The Greatest Generation - It’s Like Her Hair Is A Cookie (DS9 S2E26)

Episode Date: August 20, 2018

When Nog and Quark barge into a Sisko family vacation, Jake insists they tune the radio to the Ferengi station. But when their Gamma Quadrant camping trip brings them in contact with two brand new kin...ds of alien, we set aside comedic things and head into the darkness. Do Commanders get shallower deep-Vs than Captains? Is that lady using a prodigious amount of spray, or is it an ear thing? Do Galaxy Class starships compare bridge size? It’s the episode where we talk about our big trip to the inside of a certain pocket. Come see us live on tour with Greatest Gen Khan🎉🎉🎉! Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Prophets!

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 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,
Starting point is 00:00:35 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,
Starting point is 00:01:01 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
Starting point is 00:01:25 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
Starting point is 00:01:55 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 friendsofdecisoto for labor.com. That's friendsofdisoto for labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in Space Nine, a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. I'm Ben Harrison.
Starting point is 00:02:36 I'm Adam Pranika, and we're back from Star Trek Las Vegas. Yeah, it's actually been kind of a long time since we've cast pod together. Yeah, it's been on the pod horse in a while. My legs almost forgot how to straddle it been. You had like an overseas trip and then that led almost directly into our trip to Vegas. Been on the road for a long time. To our trip, to tour the inside of the pocket. It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Starting point is 00:03:07 Yeah, dude. I mean, I guess we engineered the trip as a way to both do a show and go to the con at the same time. I don't think either of us would have just gone to the convention had we not also been doing a show? So it made it a convenient excuse. It did. I was, I think we had the idea of doing a greatest GenCon at the Vegas, during the Vegas convention
Starting point is 00:03:38 with the idea that a lot of our peeps would be in town for that. And I was really surprised when we pulled the crowd and like at least half of the hands that shot up were people that lived in Vegas and were not particularly convention goers. Yeah, until I saw this hand, I strongly believe that no one lived in Vegas. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Starting point is 00:04:03 But yeah, it was, I think it was a pretty successful experiment. It was a very fun show and only made me more excited to do the rest of Greatest Gen Con. Yeah, I felt the same way. I thought the show was great. I, you and I have different feelings about Las Vegas itself as a place. Right. I had a great time there. Several of my friends from Seattle came down to the show
Starting point is 00:04:27 because it was Vegas. A lot of the main selling points of Vegas are kind of lost on me. The Star Trek Convention, I was really excited to go to. It was definitely, I mean, I've seen conventions like this depicted in film and television a few times, but I remember I actually set foot in one, so it was fun to compare what I imagined it would be like to what it was actually like. Yeah. We saw some amazing cosplay. Like I would say that that was my favorite part, was all of the people that were dressed
Starting point is 00:05:01 up and just like really specific, like, you know, mirror universe data or mirror universe, Jordi, we saw, which was really fun. Those are of course characters that were invented by our friend, JK Woodward, who we also got to meet. He does those mirror universe comic books. Yeah, as like as a socializing event, I think we used it more for that than then Then treating it like the convention that it was It was interesting to go to this
Starting point is 00:05:33 In the same year that I went to my other first convention going to Tacamacan for the first time the the Emerald City Comic Con, I should say yeah Yeah. Was neat to see how similar the two events were. Yeah, it's, I mean, I think that that's kind of part of the selling point, right? Is it, you know what it's going to be? Yeah, I think like the way that they were the most similar, I thought was just with how sincere the love was for the source material. It was really neat to be around so many people who were just thrilled to share
Starting point is 00:06:12 their fandom with people. Yeah. That felt really good. And not at all cynical. Right. And I mean, it really is like a diverse thing, like there's people of all ages and of all, you know, creeds and colors and sexual orientations and stuff. I mean, it's fun to see what a big tent star trek is. I think we got a great lay of the land because of a couple of friends of ours who came down for the convention and to see the show by them. I'm talking about our card daddy Bill Tilly and the great Bri Belkey.
Starting point is 00:06:53 Yeah, Bri is a veteran. I think this was like her fifth or sixth year, so she could really, you know, contextualize a lot of what we were seeing. You know what was great was like to get that momentary pop of being recognized by a stranger. And then to see that happen to breathe like eight times as often. Ha, ha, ha, totally. Like she is a fucking star.
Starting point is 00:07:18 Yeah, absolutely. One of the weird things that we did was we went to, and I should say, obviously there was a lot of big news at the convention, and because this show we kind of wanted to be evergreen, we'll leave news to greatest discovery, which will definitely address that stuff. So if you're curious to hear our takes on that,
Starting point is 00:07:39 just check out a recent episode of the greatest discovery, and I'm sure the description will say whether or not we're talking about Star Trek news. But what I wanted to say was we went to a panel that was hosted by the Mission Log guys. They had this panel that was about how do you decide whether or not something is Star Trek? A topic of debate that comes up whenever there's a new Star Trek thing and people react to it by saying this isn't Star Trek and that's something that has happened to next generation and every Series or film that has come out since the original maybe most especially to the modern Star Wars films which yeah, which I don't think our Star Trek
Starting point is 00:08:24 but the idea of Litigating whether or not something is a thing that you like based on its title I think is is familiar to a lot of people nowadays What did you think of the of Star Trek Las Vegas? Would you go back? You know, I liked doing a show during it. Mm-hmm. I guess I'm kind of curious about doing that again. And I don't know if it would be next year, the year after, or what, but I think that the con itself is not a great fit for the things I like to do.
Starting point is 00:09:00 And part of this is just that I don't personally have a great time when I'm in large crowds. And it's not like a phobia or anything, it's just not my bag. So that part of it wasn't great for me. But if we went back, I would for sure pay for a day pass and go walk around and see the stuff. I mean, the other thing is they had some fun exhibits. We got to see the costumes from the Mirror Universe sections of Discovery, which was really cool.
Starting point is 00:09:32 I mean part of it though, some of the exhibits were very visually impressive but kind of disappointing. Like they had 10 forward built in there, but it was just to take photos in and then they had this thing called Quarx Bar, which was nominally Like where people would drink and hang out during the convention, but that was just a hotel conference room with like Some signs that said Quarx Bar didn't they didn't like set decorated at all and I thought that really kind of I thought that was a missed opportunity, you know, like hanging out in Geinen's 10 Forward would be such a thrill. And obviously, like they're capable of building it. So why shouldn't we be able to just use it for that?
Starting point is 00:10:20 So I'd say like, you know, a mixed review from me. How about yourself? So I'd say like, you know, a mixed review from me. How about yourself? I You know since returning from the convention, I found myself really liking it more in retrospect than I did at the time And I think that's because when I was there it was easy to felt to feel overwhelmed by its scope. I think If I were to do it all over again, I would like to do more convention than we did the first time. We were only willing slash able due to finances and schedule to do one ticket on one day and so it really felt like
Starting point is 00:10:57 we were rushing through there to get the flavor of things. I think what I like the most was like just the evident fraternity of it think what I like the most was just the evident fraternity of it. Like it was great to be among people who unabashedly loved the thing that you love. And are so nice and not judgy about it. Like the toxic fandom that you get in other communities wasn't evident to me and was replaced instead
Starting point is 00:11:24 with some real jovial feelings. Yeah, it's really interesting because full disclosure creation and entertainment has advertised on our show. Right, but the greatest Gen boys can't be bought. Can't be bought. And like I would say that the most toxic part of the whole thing was coming from creation entertainment. Like when I went on their website to look for tickets, I watched their YouTube video, and it's all bikini babes.
