[00:00:03] Discovery going. Throttle up.
[00:00:10] 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[00:00:26] Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Star Trek Warp Top 10 Podcast.
[00:00:31] How is everyone doing today? Yeah, we're back with another episode. Very excited to be here, talking about some trek with you folks. I'm gonna fly solo for this trek. Our good, good pal Bryant Bomber Parks is still. Still being the great father that he is, the newly appointed father that he is. So we're gonna. We're gonna let him.
[00:00:51] Let him do that. I'm gonna fly solo today. But, hey, it's a. It's another Next Gen season episode anyway, so thinking flying solo is the way to go. Hopefully you're going to stick with me.
[00:01:02] Really appreciate you checking us out.
[00:01:05] Yeah, we're gonna. We're gonna talk about Next Gen Season 7 today.
[00:01:09] This is the final season that we're gonna break down each episode, I should say my top 10 episodes. And we're gonna talk a little. Little Next Gen today, maybe for the last time in a while.
[00:01:20] Probably not. It seems to always seep into whatever Trek conversation we're having, as it should. But before we get to the next gen season 7 top 10 list, I do want to talk a little bit about strange new worlds.
[00:01:36] So, you know, I've been watching, obviously. I just watched episode six.
[00:01:42] It's been an uneven season, much like season three, in my opinion. There are four for six so far.
[00:01:51] You know, no spoilers here, but I love the first episode. I thought it was pretty. Pretty bold, pretty wild, but I had a good time watching it. Watched it twice. I saw it on my own, and then I watched it with Troy when I was up in Boston. Our good pal counselor Troy Leonard. We watched the first two episodes up there, which is, you know, the first episode, I can't remember the name of it, but the second episode was the Griffin Incident.
[00:02:13] Big fan of that episode as well. No spoilers here, but that's definitely worth watching as well. It's a bit of a genre episode, but I liked what they did with it.
[00:02:23] And then episode three, I thought was pretty good too. It had pretty high bed potential, but I think they pulled it off. I thought it was hilarious. I was laughing through the whole thing.
[00:02:34] And, you know, I don't think it was a departure from what the spirit of the show is, unlike episodes four and five. But we'll get to that in a second.
[00:02:45] I do like episode three. I thought it was funny. I liked, you know, seeing Scotty and Ortega sort of take center stage there, sort of, you know, reconcile that little relationship they have going on, I thought that was kind of cool. I love the actor who plays Scotty. I don't remember his name offhand, but. And, and, you know, and. And Melissa Navia playing Ortega says she. She's always great. She's a lot of fun. So I like the episode a lot. I thought it was funny. I loved. Love Spock's storyline in that episode and of course, his relationship with. With Kirk, or so it seems. Go ahead and watch the episode. No spoilers here, but yeah, you know, and then we got into, you know, episode four, the black and white episode, and I could see the. The judgment on IMDb. Unfortunately, the same judgment was inflicted upon episode three. I don't really see that, but I could see episodes five and six. I'm sorry, four and five, for sure. The black and white episode, it was. It was a gimmicky episode, which a lot of them are this season, unfortunately.
[00:03:48] I say unfortunately because, again, it's really hard to pull those off.
[00:03:52] They did in episode six. If you watch the new episode, I'm saying new at the point of this recording, episodes seven and probably even eight are out by. By the time you hear this. But just having to watch episode six, I thought it was freaking great. Yeah, it was a gimmicky episode, but it worked. It worked. It worked. And the fans are giving it an appropriate rating on IMDb. So that and episode one both have eights, a rating of 8 or higher on IMDb. And again, IMDb is not the end all be all. Okay? I love it. I use it a lot. Mostly for talking about ratings, mostly for how people are perceiving episodes of certain shows. So I do pay a lot of attention to IMDb. I think it is the definitive source right now.
[00:04:37] And maybe I put a little too much weight on those IMDb ratings, but I'm just putting them out there for you to consider. So if you want to take them into account, go ahead. If not, brush them off. I know a lot of people don't give a shit about Rotten Tomatoes scores or any of that stuff either. I kind of don't either when it comes to movies. But as far as the Trek episodes, I do keep a close eye on it, if for no other reason. It's a barometer of what modern Trek fans are evaluating, you know, how they feel about these episodes. So it is what it is. So episode four was kind of a dud for me. I didn't think it was necessary. You know, I know what they were going for. I don't Know why they thought they had to go for that. But again, you know, and not to shit on the creators of this show. I mean, they're giving it all they got. You know, they're committing to these, these episodes. And I know we didn't get to episode five yet, but a lot to talk about there, but, you know, I'm not, I don't shit on anybody's creativity. Like, I try not to anyway. I'm a creative person myself, you know.
[00:05:33] You know, we make films sometimes, you know, we do these podcasts and, you know, you're welcome to critique me all you want. I mean, that, that's kind of, you know, why it's out there. You go ahead and either like it, don't like it, tell me why, don't tell me why it's okay. You know, we all, we all have that need to sort of put our opinion in, especially when it comes to, you know, cultural stuff like movies, tv, books.
[00:05:55] You know, it's a necessary part of, of enjoying, you know, these.
[00:06:00] The media culture that we kind of, you know, have embraced. It's a key part of that. So we kind of have no choice but to express our opinions. And I don't begrudge any Trek fans for not like, liking certain episodes or certain shows or loving certain episodes or certain shows. I. I don't understand it all the time. I definitely don't.
[00:06:18] You know, I, I get why there is Discovery hate, but I don't get why there's so much of it. I mean, I, I don't. I understand why certain people could have certain opinions about certain episodes and seasons and themes in any show.
[00:06:33] Doesn't mean I have to agree with it, but I will accept it. So, that being said, look, seasons four and five, I thought were, they didn't work.
[00:06:40] Five was maybe the biggest swing Trek has ever taken, and it was a big swing and a miss, in my opinion. It. It didn't work for me.
[00:06:49] You know, I found it just too ridiculous for Trek. And listen, folks, I'm a Buffy angel guy, okay?
[00:06:56] So, you know, by my count, this is not just the second time that they're ripping off the Buffy Angelve verse, both with a musical episode, which actually wasn't that bad, which I kind of liked upon a second viewing, and I imagine I'd like upon a third viewing, a little bit more of Subspace Rhapsody. But the puppet episode, look, angel did it beautifully. If you really want to see how a puppet episode should be done right, watch. I think it's season five. It's called Smile time.
[00:07:22] I don't remember which. Maybe episode. Shit, I don't know. Eight, nine, somewhere in there. But that was fun and that was really fun. It was, it was, you know, the reasoning behind it was intrinsic to the universe. So it made total sense and it just worked. And then Community did a puppet episode and we all know it did not work. It was during season four, the gas leak season, and nothing was really working in that season anyway. But then they do a puppet episode and you're like, come on, man.
[00:07:50] And then I saw the trailer for season four and I was like, why is Pike a puppet? And I just, you know, like, they just don't need to do that. And the case in point is the episode I just watched last night, season six. I mean, episode six. I mean, it was so fun, freaking good. Like, it was just so good. It had me on the edge of my seat. It was wildly entertaining. It was a great sci fi premise.
[00:08:10] You know, an episode like that has been done as far as I can remember, at least on Next Gen with the episode Disaster and on D Space with the episode Starship Down.
[00:08:21] Both sort of bottle episodes in which a disaster happens and the crew is scattered all over the ship and they're trying to figure out what's going on. I'm sure Voyager did an episode similar to that as well, but nothing is popping up in my head right now.
[00:08:34] However, I thought it was great. And. Yeah. Was it a gimmick? Yeah, I don't want to blow it for anybody who just, you know, hasn't seen it yet. So I'm not going to tell you what the gimmick was, but it worked. And did they bite off of. Off a very popular show that was out in, you know, about 20 years ago? Yeah, of course they did, you know, but. But there have been many shows since then. That's okay. You know, if someone does something that's successful and somebody wants to repeat it or put their own spin on it, that's fine. And it worked and it was great. I thought every cast member had a chance to shine.
[00:09:07] I actually put my hands to my mouth twice, like a pearl clutching old lady. Like, I couldn't help it. I went, oh, like twice. It was just a fun episode. It was a fun episode to sort of ride, ride, you know, sort of the roller coaster of the episodes, ups and downs. So look, strange new worlds. Like, I could see they're starting to.
