Final Mission
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Series 4, Episode 9
Stardate: 44307.3
First broadcast on Monday 19 November 1990
Episode 198: Final Mission
Recorded on Tuesday 18 August 2026 · Download Episode 198: Final Mission (62.3 MB)
Transcript
Hey, Joe. Hi.
So, we are back aboard the Enterprise, the Enterprise D for an episode of Star Trek, the Next Generation.
It's season four, episode nine.
We're in the midst of Star Trek's Imperial Phase, and this is Wesley's last regular appearance on the show.
It's final mission.
No, don't get rid of Wesley.
I mean, he's just got good in this show.
After 2 seasons of B&D. In fact, that was the thing that struck me most about this is now he is older.
I think he is pretty good in this episode.
And he's not really called on to do anything sort of particularly interesting, but I found myself actually really quite warming to Will and his performance in this.
I mean, it is baffling because you go back and watch Stamp By Me, one of the very 1st roles he did, and it gives an incredible performance in that.
So I don't know what happened in the 1st sort, 30 episodes of Star Trek, the Next Generation.
Maybe it's the writing.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Oh, Nathan, this was a bit dull though, wasn't it?
Let's be honest.
I mean, I think there's a great scene in this and that comes at the end when Wesley and Captain Picard talk to each other and he says about how you're going to have a great time and I'm kind of jealous.
You're going to have a great time in the academy.
But on the lead up for that.
I was searching this episode for some substance and there just was none.
None in the concept of the week, which is how do we get into this drinking fountain, none in the subplot, which is a ton of tedious technobabble, and no characterisation whatsoever, as we try and solve space problem of the week, conceptualised with, as you're going to talk about, the most Beaumarish of Beaumar, single aliens.
We don't even see the populace.
Do we even go to the planet?
I don't think we do.
We just think that one hideous person going, oh, God, things are terrible here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So they themselves, like when when you look at what people say about this on memory alpha, people are kind of broadly positive about this, and Jerry Taylor said that she went to a great deal of effort to ensure that Picard and Wesley had a decent final scene.
And I actually think that that final scene is the only character scene there and is really cheesy.
Do you know what I mean?
Like it's really, really, ripe and obvious.
And that's really why we're here, is for that scene.
Do you know what I mean?
And they were really conscious that they'd done a bad job of writing Tasha out, but I have to say, and I don't think you could have done this with Wesley or anything like that.
But I have to say that what they did with Tasha was bad in all sorts of ways, and they have to repair it later.
But I think that taken as a whole, you know, when you think about its effect on the show generally, that that was good and interesting and challenging, you kill a major character, you kill a midway through the episode, you know, it's shocking and memorable.
We've never forgotten it, and the show never forgets it.
This is utterly unmemorable, I think.
And the dialogue is not that great.
Like, it's okay.
It's functional, but it is very 90s TV. and not very interesting and not very, you know, it doesn't do a great job of revealing character.
And I think it's telling that the only thing that the 2 of them can reminisce about is the shuttle trip in Samaritan... one episode where they had some time to get up. exactly right.
But that's why I came out of this thinking, right?
Do you remember when we watched the Visitor?
Yeah.
And that's a father and son?
And that's what they're going for here, right?
A father and son dynamic.
That's a father and son where he thinks he's going to lose his father and you're devastated throughout the entire thing because the show has just done 3 entire seasons of legwork of selling that relationship and chemistry and you absolutely adore them.
So when they remove Cisco from Jake's life, it's so heartbreaking.
They've done no lead work here at all to make that moment count.
And that's not what the show is aiming to do.
It's not like it's trying to be Deep Space 9 and failing.
It's not even attempting to do that.
Why are you trying to up the payoff then?
I think that they do want it to land, but I want you to compare it to an episode that we've already done, which is the 1st duty, which is an episode also about disappointing Picard and the relationship between Wesley and Picard, and which actually properly lands and is much, much more interesting than this.
It's worth remembering, Nathan, as well, that next year we'll have the game where he'll be back and that'll be great. which is also awesome.
So, like, I think this is trying to be really earnest and kind of failing.
I think the garbage scow is a bad sumplot because there's no adversary and that terrible alien.
But I do have to say one thing in its defence, which is that I didn't hate it.
And part of the reason for that is that at least at the time, I'm tuning in to see people who live and work on a spaceship, do their jobs.
And so even, well, because that's kind of that was part of the appeal for me.
And I think it is part of the appeal of Star Trek.
Do you know what I mean?
It is a procedure.
I watching the wrong show then.
Yeah, maybe, but it has...
It's not where Star Trek lands, though, is it?
No, but because of the way it's set up, even by season four, the relationships between the characters isn't very well defined, there's a really embarrassingly bad scene here between Beverly and Deanna, who are friends, why are they not friends after all this time?
But it's awkward and kind of wooden and embarrassing.
It's like, oh, wait.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Can you emote, please?
Come on now.
But, you know, like I didn't hate what they were doing.
I was there kind of going, can't you just fling it into the sun and the momentum, but I guess there's an asteroid belt or whatever.
I mean none of that's particularly interesting.
And if you think about what that plot is for.
That plot does the same job as like having some guy on the bridge who says we have to go now and deliver the vaccine or whatever.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, it's that sort of, it's why aren't we going to rescue them immediately?
We need to keep them occupied so they don't go and solve the problem immediately.
And there are other ways of doing that that involve conflict or involve a character or involve something.
But this is all sort of space hardware and things.
And I think it's so functional.
Yeah, absolutely.
And this was a script where the entire subplot was just insert technobabble here.
Like, 50% of that subplot is just people talking the technical manuals.
And you know, I just, I just, but like DS9 would do a procedural and it would be packed full of, times orphan, a dismal episode of DS9, was packed in every single scene full of character moments that were charming and funny and we could engage with, right?
And it's in every way a worse premise than this.
But it was a much more enjoyable watch.
Voyager will do a procedure. and boy, they copied TNG, left right and centre.
There's always a character line in a Voyager episode.
Generally it's bad characterisation.
But, like, like, it's always there.
And then you skip to, oh, enterprise. were they doing procedurals there?
I mean, I don't think they were doing much of anything. were they?
But then you go to Curseman and it's all character.
Like there's obviously, but the character is the focus and a lot of the time the plot comes 2nd and I love that approach, right?
