Fully Dilated

Hey, Joe. Hi. So, we are watching an incredibly recent episode of Star Trek. This is from the 28th of November 2024. So something like a bit less than 6 months ago, it's lower deck series 5, episode seven, fully dilated, which I think is a direct quote from the dialogue of Star Trek, the Next Generation's Disaster. Um, and uh, this is obviously from Lower Deck's final series. So Lower Decks finished late last year. and is sorely missed. But it... Yeah, yeah. But it is kind of 50 episodes of really excellent Star Trek that we have at our disposal now. I really enjoyed this episode. It's very cartoony, but it is also a Star Trek episode, like a kind of solid Star Trek episode. Very cartoony. What do you expect from a cartoon? Yeah. No, cartoon in a very good way. You know, one of the things that Lower Decks does is that it always makes the episodes about relationships among the regular characters, because that's kind of the genre. So the characters always have to learn something about themselves or about themselves in relation to each other. And that's just a standard trope of all of these episodes, I think of them just seem to be about the science fiction, particularly. It very much is about how it affects the characters. And so here we have Tendi and Talin. Uh, you've got Tendi and Talim competing to be the senior science officer and Tendi kind of going crazy and taking it too far and losing her shit and then discovering that of course the 2 of them have to do the job together. I don't think anybody went into lower decks expecting what you just said there. you know, consistently good, enjoyable, likeable and characterisation that progresses throughout the series and relationships that you. I don't think anyone expected any that. I think when they heard it was going to be a Star Trek cartoon they just figured it was going to be people licking sauce off the consoles. Like we're getting this episode. So I guess I understand what you mean by cartoony. I realise going into this, I think I'm far more in tune with this pace than I am with regular Star Trek, because it used to be that I'd watch, you know, our live action Star Trek, and then I'd watch this and suddenly everyone's talking very fast in a very cartoonist sort of way. Now, I watch this and I go, ah, God, the no talk slow on the live action shows. Pick up the pace a bit. They do it all in 25 minutes over here. But I came away from this episode like I do most. Oh, oh, without fail. with a big smile on my face, with at least one surprising moment from a character that was heartwarming. That's another thing this show does really well is because those central characters, we said this about Rome in DS9, is it's so nice to have characters and Lisa, that are just nice, you know? And then when horrible things happen to him, you really care. And when good things happen to them, it makes your heart sing. So at the end of this episode where Talin reveals what she's actually been doing the whole time for TenD. It's just gorgeous. Like, she's a great character, isn't she? It's eskewing all of that bullshit that Enterprise did. with the with the Vulcans in those early seasons. I'm turning them into, you know, spiteful, nasty racist villains for the most part. Like they were holding people back and everyone was cross with them all the time. And then in this show, right at the heart of the crew, you got this gorgeous Vulcan character. And we've done 2 episodes now, and in both of them, she surprised me. And I was thinking, oh, God, you know, in this she's competitive in that one. What was she doing? destroying the show. Yeah. For Rutherford's sake. Like she considers Rutherford's feelings and that she realises that Rutherford doesn't want to finish making the little shuttle. And so she destroys it so that he and Tendi still have something to do when they get back together. And so she's sensitive to his feelings. And then here she's trying to kind of patch things up with Tandy who's being a dick. totally misinterpret what she's doing. Exactly. And the wonderful thing is, like, Tandy is so great. Like, we've talked about how Dawn Lewis is kind of a brilliant cartoon character is the captain, where she's sort of an adult, but it's also kind of played slightly childishly and like a cartoon character and it's exaggerated and stuff like that. But she's still like a sort of proper captain. The great thing about Tendee, is she's really sweet and terribly enthusiastic, but she's also kind of on the edge of hysteria, you know, but she... Yeah, she takes things too far sometimes. And so here we have her just being crazy because she's so desperate to become the senior science officer. And her design to become the senior science officer is just a lovely character thing because she loves science and she's a giant nerd. But it also fits in with that stuff from earlier in the season. Do you know what I mean? Where she couldn't