Hey, Joe. Hi.
So, we are back.
It's Deep Space 9 and for the 2nd episode in a row, we are doing
series 5, episode 6 last time we did.
Episode 6 of Voyager.
And this week at series 5, episode 6 of Deep Space 9, which is
trials and tripleations.
It 1st aired on the 4th of November 1996 as part of the
celebration of the 30th anniversary of Star Trek.
And we have already talked about it on the podcast because, of
course, we have done, um, trouble with tribles in episode 53, I
think, of untitled Star Trek project.
So I already know what you think of this.
What, this episode or the original episode?
Well, this episode.
Did I say in that episode what I thought of this episode?
Yeah, we talked about, we talked about it a lot.
I mean, I did just say what are the odds of us doing too, season
five, episode six.
I think the odds were about one to one because I manipulated the
randomiser to such an extent that I chose the season and I kind of
knew the episode and I kept pressing that button until I got it.
I've got something to confess to you now.
I do not regret that one bit.
Because I've already watched this episode several times this week
and enjoyed the hell out of it every single time.
It's really great, isn't it?
I really like it a lot.
In a way, I think I think there's some thing to be said for saying
that the original is pretty damn special, and I think the reason
for that is that it's the 1st time that we just do an out and out
comedy and it's really, really successful, and it's not just the
tribbles that are the thing, it's really everything, and
particularly it's Shatner and Nemoy are both really great in that
episode.
Shatner is astounding.
And this is not that.
Like, this isn't trying to recapture that exactly.
But what it is, is sort of an agreeable romp in the background of
that episode.
And so we have the sort of thinnest possible plot, don't we?
Like, um, um, put a bomb in a triple. which is just absolute
genius.
And in fact, what is great about it is that it ups the stakes and
it changes the nature of what's going on in the scenes from
trouble with shrivels that we're watching.
And there's a real sense too, in which this is them doing what
they can do with some fairly new technology and then inventing a
story around what they're able to do.
And it works really well.
It does have to be held up by having a framing narrative and by
having Cisco kind of step in and narrate the steps between the
scenes that we see.
Oh, come on.
The fact that temporal investigations exist at all, it's just...
It's so great.
And so that's a really, really funny opening scene and just a
brilliantly funny and clever closing scene.
Like it's so, so tremendously good.
And so you can't object to that at all.
Like, that's, that's...
I've heard people object to how thin the plot is and how
ridiculously simple it is to go back in time and things like
that.
I'm like, if you want all of these goodies, we have to get there
all right, and I'd rather that than some laborious technobabble
explanation. absolutely.
They do such a good job.
They do such a terrifically good job of just setting up a very
simple plot.
We travel back in time through the orb of time, which turns up in
a way that's completely consistent with the show's premise and
means that we don't have to faff about with an explanation for how
we travel back in time.
There's only one time in the past when we've done time travel
episodes where it's been even more brief than this.
So that was Assignment Earth.
Do you remember when they were just like, well, we just went back
in time and it's just the open scenes, right?
We can do that.
Okay.
You know, at least we use the all pier, you know, it's only going
to set up a part of the show.
And then you get like the, they've managed to get Charlie Breal
back to play on Darvin through the most amazing coincidence in the
history of Star Trek.
And he's great.
Like, he's really great.
He's actually much, much more fun in this than he is in trouble
with Tribbles, where it's a very sort of reserve performance.
And this is much, much more fun and much more genial.
He's out for revenge.
It's all very obvious what he wants.
We have to scan the enterprise.
We have to scan the station.
We capture Arn Darvin.
He gives up his plan immediately because the plan is so
brilliant.
Conceal a bomb in a triple in an episode where there's 100, like
100, 151,000 or whatever, that number.
That's got in every single one.
Which one's the problem?
He can just tell them what his plan is because he just doesn't
care.
They've got no hope of finding it.
It's so fun, but what it allows is just all of these terrific
scenes about Star Trek, like just original trek and how much we
love it, but just scenes to where we see the characters all
interact. everyone's on the defiant.
And so everyone has things to do.
We pair characters off.
We have just a hell of a lot of fun.
The genius of this.
It is a love letter to TOS. whilst showing you all of the best
elements of Deep Space 9.
And I'm so pleased they waited till season 5 or postseason 4
because this is the point where all of the relationships in the
show have matured and are reaping rewards.
It's the point where all of the actors are comfortable in their
roles and confident.
And so you give them lines like this and you give them situations
as absurd as this and they just run with it.
I mean, Terry Farrell in this episode. is just heaven, isn't she?
Lusting off the spot the way she does.
Well, in fact, what's really great about that is because she plays
the oldest character, you know, the character who's the oldest.
And so she's someone who lived through, what we call the era of
those old scientists, and she remembers it.
We didn't, we determined.
She was born in 96 or something in a recent episode, you know?
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
That's right.
We did work out.
So she's alive now, I think, probably.
But she remembers it.
And so she sees it like a Star Trek fan sees it someone who
watched it.
There were people like us watching Deep Space Night who hadn't
come to it through original Trek, but there were people who had
seen original Trek, and she's taking their viewpoint.
And the moment where she gets out the tricorder prop and she's
stroking it.
It's got like what looks like a little cathode ray TV in it and
she's talking about the classic 1960s design of it, although she
calls it the 23rd century design.
You and me talking about the original series.
Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly right.
Exactly right.
Now, because we're more familiar with it.
And so she is watching it as a Star Trek fan, someone who loves
Koloth.
You know, we met him in season 2 of Space 9.
Yeah, yeah.
So we already know about him.
All of that stuff is so enjoyable and she just looks so
magnificent in the in the uniform, everything, just gray.
On top of that, I think it's genuinely very funny as well.
And, you know, we've often said that DS Night is the only show
that really nails comedy in 90s trek.
And I think that the best writers of the comedy, and that's Ron
Moore, Ira bet.
They're all in here, aren't they?
They're all in it, right in lines.
They're all massive fans of the original series.
So they know what they're talking about, but they're all invested
in the DS9 characters as well.
So, you know, forgive me, it seems like your flaps open and that
scene between a Brian and Bashir in the turbo lift.
All of that stuff is just gold.
I mean, we're not going to have trouble watching this thing, are
we?
No, no, not at all.
It's terrific stuff.
It's really really great.
What I think is very rare is that this episode was highly
anticipated.
I remember.
I was a massive fan of DS9 at this point.
I remember DreamWatch doing a huge feature on the special effects
of like the green screen and stuff and pitches were coming through
with like Avery and Terry against blue backdrops and I was going
oh God, no, is this going to work?
How are they going to do this?
Because I hadn't really seen anything quite like that before.
And then when it came out. everybody. everybody loved it.
It got exactly the response they wanted, and now it sort of
lingers on everybody's kind of top 10 list.
It was a huge win for him, wasn't it?
It was a risk, but it was a massive win.
So they actually spend quite a lot of time making the sets.