Starting point is 00:11:53 It's like, it makes it seem like the convention is 100% about gawking at scantily clad women, which it really wasn't. Like that's not what the people that showed up were there to do. And the mission log panel about is it Star Trek was a little dry, but it was really respectful debate. And for the most part, people were saying, even if Discovery isn't for me, I'm really glad that it's bringing new people into the fandom. Yeah, as far as the things that I didn't like so much, I would as far as the things that I that I didn't like so much I would agree with you on some of the build quality issues at the convention itself like the opportunity to build a beautifully rendered 10 forward and then to
Starting point is 00:12:36 Multiply those 10 forwards around the convention seemed like an opportunity lost like it's it's tantamount to like getting an action figure and not being able to take it out of the package. Like all of these neat ideas were so close to being like livable and cool. And I think Corks Bar was the example of something that was just like in name only. Like I would have preferred they not call it Corks Bar, rather than put a sign above a chafing dishful of hot
Starting point is 00:13:05 dogs, you know? Right. The chafing dishful of hot dogs, the pre-packaged salad, the bowl full of ice with a handful of different sodas in it. Yeah, I mean, especially because quarks bar existed in Las Vegas, what, like 15 years ago, like the recipes are there. The way to do this has been blueprinted. So it was bizarre to see something that, I mean, and I'm not an event management. So I'm totally talking about out my ass here, but you see the number of people who go to this and you see the ticket cost. I think they're making money on this.
Starting point is 00:13:43 You would hope. And it's interesting to see, like, where those decisions are made to spend it. I think one other regret I have in addition to not doing more con is that I feel like I left too early. We heard after the fact that there was a pool party on Monday and the pictures we saw from this Star Trek Las Vegas pool party bend work crazy like in full loaf in the pool. Wow. Loaf and trunks like just bobbin around drinking pool drinks there.
Starting point is 00:14:16 It looked like a fun time. That would have been fun. I had no idea that that happened. Cut to like pool closing time and a pool boy running one of those long nets through the water, grabbing all the left behind loaf. Yeah, the plastic, bejure and earrings that are floating on the surface, the bars of fake gold press latinum that are
Starting point is 00:14:41 clunked on the bottom. Plenty of flotsam and gold pressed jetsam to be scooped out of the water there. Adam, did you have a favorite merch item in the, there I mean, like there's a huge hall full of vendors who are selling Star Trek things? What was your favorite thing to see back there? Well, my favorite thing that I saw in the merch area was that Rath of Con long turtle
Starting point is 00:15:09 neck style jacket with the pockets. It's sort of like the way team jacket that they put on to go down to regular one. There was a company there that sells like what looks like screen accurate wardrobe pieces there. Yeah, they were like apologizing for there being a couple of patches missing from this jacket. But this jacket was resplendent. And the the turtle neck was intense.
Starting point is 00:15:36 Yeah, the the popped collar went all the way up. Yeah, I mean, it is like all of the all the stuff with that kind of quality was super impressive to me. I would say those constituted the highlight from the props. What about you, Ben? My favorite was the assimilated tribbles. There's a booth where we saw some tribbles with boar game plants. And I just love the idea that the boar would want to
Starting point is 00:16:08 assimilate the technological and biological distinctiveness of tribbles with their own. I think if you're if you're into it purely for multiplication, I think the triple offers you a great opportunity at that. I think you can probably multiply those faster than you can assimilate. The board really get a step up when they get tripled DNA going across the rest of their collective. With all that said, Ben, did you find yourself a Star Trek Las Vegas drunk Shimoda? Drunk Shimoda! Oh, man, it might be you, Adam. There's a point in the night where I asked, I asked, pretty bulky, where's the bathroom in this crazy hotel?
Starting point is 00:16:48 And she directed me past a, a, a, like a vending booth at the edge of the casino floor that sold nothing but icy booze drinks. And as a big fan of icy booze drinks, I thought to myself, you know what I always want is for somebody to come back from some unknowable Aaron with a with a big ol icy booze drink for me, so I brought you back a pink zebra hoof full of
Starting point is 00:17:19 Margarita and you were very angry with me I would say maybe the angriest I've ever seen you with me. I have never known how to accept a gift. And you're totally right. I was a huge dick to you, Ben. And I'm so sorry about that. Had I taken a step back from that moment and like seen it for the gift that it was, I would have treated you with more appreciation for it.
Starting point is 00:17:51 But all I could see, I couldn't see past my nose as far as like, I had an entire day's drinking schedule like that I had stuck to. And I feel like I did so great up until midnight when that drink showed up. And I really felt like I had failed the day when the plastic zebra hoof of Margarita arrived, because I knew I would be fucked. And remember when they had that that Klingon Shuttle pilot aboard the D and they offered him a drink and he just poured it out on the floor in front of everybody. I started with that felt like.
Starting point is 00:18:27 I am become that Klingon shuttle pilot destroyer of cocktails. Did you have a drunk convention? Gower. Yeah, I mean, I shout out to JK Woodward. I think he's my drunk Shimoda because we made plans to meet him for breakfast. I think it was the last day we were there or the day before our out day at Star Trek Las Vegas. And he showed up to our breakfast already ready. Like, like, and visibly already into a bloody Mary.
Starting point is 00:19:02 And I was like, God damn it. I love that. How that guy does convention. Like, yeah, he was like, God damn it, I love that, how that guy does convention. Like, he was like, I got a couple of panels later today. Yeah. It's gonna be okay. Star Trek convention squad goals out of JK Woodward right there. Yeah, he's a good dude.
Starting point is 00:19:18 I think he's gonna be a guest on an upcoming greatest discovery and you should definitely check out his TNG mirror universe comics. Yeah. Awesome. He gave us a set of the season two of mirror broken that I can't wait to dig into. Yeah. Like his his bloody Mary game was so admirable that I almost bought myself a bloody Mary at that point, which would have been such a mistake. Yeah, because we ordered a table French toast in addition to our very large breakfast that we each ordered. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:56 Yeah, that was a two-meal day for me. That would have really harmed the bottom line on our trip. Yeah. We're already at the season two finale, Ben. Can you believe it? I can. I mean, we're, it's 26 episodes, so if it's not now, it's never. That's a great way to put it.
Starting point is 00:20:16 Maybe today might not have ever come. It's season two, episode 26. The Gemma D'Ar. episode 26, the Gem Hadoor. Do you realize how incredible this is? No, of course you don't. Jake Sisko has a science experiment of dripping amber-colored water onto plants made out of sculpy. He's openly growing shrooms, Ben. Yeah. Ben Sisko does not approve.
Starting point is 00:20:48 He says, like, maybe, maybe, uh, Kiko will not be that impressed with your psychotropic science fair project. Have we ever thought to, have we ever compared Wesley Crusher to Jake Sisko to now, or is this just the beginning of science, Jake, and the point and time where that becomes more of a concern? I don't know. I mean, because we've already talked a little bit about how Jake sees his destiny very differently
Starting point is 00:21:22 from the way Cisco does. And I think Cisco was projecting a Wesley Crusher type onto Jake. Yeah. Jake is resistance to that. I'm a little tech kind of guy, Dad. But also like just from a game theory standpoint, like if you know that your teacher is a botanist and was previously the head botanist
Starting point is 00:21:43 of the flagship of the fleet. Maybe growing piddly little plants in hourglass shaped flower pots is not a way to wow her. That's a great point. I think he's destined for failure. This is Jake circling the drain and, heroically saving him. And in a way, it's like a dope fatherhood move of making it seem like it's Jake's idea. If you could do any science project you wanted to, anything at all, what would it be?