[00:09:29] I mean, there are inklings of them trying to, you know, tie this up. I know there's only six episodes in season five.
[00:09:35] So literally I have 10 episodes left to watch of this show and I really hope they, they bring it home.
[00:09:40] Seasons one and two were so good. I was a little disappointed with season three. I think it's still good television, don't get me wrong. But I was a little disappointed with season three and so far, I gotta say the highs have been high enough in season four where I think it's an improvement over season three so far.
[00:09:54] I know IMDb ratings to bring it up again would disagree, but humbly I disagree with that.
[00:10:01] I think it's been a above average season so far. That's only again because the four episodes that I liked were very, very good, I thought and it sort of outweighs the two episodes that I wasn't crazy about.
[00:10:14] Anyway, we'll have a lot more to talk about with Strange New Worlds at some point in the future. Obviously a year from now I might even be doing a top ten Strange New Worlds because the show will be over.
[00:10:24] However, today we're going to talk about Next Gen. We're going to talk about Next Gen seasons for the last time at least specifically, you know, an episode about a Next Gen season. So let's talk a little bit about Next Gen and how we got here. So you know what I've. I know I've spoken to ad nauseam about Next Gen.
[00:10:43] You know, the first show I ever loved with Trek, you know, I fell in love with Trek through next gen seasons 1 and 2.
[00:10:49] That being said, as you know, I'm not very high on seasons one and one and two as compared to seasons three, four, five and six.
[00:10:56] But you know, when I got to season six, I did see it was a little more bonkers. You know, sort of looking at it from a more analytical perspective, more so than I have in years.
[00:11:07] It was a little bonkers. You know, again, the sci fi premises were out there. I thought they pulled it off for the most part. I think season six is the fourth best season behind three, four and five. Again I think it's probably four, three, five, six for me.
[00:11:21] And then yeah, seven is five. But seven is not a great season folks. Look, you know, I know that the cast and the creators and the crew, they were on autopilot at this point. I know that they were gearing up for to make the jump to movies. I know that they were in production with, you know, Star Trek Generations when this film, when this season was being probably, you know, finished filming, Wrath, post production, all that. I'm sure everyone's busy.
[00:11:47] You know, you hear similar Horror stories from TV shows that sort of make that jump to movies, right? I'm a Simpsons freak, as you probably know from listening to this pod and having listened to all the Simpsons commentaries on all the DVDs, because I'm that much of a psycho. They do talk a lot about the hecticness and how crazy it was, how chaotic it was when they were writing the movie alongside, I want to say, season, I don't know, 16 or 17, you know, so they're producing that season, they're getting this movie ready and they just talk about how it was just crazy, it was just non stop chaos. And there was, it was lucky that they even got coherent scripts, you know, on the page. And I kind of feel like that's what it was like for Next Gen season 7, maybe to a lesser extent. But you know, some episodes were great. You know, some of those episodes, I feel like I want to say three episodes were my top 10 next gen from season seven. But that being said, I'd say there's maybe four great episodes out of the whole 20, what, 26 episode slate. That's not a good track record.
[00:12:48] I have a top 10 list here and honestly the first two are just kind of like, eh, you know, and then I kind of take it from there. We'll, we'll break down, you know, the episodes as we go along. But season seven is a little disappointing. You know, they kind of did some things that I thought they didn't need to do. We didn't need a Data's Mother episode. We just didn't. We didn't need a Worf's Brother episode. We just didn't. We didn't need a Geordie's Mother and Father episode. We just didn't. I mean, we know these characters ready, like take what is already established about the characters and don't invent something from their past. Expand upon what you've already established. That's just my humble opinion. I've never written an episode of TV and I probably never will. Actually, that's not true. I did write a Simpson script that I think is pretty damn funny. But who's ever going to read it? No one. Anyway, I'm not usually writing episodes of television, so I don't know what I'm talking about. But some of these episodes I felt could have been, you know, done better or just not done at all. And they could have come up with some more cool sci fi stuff or some really cool, you know, character driven stuff. Now I know what you're gonna say, you know, Data's character was enhanced by meeting, you know, what's her name? Elena Trainor, or, you know, Wharf, sort of reconnecting with his brother. I, I, I don't see it, I don't see how the characters were developed that much by doing that.
[00:14:11] You know, it's kind of like, you know, the, the pitfalls of having so many episodes in a season and having so many characters in a TV show is that you often have these emotional impact episodes that don't really have an impact. Right.
[00:14:25] You know, Kira from Deep Space nine pops to mind like she's, she's, how many episodes has she just been crying at the end and just devastated and rightfully so. And, and you know, Nana Visitor is great and some of the episodes are really good, you know, but they, they take this emotional toll, but we don't really truly see the consequences of those actions. Sometimes we do. Right. Sometimes.
[00:14:48] You know, I can't remember the name of her Cardassian, you know, quote unquote father.
[00:14:52] But when he came back, you know, from the dissonant movement, he was part of the Cardassian dissonant movement. And when they came back and did another story. But it was good to see him again.
[00:15:01] And I loved seeing Kira sort of, you know, let go of her Cardassian hatred just a little bit to appreciate, you know, somebody like him or even, you know, Gold Dar heel from the beautiful, beautiful episode duet in DS9 Season 1, which, by the way, we'll be doing next. So I am 100 positive you'll be hearing more about the episode duet as we move on to D space 9 and we start our breakdown of those seasons.
[00:15:29] Anyway, the, the whole point of this is if you're going to do a sister shows up episode or a long lost father shows up episode or something like that, it's got to be impactful, you know what I mean? I'm also thinking of Riker's the Icarus factor when Riker's father comes in season two. Now that's a little different, I think. Hear me out.
[00:15:49] We don't know much about Riker at the time. He's mentioned his father a couple times and he's from Alaska and blah, blah. So you know a little bit about Riker, but we're still getting to know these characters. So that was great. That was great background information, you know, for Riker, even if he didn't, you know, brood the whole next episode because, you know, yeah, he reconnected his father and they kind of had a moment, but he's still Kind of dealing with shit.
[00:16:11] TV just wasn't built like that back then, but it was season two. So you don't mind getting that sort of, you know, more foundational information about these characters that we're gonna be with for seven years. So that was good. But by season seven, man, just show me some cool stuff, you know, just. Just give me another episode, like the chase from season six, you know, expand the Trek universe. Hey, that's just my opinion.
[00:16:34] All that being said, you know, I think they did make some really good episodes in season seven, and they made some stinkers. And we're gonna talk about it, you know, but listen, before we get to that, I. I'll be the first to say we have not had a lot of content on our socials recently. And I know you know, me even saying this sounds kind of silly because there's not any new stuff for you to see, but if you haven't checked out, you know, our Tick Tock or Instagram, check it out. We got some cool videos on there, some cool snippets from some of our pods that maybe interest you. And listening to that pod, if you want to check that out, you could check out our TikTok and our Instagram twarp10 and you can give us an email. We've gotten a couple emails from a couple people. Listen to the pod, and I think it's phenomenal.
[00:17:14] And yeah, give us an email. Ask any questions you want. Give me his top 10 list. You know, we'll throw your name out on the pod and we'll talk about it a little bit. I think that would be great.
[00:17:22] Engaging with fans is exactly what we want to do.
[00:17:26] And yeah, a great way to do that is to email
[email protected], let us know what's going on. And listen, if your flavor is not always Star Trek and you're in the mood for something different, Bomber and I do another podcast called Men of a Certain Five.
[00:17:40] Go ahead and check out that podcast, too. We're going to try to get more content there as well. Obviously we only got about 10 episodes or so on there, but I think it's kind of fun. We got some good feedback on our last couple of pods. We did Top five Directors, and we got a lot of good feedback about that. And we did Top five Wrestlers, and we're kind of jumping all around there. So if something catches your eye, Bugs Bunny cartoons or historical figures or, you know, live sporting events or movie theater experiences, we kind of talk about everything that makes us love pop culture as much As I do Star Trek. That's a lie. Anyway, let's get to it. So let's talk about Next Gen Season 7. So I already mentioned, I think it's largely uneven and I already mentioned that they were kind of dealing with the movies at this or the movie Star Trek Generations at the same time.
[00:18:26] So getting into it, you know, I still think my favorite characters after the whole show's been done is still Data and Picard. I still think they're the most fascinating characters on the show.