Like, it's the people that you really care about.
So this is really the only show, I think.
Because even TOS had far, it was far more introspective than TNG is.
Yeah, it was generally quite badly written.
But, you know what I mean?
They had like that core 3 characters and they would always be doing something interesting within the problems that they're solving.
I just can't think of another show that would deliver me scene after scene of people at consoles, talking science, where there's just nothing to get hold of beyond, I'm doing my function.
Well done, you know, how gripping.
I mean, there are whole, there's a whole genre of TV shows, though, like hospital shows and police shows and stuff like that. that are procedurals, that are, we just watch people do their job, detective shows, all of that.
And so this is in that tradition. people.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly people.
They're just cardboard cars.
Yes, that's right.
Part of the problem is everyone is so incredibly wooden.
You know, like I think Jonathan Frakes acquits himself quite well in this, like he's holding up that plot and he's always kind of interesting to watch, but not because he's given interesting character things to do, but because he's kind of charming and likeable and all of that.
Yeah, so for me, like, I didn't hate this, but I have never really raised it particularly highly, and I think I was right not to, because it doesn't have a very clear hook, and it's the one where Wesley leaves, but that doesn't happen till the end, and what do we learn about Wesley?
I guess it's trying to show us things about how Wesley has to stand up or do something.
And we'll talk about that, how they punt that.
That's not actually what happens.
It looks like they're setting it up, but they don't pay it off.
And so like none of it really sort of properly works or coheres.
So I didn't feel bored.
I wasn't insulted.
I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time, but it isn't a particularly memorable or particularly good episode, I think.
I'd rather hate Star Trek than feel how I felt watching this, which was just utter ambivalence, just nothing at all.
I was just like, this is cardboard telly featuring nobody's.
You know, they've spent money on this and I'm not sure why.
A lot of money.
The more we watch, to be fair.
Oh, last week episode, I had about 150000000 times.
It's been on it, it's only 8 minutes long.
A lot more jokes than imagination too.
Yeah, the more we are exploring TNG, and people won't, I don't got to like this, but I don't care because this is my reaction to TNG.
I want to go to this podcast. is that if it's not doing concept episode, yeah, or it's not relaxing a little bit and having some fun, this is such a tedious show to watch for me.
Like, I just couldn't care less about the space procedural stuff.
And so, so I do struggle.
I think I struggle with TNG more than all the other shows, which does make me out of kilter with the rest of Star Trek fandom, because this is the one that everyone fucking loves.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I remember at the time watching it and thinking this was so superior to original Trek.
And the reason I thought that was that there was a level of consistency and competence, that original trek doesn't always hit, but it's so less adventurous.
It's so much more timid.
And maybe that's unfair because it does do high concept episodes that are really memorable and really successful and it kind of stakes out.
Yeah, yeah, this is season four, you know.
But yes, this week is not one of those.
If everybody who's currently complaining about the current output of 10 episodes of Star Trek is what we don't make anymore, and thank God for that.
Yeah, that's right.
We just don't make final mission because we've only got a 10 episode order.
Should we do that really boring functional one?
No, let's not do that.
I'll tell you what, let's have everyone turn into puppets.
That's great.
I can't wait till we watch that one.
Oh, God, I'm failing it's going to be dreadful, but I can't wait.
The musical was good.
We'll see.
Oh, it's blind.
All right.
Can't we watch that again instead of this?
All right.
I will count it in.
Five, four, three, two, one, and we're off.
Oh, we go.
That opening shot.
I would love someone to count how many times in TNG that's the opening shot.
Did you see that over that planet?
Pentarus 5.
So, on this planet, we have Pentaris 5, but we end up on a small moon of Pentaris... 3, which I think is called Lambda Paz or Paz Lambda.
I'm not sure which.
And then the garbage scam is affecting a planet called Gamelon 5, which I thought was kind of Indonesian percussion ensemble, but isn't, apparently.
You sure, J.
Michael, trust me, this cute, Wilson.
Gablon 5, did you say?
Gamelon farm?
Okay.
Can we ask Mr. Mop, please, to Jettison all of the gel on the Enterprise because he's...
It's literally 1990 right?
as we speak.
This is all.
Ah, now listen.
Hang on. hang on a minute.
In the future, right?
I mean, we still haven't quite made up the rules about the academy because in season one, it was you had to do great tests and there was only space for one person out of all the people doing the tests, right?
And Wesley clearly hasn't been very successful for the last 3 years.
Finally, it's got a spot of the academy.
By the time we get to DS9, any fucker can join, as long as you've got a letter, as long as you've got a letter from the commander saying, right, he's great, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
I think it was more important a thing, wasn't it?
Because one of our characters, that was his always his final destination was Starfleet Academy.
And so we had a couple of episodes about it.
Now we know how many hot people there are, Starfleet Academy.
Oh, boy.
Oh no.
Okay.
Yes, your face suggests distaste.
So how do these people eat for a start?
How do they eat?
Like, well, no, they just put the food in between the 2 fronds that connect their lips.
But they're literally connected like the top and bottomly.
So, like, I don't know what Michael Westmore thinks he's doing here.
And I don't know what this poor woman thought when she saw her...
It's a job I'm being paid, right?
That's right.
Can you do my hair nicely at least?
Oh, right.
I will try.
No, we can't.
It's going to be lopsided.
You see the sort of crustaceans around her mouth there, those sort of blue crustaceans.
I think you know where I'm going.
Ah, do you think?
I once had an STD, right?
Well, I mean, they bring it back bad memories.
Well, it didn't gloom my lips together, but...
So yeah, like that's that breaks the Beaumar scale as far as I'm concerned, that alien, that's terrible.
Well, she ain't got a coat hanger around her.
I kind of wish she did, really, is the...
Do you think she's like a 9.99999?
It's like transwarp scale.
Or is it so bad?
it's a 10.one?
Yeah, it could be.
And you and me are about to turn into a pair of lizards.
Exactly.
So this is Nick Tate. from Space 1999, uh, and then later from Honour Among Thieves, um, in Deep Space 9.
And he's an Australian.
In order amongst thieves, they give him an actual character to play.
Do they?
It's fascinating.
He gets a backstory.
He has a relationship with O'Brien.