Starting point is 00:22:14 Yeah, he's clearly read that article in Father of the Year magazine about how to improve your son's test scores. And so he sort of sees this failure coming. He looks down at those rooms and he's like, how about we take a road trip, do some science, kind of a bus mentality style. Right. And this is also not necessarily great game theory because if Jake's dad takes him in a a piece of starfleet material to the
Starting point is 00:22:44 other side of the galaxy to do science, all of the other kids in class are gonna hate him. Yeah. He's gonna be an overachiever. Yeah, I mean, I never saw his relationship to Nog as something sad until this moment. Like, maybe Nog's as good as he can do. Yeah, I mean, like the other kids know Jake
Starting point is 00:23:04 to be the kid that when Kiko is wrapping up class for the day, his hand shoots up and goes, did you forget to assign us homework or? Ben, when did you start to feel too old to take vacations with your parents? Cause it seems like Jake is that age. I have a vacation with my parents coming up at him. That's so great that you never grew out of that.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Yeah, well, I'm also just coming off of a vacation with my in laws. So, yeah, this summer is not going great. But yeah, this is definitely the age where you go on a road trip with your parents and you're like, can I get away with like sneaking into the bathroom of our shared hotel room and cranking it, you know? Boy, I did not see you going there. I'm just saying it's a lot of hormones raging and you're basically in a glass bottle. There's nowhere to go. Yeah, it's not great. It's like a sitcom set up.
Starting point is 00:24:20 This is an episode that takes a hard turn for the darkness, but like the first, I don't know, third, maybe even half are like hijinks, you know? Yeah, it's a real Robert McKee style story. Like let's combine characters that don't fit together squarely and and stick them in a shuttle and see what happens. Right, because the first thing that happens is like Cisco is making arrangements with his staff about covering his shifts while he's gone or whatever, and Jake comes in and announces that Nag is coming with them. And then hot on the heels of that, it is discovered that Quark is also coming with him. I'm not sure, like, did Quark know how to dress for the weather of where they were going
Starting point is 00:25:13 because he shows up in, like, South Florida carpet remnants. It's a weird combination of, like, very light and airy, but also very layered. Yeah. He's got, like, three shirts on, and one of them is a boat neck, and one of them is like a super low slung boat neck, and then there's a third vest thing. That's a lot of layers, all of which seem to be intended for a cool breezy garment. seem to be intended for a cool breezy garment. It's like, you know, counteracting the point of the of each garment in layering them.
Starting point is 00:25:52 This moment is an opportunity for Cisco to yet again, demonstrate that while he has command of the station and all the employees there, he really is powerless against his son. and all the employees there, he really is powerless against his son. Like, I don't see Picard brooking this shit. Had Beverly and he wanted to go on a trip, for example, and she brought someone who annoys the hell out of him. It's hard to look at Ben Sisko in this situation and not see the ways that he is, not quite as in charge as Picard.
Starting point is 00:26:26 One of those ways is that his deep V is just not as deep as a Picard deep V. Yeah, yeah, that's too bad. But Quark really just kind of invites himself on the trip, and it's a no until Jake begs him to say yes, you know. Look, I know this is an exactly the trip you planned on. Quark does this thing right at Cisco's face, which is saying some of my best friends are humans. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Starting point is 00:26:52 Which I thought was an amazing writer's room turn to camera. Yeah. With that moment. I mean, this is the first, it is not billed as such, but this is the first of an arc of three episodes. Right. And I feel like there is like a race element running through these that is kind of a new like a new level of specificity with dealing with that issue in this show and in Star Trek generally. I think that is, that's a new or growing feeling in the app.
Starting point is 00:27:28 I also wonder how much of a pivot has taken place because TNG canonically has ended a couple weeks before this episode. And I wonder if you're mapping out the season if you're not saying, all right, it's just us now. It's time to really put the pedal to the metal on production value and story value. And I gotta know about you, but even with the musical score, this episode felt like things had changed. And things were getting more intense and of greater value across the board.
Starting point is 00:28:02 It's such a weird episode for that perspective because it starts with like the tone of a corny sitcom. Yeah, it's like three-s company pivoting into platoon. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Yeah, I mean, like, like, there's so many bits. Like you talked about like, like Quark talking his way into the into the shuttlecraft says the thing about having friends that are two months. He also styles himself a liberal in a way that like it's clear that he thinks that
Starting point is 00:28:32 that is going to be what impresses Cisco into agreeing to let him come. Yeah. But also like like the other side of that comedic premise is that Jake is really into it. And it sort of made me wonder are Ferengi's rap music for Jake? Is it like, is this his like adolescent, you know, distancing himself from his father by getting into something that he, you know, like when I, when I was a kid and like, wanted to listen to Buster Rhymes in the car, you know, that was partly because I knew that my parents didn't like it. That's so I love the equivalency between mushrooms and Farenki and and rat music and alcohol, you know. Yeah, that's great. Jacob said, he's a bad teen.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Yeah, and Quark is Mr. Furley. So the idea is they're gonna go to the Gammer Quadrant and do some planetary scout about. And this is going to afford Jake and Nogg the opportunity to get down and get dirty. Like to do that thing that pool boys do by like grabbing some water and then like shaking it in those little vials to checking the pH. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:55 Testing for urine content. When you're doing science, that's one of the foundational experiments that you do, right? You do pool. Yeah. foundational experiments that you do, right? You do pool. Yeah, and the pool water that they're testing is on this kind of foresty planet. And this was nice outdoor start trick. I mean, this was not the Calhuts in planet for sure. No, this is not the ACE Garden Center.
Starting point is 00:30:20 They went and shot this in a real forest, which is not like from a production standpoint, this is pretty hard to do because you're not necessarily always close to, you know, power outlets and whatnot. So I mean, like shooting in a forest, you've got a real problem with light because the light that is not being filtered through the leaves, you know, the titting tree trunks directly and stuff is so much brighter than the shadows. And your characters are most likely going to be in shadows
Starting point is 00:30:52 the entire time because if you expose for the bright light, everything is going to seem super dark. So it is very hard to control what is and is not in, you know in exposed correctly in a shot. And I thought they did a great job here. I agree with half of your point. I think what is an arguable are the challenges associated with shooting outside with a lot of hard light and shadows.
Starting point is 00:31:21 I think they got it half right though because I think quark looks great. He's obviously like being lit through a scrim and like his shadows have been knocked down and like he's lit evenly. But nog's face looks like a panellizania and that's because they aren't giving him any scrim and he's just being shot with hard light. He looks terrible out in the sun. Huh. I guess I only have eyes for quirk. I think it gives
Starting point is 00:31:48 it what it gives you a great A B in how difficult makeup effects are on a location versus on the more controlled light of the station where you have total control. When you've got that full sunlight on on them it really betrays all of the all of the seams and everything. Quirk is really uncomfortable on this planet and he even goes so far as to put a bunch of aqua fresh toothpaste all over his ears to, I guess, protect them from the sudden. I'm a shamed equivalent of jacking it in front of everybody. God, I don't know. Like given the testicular sensitivity of his ears.
Starting point is 00:32:45 Yeah. I guess. Like, you know, I would never jack it with toothpaste though, Ben. I've never been that desperate. Yeah, I mean, but you know, desperate times. And they're really rough in it. I've never used a mentholated lubricant, have you? Don't recommend it.
