Hey, Joe. Hi.
So, we're back, and we're back aboard the Enterprise D for the 3rd
episode of Star Trek, the Next Generation.
This is the Naked Now, which was 1st broadcast on the 5th of
October, 1987, a day that we'll live in infamy.
What does that even mean?
The naked now.
So obviously this is a remake of the naked time, which is series
one, episode 15 of Star Trek, the original series.
And in a way, it's kind of a bit early and a bit risky to remake
an episode so directly.
In fact, both the TNG and the TOS episode have Co-Story Credit by
John DF Black, because they are so similar.
Oh, really?
Was he involved in this one?
I don't know if he was involved or whether they just gave him the
co-story credit because they ripped it off.
It is really similar.
I have to say that I did watch the naked time as preparation for
this and it's not as good as the naked now.
I thought it was substantially worse.
It must be very bad indeed then.
So yeah, the problem was, I think, that because the baseline of
normal behaviour on Star Trek, TOS is fairly odd and in early
TNG.
It's fairly odd.
It's a little bit hard to distinguish whether people are behaving
oddly because they're intoxicated or oddly because they're just
badly written.
All right.
But the naked now has some advantages over the naked time, I think
which are that in the naked time all the men start behaving like
absolute arsehole, and it's all about kind of, they all get sort
of very aggressively heterosexual and stuff, which is upsetting.
Where Sulu takes his top off and starts fencing with people.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I don't just actually like that.
That's very good. very sweaty, isn't he?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And because we have a bigger, regular cast in TNG, we give the
role of Mr. Riley, who takes over engineering and declares himself
captain and says ice cream for everyone.
That goes to Wesley, and that's a more interesting choice, I think
because he's a regular character.
You might be redefining the word interesting there.
I mean, he does have a similar line, doesn't he?
I hereby announce that a dessert course shall be available before
and after.
Every shift shall proceed and follow each meal, including
breakfast, which I think is great.
It also does mention that the ship, this is the naked time.
The Naked Time also does mention that the ship has a bowling alley
apparently.
Mr Riley declares that there'll be a dance in the bowling alley.
So I don't know what happens when they're under attack, you know
or the inertial dampers are failing.
They must be fully balls fly all over the place.
Yeah.
So it's kind of bad.
It is kind of bad and I did...
All right.
I mean, now, I mean, can I say, I do wonder if it's maybe a little
early in TNG's rum. to be presenting something quite this play
school for everybody to watch.
I mean, it's so stupid this.
Well, so I don't mind Star Trek being stupid as we've said before
and I can understand people not wanting it to be stupid in this
particular way, though.
I think that, like, what we used to say is we don't know these
characters yet.
So when they behave oddly, it doesn't really work.
But the idea, it's in the title.
Is it the naked time, the naked now?
It makes people behave and reveal their real feelings.
And so at least for Geordie early on, in again, like a ham
fistedly written scene, we get something about, you know, his
feelings about his disability and stuff like that.
And it's a crappy scene and embarrassingly written and stuff.
But that's clearly what they're going for.
It's a way of revealing the characters in most feelings.
Now, the interesting thing about this is that the other credit, so
the story, credit, and the tale play credit go to J.
Michael Bingham, and that's actually DC Fontana.
So she wrote this and she took her name off it.
Do you want to guess why?
Yeah, because it's terrible.
No, God, tell me why. particularly what terrible aspect of it.
Do you think she?
Not dates are having sex, was it?
Close.
It was how horny all the 3 regular women are in the episode and
that's Gene.
So Gene makes all 3 of the women horny in this episode.
Not just horny, though.
They were sort of predatory.
And I don't like that.
Why can't women just be sexy?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Like, well, no, Deanna's not exactly predatory.
Tanjure is.
She's walking death.
She may as well be in one of those freaking rape Gavin.
She's walking around the corridors, picking out men, just walking
up to people, snogging them, and then Troy visits her quarters.
It's like, all she can do to not jump on her.
Like, it's, what the hell's happened to you, Tasha?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, it's so that's super embarrassing.
And like the naked time was embarrassing, but in a different way
because all of the men were so aggressively kind of like sexually
aggressive and upsettingly so.
Whereas in this, the women are sexually aggressive in a way that
Gene obviously thinks is super hot.
But he's just really kind of embarrassing and undermines them.
I think Fontana said that she felt that it undermined them as
professionals, which I think it definitely does.
I said to you in a message that, um, and I do find this very often
not just in Star Trek, but in television in general, when people
are called upon to act drunk or intoxicated, generally speaking
they somehow forget what it's like to be drunk and just act in
like a ridiculously childish sort of a way.
And that happens throughout this entire episode in ways where I
was just watching through my fingers going, this is just so
cringe.
But if the idea is to show these characters relaxed, yeah?
Or less straight laced as we've seen them in Encounter a Farpoint
and it is too early to do that, I think.
It's in no way what we see later down the line when they're
chill.
Yeah.
I have a theory about drugs on TV and it is that on TV, everyone's
drugs are better than yours.
You know what I mean?
That's definitely what's happening here.
Um, so I think, though, that there is some funny drunk acting and
there are bits that I think are cute, but this is obviously the
sort of thing that the show would have done better later, not
because we know who the characters are, because the characters are
paper thinned, let's face it, but because the actors had relaxed
by then and are much more fun together.
And so something like disaster, which is basically a comedy
works.
Yeah, or Rascals works, because that's stupid.
It's so much fun to watch. you know, exactly.
It doesn't need to come with a warning, brain cells will be
ejected before the end of the 45 minutes.
I mean, I watched as preparation for this DS9's fascination, so
that was the other one we said, because that's another love virus
episode.
And whilst I do think it is kind of dismal in many ways.
Like, I don't think it's in any way as funny as it's trying to
be.
Wisely, it is later in the run where everyone is very good at
playing their parts and can absolutely differentiate between when
they are normal and when they're in a more subtle sort of a way
but just the character interactions are more sophisticated on that
show.
So away from the love virus bullshit plot that's playing out, which
is just so thin.
There's an O'Brien and Keiko domestic story playing out, which is
it just is infused with genuine feeling, right?
And it feels real.
It's thin again, but it feels real.
I actually thought that was an extremely good episode.
I don't think that's, like, we'll get there, but I think
fascination is really cool.
No, but I'll tell you why.
I think the reason that it's good is that you've got this
relationship between Keiko and O'Brien and you do a soap opera
kind of plot or a sitcom plot, which is not the sort of thing that
Star Trek does.
None of the characters on TNG are married, you know, or even
partnered.
And here you have a couple, and it's real.
That scene where he's expecting sex goddess Keiko to arrive and so
that he can have a fabulous dirty weekend and she arrives, but
she's grumpy and tired and Molly throws up on him.
Oh, that's right.
Like, it's like...
I shouldn't have given you all that candy, should I?
That's awesome.
But that's what that's what a real relationship is like.
And like, O'Brien is trying to cope with his disappointment, but
he can't because he's a bit of a prick and he's a man and stuff.
But he's trying to apologise and trying to be a good guy and they
work it out and then, you know, we get like not what he hoped for
but something along those lines.
