The Greatest Generation - Gotta Hover in Science Fiction (ENT S1E7)

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

When Captain Archer wants to visit a tragically chill monastery, the away team beams down just in time for a hostage situation. But when the Andorians can’t find the hidden technology they’re looking for, a strategic beating and fire fight leads everyone to the reliquary. What was Roxann Dawson’s boldest directing choice? Which encyclopedia doesn’t have any translucent pages? How did Archer boost his likability score? It’s the episode that updates IDIC to IDIODIC.Support the production of The Greatest GenerationGet a thing at podshop.biz!Sign up for our mailing list!Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Riker - Quantum LeapThe Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaFriends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | JusticeDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | Mastodon | Bluesky | ThreadsAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social

Friends of De Soto, we've got some exciting news for FODs Across the Pond. Tickets are officially on sale for our show at the London Podcast Festival. That's on September 14th, 2024 at 4.30pm. You heard that right, 4.30pm. It's an afternoon matinee show. Now I know what you're thinking. Who does a podcast show in the afternoon? Well, we do. And it's going to be brilliant. And remember the amazing crowd we had last year? We sure do. That's why we have to go back. As for the topic, that's going to be a cheeky little secret for now.

But don't wait. Head over to greatestgentour.com and snag your tickets because this one's definitely going to sell out. That's greatestgentour.com for tickets. Hurry up and get them before they're gone. Here's to the finest crew in Starfleet. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me. This is a parody. Paramount owns the sun. Welcome to The Greatest Generation. It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys just a little bit embarrassed about having

a Star Trek podcast. I'm Adam Pranica. I'm Ben Harrison. I found myself on a production set yesterday. Well... For the first time in a long time. It brought some feelings back. Were you directing something? Well, tell me everything, Adam.

I was on a very unfamiliar side of that production, which was I was the talent. I was the talent wrangler, Ben. Ripley was scouted by enormous dog food company. They were looking for a Wheaton, a Wheaton Terrier. That's the kind of dog Ripley is. And they wanted one of a specific size. Did they want one of a specific temperament, which is- Which is insane. Thunderstorm in a teapot.

They didn't mention temperament, but you know how there's like assistant slack? There's like Wheat and Terrier slack. There's a network of Wheat and Terrier people that talk. And I'm not a part of this, but I heard from someone in it that they were looking. And so we sent a couple of pictures in and those pictures were swiped right. I never know which direction the good swipe is. That's why I paused. I was like, I hope that means what I think it means. We had professional Hollywood animal wranglers and trainers come to our home and work with

Ripley to get her to do this specific thing that they needed it to do. And like at home and at spawn ranch, basically, which is where we went a couple of days ago, we were deep out in those hills at like a wild animal training and sanctuary. Like they had lions and monkeys and crazy shit out there. It was like the set of Nope, basically. We went out there for a training session. Things were going great and the shoot day was yesterday.

So we went over to Culver City into one of the hundreds or thousands of box production spaces there where it was set up for a still photo shoot with all the trimmings and a, what I learned later, who was a very famous photographer, like a photographer of some renown was in there. And it was Ripley and 10 other dogs

and all of the other dogs were not Wheatons. There was another Wheaton and nine other different breeds and we were run through an entire day of still photographs and Ripley didn't get the part. Oh no! It went to the other Wheaton! Oh, I'm pissed! Oh! So she's not going to be like on bags of dog food or anything? She will not. And they prepared me, they were like, look, there's a chance, you know, we could kind of use Photoshop magic, you know, put Ripley's head on another body or vice versa into some grotesque monstrosity that kind of resembles your dog but isn't.

I'm glad we didn't go in that direction. Instead, it's just thumbs down. Didn't, didn't work out. And it didn't work out because she couldn't do the trick. She got some stage fright. And I get it. Like if you've never been to a set of any kind before, and you see like the 12 by 12 scrim and you see the eight strobes all around.

And you see people you're not familiar with trying to get you to do a thing and their sounds and stuff. Like you might want to blame Ripley. I'm not blaming Ripley. That just wasn't her scene. It wasn't her scene, man. Yeah. Yeah.

We took my son to a pediatrician checkup the other day and he is normally a very outgoing, like talkative little baby, and just clammed up when the doctor was in there. And we're like, this sucks. Like, we want the doctor to like him and have like a positive, we want him to have a positive relationship with her. And he was like, he was totally just like, weird, weird place, weird room. I don't know what's going on here.

When did you start to have a positive relationship with going to the doctor? Because Ben, like it took me until I was a full on adult because every time my parents would bring me to a pediatrician, it was shot time. I felt bad about it leading up to it enduring every time. It has been interesting to watch because like when they're really little, or at least when he was really little, the shots didn't seem to phase him at all.

Like you might get a little, eh, you know, from, you know, and I really feel for these nurses because they just like spend all day like poking babies and making them cry. Like so many of the people visiting a pediatrician are little babies because when they're really little, you have to go like, you know, when they're really, really little, you go once a week and then you stretch it out to once every other week and then once a month.

Yeah, I mean, when you go to a pediatrician, it's just little kids and then Benjamin R. Harrison until he's like 26. It's true, but... But so far, he has generally liked the adventure of going out there. And you've actually met up with me a couple of times when we went to the pediatrician,

because there's a good sushi restaurant downstairs from her office. And we've had lunch over there. Good burger place downstairs too. Also that. But, uh, yeah, I wouldn't blame Ripley at all. That is, uh, that is a high pressure environment. And yeah, I mean, a dog has even less context than, than a almost two

year old baby for something like that. You know, what I was really proud of her for was the, in between eight and 10 hours we spent at this place, she was absolutely cool. Like there's nothing she likes more than a cold floor. Concrete floors abound. Yeah. Like she was just chill and resting on a cold floor and just waiting. And I was waiting and And that was our day.