Starting point is 00:33:02 You don't want to use that Parliament brand loop. Let's hope it doesn't have baking soda also. Then it made me sad to recognize that Quark is being a real Adam Pranica camping type buzzkill in the situation. Yeah, is this a stealo to which you subscribe? I don't know. I think my problem is I need to go real camping and again All I've ever really done is music festival camping
Starting point is 00:33:39 Music festival camping is 200 people sharing a single portapoddy, so there are drawbacks there. Yeah, which means 199 people standing outside the portapoddy wondering when you're going to come out. Yeah. Yeah. Not a place for those who are bashful. Have you ever caught your garment on fire like Quark does? No, I haven't it it affords him the opportunity to do the quirk scream that we've come to know and love
Starting point is 00:34:18 This scene is like I think a scene that really caused me to question whether I could bring myself to watch any more Deep Space Nine, the first couple of times I watched this series. Yeah. Because physical comedy is not, it's strong suit. No. I mean, I think our Enjumerin's a great actor, and I think that this is like character appropriate,
Starting point is 00:34:41 but that doesn't make it a forgivable use of their time. Do you think in terms of order of operations, in terms of order of emotional operations, it is harder to turn the corner after beginning with comedy and going into drama or starting with drama and going into comedy? I think all of this is to serve to undermine Quark in Cisco's eyes so that he can be redeemed at the end of the episode. Right. And his redemption is cool and feels like a big step
Starting point is 00:35:13 when it happens, but it's so un-dignified that I feel like there's other ways to do it. Like they could have done more with the storyline that gets Quark onto this trip is that Quark wants to spend some QT with the commander and talk him into using monitors around the promenade to sell merchandise. It would triple my profits. How can he refuse? Like he basically wants to, he wants to open up the billboard
Starting point is 00:35:46 business on Deep Space Nine and this goes against it. And like I think that Quark being more obnoxious about that or trying it from too many different angles or something would have been a better way to go than just like I'm itchy and I don't like bugs. Like they even have to address the, I don't like bugs thing as being contrary to something that we know to be true about for Rengu, which is that they love bugs.
Starting point is 00:36:11 Right. So I guess all that is to say like, I don't mind the conceit of let's start with comedy and then take it dark. But I think that like the comedy, these are not comedy raiders and the comedy is not that good So maybe that is why they missed the mark so many times in the first third of this episode
Starting point is 00:36:31 It's also yeah I mean and you you actually are making my point and that by saying third of the episode my point was going to be They don't normally hang on long after the title theme hang on long after the title theme in terms of their comedy tone. And I think we're two and a half acts into the show by the time it makes the turn. Yeah. So Nog is pissed off about the whole situation with, you know, Quark being a doof
Starting point is 00:36:58 and Cisco dunking on him. Jake Chase is Nog off into the woods to try and console him. And that's when our turn takes place. Right. Because Cisco and Quark are trying to call me each other down, but really having a bad time of it when a woman with earloaf and a really wild haircut
Starting point is 00:37:21 runs out of the woods and she shoots a beam of light out of her chest at Commander Cisco. How are mine, bitches? Just to get a little hair cast with you for a moment, do you think her ears are the structure that the hair is resting on? Or you're in from a loaf design standpoint or? Or even like from a from a
Starting point is 00:37:45 Loaf design standpoint or I mean either from loaf design or actual alien biology because her hair looks straight and So like it's it's sort of piled up in between these two forks that are her ears I Don't know how she's getting that kind of hold without a prodigious amount of spray I don't know how she's getting that kind of hold without a prodigious amount of spray. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I want to talk more about this hair, but I didn't really think about the internal structure of it. We haven't really gone deep haircast in a while. Yeah. I mean, it might just be like an optical illusion.
Starting point is 00:38:24 You know, like when you're in like art class in middle school and they say like the eyes are right in the middle of the oval when you're drawing a face and you're like, what? No way. And it's like you can't even look at somebody's face without thinking like, no, the eyes are at the top. You know, it's like, there's this crazy cognitive bias thing. I feel like maybe there's a lot more skull under that hair than we even realize.
Starting point is 00:38:50 Oh, that I'm willing to believe. That's good canon. I mean, I don't know how this type of alien works yet. Yeah, she's brand new. Her name is Ares and she's running from two gem-hidar warriors, actually a grip of gem-hidar warriors. And they kind of appear like they come out of warp and cloaked when they run.
Starting point is 00:39:11 Yeah, they're perfect. They have predator cloak. Yeah. It's that same like, you know, concentric people shapes cloak. And they're kind of, they're gray and they got teeth coming out all over their faces. And they're pretty ferocious.
Starting point is 00:39:29 Yeah. And to Quark's credit, he maintains the lie that there's two alphas there on this planet, which enables them to be abducted without the gem hadard going and finding Jake and nog. So if Jake and nog come back to the campsite and find that the campfire has gone out and that quirk and sysco are nowhere to be found. Oh Tony Jake, something's happened to them. Sysco is not answering his phone. They're not sure what to do. In order for this episode to work, you must forget entirely about the Jim Hadar's
Starting point is 00:40:11 center capability, because later on you recognized just how powerful that shit is for them. And either they choose to disregard Nog and Jake after this, or they're unable to pick them up. Right. If you're trying to establish these soldiers as like merciless killers that are just a force of will, Nog and Jake should be in so much more trouble than they are.
Starting point is 00:40:39 They should be the people in the break. I completely agree with you. We see things the gem hadardu later on in the episode that make you acutely aware of how terrifying they'll become, but I think if you start with their interest in torturing kids, I mean, that could start us off in that direction. And it makes them such a bigger threat for Cisco, who, you know, like for a dude that has lost his wife
Starting point is 00:41:09 to the Borgs, like how do you make a threat bigger than the Borgs? I have an idea. Yeah, I completely agree. You put another family member in jeopardy and all of a sudden, you see someone I believe who has acted rationally from the start completely lose it and that is a version of Cisco I would like to see here. We get to see Cisco and Quark and Eris in the custody of the Gemma Hadar and they've kind of put
Starting point is 00:41:40 them in a Superman 2 circle. You three criminals have been caught in a further act of seditious treason. And it's the same idea as the force fields that they have in the brig, except for if you touch this force field, it's lethal. Except for we will never see the force field. Instead, we will just see a light up ring. Yeah. Well, you see it a little bit when they turn it off and on again, I think.
Starting point is 00:42:09 Don't you? I don't remember ever seeing the effect, but I could be and probably am wrong. This is a great moment in the episode for doing a little backstory though, that's for sure. So she's got the chest beam and they've put like a flea and tick collar on her that will prevent her from using it. I really liked the way her hair, there's very topy lighting in this scene. There's one source of light that shines down. The way her hair works, it casts like prison bar shadows on her face. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:45 Which was such a great, like, it's very hard for me to imagine that this was totally intentional and not just a happy accident that they discovered when she got to set in her, in her hilly and her hair and makeup. But it's a great effect and it really serves to make them feel
Starting point is 00:43:09 Panned in despite the fact that they're in a big room, you know, it's like your hair is a cookie pen Are you familiar with that to open like the the that you put in front of a light? Yeah Boy, that is like a 0.2% or... Yeah. But yeah, so I mean, like they have this idea that if they take the collar off of her, she can use her telekinetic ability to break them out. But in the meantime, that's going to take some time to break. And in the meantime, they get to know her and get to know the story about her. This isn't the first time we've gotten a strangers in prison scene.
