Hey, Joe. Hi.
So, this week, we're back watching Star Trek Enterprise, and it's
series 3, episode 18 Azati Prime.
And this is obviously towards the end of the Zindi arc.
It's a teleplay by Manny Koto, and it's based on a story by Berman
Braga and Koto.
And I think Kodo's fingerprints are all over it.
I really thought that this was actually pretty good.
And I'm not someone who likes this indie arc at all.
I am absolutely not behind what they're doing in series 3
generally, but this was really properly enjoyable, I think.
I think Coco has ambitions that far exceed what Birmingham Braga
want to do with Star Trek Enterprise, and you can see the start of
that here.
Obviously, he takes the show in series 4 and takes it in brilliant
and innovative of new directions.
But what he does here is he takes hold of this arc, which, frankly
you know, I took a good look at the episodes spread across series
three.
Yeah.
And it is the good, the bad, and the ugly, right?
Every episode is tied into the Zindiak.
So they're finally doing that thing of a whole season that is
structured around an idea.
But some of those episodes are so loosely connected to the, you
know, there's a time travel episode, there's a archer gets turned
into an alien episode.
There's a, we're off into the future, doing a sort of children of
time-esque episode.
And they're all sort of somehow linked to the Zindi.
But the batting average is inconsistent, let's say, across the
season.
But this is the point where it's all coherent.
And I think you get a run of 3 episodes.
Azati Prime Damage and the Forgotten, and they're 3 of the very
best enterprise episodes, and it just happens to be the point
where this whole arc is culminating.
With lots of great twists, visual ambition, some real emotion in
enterprise in a way that you actually feel something, which is
unusual for this show.
Yeah, it's really good stuff.
However, I do have a couple of issues.
Okay.
Yeah, I said I want to get him out of the way because I kind of
want to be positive about this because genuinely, I had chills
come the end of the episode when the Enterprise is dead in space
at the end of this episode.
The hairs on my arms were up.
I was like, well, this is the most unusual situation for
enterprise and me, but here we are.
So my 1st major issue is like DS9 does a war arc, yeah, and it's
based around huge universal themes of xenophobia, you know, and
things like that and things that they can write substantive
dialogue about, yeah?
And you absolutely understand because that's the same reason that
wars were fought over in our world, yeah, in our time.
Enterprise just uses some knockoff Voyager idea of, oh, the Zindi
looked into the future and saw that perhaps there was going to be
a conflict that they might lose and so contacted somebody to build
a weapon, and none of it, it's just terrible science fiction ideas
that carry no weight whatsoever.
And you're like, well, okay, it's an exciting idea.
But that's just a really shit motive as to why we're doing all of
this.
You know, it's so it's so half-assed and ambiguous.
And I'm like, okay, so and this is the episode where you find out
why this is all happening, you know. and it's supposed to be a
revelation.
And I was sort of just scratching my head going, is that it?
Like, that's the reason they want to wipe out the earth.
And of course, the earth isn't wiped out of their saying times
malleable on the earth can be wiped out.
But of course, we know they're not going to wipe out the earth
because they're not going to delete an entire run of Star Trek
that's happened until this point.
So the whole thing is hanging on a lot of half baked ideas that
you know are going to be reset at the end of the season.
Yeah, I think the same thing about Archer's sacrificing this
episode as well, which just can't possibly have the sort of
dramatic weight that it wants to have, because we all know that
it's not going to happen, because we're not at the point of the
season where that sort of thing could ever happen.
I'm really such a prick.
We're all going, go on.
Take the bomb.
But what was the 2nd one?
But the 2nd one is another DS9 comparison, which I can do because
they're doing similar things here, you know?
They're doing a big conflict, they're doing season-long arcs and
all of this.
Well, I started thinking, well, where was DS9 at this point?
Season three, two-thirds in, uh, we did improbable cause and the
dire cast. truly incredible DS9 2 parter, where they amass a
Romulan fleet around the Dominion Planet, and they, you know, it
all leads up to that fabulous moment where we get Admiral Akbar
going, it's a trap, you know?
And the Dominion come out and blow the Romulan fleet to buggery.
And it features an interrogation scene like we get here, but that
interrogation scene is between Odo and Garak, you know, that's
Renault Erbichonois, and Andy Robinson, for fuck's sake, is some
of the most intense material you've ever seen.
And unfortunately, the comparison leaves this in the dust because
the dialogue in that episode, the DS92 part, it means something.
The dialogue in the interrogation scene.
It's Odo.
Garak saying, tell me something, I can give them.
And Odo going, I want to go home and it means something for the
rest of the series.
There's an interrogation scene in this episode and it's Archer
going, do you know what?
We had some dinosaurs on earth, right?
And they was all wiped out by a thing and you've just got brain
the size of walnuts.
No, no, no, no, no.
I was like, oh, please.
Like, the dialogue just has no substance to it.
It has no way.
It has no meaning.
Like, the episode is really exciting.
It does have a lot of visual ambition and it has momentum to it as
well. like it builds and builds and builds to a point where it's
very, very exciting.
But you wipe away a lot of the surface gloss and what's underneath
is quite empty.
Yeah, I mean, particularly since it starts as if it's going to
comment on 911 because of what happens at the end of series 2.
So the big discovery that the reason 911 happened is because
people from the future decided to trick someone, do you know what
I mean?
Like the whole space reason thing is so dumb.
And there's no, like that's their jumping off point, but they come
up with just something so stupid and so science fiction is the
reason for it.
And it didn't need to be.
It didn't need to be.
I mean, it is kind of a bit cool and seem like into the future and
stuff.
Like, like, if you're sort of feeling particularly sort of dumb
and genre brained.
Like, I think that's that's actually quite enjoyable and the big
graphic of the Enterprise J and the revelation that there is India
on board of the Enterprise J and...
I just like Star Trek to carry a little bit of weight.
If you're doing war and genocide, it should carry a little bit of
weight, shouldn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So all of that is a bit dumb.
And I think that, you know, I don't think the Burman and Braga
have any sort of thought through political position on anything
very much except for a kind of knee jerk, low level conservatism
really.
And so...
Do you think their sort of basis for this is, wouldn't it be cool
if?
Yeah, I think so.
And turns out, yes, it would be cool if that happened.
And certainly they'd run out of ideas.
And there is a rebuke to that in this episode, I think.
And it's, uh, we'll get there, but it's in um, Archer's farewell
speech to the crew, which I think is actually a pretty good
moment.
So, look, I thought this was sort of dumb, but really, really
enjoyable, much more enjoyable than a lot of enterprise.
I mean, some side characters that we can play, never get anything
to do.
Get something to do in this episode. love that.
No, gets agency and an opinion for the 1st time in the entire
series.
I just like, I know we've ratted on it, especially you, the sort
of the makeup of the Zindi.
I don't mean the makeup is in the latex.
I mean, how it's structured and the different races and all that.
But it's kind of a cool idea.
You got insects and you've got underwater creatures and all of
this.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a bit more exciting than just a load of latex, you know?
Yeah.
Although there is...
Yeah, there is.
They can't quite get out of a habit, can they?
I've got to say as well, right?
You was right.
You sent me a message and got me very excited for one scene.
And it's a good thing, actually, that DS9 and Voyager are no
longer being made because I needed the entire stock of rocks for
this episode.
Yeah, when the Enterprise is just...
