Data Episodes

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Discovery going. Throttle up. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Yo, yo, yo. What is going on out there in the Alpha Quadrant? Welcome back to another episode of the Star Trek Warp top 10 podcast. That's right, we're back with a top 10. This won't be a Bombers Trek today. This is a top 10. So if you're looking forward to Bombers next episode, we're gonna have that out for you soon. But for now, we're back to the top 10, baby. I am your co host, Phil Rizzo, and as always, I'm joined by my co host, Brian Bomber Parks. What's going on, kid? [00:00:52] Speaker B: You know, by the way, it's about time because it's called the fucking warp top 10. What the fuck are we doing here? Let's get a list going here. [00:00:59] Speaker A: You know what? We haven't gotten any feedback other than personal feedback about the Bombers Trek. Troy. Troy likes it a lot. For one, I think he's a fan of just more content, which I think everybody is. We've been getting more episodes out since we started doing it, but I think he likes it. I think, I think it's a, it's a cool, cool angle that you have. And you know what? And, and, and the whole dynamic between you and I, it would, to me has always been fascinating, you being the novice and me being the guys watch Star Trek all my life. I think it's fascinating now to get the input from you now that you're starting to slowly, you know, sort of warp into that, into that, that arena. [00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. I think it's also got to be fun to, you know, spend some time in the episode, kind of. Why, you know, I'm sure he remembers it like you do, you know, all that kind of shit. So you get the. Hang out with the episode a little bit, then get to hear some morons fresh take on it and you move on. What are we doing here? You know? [00:01:50] Speaker A: Yeah, true enough. And maybe even more to the point, I think maybe he doesn't remember them as clearly as he or as I do. Anyway, you know, he's watched them maybe twice. I've watched him eight times. [00:01:59] Speaker B: So what is his show, by the way? Is he. Is he a Next Gen Die Hard too? Is he more original series or. [00:02:05] Speaker A: You know, it's funny, I don't think we ever implicitly said it, but if I had to guess, I would say he would go. I think he's an original series purist and he'll correct me on this as soon as he listens to this But I would say he would go. The ranking order for him would be Original series, Next Gen. Voyager, I think would be his top three, if not original series, Voyager, Next Gen. He is, he's a big Voyager guy. I always like that about him because most of the fans I hang out with, like, I don't, I don't think Voyager is like that high up on their thing. And I love Voyager and everyone, you know, it's always like fourth best show or fifth at worst. But. But I think, I think he has it up there. [00:02:44] Speaker B: Is that the one that they get pulled away and have to make their way back kind of thing? [00:02:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's the one with Janeway. They get pulled to the other side of the galaxy and they gotta find their way home. So, yeah, there's an inherent appeal there, I think. I think that's good. I even flirted with the idea of you starting with that show, only because of the concept is pretty grabby. But, but you know, the faith in you, you know, appreciating Next Gen, I think is. Yeah, I think we're good. I think we're good with Next Gen. Yeah. So like I said, we got another top 10 for you today and we're gonna do top 10. I know I, I hinted at this last time because I switched gears. I know. That's all right. So we're gonna do top 10 data episodes today when, when we were gonna do this. And then I switched gears the night before and I said, you know what we should do? We've done a lot of Next Gen lately. [00:03:31] Speaker B: That's right. [00:03:31] Speaker A: We're gonna do Dominion War episodes. So I went for a brand new sort of concept. I kind of put it together that night because I felt like we've done too much Next Gen. Obviously you're watching Next Gen episodes and Next Gen's always at the forefront of my Trek brain. So we are gonna, it is gonna be Next Gen heavy, but we're gonna try to do, you know, some other episodes. We did Quark episodes, we're gonna do some more DS9 characters, we're gonna do some Voyager characters, some Enterprise characters. We're gonna get all into it. And folks, I'm re watching the original series, so we're gonna have a top 10 of that soon. So. Yeah, so. But today it's gonna be Next gen again. Top 10 data episodes. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram and let us know what's going on. Give us a follow, check out some of the content we got up there. We're trying to Put more videos up on TikTok whenever we can. We're trying to put, you know, just post some funny stuff up on Instagram, so check us out. You could also shoot us an email at stwarp10mail and let us know if you like Bomber's Track. If you think it should be a separate podcast or part of the the warp top 10. I feel like it should be part of the warp top 10. We're all on the same journey. But hey, you know what, we're open for, for new ideas. So. Yeah, so you do know a little bit about Data, which is good. You've already started watching Next Gen. You know, you've seen a couple movies. You know, Data. [00:04:44] Speaker B: Have I seen any of the Data episodes from your list yet? [00:04:48] Speaker A: You're about to. You're maybe two away. [00:04:51] Speaker B: Okay. [00:04:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:52] Speaker B: Okay. [00:04:53] Speaker A: So. So listen. So I was thinking about this. So there will be some mild spoilers for you. [00:04:58] Speaker B: That's all right. [00:04:58] Speaker A: But that's okay. Most of them you will forget about by the time you get there. [00:05:01] Speaker B: No doubt. Especially the pace I'm going. [00:05:03] Speaker A: There's some spoilers. Yeah. But, you know, like I said, I think. I think it's worth it to talk about them. If there's anything that's gonna be a major disappointment for you, I'll try to. I'll try to keep it hidden. But like I said, you know, the episode Data Lore, which is on my list, is going to be. It's two. You're two episodes away from that. Two or three. So. So that's gonna be interesting for you to watch. That's a really cool episode. So there you go. So, yeah, so you got something to look forward to. One of the top 10 date episodes, in my opinion, is in season one coming soon. [00:05:31] Speaker B: Now, Data is got to be. We're talking about one of the big characters here. Now, I mean, as far as the whole thing of the show here, I mean, this is a guy that everybody pretty much is on board with, right? I mean, I have to agree. [00:05:41] Speaker A: I don't think any. I've never heard anyone say, oh, I can't stand Data. I can't stand that character. Now. I mean, Data was the Spock of Next Gen, right? So Data is that reflection of humanity. Data is that character who is objectively looking at humanity and trying to become a better person. In Data's case, he's trying to become human. In Spock's case, he wasn't trying to be human. He was already half human, he's half Vulcan. But he was that mirror he would comment on humanity and what humanity's been doing and what they're doing now, whereas Data emulates humanity. It's an interesting take. It's a different take. And I think I've told you this. Every series has that character. Every series has that Spock. You know, D Space Nine had Odo and, you know, Voyager had the Doctor and Seven of Nine both coming at humanity in different ways. But, yeah, so it's an interesting character. I think the fans always like that. So Data off the bat was a no brainer, but I mean, the way Brent Spiner played him, the way he was written, largely comic relief at first. I think you're seeing a little bit of that. [00:06:47] Speaker B: Yes, I've got a hint of that. Yes. Yeah, he's absolute Looney Tunes in some parts, but I love it, you know, I'm not, you know, and also I noticed his strength too, when he lifts the kid out of the water, whatever it was, right, the pilot. [00:07:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, they, I mean, they definitely, you'll see more feats of strength from Data, like, and they still maintain some of that, you know, you know, a tendency to talk a little bit too much or, you know, be a little lovably annoying when it comes to emulating humanity. But for the most part, Data's pretty much a universally beloved character and he's always been my favorite character on Next Gen. Like, you know, him and Picard, I think, are, you know, the characters to watch on that show amidst many good characters. But yeah, so Data, you know, Data is an Android. A first for Star Trek, certainly not a first for science fiction, as we know. But yeah, he's been, he's been a fan favorite since, since the beginning. And he's, and he's a good, he's a good, you know, Trek celebrity. Like, he goes to a lot of the conventions. Pretty active. [00:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah, at both. We went to the Comic Con in New York. He was there, right? [00:07:52] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. He was up on the, the Picard season three panel. Yeah. So, yeah. So, you know, they kind of live that life. It's, it's, I mean, it must be good and bad in some ways, right? Like, you know, like, like you act, you know, and I'm sure you've imagined yourself, you know, being a famous actor. [00:08:08] Speaker B: You know, I, I, it's funny, I, I go back and forth with a lot of that. Like, there, there is, it's funny, like you always get the, you know, some friends of mine will ask you questions like, where do you see your career? What do you Want it to be and everything, you know, And I think a lot of it is, you know, you, like, even. Like, we just watched the Oscars, you know, do you want to get to a level of, like, you know, you can't, like, look like, to be like, Tom Cruise or one of them guys. Do you want it to get to that level where you can't really do anything without, you know, I mean, like, that's a little insane. I feel like someone. Like, Data is probably where you want to be, Right? What's the actor's name again? I'm gonna fight. Sorry about that. I'm. [00:08:41] Speaker A: That's okay. No, this is Brent Spiner. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Brent Spider Brent. [00:08:44] Speaker A: Brent with a team. Yeah, Brent. [00:08:46] Speaker B: Like. Like, for him, it's like. I'm sure he doesn't get recognized anywhere. You know what I mean? For the most part. But I'm sure he does get recognized more than you would think, I guess. I don't know. You know what I mean? But. But I feel like if 10 guys are sitting at a bar, maybe five will be like, holy shits, this is the Star Trek dork. You know what I mean? [00:09:02] Speaker A: We're gonna start calling this the. The. The. The bomber experiment or the. The bomber supposition with the 10 guys in a bar scenario. [00:09:09] Speaker B: I know. I don't know why I was going. [00:09:10] Speaker A: That's definitely, like the. So, yeah, 10 got 10 random regular people in a bar. I feel like maybe one would recognize him. I mean, let's not forget he's been in things other than other than. Of course. Of course he's been in. He was actually. I mean, I think about 1996. That's definitely his peak. Do you know you never love Will Watchables podcast. You ever listen to that? [00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. [00:09:31] Speaker A: So they do Apex Mountain, right? Like the celebrities. Well, so 1996 was by far Data's Apex Mountain. Up Apex Mountain. Well, he was. He was in Star Trek First Con. So they're coming off the Next Gen. Next gen ends in 96. They do star Trek Generations, Pretty successful from a Star Trek standpoint. Then they come out with first contact in 1996. The most successful Trek movie up to that point, I should say. I'm sorry, this is the most successful opening weekend up to that point. Star Trek 4, I think did more money, but anyway, it doesn't matter. So he's in that movie in 1996. He's also in phenomenon in 1996. He's also an Independence Day. So he's in three major movies that year. Yeah. So I mean that's definitely his apex. So I feel like anyone who's watched Independence Day would recognize, you know, I think it was name was Dr. Oaken. I want to say in that. Remember he was the hippie doctor with the long hair. [00:10:19] Speaker B: I told you my whole story with that. I had a buddy of mine in high school. Again, this reminds me of the Simpsons Three Stooges thing. I probably talk about my stubborn ass. This kid watched went to Independence Day. He always hated Star Wars. He comes up to me, he's like this movie makes Star wars look like it's never been made. It was horrible. You know, like, like he, he basically said Independence Day is 10 times better than Star wars. Because he said that I went into the movie with a like this movie attitude and I, I, I was not a part of the whole independence that I saw it once, I don't really remember it. I was like this movie. So that kid ruined it for me even though I really ruined it myself because I let him get to my head and he beat me. You know what I mean? What are you gonna do? [00:10:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean I think it's a largely overrated movie. I think it's a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun seeing it. [00:11:00] Speaker B: I'll go back and check it out eventually. [00:11:01] Speaker A: So anyway, Brent Spine was really funny in that. He was, he was kind of the comic relief in that as well. Like I said, he was like this hippie doctor who. They had had the alien specimens in the ship for years since Area 51 and he was the current doctor running that program. Anyway, Brent Spiner had a great year in 1996 and I feel like people would, you know, maybe I'd go even two or three people might of random people might recognize him. They might not know his name. [00:11:23] Speaker B: Right. [00:11:24] Speaker A: But oh yeah, that dude's an actor, you know. Of course the first time I saw him was on Night court in the 80s. He had a recurring role on there. Yeah, he be he him and him and his like wife. The joke was they were so dirt poor that they were like just these bumpkins who just, you know, I mean that was, that was it. That was the pretty much a one note joke. They were just so damn poor. But he did it in this, this really southern accent. God, I can't do that. But he was, he was really funny. I'm leaving that in, I'm leaving that ridiculous impression in there because it was terrible. So, yeah, so, so I knew him before Star Trek. He might be the him and Patrick Stewart. Remember the only characters I knew before Star Trek, I never saw Roots and I never saw Reading Rainbow, so I didn't know who LeVar Burton was. [00:12:07] Speaker B: I never saw either one of those either. I didn't grow. I know so many people that grew up with the Reading Rainbow thing. I. I didn't. I never checked that out when I was a kid. [00:12:14] Speaker A: Nah, I was more of a Magic Gardens, Gen X kind of guy. I was very, very old. I might even be too old for you. [00:12:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know. [00:12:20] Speaker A: That was like late 70s. [00:12:21] Speaker B: I was Jubilee Room. I don't know. You know any other room? [00:12:27] Speaker A: I haven't thought about that in years. [00:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:29] Speaker A: What was that on after. Was that on after, like Sesame street or something? [00:12:33] Speaker B: It sounds like it might have been, but. [00:12:34] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. [00:12:35] Speaker B: I have no clue. I'm very bad at that kind of. [00:12:37] Speaker A: I'll tell you, that was on after. [00:12:39] Speaker B: Sesame street, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross. I know, like PBS. I used to watch all that, but. But yeah, me too. [00:12:46] Speaker A: I haven't thought about Romper Room in years. Holy, that's a. You blew my mind a little bit there. Wow, that's great. So, yeah, I watched that too. [00:12:52] Speaker B: But I was gonna say, you know, just going back to the actor thing, going to like a convention. Like, I'm sure there were some actors that are like, oh, this is kind of beneath me, or I don't know, but. But maybe not. I mean, went to next gen. It seemed like everyone there was having a good time and all about it. Like, I thought that was awesome. That they were. I love that, that they seem to be that way, you know, like, I really, really enjoyed that. [00:13:10] Speaker A: That's what I was gonna. Actually, thanks for bringing me back because I kind of lost my thread there. What I was going to say about, you know, you acting and the acting thing is that, like, I think with the next gen actors in particular, it's a pretty good sweet spot right now. Yes, they may be pigeonholed as being Star Trek actors the rest of their life, but I think that show was popular enough that they're riding that out. Like, of course, you know, they're. They're not, you know, they're not destitute. They're, you know, they're still living in Hollywood. They're still, like. Most of them aren't doing active stuff, but they're still like. I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that. Most of them are doing things behind the scenes. I don't see them in front of the camera a lot. Like, I used to like Lamar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, they all. They direct, you know, I haven't seen like, for example, I haven't seen like, Marina Sirtis or really Michael Dorn or any of those actors in anything other than Trek entities. But my point is that I think. I think it. It's a blessing and a curse. Yeah, right. They're these characters, they kind of always will be now, but they're kind of okay with that. Whereas, like, I think William Shatner always kind of resented it. I think for a brief time, Letter Nimoy kind of presented it. Hence the book I'm Not Spock. And then. And then the book after that, I Am Spock. And then the Simpsons Joke, his third book, where it's I am also Scotty. And it was him, like, much bigger, eating a sandwich. But. Yeah, but, but like. And the flip side of that is the, like, say, for Voyager or to. To a greater extent, Enterprise, like some of those actors, other than like, Scott Bakula, really couldn't ride it out. Like, the show wasn't popular enough where they can sort of coast off of what they got going on. But, yeah, you know, obviously they weren't famous enough where they'd be, you know, burdened by it. So it's a weird thing, you know, I know when, when they were casting DS9 and Voyager, I read some articles in Entertainment Weekly and stuff about how, like, the actors were sort of warned, like, in a good way, in a bad way by, like the next gen actors and like the original series actors. Like, look, you're entering a world that you might not be ready for. You know, it's. The fandom is insane and you'll be beloved for years, but, you know, you might not get another job. This might be what you Do I. [00:15:17] Speaker B: Not be able to get out? [00:15:18] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I mean, you, for example, right? Like, if you got offered a part on like, a TV series like this, but you knew, like, this is all you'll ever be known for. Like, I'm sure you'd still do it, but, like, it'd be something to think about, wouldn't it? [00:15:33] Speaker B: Of course, there's no question about it, you know. But you know what I wonder. It's funny because it's like someone like me, like, I have never done anything quite a kind of that level or that major for the standpoint of, like, if you're someone like you said, like, damn, we just mentioned before, or someone like, like, you know, if Brett Spiner, who's done a few things or whatever, you know, he might or like you mentioned William Shatner. William Shatner had done a few things before Star Trek, you know what I mean? [00:15:56] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:15:57] Speaker B: So it's like I could see him being like, you know, I, I'm more than this where I don't know about Leonard Nimoy. If he had, maybe he had, I don't know. But I'm like, you know, if he had done other things. But I guess my point is just that, you know, from like me, especially now after getting involved, especially after going to a convention, everything, I think it's fucking awe, I mean I'm a nerd. Like I think that's fucking awesome to be involved with something like that. And you know, at least you have, there's a popular fan base. I. And to be honest, ya, you always, you always think about how. Oh there's, it's, it's a big thing and it's, everything is like, you know, you know, it's a big deal in the world but like going to these confessions, seeing all the people, it's like, wow, this thing is really fucking huge. This fucking thing, you know, I mean it's, it's crazy still, right? [00:16:34] Speaker A: I mean the show went off the air, you know, 31 years ago, next gen, you know what I mean? And, and even if you, you know, you take out the movies and the Picard series, of course, but now this show ended 31 years ago and still like, I'm sure you noticed those were the popular actors, right? The next gen actors, you know what I mean? A little more so than lower decks. A little more so. Right? So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're kind of, you're kind of beloved for life. And hey, I'm one of those geeks that'll, you know, I'll be 80, being like, oh, Jonathan, Frank's is still alive. All right, let's go, let's go, let's go see him. But hey, it is what it is. So yeah, so hey listen, let's, let's, let's jump in, let's get to it. So we have. [00:17:09] Speaker B: So. No, I was only gonna say now real quick right before we begin the list here, I was gonna say it's about Data here because so far, I mean I've watched like five episodes of whatever the hell it is, six episodes so far of next year. And at this point for me, but I, I know I've seen some of the movies, but it's been a while since I checked them out, but I'm like already disguised, you know. Again, he's pulling the kid out of the water with one arm. He, he's, he's on fast forward, putting all these discs back in the goddamn. You know, I don't know what the hell he was doing there, but it. [00:17:36] Speaker A: Was like somebody, the data. Data chips or whatever, putting them back in slots. [00:17:40] Speaker B: So he's got speed out the ass. You know, he, he banged Tashi R. So that, that's got to be a plus there. I mean, you know, this guy is on a roll. He's a legend already. Like, what are we doing here? Is there anything this guy can't do now? You know what I mean? [00:17:55] Speaker A: Let's talk about it. Let's talk about what he can and can't do because it's. Some of my, some of my picks here are sort of based on what he's capable of doing, what he's not capable of doing. So yeah, so let's, let's talk about data. So, yeah, so, so cool. So let's, let's, let's dive right in. You know, it's. Of course, we're already like 20 minutes into the pod and we've always. Yeah, that's all right. I think everyone who listens this pod knows that if they want to just jump ahead to the 15 minute mark, they could listen to the top 10. That's okay. That's okay. You do you kids, you do you. All right, so let's do it. Number 10. Top 10 data episodes. Number 10 pen pals. All right, this is cool. This is an episode I don't think I've talked about yet on this pod, which is pretty miraculous when considering Data Next Gen. Cute title. Is it? Well, there's a cute girl in it too. So let's talk about it. I know. And again. And it's an Aww, cute. Not a. Oh, cute. So yeah, it's a little girl. So pen pals 6.8 on