And then it, right?
I kept messing you going, my God, this is like my relationship.
I've seen a whole scene playing out where everything he tries to
do, she's sort of buying at him.
Even he's saying all these contradictory things to try and please
her and he just can't win.
And then in the next scene, then he gets all jealous and like, oh
well, go on and go back to Fajor and be with that man who you
clearly loved chatting away about our relationship with and she
goes, I will.
I don't want to be in the same room with you right now.
I was like, go on, Keiko, you take him. like it's real.
And it's counterpointed by the ridiculous Midsummer Night's dream
background story where everyone's falling in love with the wrong
person.
With very bad sort of drunk acting again, though.
But it's not quite drunk acting.
It is just hilariously silly smitten acting and it is absolutely.
It's got to be inspired by Midsummer Night's Dream. like
explicitly so.
I'd be surprised.
I just love Jake saying to Kira, do you want to go out with me?
It's great.
Like, all of that stuff I thought was really fun.
And, you know, like it played with the relationships with the
regulars and stuff, but basically the job was this is infatuation
and it's stupid and it's not real.
And here is what a real sexual relationship is like. where Keiko
comes out wearing the red dress.
Oh, finally gets to see it in the dress.
But I thought too, what was really sweet about that is that the
dress isn't super sexy.
Do you know what I mean?
It's not an army, it's a really...
It's just beautiful and she's beautiful and it's a pretty dress.
I just thought that was really charming.
So I thought that episode was good, much better than its
reputation.
I went on and then watched empathological fallacies, which is the
lower decks episode, which follows up on that Xanthe fever. 3
betazoid women come on board the Cerritos of a certain age and
everyone starts acting incredibly horny and stuff and behaving
like massive idiots and hugely sort of emotionally unregulated in
a much more kind of lurid and hilarious way.
It's not all about love.
It's not the one where you see boimless butthole, is it?
No, that's, remember, that is actually a reference to the naked
now because it's the naked now simulation or the naked time
simulation.
Oh, yeah. for the cat.
She's there, scratch it away.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Her and Shax are having really kind of violent sex, I think.
This stuff, Nathan, is ripe to be picked up by lower decks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, in fact, and the naked now is picked at by lower decks, but
I actually think it's picked up again in a way that is kind of
touching, remember, in the measure of a man.
So there's not much character stuff that's been done by then.
But the fact that data has that little hologram of Tasha um after
she dies among his personal belongings.
I think he's like properly touching, and it is a callback to this
silly episode.
More touching than that funeral we are to watch in Skit of Evil.
Absolutely terrible.
Oh, Wolf.
You know, like Jesus Christ.
But I actually say that I found myself charmed by some of the
really silly gags in this and I could see the beginning of where
we would end up with this crew where they do get a little bit more
relaxed.
So it is, you know, there's dozens of, uh, not dozens, but there
must be at least a dozen episodes of series one uh, that I would
rank below this.
Do you know what I mean?
hide and queue, home soil, too shorter season.
There's plenty of them that I just think are shockingly bad.
Whereas at least I think I can see what they're aiming for even if
it's too early in the rum.
The characters are too stiff and the riding's not there.
Yeah, like, like, I was watching this and I just kept saying out
loud, how did they recover from this?
How did people go from encounter a Farbo, which is troubling in
many different ways to this?
And then they sat and watched this where, you know, I don't even
think you need a 2nd brain cell to get through it.
They must have thought, oh, this this whole, like, is this aimed
at 4 year old's, like, who's supposed to be watching this show?
You know, the bit where Picard comes over the intercom and goes
now, Wesley, you know, people drink alcohol, you know, and they
get intoxicated.
I was like, no, we're not doing this in episode two, please.
And then later in the season, we get there, Tasha, you are going
you know, Wesley, people take drugs, you know, and it's really
bad.
I was like, oh, please.
It's the Nancy Reagan bit.
And just the whole, like, to juxtapose Tashiar talking about rape
gangs and then behaving like a sexual predator herself in the same
scene.
I'm like, is anyone looking over this script and saying, this is
this is not good?
Well, it's just the mention of rape gangs when you're trying to
seduce someone seems like literally the least sexy thing that you
could possibly mention at that point.
But again, it is an attempt to give her some background, you know
like she is reclaiming her sexuality after being kind of
victimised and stuff and in fear and that's what that speech is
doing.
It's just really ill charged and not very well done.
See, I was making connections in other more disturbing ways of
like, oh, she's been mistreated, so now she's mistreating.
And no, because I don't think, I don't think her being sexually
aggressive.
I don't think that's rapey.
Do you know what I mean?
Like it's probably not a good thing in the workplace.
Do you know why it's rapey because they're all too drunk to say no
to her.
Yeah, that's true.
That's true.
They're all, you know, ripped old, for God's sake.
No, but the little the guy with the bad hair, the short guy with
the bad hair that she kisses in the corridor.
They've all got terrible hair.
Well, there's one particular one, and he's seems into it, and
data's definitely into it.
And that's another thing I like about that scene is just the goofy
smile on Data's face and she pulls him into the bedroom.
It's kind of like, are we doing that?
The goofy smile on the chief engineer's face.
Oh, I was like, what is going on here?
And he's sort of walking into the force.
Well, you know what?
I mean, I feel like some culture and intelligent discourse.
Should we go in?
I think we probably should.
I will count us in five, four, three, two, one, and we're off.
Did you know what my strongest objection to all this is?
What's?
is the fact that you're no longer here.
Yeah, it's upsetting.
On the other side of the world on my screen again.
Yeah, yeah.
Yep, 10,000 miles away.
Okay.
Great, super giant stars turning into a white dwarf.
So in the original, in the naked time, it's actually a planet that
is about to explode and it's getting bigger and smaller.
It's called Psi 2000.
It's getting bigger and smaller.
It's an ancient planet.
And so it causes, it has the same gravity things that cause the
poly water, what's a name?
Oh, God.
See this...
I hope you've got a lot of pretty boys on board, Enterprise.
We're having a real blowout here.
Oh, please.
Even even the woman on the, like every woman gets ridiculously
horny.
Like even the woman on the intercom.
The music in this scene, right?
So when you hear the explosion, it starts going, da, da, da.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like, it's like, dramatic.
I know.
But think how boring the music ends up being.
Patrick Stewart to jump out of his chair just because it's so
dramatic, you know?
I have to say, when I started this, I might walk past and saw
Counsellor Troy sitting in a chair and he went, what is she
doing?
Like, why is she on the bridge?
Like, has she not got some counselling to do?
She's got to be there to say she can't tell what this alien is
thinking, but they're definitely hiding something.
Typically new sports.
Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, okay.
Oh, do you know the new special effects?
so tasty.
Look at that sun.
Yeah, it looks great.
Actually, I thought these sets were nicely lit as well on the
spaceship.
Well, so they're clearly just the sets for, you know, enterprise
or, you know, they're just the enterprise sets, but they're leeted
and lit differently.
The ship comes from Star Trek 3.
It's the Grissom from Star Trek 3.