For our 15 minutes of strobe clicks and a gentle turndown. I hope you got some video of her being chill, because that's something I would very much like to see. I'm only ever over there for short visits, so she doesn't, you know, the half-life of her excitement is like three hours. So usually I go visit and she does not stop flipping out the entire time I'm there. I think that's an example of how long it's been since you've come over to socialize,

because I think she has, she has figured it out in a way where she needs to get that out of her system. She needs to show you that she's happy that you're here, but then she'll go fuck off after, I wanna say like 15 minutes. That's amazing. She'll chill out. That's a whole new Ripley. Well, I gotta stop rudely turning you down

when you invite me over. I had portraits taken of both Ripley and me and Ripley by this very big photographer, and I'm excited to receive them and share them because I think they're pretty great. Oh man. When do you get the chance? Like that was basically the pay that I needed for my day.

Like that's a keepsake owl treasure. That rules. Yeah. Well, congratulations on having a beautiful dog. That isn't quite good enough in some specific ways. It's just gonna take practice, you know? Like being in the industry is about like learning to live with rejection as kind of a constant ambient thing in the background.

You know what? That's the gift, isn't it? She got her first one out of the way. Yeah. She's already had Nat Bat and now everything after this is just gravy. Love it. That's the just gravy. Love it. That's the way to look at it. You might say she kicked in the front door of the entertainment business, Adam, as is

done in the cold open of today's episode of Star Trek Enterprise. It's season one, episode seven, the Andorian Incident. an incident. A director rep for Roxanne Dawson. Yeah. Welcome back to Star Trek, Roxanne Dawson. Yeah. And she's still a working TV director. I've seen some shows on Apple TV Plus that she's directed. I think she does a really nice job.

If you were to make a list of the most quiet and boring places in the galaxy, how close to the top is Vulcan Monastery? This place seems like it would suck. It's so funny because we've also seen remote Klingon monastery and that seems like a party. Those guys- Well, those guys are getting high. I don't think these Vulcans are doing that at all. No.

Their vibes are just tragically chill, tragically slow paced and boring. And they get interrupted right at the top of this by some leather daddy Andorians who kick in the front door, wave in the forefoot. ["Four Four"] This is your Andorian incident. Into the credits. Ben, did you like that episode?

You know, the performances were really compelling. I missed a lot of our kind of main cast, you know, it's like kind of one of those ones where it's like, hey, this isn't about them. And I guess that's going to have to be okay. But I love seeing Jeffrey Combs back in Star Trek. So that was a that was a big thrill for me. No, no, you creep the hell out of me. Instead, after the theme, we're back on Enterprise in the ready room,

and Trip takes great umbrage with their use of Vulcan star charts to navigate the galaxy. He's like, is this exploration if we're going to places that others have been to before? That kind of makes sense. I mean, that's like saying like, if you have a lonely planet guide, did you really visit Lisbon or whatever? Great counter-argument. I just think, I think Trip is being very silly in this scene.

Like he just wants to like stumble around and fall face first into trouble. He really likes doing that open world video game thing where he just goes out as far as possible as a level one with a rock in your hand to see how far you could go. Yeah, yeah. That is not what Archer is all about. And he is making the argument, the Vulcans may have explored a lot of these places, but they haven't explored all of the places in between these places and they don't know everything. There's stuff that we've found that they haven't yet. And they haven't even been out that long.

That's the point that's made here. So, to Paul walks in and Archer and Tripp are like, Hey, they point to the star chart. What about Pyjama? Can we go to there? And T'Pol's like, I don't know. Pretty boring. Not sure you'd like it. That's where we do culinary and probably some other things too.

And that kind of makes it a place. to culinar and probably some other things too. And that kind of makes it a place, like the way she describes it is so interesting, like explaining to a kid why they wouldn't like going to a museum that's kind of made for adults. Like you're a little too young for a pajama. Yeah. You know? The museum of sex.

Yeah. I'm not certain we'd be welcome. It's because Vulcans think we smell bad, isn't it? Yeah, but finally, like, I wouldn't say she's won over by them, but I think she just finally gives up. Yeah, like, it hasn't had humans there to stink the place up before. Archimandt kind of isn't persuasive to Archer,

and so she's like, all right, I'm going to go like research the protocols that we need to like observe in making contact with these people. But, you know, thinly veiled under her agreement is that she hates this fucking idea and thinks it's bad. One part of the scene that I really liked is how I'm going to assume that everyone is very aware of how often they shoot to Paul leaving a scene because Roxanne Dawson's director

credit occurs right over Jolene Blaylock leaving through the door. And I'm like, they know, they know what they're doing. Why do we need to see this? When you're watching the opening credits of a film and like there's a little flourish in the music when the music conductor credit is on screen or whatever. Where John Woo places his director credit is always so intentional. I love it. Totally. Flax, unlike the Paul, quite excited to be having another cultural experience.

Just wants to eat it. You know, he wants to let the juice of life run down his chin. I really enjoyed watching the movie Challengers, but I was shocked that the Truro scene was actually ripped off from this scene of Star Trek Enterprise. When, when Flax grabs the celery and like holds it right between him and to Paul and they both take a bite out of it. So titillating.

It's like very horny, but not horny in the way you expected based on everybody saying how horny it was. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Really kind of held back. I really liked it.

That was fun. As a tennis man, Ben, did you of held back. I really liked it. Yeah. And that was fun. As a tennis man, Ben, did you care for it? I was in a profoundly bad mood when I saw that movie. Uh-huh. And I just felt like I saw everything coming a mile away. I was like conscious of what a cynical, shitty state of mind I was in. And I was like, this sucks.

