Hey, Joe. Hi.
So today we're back on Star Trek Prodigy, which I guess is what
the most recent new Star Trek series at the time we record, and we
are watching episode, I want to say eight.
Am I wrong?
It is episode eight, the rather cheekily titled Time Amok.
They do riff on classic Star Trek episode titles a bit.
If they take the bloody piss, they do.
Yeah, yeah.
So we've had Kobi Ashi.
There's 1st contact with a hyphen.
Unification number three.
Oh, well, that's Discovery.
That's brilliant.
Yeah, no, no, but it's Kurtzman Tregg.
I think it's Kurtzman Trek, but...
They, they, they stir the pot a little bit, you know.
Yeah.
Well, this is a show that kind of introduces the Star Trek legacy
to kids.
And the last time we did an episode, we did episode three, so that
was the 1st regular episode.
And I think that that was one of the things that we were charmed
by, you know, that the kids in the show are being introduced to
Star Trek at the same time as the audience are being introduced to
it.
I mean, this is the 1st time it's being done specifically, isn't
it?
I mean, I would say like kids could happily watch TOS and early
TNG as well.
And, you know, there's nothing incredibly complicated going on
with either of them, but this is the 1st time a show has been
designed for children.
Although weirdly enough, I think this is more mature than early
TNG and a lot of TOS as well.
It's often the way, you know, when they write for kids, they write
up.
And when they're writing for adults, they write down, you know
it's...
I think writing up is exactly what's happening here and we'll talk
about that when we get into it.
But I think it's very, very explicitly, being a little bit more
complex than you might expect from a kid show.
Yeah, for sure.
There's 2 things I want to talk about before we go in, if that's
all right.
First thing is watching this, this felt so explicitly 90s trek to
me this episode.
And I think this is the show.
This is the Kurtzman show.
Well, apart from lower decks, which is obviously set during during
that period, into that kind of adventures on a spaceship, you
know.
Discovery is doing something a bit more mature.
Picard's, I'm thinking of that as like the darker side of the trek
universe.
Jesus Christ.
That 2nd episode this year when they went off, went off into a
Nazi world with Picardo, the dictator.
So good.
Actually, do you know what?
The 2nd series of Picard so far has been extraordinarily good.
Like fan wank on a level you cannot believe.
So exciting. but brilliant.
And I really appreciate that about this.
Because, you know me, I love 90s trick.
However, for the same reasons, I am going to complain about this
particular episode because I think it is mired in 90s trick
cliches and it is really beyond the character stuff doing much
that's ambitious with those ideas.
So where does this rank for you in like all of the Kurzman treks?
It's not a must see for me in the way that Picard and Discovery
have been.
So I will watch those, you know, within a day or so of a new
episode coming out.
I've watched all of Discovery season 4 at this and I will be
avidly watching Picard.
So it's, yeah, it's not must see TV in quite the same way, and I
still haven't seen the finale, but I've seen all the episodes
leading up to this, and I like it.
I think it's really charming and I think it does a good job of
introducing Star Trek to a new audience.
And it's visually stunning, like Kurtzman Trek always is.
And I think the characters are incredibly likeable.
Yeah, that's the thing.
Like, obviously, we watched episode 3 last time. didn't we?
This is episode eight.
And I haven't watched any of the ones in between and clearly a lot
of stuff has gone down because they talk about it in this episode
the shit hit the fan last week by all accounts and we're feeling
the fallout in this episode.
So this is actually more serialised than I thought it was going to
be.
Yeah, in fact, I think episodes 4 and 5 are basically one story
even though they have different titles, but there is often a
reveal or something at the end of an episode to kind of bring you
back the following week and they do refer to things that happened
in previous weeks.
So I kind of like that because one of the things about a kid's
show is, you know, the kind of kid who's going to get into Star
Trek, I think, is going to be the kind of person who learns and
really, really becomes familiar with the story of an entire
season.
I think those serialised elements really draw you in and this is
their Star Trek.
This is Star Trek for a new generation of kids.
And so there's things to know about it and we kind of appreciate
that as well, you know, knowing details of the story or details of
the ship or relationships between characters and stuff.