It's Oberth Class, apparently.
Oh, look, I'd like to see that curly whirly straws are still going
in the future. in the 24th century.
Nice to see.
I think we see some of those in 10 forward actually going forward
the height of sophistication.
Yeah, it really is.
So they're partying and usually Starfleet.
People are really stiff, so something has gone horribly wrong.
See, now, here you're riot.
There's a really great musical sting here, like an electronic
sting when you realise that the bridge has been vented out into
space and everyone's died on the bridge.
And I thought to myself, okay, there's a different version of this
story that could be told where, you know, the danger isn't Wesley
Crusher is in charge of engineering and there's a big rock coming
towards the ship, but, you know, their intoxication, there is a
situation of real peril, you know, not playful peril.
No, they choose not to source material.
Yeah, yeah.
See, this looks amazing.
And again, you know, he's frozen.
Yeah, that's right.
But I always say, you know, Strange New Worlds is doing old, you
know, Star Trek standards with new technology and new techniques.
And this is clearly what TNG is doing.
It's like we're going to do this old Star Trek episode, but we're
going to do it with more impressive visuals.
And I think, you know, even though we're bored by these visuals
after 20 seasons of this crap.
It did look pretty impressive at the time.
You know, I did love how everyone was sort of decorously placed in
that room.
So they were clearly naked, but we didn't have to see any
offending appendages.
Willies.
Yeah, that's right.
And of course, covered in ice, so you can just cover up the sort
of the crevices and things.
Yeah.
Yeah, nicely done.
Although, the lady who fell out of the shower there.
She was fully closed.
She was closed.
In the shower for some reason.
Was it closet?
No, but there is someone who falls out.
I think Sulu finds someone fully clothed in the shower and that's
later the hint. which helps them solve the problem.
You noticed, you know, I don't want to objectify too much, but
there was a very clearly well-proportioned black man frozen up in
that scene with big muscles.
Did you see it?
And hairy chest.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a shame we didn't get to see him thawing out, really, isn't
it?
Yeah, no.
He was dead, though.
Okay, so we've got our danger now.
We realise actually it is following your rule.
We realise they're intoxicated.
We realise they're intoxicated to the point where they're in
danger and they're killing themselves and we know that Geordie has
caught it because we have a non-digetic sound that happens when
someone gets infected.
It sounds like sort of magical dust, doesn't it?
It's a yeah.
In, in the TOS episode, that sound is quite scary.
Like it's actually a well-designed sound.
It's similar, but they have that sound, but it's scarier.
Whereas here I think TNG, because it doesn't really do things that
are non-digetic in that way.
It's kind of a little bit more realist.
It seems like they're embarrassed by the sound and so they
minimalize it a bit, but certainly the sound is better in the
naked time.
They fuck it up once in the naked now too, because when Picard
gets infected, We don't hear the sound or see the skin to skin
contact, which means that there's been some editing problem, I
think.
It's very clear. of his performance.
It's clear that he's doing drunk acting, man.
The pit where him and Gates both walk out of the room at the same
time.
He does this weird comedy turn.
I was like, yeah, yeah, bad dressing.
Terrible.
Don't pack your bag yet, mate.
And he didn't.
But we understand the stakes, right?
That if this thing gets out of control on the enterprise, then
okay, here's Dr. Beverly.
She can't find anything unusual.
So I actually think Gates is pretty good in this because it's the
usual thing, which is, as chief medical officer, she's terrible
with medical technobabbler and doesn't understand what's going
on.
But because it's very clear what Beverly's doing as a character, I
actually really like it when she gets drunk and is trying to hold
it together and is sort of pinning her hair up out of her face and
stuff and trying to concentrate.
She really sells that really well when she's starting to lose it a
bit.
Set the transporter to maximum decontamination.
Well, why would you ever say it's a minimum decontamination?
For God's sakes.
Yeah, you have to get the you have to get the ointment out, I
think, probably.
I would suggest that they are all screened in an airlock or
something before you just beam them back in.
Now like, you deserve what you get.
Well, that's the other thing here is that, of course, the
quarantine things on this ship are just absolutely crap.
We know that he's been infected by something we don't know what it
is.
We don't put him in a screen or anything like that.
Oh, Nathan, I've just realised, you know, director.
Yeah?
Yes.
Who directed us?
I think he did skin of evil, didn't he?
He actually does 5 TNGs and 9 DS9s.
Oh, does he?
Oh, yeah.
I don't know what they are, but yeah.
Paul Lynch.
Okay.
Paul Lynch.
He started here with the naked now.
I'm surprised he ever works again.
It definitely did.
Well, I don't think this is badly directed, and I think the bones
of this story are reasonable.
It's DC Fontana.
She's not an idiot and like it's a reasonably...
Oh, I mean, it shows you the virus going from person to person and
then the danger increases, even though it is a great comedy rock
that's heading towards the Enterprise.
Yeah, yeah.
Wouldn't it be embarrassing if this is how they all died, you
know?
Comedy rock.
Tasha died with data inside.
I mean, it would have just been, yeah, not the way anyone would
have chosen.
Actually, no.
Tashi died by the end of the season.
She probably would have preferred to go this way Probably.
I have to say that this scene between, like, I think that Jonathan
is wonderful in this already.
Do you know what I mean?
Like he likes data and is amused by him, but not in a patronising
way.
And when date is pedantic with him earlier, he just says, thank
you, data, and goes on, like he doesn't try and score points off
him or anything.
I mean, I did one daughter because the women were behaving in such
an unreasonable way that Riker, especially in the climax, even
when he's succumbing to the virus, he is the most reasonable
person on the entire ship where he's the one who can hold it
together the most.
He manages to hold it together more than Picard and stuff as
well.
She's got a stylus with her medical tricorder.
No, it's her fabulous hair clip she's got in in this episode as
well.
It doesn't last too long in the series.
This is funny too.
This is the 1st time that we see, I assume, it's the 1st time that
we see someone take their badge off and walk away and that becomes
a thing.
Do you know what I mean?
Wharf does it a couple of times.
He takes his badge off before going off to kind of stick a bat
left into someone.
He's literally just walked out the door.
Yeah, he just walked out the door.
Go and get him.
He just left.
You were just in the room with him, so he hasn't gone far.
But he has to take his communicator off because they have their
communicators with them at all times and the communicator helps
locate them at all times.
So that's a thing that they do to overcome that.
It's like having no mobile phone reception.
He took his communicator off.
The transporter being pick up a biological pattern on the ship.
Well yeah.
Okay.
Sorry.
I'm picking the whole...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's our floor and the technology, yeah?
I have to say that I think the best, Robert, would have done a
better job of keeping the quarantine happening.
All right.
Now we're in this very weird scene with Geordie and Wesley and
Wesley.
We don't have a relationship normally, this pad.
Not really.
They do a bit early on.
I think they do a bit early on.
They're trying to make that happen because they're both sort of
nerds and stuff.
But like that scene opens so oddly with him just moving a chair in
the air and no dialogue.
Do you know what I mean?
We just stand there watching him.
Now you get this chair out.
