Hey, Joe. Hi.
So, tonight, we are back doing the animated series, and for the
third time, we're farewelling an entire show, we said goodbye to
Voyager and Endgame, we said goodbye to Star Trek the Next
Generation in all good things, and now we're going to say goodbye
to the animated series in the counterclock incident.
How do you feel about this one?
I mean, the last scene was as moving to me as the final scene of
encounter, of counterpoint, all good things, as the camera came up
from the poker table, you know, that old woman holding up her
flower at the end of the counterclock incident, it almost moved me
to tears.
I'm sorry.
No, this does not feel like a serious moment.
I don't think it was supposed to be a serious manali.
This is just your average, the animated series episode where they
happen to go, yeah, no more.
No one's given a shit.
We're going to stop here.
So this is, I think, by some accounts at least.
One of the best episodes of the series.
Who thinks that, Nathan?
Jama gives it 3.5 stars.
And just to put that in some kind of context.
He also gave only one episode of series one of Lower Decks, 3.5
stars, and that was crisis point, which we've done and we thought
was pretty great.
Are you suggesting then that jam was sort of more skewered towards
the animated series than lower decks?
I think so.
I think that what's actually happening is that the more it's like
a traditional Star Trek episode, the more jammer likes it.
And so lower decks, which is sort of Celia and Naughtier, loses
some marks.
And for me, I think just the fact that the animated series is so
cheap and so shittily made and no one seems to be bringing their A
game and no one's bothering, that knocks a couple of stars off
automatically when you've got something like lower decks that's
beautifully made and well acted.
That just comes out in front, even its kind of worst episode is
better than this, I think.
It's bum to watch.
Yeah.
The weird thing is, this has like an A-list cast.
And for the most part, A-list writers.
Is everybody having an off day for a season and a half?
Well, in fact, this isn't an alias cast.
This is just our regulars, there are...
That is an alias car.
That is an alias pass, that's true.
So you've gotten a shell playing Sarah, April, and Carla 5.
Oh, please.
Old woman boys.
I'll have to say, this is a revelation to me, Nathan, only just
told me this at the beginning of the call.
That was, in fact, you know, Ahura, in the old woman voice, and
Jimmy Dooan, doing the old man voice.
Uhura is also doing Carla 5, who is the other alien that we see
flying into the supernova.
No idea she has such dextrous vocal abilities.
Well, we actually heard her doing sort of ethereal godlike being
in them, and she was pretty great.
That might have been the best part of Bam, her performances there
as Bem as well was a highlight of that episode.
And so as usual, Jimmy Dewan is playing all of the male characters
including Arax, who is a sort of semi-regular and an alien from a
race that we've seen a couple of times on lower decks, Carl 4, who
is Carla 5's father, I want to say, or possibly her son, I can't
remember.
And of course, Robert April is Carla 5's father.
I mean, they really weren't putting a lot of thought into their
club.
But I think that's the other way around.
I can't remember.
Yeah, no, it's yeah, that's right.
Colour 4 anyway, whatever.
Don't think the details matter too much for our enjoyment of
watching this.
So a couple of things, though.
So this is written by John Culver, whose real name is Fred Bronson
and who was a massive, massive Star Trek fan.
And so Captain Robert April, who is a former commander of the
Enterprise, who is supposed to think comes before Christopher Pike
that that name was actually in Roddenbury's notes, and it was a
name that was briefly considered for the character of Chris Pike
and Bob April, Admiral Bob April, is, of course, the incredibly
handsome black guy in Star Trek, Strange New World, who is Chris
Pike's.
They love bringing in.
They love bringing out the animated series references, don't
they?
I think they do it just to annoy people, you know?
Yeah, that's right.
But they've made him black.
That's not canon.
And of course, he's super charming and wonderful in Strange New
Worlds as Admiral April.
Oh, I love the fact when we ever do that episode, I'm going to
just enjoy it, know, and eventually he will be in the counterclock
incident.
Yes, amazing.
That series.
Well, we have actually seen him because he is in the 1st episode
in Strange New Worlds, which we've actually done.