And this show wisely decides not to erase those at the end of the
episode and then start completely afresh the following week.
I think it's a good idea.
I think it's very telling that something you just said there, and
that is, in order for Star Trek to continue, you need to bring in
the next generation of like the viewing audience, you know, so the
fact that they're doing this, I think it's a really smart move
because I don't know, you know, young kids can't watch Discovery
and Picard, you know?
They say fuck.
There's a lot of violence in it and things like that, you know, it
is that would be far too much, I think.
Whereas here, we're ensuring that kids that are like 4 and 5 now.
And, you know, that sort of age.
I have a Star Trek.
Yeah.
And also 90 Star Trek is a bit talky and a bit old-fashioned
looking, I think, for...
Yeah, you have mentioned that a few times, yeah.
You know, but this introduces elements of 90s trek over and over
again.
We have Kobayashi, an episode that's set on the Enterprise Bridge
with like Odo and Ahura, which is...
It looks amazing.
Isn't Beverly Crusher in there as well?
Beverly Crushes there.
Yeah.
So it is introducing Star Trek to a new generation.
You can imagine a kid learning that there's an episode of original
Star Trek called A Muck Time.
And they would go, wait, you know, that's just like time amok, this
episode we're now about to watch.
I might say something as a complete side note from both prodigy
and this episode.
I'm going to be really indulgent.
It's to recommend something to any Star Trek fan and that is the
Gates McFadden investigates podcast, which I discovered this week
and gobbled up.
There's only about 13 episodes on there at the moment.
I'm not sure what she's doing anymore.
But essentially what it is, is Star Trek actors coming on and
talking about their lives.
They don't talk about Star Trek at all.
So it's people like Nanar Visitor, Brent Spiner, Robert Picardo
and they're talking about their families, their careers, their
aspirations.
If you're the sort of person that kind of likes the
autobiographical side of the shows.
Check this out.
It is absolutely gripping.
I've listened to every single episode in a week.
Wow.
Yeah.
And I will be dropping trivia.
As those actors appear, I will be I've learned so much about those
actors.
Um, yeah.
So check out Gates, my family investigates.
It's well worth a listen.
And she is a fantastic interviewer.
Like very personable, huge, like massively likeable and just has a
way of sharing the personal experiences of somebody's life in a
way where the interviewer and the person being interviewed bond.
It's really lovely.
Well, I look forward to you being a bit less mean about her in
future.
Oh, she's a dreadful actress.
Oh, she's awful.
What a robot.
She has got a very good podcast.
All right.
Should we get going?
Sorry, gates.
Sorry.
You don't listen to this.
She'll never hear this.
No.
Next season, she'll be like, no, I've been listening to this.
I'm titled Star Trek project.
That's right. horrible people.
I am not a robot, okay?
All right.
I'm going to count us in.
I'm ready Okay.
Five, four, three, two, one, and we're off.
One of these days.
I'll do the countdown, you know, everyone will get a terrible
shock.
This is a Nickelodeon production.
It hasn't even hit Nickelodeon yet, I don't think, this show.
Oh, okay, maybe it's just on Paramount+. don't know.
God, these titles are so good.
And the music as well.
It's like...
Yeah, it's really great.
It's really, and you know what?
I've only heard it a couple of times.
I couldn't tell you what the discovery theme is, even though I
know it's good, but I love the discovery.
This is very memorable.
It's very kind of we're off on an adventure, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
No, it's got a sort of 90s thing.
This is like, uh, this is a bit like the Voyager Tardis.
We must have said this last time only a lot better, I guess.
Well, and I love that bit there where the bit where it's Murph and
it bounces off what looks like liquid mercury.
Yeah, yeah. amazing.
Well, there's Gwen, Gwen.
I can't remember.
Um, there's Dreadnock.
Yeah, so...
It's Michael Giquino, who did the original Star Trek, not the
original Star Trek theme, the 2009 Star Trek theme and the music
for that.
But he doesn't do the incidental music.
But again, you know, just the music for this show is really
great.
I think that ship is sexy as hell, you know.
It's really good, isn't it?
It's like, it looks like a, like a... an arrow or a javelin or
something that's kind of...
Yeah, whereas Voyage is like a, like, toilet spoon.