imdv. I think it should be a little higher than that, but that's okay. Data befriends an alien girl in distress, breaking the prime directive, while Wesley commands his first team. Pretty good synopsis. Well done there. Yes, let's talk about it. So, so Pen Pals is an episode in Trek's second season, which is kind of cool. I'm gonna give some props to the. To Next Gen first and second season. So these are episodes you'll be seeing, you know, within a reasonable timeline. So Data receives. He's. He's just scanning random frequencies or some. And folks, look, like I said, if I get a detail wrong here or There, Feel free to point it out, but, you know, please don't. Please don't cruise find me for it. He's scanning frequencies or something. He picks up a distress call from this little girl called Sashenka with this cute little voice, and she's clearly in distress. Something's going on. So Data answers back, you know, so I should say he gets a message saying, is anyone out there? And he's like, yeah, you know, it turns out that she's on a planet that is pre warp. I don't know if you remember what that means or not, but if you're pre warp, that means we can't alter the natural organic maturity of that species. The Prime Directive states that we cannot interfere with the species and alter the course of their history unless they've achieved warp drive. So we don't make first contact with the species until they achieve warp drive. Bomber is smiling and about to laugh, and I got asked, what do you laugh? [00:20:10] Speaker B: Well, there was just a lot of information right there. You just spat out right there, like, what the fuck are you talking about? I'll take the free warp thing and we're just going to go. We're going to go right and move on. Because that was a lot there. But I appreciate you trying. [00:20:23] Speaker A: That's all right. We'll break it down. All you got to know is that the Prime Directive is the number one order in Starfleet. You cannot interfere with a pre war species. So it'd be like if, you know, Earth, if aliens came down here to Earth, and we're like, we're going to give you all this technology, blah, blah, we would destroy ourselves in seconds. Like some. Some freakazoid filled with hate would blow up a country and, you know, and that's. That's it, right? So. So Starfleet doesn't do that. Federation doesn't. So it turns out this girl is from a pre warp civilization. So Picard pretty much orders Data to stop communications altogether with her, no matter what's going on with her. Turns out, you know, her species is in trouble. There's this, I guess, like sort of cataclysmic weather shit that's happening on the planet. Like volcanoes are exploding everywhere, blah, blah, blah. So she's pretty much gonna die if they ignore her. So Data sort of defies the Prime Directive and keeps communicating with her, which is weird, right, because he's an Android, right? He's got his rules. He doesn't have feelings, per se, but he still decides to do the right thing and, you know, keep talking to this Girl. Really, really, really great scene in Picard's quarters. He has it in his quarters because, you know, it's not an official conversation. He wants to talk about the Prime Directive in a way in which doesn't reflect the official stance of him or Starfleet. So they all, you know, break down the pros and cons of whether they should do this, whether they shouldn't. It's a really great, well written scene. But Picard's like, you know what, Data? We can't do it. End communication. And then just as he's about to end communication, the whole crew hears her voice. And it's such a cute, pleading, desperate voice. They're like, ah, Data, all right, fine, you know, we're gonna help her out. I mean, he pretty much goes, data. He doesn't say, but it's the exact way he does it, is Data. So, yeah, so that's the. A story, a really great Data episode. And that's basically what we're talking about. And listen, folks, you're going to hear my ranks and you're going to be like, wait a minute, you ranked that so much higher on the other list. Well, this is just about Data and how I interpret Data's relationship to these episodes. So this was a great episode for Data. You know, he decides to break the Prime Directive for moral reasons. He shows a lot of quote, unquote heart, you know, that he really hasn't before. And yeah, this was one of my comfort food episodes when I was first watching the VHS tapes. For some reason, this was one of the ones from season two. I always reached for and just said, boom. Probably because I was really into Data. [00:22:48] Speaker B: Wow, look at you. You wanted to have. You wanted to be a little pen pal yourself with Data, didn't you? You know, I did. [00:22:53] Speaker A: I did have a pen pal when I was younger, actually. Have you read a bad. A pen pal? You know what? [00:22:56] Speaker B: There was a year in grade school, they made us do that. We wrote a letter. It was kind of cool. I remember getting a letter back. I forget what hell we wrote to. It was like some other country or something like that. I was like, oh, that's cool. And then we never did it again. I was like, fuck. That was. You know. And I didn't keep. Keep up with it there. [00:23:07] Speaker A: I know I kind of abandoned my. My little pen pal there. I fell pen. His name was Jason Smith from Jamaica. Hey, Jason Smith, if you're from Kingston, Jamaica, and I was your pen palance. I don't know, fifth or sixth grade. I'm sorry. I didn't write back. I was afraid. I didn't know what to write. [00:23:21] Speaker B: Anyway, that's. Well, look at that. You know, I have no idea who my pen pal was or whatever, you know, it definitely wasn't Data, I'll tell you that. Now, what about. And this is that this is made long before you've got mail too. So this could have been like, you've got Data right here. We could. We could retitle this episode now. [00:23:36] Speaker A: Another song for you got Mel. [00:23:37] Speaker B: I love the idea of going against the Prime Directive too, by the way. This seems like a big thing in Star Trek too. It reminds me of working in a rush. Like, I worked in a restaurant, especially for corporate for. For a long time, you know, and they always had these training videos. You probably Burger King, we probably had a Pizza Hut, right? I'm trying to think like, you know. Oh, yeah, they would be like, oh, you know, when you greet a table, this is what you're. The way you're supposed to do it. This and that, you know, and it's like. And it sounds good, but then all of a sudden, it's Friday night, you're getting slammed of 18 tables. Like, yeah, let's. What do you want to drink? Let's do this, you know, like, all that shit goes right out the window, you know, I mean, it's like, survive here, you know, Like, I don't have time for you for the Prime Directive. We're shoving that right up someone's ass. [00:24:13] Speaker A: I love that you just compared the Prime Directive with, like, what you're supposed to say when you walk up to it. I don't know, Pizza Hut or macaroni. I love it. [00:24:23] Speaker B: I know. [00:24:24] Speaker A: No, that's awesome. That's awesome. And yeah, you're right. I mean, and. And let's face it, that's pretty much what a lot of these captains do, right? So the Prime Directive is there for a reason, but really the episodic, the TV reason it's there is so we can create more drama. And they could break the Prime Directive when they need to. Now, they don't abuse that. But every single captain has broken the Prime Directive at one point or another. [00:24:43] Speaker B: And this is more. [00:24:45] Speaker A: Bigger degrees or less. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Well, I'm sorry to go. I was gonna say this. You just put it on my head too, that this is kind of. So this had to be an interesting thing. That wasn't a captain, but it was somebody, like you said. But no, really emotion, like, this is data now going against it, which is not a common thing. I'm guessing. [00:24:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think it was interesting. I think it was an interesting way to sort of tell that story through someone who's dispassionate, but still logical and moral. So I think that was a cool. A cool, you know, a plot there and just really brief. I know this is date episodes, but we should address the B plot. The B story here. Wesley commands his first team, which is kind of cool. So he's. He's put in charge of a geological survey of the planet that they're kind of orbiting around. And, you know, so he has to sort of. And I do relate to this before he has. And he has to sort of tell adults what to do for the first time, and he's kind of a little scared about it. So it's a cool B story. I think it's a good story. It's something that I think we can all relate to. You were a manager. I was a manager. We're both supervisors. And we had to tell, you know, when we were. I was 20. 20 years old and I was 18, I had to tell somebody who was 46 to knock it the fuck off and sweep the goddamn floor. You know, I mean, and the first couple times you do that, it's hard, right? [00:25:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, definitely. And I was going to say, too, when you mentioned earlier, reading the plot there, that Wesley. I forgot to bring this back. Exactly. I hope they gave this motherfucker a better swe. He commanded the fleet, I'll tell you, so many episodes I've seen. Boy. Holy. [00:26:03] Speaker A: Well, he does. I think at that point, he's got an. They do put him in a uniform pretty, pretty soon. [00:26:08] Speaker B: All right. [00:26:09] Speaker A: I want to say maybe not in the first season, but definitely by the second season. He had his own uniform. He had an acting ensign uniform. So you'll see. [00:26:17] Speaker B: Nice. [00:26:17] Speaker A: It's. It's not much of an improvement from the orange sweater, but it is what it is. Yeah. So, I mean, that's. That's pen pals. Like I said, it was comfort food for me. It was always an episode stuck out in my mind. It's number 10 because it's, you know, it is what it is. It's. You know, I don't say it's 6.8, but I'd say it's like a 7.1. So pretty. [00:26:36] Speaker B: Pretty close. [00:26:37] Speaker A: Feels good at number 10. All right, let's move on. So number nine. So number nine is going to be. And this is where it's going to shock some people. Number nine is elementary, Dear Data. So it's an episode I've talked about on here a lot. Number nine is the Sherlock Holmes episode. And you know what? You know, I'm thinking about it and yes, Data is a huge part of this episode. He's probably the star of the episode and he does the Sherlock Holmes thing and it's, it's, it's a full on Sherlock Holmes thing. Not what you saw when he was just sort of pretending to be Sherlock Holmes with the pipe. [00:27:07] Speaker B: Yes. [00:27:07] Speaker A: This is a holodeck with full gear. And you know, the whole episode is. You're gonna love it because I know you read all the Sherlock Holmes books like I did and you'll, you'll catch some of the references when he's talking about it. But you know, it's number nine. So this is an 8.1 on IMDb. This is pretty high. [00:27:22] Speaker B: It's pretty high. [00:27:24] Speaker A: It is, yeah. So an attempt to provide Data with a challenging Sherlock Holmes holodeck program backfires when its Professor Moriarty character accidentally becomes self aware. An absolute awesome premise for an episode. This is so fucking cool. And it isn't spoilers to tell you that. So basically they're doing the Sherlock Holmes. You know, Jordy is Watson. And, you know, I was gonna ask you. Sherlock Holmes. [00:27:46] Speaker B: Watson was. Okay, yeah, cool. [00:27:48] Speaker A: Yeah, it's Jordy. Jordy and Data quickly become the Chandler and Joey of the. Of the Enterprise. D It's a lot of fun. And I'm sure you heard the I don't remember or not the Season 8 tweets that Luke and I did. That's a running gag that they're like, they're having sleepovers and trapping a spider under a glass and like that, you know, like they're kids. Anyway, so they're doing the Sherlock Holmes thing and Data gets in there and he's like, aha, he's the killer. Because of this and blah, blah. And it's over so quickly that Jordan gets pissed. He was looking forward to the mystery of it. But Data's read every Sherlock Holmes ever, so he knows exactly what's going to happen before it happens. So Jordy gets a little wise and he says, all right, computer, create an adversary capable of defeating Data. [00:28:30] Speaker B: Wow. [00:28:32] Speaker A: Instead of saying, create an adversary capable of defeating Sherlock Holmes. Really clever writing there, right? So the computer creates a self aware Professor Moriarty who not only knows all the shit that Moriarty knows, but he becomes aware that he's a holodeck character on a ship. It's really cool. And he kind of takes over the ship briefly. It's It's. It's a. It's a great homage to. To that character in. In. In, you know, Arthur Conan Doyle's lore. It's a really cool episode. [00:29:03] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that whole idea sounds. It sounds awesome. Yeah. Like I said, I remember the episode I just watched there recently, first season, where he. He's in love with Sherlock, with the pipe and all that. It got a little crazy there, but. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Right. But yeah, I forgot all about that. I can't believe it. [00:29:17] Speaker B: It's funny, of course, because my dad showed me all the old. I. He. We grew up with a lot. You ever seen the old Basil Rathbone, Sherlock Holmes movies? [00:29:24] Speaker A: No, I'm familiar with the actor and I know he was in that. But no, I never watched it myself. [00:29:28] Speaker B: Really great. In fact, I had watched a bunch of. When I was a kid, but then actually, during. What the hell. Just. There was some. I don't know if I was just sick recently. There was some period of time there where I had time to kill. I binged like the last four or five I hadn't seen. They made like, movies at us and they were. They were phenomenal. [00:29:44] Speaker A: This. [00:29:44] Speaker B: What this one was, really had a moment of. Remind me of Psycho. Ought to mention that if I think it was called House of Fear. No, no, the Scarlet. The Scarlet Claw was the name of this movie. This movie was phenomenal. [00:29:55] Speaker A: Okay. [00:29:55] Speaker B: But anyway, I was gonna say. So I haven't really watched a lot other than. I mean, I saw the first Robert Downey Jr. One. I didn't see the second, and he was. Told me about the Benedict Cumberbatch thing. I haven't checked that out yet. I heard that's phenomenal. [00:30:06] Speaker A: Oh, love it. That's. That's. [00:30:08] Speaker B: I gotta get into that. [00:30:09] Speaker A: It's. Honestly, it's one of the best shows of the last 20 years. No, no question. I. I like. I like the guy Richie, Sherlock Holmes movies. I liked them both. I thought the second one was a lot of fun too. Oh, and Jared Harris playing Moriarty. I, you know, I love how these actors really commit to the Moriarty character. Right. It's kind of like the American version of the Joker. [00:30:30] Speaker B: Yes. [00:30:31] Speaker A: Like the British. The British are gonna pay. Like Andrew. Oh, God, fuck, I'm gonna fuck up his name. Andrew Scott is brilliant as Moriarty on Sherlock. And I love Jared Harris playing Moriarty in the Shirley in the Guy Ritchie movies. I never watched Elementary. [00:30:48] Speaker B: I never did either. I don't want. I know Lucy Liu. [00:30:51] Speaker A: And I also love what's his name? Johnny Something. I Love him from chainspotting. Johnny Lee Miller. Johnny Lee. Johnny Lee. Johnny Lee Miller. Yeah, I think that's his name. Johnny Lee Hooker is the blues artist. I think it's Johnny Lee Miller from Trainspotting. Anyway, yeah, he's really good, so I never watched that version, but, yeah, Sherlock Holmes. And, you know, I. I download. I got them all on audiobook, and I'm all like. Like one one summer, you know, they're hit or miss. Some are good, some are bad, but some of the good ones are really, really good. [00:31:18] Speaker B: No doubt. [00:31:19] Speaker A: And I like that. I had seen Sherlock already because the Sherlock pays so much direct homage to the. To their source material. [00:31:25] Speaker B: There's a great Buster Keaton movie called Sherlock Jr. By the way. I don't know if that was out on my list. [00:31:29] Speaker A: I know. I watched it. [00:31:29] Speaker B: Yeah, Okay. [00:31:30] Speaker A: I watched it. I liked it. [00:31:31] Speaker B: That was great. [00:31:32] Speaker A: That was my first, like, slapstick silent film, actually. [00:31:36] Speaker B: Wow. [00:31:36] Speaker A: I think it was silent. Was it sound? [00:31:37] Speaker B: It was. [00:31:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:31:39] Speaker A: No, I like that a lot. Yeah, that was. I think that's what I was telling you about, where he, like, he was following in lockstep behind perfectly. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:47] Speaker A: And the guy threw a cigarette. He caught it. Just put it as was a cigarette. [00:31:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:50] Speaker A: I think it was so fucking hilarious. It was so I was like, how do you do that? You know? [00:31:53] Speaker B: I know. [00:31:54] Speaker A: Must have been cgi, I guess, right? [00:31:56] Speaker B: And it's funny, too. I was gonna say, speaking of comedy, me and Allison, you know, obviously, we love Will Ferrell and everything we were close to walking out of. We went to go see in the theater, Homes and Watson, but we were. [00:32:08] Speaker A: It was so bad. [00:32:09] Speaker B: I don't know. It was so. I couldn' believe it. I was like, how could this not work? You know? But we watched it. We were like, halfway through, like, man, this is really a chore to get through. It was pretty rough. Yeah. [00:32:18] Speaker A: Sadly, no bullshit. You and Allison, like, tomorrow night watch, start watching Sherlock. You will not regret it. [00:32:24] Speaker B: Oh, we. I. We got to get. We got to do that fucking. [00:32:26] Speaker A: It's fucking amazing. [00:32:27] Speaker B: Now, let me ask you, who plays the Moriarty character in the Data episode now? Is there anybody. [00:32:33] Speaker A: Yeah, Daniel Davis plays him. Daniel Davis is the butler from the Nanny. Do you remember? [00:32:39] Speaker B: Oh, God, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, That's Hilar. [00:32:43] Speaker A: I think his name is Daniel Davis. And interestingly enough, I don't. If you remember when we went to comic con in 2023 and we watched the trailer for Picard season three, and there was a villain reveal, and we Were all like, oh, my God, that was Moriarty. That was Daniel Davis thing. [00:33:00] Speaker B: Wow. [00:33:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So it won't be the last time you see. When you get that episode. Won't be the last time you see him. [00:33:05] Speaker B: Wow. [00:33:05] Speaker A: Very cool. Even before Picard season three. So, yeah. So listen, a great episode. No doubt about it. It was higher on my Next Generation Season 2 list. But just from a data perspective, I think the episodes I have above this are better. So it's as simple as that. Nice. If you want to call me out on that, which I think you could mathematically, but I go from the cut maybe. So, yeah, great episode. I can't wait for you to get to that one. That's gonna be a lot of fun. Nice. All right, so let's see. So number eight, the Ensigns of Command. Yeah. Now we're getting into some episodes that we've kind of never talked about on this. On this pod. And I like that. [00:33:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:41] Speaker A: Because even if we're doing top, you know, Doctor episodes on Voyager, I might still reference a Next Gen episode here, a D space 9 episode there, but I don't think we've talked about the instance of command yet. And this is definitely one of my go tos when I was really getting into the third season of Next Gen. So this is season three. 7.4 on IMDb. After 111 years of silence, an extremely litigious alien race asserts its greed upon the right to wipe out a Federation colony in its territory. That's sort of a weird description, but. So basically, the Enterprise the Federation is in is in negotiation with this race called the Sheliak. Bunch of fucking assholes. But, you know, they're powerful and we needed to negotiate peace, so they have this very, very meticulously crafted treaty that they signed with them. It took, like, negotiation experts years to hammer this shit out. [00:34:35] Speaker B: Right. [00:34:36] Speaker A: So the Shelley act, this weird race who you won't see before or after, they want to remove this human colony population from this planet that we didn't know was there. We discovered these humans on this planet. How are they surviving? There is all this radiation. We didn't know they were there. All right, we're gonna evacuate them, but you got to give us time. And the Shelly acts like you. We're eradicating them. And like, they're not rats. We're in a treaty. This is, you know, but they're like, hey, the treaty says this asshole, so. So they're kind of stuck. So Data, the only person on the Enterprise who can withstand that radiation because he's an Android is sent down to the planet. Now, these humans survive. You know, when they first got down there, a lot of people died off, but they kind of developed an immunity to it. So they thrived. And over, you know, for the last 111 years, they've been rebuilding, thinking that there was no hope of rescue. So they had this new home, this new planet that. That, you know, that they're. They're worth. They want to defend. And the Shelly act want to eradicate us Theaters down say, listen, these assholes are coming. They're going to blow you off the face of the planet. We got to go. And they're like. Like, we're not leaving. I don't know who the Sheliac is, but this is our home. And then, Data, this is why it's a great Data episode. He has to, like, improvise, really, for the first time and be like, look, Commander Riker, they don't want to leave. I don't know what to do. He's like, data, figure it out, because you're the only one who can go down there, so you got to get them ready for evacuation. We're gonna handle these guys up here, but you got to get this done. So he befriends this woman who's a cybernetic expert who's fascinated with him because she never saw an Android that advanced. And they got to try to figure out how to sway the leader, Ghoshavin, to convince these people to evacuate. So it's Data kind of thinking on, you know, thinking on his toes, flying by the seat of his pants for the first time, and he's out outside of his comfort zone. Made for a really good Data episode. [00:36:17] Speaker B: I don't know if he's thinking or flying by the seat of his pants as much as he's just charming a woman to get to the job done. I mean, you know, that's what it sounds like. He's, you know, she was a cutie. [00:36:25] Speaker A: She definitely. She had the hots for him. She planted a wet one on him at the end of the episode. [00:36:30] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:36:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Dana. So far, Data, by my count, at this point, the episode has gotten just as much tail as Picard, as far as I could tell. But. [00:36:39] Speaker B: All right. [00:36:40] Speaker A: All right. Rikers banged 70 or 80 women at that point, but, yeah, seems like it. [00:36:45] Speaker B: Was a free for all for him. I mean, you know, yeah, he's. [00:36:48] Speaker A: He's a hound. He needs to. He needs to go to therapy. But, yeah, so it's a cool episode for Data. He's down There trying to negotiate, trying to, you know, sway people, trying to convince them things he's never kind of had to do