Starting point is 00:43:49 TNG did this a few times. Right. And she makes the case right away at how lethal the gem hadar are to the degree that she sets the table stakes right away. She's like touching the force field will kill you, attempting to break this lock off of my neck, might kill you and me, and my attempt to use sionics while wearing the collar could be lethal as well. And all of this is unintegrated. Yeah, there's an unhealthy amount of lack of skepticism. Yeah, but but they need her and I think that's I think that's how you establish that's how you shortcut trust in a situation like this. Yeah, the only way out is going to be
Starting point is 00:44:32 her cyanocability. I think it was an outer limits. Remember when they rebooted outer limits in the 90s? I do. I love that show. There was an outer limits episode where a guy was like in jail with say there was an outer limits episode where a guy was like in jail with a lady I want to say and she was like really like sad about being in jail and he said like, oh like our our space force is all like assembling on the other side of the sun and they're going to attack and we're going to be rescued. It turns out that she was one of the bad aliens in disguise. Yeah. You know It turns out that she was one of the bad aliens in disguise. Yeah. You know, that's sort of the storyline here. Like, she presents as an innocent woman who comes from a planet that the gem had
Starting point is 00:45:12 are laid to waste because they resisted the founders and the dominion. And they believe fully that they can offer her asylum on the station and that that would be what she would want. Yeah. She's starting to shade in the color of this, this series of relationships in the Gamma Quadrant, W slash R slash T, the gem hadar, the dominion and the founders. Right. They also meet one of these Jim Hadar who comes in and he turns off the field and enters the circle with them.
Starting point is 00:45:55 And explains to Sisko that the founders and the DaBinion have determined that they are no longer interested in anyone from the Alpha Quadrant entering the Gamma Quadrant and that they're going to be imprisoned to servants as an example for the Alpha Quadrant. He's really kind of an asshole about it too, which adds insult to injury, I think, because he is like deeply disappointed that he did not meet Klingon. What's that weapon there so fond of the Brett left? And instead of stuck with Effurringi and a human as his first relationship with someone
Starting point is 00:46:34 from the Alpha Quadrant. He seems to know an awful lot about them and they have never heard about him. So yeah, like almost as threatening as their physicality and military power is like when someone knows so much about you and you don't know anything about them, that's also a terror inducing, I think. Yeah, Cisco has been caught with his pants down and is trying to negotiate his way out of it. And it's not going great.
Starting point is 00:46:59 And Quark is like, let me step in here. And I've got some business and negotiation, I've got some business arrangements with members of the Dominion, maybe a listen to me and he gets like chucked across the room. I'm not going to do any permanent damage. That'll teach him. This guy is not here to negotiate. Like he is so uninterested in any of the things that Quark and Cisco have to say, that one
Starting point is 00:47:29 almost wonders why he came in the first place. He's the only gem hadar that we really get to know in this episode. He kind of speaks for his people. His name is T'lac T'lan. Meanwhile Jake and Nog have done a little bit of a walk about trying to find their parents and they come upon a base that they see from the outside and having seen it crawling with gem hadar people, they realize that they won't be able to get to their parents like this. It's a very fast interstitial scene that they give them. I feel like this
Starting point is 00:48:04 other storyline is told as efficiently as possible in order to give maximum amount of weight to the A story. Efficiently and maybe even sloppy. Like when they're looking at the compound through the bushes, they're just standing there. Like if a gem had turned 30 degrees to the right, they would see them.
Starting point is 00:48:25 They're not really under any kind of cover. It's just, it's sort of production ignoring the truth of the script in a weird way. Yeah, it's also, I mean, this is something you see sometimes in action movies where there's a safety to ignorance, like you just come upon something that was there and dangerous the whole time, but having not known about it until you get there,
Starting point is 00:48:50 you operate with a kind of divine safety. And that's kind of what happens here with Jake and Nog, up to this point. Yeah, so they beam back up to the runabout and their idea is head back to the station and get some help. I love this kind of inside baseball here Ben because like I've thought a lot about could you just get on to a runabout and drive it somewhere? What does it take to do that? It's like a kid trying to open their parents' iPhone and not having the passcode. It's like Ben Sisko has the keys in his pocket and it's one of those like push-button
Starting point is 00:49:30 start cars that like the keys out of proximity. Yeah. It becomes clear that if they're going to get anywhere they need to turn off the autopilot, the autopilot to lock them out. Oh my god, the automatic pilot is just landing. And that's trouble. There's a lot of trouble, like they they also detect a gemharder worship taking off from the planet service and going to warp. Unclear why that ship didn't take any interest in the run about it all. But I but I guess we can head cannon it as being whatever made them uninterested in killing or capturing Jake and Nuggin the first place. I guess that is really hard to take. Yeah, so they get to work like tearing the ship apart and they're working on pulling the autopilot
Starting point is 00:50:27 out of the guts of the ship. But meanwhile, that Gemheadar ship shows up at Deep Space 9 and our Gemheadar buddy from the cave without warning, being himself aboard the op section and kind of announces the intentions of the Dominion for the first time. It's a real power move, man, to bring your tick-class starship through the wormhole and then like beam right through the shields and then like do that walk through the confinement beam that he does. Yeah, I like the confinement beam.
Starting point is 00:51:04 I wish we'd seen that more in previous trek. Like, you know, when a board shows up on the ship, you know, through the confinement beam on him or whatever. Yeah, he is unimpressed by their technology, which is a fairly terrifying situation. But like non-verbally, which is great. Like he never verbalizes his, uh, his disrespect in that way. He just sort of drives and walks through it.
Starting point is 00:51:31 Security team to ops. He's a list of vessels we've destroyed for violating our territory. He's just pouring their offered, cling on beverage all over the floor and his attitude is like, Hey neighbor, I I got tired of your cat walking through my lawn. So now I now I'm keeping him in my basement. Yeah, he's now strung up in my basement. Yeah He gives Kira like a manifest of all of the in my basement. Yeah. He gives Kira like a manifest of all of the alpha quadrant shit they've destroyed and among them is new be major like the like the pejoras have established a colony on the other
Starting point is 00:52:13 side of the wormhole and they did. One of the things that is emblematic of their death is the idea that this information is presented on a bejure and pad, like, ouch. Dick move. Yeah. I like this though, like this is, I mean, I don't like it, but I think that this is the writers using Kira for like what she's good for.
Starting point is 00:52:37 Yeah. It's the thing that we talk about all the time when her opinion is left out of a conversation that it should be the most important opinion in. Finally, we're getting emotional stakes for her and not just for Cisco. She's the dramatic equivalent of Keenan Thompson on SNL. You need to get Hira reacts as a thing fairly often because she can really hold the stakes of the story together with just a look. Stuff starts happening pretty quickly here, right? We got Cisco and Quark working real hard on getting the dog color off of Eris. We got Jake and Nog digging the autopilot out of the Meekung's navigational equipment and then like, you know, like a 14 year old
Starting point is 00:53:40 who's never had a driving lesson attempting to drive the run about back to the station, like not knowing how to use the manual transmission and like really grinding on the transmission. It's a pretty fun scene and they're kind of they're kind of bangered around inside as he makes this attempt. But on Deep Space 9, the Galaxy class starship, the Odyssey, is back from patrolling the Cardassian border. And Captain Kio is there to kind of be the voice of Starfleet. And it feels really good to have a Picard type, you know, there to help solve the problem. It's great to see a galaxy class pulled up to station.
Starting point is 00:54:31 That's for sure. I was not happy to see Captain Keo firstly because his reputation up until now in the episode was that he was a total ass. And secondly is that he looks exactly like Mike Pence to me. So I saw every decision he made through that lens. What are ethics? He's got Mike Pence eyebrow. That's this problem.