No, talk about...
My toilet looks a bit like a voyager, actually, every time I go in
there.
What would you do in here?
Oh, okay, Stardate 60715 point something.
This was the 1st episode with a Stardate.
I think.
I was reading this earlier on memory alpha.
So now we know what year it's set in, but I can't do the maths
right now.
So we're in the Delta Quadrant, aren't we?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
This is so adorable.
And again, I think for us, you know, the this, um, you know, puzzle
that they have to solve is all just kind of terribly obvious.
It is, but it is the sort of thing that sort of team building
puzzle that they give.
The kids would know.
Look at rock cradling the fox.
I like zero. going backwards and forwards.
We're really trying to figure all this out.
Yeah, I'm getting back with the names, aren't I?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, so the important thing here is this is a team building thing
and it falls to bits.
So they don't manage to do it because they can't work together.
It's really funny.
Look, the fox gets away chasing the chicken.
Murph's in the boat, floating off.
I'm sorry.
I need to say this, Murph MVP of Prodigy.
Every time he appears it's hilarious.
Whatever it does.
I love rock because she is such a little girl.
Like she wants to pat the fox, she wants to hug Murph.
Look at the holodeck.
There's a lovely scene in this actually where rock has a
breakdown.
Yeah, and deletes like the Janeway hologram.
And I thought the vocal performance was really strong.
Yeah.
And she's a kid.
She's like 10.
No, but no, it's closer.
There's a character called Dao, and there's a character called
Rock.
Well, are they plundered, that episode of TNG.
What's it called?
No, that's dark, isn't it?
Oh, dumb.
I swear there's something called Dow Rock, isn't it?
Oh, no, that's that DS9 episode with the great cloud in the sky.
Yeah.
And O'Brien has to tell the story. shaving cream.
The CGI shaving cream that attacks the colony.
I thought the Tellerite had a little less to do in this one.
He didn't have much to do, did he?
He is so funny though.
Holy crap.
Because, you know, he's a well-known comic performer.
He guessed it on the good place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
He's really great.
Every time we go back to this, the villain.
Is it, is that, um, 0 my god, what's that girl's name?
That's Gwinn's father.
Gwen's father, yeah.
Oh, and this, this woman here, she is the Ferengi who brought Dal
up.
And so last episode, he discovered that she had sold him into
slavery.
Why is it Ferengi in the Delta Quadrant?
Oh, I don't know.
It's, I don't know.
Who knows?
She's just a trader or whatever.
But she brought down...
Spanish question to ask, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
To stifle creativity.
Yeah.
So, so, and she, um, she's a terrible person and now he or she is
betraying him to the diviner.
Every time we come back to these villains, though, in the robot, I
get massive like Star Wars clone Wars vibes.
Yeah, that's absolutely right.
It is borrowing a lot, isn't it?
Yeah.
So so this is super clever as well.
They're too far away because we did a big giant jump of like 4000
light years in a few seconds using the new proto-star drive that
they have.
And so, so the diviner sends, um, uh, Dreadnock, over to the ship
but as a pattern.
It's built by the replicator, isn't it?
Yeah, the other end.
That is very clever.
Yeah, that big, the big shuttle replicator in the in the cargo
bay.
Now, look here, no good ever comes, or I of these starships going
into clouds full of...
Don't go into a cloud.
I remember when Picard did that in TNG season one.
Yeah.
And then the whole bridge was full of electricity, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah. terrible.
Yeah, it's like this is kind of like their 1st anomaly in a way.
Well, I had to get to one eventually, didn't they?
Yeah, but remember that we we can't cooperate in order to get the
things across the river that all falls to pieces because no one's
a leader and no one helps anyone.
And now we get an anomaly that puts them all in different time
streams where they're alone, but they obviously find a way to work
together.
Yeah, yeah, I get that.
And that's yeah.
But...
Okay, wait.
Yeah, and on a character level, that is...
Yeah, it's simple, but yeah, but no more simple than, you know
many other Star Trek episodes doing the same thing.
Um, I did think that the nuts and bolts of this story, the anomaly
shattering the ship, being in different times.
We've seen all of this before, all of it.