I mean, there's so there's practically a quarry blowing through
the Enterprise by the end of this.
Even more in damage too, because it doesn't...
Oh, damage, I think.
It's really...
Is that the one where it goes from bad to worse?
Like the ship is literally falling apart by the end.
It's really great And I don't, like, I haven't watched the rest of
the season, and I'm assuming that we get that distressed
enterprise model for the rest of the of the season, do we?
They don't fix it so that it's pristine again. can't remember.
All I remember about the end of the season.
And it is, it's totally brainless, but it is really fun.
It's Archer on the surface of that weapon. fighting Scott
McDonald's indie character.
It's absolutely absurd, but very enjoyable.
I was like, they're just having, they're just having fun, you
know.
Yeah, yeah, brilliant.
Thank God, because you remember series one?
Yeah, yeah.
But I mean, that's the big disappointment for me is that at this
point they can't really make Star Trek anymore and so instead they
just go for generic spaceship show in series 3.
And so there's very little of what makes Star Trek Star Trek
here.
And because Manikoto's on board this week.
He does do some things, I think, that attempt to kind of address
that, which is kind of good and more than I expected.
So, I don't know.
This is fun enough, I think.
But, you know, our favourite thing to talk about of all.
They're just making better television than they were in series
one.
It is more exciting.
It is more dynamic.
It is more dramatically satisfying than what we, you know, there
was nothing going on in series.
Strange New World.
It was just baseless, wasn't it?
And I think the serialisation works really well.
Like I came into this. aware of who Dagra was, but only vaguely
and not having watched some of the episodes leading up to this
that it refers to, and that didn't matter at all.
It still told a single story with the beginning, a middle, and an
end.
It ends in a cliffhanger, but it's a good episode of TV and
watching it at the time in the context of all of the other
episodes.
It must have been really quite rewarding because I think there's
stuff in here.
They're paying it off, aren't they?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think there's stuff in here that references episodes that
might not have been that great in themselves, but they still build
up to a pitch.
And I guess, I guess my experience of that in enterprise is
watching the beginning of series 4 and just being impressed with
how it seemed to be telling a single story.
You know, there were different things going on, but there were
character arcs pushing everyone along a bit and giving it a sense
of scale.
And I think that this has that as well.
Oh, definitely.
Yeah, when that ship burst under the water and we suddenly saw
this, yeah, basically primitive CGI of this huge base, still the
scale of it really impressed me.
Yeah, yeah.
But I just mean the sort of scale generally of the storytelling
too.
I mean, do you think about deadlock, which has Voyager being
nearly destroyed?
Well, one Voyager is destroyed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
But how how weightless that is compared to what happens here
because of the high concept. you know, and that's clever.
And deadlock is a clever, well-made episode.
I think it's you know, there's a really good twist in it.
I think it works in it.
Well, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
More cades.
There's always a spare cake.
But, you know, the destruction or the incredible damage to
enterprising this is so good.
It really is our enterprise, right?
Yeah, the bit where stock insect man number 3 says, you know, well
we've got an entire fleet approaching your ship.
All right, it's only 4 ships ultimately. exaggerating slightly, but
4's more than one, right?
But they're going up against.
It does mean something.
Can I very quickly just talk about Degra?
Because I think he is the NVP of this season and they basically
they pour everything they've got into that character.
They get a fine actor to play the role and he has a story arc that
goes from somebody that, you know, he's that person, he's the
Jetrail, just building a weapon because he's been told it's needed
to realising the implications of it, to turning against the people
that want the weapon, and then ultimately, in a brilliant moment
in a couple of episodes, I'm dying for turning against them.
And it really does work very well indeed, and he's a good
character.
And it's the last comparison, I promise that I will make DS9
stay.
And that is you look at the Dominion in DS9, yeah.
Every one of those characters is a degra.
The female shapeshifter, the any Gemadar that we meet, Wei Yun, the
Cardassians they're collaborating with, they're all all of them
have got the Degra effects, you know?
They're all having that amount of effort, whereas the rest of the
Zindy characters, who the fuck are these people?
I couldn't tell you their names, let alone their personality.
Scott McDonald.
Scott McDonald, right?
He was in Rocks and Shoals.
Do you remember Scott McDonald in Rocks and Scholz playing the Jim
Hadar?
Do you know the one that we love?
Tosk.
Yeah, yeah, Tusk.
He's played characters with a lot, but whereas here, as the insect
man or whatever he is, I don't even know what race he is.
No, he's a he's a reptilian.
The insects are CG.
I think.
But he's just growling and snarling, isn't he?
And yeah, yeah.
He's a comic book.
They're all really low rent characters, I think, which is a great
shame.
We'll talk about them when they turn up.
Um, including the uh, beautiful Rick Worthy as a ape guy, which is
just so super unfortunate.
The really terrible makeup on the fellow with the sort, it sort of
looks a bit like a low rate Tellerite, and I know it's not a
Tellerite, but it's basically the same idea, just with cotton wool
all over his face.
Yeah, yeah, that's Rick Wirly.
That's super upsetting.
They've run out of money there, haven't they?
No, he's a handsome man.
Remember Janeway torturing him in equinox?
guy.
Oh, is he?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Terrible weight.
Bless him.
Oh, yeah.
Good for him.
You should never get a worse role when you come back, you know.
But you always do when you come back to Enterprise.
But they said to him, look, well, you can have you in a whole
season.
You get whole seasons worth of salary. this on your head.
Get the cold war on your face. come on Well, I mean, there's lots
to talk about.
I think there is.
Let's watch it, do you think?
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel as if I've been quite mean in that opening salvo
but that's just because I'm going to spend the episode going, 0 my
god, look at that, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's that's very likely.
All right.
I will count us in then.
Five, four, three, two, one, and we're off.
So this is called Azati Prime, but the words Azati Prime appear
literally nowhere in dialogue or on the screen or anything like
that.
So I'm assuming as Aarti Prime is this planet.
And apparently in an episode called Stratagem about 4 episodes ago
where Archer meets Degra in a kind of...
Oh, that's a great episode.
Have you seen that one?
No, do you know who it's by?
Who the story's by?
No, tell me.
Terry Masilis, who did Picard series 3.
The premise on that one, they finish, they create a fake shuttle
and the archer's playing another character.
Oh, great.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I read the thing.
So that's where he's from because obviously Archer knows him.
Archer recognises him from his warp signature somehow.
I don't understand that, but okay, he recognises him from his warp
signature, but Degra doesn't recognise Archer.
Now look at this drink, right?
So this is Dangra giving everyone a lovely drink.
They're going to celebrate the completion of the new Zindy
weapon.
They're all excited that it can destroy an entire planet.
But he's so fucking cheap that I can't see that he puts any
alcohol into those glasses at all.
You watch when they raise the glasses.
There's nothing in them.
Nothing.
I mean, they are doing series 7 PS on everything.
You see how they've got like the strategy graphics on the wall and
then all the aliens standing in front of it.
Just who are these people?
Well, the hair. so dumb.
Like the hair is just massively stupid.
Yeah.
All right.
We're going through opening credits.
But I do like Degra. will keep reinforcing that.
Yeah.
I think as a character, he works extremely.
Oh, then a long time.
Get it from there.
You maybe would have changed the theme for this season, right?
The war season.
Yeah, yeah, because, I mean, this whole opening credits is about
going out and exploring.