And I'm not giving this movie a fair shake, but fuck this movie and fuck everyone was kind of my headspace. This is kind of the mood that T'Pol is in, in this lunch. She's like, god damn it, I get to bring these fucking stinky-ass humans to this place that's really special to me. They're not going to get it.

They're going to touch everything and break stuff. It could create a certain awkwardness. I love that Flox is the one to bring up the idic factor. And it's been something that I've been sort of wondering about this show, you know, early on, the Vulcan seems so uptight and so, you know, different kinds of people, why even? And I love that word of idic has spread to Flax's people

and he is calling to Paul on her staring down her nose at everyone energy. Well, the diversity and combinations also include humans and idiots, which is why Flox calls it idiotic as the level they need to get on for a mission like this. Mm-hmm. And to Paul, it's like, yeah, like we appreciate diversity, but not equity or inclusion. Yeah.

We just like the diversity, like, but everybody stays separate. Right. So we're in the mud room after this and Archer and Tripp Tucker are just getting, they're getting the whole in the parking lot speech that a parent gives a little kid before going to a family member's place. Grandma's got a lot of nice things. She keeps the plastic on the furniture for a reason. There are a lot of rules before the kids go to enter the museum with the breakable objects. This is a crew that spent the last episode

scrambling around in caves. And it's just like, hey, like, there's a lot of white carpet where we're going. Like, if you guys could make sure that you clean your boots and put on a fresh onesie for this one, it would be appreciated. I also really like the trivia of Archer not needing to or being told not to hail before going down. You're just supposed to arrive.

Right. They don't even have flip phones down there. Archer's like who am I gonna tell my life story to from jump? Who do I give my my banking information to when I first meet them? It's very uncomfortable for him. I tend to like to send a photograph of the front and back of my driver's license before I show up somewhere. You got to get the back part, for sure. So at the temple, they find evidence of this door bashing that you referred to up top and

to Paul rings the giant doorbell. Oh, I love this doorbell. And no one answers. So Archer just walks in. I love it. There's not even a glance exchanged between the Despester Club. He just goes on in. It's an interesting little reveal here because one of the big shots in the cold open, which is very short, is a shot of candles blowing out when the door gets kicked open. And the camera, when they enter the atrium

of this monastery, pans past some candles that have been re-lit. And I thought that that was such a great touch because we know very little about what has happened and we've seen the like scrapes and bruises on the front door, but it seems like, oh, like, well they relit the candles. So like whatever happened,

they've like put things back together somewhat. I can tell these Vulcans are the opposite of my wife because I got in so much trouble a few days ago for doing something I didn't know was a thing which is prematurely blowing out a candle. Oh yeah. I blew out a candle, I'm like, oh we're gonna go to the next room, like we're done out here, I'm gonna blow out the candle.

I blew out the candle and she's like, what the fuck? You're supposed to let the candle melt all the way out to the rim? I didn't know that. And you blew it! Fuck me, right? I'm just walking around blowing out candles. Oh man, you really fucking blew it.

Yeah. Literally. You blew it! There is a man standing in the front room there waiting and T'Pol goes up and has a Soto Voce conversation with him, which I don't know if you watched this with the closed captions turned on. I had my TV turned up pretty loud and like I definitely couldn't hear what they were saying but there is an entire conversation that is in the closed captions that they have

about how like it's the time of Kulinar. Like this is like the one thing that you said was gonna be like a no-go. If they're doing Kull and R, we're gonna have to turn around and pack it up. Oh, interesting. I thought it was gonna be like one of those lost in translation, like what do you think?

What do you think she said? What do you think she said? Yeah. So Paul tells the guy like, I'm gonna love you for the rest of my life. I know this is like a weird age thing and a fleeting moment, but like what we did here was special and important. Frankly, I have a lot to lose if we go back stateside and like the media picks up on the

fact that I'm dating somebody this much younger than me. It'll never play in People magazine. No, she's having this conversation with the guy and she starts to kind of look around the room and she notices that they've been paid a visit by Link from The Legend of Zelda, based on how many smashed pieces of pottery are lying around the space.

This fucking guy is lying through his Vulcan teeth. Why are there all these damaged artifacts? And why is there only one person there to greet? And why is the carpet all wet, Todd? I don't know, Margo. I love this moment because it seems like, again, in a very wordless way, there's an agreement that Archer and Tucker have where they're like, okay, let's pretend to be boorish tourists and just kind of like swing our arms around and like talk really loud and this gives them the cover to explore the space and in this space they find a, a

sneaky Andorian kneeling behind a changing partition. Yeah. It's doing something really sexy back there. Ooh, don't mind me. I'm going to slip into something more comfortable. This is a place that they have been told not to disturb. Do not wreck anything. But the, this changing of partition basically explodes when two adult men run into a third adult man

Behind it. It is toothpicks after this This is like an a team explosion and then the rest of the Andorian buddies are there to make sure that That Archer and trip don't get the upper hand on this one guy Which is now on the other foot. Like they turn the tables on him pretty fast. Yeah. There's a whole bunch of Andorians here and they round up the hostages and they bring them all into a room and they're, they're like learning about earth, you know, as they're doing this, they they've never heard of where these guys come from. And they are accusing the Vulcans of having something

that is far more than a sanctuary for their religious rights. They believe that they are hiding censors. Get ready to spend a lot of time in this room, Ben. Yeah. This is like the panic room of Star Trek episodes. It's a good thing that they have so many jars and pots and vases, because what I like about this is you're going to get your own personal toilet.