And frankly, we've seen it done a bit better than this because it
is boiled down quite simply.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In fact, I think the explanation of it is really, really very well
done.
And it's because there are visual tools available to this show
that aren't available to 90s track, for instance.
Um, And I, why think as well, they're just better at tying all
this stuff into current.
So like back in 90s track, This would have just been, oh, this is
a fun idea.
Let's run with it, you know.
Oh, look, see, she was hiding in the, she was hiding there, being
sad and whimpering.
So this is rock's episode, I think.
And she said at the beginning, I don't want to be considered a
security officer.
Yeah, yeah, because she's big.
Um, I thought that that might have been picking up something from
before, but I can't remember it.
But I think, yeah, she doesn't want to be the security officer.
She wants to be something else and she doesn't know what.
And he or she's kind of scared because she's on her own because
she's obviously the youngest apart from Murph.
Although we'll probably find Murph is 500 years old or something
if it was my God, that would be amazing.
There's so much to learn when we go to the earth, done it.
I have a good question.
And you know, feel free to not answer this.
How does a sentient rock come to be?
Oh, I don't know that she's a rock, is she?
Is she a rock?
I don't know. rock She's clearly made out of rocks.
You could just think she looks like she's made out of rocks.
But okay, so you see this graphic here of the different shit.
So there's a Voyager episode called Shattered in series 7. where
Chakotay, they go for an anomaly.
The ship is shattered up into time zones and he skips from one to
the other.
And it is basically a really fabulous excuse for him to explore
the last 7 seasons of Voyager, just as the series is ducking out.
I think that's a better episode than this.
However, I do think this is like boiling down some big ideas in a
very comprehensible way to children.
And that's really, really good.
You know, it's it's stimulating the imagination.
Yeah, but I also think too, the fact that the anomaly or what
happens to the ship reflects what staged the crew at.
So they are all separate.
It's like they're not operating together at all.
And unless they can stop that, unless they can find a way to
overcome that.
Um, they're not going to survive.
And I think that's kind of cool.
Well, I love what they do with rock talk at the end of this
episode. how they developed the character using this plot device.
Like, that's something the nightest trek would never do because
you know, character development isn't their bag.
And in particular, what they do to her is a very Star Trek thing
and I don't want to, I want to keep my powder dry until we get
there.
Do you know the, uh, cake mulcruise, uh, vocal performance?
Yeah.
I can't, I absolutely understand why they have made her look like
Janeway of Voyager.
But all I can see is Jane like Kate Mulgrew now, because the voice
has aged a bit, you know?
I see the one that the Janeway doing fabulous anecdotes at a
Voyager, you know, celebration convention.
So see this.
So the graphic with the sort of sine wave thing.
Um, explaining and, you know, like, it's kind of nonsense, but
It's a very Star Trekie explanation that's very well done.
And the reason it's happening, I think, is to give rock time to do
the research that she does.
And so she has to be slower than everyone else.
And so they come up with this idea that they're faster and
slower.
And see, we're travelling along that same way.
I thought that was a lovely visual going along that sort of
rainbow.
And it doesn't correspond to anything that's happening.
It absolutely tells you we're going from one character part to
another.
And we're going a lot.
We need a sophisticated scientist to rebuild the warp core and
then the camera cuts to Murph, burping summing up.
I love that character so much. so good.
Do you know what?
I almost don't want to know much about him.
I want him just to be a toddler.
What sex is it?
I think he's a him.
I think we say him.
Oh, it's the genatalist blob sex.
It is.
Rock calls him a hymn, so I think she would know.
But you know, I think they do have to be succinct in this because
this is geared at kids.
You can't really be ambiguous with the premise, like you have to
be very specific about what's going on.
But I think that's kind of good in a way.
That's, it's, it means the writing's quite crisp.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it doesn't it doesn't waste any time.
So, like, we're here with Dow and Dow is a shit captain.
He's lying in his quarters playing video games and doesn't even
notice that everyone's gone and it takes Janeway to sort of spur
him into action.
And that's a running theme, which I kind of like, because he's
been our focus character since episode one.
He is, in a way, the sort of star of the show and seeing him
develop from a kind of irresponsible and sort of shifty kid.