So we have seen Bob April on Entitled... didn't have the context
then did we?
We hadn't seen this one.
No, we didn't know that.
Now, the other thing is that John Culver went on to contribute to
2 episodes of Star Trek, the Next Generation.
He co-wrote Minage a Troy, and he gets a story credit for the
game.
Yeah, story credit.
What does that mean?
Well, he pitched the story.
He had the idea.
Yeah.
So someone else could tell you.
The idea is actually a bit pony, but the telly players are really
fun.
Well, but it depends.
It's the story rather than just the idea.
So there's more to it than just the idea.
And the idea is pretty great.
A computer game takes over the Star Trek Enterprise.
But the basic idea of everyone kind of getting body snatched and
then coming up, having an orgasms every time they have one of them
when they get to the next round, Nurse Okawa going, Wesley.
So good.
Apparently, this was as fun as that.
Clearly he's a fun royal.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And look, I don't think this is dreadful.
It's okay I messaged you somewhat apologetically after I watched
this and said, I really rather enjoyed that.
Because in terms of the animated series, let's put this in context
of just the animated series.
Yeah, this is easily the best one we've done and sort of just to
throw my hat in with jammer just for a second.
I do think because it is veering towards the TOS episode, it is
actually more enjoyable as a result.
It didn't feel.
I mean, it felt like it was talking down to me a bit, but Ben felt
like it was talking down to me a lot.
This had, like you said before about so many of the sort of more
functional but fun Star Trek episodes.
It had a big space problem to try and figure out, and we're with
the crew, and they're trying to piece it all together, and it's
only 20 minutes long, so don't take them too long.
And along the way, I did think, I know this is cheap, there's a
couple of, I don't want to say startling visuals, but interesting
visuals, one that happens to be behind you right now.
Yeah, so I thought that was really great.
And it gets mentioned in dialogue.
It's the bit where space is white and the stars are black.
And essentially it's just kind of opposites world and what is the
opposite of what is essentially completely arbitrary?
But who cares?
Like, I'm kind of here for it anyway.
I think it is pretty fun.
I will say there was, there was a moment in this episode as well
during the sort of jazzy...
Music was a place.
I was sort of doing this mad sort of Spanish dancing in my living
room and my other half walked past the door and just went, I'll
leave you to it.
The music on the animated series.
I mean, it's a little limited because I think there are basically
3 cues.
One that goes, da da da da da.
And the jazz.
But it's, again, it's more fun than 90s tricks.
Oh, yeah.
I feel I feel like this is sort of an antecedent of the original
series rather than a precursor to TNG.
Yeah, I think that's right.
All right, what do you think?
we go in?
I don't think we're going to say much more than that if I'm
honest.
No.
All right.
I kind of see him.
I'll just be laughing throughout all of this, all right?
All right.
Five, four, three, two, one, and we're off.
Oh, can I tell you something really appalling?
What's that?
This will, the, this fact will fill you with horror.
That you fast forward through the opening credits of the original
Star Trek, but not this.
I listen to this one every single time.
And every time I just can't bear to listen to the COS music.
This sort of lounge music TOS, this da, da, da, da, da.
Yeah, he's growing on me.
I have to say, like just coming back to it and just thinking how
crushingly disappointed you would have been as a child. that this
is what Star Trek is now.
But I think maybe you're right that the music, the opening music
is pretty great.
Well, you remember when we dug up all the facts about the animated
series, and they were like, 0 my God, it's really popular.
We've got to do more Star Trek.
The reruns are, the ratings are through the roof.
Yeah, but we've broken up all of the sets.
And basically none of their crew can be asked to come into the
studio and this is the, you know, backward, half hide, attempt.
They need to bring us fresh Star Trek, that's how I'm, although
you know, we, as we've said as well, there are Voyager and TNG
animated segments, are there, which are just glorious?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I would be behind a Voyager season or 2 in the animated series
style.
In the style or in the style of lower decks.
How about that?
So here we are.
This guy, we're about to go to the planet Babel, aren't we?