I modified this to a mini tractor beam.
Wow, Wesley goes. is incredible.
I wonder if that will come in handy during the climax.
And do you think this box that he has that stitches together
Patrick Stewart saying various words so that he can say, you know
chief engineer to the bridge and things?
I mean, anything more square than tape recording or faking
somebody's voice.
So they're giving you orders.
Nathan, I was recording you the entire time you were here, you
know.
You do have 100s of hours, which I want. the sort of order how I
manipulate you into asking me to do.
Jesus Christ, Wesley, you're such a geek.
Oh my god.
He's only got away half a season and Picard will be giving him
orders on the bridge anyway.
Yeah.
It's that thing too, where he's actually kind of a cute kid.
Do you know what I mean?
Like a fresh faced kid.
Like, yeah, I think he is sweet.
He's written like a five-year-old, Rob. 15-year-old is the
trouble.
He's written down.
Well, yeah, and everyone is a little bit.
So I think this scene, again, is an attempt to do what the naked
now title promises.
Oh, wait, this is the one I said before.
It's laboured.
It's really badly written.
Tr helped me to see the beautiful things you see. blah, blah.
Geordie, my job is security. can't do that.
And helping is more important.
What is that line all about?
No, helping people is more important than security.
What?
But I actually kind of like it because it is like she's kind to
him and she takes him to Sick Bay and stuff and she's kind of a
hard ass and we see her be a bit gentle and compassionate in
episode two.
So I can see what we're trying to do with this scene.
And also I think, you know, seeing Geordie take his visor off.
I don't know if he does that in the 1st episode he must do.
But again, making himself vulnerable and stuff.
And having him touch her face as well, you know, because that's a
thing that blind people, you know, sometimes do.
I don't know whether that's in real life or television or what.
But that is definitely a thing that people do and like I thought
that was warm and kind of human as well.
You know what it is about Tasha, right?
Is I don't think they ever crack her until yesterday's
enterprise.
It's because she's so fucking earnest all the time.
Yeah, she really is.
But when she's trying to be funny, she's kind of serious and a
very worthy character.
I like her.
Yeah, it's it's that that overseriousness that everyone suffers
from here.
I really like Denise Crosby, though.
I think she's charming.
Like she's got a lot of charisma, I think.
I think there's some terrible acting.
The formant style is easily mocked because she's the character
that Mark is always mocking.
In my house, right?
Right.
But I think she's like I like her.
Do you remember in Hide and Q when she's going, you know, what am
I doing?
Crying?
In the penalty box?
Jesus.
How did we recover?
She goes, it looks like he's running a temperature.
He's got literally a lake coming off his head.
But she says, but she says he's not.
She says he looks like he's running a temperature, but he's not.
Oh, sorry, I missed the pertinent point there.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's the other thing too.
In the naked time when they get this sort of poly water infection
thing, they're all sweaty as hell as you've seen.
This is not the time to ask these questions.
She goes, well, we use full decontamination.
Picard goes, well, yes, but the whole crew did kill themselves.
Yeah, maybe then we should have taken better measures than this.
In fact, this whole scene is just them rehearsing to each other
things that have already happened in the episode that we actually
saw.
It's kind of like we have been watching this.
It's okay.
This is not as you know, Bob, as you've already seen, Bob.
Yeah, in this episode.
Oh, hang on.
Any sign of drugs, hallucinogens, any other contaminator?
We would have picked that.
No, not yet.
No, no, we would have picked it up.
Oh, look, nice dramatic zoo.
Actually, God, Geordie's lips.
Good grief.
So this is data reading through memory alpha because...
We can empathise, Mr. Data.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And I kind of...
Can I say something about...
I really hate the laboured data comedy.
I, again, that gets better as they go along.
It does.
So much so.
Remember that in all good things.
One of the ways that they show that we're back in series one is he
does a silly, terrible joke, terrible joke about a thing.
And the same with Snootfall.
Although I do like, you know, like that's a shitty line of
dialogue anyway, you know, Picant is, you know, he seems to have
had, or she seems to have had a snootful or something, and he goes
snootful, and, and, uh, Stuart just says, oh, forget it.
Which I thought was actually cool. weird about Brent Smartner's
performances.
I think here, like he plays the comedy too broadly for an
Android.
Then he learns how to do it, right?
And how to do it straight face, which is more funny because if you
play it seriously, comedy is very funny.
And then towards again, when they give them the emotion ship, it's
just agonising.
So it's only that middle period where they get it right.
What I think is good here, though, is they are differentiating
data from Spock, because they're clearly playing the same role in
the crew, and at the time they were compared to each other because
they're not quite human and they stand outside humanity, and
you've got, you know, Spock has this odd relationship with his
humanity and data aspires to humanity.
Spock cries in the naked time, in a way that's absolutely
agonising worse than anything that happens here.
And and data.
So, but these, these are Deanna's quarters and Deanna's clothes.
We never see her wearing anything. this hideous tie, dye silk
clothes that she never went terrible.
Actually, even when she dresses down in haven.
It's nothing like this.
No, no.
This is sort of carnival clothes, isn't it?
I don't know what it is.
It looks like something that Loaksana left behind the last time
she came home.
Yes, it's Miami Downs, Deanna.
You can those.
These are mums.
But...
Yeah, maybe that's it.
What a bitch.
She goes, no, it's not for you.
All right.
Those clothes don't suit you.
Another weird thing about early season one as well is they haven't
quite pinned how they address each other.
So everyone's calling her Troy.
It's so weird.
Dr. Crush keeps going, Troy.
What's going on rather than Deanna?
That's strange rather than Deanna.
And later on, she will call Riker Bill when she...
Which is odd.
And pick up...
Picard calls Commander Riker Riker.
And even he refers to himself as Riker in a weird way as well
which I thought was strange.
They actually get a bit more formalised as the show goes along
which is probably where in a professional environment where we
should have started.
That's right.
But it is what we're used to, but it sounds odd because that's not
where we land with.
But, like, again, data, like what data's doing here is he gets to
be silly, which differentiates him from Spock.
You know, that he gets to be funny and silly.
And so I think giving him the infection is the right choice.
And it does lead to some cute moments, I think.
But the thing is, right, there are a couple of the positives that
you've named there, right?
So revealing Geordie's anxiety is about his disabilities and data
differentiating himself from Spock.
Yes, they're both good things, but both could, they could be good
things and well written. yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. points for effort, but minus points for execution.
But I think that that's it.
And I think that, you know, a lot of episodes of series one don't
even manage to get the points forever.
You are right.
Yes, absolutely.
I can see what it's trying to do.
You know, like I can see what it's trying to do.
Now, again, this is one of these things.
Beverly's playing it like she thinks that he's got the infection.
She goes straight over to the thing.
He says I feel hot.
She lets him just wander off.
She does say go back to your quarters.
But no one kind of puts 2 and 2 together.
Oh, here we go.
Oh, my God.
So the camera is literally on Tashi Oz.
Oh, boss.
She's walking like Jessica Rabbit through the ship, for God's
sake.
Yeah, yeah.
Now this short little guy.
