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Matt and Sean talk about filling in backstory, and whether it’s worth it, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’, Season 3 Episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
Matt and Sean talk about filling in backstory, and whether it’s worth it, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’, Season 3 Episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
- (00:00) - - Intro
- (03:11) - - Viewer Feedback
- (10:54) - - Today's Episode
- (12:13) - - This Time in History
- (15:00) - - Episode Discussion
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Creators and Guests
What is Trek In Time?
Join Sean and Matt as they rewatch all of Star Trek in order and in historical context.
Sean Ferrell: In this episode of Trek in Time, we're talking about things that we may have imagined but never thought we would see. Welcome, everybody, to Trek in Time, where we're taking a look at every episode of Star Trek in original stardate order, which means that we're talking now about Strange New Worlds. We're taking a break from from the in chronological order review because we were partway through the second season of the original series, but a new season of Strange New Worlds predates that chronologically. So we've pulled out of Strange of the original series, jumped back into Strange New Worlds to cover the newest episodes. When we're done with this season, we'll return to the original series and then we'll keep doing this. As we move forward in time with any new Star Trek seasons that jump in and fit within the context of our rewatch, we'll jump back and watch those two. Today we're going to be talking about the latest episode just released this week, the Sehlat who ate its tail, of Strange New Worlds. It was released on August 14, 2025. But before we get into that, a reminder of who we are. I'm Sean Ferrell. I'm a writer. I write some sci fi, some horror, some stuff for kids. With me, as I was, as always, is my younger brother Matt. He's that Matt behind Undecided with Matt Ferrell, which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact on our lives. Matt, how are you doing today?
Matt Ferrell: I'm doing fantastic. And I know we talk about other shows and stuff like that on our spinoff Out of Time, but I just got to bring up Foundation. If you're not watching Foundation, watch, watch Foundation. First seasons, little slow. Second season is a little better. This third season is just bonkers. Really cool, hard sci fi. I just love it. It's really good.
Sean Ferrell: Good recommendation. And I will make a quick recommendation as well. If anybody out there hasn't had a chance to see it yet, go see Weapons.
Matt Ferrell: I want to see that.
Sean Ferrell: It is a. We're in a very interesting point in time where horror seems to be firing on all cylinders and there's a lot of it. And I saw an article recently which covered the fact that when a culture, historically, when we've been in moments of social strife, horror becomes a very popular genre. So good news for horror fans, bad news for society.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah, yeah.
Sean Ferrell: But Weapons, excellent movie, works on a number of different levels and I'm hoping, Matt, you see it soon so that we can talk about it. Maybe we'll talk about it on Out of Time. As I mentioned before we're going to be talking about the Sehlat who ate its tail and this was originally dropped into the streaming service on August 14, 2025. So as we look back at ways to contextualize it, we'll be talking about now. But before we get into the now, we always like to visit what you've had to say about our previous episodes. So Matt, what did you find in the comments for us this week?
Matt Ferrell: A lot of good comments. Little thread chains as well. First one from PaleGhost69 wrote, Just thought I would share this compliment question mark with you, my wife. Even if you don't know the episode, they the Ferrell brothers are nice to listen to. Relaxing, entertaining sometimes. Good background noise sometimes. To which Mark Loveless responded, yeah, a better compliment would be of course, excellent background noise. Right? You guys are in fact entertaining sometimes. That should go on a Trek in Time T shirt “Trek in Time. Entertaining sometimes.”
Sean Ferrell: Entertaining sometimes.
Matt Ferrell: Sometimes. Then we had a comment from Dan Sims who wrote, there definitely has been a noticeable shift in quality every other episode this season of Strange New Worlds, as we talked about before, but even the bad ones are better than most of the original series. So at very least I have been really enjoying it overall. To which FRBR Radio responded, even the bad ones are better than most of the original series. Agreed. And I wanted to bring this up because that's where I sit. Even though you and I have been very critical of some of these episodes, even those bad episodes I think are on par better than the original series. So take that for what you will.