I mean, we had had an Enterprise bridge, obviously, in relics, but
this is remade and vastly superior to the one that we see.
I just love wonderful.
I love Avery just there scanning the ship for bombs with that
panel of coloured lights in front of him, which I just wanted to
sit there and play with those.
They looked amazing.
Like it looks so...
Every time we go back to the defiant, I go, oh, this is so
boring.
Get back to the...
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it looks amazing.
It just looks incredible.
And and it's really faithful.
It's actually surprising how little they use the, um, you know
matting people into old footage.
There's not as much of it as you think.
There's a lot more intercutting between the original footage and
footage that's especially shown on the new sets.
The director is Jonathan West, who does a bunch of other deep
space nines, and he was a cinematographer before them.
And so he's actually using different film and different camera
lenses and lighting things differently in order to make sure that
it's seamless and it nearly is, I think.
I can see in my mind's eye other Jonathan West directed episodes.
He did the adversary, which is visually really good.
He did wrong, darker than death and night, and insisted on having
the sun coming through the windows because back in time, you know
Bajor and the station are right next to each other.
So visually, I mean, the attention to detail had to be perfect
here.
Remember, we're dealing with Star Trek fans, okay?
Yeah, yeah.
They've all got the manuals, you know, they'll have them all out
going, did they get it all right?
Okay.
And and, you know, like essentially, they have them wander around
the ship and they don't interact with the characters very much.
The tribbles aren't in it as much as you would think.
The tribles really only sort of come into their own, maybe 15
minutes before the end of the episode, and you aren't wondering
where they are.
It's, I don't know.
I just think it's terrifically, terrifically well done.
And the technology, which was just developing.
It was used in the Mambo Kings in 1992 and in Forest Gump in
1994.
And this is 1996.
You know, they can do it on a TV budget.
It was the most expensive episode of Star Trek at that point, I
think, all the way to the end of the season.
But it was worth it.
It was absolutely worth it.
I said to you in a message as well. that I think, I don't think
there's another DS line comedy that feels quite like this one.
The Ferengi episodes are usually sort of quite bawdy and a bit
political.
Stuff like, oh man, Bashir, it's stylish as hell, but all a bit
obvious.
Whereas there's a delicacy to this.
A gentleness to this.
I really, really like the DS9 doesn't lean into too often, but
because it's a massive nostalgia fest.
Of course they're going to go there with this.
And I think that I think the other thing to do was to make sure
that you were looking at Star Trek, the TV show, that this wasn't
about nostalgia for the 2260s or whatever.
Do you know what I mean?
Like it was actual proper nostalgia for the TV show that they were
celebrating.
And so when Voyager does its 30th anniversary thing, It fails to
engage with a TV show in any kind of worthwhile way?
squeeze a story in between a gap in continuity in Star Trek 6 by
bringing back Bryce Lee Whitney to deliver more than expository
scenes.
I mean, there's things about flashback that are good, though.
They do recreate those sets of the Excelsior and things like
that.
Yeah, but it's compared to this.
It's such a half-assed Star Trek episode, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That wasn't the most expensive Star Trek episodes today.
I'm telling you that now.
Almost certainly not.
I'm gonna get my one issue with the episode out of the way before
we press play because frankly, I just want to say nice things
about this.
Okay, good.
And that is Kira.
And so I'm blaming Sid entirely for this, for making her
pregnant.
So they didn't want to squeeze her into one of those original
series episodes.
And there's so many interviews where Nanar goes, you better
believe I got on that piano and some fever.
I didn't get anything to do in the triple episode, for God's
sake.
She's heavily pregnant at this point.
And so she's stuck on the defiant playing about with the orb of
time or something like that.
And I would have loved to have seen her sort of early season 4
with a Farrah false haircut that she had.
That's my only real issue is that Kira doesn't get to join in the
fun.
But, you know, she's pregnant.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, I think we should go in then in that case.
Let's do it I will count us in.
Five, four, three, two, one, and we're off.
Okay, so the Defiant.
No, it's not the Defiant.
It's, it's, oh, it's, okay.
It's the, uh, it's temporal investigation. temporal
investigation.
Dalmer and Lustley.
Yes.
And so this is my problem with the episode.
Oh, come on.
Why is not why isn't one of them a woman?
Oh, okay.
Yes, yeah, fair enough.
Because they're kind of a comedy double act, aren't they?
Like, they're wearing pinstripes?
You know, they're wearing pinstripes.
So they're bureaucrats, you know, from the Federation.
Uh, and they are properly funny.
I did love...
She's playing off a look from Nanar as well.
I mean, the idea the idea of triple investigations is funny.
The idea of when they hear Kirk's name, his name, 13 separate
temporal violations.
17.
Oh, is it?
Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
And and and the fact that they're sick of all these sort of time
loop bullshit themselves.
Do you know what I mean?
They're having to investigate this stuff all the time.
And it's kind of like, yeah, don't tell us it's a predestination
paradox. hate those.
Basically, you and me watching time travel episodes of Star Trek
going, oh, we've heard all this bullshit before, for God's sakes.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Oh, he goes.
Francisco goes, it may take some time. that a joke?
No.
Good.
We hate those two.
Yeah, that's right.
And we're getting the orb explained to us as well, which I think
is actually really good because this is a person who knows about
it explaining it to someone who doesn't know about it.
It's not just regulars explaining orbs to each other, which would
be kind of terrible.
Um, and so this framing sequence, apart from giving us these 2
guys, uh, and giving us the brilliant ending that this episode has
also lets us kind of skate over a lot of crap because they're
limited in what they can do because they're structuring this
around an existing episode and what they can afford to do with it
is Charlie.
Charlie Bro.
Human.
He's almost unrecognisable.
Like, it's like, you know, they got someone else to...
I didn't recognise him when I 1st saw it.
I mean, it took me a while.
And when you see him, you know, he is so contained, you know, and
and it's not just age.
It's, I described him, I think, in our episode.
I described him as being a bit more lived in, like his face is
just a little bit more lived in, a little bit more animated.
It's a really fun and funny performance.
He's a comedian.
You know, like he's, he's, he's playing much more to type than he
does in the original Star Trek as well, Nathan.
I deal with gemstones, kivas, and trillium, mostly, which is what
he said in...
No, trouble trickles.
Oh, God.
Well we'll do that again.
Oh, certainly.
Here's the lilac line.
Oh, so funny.
If I look on wharf's face.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just for a second.
Oh, I smell like lilac.
And then O'Brien goes, just sniff the air next time and you see
him and go, is that lilac?
And then Dax goes, oh, don't.
I've got my own ways to punish war.
Torture warf.
No, to torture my own place of torture.
She does.
I bet she bloody does.
Oh, yeah.
Of course.
Looking for Pomok was 2 episodes before this.
Ah, yeah.
I just started fucking together.
Okay, now we get the glowy orb glowiness, like it's telltale orb
glowiness.
Those of us who've watched Deep Space 9 will know that that's orb
shenanigans happening, which is quite well done.