You know, he's brought up by a horrible Ferengi, who's kind of
turns out mean to him.
And, you know, he's been in this prison.
And he, but he is smart and he's capable in all sorts of ways.
And so he, he, he, Janeway has actually managed to give him a
speech that has spurred him into action and he's, he does well.
Like he gets, he gets something happening.
Look.
It's almost like a redemption arc of source, isn't it?
I mean, I did think in the other episode we watched, he was in a
similar place where he was like, oh, you know, I'm not doing
this.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what?
I'm going to step up to the plate and do this.
Yeah, and that's the thing that's going to happen.
I think that's okay, though.
You need a character.
If they're all on board, then where's the tension?
And he can't turn, he can't turn it around immediately like that
that wouldn't be, that would be no good.
Like, they can't throw that thread away.
I think his character's time. is probably the most obvious
character.
Whereas I think like zero, there's lots to learn.
No, there's lots to learn.
Rock talk is just massively appealing.
The Tellerite is fucking hilarious. love him so much.
So whilst, you know, he's the lead.
I don't know if he's the most interesting of all of them No.
Yeah.
It's a great performance though.
It really is.
I tell you what, one thing that really stood out for this, and
this is a bit of a complaint is because obviously we watched the
1st 2 episodes, didn't we?
And then we watched the 3rd, which was like a character piece of
them all finding the ship and kind of learning about each other.
And I felt those 1st 3 episodes were really quite ambitious and
doing new things, especially the 1st two.
I really it really felt fresh.
This felt very cliche and a bit unambitious to me.
Except though, like the, like, this thing with dreadnaught
suddenly coming to get her.
Like each of them are in a world, it turns out, are a version of
the ship that's kind of designed to get them doing their thing.
And so it's telling the dreadnocturns up in the portion of the
ship that Gwyn is in because she knows him and he was sent by her
father and so on.
Isn't that what that's what we did in the 1st episode when they
got away from the planet.
They all had to do their own thing to get away in the 2nd episode
where they all went through a dangerous situation and they all had
to...
You know, I get what they're doing.
I get it's all character building and it's definitely pushing the
narrative of the season along.
Yeah.
But this felt, to me, very much like, okay, we've got a new set of
regulars. lets put Trek cliche number 17 in and see how they react
to it.
And every Star Trek show does this. none of them are immune, you
know?
And I think they have to.
We'll see the anomaly episode.
We'll probably see the time loop episode.
You know, they'll do the works.
But these characters are massively appealing.
And so this is still hugely watchable.
And like you said, visually, very impressive.
Yeah.
I mean, that thing of getting dreadnock there is so clever.
And it's one of those things where it's like, 0 my god, that's, you
know, like I would never have thought of that.
It would never.
Why have they never done that before?
Yeah.
And he doesn't quite look like dreadnock.
It's not quite the same.
You know, it's not exactly him.
And in fact, he's got the same sort of colouring as the walls of
the proto stars.
Who reminds me of.
It reminds me of.
You remember the phantom menace when they had all that that robot
army they were going up against on the planet?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That's what he looks like.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But he's also got a kind of insect head thing happening, which is
kind of cool.
It's the only parallels we'll be making with the Phantom Menace
here.
I quite like the Phantom Menace.
Well, you would, wouldn't you?
honestly. bloody contrary.
Yeah.
It's the best of the prequels, finally.
Excuse me.
You've got in Phantom Menace.
Did you say it's the best of the prequels?
you kidding me?
Yeah.
Each one gets worse than the person?
Revenge and Sith is my favourite Star Wars film.
Dreadful.
Although, do you know what?
It just goes to show, though, you know, because I've been told
recently that Star Trek can't do comedy.
Well, I'm telling you now, Murf is a much better comic relief
character than Jar Job Inks.
Oh, easily.
Yep.
Less racist the whole thing.
And so each of them fails without the other.
The best one is Janken because he's in the fastest one, Pog, and
he just explodes immediately.
And, you know, Dal gets to build the thing.
Oh, here we are.
Poor lonely.
And she uses the time and she has a lot of time.
How much time does she spend there?
Well, it doesn't tell us, but that, and like she's saying good
night to everyone and she's got a little stuffed Murf that she
sleeps with.