He has a lovely cat that O'Brien keeps at the end.
He's the head of a crime gang.
He part of a Dominion plot.
I mean, there's some substance to the man.
Can you please tell me some things about Nick Tate's character in this?
He is grumpy and headstrong.
He doesn't like taking orders.
He's fiercely independent, and he's a bit of an alcoholic.
Like, I do think that this is this is a functional character, but it is, you know, like the alcohol thing just shitted me because it just gives us a chance to see how upright and virtuous Picard and Wesley R, which is a super boring and kind of terrible thing for us to have to think about.
Mariner would be like, give that ear.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Swing it straight from the bottle.
That's it.
Who's this lovely lady there at the con?
So this is her name?
Alan B. I don't know how many episodes she does, and I'm going to see if I can find out.
She might just give her a backstory.
Did you?
Like, you're out there, the other lady.
Is she your essay?
is just in this episode.
Oh, okay.
What was the name of that woman?
Maggie.
Alanby.
No, no, no.
The one you wrote the essay about, you know, the lovely lady.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gladys Knight.
Ensign McKnight Ensign.
I think you should write a whole anthology.
Just about.
Just give her backstories to all of them.
That Latina woman with the striking eyebrows.
That fella from season one, what was his name?
He always gave his full name when he was in the engine room.
With the 3 names.
Oh my god.
His family, they just wanted rid of him.
He was like, no, I'll be away on the enterprise for 2 years.
Good.
Off you go.
No, it's an ongoing mission.
I'm going to be gone for a long time.
Five years at least.
I signed you up.
What you talking about?
So one of the things too.
In this, I actually think the garbage scale looks pretty impressive, but you have to think that in the original it would have just been the ship that we used last week, only we painted it a different colour and maybe distressed it a bit or whatever, you know, there's about 5 ships that they keep recycling as the special guest ship for the episode.
So, like the, the, the, the opticals, do you know what I mean?
Like the space things, they're okay.
No, no, and certainly the location work, although we very quickly get to the cave, don't we?
Like we're on location for about 3 minutes, but it's a good 3 minutes.
So it's 2 days of um, uh, of location shooting uh, on the El Mirage dry lake bed in San Bernardino County.
It's not Planet Hell. you know, where they always go and shoot DSI and everyone's latex melts.
No, it's literally, it's literally like a lake bed.
They obviously grade it.
Do you know what I mean?
Or shoot it through a filter or do something.
That looks fabulous.
And that is, I think, perhaps the most memorable thing about it is those images of Picard and Wesley with the black, you know, the black cloth around their head, walking on that bed.
It looks like an alien planet for once.
I have to think that the people who are doing the 1st scene of Star Trek discovery are remembering that and trying to recreate it.
Do you remember you've got Burnham and Giorgio on that planet on another desert planet that looks like that, you know?
So I think that's maybe the best thing about it, visually stunning than this.
But yes, absolutely.
Oh yeah, no, of course.
But it is, you know, 30 years later.
Oh, no.
Did you say, look, someone's working so hard on the gimbal of the shuttle?
The door opened again.
Look, Wesley keeps shutting...
Will shut the...
Oh, yeah, it's exactly the technicians in short.
Come on.
Bless them.
I mean, and did you see Patrick Stewart's hero pose as he opened the door?
Do you need me?
You old ham, honestly.
Oh, okay.
So the shuttle's going to crash.
Well, that's a new look for Star Trek, isn't it?
Well, it kind of is a bit.
It's not Voyager ride.
It's not a shuttle crash every week.
They don't happen all that hard.
Skin of evil?
Yeah, yeah, there's that. it's not a thing that happens all the time.
If only Armus was in this to liven it up a bit.
I love the gimbal thing.
It's one of my favourite things.
It's so great.
They've just given up on the door now.
It's just open.
Yeah, that's right.
Just leave it.
We're just going to continue with the shoot.
But at no point, Nathan.
You go forward later in Star Trek and it slide doors all the time.
You don't have doors opening and closing like regular doors like that.
Do you remember the hilarious doors in the 1st duty?
No, what was that?
So it was a door that couldn't afford a sliding door.
So in the quarters, they would open the door, but they would put a little noise.
Oh, it's still a space job.
Oh, that shot.
That shot.
Yeah, that is very impressive.
I do love Picardo.
The lens flare.
Emerging out of just the bottom of the screen because I don't want to show you the shuttlecrow.
Oh, we see the whole prop on location.
Like, they bring that whole shuttle on, like,ation.
Why do we wait so long to pull back from it?
Here we go.
Like, it takes so that we get the sun.
I think that's so we get him in the sun, which I think looks great.
That's really impressive. a really good shot.
You look at that smoky and it's got holes in it.
Yeah, very nice.
No, I think that's great.
There we go.
We can say nice things.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's Nick Tate just sat on the top there.
Oh lovely.
I have to think that that's the thing that people remember.
More than anything else is is that.
And it tarts up so beautifully in HD as well, doesn't it?
Yeah, 0 yeah, absolutely it does.
It's worth remembering back in series two.
We only went on location for one scene, didn't we?
So it's quite nice in series four.
Yeah.
Here we go now.
So, do we have any supplies?
No.
No water, just alcohol, but we don't know that yet.
No, that's right.
Yeah, we just have alcohol, which is terribly boring.
Did someone bother to do the sort of Savannah music, you know, the sort of whistling flute or what?
No, they're normally doing it.
They should have done.
So this is, um, this is, uh, not uh, J.
Chataway, it's Ron Jones.
And I think the music is actually pretty good.
Well, I mean, I did message you at one point because during this tedious subplot on the Enterprise.
He was doing some welly to give it some drama.
And I was like, Ron, I appreciate the effort.
But come on.
Do you know, one thing that I like actually is the way that Picard treats Durgo, the way that he talks to him in a respectful way, and you've got Wesley kind of going, oh, you're not as good as Picard, and he's got a whole starship and blah, blah, blah. you just think, yeah, shut up.
But Picard is, you know, even when he's being a dick, like Picard defers to him from talking.
Jesus Christ.
Does Gates McFatter not know she's in shot in these scenes?
I mean, she couldn't look more bored in the background.
She is out of focus to be fair.
Oh, sorry.
She's read the script. that's why Oh here she comes now.