[00:18:40] You know, Patrick Stewart is just, just magnetic to watch do his thing. Data is such a great sci fi character. It's just fun to watch him sort of take the next step here and there, you know, the Inheritance episode notwithstanding, not on my list, just so you know.
[00:18:57] But, you know, it's great to see Councillor Troy. You know, Marina Sirtis really came into her own in season six and seven. I thought kind of moved beyond just being like the female character or the counselor, you know, and I thought she, she was actually able to contribute, thank God, finally to not just her facet of psychology or her role on the Enterprise, but she participated in some of the plots in a great way too. And I like the inclusion of her in there.
[00:19:27] Worf is finally becoming a badass by season 7. Worf is more like the DS9 Worf that we know who will never give up, who never loses a fight and always sees it coming. They finally started to make him kind of badass in season seven. I like that. I'm thinking about the episode parallels, obviously, where he won. You won the tournament, or did he. Did he take ninth? Did he take First? Man, a great episode. We'll talk about that one for sure. But, you know, Wharf kind of had a good season.
[00:19:55] Jordy didn't really, you know, they didn't really give him much to do as far as I can remember, Anyway, in season seven, Dr. Crusher as well, just kind of on autopilot, if you ask me. I do know, I acknowledge that they had to tie up some loose ends, right? So I know that they had some sub characters that they wanted to deal with. I know that they. You know, I'm thinking of the Wesley Crusher episode. I'm thinking of the Ro Larin episode.
[00:20:20] You know, we'll talk about both of those, I think at some point.
[00:20:25] So they're tying a lot of loose ends together. You know, the final Barkley episode, which was crazy as, but we're gonna talk about that one as well. So they had a lot to do, you know, it's hard to wrap up a show that has been so beloved, so successful, so many people are kind of watching it. You know, that's kind of the. That's kind of the trick of season seven, right? Like, they're so on autopilot, but so are we, right? Like, there were so many people who are watching Next Gen Season 7. By the time it aired, the show was maintained its popularity straight through to the movies.
[00:20:56] I've mentioned this before. I had friends who weren't Trekkies but watched Next Gen every week just because it was just that good. And that's just what they did. So I get it. I totally get it. Like, I'm not saying the creators became purposefully complacent or anything. And the actors, I don't think, certainly did. They were probably a little too comfortable in their roles at that point. Again, not an actor, but just on the surface, if I'm just making a knee jerk reaction, you know, they kind of. There was some degree of going through the motions here. But look, I'm not dumping on it. Like I said, the fifth best Next Gen episode Next Gen season is still better than most of the best season of other shows. It really is. So, you know, take it all with a grain of salt, folks. You know, it's great television and I'm not gonna. Not gonna deny that I don't love it. I'm not gonna watch it for the rest of my life, because I am.
[00:21:43] But, you know, let's break it down. Let's talk about it. So let's talk about the top 10 next gen season seven episodes. All right, we're gonna start with a couple episodes.
[00:21:55] Number 10, preemptive strike.
[00:21:58] Okay, this is a 7.9 on IMDb. It came out in 1994.
[00:22:02] Following her return from Advanced Tactical Training, Bajoran Ro Laren is sent to infiltrate the Maquis and finds herself torn between her loyalty to Picard and Starfleet and her sympathy with the Maquis fighting the good fight. That is a pretty good synopsis. Well done, whoever wrote that.
[00:22:17] Yeah, look, I've always liked Roe Laren. Always. Ensign Ro was awesome. I loved when she came on in season five.
[00:22:24] I was actually surprised to hear that she was in so few episodes. You know, when you add these things up, you say to yourself, oh, Ro must have been in 12 episodes. I think she was in like eight.
[00:22:34] So it's kind of surprising. But Michelle Forbes did such a great job with that character that the impact there was enough to make me think that there were more episodes than there Actually were.
[00:22:44] So Ro is undercover, sent undercover. The perfect person to go undercover for the marquee.
[00:22:51] I don't think anybody could have seen it coming. I don't think Picard, in all his wisdom, could have seen it coming. This was a.
[00:22:59] Oddly enough, maybe the viewers could have seen it coming, but in universe, I don't think Captain Picard could have seen it coming.
[00:23:05] You know, from a TV standpoint, maybe we all could have, but I don't think the characters on the Enterprise could have. And, you know, because you think it's at that point, she's enough of a quote unquote family member that, you know, who would. Who would leave paradise. Right? Michael Eddington. So there you go. So.
[00:23:21] But she did, you know, she got caught up.
[00:23:23] Her Bajoran upbringing and the things she's seen and the things she's done sort of lent, you know, her personality to be susceptible to a cause like that. Totally get it. Great episode for Michelle Forbes. She was great in it.
[00:23:38] If we didn't have this episode, we would not have had that phenomenal Picard Season 3 episode with Ro. Larin, if you haven't seen Picard and you're a fan of Next gen, just stop listening to me right now and go watch Picard. It's amazing. So, you know, yeah, it took, you know, whatever it was 20 plus years to get that resolution, but we got it. Or maybe 20 years. Maybe 20 years even. So, yeah, so we got that resolution and it was worth it. And this episode was decent. You know, I wouldn't say it's a great episode. I think it's a good, solid episode, and that's it. You know, I should point out, too, there's no honorable mentions here. I'm not gonna lie. It was hard to find 10.
[00:24:16] Seriously. At least it was hard to find 10 that I could truthfully talk about as being good. That sounds a little harsh. I. I know it does.
[00:24:25] Especially since I just, you know, raved about the show and about what it meant to me, but it is what it is, so preemptive strike. You know, it's. It's a good, solid episode and it sets up, you know, Picard down the line, but it does. Does give us some closure with the Roll Aaron character, even as bittersweet as that closure was. So there you go. So, Ro Lyran, we will see you again soon.
[00:24:48] Maybe not so soon.
[00:24:50] All right, number nine. You guys are going to hate me for this one, I know it. This is Journey's end, okay? I have never been a Wesley Crusher. Hater. I know Bomber and I joke nonstop about Wesley Crusher in the first season so far. And I know a lot of fans hated it. And I get why. I get that he was the answer to a lot of, you know, problems in the first and second season. And they kind of put too much on this kid, this wounder kid. Wunderkind.
[00:25:17] I can't speak German.
[00:25:19] I was trying to quote the doctor from season three, evolution, but I can't do it. Dr. Paul Stubbs. But I couldn't do it. So I didn't hate Wesley like a lot of people did.
[00:25:29] And I liked watching him come back. You know, I liked when he came back for, you know, the game in season five. I like when he came back for the first duty. I think it was also season five. Great episode. I think it was in my top ten there. I don't think the game was, but I still like that episode. It was fun. And who doesn't love seeing Ashley Judd? A little Robin Leffler for your ass.
[00:25:51] Yeah, but listen, he came back a couple other times here and there, you know, he was in the final episode. He was in actually. Was he in the final episode?
[00:25:59] Wow. How do I not get that? I don't think he was. Anyway, it was great seeing him in, you know, yesterday's Enterprise. It was great seeing him just pop up here and there in parallels. He was in that episode, you know, and by the way, Wil Wheaton is such a gamer. Like, he's just, just such a pure soul. Like, how do you hate that guy? Like even, even how do you hate his character? Knowing what a, what a gamer, what a, what a, what a loyal Trekkie he is and just what, you know, he's just embraced the fandom for, for 30 plus years. It's just great. It's just great. I just love knowing that he's out there doing a Trek interview or just, you know, throwing up the Vulcan sign and just, just always, always showing the love. Love you wheel, Wheaton. Love it.
[00:26:40] So I like seeing him come back. Yeah. This episode is heavy handed. Of course it is.
[00:26:45] Through today's lens, it's probably a little insensitive as well.
[00:26:49] I think we can all agree, I hope we can all agree that the intention was there, you know, very much like the Outcast episode in season five, you know, where Riker is dating the, I guess at the time you would say sort of an androgynous species. There's no gender there.
[00:27:07] Again, through today's lens, I'm sure that's a controversial episode, but I think their hearts were in the right place, their intentions were in the right place.
[00:27:14] So I don't fault people for that. I just don't.