You just get a single line from O'Brien about the energy around
the ship or something and that's it.
Yeah, yeah.
But also, what's interesting too, is that what's showing on the
view screen on the Defiance viewscreen is TV static.
Do you know what I mean?
We're about to tune into a television program.
My God, it's an episode of the original series.
That's right.
That's it.
And even the music goes.
It's terrific.
It looks so sexy as well.
Doesn't it?
Good, beautiful, Sean.
It's nice seeing it from below. you know, like you might in the
films.
Yeah, it was just sort of zoomed past, didn't it?
In the original series.
Well, in the animated series, it sort of came in horizontally.
No, there's one.
Don't you remember?
one where they're clearly, laboriously drawing each frame of it as
it turns around the corner in the opening credits.
When it goes in a straight line, it's the funniest thing.
I wonder if they could have done something with the music, the
title music.
I know it's not a Duke Space 9 episode, but so they had wanted to
do closing credits where it was like stills from the show, like
you know, and it's Baylock, and it's, you know, like they had
wanted to do special credits for it, but they weren't allowed to.
And they were told, this is run so far over budget. doing extra.
I would have just taken reaction shots throughout the episode.
You know, Dax at the start there when she went, oh, my God.
But then you would have a Baylock at the end, right?
Or the bone bar or something really terrible.
Look how terrible the aliens have got since the 60s.
Oh, I mean, just that though, right?
Just the glowing energy.
Oh, we're in the past.
Perfect.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's perfect.
Yeah.
No, no.
You just don't need...
Why would you need anything else?
Techno Bubble has, that is flash.
That is flashback.
Shoebox getting this image of a girl falling off a cliff.
Do you remember?
Oh, yes.
Help me, Tuvok, help me.
And they're sort of going through all the Tetla babble throughout
the episode to try and figure out what this is all about.
Who cares?
They do a very lower decks, little moment of technobabble here
which I'll try and remember to point out.
And I think you might even know what it is.
We have like 5 minutes of them figuring out, oh, so this is a plot
that TV episode from the past.
Let's get in the uniforms now and have some fun.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it is just hang time.
Again.
Okay.
So there have been 6 enterprises, according to one of them.
And it's not the NXO one, which wasn't even a glint in their eye.
It's that 1st contact comes out about 2 weeks after this.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
The man was a menace.
Captain Kirk.
Always enough.
I loved.
I love what nerds they are.
He says the Stardate.
They say how far back in time it was that the guy says on Friday
which is just... look how great K7 looks.
They had to rebuild it.
It's terrific.
It is terrific, isn't it?
Really cool.
Oh, come on now. get out of these boring defiant sets.
We've got the enterprise over there.
That's right Now, listen, don't watch this one first, all right?
They're revealing all the end of the trouble with triples, yeah?
The previous one.
Yeah, that's right.
So how is it used to the orb?
Oh, who cares?
Who cares?
it doesn't matter.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
She must have known about it.
Now I'm asking the questions.
Yeah.
Okay, so he's been eating it, I need to know.
Amiga life on Cardassia Prime.
But then, of course, the DS9 politics came in and the Klingons
invaded and now he's free.
Yep.
Well, because he said earlier on, he was thanking God that the
Klingons invaded because at least they knew how to make a good
coffee, and that's going to be a plot point later, that he knows
what Raktagino is, but no humans in the 23rd century know what it
is.
And that line where he's racist, because again, he's really old.
Do you know what I mean?
He's a 100 years old.
And so he's doing all this anti-Klingon racism and stuff like that
and how terrible the Cardassians are for drinking fish juice and
stuff.
I just love the fact that the linchpin of his life is that moment
where he was exposed by a triple.
That was the moment where his life went downhill.
Yeah.
I mean, of course the climax to this was always going to lead to
Kirk covered in those triples.
It was going to be something around that moment, right?
That's the iconic moment.
Absolutely it is.
Yeah.
Oh, and do you know, another complaint I have heard about this
episode is that the, obviously the 90s music isn't as fun as the
TOS music.
That's fair.
And it isn't, but they are having more fun here than they usually
do.
It's much less fun than the trouble with Tripples music, though
which is really fun.
Would you remember?
Yeah, that weird sort of alien music that they had. is, Yeah
you're right.
Oh here we go.
Yeah.
I don't know why, but everyone suddenly becomes more sexy when
they put on the TOS uniform.
Except Columnini, bless him.
Yeah.
Oh, the red, I think the red suits him, though.
I mean, Bashir looks fucking giving. stepped right out of a TOS
episode, doesn't he?
Yeah, doesn't he?
The hair is really great.
The English accent isn't, but the KO is really great.
You can see now his hair's plastered down there, just how much
he's receding.
Oh, see, it's got you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And they've given him spock style sort of pointed sideburns as
well.
Yes.
Yeah, well, they're the Star Trek signburns.
Absolutely the thing.
Nathan, I think I might be on the turn looking at...
I do like too.
Like, there is something, we get sort of fairly horny, um, Julian
in this, uh, in a, in like a few ways he wants to go off and go
and fuck his great grandmother in a few minutes time.
Oh, no.
But I do like his line.
Or is that just an excuse?
Yes.
That's what that is.
You're getting Una vibes from Dax.
I was really seeing number one, actually.
I mean, the beehive haircut.
I mean, why did it ever go away?
It's so great, and she's taller than Avery, because she's wearing
really high heels, and she's, so when they're walking through the
corridors to care, though.
She's kind of towering over him, which is pretty funny.
I just love how she's so excited and throughout the whole episode
he's just going, ducks, come on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
Oh, look at this walking around the Enterprise corridors.
So apparently, this is their 1st view of them, that when they open
the door and come through, they hadn't been on the set before.
So they've got like a proper life reaction.
Amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
Because it's incredible.
I'm not sure if I believe that, but it is pretty great.
You know me.
I like to do extra watch.
Did you see that woman there walking down towards the camera?
She had some swagger about her.
I mean, I...
Oh, every scene in the turbo lift with O'Brien and Bashir gold.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I really like the scene later.
Like, there's...
Like, there's some hilarious scenes.
There's that scene, this scene here now with, is it Ensign Watt
Lieutenant Whatley, who's about to come into the turbo lift, and
the fact that they can't make the turbo lift work.
It's over East Gaston, Deck 31.
Why isn't it working?
But isn't that a little bit like Scotty picking up the mouse on
the mackintosh and talking into it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, she's great.
She's got fantastic 60s makeup and like her hair and she is sort
of...
Do you see her?
Looking him up and down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
God.
I'm so pleased I transferred to this ship.
Good God. for swinging 60s.
Look at the gels.
Like, look at the green gels and stuff.
Like, wonderful.
The very simple control panels. just a door that...
It's so good.
Oh, really?
Look at her geeking out over the, over the beautiful.
It's like it's designed by brawn or something like that.
It does, it's got a little cathode ray tube in it and stuff.