Starting point is 00:54:55 Like from the middle of the head up, which is where the eyes are, despite the cognitive bias against that. Yeah. Mike Pence hair and Mike Pence brows Every time somebody says something's like that's not true. I love all the colors in the Creole of box He's he's there to talk strategy and ops with Dax and O'Brien and Kira and Bashir and everyone's very Differential to him like when there is a galaxy class captain on the station like everyone stiffens up Yeah, but he's that doesn't stop him from kind of being a dick to everybody like,
Starting point is 00:55:27 they're like, we want to we want to come, we want to get involved, we want to help save the commander. And he's like, well, you guys don't know shit about combat. I mean, no, no offense, but O'Brien and Kierre the only ones we've ever done anything. And the doctors like, what about the Mayquise? Mayquise? It was like, those idiots, I don't think so. They quees. They quees. Those idiots, I don't think so. For the boys that you just dragged, talk to Jones. This moment and the moments right after this raise the second biggest question in the
Starting point is 00:56:00 episode for me, which is the relative capability of a runabout compared to any other ship, because the plan they come up with is sending the Odyssey through the wormhole with two runabouts. Yeah, they're like the fighter escort for like a jumbo jet, you know? Yeah, their ability has been in question, I think, on screen up until now. But in pretty short order order we see what they're able to do. They seem like maneuverable and pretty capable combat ships.
Starting point is 00:56:32 And we've got Bishir and Kira are on one ship and O'Brien, Dax and Odo are on the other runabout. And then we've got Kyo on the Odyssey. But Odyssey has a much cheater bridge than the Enterprise. Yeah. That was interesting. I mean, like, not a bad bridge, but smaller. And you would think that ships of the same class would have similar sized bridges.
Starting point is 00:57:01 This is Bizardomy, Ben, because the enterprise D bridge exists. They wouldn't have torn it down by this moment in time, right? And it's right across the street. Right. And you don't need it for anything. So go ahead and repaint it. Like, do permanent changes to it to make it the Odyssey bridge, if you want. I thought it was weird.
Starting point is 00:57:19 They shot a bunch of the Odyssey bridge super close up, like in singles and two shots. Right. They're not revealing that much of it. I mean, you don't even need to take the Enterprise D bridge and light it for TV completely. You could just take the areas you need. Strange choice. Strange choice. And so this convoy of Runabout and starship. I say sight to life looks like we got a sitcom boy. Meets Jake and Nagas, they, as they lurch out of the system that they were in.
Starting point is 00:57:55 And this is a big relief. Like, O'Brien beams over and takes over at the helm. And I thought that it was a little weird that Jake didn't warn him about all the shit that they like disconnected before he did that. But uh, but uh, yeah, this turns into like a pretty a pretty exciting and complicated space combat scene. Right. And it's a little bit like the end of Star Wars movie where there's like a space combat scene intercutting with action on the planet because Cisco and Quirk and Aeris like, you know, they get the the collar offer and she knocks the The detention ring out of commission and then they get in some Star Trek fights with Gem Hadar as they escape, which is like
Starting point is 00:58:44 Surprisingly easy given the terrifying ness of these warriors. They have not had too many double-handed axe handles. Yeah. Dropped onto them clearly. They haven't attempted to do this form of fighting yet. Wow, that's like a pretty sick move, dude. To those horns always play when you make contact.
Starting point is 00:59:10 Those little animated bif sock powders. Is that every time you punch somebody or the Odyssey gets the worst of the combat, like the, you know, the smoke and the jets of fire coming out of the computers and everything is like pretty much in full effect. The the second the Gem had our worships take off. So the race against the clock is like keep these worships busy. Well, O'Brien goes and rescues Quirk, Cisco and Ares. Nice of him to beam the third person up that they're running with, not knowing who she is like they don't have any communications with the service or anything. But you know, it's touch and go again and back just in time and they're heading back for the wormhole.
Starting point is 00:59:56 When a Gem Hider worship just goes in ramming speed and takes the Odyssey out. and takes the Odyssey out. This was a pretty rugged moment in an episode that had 20 minutes of really rugged definite. Seriously, this comment scene is really intense and there's scenes where you're in a run about, POV from Inside a Runabout, and you see another runabout like swooping overhead,
Starting point is 01:00:25 and they're like tailing a gem-hardard tick, and like hitting the gem-hardard in a cell with their phasers and stuff. There's plasma leaking out of one of the nacelles on the Odyssey. There's explosions on the bridge of the Odyssey. There's fire. There's, you know, action on the surface, and then when this ram happens, the model effects are awesome. The, like, the chunk of the lower hull that it gets taken out, and like, and then the, like, fragment of debris that hits the right Nacell, like, the, it's a really, like, devastating destruction sequence, it's a really like devastating destruction sequence. And, and it really hits, I think it was really smart
Starting point is 01:01:09 for this, then to pick a Galaxy Class starship for this sequence because it hurts to see one blow up. It always does. And I think this is only the third time we've ever seen one explode. What have we got? We had the Yamato. And then we had all those times we saw
Starting point is 01:01:25 the D explode in that groundhog day episode and now here. Yeah, and I thought it was so interesting. They like the camera pans to cure for the emotional impact of this of this explosion, you know, like it, it's bishier shielding his eyes and then the camera pans and it's Kira doing the gulp of what have we gotten ourselves into. One of the things that serves the scale of destruction here really well is I think they shoot the Galaxy Clash ship differently with all the runabouts around.
Starting point is 01:02:01 Like you really get a sense of its scale in comparison and they do a lot of foreground background with the runabouts around. Like you really get a sense of its scale in comparison, and they do a lot of foreground background with the runabout on the foreground and the galaxy glass in the background, just looming large. Yeah, it's huge. It really helps, and it's a relationship of scale that you don't really get in TNG
Starting point is 01:02:20 because that galaxy-class ship was pulling up next to Excel-seer classes or ships of equivalent size. And I think that really sells its destruction later on in terms of just how big of a blow that is. They did a great job with it. And it's all by way of demonstrating how far they're willing to go. That's Cisco's interpretation of this act.
Starting point is 01:02:47 Like, O'Brien is like, what was the point of that? We were all retreating to go home. Like, why, why suicide run and somebody who's in retreat? And that's just there to make the dominion that much scarier. Right. The Gem had our don't care if they live or die as long as it advances their goals.
Starting point is 01:03:07 Like, it's one thing to fear an enemy who has superior firepower, but it's another thing to fear an enemy that you don't understand. Like, that's making decisions that don't seem rational. Right. And so... And the Gemadar are both. Yeah, the Gemadar are all kinds of fear.
Starting point is 01:03:26 A well-designed Betty. Yeah. So they get back to the station. They're all piling off the runabout and quorxes to Cisco. Hey, uh, Mr. Cisco, see me after class. And when everybody else is gone, he says, Hey, I got something to tell you about this dog color. And they like smash cut to the op section where they're like
Starting point is 01:03:54 welcoming Harris to the station. And Cisco gets off the elevator with a with his dustbuster drawn. And he says like, step away from her turns out the dog collar did not have any chest beam prevention technology in it. It was just a lock. It was just there to fool them into thinking that she was imprisoned in the same way that they were. Yeah, it wasn't a pet containing invisible fence technology at all. It's just a well trained aress.