Which gets mentioned a few times in, oh, there's an episode called
Babel one, isn't there, of Enterprise series one, apart from
journey to.
And German. in TOS, yeah.
Yeah.
You know, he looks like that old man, Mr. April.
Like everyone else on the show.
Well, you know, you remember when Captain Pike was inside, you
know, the machine that kept him alive?
He looks like him there.
Do you know, I noticed they do that impressive sort of high angle
shot as a show started.
But I think they start with that shot on every single episode.
So she was a medical officer aboard like a very early ship or the
1st ship with warp drive.
So this is counter, like contradicted by the show enterprise, which
therefore, I think, is not canon.
They had to make some fucking sexist remark, didn't they, as
well?
Oh, it's good to know that she's as beautiful as she is
intelligent.
Well, they ain't saying that about Mr. April, are they?
No they aren't.
They're not patronising him.
And I did find it very odd that she was walking around with this
lily.
Yeah, this ugly, ugly flower.
If only if it was pertinent to the plot, you know?
Yes, if it comes into the plot in some way, that would be very
interesting.
Now, I was getting huge too short a season vibes from this.
So you remember too short a season, which is the...
No, no, don't, no, no, no.
In too short a season, they get younger.
Do you remember that Admiral comes on board the ship and it's a
young man in shitty age.
Like, his face is about 3 metres.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's so much latex on his face.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's really, really bad.
And then he gets younger.
I did nobody in this episode.
When they started talking about the de-agent, that all the crew
were going to be kids by the end.
And as a, you know, lifetime fan of Rascals from TNG.
I'm always behind de-aging the crew.
Except it was just kind of boring, really.
It's a bit different from usual.
Captain Cook is a little bubba.
So the memory alpha article goes on about how expensive that was
because they had to actually do a drawing.
Do you know what I mean?
Like they had to draw some versions of the characters that were
younger.
That's how they felt about, you know, the black stars on the white
thing and they went, oh, just throw some ink at a page.
There you go.
That'll do.
Oh, dear.
They had to do a drink.
Should you read every part of this, then?
all old drawings.
Yeah, I think so.
It's just the same old characters.
Look, you know, like there's just very limited things that they
do.
So it's very expensive.
They have to draw them out.
They have to draw them a couple of times because by the end
they're babies.
I don't believe this was made cheap, though.
So where did the money go?
Do you think it's on getting the actors back to play those roles?
I bet I bet Shatner weren't cheap?
Isn't this cheap?
This is cheap as well.
No, it looks cheap. but I don't think it was cheap to make.
Really?
Oh, I think the money's might have gone...
So here's Michelle again on the screen.
Doesn't she look like She-Raw?
He-Mads.
Starch.
So bizarre.
And did you did you predict the incredible twist that she was
speaking backwards?
Uh, only because I've seen the Doctor Who episode, The Time
Monster, where very similar thing happens on screens.
Yeah, because it sounds like people speaking backwards.
That's what people speaking Beguard sounds like.
So, and and apparently the same universal language that we speak
is how Ahura refers to English in the 23rd century.
Sorry to keep that, she really does look like She Ra.
I expect to know to unsheath her enormous sword and come out of
them.
You know, when you do a close-up on Captain Kirk's face, he just
has 2 expressions, which he goes between, and that's his sort of
normal soft face, and then a bit of a sort of furrow of the brow
and that's it.
That's all the animation, they do for its face.
Well, and because and Pushatner himself is putting in almost no
effort at all here.
Like he really just, you know, like whatever.
Remember?
Remember between, you know, curtain calls at the theatre on the
phone.
How many lines have I got?
Warp 15?
Yeah, well, 15.
Beyond the threshold, isn't it?
36 at one point.
Why is no one turning into a load of lizards?
I wait, Eric.
Actually, I would like to take the opportunity to correct a
mistake I made in a previous episode where I did say that Arax
fact does never talk.
Yeah, no, he does.
He kind of has a voice like that, doesn't he?
Captain Kirk.
It's Jimmy doing his alien voice.
I just can't believe.