You don't got to share. No, yeah. It's interesting, like the energy that Archer and Trip have in that earlier scene where they're like, oh, well, we'll just like look just take a look at the gift shop or whatever. And they're looking at all the artifacts. It's so brazen. It's so counter to everything T'Pol has counseled them on. It's so culturally insensitive in a way.

I kind of wonder if this is why Archer is the captain that the humans selected, because he is like, fuck what everybody's rules are, like, we need to like go out there and like figure out what our place in the wider galaxy is. And he's so like, it's almost an obtuse thing about him where he like doesn't really care what anybody else thinks. Like he's going to be the first to walk into almost all of these rooms, so he needs to like figure out what kind of space humans can occupy in all of these spaces. And Archer kind of embodies the relationship between humans and Vulcans at this point.

Just try and stay out of the way and everything will work out fine. Which I think is crucial for this episode to work at all, Trann's whole deal and the Andorian's whole deal is like secret base in the temple. And if humans and Vulcans were tighter than they are in this moment and super close allies, Archer would be like, get the fuck out of here. That is such bullshit. But he doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't ever do that. He's sort of the third to this incident and he's observing and thinking about it. And the Vulcans are still scolding him. They're like, you made this so much worse by coming here. Like, humans going to space

has always been a bad idea and all Vulcans agree on this. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting how this plays out in that way, in that relationship way, especially with how it concludes with the relationship between the Andorians and the humans. Up on the ship, a McLaughlin group is convened. Issue one. Malcolm Reed has identified that there's another ship on the surface and they're starting to like get the sense that like something is going very badly down there. And we smash cut back down to Archer getting punch interrogated basically. Matthew 10.00 Anytime you have a chance to have a sequence where you're like, yeah, if I know Archer by now, I know he's doing great diplomacy the way only a great diplomat can

do and then you cut directly to that character getting punched in the face. You gotta do it. It's television law. Yeah. You get fucking thrown in jail. Worse than these Vulcans if you don't do that. He gets the shit kicked out of him and I know we'll find more out about this later but do Andorians have super strength the way Vulcans do? Man, I don't know. Or are they have equivalent hit points for strength? Cause man, the way Archer takes this beating, you hope he's just human strength.

Yeah, yeah. He's getting his ass kicked. I think that the loaf on the Andorians is also like really cool and great. I don't think Disco did this with the antennas that are actually like moving around and reacting to things. Like the antennas actually do a little bit of the acting and like they seem to be beefy enough that they can like throw a guy through a changing partition while he's wearing it.

There's a lot of POV footage also of Archer taking this beating. This is a scene where, boy, you hate for this to happen. One of the communicators starts chirping, so Shran answers it and reads on the other end. He's sitting on the big chair on Enterprise. The message is this, the Dustbuster Club have been taken prisoners, they're the hostages, and if Enterprise interferes, they'll be killed. And then Sran just breaks all the communicators afterward.

So there will be no negotiation. I love the repeated phone smashing sequence. And are they using the stone of Jakar or whatever to smash the phones? I love that. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good smashing stone. Kind of a bad moment for Reed because when he loses communication, he orders a rescue shuttle readied. That's not what Tran told him to do at all. Yeah. Reed, interesting to watch him be in command of the ship because we really haven't spent much time with him yet. And, uh, he seems pretty capable, like, but also just, like,

every choice he makes is a bit of a surprise. Like, I guess, like, we should get out, like, the first volume of the Encyclopedia Volcanica and see if there's something about Andorians in there. There are no translucent pages in that encyclopedia. You know, the Vulcan encyclopedia is fucking boring. Yeah. Faith of the fart. Okay, I'm gonna play a game here.

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I want to let the juice drip down my chin. When I go out drinking, I want to go try all the drinks. I want to have the most fun. But I don't want to feel like crap the next morning. And now that I'm 40, that is something that is a higher risk than ever. But I have protection. I have Rode Electrolyte Vitamins. Rode Vitamins are a portable electrolyte tablet that help you stay hydrated Out sugar or sweetener, you know that we here at the greatest generation Love our sauce and vibe on the grog and Broad vitamins have been a lifesaver I've been using them for years So is Adam and if you're trying them for the first time or getting more this is the perfect time

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I'd always had a vague interest in life culture, food preparation. Sleeping with celebrities hosted by me, John Moe, on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Night night. in maybe like a four out of 10. It's just really boring. Yeah, zero. Subscribe to Jordan Jesse Goh, a comedy show for grownups. And you will never take the greatest chill alive. Ben would rather die. I like what this episode does in not centering the Jeffrey Combs character as the bad guy.

You do get a little bit into the henches and how fucking diabolical they are starting in this scene. Because one of the henches is like, you know, we could really kind of turn up the temperature on the interrogation by starting to cut off some heads. What do you think of that? And Shran turns to Archer and he's like, what do you think, cut off heads? Is that something you could live with, Captain? It's on the table.

Yeah. The Vulcan hostages start, like, very insulting when Archer's like, he's like been beaten to a pulp and he gets dragged back into this room and they're like, God, you guys smell. And that the smell that a person has He's like been beaten to a pulp and he gets dragged back into this room and they're like, God, you guys smell. And not the smell that a person has when they're stressed out or something. Like this is just the basic human smell. The problem that Archer tells them, I think, is so interesting.

He's like, look, I know I'm getting my ass kicked here, but that's actually not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is even though Malcolm was told not to do a rescue, if I know Malcolm, he's going to do a rescue. And that means if he does, we're all dead. I didn't recruit my tactical officer to sit on his butt when he's threatened. So there's kind of a race against time element there. We need to get in touch with him and tell him not to do that. And the Vulcans are like, well, we do have this spooky Star Trek cave below us. And down in there, there's like a very old piece of equipment that we could use as a transmitter.