Starting point is 01:04:23 It's just a well-trained aeris. It's out there. And she beams off. She has the same transporter technology as the Gemma-Dar. She beams off. They have no idea where she beamed off to. There's no ships around. It's got to be terrifying. Like all the technologies that you have at your disposal
Starting point is 01:04:41 just seem totally impotent. Yeah. And we end the episode on a line from Cisco saying that if these animals are going to come through the wormhole and bring the fight to us, this is the front line. And so we need to step our game up pretty great end to a pretty solid season. Yeah, indeed. pretty solid season. Yeah, indeed.
Starting point is 01:05:02 Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Did you like this episode?
Starting point is 01:05:11 You know, I have really mixed feelings about it. I think that the idea of starting it as an episode of, you know, step by step and end it as an episode of Platoon is better in theory than in practice. And I think that I think that that goofy stuff at the beginning just doesn't play to the strengths of this writers room. And yet like the stuff at the end is so exciting. Like the combat, the kind of threat that the gym had our represent. It's all really like juicy plot developments.
Starting point is 01:05:47 And, you know, we talked about like the last handful of episodes of season two, feeling like setting the table for future episodes. Like the tribunal episode that we just watched with the Cardassians, you know, jurisprudence system, and also the near universe stuff that we've seen. Like, we've established a bunch of new stuff about the universe. Now we have two new kinds of aliens that are part of the dominion,
Starting point is 01:06:21 and they're both really scary in different ways, you know, like the way that Aeris kind of takes people into her trust and then betrays that trust is really scary and the just total insane, uh, military capability and also unpredictability of the gem and R is really scary. And I'm excited, I'm excited for episodes about that stuff. I mean, I think you can have a hopeful TV show about a good future that still explores the idea of what would be really scary given the truth, you know, the established truths of that future. How about you? Yeah, I mean, it established truths of that future. How about you?
Starting point is 01:07:05 Yeah, I mean, it's not a homogenous universe, and I think it's natural to run into people like this in a great big universe such as it is. I'm with you on the beginning tone versus the end tone. This episode reminded me a lot of chain of command, but chain of command had the good sense not to begin with comedy. Chain of command begins and continues all the way through with tension. And I wonder what this episode would have been like had it begin similarly. I mean, you don't, I think there's a way to rewrite the inciting incident in such a way that you could do it.
Starting point is 01:07:47 Right. But maybe that's, maybe they had to do it this way in order to, in order to ease that transition into what this show eventually becomes. Do they have to exist in the same 47 minutes? Maybe maybe that that's why they did it this way Yeah, I don't know I mean I think that the silliness without jokes is the thing that rubs me the wrong way about it Like I like it when Star Trek is just you know when Star Trek realizes that Star Trek is a little bit corny and has fun with that I don't really have a problem with it. No.
Starting point is 01:08:25 Meaning it. But I think when they try and do bits and they're just not funny, that's what it doesn't work for me. And I think this is a little bit too much on that side of the line. I really like the episode. If what I'm describing in that is the last 30 minutes. I mean, it's a real tone setter, hopefully, for what's to come.
Starting point is 01:08:48 And this is a version of this show that I had always wanted, that I had always heard about reputationally. And so it feels like we're finally here and things have changed forever in a way that I'm into. Yeah, there's not a lot of episodes of TNG where things have changed forever.
Starting point is 01:09:06 And we're starting to get those fairly frequently with Deep Space Nine. I mean, Kai, Kai win is another example of that. Yeah, well, one thing that changes all the time, Ben, is our priority one inbox. You wanna check those out? I do. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel.
Starting point is 01:09:28 I need a supplement on that. supplement on that? supplement supplement Yeah it's extra. The interest alone could be enough to buy this ship. And then my first priority one message is of a commercial nature. Hey!
Starting point is 01:09:42 Goes like this. I discovered the greatest generation when starting a podcast of my own. I was and still am able to consider viewing greatest gen for hours as valuable training and research. That makes it a tax ride off. Right, yeah, that's one of those things that you're really going to have to talk your accountant into it.
Starting point is 01:10:00 But on we go. Contributions to the greatest generation are not tax deductible as far as I know. My current producer is returning to school. If you have podcast production skills and want to earn some supplemental income, DM me on the Twitters at Lithium Podcast. Whoa! You can make money making a podcast? SuppleMiral.com?
Starting point is 01:10:23 SuppleMural.com. SoapoMural. It's extra income, Ben. I love that about this. It's a P1 that uses P1 drop material right in the copy. Hey Rob, don't apply for this job. I would encourage anyone to apply for this job except for Rob Shulti. Yeah, I mean, I'm all for Rob's, Rob's, Rob's, Rob's, getting all the work he can get, but I don't want it to come at the expense of the great
Starting point is 01:10:55 work he does for us. Indeed. Hey, how about this lithium pot cast using greatest gen as their own personal LinkedIn? That's nice Dig it. Um good job by them. Oh, yeah, I'm looking at the at the Twitter account. This is Emily Hirsch Global lithium podcast the best the worst the first and then she says friend of DeSoto. I'm a Winking and finger gunning right back at them. But nice to see those friends of DeSoto's making podcasts. Ben, when we were in line after the Las Vegas show, I think one of the more memorable fan
Starting point is 01:11:35 interactions I've ever had was with someone who said that they took our advice and found a friend and made a podcast and mentioned that it was one of the best things that they've ever done. And that is the ultimate. Love here and that. Well, if you want to produce a podcast and learn about the valuable mineral lithium, which is the battery material at the heart of so many of our modern electronics, or so I understand from an episode of NOVA I watched recently. Reach out to Atlithium Podcast on Twitter. All of your sea battery powered products filled with lithium. Come on Adam, you know that sea batteries are made out of an alkaline material or nickel metal hydride. If you go for the rechargeable variant. I retract it from the record band.
Starting point is 01:12:27 Our second priority one message is from Major Kirin Aris via Andy K. It is four display on all DS9 message boards throughout the station. Wow, that's a well timed, I mean given quarks want in this episode, there's a well timed P1, huh? Speaking of timing, let me get to the body of this message. Top 5 reasons why Donald Trump is quark. Number 1, loads of failed business ventures. Number 2, investigated by Odo for multiple crimes and calls it fake news.
Starting point is 01:13:04 Number 3, racist shit hole sectors who don't spend Latinom at his bar. Number 4 tweets about no collusion with the Orion Syndicate. And number 5 ears are bigger than his hands. And also included is a bonus number 6 doesn't deserve to be grand negus Wow, I've taken my blue note card tapped it on the desk in a letterman-esque fashion That is our top five list Adam. Can you give us a throw it into the set of New York City behind you? Already done, Finn. All right. I love I love hearing that little glass shattering sound effect. Yeah. I love anytime we get to use Letterman drops on this show.
Starting point is 01:13:49 Yeah, seriously. Any thoughts on how many Spider-Man's fit inside of Jamba Juice, Adam? That I miss him. I know. I mean, we try to say off-politics for the most part on this show, more because I feel like we want this show to be a break for people who are terrified about the current political situation and don't want it rubbed in their face 100% of the time as it feels like we are these days But I kind of agree with basically everything on here
Starting point is 01:14:28 Well, I also don't like to satisfy people who are in favor of what's going on with my Sadness and disappointment. Yeah, so I I just keep that shit off the streets Yeah, here's the thing Andy K. We're happy to take your Your jumbo tron money. We generally agree with your message, but let's try and treat the jumbo tron section like a bar where we don't talk about religion or politics, you know. I can get with that. And, you know, let's take better care of each other, going forward.