Oh my god, I've got the, I've got the song.
Are you ready?
I'll sing it for you.
Oh, my God.
Well, it sort of ties into how you feel about this as well.
I'm directly talking about the enterprise now as well.
What's that coming over the hill?
Is it a monster?
I could have done that instead.
Would you very God?
Yeah, no, absolutely under no circumstances.
No, we love this dad song instead.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's so great.
I do still listen to it every time though.
No, I wish I had children, so I could embarrass them by singing it
whenever I watched Enterprise.
And you could do like a proper dad dance, couldn't you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Swaying your ass about it, you know?
When you come here, should we dance for this?
You might live in room regularly.
Yeah, for sure.
That's a promise.
A verbal promise.
And we'll film it.
It'll go off as untitled Star Trek extras.
Look at that spaceship. isn't it awesome?
So one of the things, too, that I really like about this is that
it's set in a star system and there's a space, you know, it's not
just we just turn up to a planet and we go round the planet.
You know, like it's there's a planetoid, there's a couple of
planets, there's the defence barrier.
You know, like there's, we're in a place that has some kind of
structure to it.
You've given us some Thor.
Yeah, yeah.
I like that.
Again, it's the sort of thing that you do in a film and you tend
not to do in the TV show that where there are relationships
between things.
You know, normally it's just the enterprise circling around a
planet and we go down to the planet and stuff, but this has some
kind of structure, it seems to take place somewhere.
I do agree, but I do wonder if perhaps the form should have been
on the relationships between this indeed, rather than the
structure of the setting that they're in.
But that is, unfortunately, they could. prioritise one of them.
I really want to say, I thought that the crew of Enterprise worked
together well in this episode.
They're there now.
They're 3 seasons in.
The actors are all relaxed together.
They've got a big problem to solve, so you must be very happy, you
know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This huge weapon to bring down, which does look quite impressive
that way.
Yeah, yeah, it looks great.
So we're in the shuttle.
Insectoid channel, insectoid shuttle from last week.
And so they've taken the opportunity to actually give Travis
something to do.
And if the stories, mate.
Yeah, and...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And here's Hoshi having some lines.
She has far fewer lines, but she's a woman.
Although, I imagine, you know, because I usually just miss her
during the action scenes.
She said, look, you're blowing that bridge to shit at the end of
the episode.
I want to be there, all right?
So watch out for her because she's hanging onto the console as a
spa to flow away around.
She's having a great time.
I did think that Travis worked well in this episode.
I thought the bit where he said, no, I should take the bomb in
because I'm the only one that can pilot this shuttle because
that's all I fucking do on this show. was a good moment for him.
Like, it's not amazing, but he got a moment.
Yeah, yeah.
I actually thought the moment was where he gets what you would
think would be Tucker's line where he his training archer and how
to use the shuttle and he says, you're the least expendable man on
the ship.
Why are you going?
And that conversation is really interesting.
Look at that beautiful shot with just...
Yeah, yeah.
Imaginative CGI in this.
And obviously, it isn't quite there yet.
It's not current level CGI.
That's all right.
But they're really trying, aren't they?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, I think that this, this thing where, like, they're flying it
really badly, and we get to see it through the viewscreen.
And even when it bumps, and I did guffaw, even though it's a
really low rent line, a low rent joke, but they smack into
Enterprise, and he says, sorry.
And, um, Arches is no problem with the bill, which I just, like, a
super relaxed thing for him to say.
I thought it was really good.
You know, relax for long in this episode, so let's enjoy it, you
know?
He's so pretty, dressing.
I know. starting to enjoy himself too.
In fact, they're both pretty.
That is a shuttle. would not mind being stuck on.
Yep, yep.
The 2 prettiest people on the ship.
I also notice as well, I think they're lighting the bridge better
than they did.
In series one, it had a very flat sort of overhead lighting.
They're lighting from various sources now.
So it just feels like it's got a sense of depth to it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I still don't like all the gray, but...
But I don't know.
It is different and I think going different was the right thing to
do, you know, I guess.
Just feel like, I feel like they genuinely looked at the things
that weren't working and they're trying to make, they're trying to
rectify it.
And I think, you know, we've seen 4 series 4 episodes, they get
there.
Yeah, I think they do.
Just in time to be careful.
Too late.
The axe has already fallen by that point, but never mind.
Never mind.
And so this is Hoshi's bitch.
She's not actually here, but she's created the language model that
allows them to communicate with the Zindi insectoids, who were the
main thing last week, I think, in last week's episode, but don't
appear here.
They are the most truly terrible primitive CGI, right?
They're trying to do, you know, are they in like?
Species 8472.
Uh, no, they're better than that.
You know that Pri Mantis.
It was in that Buffy episode.
They look a bit like that.
You know, the teacher, the supply teacher.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But a CGI version of that.
And they can't quite do it.
But they, again, they really are trying.
I admire them pushing the limits of what the special effects can
do.
Because they could just be doing latex.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And they mostly are, but occasionally they're not.
The 2 of them are.
You only see them in long shot in this episode when they go under
the water.
But the turtles, when they talk during the scenes where they're
all, you know, on their political.
They just go, woo.
So I like this bit a lot, right?
And they, they don't oversell it, but it's definitely a moment and
it is, you know, like he makes a choice that he couldn't possibly
make normally.
And look, he turns his back to the camera in order to make the
decision and then he makes the decision that he has to kill the 3
people on board that...
I didn't wonder how you would think about this. you know.
Yeah, I mean, and she's right.
She's right to call him out on it.
Do you know what I mean?
But, and it is a line that they're crossing and I think that, you
know, there's no way that the crew of discovery would do that in a
1000000 years.
Do you know what I mean?
They would find some other way of doing it.
Um, but, because this is all made up and they don't have to do it
if they, do you know what I mean?
If the writers don't want them to.
So they're choosing to do it.
But one of the reasons why he decides to go on the mission later
and it doesn't quite work.
It's some dialogue that's not quite there.
One of the reasons is that he says, I don't want to order anyone
else's death today, and I'll do it.
I'll go and do it.
And, you know, like, I thought that that was, that, that made his
decision to go more interesting, because otherwise it's just that
usual Star Trek thing that you hate where everyone's falling all
over each other to sacrifice their lives.
Yeah, no one steps over the line and goes, nah, for me.
Actually, I don't I'm not going to do that.
You know, I like to think, though, if sort of Voyager was in a
situation, Janeway would be there going, well, I'm not going.
Have you seen how valuable I am?
Ensign Jonas.
Get in the shuttle.
Come on.
There'd be a spare.
No one likes you.
Oh my god, look at this.
Yeah, so this is great.
The shuttle looks great going down into the water.
It's got a bit that moves on it. looks really cool.
They've had a bit of practice with this, though.
I don't know if you remember the episode where Tom Paris went down
to the ocean planet in Voyager.
So they've had a bit of practice going underwater.
Right, okay.
I mean, this looks pretty good.
The rocks are pretty terrible. cartoony, aren't they?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, you know, like it's something I'm constantly complaining
about how boring 90s Star Trek looks and that's great.
The big spherical weapon, which is basically like a huge, you know
that ball sphere.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It is imposing.
And, you know, when it's activated.
It's got it's got 2 lattice webs around the outside and they go in
opposing directions. direction.
It looks incredible.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. really good.