I've never been stroked the way she stroked that piece of
equipment there, you know.
Oh, here we go.
Odo in K7s bar.
I wonder if that's going to be an altercation here later.
Well, again, because that's that's a pretty fun comedy set piece
and they've just decided we have to get our guys in that.
Do you know what I mean?
Like we have to... where they're doing a lot of the integrators.
And it's very fast editing, so you sort of have to pay attention.
Yeah, that's right.
And it's not, it's, there's actually very little special effects
there.
It is just intercutting new and old material, but they're having
to plan very carefully.
Uhura and check off walking past Odo, but they cut away from the
shot and have just 2 extras in the uniform.
That's exactly right.
So they're not clever.
They're not integrated in this.
We said, we said, this woman who's so great.
So everyone has little fairy wings on their outfit and so we see
an actual woman who's from the original episode.
This woman appears in the bar but isn't in the original episode.
But she's got, like, she's brought her tits with her, hasn't she?
Look at that.
I just love how she's always smiling.
Would you like something else?
Everyone looks ready to fuck in the 60s.
When did we get so serious in the 90s?
Yeah, yeah, it's funny, isn't it?
Because I think the people, I think the people on Enterprise and
Stranger Worlds are DTAF as well.
Did you see?
Oh, Nichelle looks so beautiful there.
Good grief.
And so we, that was a scene where we actually mattered Odo into
the background of that shot, which I think is pretty good, and
that's the 1st time we see it happen.
I did notice as well, and I'll try and point it out when I can.
They did do some clever shadow work as well when they were
integrating scenes together, which I thought they pulled off
pretty well.
Look at, look at that weird gift wrapped.
Jeffrey's shoot.
So that there's a problem with that that's not original, but they
couldn't get anything that really matched, apparently.
There's something on memory alpha about someone criticising it.
I think they brought David Gerald onto the set.
I think they brought David Gerald onto the set, who's really
positive about the episode, but he says, yeah, it didn't look like
that.
And they said, yeah, they've stopped making it.
Oh my god.
Hot Asian guy from the 60s.
Yeah, so this is the engineer.
And again, he's got a real wholesome all American boy kind of
accent, so he just seems like someone who was on TV in the 1960s.
Every single guest character in this who's supposed to be from
it's just so authentic, isn't it?
I don't think anyone feels like a 90s actor in this.
No.
And it's basically just those three.
Isn't it the waitress, this engineer in this scene, and Lieutenant
Whately.
I think this is really funny because, you know, we're humiliating
miles in this conversation, you know what I mean?
Like Miles can't cope with the stress.
Well, he's a cop, isn't he?
He goes, look at this.
It's all cross-punched.
It's one of Scotty's terrible botch jobs, you know, to keep it
going.
But I was actually there because he looked like he was scanning
with that tricorder.
Like, and I'm there going, that's a medical tricorder.
And then the engineer comes up and goes, that's a medical
tricorder, which is pretty quick.
And then it turns out that he's, you know, trailing poor old
lieutenant O'Brien, who's not coping with the stress at work.
Oh, he goes.
I hope you feel better.
That's great.
Oh, Brian, you can't talk about patch ups with technology, all
right?
That's all you ever bloody.
Oh, my God.
Well, in fact that's what Julian says.
We can't hear it.
But you could already hear the... of the tribles.
Watch when he hands it to wharf.
It just starts wobbling in his hand.
Oh, please.
There we go.
Tell me, Nathan, do they still sing songs of the great triple
hunt?
Do you notice that that's what we go to the 1st ad break is the
reveal of the trible?
Very dramatic one knows what they are.
Yeah.
You know what?
Bailey Wharf knows what they are.
They are an ecological menace.
You know, the great Klingon armado went to the triple homeworld
and obliterated it.
I love the phrase, the trible home world.
That's great.
I mean, like they're an intergalactic power.
This is what I mean about setting this in series 5.
You wouldn't have this Odo in series one or two.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's really funny in this.
And I mean, like, what is this doing?
This is actually setting up the reaction, isn't it?
Like it's setting up the the reaction that we will see the triple
having to um, um, Darvin at the end of the episode.
So we need to see it.
That's the job that it's doing.
We've always told that already, haven't we, at the start?
We sort of have.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But all of this stuff is just backstory about the triples, which
is just hilarious. like unbelievably...
So much comedy at this point, that when he holds on for triple or
goes, this, I'm more so enemy of the empire.
I talked about the head waggle that he does about the great triple
hunt, you know.
Very funny.
And actually, do you remember?
We did say one episode.
My God, in TOS, there's so many people in the corridors.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, they say that as well.
They say they really packed them in.
They really pack them in these old ships.
You know, I don't usually think that yellow suit.
Avery looks great, doesn't he?
Yeah, yeah, I think he does.
He looks really good.
I'd covered him in mustard any day, you know.
Oh sorry.
See, I'm in the 60s, it's getting real horny. so sorry.
I love Cisco to Defiant and he taps his chest and then he realises
and then he gets out the sexy flip thing.
And do you remember, do you remember Captain Pikes?
Um, response to learning that the, that, um, Boimler's
communicator was in his badge and he kind of goes, but the
flipping thing, that's the best part.
Which average reaction when he realised he sort of clicks his
fingers and goes, oh, of course, of course.
Oh, now Ducks, she wants to go over and fangirl over Coloff now
doesn't she?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Her old mate.
I'd love to see him in his prime, she goes.
So Carlos's dead at this point.
Isn't he the only one of those 3 Klingon survives blood?
It's cool, yeah.
Cor survives.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And then he dies in 07.
Yeah that's right.
Yeah, that's that speech, that speech that he gives about being
old.
Um, So, Coloth is back.
He, uh, so he's played by, uh, oh, I don't know.
John Coneyos.
No, that's cool.
No, no, no.
He's got a really boring name, but he doesn't pick our fans away
now, haven't we?
Yeah, I know.
He doesn't appear in this episode.
You can go back and listen to us name him in episode 53.
But what you said there about Dax being the Star Trek fan.
Yeah, that is exactly what a tier.
Oh my god, I would love to see Cor, you know, and it's yeah
exactly.
This beautiful Klingon ship just coming in front of the camera
there too.
So great.
But it just reminds me as well, the simplicity of the design and
the colours that they use.
It's just so much more appealing to look at, the 90s trick.
But the gels.
Look, there's a splash of pink on the wall there and a splash of
green and a splash of yellow for like no reason at all, except
that it looks amazing.
Oh, he is Ensign Whatley again.
Nathan, your flap's open.
That is so great.
I think doesn't he look down as well.
Excuse me?
And this is the one where O'Brien gets back at Julian for
humiliating him in the interaction with the engineer, because he's
always doing that.
And this is their relationship, right?
They love each other, but they're always sniping at each other and
getting one up over on each other.
Yes.
Because doesn't he say, yeah, she's just using you to get to me?
Yeah, all right, column.
All right.
I'm looking at Sid right now.
I don't think that's the case.