So adorable.
Oh, I know.
I know.
I want one.
What if you could buy those?
And she's still eating the shitty food from the...
Yeah, that's the running thief, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And there's she's just been there forever.
Well, no, because actually, on the Gatesman family investigators.
Robert Picardo talks about his dad, right?
and his dad was brought up in poverty and they couldn't afford
proper bread.
So he had stale bread.
And even when he became a very rich man, He still ate stale bread
because no, no, but this is the same thing, isn't it?
Yeah, she's used to the prison food and she doesn't want to eat
anything else.
It's sad though, isn't it?
It's just terribly sad.
She's so good.
Oh, and Gwyn is being so sweet as well.
Like their relationship.
Remember the episode?
Like, she was locked up in the last episode.
And she brought her food.
Yeah, despite the fact that that role was reversed, wasn't it?
She was the prisoner and she was the one in prison.
Do you know, it shouldn't work at all this, because they're all
very likeable.
It should be it should be very tedious.
But this, like this, she is uncertain.
She's unsure of herself.
I can't, I can't, I can't.
She keeps saying that she can't do it.
Oh, and she's crying.
Holy crap, that ship.
Oh, and look how lonely she is.
And the ship?
That's a beautiful shot.
Yeah.
Holy crap.
This ship.
Okay. these shots where they're standing on the Starfleet symbol
don't they?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, it's the theme of the show.
But just the size of the spaces in this ship.
So wonderful.
And she's fixed it.
Rockus fixed Janeway.
You know what?
You know, I really love the fact that Janeway.
Look.
See, the Tallymark, she's carved into the window.
She's done it for each time she's trying to reboot Janeway and
she's failed.
And so she's done it 100s of times.
But finally got it right.
And...
And she's grown up now.
Is she a grown-up buddy of the next two?
No, no, no, no, no. not going to change her to be a grown-up, but
she has been there for a long time.
She teaches herself...
Like according to mechanics, aren't you?
Yeah, it's so good.
And and the thing is, right, um, It it valorizes science and
knowledge and engineering and being a giant nerd and knowing
stuff.
That's something to aspire to.
And this episode is very geeky with its sine wave and it's weird.
You know, like it just works on a level.
They're all on their own and they're communicating with each other
and whatever.
But, um, it is nerdy and what she's done is, she saved the ship
because she's awesome.
Something that Star Trek has always done, hasn't it?
It's promoted learning and being smart.
Except for enterprise.
Oh, well, yeah.
But it's basically, you know, like, um, the geek wins, you know
it's, it's, and that is something to aspire to.
And there we go.
We had the group hug.
They're all hugging one another except Murph, who just fell from
the ceiling and landed on.
He looks so happy, Luke, on the back.
But that's, I think that's really astonishing that now that
character, Rock, can be used in a variety of different ways
through this premise, in this sort of throwaway premise. 90s trip
would not do that.
No, Braun and Brains, Jankum, he's so gorgeous.
I read the most handsome Telleride.
I really want the episode for each of these characters.
You actually still kind of like learn more about them.
Like, you want to think, I think half the bat is, if you want to
be with those characters, isn't it?
If you don't, you know, we said about Voyager half the time, we're
like, well, if it's a Tom Paris episode, we're screwed, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Whereas any one of these characters, any one of them.
There's no dud here.
Can I ask you a question about... the Janeway hologram.
Yeah.
Because I'm a bit confused because she mentions about how the
robot had come onto the ship and taken away her memory.
Yeah, yeah.
So she hasn't known who her original crew is.
So, we, she, she found out that her original crew was Captain
Shakotay.
And that's all we know.
So the original captain of the protest star was Chakotay, and we
see Chakotay.
No, talking to her.
He's handsome.
He has some in this.
As it has a cartoon.
Yeah, it's actually a very very good likeness of him.
Robert Beltran, a fabulous voice performer.
Well, he, fortunately, he's only in it a little bit and she does
she does a, you know, Zoom into the centre of the picture enhance
and then you can see Dreadnaught kind of peering through the
through the thing.
So we do know the dreadnock took over the ship.
So there's some ongoing thing about that, I think.