Like, they literally can't be bothered to get anyone else in.
Like they just get like someone who has proven himself during the
run of Star Trek to be an absolute master of accents and voices.
Fucking Jimmy doing.
You know, I think Mrs. April looks a bit like, you know, evil
Admiral Satay from the drumhead.
No, okay, maybe, maybe.
Yeah.
You don't think, you don't think she looks, he, he, that she looks
like Kyla Maher.
Wow, the old woman from Star Trek.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
But now look.
So, what is it?
They're about to go through 2 supernovas that are occurring at the
same time in 2 universes.
But we only know about creating a new style.
I only know about one of the universes here.
There's a great shot of Scotty, who is alone in engineering, and
he's kind of standing super weird, and he just keeps standing
there for maybe a few minutes, and we cut back to him.
He's still standing.
The camera pans across the engineering set, though, lot.
I've actually done a full drawing of the engineering set, but
because they have, we do it 3 times in this episode exactly the
same pan.
So what is it again?
One is is imploding and one is exploding.
One's creating a star and one is sucking in on itself.
Yeah.
And that's why they can go between the 2 universes from the one
where time goes forward to the one where time goes back.
Now, that just sounds like a bump, but it's fun.
Yeah, no, no, I think it's fun.
And I quite like the way that they solve it.
Like they get back there and they go, well, actually none of the
Novas that we're aware of have a corresponding one in on our maps
of the galaxy.
So we have to make one explode.
And, and of course, the ship can't go at Warp 35 or whatever
that...
No. still standing like that.
He's been standing like that for ages.
Just stand up straight.
What are you doing?
It's back, so, you know, I think that's it. up and down the
Jeffreys tubes lately.
But, yeah, I do love, I do love Arax, you know, I like having a, a
weird looking alien that they could never realise in the original
series.
I don't think it's a great idea.
Yeah.
Have we had an Arax creature in Kurtzman trick?
A couple of times on load X. No, really?
a few times.
Oh, no, the flowers will too. flowers.
If only they went through a supernova into a place where time goes
backwards that could make that flower throw again.
Oh, wait.
If we go.
Look, I love that effect of the...
It looked a bit like fairy lights on a Christmas tree.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It looked like it looked like how a teenager might decorate their
folder.
It's cool.
Yep.
That ink blobs on the Enterprise scanner looks terrific.
That's the sort of thing they should be doing all the time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, you know in how in lower decks.
They can they can put off some just spectacular visuals.
But at time, are animated so well.
You're like, is that a special effect?
Is that animation?
Yeah, yeah.
This is the one time where our sort of my eyes were like, ooh, this
is...
Most of the Enterprise is going backwards is kind of dumb, but
cute, I think.
Yeah.
So, so it is, it is having some fun.
Yeah, I think that's right.
No, in a way.
Look, he's still standing like that.
Pass the ad prank, there he is.
He still standing there with his hand on that control.
Go and do some work.
I don't know if you remember in BEM.
The most fun we had was being locked up in cages by weird
primitives.
Yeah, that was kind of bad.
And then segmenting into free just to walk away and lead them to
it.
Actually, that was quite fun.
But I think the time trap was more boring than Ben.
No, the time trap had that brilliant bit at the end where he had
to find the Enterprise ejector thing and thrown a bombat into
space.
Do you remember?
Along with duh, duh, duh.
So bad.
So we're all growing younger, but very quickly, apparently, and
the, oh, the chronometers are running back there. unfortunate.
We've got 2 of the oldest people at Star Trek on the ship, just at
the end of their careers.
So he's, that's the, that's kind of his plot is he is 75. and he
has to retire.
And so he's going to be able to kind of say goodbye and stop
working and he doesn't want to do it.
I kind of like the technobabble here about our brains are now
working backwards in this universe and so we can understand her
without making her go backwards on our, you know, using our
computers or whatever.
That's okay.
I mean, it's nowhere near as fun as when Red Dwarf did this.
No, no, you know.
But the cat, the cat has a poo in reverse.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If only the animated series could have that fun.
I don't think that was ever going to happen.