serve on board the Cerritos because she had to do things at home as, you know, mistress of the winter constellations. And so, like, it enriched that a little bit more, and there's a little bit of sort of reference to that here. And just all of that stuff is so great. Like, the setting is really good. The setting is proper classic Star Trek, you know, like the planet that looks like... indoor outdoor sets that we normally get in. No, it is straight. The best joke in this, though, was the chief lurker, the man who always turns up going, what are you doing? This is all very suspicious behaviour. No, I'm sorry, go and watch 90 Streke. Every time they beat him somewhere. Do you remember that? That fucking little kid in time and again? Yeah. Do you remember when they beamed down there to see as the one avoid you? that goofy kid going, ugh. What are you doing here? Strangers. He's basically that character. Oh, he's so funny. He is really hilarious. Doesn't Mariner say you always get a lurker like this when you're in a carbon creek kind of situation? Carbon Creek? Oh, the mentions of other episodes are off the scale in this. We'll miss some because they come thick and fast. But I actually felt that it wasn't quite as jokey and not quite as dependent. I mean, despite the fact that you have a big guest turn for Brent Spiner. Like, it's not quite as dependent on the other Star Trek. Like it is still telling a Star Trek story, even though elements of it are really preposterous and stuff. You've got the time dilation thing, you've got them, you know having to do science, things to survive on this planet. But it's about the people. It's about their relationships. And that's my in. You know that. Star Trek to talk to anything is do I care about the people? I don't give a shit about the Taylor babble. Do I care about the people? Yeah, I really do. I kept waiting for this episode to be something bigger than it was. I said to you, the 2nd they found the date ahead, I was like, oh God, well, it's law, you know, and it's going to be your evil something terrible. It's all part of some master plan. No, none of it. Not at all. It just plays out in a very gentle way. And there are bigger episodes of Lower Decks. So, you know, they do do spectacle, but this is a, uh, and I don't mean this in a critical way. This is a mid-level lower decks episode that just fires all of those entertainment shots that you and I love about this show. Oh, let's go watch it. Yeah, wonderful. I've yet to be disappointed, you know, by lower decks. All the other shows, you know, even DS9 let me down like a few times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, to be fair, they were putting out quite a lot of Deep Space Nine. That is true. Quite a short amount of time. In terms of runtime, you know, the difference between DS9 and lower decks is extraordinary. It is extraordinary. Yeah. All right. I will count us in. Five, four, three, two, one, and we're off. I've got to be honest, Nathan. I mean, I admitted to this to you off camera, but I think I should probably say it now, is there was a point in this episode where 2 cartoon characters had their tops off and I was coming over a bit hot and bothered. I don't know what that says about me. But that's a thing, right? People do fancy cartoon characters. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. No, that's the thing that happens to me all the time. So we're, this is the ongoing plot for this season which there there are fishes between our universes, you know, like the alternative universe versus, uh, we've had a purple version of the Enterprise, which has just gone through the fisher. We just missed Nick. And we noticed that... Yeah, we didn't get to see it, but it has left something behind on this nearby... Excuse me. Did you not hear? They were battling clones of Tashiar. Yes, yeah, or whatever she says, I can't keep up. Do you know what's so sad though, right? I didn't realise this was an ongoing story arc because every fucking episode we go up to a anomaly anyway, so like it's there could just be a standalone this. So what happens in the 1st episode, they meet an alternative Cerritos, and that has a much cooler Brad Boimler on it, and Boimler steals a pad from that Boimler. It's the red pad that he... Oh, they refer to it in there. And that's why he's growing the beard. He takes all season to grow the beard. Notice that hot little, um, Rutherford is growing a Geordie, uh lifestyle beard. At this point. The actor must be getting married next week. But they have a conversation, don't they? Where, uh, we talk about how great Rutherford's beard looks and how he's going, I've been getting compliments and Boimlig is yeah. I haven't been getting compliments because he's got these crappy bum fluffy. you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. By the end of the season, it's pretty respectable looking, but it does take him a whole season to