Now, don't you tell me she's not predatory.
Look at the look on her face.
Look, look at the look at his face.
He's up for it.
Like, wouldn't you be now?
She's really there properly.
She grabs hold of him.
He's got no choice there.
She's got her hands all around.
Her hands are like talons in that scene.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But he was already giving her that come on, you know, like, I
don't think I...
We're in the age of concern now, Dave, but it's a thin line, all
right.
No, no, I know.
But I don't want to compare her to rape gangs marauding the street
chasing 8 year olds. fair enough.
Fair enough.
I did just say predatory, you know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, Troy, to be fair, Troy sort of she becomes very meek.
She puts her arms around Riko.
She says, please carry me away, would Bill, you know?
Oh, here's my favourite 2 characters in the whole show.
So Chief Engineer McDougall is one of our rotating chief
engineers.
She's just wandering off looking very businesslike.
And this is assistant chief engineer Shimoda, who is also called
Jim, and seems to be friends with Wesley, which I actually quite
like.
That was Wesley infecting him.
I mean, Wesley may be home toxicant.
Because he's wearing both a jumper and a shirt.
That's a lot of layers there.
That is a few layers.
It is a few layers.
I mean, I don't think we spend enough time with Shimoda before he
gets intoxicated to really sort of tell the difference.
But I did actually like that.
That did reveal a little bit about how the crew feels about
Wesley.
Do you know what I mean?
Like there, he is an engineering.
He clearly knows Jim. you know, like they, you know, Jim likes him
you know, puts his hand on him and stuff.
Like, I thought that was nice.
I can't imagine, right, anybody walking out of a turbo lift, more
all business than McDougall did just then.
She saw a monster. like she's in the military, you know, coming
in.
I'm here, captain, what do you want?
He probably went, she's very pushy.
Can we not get in who's the next engineer after this?
Mr. Singh, can we not get him in, please?
Mr. Argyle?
You think they sat down after the end, like, sort of...
Metron woman, remember?
It's been a whole year.
They've been in the Enterprise and they go, do you know, maybe we
should just give the role to somebody permanently, you know, like
who someone who doesn't seem to have anything to do.
So now these people who are, so everyone for a start is really
astonished by a fucking force field, force field, and, you know
they have them on the bridge.
I don't know what's going.
They're all sort of...
But look how they're all just standing around like they're so...
Look at the woman 2nd to the left.
Yeah, she's great.
She's leaning on the left shoulder while the man seems to be sort
of dry humping her from behind.
What's going on there?
Like these people have never been trunk or to a party before.
This is so stiff and so embarrassed.
Mr. Shimoda is now, he is auditioning for a role on Play School
because I don't know what he's doing.
Yeah, I don't know either. into the false fields.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And this, like, is drunk walking. in his boiler suit.
You could just imagine, actually, it does please me a little bit.
All those people that love TOS, you know, expecting a serious Star
Trek show. to present it to them as the 2nd episode.
And of course, this didn't go down very well for both reasons
because this is not well.
Well, because it's stupid, not because it's not well made because
you know, if you're a Star Trek fan, your tolerance for that has
to be fairly high.
But also because it's a remake of the naked time, I think, too.
Oh, so this, the limerick in the shuttle bay, which is so crap.
It was a young lady from Venus.
Whose body was shaped like a...
Yep, captain to security.
But data doesn't get it.
And then I like Worf.
I don't understand their humour either, which I think is really
great.
Well, you don't get drunk, Michael, which is a bit of a shame.
Keep your britches on, Captain Picard, says Tasha.
I know, britches.
Why is she saying that?
She's pretty busy at the moment.
Who is she bonking at the moment?
She's bonking the guy, the little short guy with the bad hair that
she caught.
How many of the crew does she make it through before the end of
this episode?
That guy.
She has sex with that guy.
And data, that's 2 people. that's not too many Actually, that's
quite a lazy day for me.
That's right.
That's pretty dull party.
Okay, here we go.
This is the scene and this is why everybody remembers the naked
now.
Fully functional Mr. Data enters Tachyash quarters and she says
you know, how fully functional are you, Mr. Data?
Oh, I'm programmed in a broad range of pleasuring, he says.
Yeah, yeah, variety of positions.
Apple programmed that android in a broad range of Mr. Soon, you
are kinky. pretty old.
Yeah, yeah.
That's right Oh, look at that curl.
I love that curl stuck down on her head.
It's great.
It's called a Kiss curl.
It's um, like from the 1920s.
Like it, I think that's a pretty strong look and look at that. sort
of Googled lamia, you might see similar curls of that nature, you
know.
Yeah.
Yeah, so here we go.
This is the seducing data by talking about the rape gangs. on her
home planet. attempting to elicit sympathy from him.
Yeah, because she says, uh, well, again, like if this had been
kind of well written and well performed and not a horrifically
poor idea, um, so, you know, it, she talks about how she was
fleeing rape gangs and now she's reclaiming her sexuality.
Now she wants gentleness, you know, like I think there's something
there.
It's bad.
So was she systematically rape for 10 years of her childhood?
Oh, she ran.
It says she ran for 10 years.
She survived and she kept away from the rape game.
I see why she's so angry all the time then.
Yeah, well, that was the... traumatised you.
Troy is probably booked her in about 10 sessions a week.
I think it's actually a bit upsetting because it's trying to
explain why she's sort of slightly gender non-conforming.
Do you know what I mean?
She's not a proper woman and that seems to be the subtext of even
some that earlier interaction with Deanna, that she's not a proper
woman and it's because she was traumatised as a young woman.
I like Mrs. Troy, you know, and I know it's overplayed and it is
broad and pantomimic, but she's just so in command of her
sexuality.
There's no reason for it at all.
She's just sexy, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
She's great.
Heaven forbid a woman, you know, is in control of her.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
Or betrays a few masculine tendencies.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
It has short hair, you know what I mean?
That's the other way now.
She's the job.
She just falls into Riker's arms, doesn't she?
And goes, oh, don't you remember?
Don't you want to be alone with me?
Have you ever been with a man this desperate?
It's very, it's unfortunate.
And I do like the fact that, you know, I mean, remember when we
did the one where she turned into, what's it called?
Man of the People.
And Rikl took advantage of her in that one.
Just for a second, he did kiss her.
Whereas here he says, no, I'm not doing that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, he's again, it's because she's drunk
and because they ended the relationship and so he's putting her to
bed and she's infecting him.
We just heard the noise.
Don't you want to be alone with me in your mind?
I do want to be alone with Marina in my mind, actually.
That would be pretty great.
It's not the odds I was expecting that, you know.
Now, look, hang on.
Have they taped over the windows in Sick Bay?
Let's find out.
We noticed this last time.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's just that wall from the observation lounge.
I don't think you can see the tape quite as well as you could in
the previous episode that we saw.
I mean, you're right.
This is interesting, but it's just like, I've never seen a
something.
I've never seen a rainbow.
It's just like he's used to being blind by now, surely.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, it is sort of a bit crap.
Is Marina attempting to hide her face because she's a bit
embarrassed at what she's being asked to do there.