Look, there you go.
There's some of the aquatic creatures.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So they're called Zindiaquatics, I think.
Actually, does CGI better than I thought, actually.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think it's bad.
I mean, doing the, you know, like doing that object, which they
already have a model for, I think it looks really good.
It's just like, it's just ticking boxes or things I usually
complain about.
Hoshi and Travis getting things to do.
The visuals are more exciting and dynamic than usual.
They're just addressing a lot of my...
And now we cross fade and they're already back on board.
I like that.
Did he?
Yeah, because I just thought the narrative's moving.
We're not going to see the whole sequence in reverse as the ship
comes out.
I thought, yeah, that's it. get it moving There we go.
Initial yield, photonic torpedoes, blah, blah, blah.
Techno battle time.
Well, it's not really techno battle. like we need to take a big
explosion down there to blow up the thing.
Like, that's not too technical, I think.
I do, actually, the free line of it being a massive bomb that
they're going to send to destroy the entire earth, right?
It is the most brainless, simple premise you could possibly hang a
series of Star Trek on.
But it is very exciting.
Yeah, when the bomb goes and is heading towards Earth in the last
episode, it's really exciting.
But, I mean, we do have that.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, we do have that in other seasons of Star Trek in a way that
doesn't require them to abandon the premise.
Do you know what I mean?
Like the DMA is heading for Vulcan or whatever.
And, you know, Viga's heading for Earth and the whale thing is
heading sucking up the oceans on Earth and stuff.
Any sort of complaints that maybe Star Trek has dumbed down a
little bit.
You know, here we're doing a bomb to stop a bomb.
Yeah, big bomb.
There may be some weight in the argument.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Now, can we talk about, please?
Because she's undergoing this dreadful?
Oh no, hang on.
We're in this scene.
We're now going to do season exposition for why the war is
actually occurring.
Yeah, yeah.
So I hadn't realised, but this is where we find out the actual
thing.
So we find out the Delphic expanse is caused by the spheres.
We knew they were a feature of the Delphic expanse, but it's
actually creating it, and it's creating it so the sphere builders
can live there, and 400 years in the future, the sphere builders
are going to try and do it to like basically everywhere.
And the Federation, which by now includes the Klingons, apparently
in dialogue, which is new, and some Zindi, are going to find it
back.
And so they've been duped.
I've got to say that I wasn't convinced by any of it.
Um, and I, you know, as I said at the start of the episode, I was
baffled that they hung an entire season on this dreadful premise.
But the thing that truly distracted me during this scene.
Was that appalling costume that Daniels is weird?
Yeah, it's really strange, isn't it?
I know.
It's sort of like a Poundland ball costume.
It is very strange.
I do like that corridor, though, in the big window and what we see
going in out the window.
It looks really great.
It's all random ships firing on each other in the distance.
Yeah, like that looks pretty great.
And it has a sort of slight DS9 sort of vibe to it, you know, like
that dark coloured walls and stuff.
Yeah, I think that looks...
They're basically doing an exposition scene, but they're saying
no.
We don't want to lose the momentum in the episode.
Keep it excited. to make sure it happens.
Blowing up, yeah, outside the window.
Yeah, just take him to a lecture theatre and play most PowerPoint
presentation about the Battle of Proce on 5 or whatever.
He has to take you into the middle of it.
But you know, Daniels is like the antithesis of Degra.
He is this irritatingly ambiguous character from the future that
pops up all the time to go, oh, my God, turn left instead of riot
you know, the huge consequences for the timeline, and we never get
to know him.
He's never, he's never a relevant character within the series and
we, they just keep coming back to him.
Stop it.
He's very boring.
Do you know who he is?
Oh, God, go on.
No, Discovery, the final episode of Discovery, you find out who
Daniels is.
Oh, who is he?
Uh, it's um, Kovic.
It's, um, who?
David Crowdenberg's character with the big glasses.
It's not.
Yep.
Oh my god.
I mean, God bless Coachman for trying to salvage this bullshit.
It still doesn't make anything they do with Daniel's relevant.
That's kind of cute.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a thing.
It's kind of we still love enterprise, even though it's not very
good.
The whole temporal cold warping.
It was just so ill charged.
And, well, and so we all defined as well.
But look at what's set up by that scene.
It's not just the Sphere Builders thing.
It's that he has a choice, which is to just continue to try and
blow up the weapon, or to stop this the way that Starfleet and the
Federation should stop it, which is trying to negotiate.
And he fails, he comes too late to blow it up.
And in fact, what we see happen in this episode is the seed sown
towards an eventual kind of agreement.
And he loved all of that.
Amusing persuasion.
The...
The sequences where Archer gets to talk to Degra and the others
and he and they're like, well, you haven't convinced us.
How are you going to convince them?
And he goes, no, but I've got your attention.
Yeah, I was like, this is, yes, please, more of this.
Yeah, yeah.
It's really good.
It's precisely what should happen.
I love this.
I love this line where she just blurts out.
I don't want you to die.
And she does it in this emotional way.
And then she backs down with it's not necessary.
And he says I wish that was true.
How far they've come from that 1st season.
But that is introducing the trillium addiction thing that he has
she has going as well.
But it's not explicit here, but it's leading into it for next
episode.
It's kind of annoying because I appreciate that they're giving
Jolene Baylock like emotional scenes to do, although there's a bit
at the end of this episode where I wish he dialled it down a bit.
I don't know.
Jesus Christ.
It is Meladron.
I said, cut off me.
She goes off like, doesn't she?
Yeah, it's not all that convincing.
But, um, you know, I quite like addiction storylines anyway. and
to put a Vulcan in that situation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really interesting.
But I just like the fact that she genuinely feels for these
people.
It's a long running character storyline where she came on the ship
all arrogance.
And then by the end of the 1st series realises, no, I don't want
to go back to Vulcan.
I want to stay on this ship.
I'm learning.
Then she has relationships with people and now she's devastated at
the thought of losing people.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think she's good.
And I think giving her some acting to do is really great.
I think it's really good.
If only they'd given Hoshi the same sort of limelight, you know?
Because she's great as well, Linda Park.
Do you not remember her in that mirror universe episode?
Oh yeah, she was magnificent.
Just superb.
She should have just been that character throughout.
See, this scene is very on the nose.
It is the usual Star Trek thing of just everyone blurting out
their feelings, but you've got 2 decent actors there, even though
poor Rick Worthy's covered in that stupid mask. very unpleasant.
Like every time...
Every single day, he does 20 odd episodes of this season and he
has to have that web in all over his...
It's so pretty.
Like, he's such an attractive man.
And look at...
I never understand it when they make pretty people ugly on
television, you know?
You mean when Doctor Who made that pretty man from Desperate
Housewives into a peak?
Yeah, that was awesome.
Yeah, even like Deadline.
That was a bit static, though, wasn't it?
Yeah, 2 of them.
The camera barely moved.
But that line where, you know, remember it for our children or
something and he says, yes, but I wonder how they'll remember us.
I thought that was pretty good too Yeah, so this is the scene that
I quite liked where Archer explains why he's doing it.
And the reason I don't think it lands is because it reaches back
to a previous episode, which I think is called similitude
where...
A really interesting episode of similitude.
Yeah.
He talks about the other Travis that they have made.
It's another traversies, eh?
another Travis, a clone of Travis, yeah, and basically, he's got a
short span life and he, as usual, the tubing star.