grow it. It's very much at the bum fluff stage at this story. Yeah, it's pretty terrible. It does look pretty terrible. I just love the fact that there's all these alternative you do earth with different coloured enterprises. Well, that whole, that whole alternative universe is mostly purple it's much purpler than our universe. And when data learns that our enterprise is gray. He says, oh, that's a strange choice given that purple was an option. was always an option. Now, here's something in the credits that we're about to see, where it says lower deck. See, there's that blue stuff going off into the distance. Like the... That's the season 5 Star Trek, the next generation thing. This is season 5 of Star Trek Lower Death. And this show where they've been adding things every season. This was the bit. This was the bit that wasn't part of the episode when the Foley and Web came over everything. I just screamed out. There's Vja comes in at the end. Oh, I was like, that fellow, you... There's like, you need to pause to take in the detail that's just Borg and Romulans in the 1st series. And then they added silicon avatars and they added the, you know the thing from Star Trek 4 and all of that. Do you know, I always forget that that alien is sucking the arse of the serios in that. Every time I forget. And then when he comes into shock, that makes me how. That alien appears on the strange new world title sequence in the episode where Boimer and Marina turn up on the Enterprise. This joke where she's having to, you know, turn them into the natives of this species. Dr. Tana. She goes, I don't know, whatever this shit I'm doing is I did not sign up for this. I was like, yes, we need the doctor. We need Dr. Beverly to say these lines in the world. Whatever the fuck I'm doing here. She goes. Oh bless them. Where, where, Tana says the whole planet's gonna smell like dog shit. And then she says, oh no, it'll be fine. And then at the end, she says, do you want me to cauterise your set receptor? She says, yes, that would be great. I don't know what they're drinking but it's got shrimp come out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks miserable. Is that from his pad? That's a recipe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is something that that the other Brad Boynler would have drunk. Don't you love as well? But in order for them to fit in on this planet, they've done the lazy 90s trek thing, I've just given them a pair of horns. just a bit of latex on their heads. Yeah, it's really wonderful. So they basically boimler now, right? They don't leave the transporter pad because they spill their shrimp juice all over the console and we just keep cutting back to them because there's a time dilation effect. brilliant, isn't it? This scene just plays out across the episode. Think about, think about the Empire Strikes Back, right? Where a whole heap of stuff happens to Leia and Hahn over the course of a day or 2 while they're being pursued by the imperial fleet. Somehow, Luke is spending at the same time like weeks and weeks learning from Coda, but we cut back between them and none of that makes any sense. Here, because of the time dilation, we cut between months and months of these guys getting to live on this planet and learn about it to the same situation which is happening at, you know much slower speed. Oh, no, you can see the sort of mountainous range there. But look at the rock set. It's a bit like that TOS episode. They were always doing that. It's beautiful, isn't it? Because the planet's all purple. Um, and the, like that looks like the Paramount lot. Do you know what I mean? Like that looks like the Paramount lot. but they've made it look more impressive. They know their audience as well because last week when you told me the premise of this episode, I said to you, in the tag, just like that Voyager episode, and she said it in this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, here he is. Chief Lurka Snell. Snell. Snell? Yeah. He looks like a snail, doesn't he? Out of gobblers, eh? Oh no, that looks beautiful. Look at that lush verdant countryside. Yeah, yeah, it is lovely, isn't it? Beautiful country house. They sit up in the house and then snail turns up and goes, yeah lurking. He doing lurking. So, well, this was in the last adventure that, obviously, offscreen Tashiar's clones or whatever. Data's head was ejected out of the enterprise for some reason. No, data's on the ship and they say that his body burned up in the crash and that only his head was left. So... We have been here before, you know. Yeah. No, he mentions that, but he does mention the times arrow thing. He mentions the very end of times arrow and how he's been ahead before and how he gets rescued. So yes, he has been ahead before. And, of course, that means... How do you know he's from the Purple Dimension? Well, he's slightly purple, isn't he? That's right. What are you doing hanging