[00:27:17] It is what it is. So anyway, journey's end, a 6.2 on IMDb little low if you ask me. Also from 1994, by the way. Again, I'm just telling you the years so you can, you know, especially in the context of season seven. So anyone from 1994, I. E. The second half of the season, they were probably steep into post production for Next Gen, for Star Trek generations.
[00:27:40] So any years 1994 were probably a little more chaotic than 1993. Just saying.
[00:27:46] After the Federation grants access by the Cardassians to a planet already inhabited by Native Americans, Picard has the daunting task of relocating them. Now look, here's why this episode's in the top 10. Because I know a lot of, a lot of fans won't have this in the top 10. Probably won't have it in the top 15 of this season.
[00:28:03] I think the. Again, I use this phrase ad nauseam a couple pods ago, but the moral conundrum here that Picard has to face is stiff, daggering. Okay. And I love the idea that, you know, Picard had an ancestor who did this, these people wrong. What, what a great way to sort of add more weight to his decision. Really good job there. I like that a lot.
[00:28:28] Again, is it heavy handed? Yeah, of course it is. And again, does it look different 30 years on? Yeah, of course it does. But listen, we're just talking about, you know, an hour of television that they made 30 years ago and I think they did some things right with it.
[00:28:43] You know, Wesley, he was too moody, he was too brooding in this episode. You know, it's odd that I'm talking so much good about Wesley as a character, even though, like this episode was almost intolerable to sort of watch.
[00:28:56] You know, I don't know why they do that.
[00:28:59] They did the same thing with, with Marina Sirtis in the Loss. Terrible, terrible episode. Largely because of how she played it, or I should say largely because of how she was written. I don't think it was the actress's fault. I don't think it was Will Wheaton's fault here either. I think he was just, it was written to be too broody. And look, if it was an acting choice by Marita Sirtis or Wil Wheaton, that's fine. You know, they're still good actors. Like, I like them. You can have a bad performance here and there and that's the case, so be it. Here's what's. Here's what's interesting about this episode is this episode did set up a lot of cool stuff for DS9. So, you know, I know DS9 already had.
[00:29:35] I think they already had their Maquis Part one and two episode in season two.
[00:29:39] I'd have to check the air dates, of course, but this sets up a lot of. More of what we see in the Demilitarized Zone in the Badlands. And all that stuff on DS9 sets a little more of the stage for sort of that Cardassian Maquis dynamic that they had going on in DS9 in the first few seasons. So did a lot of the heavy lifting there. So I kind of like that. I like the actor who played the lead Native American. I don't know his name, but I thought he was really good.
[00:30:07] Pretty cool reveal. Spoiler alert. Thirty years later that the. The tribal elder was the Traveler. Great to see him again. That's always fun. You know, saw him. This is third time on Next gen now, so that's kind of fun.
[00:30:20] And. Yeah. And you know what? And Wesley is off and running. Right. I don't know if that was the right choice. I. I don't think I would have liked.
[00:30:27] I think I would have liked to seen Wesley be more of a genius in the Federation as opposed to this sort of, you know, higher being, because we never really kind of figured out what was going on there. Yeah, he pops back up in Picard. Yeah, he pops back up in, from what I understand, Prodigy, but I haven't gotten to that episode yet, so. Prodigy, by the way, I'm loving it. I'm on Episode, I want to say, eight of Season two, and it's. It's just so much fun. Anyway, we'll talk about that soon. But. So, yeah, so he pops back up here and there, and we get a little more backstory as to what's going on with his higher state of being. And Wil Wheaton's still charming and fun, and he's still just this pure soul, and I love watching him do his thing, but I'm not sure I would have made that decision. I think I would have liked him to stay on our plane and just kind of do good things. Just be like. Be like another genius in the Federation. Just be like that guy who, you know, just comes up with the next great innovation and he, you know, gets his hand dirty. Hands dirty. You know, implementing that into all of the starships or Starfleet or the Federation or something, just kind of make them. Make. Make him an Isaac Newton. Not, you know, some higher being. Anyway, what are you gonna do? Journey's end. It is what it is.
[00:31:38] Like I said, always a fan of Wesley Crusher, despite all the fun we have at his expense.
[00:31:44] So it was good to see him again. So there you go.
[00:31:46] All right, so, number eight, let's talk about emergence.
[00:31:49] Okay. I know this is also an episode that might not be a lot of people's favorite from season seven, but we're going to talk about it anyway because it's my 8th favorite. 6.5 on IMDb Again from 1994, strange images begin appearing throughout the ship's decks and holodecks. Data and the rest of the crew beginning to investigate, only to discover that the ship's computer itself is exhibiting the strange behavior as it begins to become self aware. Another good synopsis. Thank you.
[00:32:19] First of all, just a cool, cold open.
[00:32:22] Oddly enough, I remember reading about the cold opening before I saw the episode. I don't remember how that happened. I think I bought the Nitpicker's Guide to Next Generation Trekkers, Volume 2, and I feel like I hadn't seen the episode when I read the synopsis. And the synopsis or the cold open description was something like, data and Picard are reenacting a Shakespeare play on the holodeck when the Orient Express almost runs them over. Like, that's fucking cool. Like, that's just. That's so intriguing. It's such a great sci fi place to start. You know, I love that, you know, sci fi does that a lot. You know what I mean? Like, you go into a sci fi movie or a disaster movie, disaster movies especially, right? You know, you go into the day after tomorrow, you know, at some point the whole earth's gonna freeze and they're gonna have to. But the first, like, 20 minutes is always the most fun parts of those movies, right? Like, what cool, crazy effects did they decide to entertain us with in the first 20 minutes? Right? Whether it's the birds all, you know, flying into windows in the core, or if it's, you know, help me out, Armageddon, or any of these. Dash. The movies, like, the first 20 minutes are always the most fun. It's always like, what the hell's going on?
[00:33:35] So I like that cold open. That's really. It's a lot of fun. And by the way, the reason I hadn't seen the episode now probably is because I didn't get a chance to tape it. Mm. I said it tape it in my vcr. When it aired. So I kind of had to wait till they reran it.
[00:33:53] That's welcome to my world, baby. That was 30 years ago. That's what we did, kids. We had to stick a VCR tape into our VCRs and record it. Otherwise we didn't see it. This is before DVRs. It was before, you know, obviously streaming. It was before DVDs, I should say. It's before next gen season seven came out on DVD. So there you go. Actually, it was poor DVDs. DVDs come out to like the late 90s, right? So yeah, so if you missed an episode, man, you just, you had to wait till they read, till they aired it again or wait till your Columbia house video cassette showed up. So anyway, that's why I hadn't seen the episode probably.
[00:34:24] But so, yeah, so this episode, you know, I like the idea of, you know, the Enterprise becoming sentient in some ways. I know that's not exactly what happened, but I mean, it's kind of relevant in today's AI, you know, world, right? I mean, you know, I know sci fi has been on top of AI for years. You know, Next Gen didn't reinvent the wheel with this episode or anything. But I like that an episode like that is still pretty relevant today.
[00:34:48] And it was just cool, you know, like, who doesn't like the ship malfunctioning? Episodes like it happened all the time. But watching the crew deal with stuff like that is just fun to do. Trying to figure out the mystery. I thought the design of the life form was kind of interesting, crazy cheesy by today's standards, but I kind of like it. It's an interesting concept when something, you know, it's very V'Ger, right. From Star Trek the Motion Picture. Right. It amassed so much knowledge that it achieved sentience. Right. So I mean, the Enterprise is largely touted as the most sophisticated computer ever invented. Right? The Enterprise D computer. So at some point it makes total sense it's going to happen. So, you know, not much to say about the episode. You know, like I said, other than I like the premise. I like the way the crew sort of dealt with what was going on. Great. Cold open. It was just, it just entertained me. Like that's it. Nothing great. Nothing huge.
[00:35:44] You know, I mentioned these first three episodes were kind of like pretty good, but at best just solid episodes and I kind of liked them. So there you go. And again, I apologize if that sounds ho hum, you know, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of where I Landed with season seven this time around, you know, it's just some episodes just, you know, is what it is. So, yeah, so we're just gonna move on. So, number seven and number six. I'm gonna combine these two gambit parts one and two. Okay, so gambit part one, a 7.7 on IMDb from 1993. They're both from 93. While investigating the apparent death of Captain Picard, Wrecker is abducted by a group of intergalactic archaeological thieves, only to find Picard has apparently joined their ranks.