Who knows if it works, but boop. And there's like an Indiana Jones, like turn the pot on the pedestal and the door opens thing. The very Pee-wee Herman looking Vulcan is the one who volunteers to go with them. I just could not get over the resemblance. Like the facial structures there to me. This is the Paul Rubens Vulcan. And together with some torches, he and Tripp Tucker make their way through the catacombs. They just licensed that scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure where it's just animated eyes creeping through the dark.

Probably just the dog. I love how they finally get to the transmitter and Tripp Tucker's like, he stares at it for a second and he's like, Alright, the thing I gotta do before I fix anything that's made from aliens. Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh, yeah. Would you say that the scorpion is ready? He does a lot of drugs before getting to work on this transmitter because he has to. That's his character.

Yeah. He's very curious about this other door that they don't want him to go through. And they tell him that goes down to the reliquary. Did you know that word before it was said on the show? I mean, I feel like I've heard it in like temple contexts. Amazing. I don't think I've ever heard that word before. Just thought it was neat. Fun word. There's kind of a long passage of time at it here, because like there's some Andorians that come to check on the hostages, but it's after dark now. And everybody's back in the room and they're pretending to sleep.

And then the second the Andorians leave, they're like, okay, let's keep fixing on this radio. Catch a guy in the corner taking a night dump. Trying to take advantage of the privacy, the private moment that you probably rarely get in a situation like this. It's so funny because like typically Vulcans are just so unflappable and the guy's like, oh, come on! You probably have to hover over a pot that old, right? Because if you sat down on it, you're probably risking breakage. Well, and you're just also thinking about all the other Vulcan butts that have touched the pot at that point. Well, I mean, I hypothesize that everyone gets their own pot, given there are so many

pots in this area. Oh, sure. That's a bad yes and by me. I retract the comment. Do you hover because it's probably louder to sit down on it. Like if you're just releasing into a pot, like you're probably doing more like musket work with what's happening. The plop is gonna be louder

cause you're not like stopping the sound. But here's why I think you hover, science fiction. You gotta hover in science fiction. Gotta hover in science fiction. DING! LAUGHS That's all that needs to be said. LAUGHS So, uh... I believe it. We get a little scene where the Vulcans are like,

well, we have one blanket and there's three of you, so we'll offer it to Tripp. And Tripp is like, I don't need it. Captain, why don't you take it? And Archer's like, well, why don't I be chivalrous and offer it to Paul, who has Vulcan strength and is probably totally comfortable. But then it turns into a like, let's share the blanket. You and me get under it together.

She's like, humans have had a terrible history of giving and sharing blankets. In the course of time, you'll forgive me if I don't trust you in this exact moment. What the blanket does is it provides an opportunity to talk, which is what T'Pol and Archer do when a little bit more of the backstory is revealed in this moment. You never want to get the sense that somebody that's climbing under a blanket with you is kind of holding their nose while they're doing it though, right? That's rough. Yeah. Yeah. You got to do better than that when it's blanket time.

Yeah. He is not sure how they're going to get out of this pickle. But the relationship between the Vulcans and the Andorians that T'Pol describes is But the relationship between the Vulcans and the Andorians that T'Pol describes is that terrible ignore the bully and he'll get bored and go away kind of thing that I wish I was never told as a kid. Like, Archer's hearing this and he's like, you're getting atomic wedgies from the Andorians all the time and guess what? They're not going away. Guess what?

They're threatening to cut off heads. Yeah. If it comes time to like fight our way out of the locker we're stuffed with, are you going to be down for the cause with me? And T'Pol isn't totally unequivocal here, but it seems like she's going to be down for the cause, right?

Yeah. Like the, the monks are like very much writing for Vulcans don't respond to violence with violence. But what we learn is that there is, has always been tension between the Andorians and the Vulcans, because they're like pretty close in the neighborhood. And there's a treaty that governs this tension, but there's a lot of Andorians that are kind of belligerent and acting somewhat outside the terms of the treaty. And yeah, like, Archer is pretty outraged by this.

He's like, you're just gonna let them, like, rub your nose in the dirt and give you swirlies and stuff. And I mean, you're all walking around with kick me signs taped to your back. Like, have some fucking dignity. Yeah. And he even says, you people. Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Reed? Is this Reed? Hey Reed!

Hey! Hey man! Whoa! Have I ever told you that I fucking love you, man? Reed, I'm so happy for you. Being the commander while we're away. I know you, I knew you'd be good at that. I know we're not always gonna work on this ship

But I hope we're always friends, man Maybe someday we can host karaoke at some kind of convention anyways Reed is Not chill Reed is doing that thing where he's yelling when he's the one that can barely hear the person on the other line I kind of wish someone directed Reed to doing that thing where he's yelling when he's the one that can barely hear the person on the other line. I kind of wish someone directed Reed to dial it down a bit. But I feel like this is also television law. Like, this is how it goes.

If you're having a technical problem, both people must yell. True enough. Yell to sell. There's some interesting, like, dilemma in the, like like various things they consider about how to like fight back against the Andorians. Like I don't know, like beam a bunch of security guys into the atrium or beam them into this room and then like fight our way out. And Reed needs to be called off on all of these potential plans. We'd ask you to shoot a photon torpedo down here, Reed, but you're not exactly shooting

straight based on previous events. We'd ask you to shoot a photon torpedo down here, Reed, but you're not exactly shooting straight... ...based on previous events. Like, the one takeaway that Tripp's trying to get Reed to understand is, look, do not launch the rescue mission. You got to put that off. Like, don't attack just yet. No one's saying no. We're just saying not right now. Give us some time to deal with this situation. The Vulcans like continuously reinforced that they do not want anyone going down

into the reliquary and that started to be a little bit suspicious at this point. It sucks when you're making the escape route out with the communion waifers and the Vulcans keep on, like, sweeping the ones away, having to go into the reliquary. Yeah. They're like, not these ones. Pretend these aren't here. They keep eating them instead of... They're like, they're not even... They don't taste good. What are you guys doing?

