It was about terrain, about a spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually, we're podcasters. We are podcasters, so it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Kerry?

We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal stuff like that And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end so seem like something for us to check out We would love to be on the boats. We came to by two. What do you think? Ono Ross and Carrie available on maximumfun.org Hey Ben, what do we have coming up on the next episode? The next episode of Star Trek the Next Generation is season 4, episode 10, The Lost. Councillor Troy resigns her post after experiencing a mysterious loss of her empathic powers. Do you remember that? I remember this episode as being the Troy gets mean episode.

And that's really all I recall. Yeah. She has that scene where she screams and points at every one of the bridge crews. She's like, you don't understand what this is like. Yeah. Is this the one where Geinen is like, you're not even that great of a counselor to begin with? I hope so.

I don't see that. I feel like this happens a couple of times that she's, am I wrong about that? I don't know. I don't recall. And we certainly don't read ahead. So it may yet be happening, but this is the first time on our show.

One of the things Ben that I think gives our show meaning is the support that our viewers give it on the regular, isn't that right? That is true. There are many ways that a viewer can support the ongoing production of our show. One of the biggest is by going to MaximumFunDiadoric slash Donate and setting yourself up on one of them subscription plans, Ben. You can have regular donations given to us on a monthly basis and that is probably the best way to keep this thing going.

It will prevent our show from becoming like Captain Durga's Jolapi. Yeah, the other great way to support is by going to iTunes or whatever app you use to obtain podcasts. And leave a review or a recommendation of our show. It really helps and people have really been going nuts on getting the iTunes reviews up there. That's been really, really tremendous and really helps, raise the visibility of this show and keeps us in the style we've become accustomed to as the People's champion of Star Trek

podcasts. Yeah. Another way you can help support the shows by buying a t-shirt or going to one of our West Coast shows that are coming up. I think to go out and do these shows and see these places filled with people I think would be the biggest motivation for us to keep going. Yeah. I think it would be the biggest motivation for us to keep going. Like, I think it's one thing to produce the show in a basement, over Skype, it is quite another to do this in front of people. And so I really hope we see all of you guys out there for these shows that we're doing. True that.

Well, we should thank our pal's dark material and Adam Ragusia for the music you hear on the show. And we should thank our beloved viewers and well with that we will be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek the Next Generation and a super mean episode of the greatest generation. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound. Make it sound.

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