Do we know that this is caught on with kits?
I don't know.
No, I don't know. really hope so.
Yeah, yeah.
It's properly sophisticated this for children.
I, you know, I wouldn't say as an adult, this is massively fair.
But it is for a child audience, this is a cut above the usual sort
of diet that they're fed on Nickelodeon.
Yeah, I think that, you know, like, I think the kids' TV is often
more sophisticated than we kind of give it credit for.
I don't know.
I have seen some of the stuff they churn out on the CBC and it can
be pretty.
Yeah.
But this, you know, it is proper Star Trek.
It's not like Star Trek the animated series, which is sort of
super low effort.
We still haven't lost yet.
I couldn't possibly comment.
I've watched a couple of them.
Low effort, did you say?
Oh, come wait, see no.
Shoddy.
And this is, I mean, this is a beautiful version of Star Trek, like
a stunningly good looking one, one that's well acted.
You know, it's got proper people in it.
Just incredibly solid characters and likeable characters.
Remember, I said in the last episode, the Herosion episode about
how I was a massive cynic and, you know, how I can't really buy
into these Star Trek shows that are basically, you know, going
with the premise that we can aspire to be better than all of
this.
Maybe if I'd had a show like this to watch at a certain age.
I wouldn't feel like that, you know?
It is absolutely that is pumping optimism into children.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Like the little girl tries really hard and spends a lot of time
because she's lonely and she wants her friends back and presumably
she doesn't want to die in a warp core breach and she solves.
She solves the problem by being smart and everyone's proud of
her.
It's so sweet.
But in the same breath, we've got a flying robot and a jelly and
you know, all those other fabulous things as well.
He's a Medusin.
Who what?
Zero.
Yeah.
Do you know what?
that's a really appealing voice performance.
Every time I perk up every time I hear that voice.
He can do comedy too.
He can deliver a funny line really well.
I think he's great.
There was a scene just now where he was sort of super enthusiastic
because he'd worked out the time anomaly and he kind of like heads
straight towards Janeway and Janeway's a little bit taken taken
aback by his enthusiasm.
It's just fun, you know, he's he's really good.
I mean, looking at Kurtzman Trek as a whole.
I tend to do this when we.
I tend to 4 shows or 5 now as a whole.
Like, you know, I'm still not on board with Discovery.
I'm just on board with Picard.
I like lower decks, but I think I can take it a little bit.
I'm properly on board with this.
Like, I will watch this through and that's probably my biggest
surprise with Cosby Trek.
All right, it's time for us to choose our next episode and I am on
untitled Star Trek project.com slash randomiser.
And I have no idea what I'm doing.
I have no unifying theme here, but I kind of want to do some 90s
trek that we haven't done.
Uh, too recently.
And we're a bit voyagered out, I think.
So I...
I am going to choose Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek Deep
Space 9 and Star Trek Enterprise.
Okay.
Does that sound all right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What, 90s track?
you kidding me?
90s track.
And the good 90s trek and the mediocre 90s trek.
Actually, they're all both of those things, aren't they?
They can be, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Push the bum.
Okay, we have a Deep Space 9.
Oh, God.
Blaze of glory.
Oh, that's a, that's a terrific episode.
Yeah.
That isn't it?
Properly.
It's like the end of an arc.
It's, um, it's one that really goes into some like, uh, morally
gray conversation between Eddington and Cisco and who's the
villain of, of their relationship.
It's it's visually quite interesting because we're in the
Badlands.
There's that massacre in it.
There's some action.
Well, it's up to you.
I think we just do it.
Why don't we just do it?
I don't think we've ever done that before.
Jason Thompson will be turning that in his grave.
He said to me the other day, he did...
He went randomly selected.
Yeah.
Well, this one's for you, Jason.
All right?
You've been listening to Untitled Star Trek Project with Joe Ford
and Nathan Bottomley.
You can find us online at Untitled Star Trek project.com, where
you can find links to our Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channel.
Our podcast artwork is by Kayla Ciceran, and the theme was
composed by Cameron Lamb.
This episode was recorded on the 24th of March 2022 and released
on the 1st of April.
We'll see you next time for Star Trek Deep Space 9, Blaze of
Glory.