Why is she gonna contribute to this scene?
Do you know, one convention that I really like is that when you're looking at the, have we said this before, this is how bored I am.
When we're looking side on at the view screen.
What we don't see is the image of the person, like as if they're on the viewscreen, we see it as if they're on the other side of a window, so we actually saw the side of her face as if the viewscreen was showing a three-dimensional image, and I think that's a good choice.
But again, perhaps not a very interesting thing to remark about.
Oh, good choice when she looks like that, though.
No, I know.
You are right about that.
Hang on, isn't it?
Is she in it again?
They make the hair so busy.
So it sort of takes you away from the crusty lips and the sort of stuck...
No, but it doesn't.
It all just everything makes the other thing worse.
It's really bad.
I mean, no one.
I'll be honest, Nathan, everyone looks a bit bored in this scene.
Even Jonathan Franks doesn't look especially excited to be part of this plot.
But do you know who always sells it?
Who?
is Levant?
Oh, I know.
He starts shouting, take the babble later, and it's worse than Bilana and Harry work.
Do you remember in Twister?
They were just screaming at me.
It's a bit like that.
Oh, no, but I think I think that no one holds a candle to LaVarre when it comes to shouting Techno, I believe every single word of it.
He's a past master.
I mean, I know this is great, but that does look hot, doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think people, like, you have to do kind of dehydration acting as well.
You know, the way that you're using your lips and your mouth and stuff like that.
Like they all sell it.
You know how sometimes you see a character in Star Trek and they've been punched in the mouth and they've got a big bruise, but it isn't actually impeding them anyway, and they're not kind of trying to avoid moving it or anything like that.
Frequently.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Burns.
Right.
Lacerations.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All of them.
I mean, I do like their headgear, though, to protect them from the sun.
Yeah, I do too.
It looks really good.
Florence and Arabiafield.
They're dirty.
You look at them.
They've got dirty uniforms.
So it does feel like they have just experienced a crush.
You're right.
This stuff is all okay.
I mean, there's still no great characterisation going on here.
No, no, no.
It's quite pleasant to look at.
Yeah, yeah.
I think I think I think that's the best thing about it. think.
I was just really in trouble by the time we got to the fountain and I was like, that can't be the central premise.
How do we get into that?
But what is it?
It's like a Dungeons and Dragons room.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, it's a special trap room where, like, I'm glad we don't find out what caused it or why it's there.
I mean, do you remember when we went to the desert planet in shadows and symbols?
And there was 2 other plots.
Wharf blowing up an entire shipyard and Kira doing a blockade in front of Romulan ships.
I'm worried about the arrow because it isn't actually pointing in the direction that they're going.
No, they're coming in the other direction.
Nice, come back.
Oh, well.
Never mind.
They still get found.
There are still somehow...
It is refreshing, though, that we're not in somewhere that looks like Southern California for once, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
It is Southern California, obviously, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They just found a nice, a nice, dusty plane, though.
It's just east of LA.
What's the music doing now?
I can't remember.
No, I can't remember either.
But this, you know, and you were worried about how tough the captain is.
It's just like, shut up, Wesley.
This is why no one likes you.
I know.
O'Brien for licking butt with a senior officer, isn't he?
Yeah, yeah, that is an O'Brien thing, isn't it?
Oh here we go.
Oh, there you go.
What's your finite?
Vodka.
It's Dresky.
They have it on his planet.
I think so.
Okay, like alien whiskey, yeah.
Yeah, they missed a beat, didn't they?
It should have been Tronya.
It's so rare that you've got... a planet landscape where they can actually walk off into the distance because normally we're in that set where you'd hit the wall.
I mean, it's just compare that to the season one planet sets.
I mean, they're light and day, aren't they?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it looks great.
That looks really good.
I think are they lit, yellow, is their actual lighting here too?
I don't know. just looks really good.
But like, why isn't the Wesley Picard stuff threaded through this entire episode?
Why are we not seeing that Wesley, the Picard's finding it hard to let Wesley go, why aren't we seeing that Wesley sort of looks up to Picard as a father figure rather than just a wonderful captain?
I don't know why do we have to have that in a scene at the end?
In a curseman trick episode.
This would be the whole episode, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You can't just punch me in the face with a bit of emotion at the end with no build-up to it.
Yeah, yeah.
And like, I don't think I don't think that sort of properly lands, does it?
Because, I mean, the idea is, of course, that Picard is incapacitated and Wesley has to stand up and who he has to stand up to is Durgo, right?
And that's the speech that Picard has to him.
He says he tells him what Durgo's like and how Durgo won't want to, he'll be impatient and he won't want to obey orders and you have to rein him in and that doesn't happen.
He doesn't actually do that.
And so, and meanwhile, back in stop cave set number one.
All of the beasts are so basic. aren't they?
But there's no surprises in any of it.
No.
I don't think their characters have the capacity to surprise.
That's the problem.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But and again, these are 2 people that have only ever had it one big conversation together it 2 years ago.
Do you remember when, oh, you know, I do these comparisons, but what else is that to talk about in this?
They're in stockcage set number 52 now.
Number one.
When, um, uh, Kira is tending to Cisco in Starship Down when, and that's her God, for God's sakes.
And it has real sauce because they've struggled with that relationship for years and years.
Again, it's just like you have to do the legwork with this stuff.
Yeah.
No, and again, but it's not what they're attempting to do.
Do you know what I mean?
They are kind of under the impression that the ability to resolve these kind of plots is what's interesting.
Do you prefer the sort of, because I do like the chemistry between the 2 actors in that last thing?
You're right, the writing is beyond basic, but they're warm with each other and they're tactile and that I really like.
I mean, I did too.
As I pay off, I do prefer that.
So that ghastly funeral scene with hologramatic tashing.
No, it's terrible.
Shockingly bad.
Oh, wharf.
She goes, you know, like just terrible.
But no, that's it.
So we're literally in this cave for the rest of the year now.
So the rest of trying to break down the force field.
Okay?
We've got what, 25 minutes to go?
And as a respite from this, we can go back to the planet, the enterprise and listen to a load of tech level.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh please.
Yeah, and again, this is just us doing our jobs.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to deal with the fact that there's all this radiation.
And now we're going to have a scene which is about how Beverly feels about it.