The best thing for is a dying plant.
Lower decks probably would.
I think lower decks is at a point now where...
Excuse me.
I remember seeing is bummer in one episode.
Well, it was it was decorously kind of, you know, obscured by a
decency black rectangle.
My point is they've loosened up a bit in the intervening years.
That is true.
So all of this stuff is kind of cool.
Do you know what I mean?
Like this is sort of space problems that we get in Star Trek.
This is obviously higher concept and a bit stupider than Star Trek
normally does, but that's okay because it is a kid's.
Like, you know, you have to say it's a cheap ass kid Saturday
morning TV cartoons.
This does remind me more of next gen um idea of the week episode
this sort of backwards universe.
There's some sort of, you know, throw away idea they do it next
time.
Timescapes or something.
Yeah.
Is that when he draws a smiley face on the walk paw bridge?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm just pawing it.
I really like that.
Picard just laughs at it.
Why are we watching these other episodes?
Oh yeah, that's right.
You chose the animated series.
Yeah, I did choose.
Well, we have to do it sometimes.
Well, be ahead by the time this is finished, so we won't have to
do it again for a while.
And it's worth remembering this is the best of the 3 again, you
know.
Yeah, yeah.
So far, dear idea.
You know, the one person that really doesn't come out of the
animated series too badly is Spock, mostly because his face is
never very animated in DOS, and to, his voice is usually quite
flat.
So I can actually buy it, but that's him.
But again, I think that what you don't get is the subtlety of
Nemoy's performance, like just about everyone's performance is
more or less raised by this method of animating.
But you can do subtlety with animation, can't you?
You could do a gentle eyebrow raise when someone's being
sarcastic.
Oh, yeah, yeah, but that's about all you could do.
And like in lower decks, the characters are, you know, because
it's more expensive and animation has got better.
The characters are much more expressive.
I did love his loin earlier on when they were in the, oh, God, look
at this.
They theme down now into a study.
She Ra's father is in fact a child.
Yeah, he's Carl 4.
Um, which is the same kind of joke as Zaphod Beeble Brock's, the
4th or something, whatever.
Do you know what I mean?
I do like the backdrop here, Nathan.
There's a lot of colour on the screen.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yep.
Yep, yep.
But he's a nursery.
Sorry, the line I was mentioning is when Kurt goes, Yes, he goes
how unusual that these 2 observers are here in the in the room
while we're trying to puzzle out the problem.
But never mind.
I could do it with all the help we can get.
Any ideas?
And that to me reminded me of the old kirk, you know?
This, I mean, this is so terrible, isn't it?
This is...
Is that Jimmy doing?
Because I thought this voice was really bad.
Yeah, it's Jimmy Dune doing his 2nd old man voice for the
episode.
And so he's having to reach quite deep into his reservoir of
shitty voices to come up with something a bit different.
This antimatter universe, it's enormous, isn't it?
It builds the room.
It sort of looks like a Christmas star, this universe. doesn't
it?
Yeah.
Well, this is the galaxy, I think.
And so our galaxy, you know, like it's them doing galactic arms in
a kind of fairly crap way.
I've got to figure this sort of nursery with the black styles out
the window is about as visually interesting as the animated series
ever gets.
Yeah, see, that's our galaxy there, which is much more boring
isn't it?
Well, yeah, yeah, I do like the black and white.
It looks a bit like the shadow spaceships from Babylon 5.
I've never heard of that.
Oh, I'll introduce it to you one day.
Change of life.
Well, I mean, and I mean this with all sincerity, it's better than
this shit, but it's pretty bad.
So again, you know, like something fun is happening here.
And April is, you know, there is a kind of sort of character arc
where you've got April who is reluctantly going to retire at 75
and then at the end of the episode, he's, you know, he's literally
become young again because he's on board of the, he's on board the
Enterprise Bridge and he's doing space things like he always
wanted to.
And so, so he comes to life again, and that's kind of exciting.
As you said, to me in a message, they do make a very bizarre
choice.