before. So it's fun watching him do that. So, yeah. So Data's doing that, and meanwhile, back on the ship, you know, Picard and Troy are trying to find a loophole in this. In this treaty to sort of get the Shelley act to give us time to get these people off the planet. You don't got to wipe them out. And finally they do. They come up with something. It gives them enough time. Data finally convinces, you know, the colonists to, you know, to evacuate. So, yeah, so Data ends up taking some, you know, pretty extreme measures to tell, you know, to convince them how to do that. It's kind of fun to do. Kind of fun to see Data play that role a little bit. And. Yeah. And listen, this episode, for no other reason, gave us the ridiculous name the Grisellas. So the loophole that they find in this fucking treaty is that, like, they have the right to ask a third party alien species to moderate their dispute. So Picard chooses the Grisellas because they're hibernating for six months, and they won't be fucking able to do this for six months. So he was pretty much like, do you assholes want to give us our six weeks or do you want to wait six months? So they're like, all right, fine, bitch. Whatever. The Grisellas. Isn't it a fortunately named species that a species named the Grizzlies would have a hibernation period? I think that's hilarious. [00:38:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, the odds in that, really. [00:38:16] Speaker A: I mean, you know, what are the odds, really? Now, you could argue that the universal translator just translates their true alien name into something that we can understand. Who knows? That's a whole conversation Luke and I have had a bunch of times. It's the nerdiest fucking conversation you could have. But, you know, it is what it is. It's along the lines of the Romulan. Like, the Romulan, like the bad guy in Trek is called Nero, right? And he's a Romulan, Right? Romulan, Romulus, Rome. Nero. Right. Like, did they really name their entire fucking structure after an ancient Earth culture? Or is the. Is the universal translator just translating it to us in a way in which we would understand so we'll never answer that question? I'm sure. [00:38:54] Speaker B: You know, listen, they named Data after a Goonies character. So what are we doing here? [00:38:58] Speaker A: I mean, that's true. They did. That is 100% true. All right, let's move on. So that was number eight. So number seven, we're talking about the episode that you're gonna get to in about three episodes. It's called Data Lore. Okay. Season one here. Nice. Season one, A nice little punny title there. Data Lore. I'll leave that for you to figure out. Why? That's a cool pun. The Enterprise visits the planet where Data was created and. Okay, well, this gives it away, so it's okay. [00:39:27] Speaker B: I was gonna say. You're telling me now. [00:39:29] Speaker A: I guess so. It's okay. This is not. It is what it is. [00:39:33] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's fine. Yeah. [00:39:34] Speaker A: The Enterprise visits the planet where Data was created and discovers another Android like him. But when he's assembled, he's not exactly like him. So that it's an accurate description doesn't really do this episode justice. Episode is really cool. This episode, World Builds. This episode gives us some stuff about Data's origin which we didn't even know we wanted until we got it there. Like, oh, this is great. So it's called Data Lore because not only is it the lore of Data's origin, but Lore is Data's brother's name. So this is Data's quote unquote brother. Basically, what that means is that Dr. Noonian soon, the guy who created Data, also created another Android, and they discover him for the first time. They put him together. Turns out he's an SO Yeah, we. We deal with that. But this is where. This is the beginning of Brent Spiner playing a staggering 85 roles. You know that joke that Luke and I joke about all the time? [00:40:26] Speaker B: Yes. [00:40:26] Speaker A: So he plays his brother, obviously, but in a future episode, he also plays his father, Dr. Noonie, and soon so. And again, that's a minor spoiler, but by season four, you'll forget. So, yeah, so they go to this. They go to Omicron. I want to say Omicron Theta. I think I get that confused with Omicron Percy i8 from Futurama, but any Futurama episodes, I love that. But Omicron Theta, I think it's called. And Data is from there. So he was found by colonists by Starfleet officers. That's what inspired him to join Starfleet. I don't know if he's mentioned any of that yet or not, but basically it's an. It's an evil twin episode, but it's a ton of fun. It's got some pretty good action in it, some good twists, and, you know, we got Data playing a dual role. Like, who could not. Who does not want to see more Brent Spiner, for your money. So, yeah, you got. You got a cool episode. It's. It's a 7.6 on IMDb, so it's pretty good. Pretty up there. Pretty good. Yeah, for season one. That's really good. So this episode, and obviously this episode has implications. Not only will you see Lore multiple times again, but you'll see another aspect of this episode, another entity that is involved in this episode. You'll see them again as well. So this episode really branches out through the rest of the series. So, Data Lore, you looking forward to that one? [00:41:41] Speaker B: I am. The concept sounds cool. I know it's not the same thing because, you know, this is not an evil twin thing, but I don't know why my mind always goes to Dukes of Hazard, but there was an episode of the Dukes called Too Many Roscoe's. [00:41:54] Speaker A: And, like, funny already. [00:41:55] Speaker B: I. I think that was the title. They. [00:41:58] Speaker A: They. [00:41:58] Speaker B: They, you know, the villains. [00:42:00] Speaker A: They. [00:42:00] Speaker B: They. They have this guy that. I don't know if they. I think they use the gimmick of the idea, like it was through stage makeup or something. He looks just like Roscoe. So they. They. They kidnap Roscoe and they put him into town to make it look. But of course, there's some mannerisms that he does that Roscoe would do that he's not doing, and they're. They kind of catch on to the fact that it's not him or something. You know, is there anything like that with this? Is that, you know, like, David is not replaced by this guy. Right. It's just that he's just meeting him and. And all that. Right. [00:42:25] Speaker A: Or it's very twisty, and a lot of that is similar. Yeah, you'll. You'll definitely continue to see a little Roscoe in this episode, for sure. Too many Roscoes. I'll tell you what. When I was a kid, he was my favorite. I used to love Roscoe so much. [00:42:39] Speaker B: Hilarious. [00:42:40] Speaker A: Oh, they were great, that actor. I used to love it. I used to do the. I used to love doing, like, the Roscoe impression when I was a kid. So cool. God, I love that show. I love that you bring it back. I love it. [00:42:52] Speaker B: And it's funny because I'm trying to think of other ones. I'm sure this has happened in many other things where there's like, oh, yeah, the second. The other. The other. Like I said, evil twin or whatever you want to say. [00:43:01] Speaker A: I just watched. Just rewatched the Enemy Within. It's a original series episode, season one. Loved it a lot it was the best episode, I think so far of my rewatch where the transporter accidentally creates two Kirks. One evil, one good and evil. Kirk is going around doing some really heinous things and you know, and it's about them kind of being like, captain, you did that. He's like, well, no. And it's them trying to figure out, you know, what's going on based on the uncharacteristic behavior of Kirk. So yeah, it's nothing, it's nothing new. But it's a lot of fun to watch. Like I said, Brent Spiner's great and yeah, just a great Data episode. Great origin story for Data and yeah, we learned a lot about them. Really good. [00:43:46] Speaker B: Nice. Yeah, no, I'm looking forward to that one. Gonna be, gonna be a fun one. [00:43:51] Speaker A: That's a good one. But is it as good as this one? I don't think so. Ladies and gentlemen, we got number six, Data's Day. I mean it's, it's clearly an episode about Data, right? This is data's day. An 8.1. Just all good luck. He takes the Harry Potter potion and he's just, you know, everything's got really great's happening to him. [00:44:13] Speaker B: He's got pen pals coming out his ass on this day. [00:44:17] Speaker A: But not the. Ah, cute though. Oh, cute. That's the technology. [00:44:21] Speaker B: I forgot about that. I forgot. [00:44:22] Speaker A: There you go. So data's day 8.1. You know, real quick, before we move on, before we move on, I just gotta say, was, was there, was there not like an inordinate amount of felonies committed in Hazard County? Like, like how, how were there that many fucking kidnap murders? Like it was insane like how much went on in Hazard County. [00:44:42] Speaker B: You're so fucking right. It's right there with Gotham City. It might, might even be better than Gotham City. Like it is fucking insane. Like what is going on in this town? That is fucking hilarious, man. [00:44:51] Speaker A: And Boss Hogg was like, he's kind of like, I'll bring this back to Star Trek. Boss Hogg was kind of like the cork of the town. He was involved in a lot of it. He caused some of it. But when it came down to it, he wasn't the worst of the worst. You know, it came down to it, he would. But court, you know, it's a lot of court. But my God, like when I think about like how's it. Like how are there that many criminals running around that one county? I guess I know there was some in Chickasaw too, but my God, like how Are them. [00:45:15] Speaker B: And, you know, it's funny you say that, because I'm thinking about how we always joke around about Die Hard where it's like, oh, my God, this shit's happening to this guy again. That's like five movies, whatever the fuck it is. Really four if you count the. But my point is, this is Hazard county every goddamn day. Like, what the fuck are we doing here? You know? [00:45:30] Speaker A: Well, this is part of that weird epiphany. Non. Epiphany that I had that we talked about like, last time. I can't remember we're talking about it, but, like, the only reason the show is about this county is because all the. Happens in this county. [00:45:39] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [00:45:40] Speaker A: You know what I mean? Like, it's a weird thing to say, but, like, if it didn't all happen here, we'd be watching a different show. It'd be called Green Acres. [00:45:47] Speaker B: Like, what are we doing? [00:45:48] Speaker A: Cook County? Yeah, exactly. So anyway. [00:45:53] Speaker B: So. [00:45:54] Speaker A: Yes, so. So data's day number six, right? [00:45:56] Speaker B: Data's dead. [00:45:57] Speaker A: Yes. So an 8.1 on IMDb. Now, this description, I'll tell you right now, does not do the episode justice. But as per my tradition, I just read the first one off IMDb. Whether it's good or bad, maybe it's for humor, maybe it's not. We'll see. Data tries to comprehend the complex emotions between O'Brien and Keiko, who are about to be married. The idea that this episode would just be about that is ridiculous. It is a big part of the episode, but that's. That's not the whole episode. It doesn't encapsulate what the episode really is. So this is basically Data. It's a narration. It's about him, like recording a personal log to Commander Bruce Maddox, who we'll talk about later on in this list. And he's giving him information. Apparently a cyberneticist is trying to duplicate another data because that's just great for Starfleet and he needs more information about the day to day life of Data, what his processes are, like, what he goes through. So he decides to narrate his entire day. Great premise for an episode. And of course, a lot of shit happens on this episode. So he happens to be