And that scene is about as successful as all of the other scenes where Beverly is worried about Wesley. normally works.
I don't know why.
When they lean into gates being with Will, I think those things work.
Look at her.
She's just like, she's blank, right?
Now she's got...
No, no.
I don't think she's blank.
She's absolutely, there's tension.
Do you know what I mean?
But the problem is that these 2 are friends, there's, like, there's nothing here in this relationship.
And then she does a big smile and say, no, really, okay.
Is she faking it?
Who can say?
Does it matter?
No.
You know, like, does she feel bad or not?
Maybe she does.
Maybe she's just working through it.
There's really no way of knowing.
You remember when Rom Moore said, thank God we're doing enough of Star Trek show because I just can't find anything interesting to say about these cardboard cutouts anymore.
Yeah, yeah.
We've done as many high concepts with them as we possibly can to make these people interesting.
This is what he's talking about, isn't it?
Yeah, but again, you know, you think about what they do in Voyager, which is essentially what they do here because each character here had a bio that was a paragraph long that explained what they were like and what made them tick.
And they manage, I think, to wring quite a bit out of that for data and wharf.
Do you know what I mean?
I think that those are successful.
I think Voyager, though, leaves all that stuff on the floor because again, it finds it's not particularly interested in its characters and is just doing high concept stuff.
I do.
So he tries to have more...
Right.
But generally it goes for weird conflict that's really unpleasant to watch.
Do you remember Twisted?
But what it did to Neelix?
Or, you know, they have Tom Paris and Jacose hating each other or Tuvok fighting with everybody because he's so logical.
Like, they are trying to do character stuff because some of the plots are so thin. but generally it's sort of pleasant to watch.
Well, that's right.
And why kind of be about the friendships between the characters?
I don't want to be all Pollyanna-ish, but what's really fun is, you know, like Miles and Julian or Ben and Jadzia.
Do you know what I mean?
Or, like all of those pairings, all of those pairings and people who get on and compliment each other and have ways of dealing with each other that we know and understand.
Which makes the culture easy to run. count.
Yeah, yeah.
When they don't.
Exactly.
So I love this force field, and I actually reckon what it is, and I'm sure that everyone watching knows this, is that it is a glass cylinder.
Like it's a physical object that they're matting into the, into the shot. don't you think Possibly, yeah.
It's a good effect.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Actually, Wesley's hair looks so much better now, doesn't it?
sort of hanging over his face.
Harry Kim the style.
My god, there's so many polystyrene boulders jumping about the place.
They're in serious trouble here.
Also, this low effort threat as well?
Like the, what's the threat?
And look how small they are that fall on him.
Come on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah There's just a lot of them.
I mean, Nathan, I'm a wimp, even.
I could get out from that.
And they are polystyrene.
I mean, let's face it.
I wonder if Patrick Stewart's a bit delicate, you know?
Have you read this autography?
I think he is.
If everyone tells you you're very talented, your entire life.
You become immune to criticism.
Yes, I think that's probably fair. blood Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A lot of blood for Star Trek, I think.
That's right.
But now, basically, the only thing Nick Tate can actually do now is expire, right?
Like, he's got nothing left to do in the story.
But he should have a conflict with Wesley and Wesley should stand up to him.
And he should defer to Wesley, right?
And that doesn't happen.
What happens is Wesley tells him to do something.
He says, no, fuck, I'm not gonna do that.
Then he gets himself killed, and then Wesley solves the space problem by himself.
And what he isn't required to do is to stand up and do a command thing that shows that he's ready to be a Starfleet officer.
Do you know what I mean?
When we 1st saw him this episode, he'd just been doing an experiment.
In his 2nd episode.
He's doing that experiment with the gravity thing.
Do you know what I mean?
That's where we started with Wesley.
He, the boy genius who does science experiments.
Still do an experiment in evolution.
Do you remember what, the nanites?
And then at the start of this episode, I'm so sorry, sir.
I was doing my experiment.
I was doing an experiment.
And that's how he solves the problem here.
But what it really needs to be is a hard command decision or like standing up to this guy, you know, and we've seen Wesley dealing with him in a way that shows that he's still a whiny child and you see Picard deferring to him and being polite to him because he knows that he can tell him what to do the 2nd that he needs him to do something.
And so the story of him growing up and being ready to leave is not told in this episode.
Nathan, and this is not an insult, right?
That is an infinitely better version of the episode that we're watching.
Yeah.
Yeah, that is the basic of what this should have been.
Right?
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, why are we doing it?
Why are we just having Wesley sucking up to Picard and being mean to Nick Tate and I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But don't you think it just has to be like that?
And like, I'm, you know, I've written no television episodes.
You've studied an awful lot.
But it seems to me that that's what this episode needs to be, and it just isn't that.
I mean, I think, you know, at the end when Picard says to him, what a wonderful time you're going to have at Starfleet Academy, yeah.
Until I saw Starfleet Academy of the series.
I wouldn't have believed that for a second, but now I know how just how many hot people are there.
Everyone's hot.
I would have been right, 0 my God.
Get me there now.
I'm the doctor from Voyages there as well.
He's there too.
That's awesome.
And a Gemital woman.
Let's do it.
Well, we actually do get that in that sense of what Southfleet Academy is like from the game.
Can you hear Gates McFadden?
See them off, put the people in there.
It's all stuff we're not seeing.
She's just telling us stuff that's happening on the planet.
That's right And there are times where you see, and maybe it's, it's the sort of thing you only do on a film, but you see people being carded from corridor to corridor, people going, you know, grabbing their stuff, you know, announcements over the thing, give it some kind of urgency rather than just standing there and talking about it.
Monitor the sharing beam, one half impulse.
I mean, what does any of this mean?
So I quite like the towing stuff and the physical stuff.
What I really hate, though, is the radiation, where radiation is a thing that kills you after you've been exposed to it for a certain number of minutes.
And if you're exposed to, like, like, we'll all be dead in 32.5 minutes.
I'm fairly sure.
Like, I'm not a physicist.
No, don't find another problem.
Aviation, strippers, DNA theories.
I think maybe he's got his radiation theories as well.
Half don't you remember, half an hour is how long you can be dead before Dr. Beverly can bring you back to life as well.
That's right.
I'm starting to think the science is a bit shable.