Starting point is 01:15:04 I can definitely agree with that. So, if you would like to send a non-political, non-religious, or anyone message, you know what to do, get over to MaximumFun.org slash JumboTron. It is a hundred bucks for a personal message and 244 commercial message, hire a podcast producer. It's a great way to support the production of this program. And yeah, no hard feelings, Andy. It's not what I'm saying and all that for. I'm just saying, we learn something from this too. I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that gold press, I got that that gold press, I got that that gold press, I got that gold, I got that that gold press, I got that that gold press, I got that that gold press, I got that A greatest-gen live show is something you don't want to miss.
Starting point is 01:15:51 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 Share Your Embarrassment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places.
Starting point is 01:16:16 Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's GreatestGenTour.com for dates and ticketing information for the share your embarrassment tour. I'm Jordan Morris and I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure delightful 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 spaceweirds. Pat Naswald. Could I get a ball-rock burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you. And Kumail Nanjiani.
Starting point is 01:16:47 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, Russ.
Starting point is 01:17:01 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 nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art. It is about terrain, about a spout to destroy humanity.
Starting point is 01:17:20 Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually, we're podcasters. Yes, probably. We are podcasters, so it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Kerry? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal,
Starting point is 01:17:33 stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end, so same like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boats. We came two by two. What do you think? Ono Ross and Kerry, available on MaximumFun.org. Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda to me, Ben was capped in pants, and I'll tell you why. Here's the scene.
Starting point is 01:18:48 Pence is in command of his ship, and bangers are raining down on him ferociously, and he remains there to give cover for the rescue mission that needs to happen. Yeah. He gives O'Brien five more minutes to finish his milk run. And to me, this is an admiral handsome level strategic gaff. I think he's got to know, he's got to know he's in mortal danger. He's got a ship full of kids in the saucer right now. What is he doing? Didn't they offload non-necess necessary personnel? I think it's fucked
Starting point is 01:19:26 up that he drives that whole galaxy class into this area of space and then remains to give time for three or four people. I think how much you can get to say. How much kickass would this sequence have been if they'd separated the saucer and also been fighting with that? Yeah, I agree. You got to do something besides fight symmetrically here. And I don't understand how Pence was given the command of this great ship if this is his strategic thinking in this moment. So I thought it was it was infuriating and disappointing and and handsome like in every way. So Captain Pence is my Shimoda. What about you, Ben?
Starting point is 01:20:09 Duh! It's Jake and Nog. What is, what is Drunk Shimoda do? He pulls out all the isolinear chips. What do Jake and Nog do? They pull one out and it starts a warp core breach. I know. Ben, I saw this as too obvious.
Starting point is 01:20:24 So that's why I chose against it. I was hoping that you would choose them as the drunk Shimoda, because obviously they are, they're the artist rendering of the drunk Shimoda. Yeah, they're deep space 9's permanent drunk Shimodas for doing this. And I'll care if it's obvious, Adam,
Starting point is 01:20:42 I'm here to make the most obvious jokes. Well done, Ben. Ben, I'm here to ask what the next episode is of Deep Space Nine. What do we got coming up? Next episode is season 3, episode 1, the search part 1, and I'm going to flip it up and read the Netflix description first. Preparing for possible invasion by the Gem Hadar, Kira determines that Deep Space Nine lacks the firepower to defend itself. Whoops, a doodle. Of course, the way Amazon describes it, hoping to avert an invasion. Cisco takes his officers into the game quadrant to find the leaders of the Dominion.
Starting point is 01:21:23 Which episode would you watch at him? I don't know. I may take the one that sounds like something happens. Well, that will be the one we watch on the next. Season of the greatest generation. Do you want to talk about board game? How do you feel that the board game has gone? I feel like we may have been doing too much drinking lately. I think that's both me having just come back from Vegas
Starting point is 01:21:57 saying that, and also in just a brief look up of how maybe our last 10 episodes have gone. Yeah. We're presently on Square 80, which puts us in range of maybe only one square that could cause any sort of problem, and that's the cotton nebula square, which requires us to do no notes.
Starting point is 01:22:21 No notes episode, which I don't think we've ever done in the 220 some episodes at this show. Yeah, that is I mean like I think to follow the not just the letter but the spirit of that Square I would not be able to have the episode open. Yeah, either which I always like scrub around in the episode While we're talking about it fairly terrifying square Actually, uh roll this six sided and see what we're up to you're required to learn as you play roll All right, don't crap out
Starting point is 01:23:09 I am relieved to say Adam that I've rolled a six. Whoa, big roll. Chula! Did I win? All right. Yeah, it puts us in square 86, correct? Sure does, and that is a regular ass episode. It's a regular ass episode, which is proximate to one of the space buttholes at square 87, which would take us back to the Quark's bar on square 24 also in striking distance of
Starting point is 01:23:33 Square 90 which would be a Quark's bar or 92 which would take us to a Quark's bar on Square 72 this is a Really fucked up square where the next roll has a 50, 50 chance of us getting drunk. Wow. And unlike the Quarx bar we saw at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention,
Starting point is 01:23:57 our's actually really pack a punch. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I think the last, the reason that we've been drinking so much lately is mostly because the last time we recorded a Quarx Barrow was the first of two we recorded successively. Yeah. And boy was I hammered for that second of those two episodes. I didn't think that was a bad up.
Starting point is 01:24:18 I thought you did good. I mean, I'm great drunk. Better drunk than you are super. Fuck you. Alright, well, next episode, normal episode, and the first of season three, looking forward to it, Adam. Yeah, you and me both, Ben. Another thing I always look forward to is folks going online and talking about the show,
Starting point is 01:24:42 recommending it to their friends, hitting the review section. Hey, I didn't tell you I did this, but I got our show listed on Spotify. So if you, wow, you Spotify to listen to things, the greatest generation is on there now, and I'm working on getting greatest discovery and friendly fire on there as well. Hey, thanks for doing that. Hey, no problem. We're also on Twitter. Adam is there at Cut for Time.
Starting point is 01:25:08 I'm at Benjamin R, a.h.r. He's the hashtag greatestgen to tag the show and talk about it. And if any app you use to get the show, give it a heart or a star or five stars, whatever the recommend setting is on that app and that really helps us. One thing I came away from the con thinking is that for as lucky as we feel about the size of our audience and about our relative level of success as podcasters, we are still very anonymous to the larger Star Trek community. So yeah, I would really let and by saying that what I'm saying is I
Starting point is 01:25:44 saw a lot of people at this convention that I think would really enjoy our show. So, yeah. I would really, and by saying that what I'm saying is, I saw a lot of people with this convention that I think would really enjoy our show. So, if you have friends who roll in the convention community or in the larger Star Trek community, tell them about our show. We'd love to have them as part of our friends of DeSoto tent. I think it's a great place to be,
Starting point is 01:26:04 and I think they'd be happy to be here. We've got to thank Adam Ragusia, who does all of the music for our show, and dark material for the original Picard song. Kindly let us use that song after we cavalierly started a podcast using it as the theme. Thanks to both of you and thanks to the folks at Maximumfund.org who help us do this every week. Anybody else we got to thank Adam? I got to thank the card daddy built to Lee. Oh yeah. Making cards after every episode, meatiness at at Star Trek conventions now. Yeah, he gave us actual hologram cards of Grey's Gen-Cun, which I was really excited about.
Starting point is 01:26:51 Best in the biz! With that, we'll be back at you next time with another great episode! Star Trek Deep Space 9 in an episode of the greatest generation, Deep Space 9. That just got back from the salon! Make it sound. Maximumfund.org Comedy and culture. Artistone. Listener supported.
Starting point is 01:27:41 Maximumfund.org Comedy and culture, artist owned Listener supported

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