Do you notice?
She's like, she's so meek.
She's so unlike Marina.
It's such a this.
See, I like this.
She just touched Riker and her have quite a good mature
relationship.
It's really understated because all of them are because.
No one really gives a shit about the relationships in the
rhyming.
It runs around the series.
And then she goes, you brought Deanna in and 0 God, you touched
me.
And like, he goes, oh, shit, you know, like, I liked that, and
it's her deducing something, and it's Gates understanding the
dialogue, and I thought it was well delivered.
I prefer that to, uh, the, I sent to you on a message, her going, I
have to defeat this.
I must find a cure, you know, like people don't sit there talking
to themselves. give her somebody to talk to.
Or we can tell what she's doing because that's what she must be
doing because she's the doctor and there's a thing.
No, because we're watching the fucking episode and we're paying
attention.
You don't have to pay attention too much to think out what's going
on here.
It's not super complicated.
I do hope that man got his shots, you know, before sitting in that
reclining chair.
No, he didn't because he goes off.
He wanders off later because he's got the the, the poly water
infection, actually, the pretty one.
The thing I just don't understand, right?
And the creators of science fiction shows never quite get is.
Yeah, the thing that annoys young boys watching science fiction is
young boys that are super geniuses.
And yet, Adrick, Wesley, they insist on his characters in.
Yeah, and presumably it's like an aspirational thing because every
kid watching the original show wanted to be on the enterprise.
But I think, you know, once Wesley's on the Enterprise, I'm not
that into being on the Enterprise anymore, presumably is how it
works.
Well, I could get it behind Jake, you know, because he just wants
to bum around with Ferengi's and cause mischief, you know?
And and he's normal. he's not a Star Trek nerd the way that Wesley
is, like Wesley's a Star Trek nerd.
He's into tractor beams and stuff.
There is one episode where Brian's trying to teach them all the
techno babble. been given like a Saturday job and he just goes, oh
this is so boring.
I don't want to learn this stuff.
I'm like, thank you, Jake.
Oh here we go.
Now, Wesley.
Now, listen, you must take the tractor beam and lock it onto the
Tchaikovsky and oh, please.
I think I think this is definitely better than what happens in the
naked time where it's Captain Riley, it's Captain Riley, and he
declares himself captain, and we don't see him over the TV because
we don't get that, and he's someone that we don't know.
Does that man not have a name?
He just went, Con, where are you going?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They're not giving him a name.
It's like, one of those things.
You know, the really, like, those amazing things.
There's one in, I think there might be one in Fascination, which
is why I'm thinking of it, a guy who is very clearly, oh, he was
in Odo's office.
It's like, I'm not being paid to say anything, and so I'm just
going to sit here silently, even though that's massively awkward
and a normal person would speak at this point.
Mrs. Troy makes a point of it, doesn't it?
She goes, oh, give us 5 minutes, dear, will you?
That guy.
No, no, no.
She goes, give us half an hour.
Roda goes, no, give us 5 minutes.
Be back here.
Here we go, Dr. Beverly.
Oh no, no.
I must find the cue.
I must find the answer.
Like, I like her pinning her hair up to get it out of her way
because she's got to try and keep her shit together.
And right having to keep his shit together as well, because
they're the 2 grown-ups here, like Picant succumbs almost
immediately once he gets it.
But both Riker and Beverly have important jobs to do, and so
they're trying to hold their shit together while being
intoxicated.
Do you remember in that fabulous corn episode we just watched
yeah?
Well, we had Scotty and that fabulous woman. her name?
What's the woman's name?
Oh, a Paleon. figuring out things, talking to each other.
Given us comedy.
It wasn't just Scotty going, oh God, how do I solve this?
That was many years later.
So I quite, I think this is cute because it is giving Brent a
chance to do something different.
And to be silly, to distinguish himself from Spock.
And then he does that cute quote from the Merchant of Venice, which
is Shylock says, if you prick me, do I not bleed?
and he gets to say, if you prick me, do I not leak, which I think
is cute.
He overplays it.
I just want to punch him in the face in this scene.
Yeah, I just, yeah.
He's nowhere near as bad as he is in generations, I think.
No, this scene now, now, this scene between Gates and Patrick
right?
where Patrick, you just can't chill out enough to play the scene.
You're sort of going, not now, doctor.
Please.
I'm like, what are you thinking?
Yeah, that I like that too, that fall, the praps fall, like bread
falling over.
Look, she's doing the Riker pose with her knee up on the desk.
No, she's doing her sexy predatory pose, but I do like the line
where she says, you know, this is like being intoxicated with
alcohol, the same lack of good judgement, for instance, I find
you.
Incredibly attractive.
I wouldn't normally be, right?
Yeah, that's right.
He goes, oh, God, would I love to show you?
Yeah, but then it's like, again, this is, you know, her one
paragraph backstory is that she lost her husband, Jack, and so
that's coming up.
We're learning how she feels about that.
Guess what?
Spoiler alert, she's sad.
Damn it, Captain, my dear captain.
Like, I have a feeling.
Yeah, if this was discovery, this scene would be so sexy.
I would barely be able to contain myself.
It's just so awkward.
Yeah.
I, I, you know, when you're sort of there experiencing something
and you just feel like I just, I don't feel like I should be in
the room right now.
This is one of those times.
Yeah, yeah.
So at some point, right, at some point, Captain Picard's been
infected there, but we don't see it happen.
He's given her a sort of childish wave, so we know...
Wave, but that's what tips warp, wharf off.
That, so wharf tells Riker that the captain's been infected at
that point when he does the little wave. that's right And now, look
Rikers now, Oh, and obviously, McDougall, all business, McDougall
the only 2 that could save the day.
Oh Christ, what's going on there?
That's odd, isn't it?
But that's the ship going supernova.
That's the star going.
Nova.
Oh, now the huge chunk.
I mean, it's so massive.
It's like 3 times the size of the enterprise.
I can see it behind you now right?
No, it's bigger.
No, because it's bigger than the Tilkovsky, but that's not a very
big ship.
It's big enough to do some damage.
Just like the iceberg. took down the Titanic, you know, it's... it
would have destroyed it.
Yeah. right.
Does Wolf ever succumb to it?
No, he doesn't.
We don't get to see Michael's drunk acting.
Good thing, actually.
Probably at this point in the series, definitely.
Oh, of course we do.
There's a scene in him at Martok where they're singing in Way of
the Warrior.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just as houses.
It's wonderful.
Because trying to hold it together, but oh, look, well, he can't
remember the words for things.
Now this.
What is going on?
He's throwing his Lego up and down in the air.
Oh, it's like an episode of Tots TV now or something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's embarrassing.
That's super embarrassing.
But we're about to get...
Are we about to get one of my favourite lines?
Yeah, here it is.
She comes in.
See Shimoda throwing the isolinean ships and she holds on up to
her and goes, these are control ships, which is...
We didn't need to go back to him juggling them again.
Well, he's not even juggling them.
He's throwing them in the air, but that is so funny and that's got
to be deliberately funny.
Like, she's got to be playing that for last.
It's like there.