Oh, yeah. unless she wants out of her contract and then you literally have 5 seconds.
Look at this expensive looking fountain that they have here.
Well, I mean, I've seen more dramatic fountains than that.
It looks like the fountain that they put on every colony set in lower decks.
It's always myself.
See, I like this thing.
The, the, the, seeing the, um, uh, the phaser encased in those fibres.
It looks so cheap.
Look at that.
I know, I know.
But it's, of course, selling the, uh, the cliffhanger going into the, um, credits where it's Nick Tates, face, eyes open, staring in horror underneath all those finders.
They can't do horror properly.
Can they?
It's not gross enough.
It's just Nick Tate encased in plastic, you know?
Yeah, yeah. pulling a face.
What is he talking about?
Silanian fibres.
Oh, okay.
Come on.
Where are the people with this?
Like they are people saying words, but there are no people in this.
No, no.
And that's not normal.
Do you know what I mean?
Like that?
This is actually worse than the usual run of things because even in high concept episodes, think about, let's think about, say, the next phase, right, which is a high concept episode, but all the way through, you get rose relationship with the other characters, rose relationship with Geordie.
You know, all of that stuff and even the closing thing is, you know, this whole high concept thing. you know, I'm on board if it could teach Roe Laren some humility.
And so that is a high concept thing, but it's all about the relationships between the 2 main characters involved for the episode, Geordie and Rowe, and the relationship that Rowe has with all the rest of the crew.
I don't understand why they got rid of Diana Mulder because when Dr. Pulaski's in an episode, It don't matter how boring the episode is, there is personality on the screen, when Dr. Palasi is there, she's such a crappy cow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, it's odd.
And you're right.
We talked in the past about the chemistry between the cast of Next Generation.
And so they could just have scenes where they're playing poker or they're in, 10 forward and stuff like that.
And, you know, it isn't riveting character work, but it is relaxing with fun actors.
But that's not happening here either.
No.
Oh, dear, 0 dear.
It looks a bit like the set from, no, well, all the others, really.
Yes, yeah.
There's a reason it's stock cave set one.
I don't remember that special effect being that good, you know, in the original episode.
They've tied it up roughly there.
A little bit.
Yeah.
I mean, it is boring.
It's a little bit like that slightly disappointing monster in Dharmok, you know, where it's out of phase, so you can't see it properly.
And so it doesn't have to look like a man in a suit.
So maybe it was a good choice, but they don't have the money for anything super interesting.
Why haven't they given Wesley like a genuinely difficult problem to solve.
So we can see, you know, how smart he is and how perfect he would be for Starfleet Academy.
Why is it just get the force field down and get the water?
Get some water.
Yeah.
I mean, that's short going into the advert, right?
I know it's great.
It's really crazy.
It looks so cheap.
Oh my god.
It's awesome. dictate selling it.
Oh, we're still tiring this bloody garbage ship towards the sun.
Okay.
And I'm kind of going, you know, there's momentum.
You could just fling it, you know, but please fling it, please.
Just throw the ball away they lied.
It doesn't have to go.
It doesn't have to go into the sun.
Yeah, I mean, you could just literally fling it, you know, out of the solar system and the chances that it would hit anything else are absolutely minuscule.
It would be fine.
You remember that experiment that we...
Lethal radiation exposure in 30 seconds.
That's how tight it is, 30 seconds. 15 seconds.
My God, brother, brother.
You're about to be exposed.
Squeak.
That will all die.
We're having that fabulous experiment in one little ship.
Do you remember?
And it was sort of intervened by the Gem'adar coming in and sort of spoiled.
I mean, I fear this may be the sort of episode we might have had if they hadn't have gotten involved.
Instead, we had that lovely little ship going about the place and Jemmedar's fighting, which was much more fun.
That shot, which is obviously not the original shot, but that shot of the garbage scale going into the sun is pretty good.
Indeed.
But should we be selling this on new HD visuals?
Yeah.
Well, you know, yeah.
It's something.
It's something.
Okay, so now.
I think we're getting we're getting the scene. you know there's kind of a lot of talking between them, isn't there?
By the campfire now.
He's warmed up the rocks.
Well, I like that rocks thing.
And of course, that's from original track.
Yeah, they do. rocks and shovels as well.
Do you remember when they was in there?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Things have got a bit more impressive by then.
The cave sets a bit bigger.
Is it?
I'm not sure he is.
Maybe they're just lightening it better.
I don't know.
You do know that there's a lower decks episode called Caves.
It's really good, but it has lots of flashbacks to adventures they've had in caves, but each cave that they have, the adventure.
It is just the set, the same set, but lit differently. tremendous.
I truly appreciate Will Wheaton's performance fair.
Because this is his 1st point where he's been able to actually give a performance because until now he's been as functional as everybody else.
Yeah.
Yeah, and a bit whiny and annoying, like they can't write him likeable.
You know, the way that, like, Jake is sometimes a little bit whiny, but not really.
Like, he's super likeable, but they don't manage that with Wesley, even though Will is a very good actor.
He's so whiny sometimes, Jake, but he's so tall that he's very amusing just to watch him next to everybody, you know?
Did you hear this?
Did you hear the story about Jerry O'Connell?
Jerry O'Connell talked about getting his Star Trek job.
So he's ransom, Commander Ransom in Lower Decks.
And he said that his wife didn't text him to congratulate him and his wife is obviously Una from Stranger Worlds.
Um, uh, but the person who did congratulate him was, um, was Will and Will will texted him and said, welcome to Starfleet commander, because the 2 of them were on, um, stand by me together.
Oh, of course they were.
Of course.
He was Vern, wasn't he?
That's not the secret knock for him.
That was so cute.
I just thought they were so cute, you know.
Oh, do you remember?
He brought his comb and he didn't have any hair.
Sorry, I'm talking about standby now.
I mean, it's so much infinitely superior to what we're watching today.
Will Wheaton is the most charming person.
Like you take a look at social media.
Look at how he gave his endorsement to so much of Kurtzman Trek by doing lots of behind the scenes stuff and being involved in it.
Like, that means something to Star Trek fans of the 90s when people like that get their endorsement.
I think he's a great ambassador for Star Trek.
And I really like as well how he's honest about his mental health struggles.