about down here in this pit? He goes. He's really great. I haven't seen you in the town before. He's just like that goofy kid. I mean, what about this? Like, you always say that you're from the northern continent or something? Yes, they do that. But then Delin juggles in order to impress and distract him and it turns out that she's never juggled... She never juggled before. It was simply algorithmic tossing, which... And tend he even looks jealous about that. Oh, she's using siles to juggle. No, because that's the thing is that like to Lynn in this is just better than Tandy at everything. I did wonder if the twists at the end would be that she would step aside and say, no, you are, because absolutely Tendi is that person. But I'm pleased with where they go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But she's so wanted it that it would have been a shame. And now we got back to its mere seconds, you know, weeks have passed year, but it's mere seconds. And so, boy, I'm like, boy. Excuse me. Oh, hang on. How old is he? Yeah, no, he's all that. They're adults. Okay good. Yeah, I know. That sort of twinkish physique. That's quite appealing. I can't believe we're doing this in a car, too. You wait till you wait till the other one gets his gear off, all right? What about what about Tandy saying that when she does all of this sort of investigating the plants, her away mission resume will be more padded than a Romulan's shoulder? Did she say that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have made similar remarks, Tendee, about that. Okay, and so... Mariner is comparing, is comparing this to the inner light. And so she's decided that she needs to go and leave a full rich and happy life like Picard does in those 25 minutes. This could be my probe life. She goes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, my probe life. And she does actually, she goes, I have to go and find a flute, and in fact, that's the final gag is her playing the soap flute that she's carved out of soap while she's feeding prison. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, Picard were much better, let's be honest. Stelle lurking. I thought this house was abandoned. I'll be keeping an eye on you. Look, even the way he sort of scurries away, it's great. What I love is, right, is where they try, he almost gets the people on side at the end and then they go, oh, it's snail again. Get in the wrong end of the stick. Get a job, Snell. You know, I didn't notice, you are right, that that, um, cityscape did look like the... Yeah, that is global. Again, clearly, deliberately. Like, in long shot, it looks like what the Paramount lot is trying to represent. It looks really good. It does look like a 19th century American thing, but in the square. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I've got to have a look and see if it feels like past tense or all the others. Or like the inner light. Not the inner light. Times arrow, you know. Now, this is not a criticism. You can hear the age in. Bred is voice now, can't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he is playing that sort of lovely data, sort of mid-seasons before he got his emotion chip data, which I love. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's kind of sweet, actually, and he gets to talk a little bit like a cartoon character as well. Snell is lurking in a tree. Oh, bless her. Oh, these things were just lovely, though, between 10 D and data. Yeah, yeah. I think so too. And I figured that she was just going to use him to outsmart her but actually it's better than that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, in a way that is kind of her thing. And what she doesn't realise is that she has, of course, like, you know, she gets annoyed because um, to Lynn almost immediately creates a windmill and starts creating flour using the windmill but she does create a water wheel that powers and recharges data's head. And she doesn't kind of make a big fuss about it, but she's super capable without even sort of properly realising it. I'm getting sort of echos of thine own self from this, a little bit. Absolutely. Where he was making technology for them as well. There was a line there. That's a great example of the very powerful character work in this where Data said I was the 1st Android on a starship. I understand what it's like to be the 1st and it just reiterates why she wants it so badly. Yeah, because, like, we have that even in the lower in the Strangely Worlds episode with Mariner and Boimler in it about whether Orions are pirates or whether they can be scientists. Yeah Okay, now what's his name? Rutherford's got his shirt off. Rutherford's got his shirt off and it looks... He looks as pretty as I imagine. Livar Burton would look. If he took his shirt off. Yeah, yeah. But did you notice there was a, I was about to say a scene shop. There's no camera work. It's drawn from inside the