[00:36:24] Great way to start the episode, the first one. You know, Picard's gone, and eventually they presume he's dead. Just a cool way to start. Where's the captain? What's going on? Why are they on this. This, you know, Mos Eisley type place? Why are they in this Mos Eisley type place? This sort of, you know, waystation outside the Federation? Whatever it was, I can't remember, you know, fully, but I know they're all in, you know, civilian clothes and they're investigating, but like an undercover cop who doesn't know what the hell they're doing. People can see Starfleet a mile away, so. And they're just too, like, neat and trim and, you know, somebody like Counselor Troy just doesn't walk around a place like that, you know, and just.
[00:37:01] You just don't assume. She's just like, a regular at the bar, you know. You know, she's. She's come from something. In this case, it's Starfleet, so that's fun. You know, it took a while for Riker to figure out what happened to Picard, so it was fun. That was a great reveal. When you finally get on this ship with these archaeological thieves and, yeah, Picard's just part of it, it's, like, intriguing. It's okay. Cool. This is something they haven't done before. Not really. Anyway. So how did it happen?
[00:37:29] And then part two rated a little better. 7.8. Riker and Picard must find out why this intergalactic gang is looting archaeological sites. And again, just a cool story.
[00:37:41] Did it need to be two episodes? Not sure. I'm glad it was because I needed one to fit to fill my top 10 list. I'll be honest, folks. I couldn't put. I couldn't combine this into two. I needed it to be, too. So it is what it is, but it was fun. You know, it's fun when you realize kind of where the plots go. And I like the idea of the sort of the Vulcan weapon I guess it was like a, like a telepathic weapon that could just like kill with thought. It's really interesting, you know, kind of explored those themes a little bit later on a couple episodes of Voyager, but for the most part it was just cool. It was just fun. I thought the actress played the Vulcan was good. I know she's been in stuff. Was that Robin Curtis? I don't know if that was. If that was Robin Curtis, I apologize.
[00:38:22] I'll double check that. But, but she was great.
[00:38:26] You know, I like Picard and Riker sort of, you know, plotting, you know, within this, this mercenary group. I like that the Vulcan, you know, she's part of the, you know, Vulcan intelligence or is. She is a great little couple, little double crosses and twists and turns in this episode. It's kind of fun. It was just a fun sort of way to start a season. It was early in, I think it was episodes four and five or five and six, something like that. Just fun, fun episodes, you know. Not much to say. They're worth checking out though, for sure.
[00:38:54] And with these two episodes, we move into the pretty good level episodes, right? I'd say 10, 9 and 8 were good. These are pretty good. These are pretty good.
[00:39:03] And you know, the top five is. Is, I'd say very good to great, actually very good to fucking phenomenal. And, and we're there now, so we're gonna, we're gonna talk about some better episodes now. Now here's a. This, this is. This is a weird one. This feels like it should have been in season six. This is how wild the premise is, right? So we're talking Genesis 7.0 on IMDb from 1994 when a new port. Oh, when a new torpedo guidance system malfunctions. Picard and Data go chasing after it into an asteroid field while the crew was left behind to deal with their own strange behaviors.
[00:39:43] Strange, underline, boldface italics, whatever you want. Strange as shit behaviors. So first of all, the idea that Picard would have to go on the shuttlecraft with Data is kind of weak, but whatever. From, from a story perspective, I like that Picard and Data are the ones who are figuring it out. So again, my favorite two characters, so I'm not going to begrudge them, but from a Star Trek in universe standpoint, it's kind of weird.
[00:40:08] That would definitely be Jordan Data or even like Crusher and Data. But I don't know why Crusher would do a torpedo wharfing Data would make more sense if it's a torpedo guidance system malfunction Anyway, all that being said, hello, horror episode, right? So I'm putting together a horror top 10 Trek episodes and strange new worlds in the last couple seasons. Say what you will, it's really helped me with that list. So I got some Strange new Worlds, I got some Discovery, I got some DS9, I got some Voyager, and I got some Next Gen for that list. It's going to be a fun, fun list to talk about. I'm a huge horror movie fan.
[00:40:42] I watch horror movies all the time. I try to watch. I watch at least 50 new ones a year these days. So I love when I get some horror. So, yeah. So look.
[00:40:52] So the crew is de evolving now. Whatever science you're, you know, thinking about now, it's not going to work. Don't try to make it work. Don't try to make it fit. It's not. It's bonkers. Like none of this would really ever happen. But it's a fun premise and we're going to go with it because it's fun, right?
[00:41:12] So, you know, Picard and Data go off to chase this, you know, torpedo. In the meantime, the crew starts devolving. And of course, Patient Zero is gotta be Barkley, right?
[00:41:25] Reginald Barkley. This is his Next Gen swan song, if you don't count First Contact. So I guess you kind of have to. But his little cameo and First Contact was fun to see as well. But this was Barclays, I want to say, fifth and final episode of the show.
[00:41:39] So welcome back, Dwight Schultz. We love you so much. So glad to see you. I was glad to see you pop up in First Contact and then subsequently in Voyager, but, you know, get to that down the road. So we got a Barkley episode, but not really. He's just in it, you know, usually when Barkley is in the episode and he's the focus of it, but not this time. He's just kind of in it and he's dealing with everything else as far as everybody else is. So we got some crazy going on. Council Troy devolves into a fish. Barkley's a spider.
[00:42:07] You know, Riker's a CRO Magnon dude or whatever. You know, some genuinely.
[00:42:15] I had jump scare. This was the first time I was probably jump scared by Next Gen, when Crusher is checking out Worf and Wharf is just sitting there with those eyes and he's just got this expression on his face. I guess he's supposed to be like a sort of Klingon reptile or something, but when he spits venom into. Into Crusher's face, man. I was like, oh, it jump scared me, man. To this day, when I watch the episode, I still kind of cringe a little bit because I know it's coming. Fun, fun, fun scene there.
[00:42:41] And Wharf, of course. God, what a. If you're afraid of a Klingon normally, especially one with the skills and determination of Wharf, now imagine he's this proto Klingon monster chasing you down, man. Oh, horror. Love it, love it.
[00:42:58] So, yeah, so look, it was fun. It was a fun episode. It was fun watching, you know, looking at the sets and, you know, the way they redesigned sort of like Councilor Troy's quarters and they redesigned, you know, engineering, and it was just fun. They had some fun with it. You know, they really like tearing up the set in season seven, right between masks, where there's just all these freaking ancient symbols and, you know, structures everywhere to. To this episode where they just, you know, sort of reinvent the whole environment. It's fun, fun stuff, you know, what can I say? Genesis? Is it just slightly better than pretty good? I think so. I think the 7.0 is a little low. I would have given it like a 7.5, 7.6, which I think veers into the realm of pretty good stuff. So it is what it is. So that's season seven. All right, let's talk about the best episodes of this season. Now, the top four, these are all just really, really good episodes, at least really, really good episodes. So we're talking number four. Let's go with the Pegasus. All right, I think everyone, no surprises here. I think any next gen fan, you know, who. Who knows these seasons pretty well. I think the top four, you can't really argue with. You want to argue with the run the order of them, no problem there. Hit me. Come at me, man. But I think these top four are clearly the best four of the season. I don't think you could even argue it. So bring it on if you want, but I'm not hearing it. Just kidding. Bring it on. We'll talk about it. So the Pegasus 8.5 on IMDb 1994, Riker finds out his former commander from the starship Pegasus has orders that entail more than what is revealed to Picard, who thinks that the Enterprise is en route to recover the lost ship and Riker is ordered to secrecy.
[00:44:42] So there you go. So I mentioned this episode briefly on the top 10 Enterprise episodes pods. It's kind of what Malcolm Reed was dealing with, right? He had a superior officer, or really a Section 31 officer telling him. You cannot reveal this to your captain, no matter how much of a frickin family you think you are. Now, I also talked largely about, you know, that conundrum. There you go, I've said it twice. I'm not going to say it again, I promise. So, you know, he had to deal with. Do I, you know, weigh my loyalty to my shipmates higher than I do my duty or my orders? You know, so it's always a fun military sort of plot device, right? Not just in Star Trek. Right. And sort of any military sort of trauma, there's always that, you know, am I following orders or am I, you know, being loyal? And in Star Trek, folks, let's face it, I could probably tick off 20 episodes in which, you know, they decided to go against what Starfleet was ordering and just do what felt right, right? I mean, Star Trek first contacts, first one that pops up, right? Picard was like, yeah, no, we're not gonna hang back, we're gonna, we're gonna go fight the Borg data. To hell with our orders, right? So it happens. So Riker's dealing with that in this episode and. Hey, John Locke, what's going on, man?