And Travis doesn't know about it.
So, but yeah.
So he's telling Travis.
So he's killed at Travis and he's told Travis.
What am I talking about, Tucker, isn't it?
It's Tucker.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm getting their names.
I didn't think they would have an episode about Travis dying in
this show. grief, no.
Although, I do wonder, you know, because he gets, you know, 5 or 6
scenes in this episode.
If Anthony Montgomery wallpapered his toilet with his script or
something, just to remind him of a time that he'd been in the
show.
So again, I never believe the relationship between Scott Bacula
and the dog.
And the dog, he just shows no interest in the dog.
Like, he's saying, like, forever.
Yeah, yeah.
Before we started this call, right?
Nathan picked up one of his most adorable doggies and cuddled him
and the way they were nestling into each other, it melted my
heart.
The way you just touched that dog's head.
Yeah, his face.
It's very strange.
And then, like, the dog, the dog clearly has never met Scott back
in number four, because he's not looking at him once.
Yeah, no, not interested.
Oh, here we go.
This is this has got to be Manikoto, because this is the scene
where he says, remember when this was 1st launched?
And remember why we launched this ship.
We were explorers then and we should be explorers again one day.
It's our point worth making.
Yeah. yep.
Yeah.
And I think, you know, we need to hear it.
I think I want you to get back to that job when this is all I
want.
That's all great, but the emotional resonance of him going off to
sacrifice himself is just so it's not there, is it?
We know he's not going to die.
Yeah.
Oh, no, I'm going to make another comparison.
I'm so sorry Do you remember Cisco leaving at the end of 5 when
the Dominion takeover the station?
And he says to everybody on the promenade, I will be back here
where I belong.
Just wait.
And it really means something.
The whole premise of the show is under threat and he's going and
it moves you.
Whereas this is like, well we know he's going to be in next week's
episode.
Why we doing this?
Yeah, yeah, it is stupid, isn't it?
Like, it is stupid.
We can't believe it for a 2nd because we know how TV works.
Now, if that had been Ensign Jonas, given that speech, going.
Hello, everybody.
I know I'm brilliant with a call spanner, but do your best and be
explorers again.
We might have felt something because who cares about that guy?
Yeah, that's right.
He'll be dead.
Here we go now.
He's off on the mission towards that star.
Yeah, see, space, a sense of space.
Um, So what?
Oh, so now we've got the scene where she leaves where she leaves
the bridge, right?
Because she can't kind of stay here and watch what's going on.
Yeah.
She crumples against the wall when tears.
The tears thing, I think, works really well.
She doesn't ever play it.
It's just one tier.
It's quite sweet actually.
Yeah.
And it kind of works because it could just plausibly be her
feeling something about Archer.
It should be.
It should.
I think it should.
And I think, like, let, you know, we get this episode to just
think that maybe that's it.
And it's not that she's possessed or anything like that.
These are her emotions.
She just doesn't have the controller she would normally have.
And this pays off something that where he's holding that lever.
I love this shot.
Look at that. except the foam is absolute shit.
But flying across the ocean always looks really good.
Like, I think that's amazing.
Big splash.
We do like a big splash.
The big splash was very computer generation, you know, that close
up on Jolene Blaylock there with the tier would be the best close
ups you get in the whole episode.
But the way the camera goes in on her, at the end, close up at the
end.
And her whole face just goes, oh, we're fucked.
It's the best close up in Enterprise ever.
Oh dear.
And you know I've got a bit of a thing about ceilings, or just you
wait.
There's a great twist coming.
In the episode.
Yeah, yeah.
And it will turn up again in the following episode, the ceiling.
So we'll point it out when it happens.
I would like to say that.
I know you said something nice about the ship earlier.
Yeah, it looks a bit like a manta ray or something like that, you
know.
Um, they're just not, think of the Gemadar ships, yeah.
Think of the Klingon ships.
They're just so striking.
And I do think they're all right.
The ships in this.
The 4 ships that surround Enterprise at the end are so bog
standard.
Well, but I think that they're sort of excitingly sort of curvy
and stuff, you know, they're not the usual just sort of angles and
things.
I think, you know, we had 7 years to get used to what all of those
ships look like and often longer.
I think these are still interesting ship designs, but we just
don't see them very much.
That's all.
I just think it like a ship should be really striking in
silhouette.
And some of these are and some of them aren't.
Because I thought that that opening shot with that sort of strange
copper ship with the purple lights on it looked amazing.
Like the only sort of in the final battle, the only reason I was
figuring that they were winning was because it was 4 against one
not because they were superior ships.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, I really, really love chemistry between Connor Trinier and
Jolene Blaylock because, and throughout this season, right?
He's he's been suffering from muscle atrophy or something.
I can't remember what's going on at all.
Anyway, there's loads of scenes where she has to give him massages
okay?
Yeah.
In sort of candle lights and all of this.
She's going, ah, I've got Conor Trinier coming to my quarter.
I'm going to shush it up a bit.
And they're getting closer to each other.
But they are genuinely sensual scenes in a way that the
decontamination chamber is just right.
Yeah, yeah.
And I don't know, I'll just buy it.
I buy the relationship.
I buy the chemistry and, you know, it makes that decision in the
last episode to just bump him off for no reason.
More annoying, you know, and to lose the kid and all that bullshit
they do at the age.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, it's funny the, um, like that scene there works really well
because she's suffering from, uh, a lack of emotional control and
because he's getting to her because he's being kind to her and
showing her sympathy and stuff and threatening to kind of break
down those barriers, she just orders him out of the room because
she can't kind of take it.
And that's not stated or anything.
It's just subtext for change, but it's clear what's going on.
So this is this horrible torture scene that you said was so
boring.
It's just terrible.
The dialogue is really half-assed.
I like how it's shot.
The lighting is nice and I like the fact that there's so much
blood all over his face.
Like you've been brutalised.
They're looking at a low angle shot there with a dramatic light
from above.
No, no, but it's a bit more interesting than point and shoot.
Back to next gen.
Yeah, yeah.
But it's just so the dialogue is so lazy.
It really is.
And it is like, what's he trying to do?
Like, what is Archer trying to do?
You know, is he trying to occupy?
Like, what's his?
I think he wants him to kill him, doesn't he?
You're trying to make me kill you.
Like why, though?
He wants them to kill him. because he doesn't want to go back to
Enterprise because he'll be embarrassed because he made such a
fuss.
And it's just like, oh, you remember how much of a captain would
kill himself again, but then he ended up. series one and two.
Remember how angry we got with him.
Maybe like, this is all just like, this is satisfying for us
because finally it's getting pummelling, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
I do not know.
All I know is Paul Scott McDonald is better than this dialogue.
Yeah, yeah, it is terrible, isn't it?
Some evolved into snakes, alligators, turtles, but they all had
brains the size of walnut. or something.
Is that a thing?
I don't think that that's exactly how it works either.
I think that um, I don't think that dinosaurs evolved into
crocodiles and things at all.
I'm not stupid lying about turtle soup.
Yeah, yeah, what are you doing?
tasting like we ate turtles.
They can put as much blood on his face as they want, yeah.
Nothing will be as horrific as Scabby Odo in that torch.
That was horrific.
Well, part of the thing too is that he doesn't he doesn't act like
his face is tender.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, it hurts to move it. do like his hands.