pad with all the sauce all over it. Yeah, that's great. I was like, oh, that is great. Like you can't get lazy animation, but they're never lazy on this shit. No, no, this is expensive, clever animation. This holy crap. This is so funny. And so she's been growing things, but of course, because she's Talin, those things are grapes. It's like with the melons. The melons don't fit from the door. that shot? Look at the shot. Like suddenly for the 1st time, Teddy looks out the window and sees how big the produce is, which is... You see the size of the carrot? She takes the mark. It's her fucking monster. It's wonderful. There's a scene where she's sort of taking them to the town in a big waggon and stuff. And all of this stuff. We discover later is to Lynn trying to reach out to Tandy because Tandy's spending all of her time with data. Sort of, because we know there can be that sort of pushback from Vulcans. Like, we don't suspect it until it's revealed. And then it's all, it's really lovely. Because if I sort of knew what was happening, it wouldn't hit in the same way. Did you notice he had the sheet over him there, a bit like Frankenstein's monster? And in a minute, you can see all the electricity. She's going crazy with it. No, when she's going crazy. She's decided she's not going to sleep. She's just gonna eat stimulant leaf and stuff and say, like, look at that. Look at that. The sneller... Look at the... Look at that mutated vegetable So Marin has been in prison for her because she accidentally horned that guy in the eye. So she went to prison. She knows what she said, though. I can't believe I got that sentence. This is even worse than the Edo planet. Yeah, it's an Edo bullshit. Oh, and then she uses the grape. She thinks I'm going to make myself useful and to put out this flame. It turns out it's the sacred flame of the city. And she goes straight back to prison. And so she actually ends up having a prison family. It turns out. Oh, it's great. They give her a big hug, don't they? Yeah, 2 of them are murderers. Don't tell me that. Oh, that's it. They're still licking the console. What is that? It looks miserable. Just so ridiculous. This is as silly as I think it's been. He goes. Ooh, it tastes like his hands. I don't think he washes his hand. Oh yeah, Lundy. Lundy, the transporter sheep who smells. It tastes like Lundy smells. I don't want to know what he's asking for this. Oh, dear. It's just like, it just looks pretty as well, there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think, like, even though this isn't the purple alternate planet, you know, the purple alternative universe that data is from, like, it's got a really strong sort of, and it is that sort of 19th century American thing, which, you know, is a aesthetic that Star Trek uses to represent a primitive planet. Like they don't attempt to make it look spacey. They just make it look like America. And that... This could be non-sequitur now, past tense. any one of those episodes on the back lot with a few market stalls out the front. And so Talin has made money, and Tandy's worried that she's selling medicine, but what it turns out is she's selling hair conditioner. Everyone's got lush, beautiful hair from now on. from now on. And it comes... Yeah, look at the man. Hitting on the woman there. like the guy with the really long hair. Because he's worth it. That's right. Oh my god. Oh, I wish they stopped showing us these... It's probably going out with their tops off, covered in sauce. I had a dream about this once, you know. All right, so we're back. We made it work. We've leaked all of the fucking horrible cocktail off the panel. Yeah, yeah. Like, Teddy's trying to work out how Talin could have done the wrong thing by giving everyone lovely lush hair. But Data says that he thinks that it probably is a good thing. But now she's getting paranoid and weird. It's a sheen leg. I'm tired of your sass. I'm getting real tired of your sass. You get some sleep. And then snails watching. I knew it. He's got a hornless. She has a hornless demon head. Oh, she's so tired. There's a lesson here, right? don't compete with people too much Yes, exactly right. But that's it. you know what I mean? Like she's being crazy competitive and it turns out they just compliment one another and they both get the job. It would be exhausting trying to keep up with you, you know. That's why I let you do loads of talking and I'll come in with a joke at the end. It's creepy lurking. Play creepy lurking has paid off. Talking hornless demon head. Oh, put you on show soon enough when I'm back with the angry mob. There's a certain knowingness of the cliches in this show, isn't it? That's fun about it, isn't it? I mean, isn't there an angry mob about in thine own self? There's like a torch that comes from him, isn't it? It is. Yep. And actually, I was thinking the apparatus looks a bit like the stuff that he uses in Times Arrow