Someone's yanked out the control trips.
And Wesley goes, it was an adult that did it.
That's so embarrassing.
How did we ever recover?
The data, like lying back in his chair pissed, like hearing his
name mentioned and stuff. is pretty great.
And I also loved the other thing that I really like.
So this is we're trying to get data to hold it together.
So, are we going to an ad break?
Do they speed him up?
You know, when you strew it all the chips?
Yeah, they speed him up.
So they speed bread.
That's right, when he's doing the chips. which is pretty deep. hell
that flaming comet.
Yeah, it's pretty close, isn't it?
So this where, um, you know, it's like, are you gonna, gonna get
it done in time?
You know, we've got 9 minutes or something like that to put all of
the chips back so that we can leave at impulse and we learn, we've
learned already in the episode that they can evade the material by
going at half impulse that they can get out of its way that's
established already.
So they just need impulse.
So he's putting them all in.
And he's happily doing it.
He's doing it while being fully aware that it's not going to work
because he's not going to be able to do it in time.
And when they ask him, he says, oh, no, I...
Which is very funny.
Something had been introduced earlier in the episode that could
just push that rock, just a tiny bit out of the way to give them
that extra minute.
Oh, wait.
Do you remember that scene that started with Wesley, with that
chair flowing in the air?
Yes.
To be fair, they have already used that tractor beam thing to
create the force field and it's the tractor.
It's that actually, isn't it, that gives them the idea?
Why does Riket?
Why does it take Riker to now to realise he's infected when?
I mean, he never wants back strong, does he?
Like, no, but he's struggling against it.
But he only realises now, but didn't Beverly say, you carried her
in and then you touched me.
Maybe he thought he hadn't been...
This is the worst arctic scene of this episode.
It's Picard and Beverly. flirting over it.
Like, how is this Patrick Stewart has played for the RSC?
How is he playing comedy like this?
He's terrible.
Like, he's shockingly bad, but she's not calling you Beverly.
So naturally, you, oh, God.
Yeah, the dialogue is so leaden.
But she's much better than him in this scene.
Look at her wandering around trying to work out what she was
supposed to be doing.
And it's like, oh, that's right.
I was going to cure you.
Shawty.
Yes, great.
Patrick, hang your head.
All right.
Yeah.
No, you're being outacted by Gates McFatterson.
Not easily.
Oh, he's turned it into a repulsor beam.
Yeah.
So that's what they're going to do to get rid of the thing.
We have a use a repulsor beam ever again, you know, in Star Trek.
Well, I think we probably do.
We probably can tractor things out of the way.
Come on, Mr. Data.
Do you know, I do wonder, you know, if technology that's based on
a load of chips going in a wall.
I, yeah, I'm not sure that that's so good, is it?
Like that is pretty crap.
And they're just open.
Like what happens on the ship kind of tilts?
For a while, it's fibre optics, isn't it?
They use because that's a thing in the 90s and then it goes to the
gel packs.
There are isolinear controlled chips all the way through, and in
lower decks, there's one thing where they all, remember they have
to do that whole room full of them?
No, even better.
Do you not remember it?
11 little ship. when they're shrunk down and they have to go
inside and there's huge isolinear chips all around like a big
forest. they're going, how are we going to move it?
And they're trying to figure it out.
The massive isoline chip.
They ever look, his gate's doing a great job and look, Lavas
cured.
Suddenly.
Yeah.
Okay, so is he got to go around?
curing everybody else now.
No, she makes up.
She gives that to Picard to take down to engineering.
She does herself, which is doing great drunk acting.
And it... terrible, yeah?
And I don't drink alcohol very often.
So I'm usually quite lucid around people that are drunk, yeah?
They don't all become like, they don't all behave in a very sort
of childishly overstated way. like.
It's so weird.
And I know they're presenting it for television.
So it's a visual shorthand, but Jesus Christ.
No, no.
And as you point out, Patrick's doing a really shitty job of it.
Well, I think he's slumming it at this point.
He doesn't think...
Well, Joe's got a coach.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's it.
He's not taking the padlock off his suitcase, yeah.
That's right.
He hasn't moved all the things into the drawers in the chest of
drawers.
You know the story about him, like, and them sitting him down
towards the end of the season and going, Patrick...
Can you chill the fuck out?
Yeah, they have been serious, making this bullshit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ah, there we go.
It worked.
Good.
So Wesley saves the ship.
Wesley saves the ship.
He does it dangerous.
That's a hell of an explosion, though.
Boom.
Yeah, it's good, isn't it?
That's not the original, but it is pretty great.
It is good.
Yeah, just in the nick of time as well.
Two seconds more, they would have been gone.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But that's the point.
They were trying to buy just enough time for him to fix there. out
of the way. off and then the rock flies by.
Yeah.
And these stock shots, all of the shots, the exterior shots, that
guy's such, look how quickly he recovers.
He's doing a goofy phase.
And then he just goes, oh, yeah, okay.
There we go.
I'll go back to work Geordie, I hope you've had your shots, you
know, I feel feel back sitting in that chair.
I'll keep going on about it.
But that's, I'm very big on lumber support.
Yeah, they're terrible.
They are terrible.
I thought another great moment from Gates there where she goes on
about how proud she is of her son and again, he's doing a pretty
good job.
Um, yes, yeah.
And again, they're trying to lean into the Picard doesn't like
children thing.
Um, Jonathan Frakes look like a pop without a beard.
Yeah, I know he looks so young, doesn't he?
I like that.
And look, that's odd, isn't it?
Data smiles and shakes his hand.
This is off the moral of the week.
Okay.
Oh, it goes.
Now, look, we're going to have some wonderful adventures ahead.
As long as we don't, what is it, indulge ourselves?
To take temptation.
Like, what's that?
don't even know what that is.
So long as we don't boffy each other.
Well, at least say that, you know, because in series one of TNG
they do do that. jokes at the end, except they go, are you ready
for this?
It's even worse than music.
So at least I didn't end on a gag.
Yes, a crap joke.
Yes, but yes, this speech is so bizarre.
I think we shall end up with a fine crew.
What's that?
Like, who talks like that?
That's so bad.
And, you know, take a look around, all right?
Your crew are the horniest crew. their bulk their way through the
next 7 seasons.
Every time a delegate, every time a delegate comes on board, one
of them is sleeping with them.
Yeah, that's true.
Jesus Christ, that's true.
Actually, it's just Picard.
Oh, no, Vash.
Vash.
And what's her face?
I mean, most people on DS9 are in relationships, so they don't
really have a chance to be horny too much.
No, that's true.
Or just in certain prescribed parameters.
Then the stock shot of the enterprise heading off into the
distance.
Well, I have to say, now that did tickle both of the brain cells I
used to watch it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mostly because I was talking to you while I was watching it, but
oh, Jesus, Nathan, code of honours started.
Oh, no.
No, we've gone from C again.
Why didn't I mention that as something worse than this?
You know?
Planet League on two.
We've gone from utter horniness to complete racism. in a
heartbeat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Terrible.
Shockingly bad.