Now, I said to you, it would be very old, if you were given a
chance to be young again, in this wonderful universe of Star Trek
that you choose to be old and retired.
And he's kind of going, oh, you know, I think God would be
offended if I didn't go back to being old like he intended me to
be.
And so I'm going to do that.
If you gave me the opportunity in this dismal world we live in at
the moment to go back to being 18 again, I probably would turn you
down because I don't want to be around for another 50 years to see
where we're going.
But if I was in these enlightened times, travelling around on
fabulous spaceships, you bet.
If I was 75, I just want like, you know, knees that didn't hurt
all the time again. you know, like, fuck what history's gonna do.
Like, I think McCoy's got some medicine for that.
Don't worry.
He's not in this episode, is he?
No, no, he was one at the beginning.
I made the sexist remark to Mrs. April.
Oh, there we go.
That was it.
He came in, said one sexist thing, and that's all he did.
That's it.
Thanks, Dee.
Oh no.
Uptitle said Captain Kurt.
Oh, they're not very good.
They got it wrong.
Oh, wow.
Oh my god, how much time, Nathan, before every crew member returns
to the point of his birth.
No, so we've got 18 minutes until the youngest crew member goes
back in time.
And look, there's the captain with his little baby face there.
Little baby face coat.
Wowsers.
Do you know, I don't know if you've ever seen these pictures that
do the rounds of them, you know, using that photo app where you
can young up people's faces.
No, man, they all look gorgeous.
The whole original series crew.
Well, it may be 18 minutes, but the episode only has 4 minutes
left to go.
Okay, so no one's going to get back to...
They do get quite young.
So Spock's...
I swear somebody at one point actually said the line. you know
can't they just re-age us at some point?
I was like, what we normally do on Star Trek?
With our usual skill.
Well, it's it's the way we get Dr. Pulaski back to being just
medium old instead of like incredibly old at the end of whatever
the fuck that episode's called.
What's that called?
Oh, that's not contagion.
What's called?
Oh, I can't remember.
No, I can't either.
I don't mind that episode.
Everyone rats on that.
I don't mind.
It's the last game.
She's such a bitch.
Yeah, it's a Pulaski episode.
She's pretty awesome.
It's not Dogs of Beverly Crusher, I don't care.
Oh, look how cute they all look.
Yeah, look at little cute Kirk.
They've lashed out and spent money on a new drawing.
It's very exciting.
This is sort of what Star Trek 90210 would look like, isn't it?
Oh, no, wait.
This is this is literally J.J.
Abrams could start with Drake, isn't it?
Oh, now Mr. April's taking command, isn't he?
Because he's young and handsome.
Oldest youngest, if you know what I mean.
And we even have a slightly younger drawing there of Spock.
Oh, no, he's Captain April.
Oh, these are quite cute, too, they start forgetting everything
because they're not getting younger, but they're weirdly going
back in time and so they can't remember anything that happened
before they were this age or after they were this age.
But they believe their mission is oddly.
There was a medical bill that was involved in this episode with
the sort of wrist strain everybody was getting from having to draw
all these extra pictures.
Yes, even baby Axe.
Oh look at Baby Spock.
Oh, baby Arax looks great.
He does look cute, doesn't he?
But Rascals takes the idea and just runs.
Oh, it's so much fun and it is so...
He's my number one dad.
It's hilarious.
That's so brilliant Oh, the bit...
Look at the need to look like little baby Ahura sitting on the
railing.
The Enterprise is going straight through that hole.
Yep, back into our real world. we go.
But look at Baby Spark.
There's a picture of all of them as babies. hang on.
Why do the rest of the crew reage really from?
What?
little babies.
I can't remember now how they sort of re-age as well.
Oh, it's going through the transporter. that's what you always do
That is what you do.
Oh, use the transporter.
She just said it.
And then this, it's so dumb, we can remain young, live our lives
over again.
I figure that's where it was going.
Yeah, yeah, just do that.
What a blessing it would be.
And then we cut to our enterprise shot.
And then they're old.
I was like what?
No, he says, no, Sarah, I don't want to live it all over again.