the. The best man, or I should say, he's giving away the bride. Chief O'Brien's getting married and he's giving away the bride because he was the one who introduced them. So in the cold open, like, they. She gets cold feet and they call off the wedding. And Data's like, you know, not processing It. Well, he doesn't handle it. It doesn't have any tact, so he was told to go tell O'Brien it's not gonna happen, blah, blah, blah. So, anyway, it's a funny episode from that aspect, but it's really awesome seeing Data go through every point in his day. He breaks down, like, his relationships with all the characters on the. On the ship. He's like, you know. You know, Worf, I. You know, sometimes I relate to the most because we're both sort of orphans. We're both sort of, you know, kindred spirits. We both kind of don't have any family or anything. We're kind of alone. You know, Counselor Troy is the person I understand the least because she's all about emotion, blah, blah, blah. So it's a great, great insight into Data's just thought process and his day. And not only that, there's a really, really great. Not a B story because it does weave into. It dovetails into the Data story at the end, but there's a great story about this Vulcan ambassador who's on. On the ship and they're transporting her to these Romulan negotiations. So I'll leave it at that because that's a cool little twist, too, but just a fun Data episode. There's. There's an absolute classic, classic scene where Beverly Crushers teaching him how to dance for the wedding. Yeah. I mean, you're gonna love it during the holodeck and Data is, like, doing a perfect, like, you know, robot sort of thing. You're gonna be dying during this episode, I guarantee it. But, yeah, it's just a fun Data episode. Data, stay. It's part of, like, this great middle section of season four where it's just a great chunk of, like, really meaty episodes. Some of my favorites. I would watch, like, these five episodes in a row all the time. And Data's day was a big part of that, so it's a good episode. Not only that is the first appearance of Keiko O'Brien. Spoiler alert. They get married. And I don't know if you know this or not, but O'Brien becomes a major character on D Space Nine. So when that show starts. Do you know Chief O'Brien is. By the way, he's the transporter Chief. He's the. That Irish Cole Meanie, the Irish actor. He was in, like, a ton of episodes already. He was in the pilot episode anyway. [00:49:08] Speaker B: Oh, really? [00:49:09] Speaker A: You'll get to know him. He's not. He's not like a. Like a build character, but he's he's been probably the most recurring character so far on the show. He ends up being in like 40 next gen episodes or something. He's in a lot. [00:49:20] Speaker B: Who did you get married to? [00:49:21] Speaker A: He gets married to Keiko O'Brien, just a botanist who lives. Who works on the Enterprise. But they get married, and then when D Space nine starts, they. They move to D Space nine. So they become a major part of these. Space nine. So, yeah, so it's the first. First appearance of her. So Rosalind Chow is the actress. Really great actress. I like her character. They sometimes write her like an annoying wife, and I hate that they write her like a wet blanket sometimes. But that is in no way Rosalind Chow's fault. She does a great job with that character. Just a beautiful, talented actress. Yeah. So first appearance of her. So that's always fun when you have the first appearance of somebody and just a cool Data episode. Data's Day. If you really want to know about Data, check out that episode. [00:50:02] Speaker B: It definitely sounds different than what I initially thought. Like, you know, Data's Day. It sounds like you were gonna read a description. Like, you know, Data goes to four parties during the day, and none of them are a sausage fest. You know, like, everything is just coming up roses for this guy, you know? [00:50:17] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:50:17] Speaker B: But I like this. You're going through your whole day. I like the idea that he has, you know, intimate scenes with, you know, character. I'm looking forward to it. [00:50:24] Speaker A: It's good. It's kind of. It's kind of an analyzing Data sort of psyche, for lack of a better. Better term. It's really good. It's good episode. That was number six. [00:50:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:32] Speaker A: We're moving along now. So number five. Let's do it. Number five times. Arrow. There's no way to talk about this episode without spoiling this, so I'm gonna do it. But it's season five. It's the season four finale. I'm sorry. It's season five finale into season six. So it's gonna be a while before you get here, but it is absolutely one of the best cold opens in TV history, and it plays a lot into how Data handles the rest of the episode. So I gotta talk about it. This is an 8.3 on IMDb coming at you on MTV. We're cutting that out. Absolutely. At 8.3 and IMDb. Captain Picard and his archaeological curiosity are called upon by scientists from Earth when they find evidence to support beliefs that aliens had visited Earth in the late 1800s. If that isn't A cool enough premise. Let me tell you what the cold open is. So they bring the Enterprise back to Earth to examine these alien remains. They go into these tunnels of San Francisco where apparently it happened, which is a great coincidence because Starfleet Headquarters is right there. And. And they go in there and what they find is Data's severed head. Yeah. So they find his severed head and they date it back to the 1800s. So at some point in Data's future, he's gonna travel back in time to 1800 San Francisco. If that isn't like a fucking awesome goddamn premise for an episode, I don't know what is. [00:52:01] Speaker B: That is awesome. [00:52:02] Speaker A: So basically, one of the cool aspects of this episode, and actually one of the cool aspects of my number one episode I will spoil a little bit, is everyone sort of dealing with Data's mortality. So everyone in this episode, and. But this is. This is the end of season five. So at this point, Data is not an Android to them. He's part of their family. He's a friend. He's a living, breathing human who doesn't breathe. Just. Just like they are. So finding out that at some point he's going to die, they all sort of are dealing with this in their own way. Data is just like, well, yeah, I knew I was gonna die at some point. Like, Data doesn't really feel that, but he does start to feel the empathy coming from the other. The other, the rest of the crew. So that's a cool emotional aspect of the episode, but really it's the sci fi here with this episode's awesome. So, Data. And again, spoiler alert. I'm sorry, for anybody who hasn't seen this, this was in, you know, 1990, 1991, so. Or 1992. So at some point, they're investigating what's going on, they open up a rift. Data gets stuck back in the 1800s. The. The second half of the first episode, and this is a two parter. This was a season finale. And pretty much the second parter is pretty much just data, just in 1800 San Francisco. And it's hilarious. You can imagine the comedy and sci fi coolness that ensue there. But. And again, I won't spoil anything that I don't have to, but the idea that his head was there, it has this sort of impending inevitability to the episode. Like, at some point, you know, he's gonna lose his head in this episode, and at some point you're like, is he just gonna die? Like, what's gonna happen? Again, I'm bringing Futurama Back into this. There's a great episode where, like, Bender gets stuck in, like, the past, and he's like, well, whatever, I'll just bury myself and in 3,000 years they'll dig me up. And like, they think about. He's like, what the took y so long? Like, he didn't care. You know what I mean? He just twiddled his thumbs for 3,000 years. So, you know, there's a certain assurity to Data. He's like, yeah, I always knew I was going to be mortal. Where they're all like. They always figured he would outlive them, you know? So it's kind of creating a weird sort of mortality thing. Anyway, that's pretty much it. It's a phenomenal episode of Next Gen. It's a great premise. It's a great cliffhanger, Great cold open and a great data episode. I mean, what more can I say? 8.1 on IMDb. [00:54:08] Speaker B: Wow. [00:54:09] Speaker A: 8.3. Sorry, 8.3 on IMDb. So, yeah. All right, you ready to hit number four? Yeah. You have anything? I didn't let you talk much there. I know there's a lot of jumbo coming up. [00:54:18] Speaker B: I was gonna. I was just gonna say, like, it is. It is one of those. I'm trying to. I feel like I've seen that. Other things like, that kind of thing before, too. I don't know what I'm. What I can. I can't think of it off the top of my head, but, like, you know, where someone sees something, where they're like, oh, that's the day I'm gonna die, or something like that, or something where they know that that's impending and, like, how can we fix this? Or how do I get out of this? Or, you know. No, I really didn't have anything I was gonna say for something like this. It seems. It seems like it's more interesting because it's an Android and, you know, I don't know. You know, that's all. [00:54:46] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, interestingly enough, Captain pike on Strange New Worlds because of an Original series episode, he knows he's going to die at some point, and he knows how he's going to die. So the first season was a lot of him dealing with that in the opposite way because Data doesn't have feelings. He's like, yeah, logically, I'm gonna die. I just, you know, And, And. And when they first found his head, since he's an Android, it could have been that mission or it could have been 3,000 years from now. Like, who knew when he was gonna go back in time? But of course, for the sake of tv, it's that episode. But pike is having the opposite reaction. Pike is, like, really, really having an existential crisis over the fact that he's going to die and whatever it is. 10 years. And he knows that, and that gets murky, and they make that a little easier. But, you know, it's Data, so obviously he's not having those. He's not having an existential crisis. He's always sort of seen it as just a logical end to his existence anyway. [00:55:40] Speaker B: I also think it's hilarious that we just talked about Data's day and now it's Data's rough day here. Like, back to back right there. [00:55:47] Speaker A: Data's death. Data is Data's death day. Yeah. So Data's got a lot going on, but he's. He's pretty even keel, so. Number four, let's do it. Number four, this is an episode I have talked about a lot. This is an episode called the Offspring. This is a season three, absolute emotional fucking punch to the heart from season three. It's an 8.5, the highest rated episode so far on IMDb and it is my number four. After returning from a cybernetics conference to the Enterprise, Dana creates his own quote, unquote child, much to the chagrin of his captain and without regards to the ramifications to Starfleet. That's a great description. Data gets back from a cybernetics conference and sort of realizes that he can create his own Android, his own offspring, and he does. And this is Data's. Data creates a daughter for himself. He names it, he raises it. The Android's name is lol. You know, and it's not a spoiler to tell you that she does not make it past this episode. Look, this is. This is Data really taking humanity by the balls and being like, all right, I've learned this. I've learned that now I think I can procreate. I think I could be a father. I think I could have a daughter. It started out as scientific curiosity to see if he can create one, but Data had a strong emotional bond to this. This life form. Now, the cool part of this episode is, yeah, like, what are the ramifications of this? Like, you know, creating a new life that needs to be respected and, you know, cared