He looks beautiful.
I thought we would see her ass as she walked away, and I have to
say, I was a little bit disappointed.
That makes me a sexist old man, I'm afraid, but, you know, that's
a thing. be destined to go and meet her tomorrow and become my own
great grandfather.
I've heard some excuses in my time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's the singer is him going, I can't wait to see when we get
back to Deep Space 9, you find out that I never existed.
No, Brian goes...
That would be quite nice.
I wouldn't have to go through the storyteller for one.
Yeah, I mean, I think this is a slightly odd.
I think this is slightly good.
That thing, are you ready to transport, Chief?
Oh, yeah, are we ever, which I think...
So you love it when they rat out Odo and Worf as well and go, oh
how interesting.
You've been waiting in this bar all day while we're crawling
through Jeffrey's tubes.
Oh, no, here we go.
Here we go.
We're about to have Kirk and Spock.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But again, you know, we're sandpapering.
Sorry, we're wallpapering over this with another, um, another here
they are.
Here they are.
Wow.
Those eyes, Nathan. the 10 Klingons.
I wasn't aware that 10 Klingons constitutes a swarm.
So great, so good.
Because Mr. Barris, who doesn't really properly make it into this
episode because he's not important.
If you want to see him, you can always go back and watch Trouble
with Tribbles.
But the interactions between Kirk and Mr. Barris are so funny all
the way through that episode.
He's so annoying and Kirk is so so kind of annoyed by him.
Cisco's like, 0 my god, she's got to fuck Spock.
Let's go.
Yeah, he's trying to tie you around the way the grabs are.
Yep, we're going.
Let's go.
And that, there you go.
There's a second.
That's a really nice shot of them just walking away.
There's no panel on the on the wall in the original shot.
So they aren't standing.
They're not matted into a shot.
The whole wall is matted into the shot behind them and it's just
terribly well done.
This is literally what I would be saying to you, Nathan, I can't
believe you don't want to meet James Kirk.
And we go to the street.
I want to ask you about fighting the Gorn on Cester's 3.
God on Cestus 3.
So do I. Yeah.
I mean, this was the only way to do this right is to have one of
the characters be utterly enchanted with the original series.
And it has to be Dax.
Do you know what I mean?
Because she remembers the 60s, you know?
We didn't remember the 60s when we were 1st watching this, but
some people did, and Dax is one of those.
It's pretty great.
They put the Klingons in the background or the bar already. set up
this gag.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
It's really great too.
I mean, they're not the original Klingons at all.
They're, you know, they're new people. and, uh, there will be
shots of the original...
It is slightly different, right?
It's still bad.
It's still appropriate, either way.
That's a lovely shot, but shareholding the chair and then Scotty
comes in the door.
Yes, I think so too.
I think it's really well done.
And again, there's another, that's another sort of shot.
It works really well.
It's like a proper, like it's not a, it's not a showy effect
shot.
You know, it is just people walking behind people, but us watching
it are kind of going, wow.
These are the bad Star Trek fans going, you sure that's James
Kirk?
It doesn't really look like it. does it?
It's so great.
Oh, look, we can't risk altering the timeline.
We can't go up and say hello to him, sorry.
Yeah, and it's also not him.
He a lieutenant.
And he was sexy.
He was shaggy, stunt double, especially, apparently.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Easy a couple of episodes.
Over there, Nathan.
And over there.
Kelly on's where?
What?
Where?
All right.
You boys have had enough. all right?
I'm cutting you off.
It's just how they all lean into warf.
And he's already anticipating that.
We had that reaction shot of him going, oh shit, they're about to
ask.
And then they whore react and we do the only thing that we could
possibly do, which is, it's a long story.
Which, yep, let's just go with that.
Oh, she suggests it was a viral mutation and Worf just quickly
goes, we don't talk about it with outsiders, all right?
Yeah.
So, no, we have, was it genetic engineering?
Was it a viral mutation?
Like, it's like Mariner coming up with like 5 different possible
Star Trek explanations for this thing, and they dismiss both of
them, except until Enterprise series 4, where we discover it's
both genetic engineering and the viral mutation.
It turns out...
This is how you do it, all right?
We don't need a 3 part to explain it.
We absolutely don't.
It's a TV show.
I mean, this must have taken some planning to have this fight
that's coming up with both sets of characters in it.
Yeah, and I think they pull it off sublimely.
Yeah, so this is, I think this is Korax.
Is that the name of this Klingon?
The rude one who's taunting?
Oh, no, the Enterprise should be hauled away as garbage.
He's very camp, isn't he?
So he's...
Nothing is as camp as Bashir nursing his hand in this scene after
he throws...
Oh, yeah, when she does his shoulder?
That the funniest visual gag for me.
We talked about this fight when it was just on the Star Trek
episode rather than on Deep Space 9.
Hey, the funny thing is, Korax, that Klingon is actually in the
Tribbles episode of TAS as well, but he's played by Jimmy Dewan
just like everyone. on that stupid show.
He's the entire cast of the animator series.
I think we're doing quite a good job.
We just intercard...
Oh, there we have the chair being thrown in front of Miles while
is it Cyrano Jones walks behind them or something like that?
So there is a little bit.
There's a little bit of it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. when he does, but the other bit that I really
like is when Chekhov pummels that guy, like a bunch of times, these
pummels him in the stomach, we're just saying, and then he just
gets thrown across the table.
They realise to make this fight work and to integrate our
characters because they're all doing comedy fighting, ours have to
do it as well.
Yes, exactly.
It's really important.
It's throwing people across tables.
It's doing sort of silly stuff like that.
Klingons bouncing on the floor, you know, and falling over and
then we get a shot of, you know, the guy who's not Kirk throwing
people in a similar way.
Yeah, yeah, people leaping in front of... doesn't he?
The man's got his drink there.
Yeah, yeah, he's met it in new Charlie Bill. like he sticks his
head around and then they notice him.
Wolf.
Oh, no, goes, we've got to get after him, and wharf still throws
somebody over a table.
There's still time for that In fact, there's a 2nd waitress is an
extra who they just have dressed up as the waitress from the scene
in the in the 60s as well.
So again, they're not using special effects.
They're just reshooting things and, you know, recreating things
just beautifully and intercutting between them. space nine.
Go back to the bath, please.
Oh, does it look brown and gray?
Oh, dear.
Normally I'm so happy to be here, but not this week.
So they, I mean, why do they get involved in this fight?
Um.
Well, because they can.
I don't know.
Because it's really fun.
Like, that's literally the only reason is it's an incredibly fun
and memorable fight.
One of a great things about 60s Star Trek is the fist fights
because they're a cheap way of doing action.
This was a particularly propulsive fight with, you know, people
rolling on the bar and being thrown across tables and all of that
sort of stuff.
And so let's have our guys in that fight.
That would be amazing. for the writers and the characters is it's
just fun.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's very definitely that.
And then I think once they do the fight, they go, oh, holy shit, we
could Matt, Julian, and shut us into that.