Yeah, so, like, I still, like I said, I maintain that there were
things there that I thought were kind of charming.
I think that the kind of bones of the story are there.
It's just that the performances and the fucking dialogue are
really bad, like really still quite bad.
But you can see what they're doing.
I maintained that DC Fontana made a wise choice when she took her
name off the script and didn't want that scene on her CV. exactly.
Although some of the other scripts her name are on.
I mean, come on, DC. Jesus Christ.
Well, you know, like she's 20 years further on in a riding career
for TV and is losing touch.
I think that happens to TV riders generally, as they get older
they get less good at it sometimes.
Oh, I'd forgotten, you know, you know, we were talking about Tasha
and her experiences with the rape gangs and how that sort of
informed her now.
And then in code of honour, the man, the head of the tribe has
just appeared and she throws him over her shoulder because he
threatens Picard.
And then later on in the episode, she goes, you know, he's so
dominant and in charge, I just find him absolutely intoxicating.
I just, like, she's she's obsessed with him because because he's
all man, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
What were they doing in series one?
So strange.
It's Jane.
It's just Jane being a creepy, horny.
But Norris Hurley's in there as well.
And he obviously goes at the end of two, where I think a lot of
the problems depart.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I think between, yeah, you don't have a gene coon here, do
you?
No, that's it.
Stabilising the ship.
Yeah.
And I think it's a, like we've said before, it's the pillar thing
where he comes in in 3 and makes the space problems be about
someone on the crew and that's the, that's the magic formula
finally.
I think.
Yes.
They haven't found the magic formula quite yet though.
Not at this point, no.
All right, it's the end of the episode, and it's time for us to
work out where we're going next.
This was my choice, reliably brilliant as always, and so it's time
for you to take control of the randomiser, Joe. Where are we
going?
Reliably brilliant, you say.
I think we should go and look back at your choices in the past, you
know, I think it may be 2 to one to me in the reliably brilliant
states.
Well, I'm going to take us across to Star Trek Voyager, which I
think is quite low down in the percentages.
Okay.
And you know, usually we go one of 2 directions.
I mean, generally it's, oh, God, what happened?
But occasionally it's wow, that was surprisingly rather good.
Okay, well, let's see where we get in here.
Oh, well, one we've covered.
Okay, well, one is that?
Had we not have covered, it would not have been good.
It was series 2, episode 15 threshold.
Oh God.
No, the Raven.
We've done that one as well, haven't we?
We have done the Raven.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Grief.
Okay.
I'm too scared to watch this one with you because I've got a
feeling you'll love it.
What is it?
Season five, episode five, once upon a time.
Oh, is that flutter and tree?
That's the one.
Nigelix takes Naomi Wildman into the holodeck.
Oh no.
Top I say again.
Yeah, go on.
All right, yeah, I don't want to do that.
Oh, this one is quite good.
Oh, we have done that, okay.
Yeah, no, this one I remember being really good at. a mic Vajar
directed episode.
It's part of the Hirogen arc, but the best episode.
Season four, episode 16 prey.
Oh, excellent.
It's the one where Species 8, whatever they're called, are...
8472.
Attacking the ship and the Hirogen are there trying to hunt it
down.
Okay, all right.
That sounds good.
It has a huge moral debate between 7 and Kate Mulgrew, and it's
just at the point where the 2 actresses weren't getting on at
all.
Really?
You can feel the tension in the air when they're really cross with
each other.
It's not quite a two-parter, is it?
It's a linked. 2 linked episodes, 100s of prey that introduce the
hierogen.
And then you get the 2 parcel that we've already done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we would have grown.
We will have done, you know, 3 quarters of the Hirogen.
Of the Hirogen art.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right, that sounds like a great choice.
Let's do that.
You've been listening to Entitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford
and Nathan Bottomley.
We're online at untitledstar trekproject.com where you can find
subscription links and links to our social media accounts.
Our podcast artwork is by Kayla Ciceran, and the theme was
composed by Cameron Lamb.
This episode was recorded on the 14th of October 2025 and released
on the 17th of October.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek Voyager, Gray.
I remember, you know.
Uh, that there's some real atmosphere in this one.
There's great shots of the of Species 8472 climbing on the
exterior of Voyager.
Um, and just wonderful, you know, like the hunting down the
corridor shots. of really well-witted atmosphere.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've said, because...
We were, remember, like, just a couple of weeks ago, like when I
was over there, we were comparing the gone climbing on the ceiling
to Species 8472.
It's like, see how it holds up.
It's going to be very impressive looking action until you think
about anything at all that has been done since then.
All 90s track, though.
That is really all 90s, right?
especially what we just watched, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
But I get like, yeah, he's good.
I do remember it, like, and I certainly remember that being a
thing.
That'll be good.
Tony Tolt is the herogen in that one.
Oh, that's cool. really great.
And it's a great one for Jerry.
I seem to remember.
Okay.
All right.
That's cool.
So, episode one?
into season four, is it?
Halfway through, I think.
Uh, 16.
Yeah. 16, okay.
16.
And it's sort of, you know, season 4 sort of Forager pulling his
act together.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And doing new things because they can.
I think that's good Yeah.
And that's just that lift that 7 brought for a couple of years
before they sort of overused her and...
Yeah.
Stop trying about, basically forgot about Roxanne, who is great.
Outrageous.
Let's see if she can get to see.
No, she's pregnant at this point.
So let's see if she's hidden behind consoles and things, you
know?
that big jacket that she gets.
Roxanne, you know, I think you look very fetching in this
engineering coat.
Oh, thank you.
The engineering coat.
So of those 1st 3 Star Trek says a pregnancy among the cast in H
one, isn't there?
Gates.
Yeah, Nan Roxanne.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They only wrote in one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Of course I did.
What happens in fascinations with Sid and her kissing.
Just like, it wasn't like that in real life, was it?
Like it kind of... like they're doing sort of like absurd comedy.
Again, it's the Midsomer Night's dream thing where they're just
kind of doing ridiculous comedy face sucking them.
Watch them kissing an Arman Bashir.
And that's that was the point where the relationship started.
Boy, 0 boy.
Then when she's dressed up as Colonel, come on enough.
KGB.
I can't wait till we do that. to do that.
That's gonna be so good.
That'll be good Karen in that one.
Oh, man.
Um, Ona McCormack, right, when she was talking about, uh, we, so
we did doctor, doctor was the bulk of the call, and then at the
end I wanted to ask her about that Star Trek and Deep Space Night
in particular, and it was just clear.
She could have gone on and on and on, but all she wanted to talk
about was Garak.
There you go.
But she was talking about, because obviously she's written a lot
of Star Trek books and she was saying that, you know, I just
didn't want to write, like, I've got sociology degrees.
I understand cultures.
She goes, so I wanted to take characters that have been presented
to me in a really vivid way and then explain how a culture could
create a character, which is why she does like a couple of Garak
books.
I must read those.
Yeah, she's great.
She's so funny.
I mean, normally when I do these interviews, I'm trying to make
them laugh.
She was trying to make me laugh in that.
God, she was funny. pretty good.
Yeah she was wonderful.