No, look at the massive gloves that he's wearing.
But they look like crocodile hands.
Like we, I've eaten crocodile.
And I remember...
How was it?
Yeah, it's all right.
Tast like chicken.
No, no.
It's a bit fishy and a bit like chicken.
But the crocodile that we bought, like the arms were skin, but the
hands were kind of intact and they looked heaps like those hands
like super gross.
Like horrible human hands.
The meals you eat, Nathan.
I know.
I'll stick to my Walton's bread and cheese, thanks.
Yum.
You don't like cheese on toast?
No, I do.
It's one of the great glories of being human, I think.
It's great.
Look, this scene is still going on.
No, and it is super boring because I don't know what anyone wants
or what's going on.
Do you know what I mean?
Yes, seeing your precious captain, the head of the entire show
being tortured.
It should be riveting.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
But I don't know why it's happening or what...
No, because she's an idiot would be upsetting.
Oh that's true.
Plus, she's too clever for that, you know.
Yeah, that's right.
So have you noticed the extra nostrils that all those indies have
just under their noses?
Like no matter what, they're making up for those animated people
that add no noses.
They've got two.
Yeah, yeah.
So, uh, boreals and reptilians and humans all have these extra
nostrils just to the left of just outside their eyes.
I like to think there's sort of a chart on the wall because
obviously they've got to invent all these aliens, yeah.
And so there's, you know, there's different layers for the chart
nose ears, mouths, things like this.
Things of dice.
Like they throw...
They throw 2 dice for a number of additional nostrils.
I've thrown one dice.
Okay, mouth.
I've thrown another three.
Three mouths on this one please.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. that's how that works.
Oh, God, oh, my.
Thank God they went to CGI then, eh?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's right.
But again, look, here she's doing what we should have done all
along, which is dialogue and negotiation, and she doesn't even
have, or does she?
Does she have the information?
Yes, because Archer was explaining it to her.
But what she doesn't have is the stupid coin thing that's in his
left pocket.
Do you know what I mean?
The coin that uh, he gives Degra, the coin that belonged to the
guy from the future.
You've really made me look at 90s trek.
I know we're sort of in 2000s Trek now, but.
You made me look at this period of Star Trek in a new way.
In that, how many scenes are there where people aren't just
explaining what they're feeling and they're actually just allowed
to act it on the screen without dialogue.
Yeah.
And I think there's a little more of that than you think.
Than I give it credit for.
Yeah, especially in DS9, where they trust the actors, because we
point out quite a lot of that. lately.
But this is a good example of that because when she's in the
quarters and there's just that single tier, yeah. we're allowed to
trust that we know what she's feeling, that's really moving. when
we get the explanation of what's going on, you know, the drug
addiction, that's really boring.
And later on, when she's, you know, get off of me and all this
that's just really terrible.
So I just wish they would do a bit more of that, you know, just
let them act silently.
Yeah, that's right.
Stop giving them dialogue.
You're trying to be more cinematic.
Nothing more cinematic than cutting all the dialogue, you know?
that's right.
Stand around talking.
Do you remember the motion picture?
Don't think there was a line in that. that was awesome. gorgeous.
Yeah, look at this.
He is good, this guy.
The guy in this dag is really great.
It's actually, it is a loss to the season when he dies because
then you've just got the comic villains left.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I think Bacula's great here too.
And he's being given something.
Like that Daniel scene, I think, had some visual interest.
It had some stuff, you know, like getting to see the 400 years in
the future, what's that, the 26th century or the 25th century.
That's kind of fun.
We haven't been there before.
It gives us a little bit of law and it explains, it gives him the
information that he's now using to persuade Degra not to go ahead
with the weapon, the thing that will eventually save them.
You know, Daniels does give that information, and when just by
sheer accident, his suicide mission fails and he has no
alternative, but to do what Daniel says, and it works out for the
best.
And at times he's...
Scott Bakula was charming all along.
And this where he says, yes, I don't buy it either.
It's stupid. didn't believe it when I was told.
Just show up. might be true.
No way.
Quantum dating something from the future.
How the fuck do you determine?
Something is from the future.
Well, it's like carbon dating only goes backwards, you see.
I don't know Well, no, they go, well, it's a material that doesn't
possibly exist now. 100 years old, you know.
But it's so Brandenbraga.
You just said it again there, yeah?
In that scene, that exposition scene with Daniels.
We seeing all this stuff 400 years in the future.
Who gives a fuck about that?
Like, who cares?
Oh, no, I think that there's a particular Star Trek pleasure to be
had in that.
You know, it's the it's the memory alpha writing memory alpha
pleasure.
But like a timeline that probably will never be is informing this
entire season.
We saw it on telly, whether it was never real anyway, whether it
gets to be or not.
What you get is a sort of fairly interesting scene, some steaks
something a bit interesting.
Oh, Jesus, it's certainly better than Rick Worthy with a fucking
latex bag over his head.
So, uh...
A council must be informed.
Now come on.
All those Cs.
Between Damar and Wayne, you know?
I'm about to say.
Like, these are so boring, these scenes, because I don't know what
anyone wants.
And maybe if I'd been watching the season through, I have a better
idea and but do I?
Would I?
I'm going to say some lines to you now.
Okay.
Do you remember Wagoon looking at Tamar?
My predecessor's death in a transporter accident?
Or even better, the female shapeshifter?
When will our cloning facility come back online with?
There's just none of that here, though, is there?
No, it's super it's super bad.
Oh, this is the bit where Jolene unfortunately does go into sort
of data on the soap territory now.
I like thinking to do that.
It was almost, I was Robert Duncan McNeil-esque.
I was thinking when she started shouting.
I think the problem is that they forget that she's supposed to be
stronger than him and it would have just been much more fun had
she been able to throw him against the wall rather than kind
of...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Actually, no.
Please don't punch him.
He's going to have a terrible time at the end of the episode.
That engineering set, I mean, is there anything left of it in the
next episode?
It's pretty great.
They seal it off, don't they?
I think these ships are okay.
What are you complaining about?
4 ships.
No, compare them to the fabulous bugs of the Gemadar ships, you
know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or they're culling on cruisers swooping into a planet.
But how many years like we 1st got to see those Klingon cruises in
like 1983 or something?
Lodging along.
Not of work.
I don't know.
Do you know what?
I kept thinking that thing hanging down was boom, trying to pick
up the dialogue.
I don't know what it is The thing that you chain Archer 2.
Oh, no, it's it's um, it's got McDonald's sex dungeon, you see?
I think it is a boom mite, but they're just pretending.
No, no, no, I think it's got leather and stuff.
It's got straps on it.
You look at it closely.
It is definitely a sex dungeon thing for sure.
I do appreciate that they turn the lights down, but maybe a bit
too much that you can't actually see the performance in this
scene.
But I mean, it is just them standing around talking about things
that they talked about in the previous scene with him and Degra.
Like, we don't need... fighting the same enemy, Nathan.
Yes, but why are we talking about it again in this scene?
Oh, for fuck's sakes.
Quantum dating has produced inaccurate readings before.
Yes, I was aware of that He put himself for action school for that
line.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So that's Tucker Smallwood, who I think has been in other things
as well.
Is that Tucker Smallwood from home?
The exile episode Cho.
Is he the, is he the... the one that gets murdered by the mutant.