for is a big undertaking. And obviously, this is a metaphor for real parenthood. Like, you know, parents who are not thinking about the responsibility of raising a child. Picard sort of tells Data, this is what the issue is here Data. And Data's like, nah, I'm down with that. I'm gonna raise her. The conflict in the issue in the episode comes when Starfleet hears about it and they want to take her, study her to create more. The. The, you know, end being how valuable Data has been to the Enterprise. What if every starship could have an Android on board? Like, how valuable would that be to, like, every captain? But as you'll see in my Number Two, Data is Ascension, being capable of making his own choices, and therefore Lal, his daughter, is capable of making those own choices. This was one of the. We did a top 10 emotional moments or tearjerker moments. This was. This was definitely up there. This gets me every time. I won't go into what happens at the end of the episode, but it's freaking beautifully written, acted and executed. It's an amazing third season episode, the third season of next year, and I think I've told you was when the show really takes off and you, you're gonna be like, okay, wow, this is. This is what they've been talking about. So this is one of those episodes that really vaults it into another stratosphere. So I won't say anything more about this. I've talked about it ad nauseam, and I don't have to spoil this one for anybody who hasn't seen it, but if I didn't already. But it's really, really worth checking out, I look forward to you watching this episode at some point. [00:58:51] Speaker B: Listen, my tears start flowing every time I put into the Star Trek thing on my tv. That's all I know. [00:59:00] Speaker A: Well, then you'll be. You'll be ready to rock for this one. Yeah. Son of a. Gets me every time. All right, let's do it, Number Three. We're getting down there now. Number three is Brothers. Brothers. Can you sense who's going to be back in this episode? Bomber. That's right. It's Data's brother. Laura comes back for another. Another turnaround. This is from season three. This is 7.7 on IMDb after an accident aboard the Enterprise leaves one of its children in grave danger, Data commandeers the Enterprise, driven to take the ship to an unknown origin, where an interesting figure awaits. That made it sound like Data commandeered the Enterprise to save the kid. He absolutely did not. So this kid's in moral danger. His brother, this kid's brother pulled a prank on him that ended up resulting in him ingesting this poisonous plant. If they don't get to a starbase within X amount of Days, the kid dies. So they're on route there at maximum warp, and then all of a sudden, Data just changes and commandeers the ship and is taking it God knows where. You know, spoiler alert. He's not acting with his own accord, but we learned that, you know, pretty much after the first act of the episode. So Key commandeers the ship and takes it to where, spoiler alert. His creator, Dr. Noonian, soon thought to be dead, is still alive. So the doctor activated a beacon that made Data come to him no matter what. So once he gets to the planet, he snaps out of it. He's like, oh, where's the Enterprise? What did I do? But that's not before one of the best fucking first acts in Next Gen. Like, Dana taking over this ship was fucking great. It was so well done. He uses all of his Android skills and knowledge to just trick the crew at first and then just fucking trap them outside the bridge and just boom. He takes to this planet. So a lot of fun. But there, of course, he meets, you know, his. His maker, his father, also played by Brent Spiner in. In again, a staggering 85 roles. This is where that joke pretty much came from. He plays three parts in this. In this episode. So that plus all, like the Shakespearean acting he does in plays and on the. On the show, that's where that joke comes from. Anyway, so he activates the beacon. He shows up, he's talking to his father, and then who would shows up as well? Lore, who the Doctor didn't even know was reassembled. So he didn't think he was gonna come, but his beacon was activated as well. So, you know, the two brothers meet up again. They're talking to their father. Their father's dying, unfortunately. And, you know, Laura's still an asshole. Data's Data. And, you know, it is what it is. It's a great episode. But like I said, that first act is worth depressive admission alone. Just Data taking over the ship. So much fun. But, yeah, there's an emotional resonance there, too, like Data meeting his father. You know, Data is an Android. He's not gonna cry, but you could sense this is important to him. It's a great acting job by Brent Spiner. And in general, let me say, and I've mentioned this before, as far as Spock, Data, you know, to a lesser extent, the Doctor, Seven of Nine, and Odo, you know, not having emotions that you can emote with as an actor like that must be really hard to do. To convey emotion without conveying emotion, I think is One of the hardest things I think an actor can do. Again, I'm not an actor, folks, but watching Brent Spiner, I always thought his performance was vastly underrated. What do you think about that, coming from someone who has acted before? What if you, what if you had to get across certain things without being able to express, without being able to smile or this or that. And I know Data's smiled before, but what do you think about that? [01:02:29] Speaker B: I feel like I'm always way over the top, so for me that would be almost impossible. I feel like. I think. Yeah, no, I'm definitely completely on board with what you're saying there. In fact, I gotta say, even though I thought that Zachary Kinto did a good job in those, in the movies there as Spock too, you know, 100%. 100%. That, that is hard to think. Hard to. And underappreciated, I feel like. And you know what I was saying, it's interesting he's playing all these parts. It would have been child. It would have been dicey if, you know, Data, you know, had a sister that showed up as well. Like just smiley shows up and it's Brent Spiner dressed in a wig and doing all the fucking female stuff there, you know, you know, how hard would that have been? [01:03:08] Speaker A: You know, don't put it past them. You will see Data in drag at some point before the series is over. Yes. I swear to God, folks, if you don't. I'm talking about. All I got to say is the name of the episode is A Fistful of Datas. All right. It's ridiculous. [01:03:20] Speaker B: Really? All right, yes. [01:03:21] Speaker A: I'm not lying. It's the name of a six season episode. Is it fun? Yes. Is it ridiculous? Fuck yeah, it's ridiculous. Anyway, so, yeah, so this is, this is like, this is a great episode, you know, Data, again, we're exploring Data's origins. We're exploring what it means to be Data in this world without emotions. There are some things that happen in the episode that lead to things that happen in the Trek movies. It's, it's an ever expanding sort of story anyway, so Brent Spiner is great in this. It's a great sci fi episode. It's just a lot of fun to watch. And yeah, great point about Zachary Kinto. Like, it's interesting that he took, he definitely modeled his performance off of Leonard Nimoy, which again is, is good. You know, he's, he's basically the first actor to play. Is he the first actor to play Spock after Spock? I think so, yeah, so I think Leonard Newman was the only person that played Spock up to that point. So he did a more faithful sort of homage. Right. Where I'm bringing that up, because Ethan Peck, you know, Gregory Peck's grandson, who plays Spock on Strange New Worlds, he is playing him with a little more looseness, a little more. Like, a little more emotion now. He is a younger Spock. Okay. So that's kind of interesting. Even younger than Zachary Kinto was playing S. Bach. So, yeah, we think about. So Zachary Kinto was Kirk Spock, and Ethan Peck is Pike's Spock, which is 10 years before. So it is what it is. But they both do a great job, and I think that's hard to do. And I think Data does a great job doing that. You know, emoting without emoting. I think that's. That's. That's really good. And I know you see him smiling in a lot more in the early episodes. He doesn't do that as much. He definitely takes on a more faithful Android sort of stance, I'd say, from season. Season three on, really. So, yeah, he does. Eventually, he does do a little more. He's a little more over the top now than he. Then he ends up being, basically. [01:05:14] Speaker B: I mean, we got to say that the guy that was at that convention with all the different spot costumes, that guy did a hell of a job fucking acting. [01:05:24] Speaker A: Costume changes. This guy had a whole staff behind a curtain helping them out. [01:05:30] Speaker B: Probably did. [01:05:31] Speaker A: If by some chance you're listening to this dude, you were at Trek Tour, and you did, like, three costume changes. Kudos, man. Kudos. [01:05:37] Speaker B: Oh, man. [01:05:37] Speaker A: Entertaining as. Let me tell you. [01:05:39] Speaker B: Next level. Yeah. [01:05:41] Speaker A: All right, we're down to it. Let's go to the top two, baby. You ready? Go. [01:05:44] Speaker B: Now, for the truck fans out there listening, are. Are we gonna hit ones that they're like. One of these is good. Do they know what's coming here or they. No idea. [01:05:55] Speaker A: They know one's coming for sure. [01:05:57] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [01:05:58] Speaker A: Yeah. The. The one is gonna be an absolute. There's no way this isn't top two. They're gonna be mad it's not top one, but top one. They're gonna be mad it's not number one. If you listen to this pot at all, you should know what my number one is. And I don't mean to say that you should be memorizing every word I say, but once you think about it, it won't be a surprise. This was actually my number one was my favorite guest star episode, and it's one of my. I think it was my favorite. Was it my favorite episode from season three, Next Gen? I don't know. Anyway, let's talk about it. We'll figure it out. So number two was the one that's got to be on, on high on everybody's list. The Measure of a Man. This is a 9.1 on IMDb. This is one of the best Trek episodes of all time. In any Trek, when Data resigns his commission rather than be dismantled for examination by an inadequately skilled scientist, a formal hearing is convened to determine whether Data is considered property without rights or is a sentient being. So this is. This is season two, and this is something that needed to be established because up until this point, Data was an Android. And we all, as fans and you know them on the show as crewmates, they consider Data a sentient being. But it wasn't on paper, it wasn't official. So a cyberneticist comes on board and wants to dismantle Data to learn about it. Incidentally, the same cyberneticist who he's writing to in the Data's Day episode. [01:07:21] Speaker B: Wow. [01:07:22] Speaker A: So they end up on decent terms. Spoiler alert by the end of the episode. But this guy's a total fucking dick. So he wants to dismantle Data. And Picard's like, well, yeah, no, what are you talking about? And the guy's like, well, he's property and this is an order from Starfleet and we're gonna dismantle him. And Picard refuses, and they're on a star base, so he finds there's an ex lover of his, and she happens to be the Judge Advocate General at the star base. So he demands that they have a trial to figure out if Data is sentient or not. So not only was this in my courtroom style episodes, not only was this in my season two Next Gen episodes, but it's now made at least the third list as being just a great episode measure of a man. So. And the. One of the cool aspects of this episode, I know I've talked about it a lot, folks, is that Riker is forced to defend Maddox. So he, as the second ranking officer on the