Once was enough, you're intolerable.
Are you thinking I can't leave another?
on it one bit is what you're saying.
Yeah, that's so bullshit.
It's so bullshit.
I reckon that he gets in the thing 1st gets old.
She sees him and goes, fuck that, and goes off and finds a 20 year
old on the crew to have sex with.
That is a much better ending.
Yeah, that's what I do.
That's exactly what I would.
April's heroic actions on board, the Enterprise.
Oh, blah, blah, blah.
And then the last line goes to Mrs. April, doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
Hang on.
I'm going to say it for you all so you know all know how the
animated series comes to an end, all right?
Oh, yeah.
It's not yet, I'm afraid.
Service to the galaxy. pretty soon.
It is pretty soon.
So this ordeal is nearly over.
I see your flower has blossomed again.
Now we've left the negative universe.
And she goes, it gave us all a 2nd life.
And that's it.
The end.
Well, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, in a way that him getting younger, like I said before, it
fits in with his arc.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, and it sort of there is something happening there.
It is a bit of a thing.
I think the running time of the animated series. is both a curse
and a blessing.
Still a bit long.
It's a curse because we can't do anything substantial at all.
And it's our blessing because fact, fuck, they're over with
quicker than they otherwise would be.
Don't you think, though, that the Scott McNulty principle of every
original trek is about 10 minutes too long also applies to this?
Are you saying they should be 15 minutes long?
Well, trouble with Edward got a lot done in 15 minutes?
I did, didn't it?
Yeah.
They learn how to tell a story, though, between then and now.
Exactly.
Well, I've got to say that was by far the best we've seen so far
from the animated series.
I'd give it a reasonable 6 out of 10, for example.
Yep, I'm giving it 3.5 stars out of four.
Are you?
Wow.
I mean, in the context of the animated series, we probably could
in the context of the wider Star Trek universe, that's Gemma
that's probably a one. 5 star, if we were wrong.
Yes, I think that's...
Maybe we should start rescoring jammer as we go through this.
That's it.
I'll download his whole website and then just change it, put it up
at a similar URL.
That'd be fun.
Please, would somebody from the audience please contact Jammer and
let him know that we're giving his website so much traffic?
Alright, it's the end of the episode, and it is time for us to
find out where we're going to go next.
The counterclock incident was my excellent idea, and so it is your
turn to Helm the Randomiser.
What series are we going to do?
You've got to stop having these excellent ideas, okay?
Well, you know, me, I'm a bit lazy with choosing series.
So, um, I'll just do the franchise.
Yeah.
I always think it's quite nice to sort of jump about.
Yep.
Okay, off we go.
Your random Star Trek Voyager episode is season three, episode
20.
Oh, Mr. Harry Kim episode.
Favourite son.
Oh, that's the one where he finds out he's, in fact, not from
Earth, but descended this of this sort of all-female civilisation
he has to have sex with them all.
Yeah, it's terrible.
Let's not do that one.
Okay.
Oh, the Elysian kingdom.
What a shame.
We could have watched that again.
Equinox part two. got the round demise set to previous episodes.
Yes.
Ooh.
It's a to par though.
Your round of Star Trek D Space 9 episode is season three, episode
20.
Improbable Cause.
It's fucking brilliant.
But I know, I know we can't do that one.
So I'm stupid more than that.
Okay.
Oh, okay, it's another DS9 episode.
Your random Star Trek Deep Space 9 episode is season 3 again.
Episode 16.
Profit motive.
Is that bad?
It's not profit and lace.
No, it's the one where Zek comes to the station and he's rewritten
all the rules of acquisition and essentially turning the Ferengi
into an enlightened society and it's because he's been with the
prophets and they've changed his ear.
And Quark's trying to figure out what the hell's going on.
So it's not a bit.
He's just genuinely doing it because he's been, uh, he's been
changed, he's had a, a religious experience.
Quark reads the new set of rules and he thinks there's like secret
code in there somewhere.
So he takes the 1st word of every rule and starts reading it out
and it's just a, if never keep good, a good smile, honestly.