You know, he locks the door.
It's so scary that bit.
That that is such a great episode.
It's so gross.
He's so pretty.
Unbelievably horrible, that episode.
That's why I like it, though.
It's the closest the exiles ever got to true horror.
Well, in fact, they don't repeat it.
They skip it.
Oh here we go.
Why are we talking about the X-Files when the Enterprise has been
blown to shit?
Yeah, now this is actually pretty great.
Okay.
Rocks, rocks, more rocks.
Oh my god, more rocks, more rocks, more fireworks going off.
These huge lung head asshole comes in in a minute.
That explosion was so strong it blew a man off his feet.
Yeah, woo hoo.
The Scarball Michelle's gone.
We're dead in the water.
We can't even move.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, you think this is the point where DSI would stop, right?
We've blown up the sets a bit. enough.
You know, no, they keep going now.
It's really good.
The ceiling coming down in the bridge.
I mean, that is incredible.
It looks so cheap, but it's great.
Travis, move.
All the wires hanging.
Yeah, and they clear it away at the beginning of damage.
You actually see them carry that thing offset in damage. damage
right?
It's in my imagination. in damage.
Is there always someone in the background with like sparks flying
doing repair?
all over the place.
Like the whole thing has gone to shit and it really, really sells
how desperately, how desperate they are.
Sound effects of like the whole buckle in.
Yes, just really. really great atmosphere.
Sound effects are really great.
Well, you didn't mention the music for this episode because we
can't hear it, but the music, I think, is J.
Chataway again.
And the music at the end, it all comes to a culmination onto
Powell's face and it's like, oh, it's one of the things that they
get right, though.
Do you know what I mean?
It's kind of like they have a very sort of definite, the music
should be wallpaper mostly policy, and they've just ignored it
here, and this is kind of like classic, you know, TOS style music
where it's really...
I imagine in the meetings.
We've got a battle scene in this episode and they all look at each
other and go, get chat away on the phone.
Come on.
He's the only one that can do it.
Look at their ships blowing up.
Surrounding the interpress.
And I love the fact that the camera swings sort of Battlestar
Galactica style around the ship, and you see holes in the ship.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's amazing.
Well, that's what I want to know, actually.
I want to kind of watch ahead and see how damaged it is.
They can't just fix it up while they're flying it in the Delphic
expanse.
This is horrific this bit.
Look, the man is on fire for about 10 seconds.
So bad, though.
Like, it's so hilariously like, oh, the stuntman's on fire with
his giant... more visceral than they would normally do.
I know, I know, but it is kind of quick, get the stunt guy on and
set him on fire.
And then there's a there's a buildup of sound in this scene and
you know that warp core is going to blow any minute.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I think just having, like, it's so great.
So much pyrotechnics.
They blowing the shit out of the centre.
And it's just seen off the scene of the scene where it's getting
worse and worse and worse.
People being blown out of the ship.
Look, all these holes in the in the thing, it's amazing.
Slow motion now as everyone's trying to grab their consoles to
salvage the situation.
Yep, yep.
Yeah, it's really great.
And then Jolene's so happy because she gets the money shot.
Here we go.
Right in on her eyes.
We are fucked.
And the Enterprise dead in space as they're still being pummelled
with all those lasers.
And just having it rolling as well, like having it turn upside
down, you know, like the ships so often shot, like just
battleships on a surface, and so having it just slowly, lazily
rolling out of control.
Like, I think that's really good, and it made me appreciate damage
better because I had problems with damage, but just, you know, and
damage is clearly about not only the damage to the ships, but the
damage that the whole situation is doing to them morally, you know
it's really good, I think.
I don't think it is an exaggeration to say, well done, enterprise.
I think you might have arrived, finally.
Yeah, 2.5 seasons into your run.
Yeah, yeah.
And they learned the lesson.
They learned the lesson from Voyager, Scorpion, Scorpion 2.
Because at the end of that, there's damage to the ship.
And in the next episode, there's still damage to the ship.
Do you remember?
I'll say, my God.
Jesus Christ.
Consequences.
But all you see is the exterior of the ship and a few holes and
that's it.
Whereas they do a whole episode here where they're trying to
desperately put that portal shit back together again.
Because that's their only line of defence and it's crumbling.
It's really good.
Like, it's that serialised storytelling and it works really well
and it just puts them in a completely different place.
Like, Archer, you know, we kind of lose interest in the Archer
being, um, you know, held captive by the reptilians because he's
just very quickly delivered to the ship again so that he can be in
the next episode, like some helpful aquatics, you know, come along
and just sort of bring him back.
And so this episode doesn't really end in any sort of sensible
way.
But, you know, like there was heaps going on.
And I do think that it's a turning point not only in the kind of
backstory we find out what's going on.
But from here on, our job is not to kind of destroy the weapon or
kill the Zindi or anything like that.
It's to persuade Degra. you know, essentially, to help them.
And the council, you know, took a small water.
I don't think you have seen to the end of the season.
No.
They do abandon this approach as soon as Dager is dead and it does
just become about destroying the weapon in the last episode. which
as I said, was very stupid indeed, but really fun to watch.
It's actually when Manicoto comes in in the next season. that
we're absolutely building towards the Federation for me, aren't
we?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Manny's got the right idea.
I think so.
I mean, I think that, you know, we've said this a 100 times that
series 3 is the show out of ideas and reaching for something that
will make it more interesting and doing that successfully, I think
to some degree, but kind of jettisoning Star Trek in the in the
process.
I think season 3 Events Prize.
On the right day, it's my favourite season of Events Prize, because
I like the approach and I like the cynicism as well.
You know, I like that sort of stuff, but it does make me think
actually, DS 9 had the right approach with season 6 and 7 in
that.
Yes, we're going to do a long arc.
Um, that arc is going to touch every episode, sometimes very
strong, sometimes very lightly, but we're going to do our usual
standalone episodes that are enjoyable to watch in their own right
because their hit rate of great episodes in 6 and 7 is very high
indeed.
And the hit rate of episodes because they're tied to this fucking
arc.
And season 3 is, well, less successful, shall we say?
Yeah, I mean, it's a different type of serialisation because they
are telling a continuous story in phases in series 3 and in a way
that's all that's available to them because there's just the crew
on enterprise.
And it's not like Deep Space 9, which has a much more kind of
robust ensemble premise where you can just go off and do something
with a group of characters over here or something over there.
It doesn't have to be each episode has to be the direct
consequence of the previous one.
And there is something about that mode of storytelling I like, and
I think that it is done best at the end of Discovery season four.
I think Discovery actually nails that way of plotting.
I think Picard series 3 does as well.
You know, that it is just a series of episodes, each of which has
a satisfying episode that stands alone, but that tells part of a
continuous story.
And I thought this episode that is Auntie Prime did that really
well, and that's also what I liked about series 4.
I'm going to say, you know, I haven't seen all of series 4 of
discovery.
So I'll look forward to examining that premise and seeing if that
comes to fruition for me.
And I think the 1st half of series 3 of Picard.
Absolutely now is what you just said there.
I was just so disappointed with the fucking Borg, being the main
friend at the end.
Again, that unfortunately it sort of limped to a climax for me.
But what I will say about this episode is whilst I've got huge
issues with the overriding arc and the motives and all of that and
the lack of substance in it.
As 45 minutes of television.