Shadow of Kirk on O'Brien.
That's really well done I think.
No.
I think that's really well the way sells it to me.
Yeah, I, there's just some moments where you can see the, I don't
know what it is they're doing and how to describe it, but that
there's one or 2 moments.
That's one moment that doesn't quite land for me.
Another moment is Dax bending down so that she fits in the shot
when she's on the bridge, which I just sort of think is weird.
And then, and also Avery slumped in his chair.
You were complaining.
People weren't showing off their asses.
And when they do, you complain again.
I think she was showing off her arse at least.
Now we pretty great.
Now we get to the trible and we're 15 minutes from the end of it.
He's trodden on the tribble and he feels sort of slightly bad
about it.
Then we look around the corner.
And so this is our 1st the tribbles are breeding.
Now that's shot, the tribles in the corridor.
Was that from the original or is that freshly short?
I can't tell.
Which shows me how well they're doing this.
Yeah, yeah, it is amazing, isn't it?
It's really good.
Oh, this is the bit where Charlie Bro gets to really camp out.
I see myself with Kirk's head in one hand and a tribble in
another.
And you kind of wonder why he's saying that and I guess it's
because he has this grudge against the tribbles because they outed
him back, you know, the 1st time around here.
Can you hear yourself?
He has a grudge against the triples.
He does?
The triple betrayed him.
And so that's why he puts a bomb in a tribble.
It's justice. so ridiculous. love it.
But it also gives us a chance for Dax to say the spot line about
how many tripples there are.
So we realise, well, it don't matter if it's told them because
there's so many of the bloody things.
That's exactly right.
That's what's brilliant about it.
And of course, when Spock comes up with that line later, and she
looks across at, at, you know, at Cisco and just raises her
eyebrows, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm as good as Spock.
Please remember that. that's right And we're both equally hard for
the same reason.
Oh, that is a great Avery.
He put a bomb in a triple.
It's so ridiculous.
Oh my god.
It's wonderful.
It's so good.
We love it when Star Trek is silly, though, don't we?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's perfect.
It's just so good.
I think Anne Darvin in that scene is wonderful.
Like he's absolutely great.
And compared to how sort of scared and young and contained he is
in the original show.
It's terrific.
I think it's great.
So that's it now.
We've got to try and scan all the triples on the Enterprise.
All the triples on the station.
Yeah.
So, and see how simple it is?
Like we had to look for, um, we had to look for Charlie Brill on
the Enterprise.
We had to look for Charlie Brill on the station.
Now we have to scan for the tribble on the Enterprise and scan for
the tribble on the station.
But it's because it's the barest excuse for us just to be in the
original series, isn't it?
Exactly right.
That's exactly right He went, I think Mr. Worf should stay here.
It seems he's allergic to triples.
It's pretty great.
Oh, God away. love how he closes her down as well.
Oh, now we're on the bridge.
Oh gosh.
Do you remember how much not fun we were having with whom gods
destroy?
I mean, imagine if they gone back to that one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if they've gone back to the savage curtain?
Oh, yeah, let's see.
She does have a bum out.
She needs to get her skirt down a bit more.
Good grief.
Ah, that's so cute where she looks across at him and just goes, you
know, like her reaction shots are on point in this, aren't they?
Yeah they really are.
But like now we're having, you know, her having a reaction shot
with Kirk.
They were just in the scene together, but now they're interacting
with each other, which is really great.
Have you noticed how this bridge suit is?
Is a bit fuzzier than the others?
It's not as clean.
It doesn't look as cleaned up.
No, you're right.
It is it is fuzzy.
Actually, no, look at Daxia.
That works.
Oh my god, it's so good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, that's right.
I think, you know, the scenes on the bridge.
Even the ones that are shot now on the new bridge set with our
with our cast are also a bit grainy as well so that they match the
other scene.
I suppose that's expense as well, isn't it?
Well, I think so. footage looks worse than it actually is.
Well, it's just using different lenses and different film stock in
order to have more grain, I think, is what's happening.
Look at all those coloured buttons, look, they look like gemstones
don't they?
You don't look at me, it's the tribles who are breeding.
Oh, Fax goes, I knew him.
I thought he'd be a doctor.
He had the hands of a surgeon.
It really struck me this time around how unsexy that is, though.
I don't want to be thinking about surgery.
I really think about McCoy.
McCoy is failing me up.
I mean, I hear he was quite a ladies man, but, you know, come on
now.
OD or McCoy?
McCoy.
Yeah, he's had his fair share of women for out TOS, you know.
Okay.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
I see what you're saying.
He's being pervy whilst doing his work.
But I also like the thing with the, um, they appear to be born
pregnant, that line, which I just, now.
Okay, this is so this is...
This is the most ridiculous moment where we just scan very slowly
over a load of purring, wobbling tribles and eventually land on
the bomb.
The one that's not moving and that's the bomb.
And I just think that's a wonderful break.
The way they're sort of purring about there.
They eat in the grape.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, because the grain's poison and they'll be dead
remember?
But also by the time that Dax and by the time that Dax and Cisco
are in there, it looks heaps different because there's many, many
many more tribles.
Look how many they're all real.
I mean, Jesus Christ.
The barman with the tribble on his head, surrounded by tribbles in
that shot in the background there, um, we are going to get that
recreated in 90s track at the end of the episode.
I suppose we could build a new station, you know?
I think that ending is spectacularly.
I mean, did you hear they were being Nick's left, right, and the
centre?
They had to keep making new tribbles because everyone on the
production team was nicking them.
Just go to a convention, man.
I've got one myself It is quite soothing, you know.
Sometimes I stroke it before I go to bed.
Yeah, the triple's not one of the little puppet ones.
So yeah, Avery in the chair as we walk in.
Look at me oddly.
Look at this one's glued on the wall.
The ones in his coffee.
This is my chicken sandwich and coffee. coffee, coffee.
I want things off the ship.
So funny.
Like his delivery is so great.
I mean, they have put in all the best scenes of the original
episode, haven't they?
No, because there's so many excellency.
It's like they've put in a couple of really great representative
scenes.
But there's much less of it than you think.
There's a triple on top of...
Cisco's board game there, did you say?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right, quick.
To the grain.
Meanwhile, in case seven.
So there's even bread during that scene.
We can't see any of the floor.
Like, there were less ones before we went to the ad break, right?
I mean, it mush it, Avery, kind of work.
So, what have you been, darling?
What have you been up to today?
Poor old Terry doesn't quite get the pronunciation of the word
tricobalt right there.
No, but she does throw a triple out the hole and smack Kirk in the
head.
I mean that is so clever.
And obviously we needed to see this because this is the iconic
moment, which is, you know, he opens the bay door and gets covered
in tribbles and for some reason just stands there while they keep
you know, while they go up to chest hide on him.
But for like a visual, for official joke to land, you have to time
it perfectly and the way she casually just throws it over her
shoulder.
And then it smacks him in the head.