[00:46:00] God, I can't think of his name off the bat. I'm getting so bad, I'm getting so old. I tell you, these names used to be right at the forefront and now I kind of can't think of it. I think of it before the episode's over.
[00:46:10] I'll say it. I'm sure you're all yelling at me right now, but Admiral Preston, played by the guy who played John Locke. How do I not know his name? He was also famous from the Stepfather series. He was in the X Files movie.
[00:46:23] Love that actor. Love seeing him pop up. It's great.
[00:46:26] So he comes on and he is excited because, you know, what he and Riker tried to do years ago, he has another shot at, you know, so they have this, I mean, spoiler alert again, 30 years later, but apparently the Federation was experimenting with a cloaking device.
[00:46:43] You know, much to the chagrin of anybody who abides by the Treaty of Blank. I can't remember what it was, Algernon, maybe where it was. The Federation agreed to not develop cloaking technology.
[00:46:57] Anyway, again, Admiral Pressman decides to go against orders and say we have to keep up, right? We got to keep up with the Tal Shiar, we got to keep up with the Obsidian Order, we got to keep up with the Klingons, we got to keep up with these, these foes and friends and Frenemies and enemies. Because we're just going to fall behind if we don't. It was a stupid treaty. His words never should have been signed. But it is what it is, you know, A few years later, next D space 9, you know, develops the cloaking technology with. In conjunction with the Romulans to investigate the Gamma Quadrant in the Dominion. So rules are made to be broken, I suppose, but this was a fun episode. You know, I think, and I mentioned this again, I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself in the Enterprise episode, but I know Picard came down a little hard on Riker.
[00:47:42] Probably not as hard as Archer did. I think I talked about that. But, you know, he still came down hard. He was being a little bitch, to be honest. Um, and, you know, Picard's rarely like that. He rarely gets butthurt over shit. But, I mean, he did, you know, he acknowledged that Riker was following orders and he couldn't necessarily disobey them, but he was still being a little bitch about it. So. Sorry, Riker. Tough one. Tough one.
[00:48:06] You know, Riker was a young ensign or whatever he was, and, you know, he defended his captain when they mutinied against this crazy idea back on the Pegasus. And he saved his captain, but he probably shouldn't have.
[00:48:19] And there you go. So, you know, Riker dealing with this stuff is fun to see. You know, that's good. Character development like that, to me, is not just a gimmicky invention that's not bringing Riker's dad back. You know, talking about how, you know, he got beat as a kid or something like, that's.
[00:48:35] This is good. And maybe it's the difference between just good writing and bad writing. It could be as simple as that. An entertaining episode and an episode that's not so entertaining. So if that's the case, hey, you know, the ends justify the means, maybe. Who knows?
[00:48:48] Anyway, that's a. It's a fun episode.
[00:48:51] And I did like.
[00:48:53] I did like the episodes. The scene in which they use the cloaking device, that was pretty cool. The chess match with the Romulans, throwing them off. Off their scent when they're exploring the asteroid field. Cool. Cool. Shit. I would like to have seen Tomaluck. That would have been cool. You know, I think we only saw him four times in the whole series. And again, another character I'm gonna mispronounce. The actor's name is Andreas Catulis, Something like that. But love seeing Tomaluck. He's the one armed man from the Fugitive. If you're trying to picture his face.
[00:49:24] But yeah, so, so I would have thought he was in more episodes too. I would have said he was in six or seven. He was in like four I think. But this was his penultimate. Oh no, this would have been his penultimate episode if he was in. This would have been good to see him. I like the actor who played the Romulan. It was cool, but would have been cool to see Tomaluk again.
[00:49:40] You know, just when you were, just when you stopped being afraid of him. He took the Q route, right? Like by the, by the final episode he was more ah shucks. Tomalock's just, just a fun guy. You know, like Q was by the end at first he was just this menacing Romulan. But you know, I would have liked a little more there. But what can you do? Good episode, solid episode, fun to talk about.
[00:50:03] All right, now let's get to it. These episodes.
[00:50:06] Love them all, love them all. So number three, parallels. Oh yeah, this is an all timer.
[00:50:14] I think this, this might have been top 10 next gen for me or might have been the honorable mentioned.
[00:50:19] Either way, great episode 8.8 and deservedly so on IMDb from 1993. On his return from a batleth competition in the Klingon Empire, Worf finds himself shifting realities where events and details are in a constant state of flux and only he is aware of the changes.
[00:50:37] That's about as Twilight Zone y as it gets, guys. It's so cool. This was a fun, fun, fun episode and they went places with it that I didn't think they would. It was just, it was just so well done.
[00:50:48] You know, Worf first of all gets a real chance to shine. I mean Michael Dorn, this is in my opinion probably top three performances for him in the series.
[00:51:01] He just, he got to, he ran the gamut of emotions between just, you know, angry and confused to completely off guard and you know, and skittish and you know, seeing Worf, you know, move away from Deanna when they were quote unquote, you know, married was really, really cool. And yet character building. Right? It laid the foundation for what was a short lived but still interesting little romance there that, that, that we saw again in the final episode. So man, this was fun. You know, they kept jumping between, between, you know, parallel universes. You don't know that at first obviously. Just these small differences are really cool. You know, he has this surprise birthday party and the painting is different and then Picard couldn't make it. But then he's there and you know, he actually took Ninth place in the tournament instead of first. It's just so cool. And man, what an ending. Like when all those enterprises start popping up and you're like, oh, that's kind of cool. But then they give you one of the most sort of harrowing scenes in all of next gen, right?
[00:52:08] And I know it's relative, right? Like you watch the movie Heredity, then you watch an episode like this and you're not going to think anything's harrowing after you watch a horror movie. But like through the, you know, through the lens of someone who finds a show like this just comfort food to see a frazzled Riker and a. Just a crazy beat up Enterprise in a universe with a Borg are everywhere. Like in the way Jonathan Frakes sold. It was so great, man. Like, what a moment. Like, I think we were all caught off guard by that, right? We were just like, holy shit, what's going on here?
[00:52:41] And what a great little, little, little source of tension for the end of that episode. So, so well done. Just so well done. Great Michael Dorn episode, great Marina Sirtis episode and just a great sci fi episode. Parallels is, is just, it's a banger. It's just so much fun. I would challenge anybody, Star Trek fan or not, to watch that, watch that episode, not be entertained by it.
[00:53:02] So well done. So well done.
[00:53:04] All right, so let's get to it. So number two.
[00:53:08] I'm going to say my number two and you're going to automatically know what number one is, but let's just plow through it, okay? Number two. Lower Decks 8.7 on IMDb from 1994. A mission of the Enterprise is seen through the eyes of some junior officers who are up for promotions as questions of duty and honor arise among some of them, such as a Bajoran whom Worf has designated to be promoted to operations.
[00:53:34] A mess of a description there, but what are you gonna do? Look, this, this was, this was a great idea for an episode. Like this was good. I'm sure this has been done in some other form or fashion on other shows or other genres, but I hadn't seen anything like this until I saw it and I was like, wow, that's. What a great episode. Amazing casting. These dudes were awesome.
[00:53:55] We had seen, you know what? I can't remember the Vulcan.
[00:53:59] Vulcan's name on this show, but it was the same Vulcan who played Vorik on. Same actor who played Vorick on Voyager, but I don't think that was his name in this. I think he was a different Vulcan. I Think his last name is Enberg. The actor's name is Enberg, but I can't remember.
[00:54:13] I was gonna say Stefan Edberg. No, that was a tennis player from the 80s.
[00:54:18] Anyway, great job there. I want to say.
[00:54:21] I don't, you know, I don't remember any of the cast, but, you know, Encincito, the, the actress who played. That was great.
[00:54:29] The act. The actor who played the, the bartender, the wise sort of bartender, almost like a guy in an understudy, kind of cool.
[00:54:36] You know, he had some sage advice for them, and he was just a cool dynamic there. A non, sort of Starfleet, you know, friend in their little group there.