ship, apparently naval tradition, at least Starfleet tradition says that the second officer is the prosecutor, so. So Picard defends Data, Riker defends Maddox's position, and they go at it in a trial format. It's pretty cool. A lot of emotion here, as you can imagine, when you know, we're trying to establish Data as a sentient being and not just a Pile of parts. You know, we see a lot of references in this episode to past episodes to sort of establish Data's humanity. Banging Tarshi, Yar being one of them. [01:08:46] Speaker B: Whoa. [01:08:46] Speaker A: Whoa. Well, it's kind of cool because he reveals in this episode that he was intimate with Yar and nobody ever knew that until this point. So he's like, well, you know, yeah, we were intimate. And they were all like, what? They didn't, they didn't know. So, yeah. So listen, this is just a great, great, great sci fi episode. Is life sentient because it's organic? Is it sentient because it thinks, therefore it is what makes life sentient? A lot of those big ideas floating around in this episode that combined with the emotionality of this episode. Riker's, you know, sort of hesitation to. To, you know, prosecute a friend of his, you know, he considers a friend. And Picard's passionate defense of Data being. Being a real life person. It's just a great episode, a lot of fun. I can't wait for you to see this one. This is, this is in. I think this is the ranked episode in both seasons one and two on IMDb. Anyway. [01:09:39] Speaker B: It's definitely the most times I've ever heard the word sentient mentioned. [01:09:44] Speaker A: You know, interesting. Is that a word that you weren't familiar with before we started saying it on this pod? [01:09:49] Speaker B: I think so. What does it mean again? [01:09:52] Speaker A: Sentient? It means, I guess it means having the, the awareness and ability just to know that you're alive. I guess like consciousness. You have self awareness. Consciousness. Exactly. Matter of fact, Phil, you're an idiot. They break down the definition of that in this episode. Self awareness, consciousness and what other criteria are what they consider sentience? So. So listen, not much more to say about that. So, I mean, like I said, it's. It's an absolutely phenomenal episode. Like I said, not just of Next Gen, but of Star Trek in general. I feel like it would definitely make my top 20 all time episodes of Star Trek, which we're gonna do at some point. I don't have to be in the 10, but it would definitely be in 20. And that's talking about what, close to 600, 700 episodes of TV. So I mean, that, that's got to be. It's got to be probably more than that. Probably like 800. So, yeah, so that says a lot when it's giving me the top 20. So it's a good one. It's a great one. Yeah. And I think every fan would know that would have to be up There. As far as date episodes would have to be couple, couple asterisks here before I get to my number one. I didn't. I did not include any episodes from the Picard series, and I didn't include just that. That's it. So Data was in multiple episodes of Star Trek Picard, not just the third season, but it was actually in an episode of season one or two of them. So. But they weren't Data, quote, unquote, Data. None of the ones in Picard were. So I don't think I would have picked any one of those. Anyway. There is an episode where. In Picard, where it's pretty much about Data. I just said, screw it. Let me just stick with Next Gen. We'll do Picard when we do Picard and just see, it's just for that. So that's it. That's it. Let's. Let's get to our number one before. Before we die. So number one now, you think Trek. [01:11:42] Speaker B: Fans have an idea what this might be? [01:11:44] Speaker A: No, but Star Trek Warp top 10 fans might have an idea of what. [01:11:48] Speaker B: This is you mentioned. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Okay. [01:11:51] Speaker A: I. I think. I don't know. I've heard this episode a lot. Last lead up to it, it's one of my favorite seasons of Next Gen. It's one of my favorite guest stars of Next Gen is one of my favorite episodes of Next Gen and one of my favorite. Just eight episodes. So it's the Most Toys. This is a season three episode. I want to say it was the penultimate episode of season three. Right before the finale, right before Best of Both Worlds, which was a fucking, you know, again in that top 20. So the most toys. 7.6 on IMDb again, it's not as high as, you know, three of the other episodes on this list. But when transporting a dangerous material to the Enterprise, Data is kidnapped and the crew is led to believe he is dead when the shuttlecraft he was piloting explodes, explodes en route. Another episode where the crew is forced to deal with Data's mortality, but this time he's dead. According to them. They don't, you know, he dies in a freak shuttle accident. They. They move on. Turns out that he was kidnapped by Saul Rubinek. Great character actor. One of my favorite actors from Frasier. He was in True Romance. He had a. He has a category named after him on the Rewatchables. Yeah, that's right. The. Saul Rubenak, you know, Partridge, Al Pacino, whatever, where they just overact, you know, in a good way. You know, so, yeah, so this is. This is. And maybe I could win the fans over with why this is my number one. Okay? So this is my number one because not only is it an amazing Data episode, not only is it filled with humor, it's filled with cunning, it's filled with data. Sort of back up against the wall. It's filled with all of this. All of the crew mourning his death. This is a trope in TV that I've absolutely always loved. When the rest of the people on the show think the character's dead and they have to deal with that. Right. We as the viewer know the character's not dead, but we get to see them react. Right? [01:13:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:45] Speaker A: There's that morbid fascination you and I have talked about before. We actually almost wrote a short film about this where you got to see your own funeral. Like, who wouldn't want to observe now nobody wants to die. At least I don't think anybody does. But there's this morbid fascination. I would love to see my own funeral. Who goes. Who goes home that night and cries? Who fucking says, ah? That is a. Anyway, you know, like, I'm fascinated by that. I think that leads into why I enjoy this trope of television. What do you got? [01:14:12] Speaker B: No, I was gonna say there's also a party that's like, maybe you don't want to see. What a. [01:14:15] Speaker A: Why? [01:14:16] Speaker B: That was the thing. Yeah, but I celebrate goods. Yeah, I. I agree with you from the standpoint of that has always been a very interesting thing when you think this person's dead, you're watching everyone else think the person. But I was gonna say, when you said the shiplord, it made me think of Chewie and what was the last Star wars movie? It didn't like the ship take off up in the air and it blows up everything. She's on there and died and all that. It was like that whole kind of nonsense. You're like, oh, you know, if that. [01:14:43] Speaker A: Was done with any kind of skill, we would have felt the emotion there. But give me a break. Yeah, that was brutal. But I'm trying to think of a non sci fi example of that, but I can't really right off the bat. But I know it happened in Buffy and you know, it happens in a lot of episodes of sci fi shows. I was trying to think if it's like a straight up drama where that kind of happened and the actor actually wasn't dead, the character wasn't dead. You know what I mean? I know it happened a lot. And real people, actors actually die. Characters die on TV shows and people who watch them mourn. But, you know, you get to have your cake and eat it too, when the character's not really dead, you know, so. To most toys. So listen, this episode ends in a very bold way. And not just for Data, not just for Next gen, but for TV in general, really. So. So this episode ends where Data realizes he's about to escape from this guy who has no conscience at all. This guy will just have no compunction about keeping him as his display toy for the rest of eternity. He'll kill anybody he wants to without hesitation. This guy was a real scumbag. Saul Rubenik. That is just great, great, great performance by this guy. So Data realizes this, and right before. And spoiler alert, he's rescued. Right before he's rescued, he's got a phaser pointed at, at Kivas Faggio and he's like, I can't permit this to go on. And he makes a move and he gets transported out of there. So the question left the fans is, was he going to kill this guy? Did he intend to kill him? And, and you're left. It's left ambiguous there, even to the point where he's been back on the ship. And Chief O'Brien actually, I think is like, tells Commander Riker that there was a energy that was just. There was a weapon that was discharged. And Riker's like, data, we noticed that there was a weapon that was discharged. Data's like, well, maybe something happened in transit, you know, like, and he didn't. He pretty much lied to Riker or did he? Like, that's the thing. Like, like, like we don't know. Like, Data, I think most fans agree he was going to kill him. And then when he got beamed back to the ship, he pretty much told Riker, yeah, no, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, wow, crazy. Like crazy. It was a crazy sort of thing to happen early on in the series to that character. So. And again, this is how I always took it and how I've heard a lot of fans take it. You know, I'm sure there are some die hard Data Purity fans who'd be like, he wasn't gonna kill him. He would have, you know, chicken out in the last nanosecond. But this was a pretty fucking bold step for Data's character. And that combined with my absolute love for this episode, had to put it in number one. To me. This is Data's Cisco in the pale moonlight moment. And I won't go into explain that, but like, you know, fans know what I'm talking about. So this. This was Data's moment. We're like, you know, I. I am alive, and I can't be permitted to be someone's person my whole life because I'm unwilling to make this choice. Pretty crazy shit. Yeah. Listen, hey, that was our episode, man. It was so much fun to get back to the to the tens, break down another top ten for you. We got Data episodes for you, but next time, we'll come at you with something different. Listen, check Bomber and I out on our other podcast, the High Five podcast. We had a little technical difficulty getting getting in on all the platforms. For some reason, we're only seeing it on Apple Podcasts. If that's still the case, please try to find us on Apple Podcasts. But we're gonna get it out to wherever you get your podcast. But that's the High Five podcast, where we talk about top five everything. High five movies, High five sporting events, High five Bugs Bunny, cartoons, anything. The world is wide open. It's not just Star Trek, it's the High Five. You can hear us on that. What do you think of that, Palmer? We got two podcasts going now. [01:18:19] Speaker B: I think we got a lot of toys, you know, what can we not do, you know? [01:18:25] Speaker A: But do we have the most toys? [01:18:27] Speaker B: Well, Data's got. Data's got that, apparently. [01:18:29] Speaker A: So. Follow us on Tick Tock and Instagram @twarp10. You can email us at warp10. Mail. Let us know you're out there. Let us know what you think of this episode. Let us know what you think of all the episodes. What is your favorite Data episode? I'd be curious. Am I way off the mark with the most toys? I might be. So, yeah. Thank you so much for listening. We really, really appreciate it, and hopefully we'll see you next time. Bomber, what do you got? [01:18:55] Speaker B: Well, you know, watch out for Bomber Lore. I probably have a brother out there I want to kick the shit out of, so hopefully I run into him someday. [01:19:06] Speaker A: We'll see you then.