And then yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so and so those were always those stray tribbles that some
stagehand was throwing out of the thing all the time.
And they've looked at that.
The writers have looked at that and said, oh, we have to make it
Dax throwing that at him.
You know, this had happened all that, like that one, because Avery
threw one and then we can't to one landing on Kirk, and there's
another one coming out.
Look at his resignation.
Oh boy.
They seem to be gorged.
On my grade?
So Dax throws throws one here too that hits him.
We...
Spock gets the line.
771,569.
That's wonderful.
Did you know what, right?
Actually, no, even camper is the scene of the bomb flying through
space.
It's so good.
It's so great.
The music goes all sort of...
It's the explosion that tells it.
It's so good I'm sorry to lose the tricorder, though.
It is great.
Yeah, they should have taken some tech back with them, shouldn't
they?
Yeah, they should have.
Never mind.
We do like the DS9 sets.
Don't get me wrong, but...
No, no, no, they're good.
They are great, but yeah.
There it is.
Oh, the tricorder.
Oh, it was in pieces.
Yeah, it exploded too.
Oh, well.
Kira was like, he was dead anyway.
I'm having no fun at all over here, all right?
And second, close that door.
Oh heaven.
And there's the problem solved.
You see?
And then we quickly see we cut to Darvin being outed.
Hey, I don't want you Mr. Donald.
Mr. Darvin.
I wonder why.
Oh, this like, Jim, this matters a Klingon.
Very serious.
Do you know, I'm not sure I can be objective about this.
In any way.
It's great.
I don't think it needs to be injected about it.
I'm not sure.
I wouldn't be critical of that.
In my usual sort of a way.
Wow, because it's so ridiculous but I'm just loving it.
But it's like the original episode is great.
It's brilliant.
This gets us to relive some of it, but also to just have funny
hang time with, you know, fun dialogue and stuff.
This is awesome.
Cisco is a big trek geek after all.
Yeah, yeah.
He's fanboying over Kirk here.
So this is from Mirror Mirror this scene.
Look at the show.
She's 83 and gone, oh, my God.
He looks delicious.
Well, yes, quiet.
There's a parent I could get behind, you know?
So in Mirror, Mirror, it's an attractive woman who hands him the
pad, and then that's him looking, oh, that was an attractive woman
but he doesn't.
Why is she all looking at her then?
Yeah, well, she's pretty, I don't know.
Oh, yeah.
You're pretty, but no, it's pretty as me as well.
That's it.
I quite like how the guy says, yeah, actually, I would have done
that.
That's fine.
And then the other guy, the taller guy, is actually a bit cross at
him and he's about to have a go at him.
Do you know what I mean?
When they leave.
I like the fact that as soon as I kind of like, oh, my God, did we
get away with it?
get away with it.
And that's the other thing.
Because what I really like about that is that it does that trick
of completely reinterpreting what's going on in the framing
narrative because that's always the fun thing about a framing
narrative is when it starts to have its own kind of narrative as
well.
And so this looks like him explaining the thing, but it turns out
everyone is aware.
And it's this brilliant, brilliant thing that they've brought one
back with them and it's multiplied.
We have to have the contractual obligation saying from Armond
Shimmerman yet.
Where is he?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He doesn't say anything.
No, but he does have a triple on his head.
So good.
It's so good. it is taken from the original episode.
Look at Morn, who's got 3 in his hand.
He's talking goes.
Why do you know he's talking to?
Oh, what a fabulous shot.
It's so good.
And then the other thing which is obviously the right thing to do
is that we never mention it again.
You know what I mean?
Like we've accidentally, because we've done a bad timeline thing
because the tribles were extinct, right?
Wharf says, that's why we have that speech, isn't it?
Because they've made them extinct.
The wharfs, the wharfs, the, the, the, the, the Kleons killed them
all, and now we've brought them back by mistake because of our
trip through time.
It's exactly the sort of thing they would have got in trouble
for.
Tell me, Nathan, do they still sing songs of the great DS9 triple
hump?
What do you think they do?
They just flash them all out there.
I like to think that they all get sent away to the, what's that
institute called that they always go to the scientific one?
Daystrom Institute.
Yeah, they all ended up there, you know?
Or in one of those zoos that sometimes have people in them.
Is there an episode set after this with triples where they're now
in the future?
Yeah.
So we've now done 3 triple episodes on Untitled Star Trek
Project.
We've done this.
We've done the original Trouble with Tribbles, and we have done
Trouble with Edward from Short Tracks.
There is an animated series one, which I can't remember the name
of, and I keep getting the name wrong.
I think it's called More Troubles, More Tribbles.
Um, and then there's a season 2 prodigy episode, which is called A
Tribble called Quest, and it's a standalone episode.
Like it's a fairly standalone episode.
They're on a planet with giant tribbles and there's a Klingon
giant triples.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. small and big ones, but including giant ones.
And there's a Klingon geneticist who's experimenting on them for
some reason.
I can't remember why.
So we do we do have 2 more Tribbles episodes left, including one
set. in the late 24th century.
I mean, we do have to eke them out because if we do it too often
then I think it loses its lustre when we do do it.
But every time they do it, it's amazing. no matter what show
touches the triple.
No, that's right. no way. hang on. animated series one's pretty
bad.
Did we do that one?
No, but I watched it to prepare for Trouble with Tribble, so I
have seen it recently.
Very, very bad.
Yeah, it's pretty bad.
It is written by David Gerald, but... terrible.
It really was half arse that show, wasn't it?
They do the scene where, you know, Kirk sits on the treble.
In this scene, he goes to his chair and there's just like one
giant massive tribble on the chair because he has giant tribbles
in it as well.
So he can't sit on the chair.
Also, he's a cartoon character who can't sit down.
Do you know what?
One thing that I, and well, one of many things that I've taken
away from untaught of Star Trek Project is I never really used to
go to DS9 for the comedies, and I always knew the comedies were
pretty good, but I like DS9 for its arcs, for its running
storylines, for its space battles, for all of these other things.
The more we watch these comedy episodes.
Bada bing, bada bang.
Take me out to the hola suite.
You've seen little green men recently.
We've now done trials and tribulate, and we've got some absolute
zingers still to come, comedy wise.
They really nailed them, didn't they?
in a in a decade of Star Trek that generally produced dismal
comedy that really managed to get them right.
I think the dialogue in 90s striking is sort of really very
functional and like there are occasionally good gags and
occasionally really great lines and more in deep space 9 than in
any of the others, I think, easily.
You've got people who can write really funny dialogue and do
really good jokes.
Nowadays, Star Trek tends to be kind of very serious, but they can
do really funny lines and more sophisticated dialogue, I think.
I think they integrate comedy into the serious episodes now, though
very confidently.
Whereas back then it would be a banter scene between Tom and Harry
and you becoming... which is just awful.
Yeah, shockingly embarrassing.
Yeah.
They should remembered to keep humour simple.
You're flaps open.
You know, things like that.