[00:54:45] The main guy, I don't remember what his name in real life or on the show was. I apologize, but he did a great job.
[00:54:52] And you know what? Damn it, I, I, unfortunately, I don't remember the, the name of the other actress as well, but, I mean, let's figure they pretty much focused on Cedo and, and the main guy, so it is what it is. Sorry, folks, I'm. This episode, I guess I'm not prepared for. I thought I had it all in my head. I do not. But look, you don't need to.
[00:55:13] You know, this episode was so great. You get this fly on the wall sort of awesome dynamic, you know, where, you know, you see the bridge crew doing their normal things, but, like, you're seeing it through the lens of the lower deckers, right?
[00:55:28] And, and it's just a great perspective. It's a great way to sort of turn the tables on what we, on our opinions of these characters, especially Riker. Right? Riker, you know, is seen to be a little bit of a bully, right? Seemed to be a little bit of an overbearing commander. Who picks favorites right now? It's probably not the case. I think by the end of the episode, we realize that Riker, you know, he kind of looked at himself and said, all right, maybe I am being a little hard on him, you know, but it is what it is.
[00:55:59] And then. Welcome back. Cedo Jaxa. Right? So. So Encincito, the Bajoran from the aforementioned first Duty episode in Season five. She was part of the, what it was Red Squad or whatever it was that tried to pull off the colort Starburst. And, you know, one of their.
[00:56:18] Josh was killed. One of their, their, Their fellow cadets.
[00:56:23] So she got a reprimand, and she apparently took it on the chin hard like the rest of them did.
[00:56:28] Not as hard as Mr. Locarno, of course, but great to see her pop back up. Great scene with her and Picard when he brings her in the office and he's sort of evaluating her and she kind of speaks her mind. Speaks truth to power, yo.
[00:56:44] I like that. And I like that. Of course, Picard. Of course Picard brought her on the Enterprise. Requested her specifically to make sure she got a fair shake.
[00:56:54] Love it. Great, great character. Nod there for. For Jean Luc. Love that Picard stand up guy.
[00:57:03] But no, what a performance by the actress who played Jaxa Cedo, you know, and what a tragic ending. You know, Wharf.
[00:57:13] Wharf's relationship with her was so fun to see. It was so cool. He saw something in her she didn't see in herself. Really more Wharf than Picard.
[00:57:22] I thought it was great. I thought, why not have two senior officers who are trying to sort of, sort of usher her along, you know, both for different reasons, sort of. Right.
[00:57:36] Worf sort of saw something in her, sort of a kindred spirit, like a. Like a warrior in this. In this. This small statue of stature of a. Of a woman. But, man, he saw something in her, and it was great. And she didn't hesitate to. To go on this mission. This, this mission that could, you know, was supposed to be really dangerous.
[00:57:58] And, you know, she goes on the mission. Oh, God, I'm sorry. Nurse Ogawa. How did I forget that Nurse Ogawa was the. Was the other friend involved here? And again, a great move. I don't know. That just slipped my mind. Getting old, guys. I'm sorry. But that was great, too, because we. We got to know, you know, Nurse Sagawa on the show. Oh, and she would turn into a chimpanzee in the Genesis episode, by the way, too. I forgot about her anyway. Or a monkey or something. I don't know. Something like that. She devolved into apes.
[00:58:24] Maybe the only one that made sense, actually. Or Riker and her were the only ones made sense. I don't know how the spider comes into play, but whatever. Doesn't matter.
[00:58:32] But, yeah, right, so. So Nurse Ogawa and, you know, and God damn it, I'm just. I'm losing it with these actors because she died recently, so rest in peace. I'm so sorry. I don't remember your name.
[00:58:43] I'll make sure that I.
[00:58:45] I get all these names right on the next POD Housekeeping. Because they all deserve to be. To be said. So. So I'll do that.
[00:58:51] But yeah, so Nur Sagawa was the other friend. And, you know, watching them go through, you know, the. The emotional turmoil of their friend on this dangerous mission and then ultimately, of course, spoiler alert, you know, encincito dies on this mission. You know, they're great acting jobs, man. Just great writing. Like you felt it, you know, they, they have duties to do and you know, the main guy got the job because Sito didn't. But you know, he's gonna, he's gonna pull a wharf and honor, honor her by doing the job the best he can.
[00:59:25] What a great episode. Just had everything, a unique spin, you know, great writing for not just the, the standard crew, but you know, these lower deckers.
[00:59:36] Great emotional punch at the end. A gut punch really, but still, you know, great emotionality. And folks, this show pretty much gave us the show. Lower Decks, like, right? I mean, not just the name, but like the spirit of the lower deckers is, is prevalent in the show. Lower Decks and I love it. It's, it's, it's a great launch pad for a show. So good job on everybody. This, this was just an all timer. This is a great, great episode.
[01:00:01] Well done. All right, folks, listen, if you, you know, are as into Trek as I am, you know, my number one is all good things.
[01:00:10] Maybe the best finale in TV history. Yep, I said it.
[01:00:13] I can't wait to talk about it. So let's go through it. 9.1 on IMDb from 1994.
[01:00:19] Captain Picard finds himself shifting continually into the past, future and present, and must use that to discover a threat to humanity's existence.
[01:00:29] That synopsis is good and succinct, but it doesn't do anywhere near justice for what this episode was. This was a phenomenal hour and a half of television, folks. You would be hard pressed to find an ending like this that ties up not just, you know, what was brought out in the show from the pilot episode all the way on, but with a phenomenal sci fi story with, you know, bringing back the greatest, well, maybe one of the greatest villains. If you want to say the Borg's the best villain, I'll say Q is the biggest foil.
[01:01:04] Bringing back Q, man, for that last bookend, it just makes total sense.
[01:01:08] Him shifting through time is just a great way to bring emotionality and characters and all of it into focus in such a unique way. A lot of shows try to do this, not just sci fi shows. Discovery just tried to do it in their final episode with limited success. I think.
[01:01:31] You know, the idea of a show ending and being able to literally look at where you were, where you are and where you're going, it's just a, it's a great, great Way to end a show. Can't say enough good things about it.
[01:01:46] I get choked up every time I watch it. Every single. I'm getting choked up right now talking about it. That final scene, I mean, at other points as well. But the final scene where Picard just comes in, they're playing poker.
[01:02:00] I'm such a.
[01:02:02] I should have done this a long time ago. Sky's the limit. It's just. It was just beautiful. It was beautiful. I'll tell you what. One of my fondest memories of this episode, the first time I watched it, my cousin CL Just happened to be in from Oklahoma, and we're hanging out. My brother's there, and I'm like, guys, I can't wait another day to watch this episode. It's the final episode. I taped it the night before, and then we watched it the day after. So I didn't watch it when it aired. I think I was. I was. I used to work at Burger King and I would work late, so I didn't get a chance to see it. Taped it, put it on, and they just decided to watch it with me. I don't know why they did, but they did. And, like. And here's two people, non Trekkies, never don't know Trek from anything. And they. They were just. They were enthralled. They were just so into it. It's.
[01:02:50] It's a beautiful thing when that happens, right? Like, you know, one of the biggest joys of my life is when I get a chance to watch something, listen to something with a friend or someone I love, who hasn't seen it, I've seen it, I know how good it is, and I can't wait to watch it with them. I want their reactions. I want.
[01:03:13] Sure, there's a little validation there. I want the validation that this person who I respect is going to like this movie, book, TV show as much as I do. But I didn't expect it to happen that night. Like, I just. I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to watch the episode. But then when they were both kind of like, wow, that was good. Like, I was just, wow. Floored. Core memory. Core memory. And that's 32 years ago, folks. So, I mean, that just. That just sticks with me.
[01:03:37] Quick, quick offshoot.
[01:03:39] There was an X Files episode called Two Fathers. It was the first part of a two parter. Two father, two parter. Two fathers, one son, similar situation. You know, everything was supposed to be explained, right? They talk about, you know, they're gonna explain everything in this episode. So I was with two friends, and we were about to go out, and I said, guys, I'm watching this episode. First. You want to go to the bar? Do whatever you want to do. You could do it. I'm watching this episode. They decided to watch it with me, and it was a major cliffhanger. And they were both like, holy shit, you know what happens? And of course, we couldn't watch the second part because, you know, it aired, and they probably never watched Epic X Files again. It was. It was my.