I mean, as poorly as things are going in the monastery, like the Andorians aren't doing that much better. They're starting to feel frustrated by the fact that they haven't found the secret base they've been looking for and they're starting to get impatient and that one guy still really wants to cut off some heads. And suddenly they're yelling from the hostages. And when they go in there to check on it, Archer tells Shran that he's got some new information and they need to talk. And Shran

hears this and he's like, whoa. I mean, I didn't think things, are we okay? Yeah. Like I'm kind of nervous when you put it that way. Like, I'm kinda nervous when you put it that way. I love that Archer goes out to the atrium area and bullshits his way through the information I have for you or just some light observations I have about the whole situation and gets his ass kicked again just so that he can get close enough to the like statue mouth in the atrium to drop a little army man down the hurl. This is as likable as I've ever found Archer.

Absolutely. And I think the reason is this moment he's just vomiting dialogue here that doesn't go anywhere. What it reminded me of was one of my favorite Chris Farley sketches from SNL. Do you remember? I think he only did this once where he was on the update desk as a guy who has a story to tell, but can't get past the part where he's like, and then I says, and then I says, and then what I say is, and you're not going to believe this. And what I say, I look at him straight in the eye. And what I say is and you're not gonna believe this and and what I say I look at him straight in the eye and what I say is and he does this for

like 90 seconds and it's a total magic trick how how he could make nothing that funny yeah and this is what Archer's doing in this scene he's saying nothing for such a long amount of time and also getting the shit kicked out of him during yeah I don't know about you but I've learned really a lot since I got nothing for such a long amount of time and also getting the shit kicked out of him during. Yeah. I don't know about you, but I've learned really a lot since I got here. So Tripp finds the action figure that he ditched down the statue mouth. And that is like the confirmation that they need to know that the space under, they can beam the rescue team into the tunnels below the atrium

without the Andorians like being onto them immediately. So the rescue team gets ready to beam down and there's like, you know, a beat of like, are we sure we wanna do this? Is it just gonna be like meat slop that materializes on the other side? Have you ever seen two crew people more dead than the dead meat standing next to Reed

on this transporter pad? I mean, you know I'm a gambling man. Tin man. I would have bet anything that one or both of these guys would die in the process. Yeah. Imagine my surprise when Hoshi beams them down and they arrive.

I do want them to have a couple of transporter accidents that are just totally fucking horrific. Like not silly Tuvix's or Thomas Rikers's, but like bones sticking through flesh, like kill me. I'm begging you to kill me kind of transporter accidents. Yeah, show us some cloned Ripley's. Like, I want it to be as horrific as the transporter accident in Spaceballs. Why did somebody tell me my ass was so big?

Yeah, give us that. So Reed hides behind this big mask thing in the atrium and is like fixing up a bomb back there as the Andorians read out on their sensors and realize that they're not alone. And there's a great big explosion from the mask and a very exciting and dynamic firefight with a lot of running around and a lot of guys getting tagged. And two of the Andorians get away into the catacombs. They jump down through that mask and the Starfleets are getting ready to chase them.

The Vulcan monks are fucking pissed that this has gone this way. This is like exactly the opposite of everything to Paul told Archer before they went down here. I love the energy of the Peewee Vulcan. He... This is like the second time in a couple episodes I've thought of Scrooge, but he reminds me of the Lee Majors character playing Santa Claus

when the North Pole gets sieged. He's like, this is one Vulcan that's going through the catacombs. And he like racks a shotgun, like ready to go in with the humans. It's great. And Lee, you've been a real good boy this year. He's ready.

Yeah. It sort of seemed like he was down there to hall monitor Archer though, again, sort of like T'Pol has been this entire time. There's sacred relics, which just seems to be ceramic horses and tapestries and stuff down there. Let me ask you something. Were you disappointed with what we saw in the reliquary? Before the Roli door opens, I mean. Like...

I mean, I've been to a lot of like garden decoration stores in Pasadena, so I've seen all of this stuff before. And in that sense, it's disappointing. I know. But I also know how expensive garden decoration store in Pasadena can be. So I know that this was like kind of a pretty penny worth of stuff. Have you ever tried to buy a hanging tapestry? Got to do that in installments. Yeah. Well, it gets shot down in installments and it turns out there's a great big vault door down

in the reliquary and this kind of stops the firefight because Archer's like, holy shit, you guys got to come check this out. Yeah. We get a lot of react before we ever see through the hole. Yeah. And I was a little bit bumped why everyone inside the secret base didn't pay anyone any mind. They don't seem to care that there are, uh, yeah,

it's bring your Andorian to work day. I feel like I've played this video game before. Like, I go through the door and all of a sudden the alarm goes off. Right. Yeah. And shit goes down. There's a weird programming glitch that the NPCs haven't gone into, attack the invader mode. Right.

And T'Pol is ordered to use her scanning device to get a scan of this giant complex. Like, it was a huge, like, siloed complex underground, full of Vulcans. And they give this scanning device to Shran, so he can take the scan and jam like Sran the man. I love the energy of this scene, don't you? Because it all has to do with that relationship

that, which is now a triangle, right? The relationship between the humans and the Vulcans and the Vulcans and the Andorians and the Andorians and the humans. And what Archer does here, because this is first contact for the humans and the Andorians, he gives all of that data to the Andorians. And he's like, what's up? First contact, baby. Yeah.