All right, it's the end of the episode and it's time for us to
work out where we're going next.
Normally, if you choose a really good episode, then it's my job
obviously, to ruin it and vice versa sometimes.
You only normally do that in one particular way.
Yeah.
Well, look, I mean, I did check our coverage page before we
started recording and we are actually a little bit behind on
Enterprise, but I'm not going to go there because I think we're
having a successful 90s Star Trek run.
And so I'm going to go to Star Trek the Next Generation.
Oh, are you going to pick a season?
I haven't done this before, so I'm going to.
I'm gonna pick seasons three, four, and five.
Wow, the imperial phase.
Okay.
The imperial phase.
Okay.
So let's see what we can do.
Let's see if we can get a kind of hat trick of some kind happening
here.
There's still some dogs in there, you know. absolutely.
Yes, yes.
All right.
Okay.
I'm going to press the button.
Here goes.
Ooh, see, this is the sort of thing that happens.
It's not top tier, but it is the imperial phase. your random... not
season. 5 episode six, is it?
No.
You're a random Star Trek The Next Generation episode is season
three, episode 21 Hollow Pursuits.
What the hell is that?
Barclay, it's the 1st Barclay episode.
It's not the goddess of empathy episode, is it?
Absolutely it is.
Do that one.
It was so funny.
Yes.
Get right to it, Mr. Broccoli.
Oh, God.
I mean, it is great.
It's a good episode.
It is pretty great.
Do you want to press it again though?
Well, I do.
I feel like I haven't.
Well, I've never used this feature before.
You see, I've never selected certain seasons of a show. so.
It's just Marina's reaction when she sees herself on that swing.
It's so funny.
Okay, no, Nicole, let's keep going for a bit.
Okay, okay.
That would be great, though. is pretty good.
Okay.
Oh, this is a bit more boring.
So this is season three, episode 10, The Defector.
The Defector.
So it's a Romulan defector.
Oh, it's James Sawyer.
It's the fellow who plays Odo's dad.
Dr. Boyer.
Yes, he plays the wrong one.
That's a good episode, I seem to remember.
It is a good episode.
Very serious, though, after all.
It's very procedural, but it is a good episode.
Again, this is the era where you know, things are generally good.
No, I think we should try it and do a season 4 episode, you know.
We've had such great luck with four.
Okay.
Oh, this is one.
This is one that I don't really care for very much, but it is
season four.
Your random Star Trek, the Next Generation episode is season four
episode 19, the Mth degree.
What's that?
That's Barclay gets...
Have you got a Barclay filter on this?
No, but I mean, this is the Barclay era.
It's his 2nd episode.
I think.
Is it the one where he's got the...
Can he become super smart?
Oh no.
I'm not embarrassed.
Yeah, if you, Preston the Baron.
Do I?
No, if this is...
Well, this is the wounded, which we've already done, season four
episode 12, which we did way back in episode 38.
Which we liked, but we had some reservations of our...
The next one is Tin Man, season 3, episode 20.
It's got the mayor from Buffy as a beta Zoid.
He's got the sort of the black contacts in, hasn't he?
yeah I don't know the Star Trek Imperial phase as well as off a
lot.
I mean, it's okay.
It's okay, but, you know, again, a bit serious.
Okay, whatever's the next one now.
I'm feeling fluttering as I'm embarrassed. starting to feel
flooding. all right.
Let see how we go.
Oh, this is pretty good.
Your random Star Trek, the Next Generation episode is The Minds
Eye, season four, episode 24.
This is terrific.
It's Jordan when he's been bucked, isn't it?
And he's walking around the ship.
Cementaryan candidate.
Yeah. under the control of the Romulans, I think. sort of starting
to get politics right in TNG.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's got some sort of interesting visuals as well because
there's lots of POV shots. of Geordie Pfizer.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What do you think?
Or we could do one more.
Oh, go on and do one more.
Yeah.
Okay. don't know why.
We've chosen good and bad here so far.
Okay, how about this one?
Season 5, episode 19, the 1st duty.
Did I say we wouldn't be doing another back-to-back banger?
That is a terrific remorse script.
It's really good, isn't it?
Probably the best Wesley episode.
They ever did it.
Yeah, let's do that one.
It's really good. really good.
It introduces Ensign, oh, cadet, Sato, who then goes into, yeah
yeah.
Lower decks, Sato, sorry, yeah.
Yeah, oh, that's a wonderful episode.
Yeah.
Let's continue our run.
I think we should con ourselves into thinking that 90s trek was
nothing but absolute bangers. of episodes, a banger every week.
Yeah.
I promise you I'll take us somewhere truly terrible after that
though.
I'm looking forward to it.
You've been listening to untitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford
and Nathan Bottomley, where online at untitled Star Trek Project
com, where you can find subscription links and links to our social
media accounts.
Our podcast artwork is by Kayla Ciceran, and the theme was
composed by Cameron Lahne.
This episode was recorded on the 7th of April 2026 and released on
the 10th of April.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek the Next Generation, the 1st
duty.
Where did I say I was good?
Oh, no, I was gonna go do the whole lot, didn't I?
Do the whole thing.
Moving in the Enterprise episode.
Yeah, first shooting, yes.
Yeah, I've watched it recently.
In fact, I'm surprised that I've watched it recently and I think
that the worst Robert is amazingly good in it, like surprisingly
good.
And like a really good character too.
It's the dad.
The dad always gets me in that episode.
Like Jake's dad.
Yeah.
Do you...
Because remember that Nick Lucano goes on to be the villain in
Series four, I think, of Lower Decks?
Did you know that?
I couldn't remember, but...
So, so it's the worst Robert, playing Nick Lucano on Lower Decks
and he's the villain in Lower Decks.
And, um, and we see a flashback to Starfleet Academy where little
Ensign Mariner, who's a 1st year, goes up to the Nova Squadron
people, including Cito and Wesley and, and, um, and Nick Lucano
and the other guy, um, and, like, his fangirling about, about it.
And we later, and so, which is kind of perfect because that, like
Mariner is friends with Cadet Cito, um, and then is the lead of
the show that's named after the episode that she next sort of
features in.
Um, but that's kind of heartbreaking, like it's properly good, you
know, like you, um, There's only, there's only one missed
opportunity, I think, with the 1st duty.
Um, and they start going down the route and then they pull back
from it where it's uh, Beverly going, you know, no, we're going to
fight for you.
How dare they accuse you of these things and all they wouldn't
have done it.
Afterwards, I just, they'd need to be a good scene where she's let
down by them.
And I don't think we really get that.
No, because it's about the relationship between him and Picard
isn't it?
Like it stops being about his mother.
Like his mother leaps to defend him, but we don't really care
about her.
Do you know what I mean?
That's kind of like set dressing or something or that's the
opposite of what we should be doing.
Like she's doing the wrong thing.
It'd be so interesting to do an episode set in the academy as well
after Starfleet Academy, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that'll be good.
Yeah.