It's really very good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
All right, it's the end of the episode and it's time for us to
find out where we're going next.
Once again, I made one of my patented excellent episode choices.
And so I think it's time to veer towards the mediocre with maybe
an episode of Voyager.
What were you thinking, Joe?
Well, we were so positive about 90s trek there.
I want to keep us in that arena.
I mean, I have been looking at the percentages and some of those
90s trek seasons obviously have higher percentages, but there's so
much more of them than everything else that we just have to keep
coming back to this well because otherwise we'll never get to the
end of them all.
So all 4 of them are in.
Okay.
But my one stipulation for the choice will be that from my memory
it's either got to be a mediocre to poor episode.
All right?
Yeah, this praise wearies me, I think, absolutely.
Those are absolutely the more fun episodes to record, I think, you
know, being mad at other people.
Come on.
Well, that was a brilliant episode, though.
Oh, so we can't do the 1st one, unfortunately, which is an
absolute banger.
Next generation, season three, episode 10, the Defector.
Oh, an absolute classic.
He's pretty good.
Oh, I'm not sure about this one.
Your random Star Trek DS9 episode is season seven, of course.
Episode 13, Field of Fire.
That's the one with Durand Dax, and Ezry Dax does the murder
mystery investigation, which is as good as that sound.
Turns out it's her Well, it sort of is.
I'm not telling you the twist.
It's sort of homicide law on the streets with bizarre trill
ceremonies.
Okay, that sounds terrible.
Should I move on?
Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, no, another banger, unfortunately.
I never get any fucking bangers when I normally press the button
not when you want them The algorithm is against me.
This was going to be Voyager season one, episode 15, Jatrell.
Ooh, we even mentioned that very very good.
Oh, no.
DS9, season four, episode 22 for the cause.
That's when Eddington is revealed.
Too good.
I could be here a long time, you know.
Who would have guessed?
Oh no.
Next generation series seven, episode 12, the Pegasus.
Oh dear.
Oh, it's being kind, but unfortunately, it's chosen TNG season 6
episode 3, Man of the People again.
So, never mind.
Okay.
Now you must be joking me.
Is this taking the piss?
Why what?
TNG.
Season seven, episode 15, lower deck.
You must be joking me right now.
DS9, season 4, season uh, episode 26, Broken Link. Great episode.
Oh, my God.
This is the most we've ever chosen.
This is uh, this is a...
I'm gonna keep going until I get something terrible.
Okay.
DS9, season three, episode 26, the adversary, the thing in space
is brilliant.
Oh my god.
Oh.
Okay.
Oh no.
It's a two-parter.
It's a two-part.
I don't think it will have time for it.
It was going to be season five, episode 26 of TNG Times Arrow.
Yeah, that is fun though, and Mr. Pickett?
Yeah, we have. have to be impersonations of her too, obviously.
I need to be talking to you.
Nathan, I thought I told you, your rent was due at one o'clock on
a Thursday.
Thursday.
Oh, my God, it is choosing shit episodes, but this once we've
already done.
Right, what's that?
Course oblivion.
Oh dear.
We have to do it again.
No.
Tinker Sailor, so just like, oh, stop this now.
The Nagus.
Oh, this is just going silly.
Oh my god, okay, I think I might have it.
Okay, I really hate in this episode.
And actually every one ever.
It will quite be nice to be really horrible, but I do.
All right.
And it's my favourite season, season five, episode 20.
Ferengi love songs.
Oh no.
Okay.
Do you remember?
the one where it's the one where Zek and Moogie start having their
relationship together.
Oh no.
Oh, no.
No, you don't want to do that one?
Okay.
No I think we have to do it.
I mean, I think it's pretty. a Renee directed episode.
But it's spectacularly cheap.
I remember.
And badly lit. frankly, I just can't push that button anymore.
Okay, no, no.
That was it.
That was getting silly.
This one is short for everyone.
Yes, that is true.
That is true.
I mean, what is the odds of choosing all of 90's trek and getting
one classic after another?
I know.
The answer pretty...
There's only 2% variants on classics.
Crazy.
Nathan, I finally broken the odds.
He's been listening to Entitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford
and Nathan Bottomley, where online at Untitled Star Trek Project
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 November 2024 and
released on the 22nd of November.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek Deep Space 9, Ferengi Love
songs.
I need to watch that.
All I managed to watch from these things.
I haven't watched a frame of the fucking Blake 7 box set that
arrived.
Not a single episode.
I got almost as annoyed seeing all those fucking box sets on
social media as I do by the Dr. Ru ones.
I'm like, I know, you've had some posts.
Get over it.
What happened to me was I had waited 2 weeks after everyone else
in Australia had got season 25 and I'd been witching and bitching
about it and seeing people's arrive in England and then I got home
and mine was there already. you know.
Nathan, you have a life.
Which means you don't feel compelled to share your picture.
I did show my picture.
Oh, you never did.
I did.
I said it's even arrived in the outer world, so I said.
So during this podcast has been fun, but I'm going to have to go
now, right?
Oh, God, oh, boy.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't even see a picture.
Yeah, and blue sky.
I'm not fan of my posting. not fucking posting on Twitter.
Blue sky.
It's very boring than Twitter.
Oh, it's not because... 1000000s of people have recently joined it
and everyone is back, like everyone is back there, and people are
now using it, and people like Si and Conrad, and stuff are posting
there.
And I think that that's the that's the final off-ramp for Twitter
because I think that Twitter's just too...
I mean, I noticed, I noticed about 50 of my followers vanished in
a week.
But I've not lost any traction with the post, I'm doing.
No, but I'm going to just go off it.
I going to kill my account.
I'll still post FTE things, but I'm not going to do anything on
there.
I do have a P Sky account.
Just when I went there before, I looked at the post, everyone...
Oh, yeah, there was nothing. everyone was so nice.
I was like, oh.
Yeah.
Everyone is kind of nice and people block people who are like, but
there are no Nazis.
Do you know what I mean?
That's the thing.
I know, like, it's not.
Yeah.
Because I only look at nice things.
My algorithm's quite kind to me, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah, I, and I've been posting for, there's an untitled Star Trek
project, uh, uh, thing to at untitled Star Trek project.com.
I clicked on a...
Oh, stop posting there then.
Um, I clicked on a, uh, like other, uh, delicious bums or
something like that once, and then suddenly Twitter just thought I
wanted to see lots of really nice pictures of men's bums.
So every time I go on Twitter now.
I sort of go, oh, how healthy?
That's very pleasant, you know, everyone blues guy as well.
Every 3rd post is a nice bum.
I'm like, I can live with that.
Okay.
That's all right.
Occasional.
I've got marked a promise as well, right?
Because Philip Olivia has now joined...
Big finish in our run of Finnish Big.
So Hex is finally there with Sophie and Sylvester.
So I've got him to promise that, hang on.
I should use my men of Doctor Who Calendar to show you.
Philip Olivier, month.
It was the easily the best month of the year.
Here we go.
Yes.
Oh, you can't see the bum.
But I made him promise that this picture here, including the bum.
It will go up on every single finished big episode where I
mentioned Hex, but that picture will be shined up.
Yeah, I'm on a promise. look at what this month is.
Oh, holy crap.
So take it as a huge compliment, you know, that I only look at you
and not the calendar, okay?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. shooting's right there.
All right.
All right, all right.