data. Yeah, yeah. It's all in there. It's all like a juicy mix of 90s trek, isn't it? I think he talks about making something in Times Arrow. He talks about having to try and make some kind of technical equipment using what he gets in times arrow. And I think maybe that even dates back to Spock at some point. Oh, this is so sweet. I intend to revoke my application, says to Lynn, because a science officer must be able to communicate and I can't I realise I can't communicate with you. It's because she's been being a shit. That's why. That's right, that's right. No, and she admits, she says it was my fault. I was being competitive. I was being crazy, you know. Yeah, this is nice. And Talin is... God, I wish naughty straight was this succint, you know? Yeah. But isn't Talin just the most brilliant character. She's so good. So good. Well, they somehow managed to do a rivalry episode where one half of the rivalry wasn't a rival, and they're actually, we both, the twist is, they're both lovely. That's right. They both love each other and uh... Mr. Worf did this once. They shoot their way out of a rope. Yeah, that is right. Terrible soap whisk, that soap flute. So funny. Stupid soap flute. Oh, she realises, oh, I found my story on the planet here in prison. With this big hot guy. I want a hug from these people. big mare. Big man. We love you, big mare. Mariner. Yeah. My alien family, they were here all along. Hooray. Look at the one on the left with the moustache. looks really dodgy. He's a murderer. Two of them are murderers, remember? Oh, look at his beautiful hair. He's been using plenty of that hair tonic. He's got a whole arm full of the hair tonic. So stupid. Oh dear. Okay. Off to the rendezvous point. Got shrimp in his hair. Oh, here comes Snail now with his angry mob. Witches. There they are. Yeah, no, they believe him. They're kind of prepared to go along with him. Like, there should be such a lame ending of them just going, oh smell. But it's really funny. In the bag is an enormous grape with the face of Mr. Data. drawn a face on. Get a job, snail. That's so great, isn't it? Oh, he hasn't got much hair either to make lush look at him. No, that's it. He's also upset because they all have lush, beautiful hair. Oh, that's it. Look, he's pissed. He'll be back lurking tomorrow. Don't you worry. No, well, I think doesn't he turn up too late? He turns up just after they beam out. Look at the shoulder. on top of the mountain with the sun coming out. That's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and Mariner gets to talk to data, which is really great too. Is this the only episode he's in this year? Yeah. But it's that thing where Mariner says, I think about you all the time, which I just think is beautiful, because doesn't she say at some point, hey, you're kind of famous? Like, you do know you're kind of famous. Just think it's true. He sort of pushes it aside and she goes, oh, that's such a data thing to say. Yeah, yeah. It's really sweet. And that is just a little love letter to data from the writers isn't it? Is there coming over the mountain there? I just see him coming after him. Give it up, snail. Oh, also the Geordie thing? Here he comes. Here he comes. After they beam out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Look at Boeemer's boney back. Did you see that? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, terrible. You break him like a tweak, wouldn't you? Someone calls him a skeletal lad at some point in an earlier series, I think. Oh boy, oh boy. So, so we do riffs all the way through to the finale, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And is it really secretly just a way of bringing back all those old actors in alternative versions? I think partly that. I mean, there's that ship, the 2nd last episode, just 2 episodes from now, is set on the NXO one Enterprise, and has Jolene Blaylock on it, and it has a lot of Harry Kims from all of these different dimensions. only one of whom's a lieutenant. The rest of them are all all ensigns. Do they all try and kill him? No, the villain is a lieutenant. Like the villain. Oh, is it? Power went to his head. Yeah, so this just data, it data recommends that the 2 of them should become the senior officer and now they're, like they're drinking together Talin popping off and it's so sweet, isn't it? Like, it is to Lynn being sensitive and caring and stuff and fitting into the group. Where does she end up at the end of the series? I can't remember, actually. I think they're on the Cerritos under the command of Captain Ransom at the end, I think. I can't remember. She goes, I've got an emptiness inside me that's, I need fields from my jail family. Yeah. And so she's playing it. Stop, you do not know how to play that. And then and then all of that stupid, you know, flute stuff dialogue is happening while we fire Data's head in a torpedo tube in through the riff so that the Enterprise can pick