He talks when he came onto Gates McFadden's short-lived, but absolutely fascinating podcast, where she interviewed everybody.
Please check out the Marina service one, all right?
Oh, Gatesy.
How's it going?
It's like work for all the women league days.
Sorry, anyway.
He's there, he's there talking about how, and yeah, just for me, something to us.
He takes CBD gummies and how that helps him get through the door.
I just, he strikes me as a very honest of just a very nice bloke.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And a much better actor than his material proves.
Absolutely. absolutely absolutely.
Because look at what he did when he came back.
You know, you can actually properly ask.
We saw, you know, those episodes with him in it in Prodigy, which was, he was fantastic.
You know?
It should have been a regular next, Doctor Who.
Come on, he would have been great.
Yeah.
Oh, here we go.
Back to the show.
Look at gates.
I mean she's vacant.
What is going on behind her eyes?
Nothing at all.
No, she's upset that Wesley's not there.
How can you tell?
No, she's definitely she's giving...
Back in the day, Nathan.
She'd say, you don't want to execute my son.
I would not allow that to happen, Jean-Luc.
Do you remember?
In fact, if she flouts off the bricks showing, Shut up.
Oh, be so Christ.
I would be so grateful for season one.
Is that her best moment?
by a mile.
That or the moment where she was literally hanging off the chair and remember me being sucked into that portal.
Or dancing in day to day is pretty great.
Oh, that's great too.
Oh I do like it when she gets shoved in the water in generations as well. yeah that's pretty good.
That is not funny hilarious.
Oh, here we go.
Back to the cave, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. he saying in French mouse?
Oh, he's singing a song.
I couldn't even work out what it is.
It's not Frere Jacques.
I don't know.
Is it sur le pont d'Avignon?
I don't know.
I don't know, some French thing.
Just to remind us that he's French, if you're, if he's plummy English accent, doesn't manage to convey that.
We still haven't quite.
I mean, there's what, 8 minutes of this to go.
We still haven't quite got the knob of their relationship or what they mean to each other.
No.
Yeah, because we're just doing it in this scene, and I think it is, so this is the scene, I think, isn't it?
Where he, where we 1st hear about Boothby?
Oh, is it?
Okay.
I just always figured he's been around, but no, yeah, you're probably right.
It's quite late.
This is the 1st time we mention it.
And then we mention him again in the game, and then obviously we see him in the 1st duty.
I don't say this very often.
They've both got really good makeup on right now.
Under Wesley's eyes.
I mean, he looks properly tired.
Maybe it's a 16 hour day.
Who knows?
Yeah, I think, like, I think the makeup is really good.
Like, and I think that this is clearly what we want.
Like Picard looks so thirsty. to watch.
Yes, it shaved for a couple of days.
Do you see his stubble?
That's, that's probably the afternoon for, he's a very hairy man.
I reckon that's probably... afternoon.
But I, God, I mean, I'm really desperate for things to talk about.
I'm convinced by I'm convinced by the blood, though.
It doesn't like dry blood.
Yeah.
But he's selling it as well.
You have to act that, you know, like his face is a bit less mobile than it would be.
Otherwise, he is struggling because he's really thirsty.
See, this is him talking about Boothby.
And that pays off properly well.
No, it's hilarious.
Do you remember?
accessory in the game.
Did you see Goofy?
Goofy?
Sorry, Booth B. Yeah, he didn't remember you at all.
At first.
But, yeah, yeah, but, oh, he helped me.
Oh, this and he's nearly crying there.
Yeah, it's very nicely acted this.
Yeah.
I see, I'm less embarrassed than you are with Patrick Stewart.
He's in tears.
I know you didn't like it in family.
This is good.
Yeah, yeah.
This is good.
No, I hate him in generations when he's in tears.
I just think that's so pointless and crappy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why do?
That's me.
Get the water and stay alive.
Yes.
I mean, to be fair, he's making the right call.
Wesley's got the future, right?
Picards.
Yeah, but it is that thing too.
Like, it's not just that he's going to die, but there is something.
You know, like he's about to go after Starfleet Academy. is about to start this incredible, brilliant career.
It doesn't quite turn out that way, but, um, But there is something thrilling about that.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, I work with kids.
Um, and then they go off and do things and then later on you find out what they've done and you just think that's extraordinary, you know, like, um, there is something.
There's something sad and sort of marvellous about how unaware young people are about, do you know what I mean?
Like how exciting things can be.
Terrifying.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I love Starfleet Academy because it had that ethic where there were all these old people, though mostly women or holograms, and they all knew that these kids had this sort of interesting future, but that they had to get through this stuff, that they had a world that we'd created for them, that wasn't that great.
Do you know what I mean?
All that dynamic about adults and children.
And that was the thing that I noticed most, I think, about the 1st duty this time too, when we did that.
Do you know what I mean?
The way that those people in Starfleet Academy had this concern, the way that Admiral Brand was heartbroken at the fact that the kids had lied to her.
Do you know what I mean?
That they'd taken a cowardly, you know, dishonest course of action.
You know me?
Yeah, so looking, solving the problem.
He's standing there, pressing the things on his right order.
God is so smart.
He can press buttons on his strike order.
Go, Wesley.
Until the water appears.
It's amazing Just he is technically competent and ready for Starfleet Academy.
I don't even know how he can tell what things are buttons and what are touch screens and what things are little flashing lights on that tricorder.
No, I just trust that he does.
He would not.
The trouble is you just gave such a lovely reading now.
You know I'm a terrible old cynic.
I mean, all I say to young people now is, I mean, I wouldn't want to do you see the way the world's going?
I don't want to be young now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, Idiots.
I know, that's true.
Is he got a medical tricord?
Where does he have a medical tricorder?
anyway, it doesn't matter. hurry up and get him some water, though.
Good grief.
He's very thirsty.
There we go.
He's just had the water in a receptacle and now he's just putting tidy little dribbles from his hand.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
When someone's thirsty, you don't want to just, it's not a good idea to just get them to chug down a couple of litres of water.
No, I don't think that's not a good thing.
You have to kind of go go easy.
I do appreciate that climax.
It isn't, especially well written, but I do I do appreciate the performances of the climax.
And but there, you're right.
There's something tender about the way that he looks after him as well.
You know, like there is a thing.
You know, that the change, do you know what I mean?