And the Andorians are like, it's so interesting because I feel like he has different D&D character alignments, depending on which alien he's hanging out with. Like, if he's around a Vulcan, chaotic good. If he's around an Andorian, lawful good. And they're like, who is this guy? What's his deal? Good call. I like to Paul here too, who I think reads the room correctly. Like, oh shit, because she was lied to too, remember?

Like, I don't think there's any way she knew this thing was there. Right. This is a huge violation of this treaty that we have learned about between the Vulcans and the Andorians. And Archer wants the Andorian, like he feels like it is only just that the Andorians know about this situation. He is Orthodox treaty. Yeah.

There's nothing that pisses him off more than someone breaking a treaty. That and a fucking water polo foul. Fuck that. Fuck both of those. Yeah, to the extent that she can express herself, I would say that Tapal seems pretty disgusted by this revelation as well. Shran looking at Archer's completely mangled face, a face that's been mangled on his fists, the best he can do on his way out the door after being given the intelligence and being

permitted to whoop that ass is, we're in your debt. I love that there's no apology here as like an Andorian thing, like they're out. And this episode ends pretty abruptly because after that the shuttle pod leaves with the Dustbusters Club and that's the end of the episode. That's it. Yeah. Did you like the episode? I'm going to ask you a question after getting asked that question, which is-

You can speak to us normally. Did you want a little denouement at the end of like, back on the ship, there being a moment where they could process this, or are you cool with cut to credits? I will say that in the very small number of episodes of this series that we have seen, there have been so many episodes that end with the like, we're hanging out at the captain's table again and we're

talking about what we learned today. That was my expectation. I kind of liked that they are showing that they are not super married to that as like a format, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I liked that we're left with the surprise in our teeth and not like the surprising choice that Archer makes at the end of this is the last thing we have to chew on. Well, I'm curious how serialized we're going to become throughout this series and throughout the season because I really am curious about

the fallout from this. Yeah. And how people feel about how this mission ended specifically, because we don't know these characters well enough to make assumptions there. Yeah. Does it shake to Paul? Does it make it more spicy when they run into other Vulcans? There's a lot of uncertainty that will proceed from this moment.

Let me ask you another question that I had when I think about whether or not I like this episode. Does this story make you feel something better or worse if it's the Andorians beating up the Vulcans instead of the humans? Interesting. If you're watching stoic Vulcans get the shit kicked out of them, is that something that affects you more as a viewer in a way that makes you feel something?

Because I think it would. It seems like Archer's almost having fun getting the shit kicked out of him. Like it changes the stakes. Whether or not the Vulcans are guilty of the thing that Endorians accused them of and hiding the space, I think is made more interesting if they're willing to take the beating over it.

Right. And hiding it. Yeah. I wonder if they ever thought about that. I mean, it's not clear to me that all of the Vulcans even know about this. Like, Peewee Vulcan definitely does. Like, it seems like he went down there to try and forestall the discovery of this, but wound up having a bit of a glass jaw.

all the discovery of this, but wound up having a bit of a glass jaw. What you got to do is, uh, is wrap a length of chain link around that door. That way, that one's going to get in there. What about you, Ben? Did you like it? I really liked this episode. I mean, I agree that like there is something so great about the way Jeffrey Combs like walks into this episode, but then isn't overused by this episode. Like he's such an electric actor and has such a great Star Trek pedigree at this point.

You know, what's interesting about how they use him and how Roxanne Dawson specifically puts him into frame is that he's so often in profile or looking at Archer, he's never really like the star of a scene in a way that like is facing you directly. They kind of take away his star power a little bit in shot composition. Yeah. And that's so head faintfainted in the cold open that I thought it was a really cool introduction to the Andorians as a concern on this show

and him as a character. Yeah. And, yeah, I thought this was a terrific episode. Right on. Enjoying Enterprise so far. Yeah. Good stuff. Do you want to see if there's anything you enjoy reading about in the Priority One inbox,

Adam? Oh, what are the chances? Slim to none. Priority One message from Starfleet coming in on Secure Channel. Need a supplemental income. Supplemental income. Supplemental. Supplemental.

Yeah, it's extra. By the interest alone, could be enough to buy this ship. Ben, we got a priority one message here of a promotional nature. That message goes like this. Starbase Indie is your Midwest home for all things Star Trek. Our annual geek family Thanksgiving tradition gathers actors, writers, scientists, fans, friends of De Soto, and anyone interested in Star Trek's vision of a hopeful future for a weekend of connection, conversation,

and celebration. Come meet our celebrity guests, engage in spirited conversation with other Trek enthusiasts, hang out with scientists, and support small businesses in our geeky vendor room. So visit starbaseindie.org to learn more. That's Starbase Indie in Indianapolis. I love this. About that. I want to go to Starbase Indie. That sounds fun as hell. So yeah, Starbase Indie is from November 29th to December 1st. Whole bunch of information is over there on starbaseindie.org including hotel and badge information.

They've been doing this for 35 years! Amazing! 35 years. Lordy. Now we got a lot of FODs in the Midwest. Yeah. Should pay this place a visit. Yeah, we really should. Well, thanks for getting a P1 Starbase Indy. Our next P1 is from Thanks for getting a P1, Starbase Indie. Our next P1 is from your Earth companion, Allison, and it is to my personal resident alien, Sam. It goes like this. Our great adventure started in 2016, just like the Greatest Generation podcast.

Thanks to you, I've been enjoying Adam and Ben's hilarious banter with you ever since. What better place to wish you a happy birthday than in a P1 from the gentleman whose podcasts have been around as long as our union. You are the Riker to my Troy. Happy birthday. Wow. What a compliment. Hell yeah. Good job being the kind of resident alien that doesn't try to destroy all humans, Sam. Hmm. That's a reference I get from context clues. Thanks to everyone who got a P1 on today's episode. It's maximumfun.org slash Jumbotron if you'd like to get one for yourself, and we sure appreciate it.