it up, which is kind of cute. You know what it is, right? Lower decks. It's a peak into an alternative universe where night is Star Trek was succinct, funny, entertaining, witty, well acted, visually beautiful, like it, yeah. I mean, we love 90s trick. We do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God, this is the best 5 season love letout. Could possibly... ever have. Like, it's like you said, that fine line, that Galaxy Quest fine line between taking the piss out of the absurdities of it, because you and me do that spectacularly on this podcast. but also respecting it and and realising, you know, that most of the people watching that's that's they're into Star Trek, you know? Yeah. So, so giving it huge meaning as well. They love it and they never stop referencing it and riffing on it and playing with it. And they properly respect it, I think. Like, I don't think pointing out that Star Trek is ridiculous is the same as pointing out that it's bad. It's great. We love it. We've spent, you know, 100s of hours talking about it on this podcast. We look at being ridiculous. We just don't like it being boring. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but like they love it for being ridiculous and they play with it and it's that thing where they reach back in and see the things that are silly and kind of make them work or remind us why it's not such a terrible thing that part of Star Trek is silly because we just love it anyway. I just think it's a tremendous, tremendous show, and it works as a cartoon, and there are really good things that come from that, I think. But as well, I think the length of the episodes is perfect as well. And there's usually two, sometimes 3 plots happening within an episode. There's a lot going on, but you can't really get bored because there's maybe 3 or 4 scenes per plot, you know? So they go by by a lick, but they structure their seasons. So, because I remember in season one, setting up that whole thing with Mariner and her mum, and then it all leading up to that incredible episode where they're fighting each other in the penultimate episode. And I was like, wow, this is some of the most powerful character work I've ever seen on Star Trek. And listen, this fucking cartoon, for God's sakes. It's just brilliant. Yeah. absolute triumph. I think we should just press lower decks again next time. What do you reckon? Never mind the rest of the franchise. All right, it's the end of the episode. So it's time for us to work out where we're going next. Lower decks was your excellent choice last time. And so I decided to make up for a few weeks ago when I chose the empath by choosing lower decks again. And the reason is that lower decks dropped 10 extra episodes towards the end of last year. And so it is now among the series that has the least untitled Star Trek project coverage. We wish to reassure all untiled Star Trek project listeners that we will be covering something really tedious next week. Absolutely. We'll do our best. Yes, quite. All right. So let's just do that. We have a reputation to maintain, you know. We can't be loving everything. No, I will be doing a boring Voyager episode before you know it. All right. I am going to press the button. Okay. This is another season 5 episode. It's season five, episode 10, the new Next Generation. It the finale. Oh. I mean, do you know what, right? What I could do is, because I think, secretly, we've got a couple of weeks before we record this. I could watch the whole last series and then obviously we'll do the finale. What do you reckon? I think that's not a bad idea. And then I can finally see it out. It's the only season I've not seen of Lower Decks. Oh, let's do it. Come on. Is there loads of cameos from fabulous people? I can't remember, actually. There's loads of cameos from fabulous people in episode nine actually. Well, I'll watch it. watch it. But 10 is a really good ending and a really interesting ending. Not at all what I expected. And I did really kind of like it, and I think it will be interesting to talk about. And of course, it's funny and charming and heartwarming as hell, of course. I just want them all to just go off and achieve everything they've ever wanted because I love them all. I don't want anyone to die. get demoted or just have a miserable end, you know? They'll all be fine. They will all be fine. Okay. You've been listening to untitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford and Nathan Bottomley. We're 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 6th of May 2025 and released on the 16th of May. We'll see you next time for Star Trek Lower Decks, the new next generation. Yeah, the finale. We don't do finale very often. No, what have we done? We've done all good things and we've done endgame. Oh, that's right. That might be it. We've done the Enterprise finale as well. So you struggled a bit with all good things. Surprisingly, I remember. I