No, no, no, that's nonsense.
I mean, it's quite funny.
It's quite funny episode.
It's like, it's, it's early and we've done a lot of late DS9 or we
have done a lot of DS9.
I don't mind happy to do that.
I'll let you call this one.
It's Wallace Sean, so it's fine.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that's that's definitely a winner.
We've only done one of his before. would be awesome.
Let's do it.
Brilliant.
You've been listening to Untitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford
and Nathan Bottomley.
We're online at untitledstar trekproject.com where you can find
subscription links and links to our social media accounts.
Our podcast artwork is by Kayla Ciceran and the theme was composed
by Cameron Lamb.
This episode was recorded on the 19th of March 2024 and released
on the 29th of March.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek Deep Space 9, Profit
Motive.
It is quite a fun one.
They put a bag over his head, because they want to take him back
to the wormhole, and then there's a scene on the wall going down
the corridor, and Zec's inside the bag.
You know what I mean?
That's okay, Quark.
I still like you.
Oh, they're starting to have a bit of fun with the show.
It's, yeah, early, yeah. yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, I mean, when was what was the other one?
What was the greatest one?
I think it probable cause and the dire cast come before that
episode, which is...
But that, like there, that's a huge, that's kind of a huge moment
isn't it?
That introduces, um, it's where we find out Garak's 1st name, I
think.
And it introduces what's his face?
Mark, what's his face?
The guy who dies in...
Yeah, a labyrinthine.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
What's lovely about profit motive is it's just loads of hanging
time with Quark and Rom.
And I always love that.
That would be fun.
Let's do that. that's good.
Yeah.
Yeah, and we will roll that again.
We'll roll it again.
Bro, what again?
Uh, the...
Yeah, yeah, it dies cast.
Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure.
Well, it's completely, like, proper motive is completely different
from tacking into the wind as well.
You know, it's no idea, yeah.
It's early.
Early fun.
Hang time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There are no empires to juggle at this point.
No, that's right.
Not yet.
It's quite nice as well.
That's quite nice.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a B plot in that one.
Hang on a minute, because this is, they had a little run, late
series 3, where all the B-bots are really fun.
Oh, really?
Is this the one where Jay can not go out on the date together, is
it?
Not together, but with 2 different women.
That would have been great.
That was going some profit motive.
Or is it, it's not the one where Bashir is...
The one he lost out the, um, you know, the prestigious award 2 is
visiting the station and everyone's telling him, that's quite fun
as well.
Bashir gets nominated for a medical award, which he ends up not
winning.
Oh, yes, it's really funny.
Odo comes on and goes, you know, doctor, I've heard a rumour that
the, da, da, da, da.
And you don't, all these 5 people in turn the room. the woman, does
he meet the woman who gets that award later on?
Is that...
Don't think that's that episode. another episode where... his
rival is on the station.
And then he builds up to saying hello to her.
She walks straight past him and ignores him.
And then everyone's sort of consoling him going, well, you know
she did beat you to the to the 1st prize.
Oh my god, and it's got tiny Ron.
Yeah, he's the one holding the Zec in the bag.
He actually gets a line in this one.
Oh does he?
Well, he's playing one on the wormhow aliens.
Oh, he's in a Voyager episode as well.
He's 7 foot tall.
I think it is the only moment where they use the world for aliens
and it's like comedy.
Yeah, yeah. is great.
Well, it is, they give him a religious, like he, like the, isn't
the kind of the, the elevator pitch Zec gets religion and changes
to the Ferengi thing and they all have to stop him.
And so how do you get him to get religion on Star Trek?
Well, make it be a real thing with a wormhole aliens.
That's what religion is there.
I think that's a great idea.
There's a very deadpad moment where quark's basically trying to
suggest that changing quark and the foreogy civilisation could
bring about the end of the entire alpha quadrant and the world
Hawaiians go, we think you might be overstating your case, just
so...
That's great.
And you go, maybe I didn't exaggerate a little, yeah.
So who's a basketball player?
I am now looking for pictures of Tiny Ron Taylor.