Because they go a long way to supporting the production of our show. Hey Adam. What's that Ben? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Incredible. Drunk Shimoda. I'm shocked to say this. I was wondering if I'd ever get to.

My favorite character and the drunk Shimoda for this episode for me, Captain Archer. Captain Archer became Rocky Balboa this episode. Rocky famously beat his opponents by absorbing their punishment, tiring them out, and then getting the upper hand. I just, a guy can take a punch and a guy used it as a strategy. I thought it was great and it made me really like him.

You know, like part of being a great captain is being the person who takes the punch both figuratively and realistically, you know, for your crew. And I think it's notable that he's in there getting the shit kicked out of him while guys like trip inject

drugs and work on Communications transmitters somewhere else, you know So good job by him. Mm-hmm. So archers my Shimoda. What about you gonna give it to? peewee Vulcan I Love the like to Paul Rubin, can we call him that? Wow. There you go. He has such an interesting character to me

because it seems like he really shocked and dismayed the monk elder that is running this temple. And I love that you're kind of left not knowing, like is he like an agent that is running this temple. And I love that you're kind of left not knowing, like is he like an agent that is like embedded with the monks or do all the monks know, or was he like a, was he a monk and like only knew a little bit, but was also kind of like the young kind of dude that wants to like fight to solve the problem

in a way that the elders were like, no, that is not the way, you know? You know, speaking of epilogue to the story that we don't get, I mean, imagine what his life is like in the aftermath after that shuttle takes off. Like- He's cleaning out a lot of a shat in pots after this experience. But he's doing a lot of demonstrative cleaning, like, like that kind of

passive aggressive cleanup that's like, look at me, I'm doing all the work here. I'm, see, I'm, I'm a good Vulcan, right? I'm a team player. Can't be mad at me. No way. I wonder if we'll ever see him again or be back to this place. Why do I feel like I just got sub-tweeted? Not at all, Ben.

Faith in the fart. Why don't you tell us about the next episode we're gonna watch for next week and I'll go over to the game of butt holes, the will of the Riker quantum leap. Well, the next episode is season one, episode eight, Breaking the Ice. While the Enterprise crew researches a newly discovered comet, Archer tries to deal diplomatically with a Vulcan ship that is suspiciously watching them.

I mean, what would it have to do to be suspicious about it? I think that's a pretty low bar to clear. Yeah, sure is. How are we going to be watching this episode, Adam? Well, I'm about to tell you, we'll only find out after rolling this 100-sided die. That is the die that will randomly place us somewhere on this game board. So many fun ways to watch an app, including one that we skipped this time around because we were supposed to do a temporal cold war activity for our Marin. That has been vetoed.

Instead, we're gonna put a quantum leap episode into the bonus feed. And I'm here to roll that bone, that 100-sided bone. You're required to learn as you play. Roll. The sort of bone that belongs in the the radicome. What was this? The reliquary slash catacomb.

The radicome. You know what? I'm just trying to like better the process for the Vulcans, you know? Like, let's keep it sharp and tight. Cool, like the kids say. Yeah. Here we go. Ben, I've landed us on square 83. Chula!

Did I win? Hardly. That's a regular old episode. We're on the doorstep of a special square, but we didn't hit it directly. It's going to be just the usual way for you and me. How about that? Great. Tremendous. How about that? Great.

Tremendous. All I want. Nothing to veto there. Well thanks to everyone who gave us a listen this week and everyone that supports us at MaximumFun.org slash join. New Quantum Leap episode headed to your bonus feed if you do support because of my veto last week. Got to thank Wendy Pretty, the producer and editor of this program, and Rob Adler, who runs all of our social media accounts.

Give us a follow, at Greatest Trek on all social media. They are more and more fun every day to follow these accounts. You know what I like about what's going on at our social media pages is that it's not just like clips of the show. They're like new bits of business, new content, new funny things. Yeah. Going up in those places all the time. And we're also doing a monthly newsletter. I think a new one should be

coming out right about the time of this episode. So if you're not already signed up, get yourself signed up. I think you can sign up at Podshop.biz or at goch.biz slash mail. There's news you can use about our show and what Adam and I are up to in there. Hey, you know what's an idea that I just thought of? Maybe we put a little coupon in there for the Podshop. Podshop.biz? Oh, snap.

How about that? Subscribe to the newsletter. Get a little Shop. Podshop.biz? Oh snap. How about that? Subscribe to the newsletter, get a little coupon. Hell yeah. For getting yourself something nice from the Podshop.biz. I think that's a capital idea, Adam. Write it down because we will forget otherwise. Radicome. The code will be radicome.

Oh shit, I gave it away. God damn it. We'll come up with a different one. Yeah, it's gonna be a different one. Thanks to Bill Tilly, our temporal Cold War time consigliere. Oh, and thanks to Adam Ragusea, who has been making great music for us for years. Yep. And Dark Materia, who made the original Picard song.

With that we will be back at you next week with another great episode of Star Trek Enterprise and an episode of the greatest generation Enterprise where Archer finally gets comfortable talking to Vulcans. I can't imagine. Make it show. Make it show. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S. 10th Enterprise. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S. 10th Enterprise. Make it show. Make it show. Make it show.

Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S. 10th Enterprise. Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S. 10th Enterprise. You know what I like about what's ha- You know what I like- This is why she's never gonna get the part. She's off her only pin. She's off her only pin. what's hap- you know what I like? This is why she's never gonna get the part. She's off her only pin.