struggled a lot with end game. You were a lot kinder on that. And then great riffs between us when we watch these are the voyages. Yeah, which I didn't think was the war crime that everyone else seems to think it is. But I think we'll probably be in accord. with this one. is pretty great. I mean, it's called the new Next Generation. Their tiles are so cheeky. I think there's an episode called The Next Generation, isn't there isn't series 3, episode one of Picard called The Next Generation? Yeah, I think it is. Wait a sec. I'm going to go to the... Untitled Star Trek Project website. Okay. The Next Generation. season three, episode one. Yes. Yeah, it's called The Next Generation, isn't it? So this is the new next generation. The other thing is that you won't have noticed is I've changed the font on the untitled Star Trek Project website. Have a look. Oh, it seems a bit more spaced apart. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a little wider. I quite like it. They're just the new... Yeah, I think it looks pretty good. I haven't changed any of the Star Trekie fonts, but just the normal font. You know what I'll do next week though, right? Oh, sorry, the week after. No, no, no, no, I will. I will. Oh no, I want to. I might go and watch the 1st one in a minute, actually, while I have my lunch. No, I will take us back to 90s again. I just love... I mean, there's so much of it still today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And things like Voyager is like undercover, like Voyager Enterprise and Next Generation are all kind of less than where we probably should be at. Like, we're never all going to be a parody. Do you know what I mean? I mean, 10% of 168 episodes and 10% of 65 episodes are 2 very different things. We've got a lot more 90s to do. But as we go, do you know what I mean? The numbers have to be the same, do you know what I mean? Otherwise, we'll be doing disproportionate amounts of one thing above the other. So they're all roughly sort of similar, like that coverage thing. I love bouncing about though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. Well, that's kind of what you want. But at some point, for instance, like I want to go back, we did a big discovery. is the 2nd least covered. 16.7%. In fact, after next week, it will be the least covered. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. And then Picard. You know, because there's only 37 of them, and we've done 6 of them, and so doing one more puts it up really high. Like animated series, we don't have to do another one of those for the next couple of years. Like, Christ. The movies, obviously, because there's hardly any of them. Stranger Worlds is going to drop 10 episodes this year. So it will go back down from 20% because we've done 4 out of 20 of those, but then it'll be 4 out of 30. I was like, so we've done a seasons. Oh my god, think about this for a second. You've done that. A season's worth of Voyager. Just over a season's worth of nature. That means we've got 6 seasons of each. We've got a long time. Don't you go tired on me now, all right? Oh yeah, I'll be fine. I'm going to be very careful crossing the road and stuff like that. And then I retire. Do you know what I mean? Like, I'm still going to be doing this in retirement, I think. Then our schedules will be fine. You're retired, all right? Yeah, yeah, pick a time. 4 in the morning, no worries. I there. don't care. I'll be adding features to the website all the time and, you know like maybe spinoffs, who can say? 165 episodes. Well, so because sometimes you do 2 episodes, right? Sometimes we do 2 episodes. So that's happened a few times. And this figure doesn't count. Um, this goes only goes up to episode 152, I think. So it doesn't include the empath and it doesn't include the one we just used. Just what's on the website. Yeah, yeah, what's on the website now as we record. When we hit 25%, you know, I'm going to suggest we do something. We're a quarter. 5th of the way through at some point. Do you know what I mean? We're currently at 17.35%. So at some point we'll hit a 5th of the way through, and we've already, like, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, we went from a 7th to a 6th. Now we were getting to a 5th but it's a long... So in my head, because we've talked so much 90s strike, because, of course, there's 4 series there. Yeah. So altogether, what, so it's like a 100 odd episodes of 90s show we're all about, but that's like a fraction of what's there, isn't it? But like on average, it's roughly, um, roughly one in six, a bit over one in 6 episodes that we've done. Oh, take us to Voyager XM. Let's bump up that number a bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be good. I'd like to do Voyager. It is pretty great. Hopefully we'll get something, you know, really ghastly. Yeah, post facto or... good. be nice as well. You can do a good one. It surprises us, isn't it?