[01:04:16] My buddy Steve. He did watch episode. He did watch X Files. Steve. Shout out. Steve and Blues. Shout out to Jay.
[01:04:23] There's no chance on the planet that one, he's listening to this pod. No chance Number two, no chance he would remember in a million years that he watched that episode. But in the moment, he was really into it. And that, more than anything, took me by surprise.
[01:04:37] Anyway, that's what. That's what just good storytelling does.
[01:04:41] Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter what it is. Doesn't matter what you're talking about.
[01:04:45] You know, it could be an animated movie about frogs. It could be a fucking Next Gen episode. It doesn't matter if the storytelling is good. You know, we as humans, we latch onto it. We latch onto that narrative. We relate to the characters. We root for them, we root against them.
[01:05:00] And it's just beautiful to see it happen. And this was.
[01:05:03] It's so hard to do a final episode of a show, right? Like, we're seeing that. We saw it with Star Trek alone. We saw it with Discovery, we saw it with Enterprise, right?
[01:05:14] To a lesser extent, we saw it with Voyager. Like, you can screw these things up. You can do it.
[01:05:19] Fortunately for us, they did not do it. Fortunately for us, I would say that DS9 and lower decks and Picard, like, they didn't do it either. They had good finales.
[01:05:31] Is it better than the Six Feet under finale?
[01:05:35] I don't know.
[01:05:37] That was just an amazing finale. Is it better than the Breaking Bad finale?
[01:05:41] I don't know.
[01:05:43] Gun to my head. Yeah, Gone to my head. It's the best finale of any show I've ever seen, you know, hands down. But, you know, what are you gonna do? It's all relative, right? There are just good ways to do it. There are things you could screw up, you know, so him shifting through time, the future of this crew was so fun to watch.
[01:06:04] Watch them all where they're at, you know, I mean, no notes. I mean, honestly, seriously, like, no notes. All the characters are in a place where they should be. I don't know why they decided to kill Councilor Troi in the future.
[01:06:21] I mean, I do know why, obviously, so they can reconcile the Worf Riker thing, but kind of unfair to not see Marina Sirtis doing her thing in the future, right? I mean, I know we got to see her on Picard and Voyager and, you know, all these other incarnations of that character, but kind of a jip, kind of a jip there. Not seeing Counselor Troi with them at the end.
[01:06:42] Let's go back to the past and oh, man, Denise Crosby is back as Yar, and you know, Cole Meaney is back as Chief o' Brien and they're wearing the onesie pajama outfits. And you know, obviously camera, texture wise, it doesn't feel like season one, but they did the best they could. They got as close as they could and you felt it.
[01:07:02] And you know that, that speech that Picard gives to the, to the Enterprise past crew, just fucking great. Like, so great. It was a no brainer. They're like, well, all right, we're gonna follow you into hell because you sold it. You sold it. Jean Luc, I know that you are the finest crew in the fleet. Boom.
[01:07:23] God, I get so choked up talking about this episode. It's so good. It's just, it's just you don't think they're gonna land it, right? This is Avengers endgame, right? Like, you don't. There's no way they can tie it all together. There's no way they could. They can give us a satisfying conclusion to this thing that we've loved for seven years, but they fucking did it, like, amidst all this post production bs, you know, for generations and shit.
[01:07:49] Just what else can I say? So well done. It's so good.
[01:07:54] Look, next gen in general, like, it's. It's a part of me that sounds stupid. Like, you know, it just is. Like, you know, like Star wars was, you know, when I was a little kid. This is, this is my early high school. This is my. This is, this is a part of me. This is.
[01:08:15] You know, I go to sleep sometimes to these episodes because I want to hear the hum of the warp core just in the background.
[01:08:22] You know what I mean? Like, I watched this episode for the 40th time and when they smile, I smile.
[01:08:28] It just is what it is. It's just a part of who I am. It's the reason I like Star Trek. It's the reason I like a lot of things. It's the reason why I'm so passionate it's the reason why I could talk for an hour and whatever it is, five minutes straight about one season of tv, because it's just a part of who I am. And I think if you're listening to this to some degree or maybe to the same degree, it's a part of who you are too. You know, that's what's great about these works of art. And yes, they are works of art. Whether you're talking about a painting or a comic book or, you know, or a piece of music or a movie, like, these are works of art in so much as they mean that much to you. Like, they shape how you think. They shape what you do, who you are. And that's pretty remarkable when you think about not just how much content is out there. And it all has to be sort of culled down to, like, you gotta find these things, right? Like, people tell you all the time, oh, you'd love this show. You'd love this show. But I guarantee only half the time that's true. Maybe less than that, right? So really, it's up to you to take everybody's opinions, recommendations, what you like, what you love, and you gotta find them first, right? And I've talked about moments before, right? When it comes to culture, pop culture, art, it's the moments that I live for. It's. It's the final moment of the final episode of angel where you hear that the steel clank, and you're just like, oh, fuck. Yeah. You just. You just feel it, right? And the great shows give you more of those moments. Like, that's what it is, right? Next gen's give me a plethora of those moments. And as much as I like, you know, a show like, say, the Wire or the Sopranos, like, yeah, you get a couple of those, but you don't get nearly as much because, again, I'm not as attuned to those shows as I am to this show. From a personal standpoint, academically, the Wire is the best show I've ever seen.
[01:10:22] Academically. It's. It's wildly entertaining. It's. It's an amazing, methodical piece of work as a whole, and it's brilliant, and it deserves to be seen. It just doesn't have what this show does and to lark, to a larger extent, what Star Trek does. And look, and that's what it is. I'm just chasing the next moment, man. Like, I'm just chasing the next book that. That makes me well up with tears or. Or just have some revelation, however small, in my own head, folks, I realize I'm talking way out my ass here. Don't worry about it. I'm very self aware of that.
[01:10:56] But, you know, I didn't want to finish talking about Next Gen specifically without, you know, really stressing for the hundredth time that there's bad episodes. There's good episodes, there's bad acting, there's good acting, writing, you know, cinematography, like everything that goes into a TV show. It takes so much for these shows to be successful. And with network television, it's trial and error a lot. So for the rest of my life, I may shit on the episode Code of Honor or Sub Rosa or fucking Threshold from Voyager or, you know, any of these shows, episodes that are just not good.
[01:11:31] But it doesn't matter because it's all a stepping stone to what is good, right? It's all just another brick in the wall. Thank you, Pink Floyd. It's all just like. It all adds up to more than the sum of its parts. And that's exactly what we want from something like this. Next Gen is just phenomenal. And you know, I'm going to start D Space 9 next and it's been in my head forever. Like it's the big Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi debate. Which shows better. Which show is ultimately the better show? I feel like I'll have an answer after I get done with my DS9 rewatch. Like I haven't seen them all a million times, but thinking very analytically about Next Gen for the first time in years, doing these season pods, these season episode pods, we'll see. I mean, we'll see. All I'll say now is Next Gen is fucking great. It's always gonna be in my heart. I hope when Bomber gets to season three or four, whenever he gets to that, I hope he has that moment and I hope it sells him on the show. And I hope he has a percentage of the satisfaction that I get from knowing the show and having it in my head. Rent free, as the kids say.
[01:12:39] So, yeah. So what can I say? I love Next Gen.
[01:12:44] Thank you for listening. I appreciate you dealing with my ramblings and, you know, one person's opinion on, you know, one season of a TV show, if you stuck with me this whole time, what can I say, man? You're true blue. I love it.
[01:12:59] Shout out to all of you Trek fans, Trekkies. And if Next Gen's the only show you watch, hey, I get it. Love it. We will be back soon with another episode I know Bomber is going to watch when the bow breaks a so so episode from season one. Hopefully he'll. He'll enjoy it.
[01:13:16] I'm gonna refrain from, you know, giving him spoilers about these episodes. Spoilers meaning, like, this episodes kind of sucks. Just get through it and let me know. I'm not doing that anymore. I don't know why I did it in the first place.
[01:13:28] Anyway, we're gonna be talking about that soon. We're gonna DS9. I swear to God that Luke and I are gonna do Star Trek Original series top 10.
[01:13:36] I swear. Things have been getting in the way. Just wasn't in the cards. It's gonna happen now. I promise. So we got some more coming for you. Thanks so much for listening. We really appreciate it. Love you guys. And we will see you out there.