Where he has to look after him. doesn't he doesn't stand up and become a commander or anything like that.
But he, he is a young man looking after an older man.
You know, like, I don't know.
Is your hypnotised mother now looking at you?
Wesley.
Wesley.
Why did they get rid of Diana Moltar?
I love gates so much.
Shut up.
This will mean nothing to anybody, but I feel like a sort of inspiration in life was Gene Anne Crowley.
Look her up.
It's Vina from Doctor Who's Time Lash.
Oh my god. have a similar sort of opaqueness to their performance.
That, there was a little urgent moment there too, with Will, where he says, I'm so happy to see you or something, because he's aware that this is their last scene together as the, do you know what I mean?
Like he's selling that as an, I'm going to be gone now?
And even that last line, no, I can walk.
Like that's a line that he has to deliver because it is about him leaving to be independent.
She should have boxed him around the years.
She goes, we found your wreckage and the arrow and you've gone in the other direction.
For God's sakes.
It's taken us twice as long to find you.
No, no.
Of course they wouldn't put a joke in, would they?
Come on.
Well, there's this joke.
What are you doing in such a filthy uniform?
And then he says, you don't look so shipshape yourself.
Right.
Yeah, I know.
Do you remember those jokes?
We had to... the other day about Akamom.
Yeah, they were funny. hilarious.
Oh, that's nice. will be missed.
I mean, that's quite a bit of development for him in Counterpoint, where it's like, get out of that chair, boy.
Yeah.
Well, in fact, we get that next, well, not next time, but in the 1st duty, where, where we do actually get that speech where Pecan says you came on my bridge and I said, what are you, you know, what's this horrible child doing here?
That is such an awkward final shot of them holding.
Yeah, no one made them think.
Like going halfway up the stairs in caves at one, like that that was what we go out on.
Who directed that one and I want to know.
I can't remember.
It's someone who's done about 10 episodes and someone who Berman speaks very highly of, is it Corey Allen or something?
Oh, Cory Allen, he did some pretty decent ones, actually.
I think he directed Tosk over at DS9.
Oh, possibly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, he did some DS92.
Well, I mean, never before have I felt so like, well, we endured that and we got through it and that was a piece of television.
I think we've watched more trick than that.
Well, you've seen Manhunt.
No, we've, we've, Manhunt made us crossed.
Twisted made us cross.
That's true.
Okay?
That just made us go, well, this is people pushing buttons.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, oh well.
All right, it's the end of the episode, and it's time for us to find out where we're going next.
This was my choice.
So I think we've returned to the status quo where I choose the terrible episodes, which can only mean that it's time for you to choose an excellent episode.
So I look forward to seeing what episode of the animated series you have in store for us.
What I ever learn, though?
I mean, again, at the end of the last one, I was still excited for this week's one, wasn't I?
Yeah.
Let's see what happens this week.
Oh, you know me.
I'll just love throwing everything in and see what I get.
Yeah.
That's just so exciting.
I don't know, I don't know you've given me options now.
And every now and again, I'll surprise you, but not today.
Okay, here we go.
Oh, no, we ain't doing this.
I'm sorry, I've got to leave some good DS9ers for the end.
I mean, considered by many the finest Dips 9 episodes.
Season one, episode 19, duet, but no, we've done too many good ones.
We've got to do the middling DSI ones. fair?
Duet is pretty great.
It is great, but I've already pressed the button now.
Your random Star Trek Enterprise episode is season two, episode 16.
Future tense.
Oh, I know which one that is.
That's the one where, um, the, it's like the TARDIS turns up.
It's a time travelling box that turns up.
Oh, yes, I've watched that too.
Recently, yeah.
Sula Barns, crawling about the ship invisibly, and very boring, I think.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We've just done a boring one. let's do something else Oh, this would have been lovely to do, but we have already done it.
Original series.
Season three, episode one, Spock's brain.
Brilliant.
Not boring, but terrible.
Oh, my word.
Oh this is a possibility.
Your random Star Trek Voyager episode is season three, episode two, flashback.
Oh, that's weird, isn't it?
That's very strange.
That's the falling child, right?
It's the fall.
It's Voyagers version of trials and tribulations, but just nowhere near as good.
Oh, okay, no, I'm thinking of something else, am I?
No, no, no.
It is the one with the falling child, but it's also the one with Sulu and Grace Lee Whitney.
Oh my god.
All those years, I'll press it again.
Don't worry.
Oh, threshold.
No.
Have I got this set to shit or something like what is happening here?
Now.
Oh.
Oh, I'll be really intrigued to see what you think of this, because some part of me thinks you might hate it, and some part of me thinks you might love it.
Is it nor the best of the strong?
No, but it is season 5 of GS9?
Okay, okay.
It's season five, episode 13 for the uniform.
Oh, okay.
So we have done what's the following?
Blaze of Glory. that's right No, leave me.
This is the one that sets all that melodrama up.
I mean, you want melodrama.
This is got something spades.
This is the one that ends with him going, all right, Javert, I'll give you what you want.
Me.
So he has understood the basic underlying homosexuality of the Valjean Javert relationship, right?
Absolutely, good.
And Avery Brooks has never been sexy.
I mean, he's so angry and he's got his muscles out around the entire.
I think this is a really, really strong episode in a run of really strong episodes because what comes after this is in Purgatory Shadow, which we've done.
And before it, I think it's Rapture, which is a great Bajor episode.
I mean I'm tempted.
But if you think we've done too much DS night, I can't, let's do it.
I really wanna do it.
Yeah, if you want to see Avery Brooks getting his sweat on.
That's what sold me on it.
Let's do 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.
Now, podcast artwork is by Kayla Cisrin, and the theme was composed by Cameron Larm.
This episode was recorded on the 18th of August 2026 and released on the 28th of August.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek Deep Space 9 for the uniform.
It is a good one.
Yeah, okay.
Do you know what it is?
Actually, interestingly, it is a Michael Taylor script.
That, uh, sorry, the writer of, uh, no, sorry, it's a Peter Allen Field script, sorry.
So it's, I think it's his last one.
He writes, obviously, duet, necessary evil, a couple of others, and I think this is his last script.
Um, yeah, it's, yeah. be interesting to see.
Yeah, let me let me do the file, though, quickly before I have to vacate.