Sean Ferrell: I think I understand where that's coming from. I think that that as a sentiment might come up in today's discussion. We'll get into that in more detail as we get into the episode, but I think that's one of the balancing acts that we try to do in the podcast is compare a thing to itself and and keep an eye on the bigger picture historically. And so yeah, we're talking about a 1960s television show. I think we do a fairly good job of comparing of its own of its own setting while also reflecting a modern sensibility. That's one of the things that's come up in the conversations with us so much around the original series and then as we moved into Strange New Worlds. Yes, we did get critical about some of the episodes we talked about the measurement of you only have 10 episodes. Why are you using 10% of it to tell this? Yeah, but when we do that, I feel like we are landing in the place of comparing it to itself you do such good storytelling when you do good storytelling, and then you feel like you're sliding backward into strange terrain when you do some of the episodes that are gimmicky or goofy in a way that doesn't take full advantage of the skill set that you demonstrate you have when you really knock it out of the park. And I feel like that's kind of where we're landing in a lot of these conversations. And I think that that is, as I think, forward. I think we're going to be doing that for the entirety of this podcast because there's so many opportunities for Next Generation, DS9, Voyager. So many of these wonderful, wonderful shows hold a very special place in my nostalgia while also recognizing there are some clunkers. There are some times where they were just like, does anybody have any ideas? How about Troy's mother comes back? So when we get to those, it's going to be very similar. It's going to be the same terrain.
So I think that this is lovingly a measurement of, okay, how does it compare to itself and how does it compare to where we are as viewers today?
Matt Ferrell: And yes, I think comparing it, like, if we think about it like your at bat average, like using baseball as an analogy, I think the at bat average for Strange New Worlds is higher than the at bat average for the original series.
Sean Ferrell: Yes.
Matt Ferrell: Taking them in their own way. I think that's kind of how I'm viewing it. Yeah.
Sean Ferrell: And I think that.
Matt Ferrell: Anyway. Yeah, go ahead, next comment. I was going to go to the next. I was going to the next comment. The writers seem to go out of their way, talking about the previous episode, Wedding Bell Blues, to mention Trelane's connection to Vadia 9. Then they connect Q to Trelane. Now they're connecting Vadia 9 to some ancient evil spirits that seem to resemble Pah Wraiths. If they don't visit the Vadia 9 thing later this season, there was a lot of setup for little payoff, and I did not make this connection at all. So just to kind of like bring everybody up to speed here. So Vadia 9, this was the long forgotten homeworld of the Q before their evolution into a non corporeal being. Ancient remnants of their advanced civilization remained on the surface into the 23rd century, at which time it was controlled by the Macron. So I didn't make this connection that they've been doing all season.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: And so to me, it's like, they better be paying this off now that I know this threat is there.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: It's like the whole Trelane, Q, now this planet, and now these kind of wraith like creatures that are in there. It's like, I hope they're tying these all together to lead into the threads that happen in the other shows that we already know about. Yeah, I think that's pretty cool. If they do nothing with it, it's going to make me very, very disappointed in them.
Sean Ferrell: I have to think that they're going to tie some threads together. They. I have to think that that's part of their goal and part of their long. The long angle they're taking on. This has to include. Yeah, like, they've been too careful to plant seeds. They've gotten writers and producers who are planting these seeds in these ways. And I, and I think it would be a terribly. It would be such a misstep for a series that seems to be walking in such fertile ground to just pass that all up and.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah, I don't think they will. I think they'll do something with it. Whether we're happy with what they do or not, that remains to be seen, but they're going to do something.
Sean Ferrell: Execution is the other side of the coin.
Matt Ferrell: So.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: And then finally, wrong answers only for the episode we're about to talk about. Mark Loveless. Plot of the Sehlat who Ate Its Tail. Attempt number one at plot failed as it was ran through the Sean Ferrell created anti scatological AI module and it came out, quote, bad stuff happened, but they are okay now and ends with a laugh at something Spock said, unquote. So here's attempt number two. Sehlats have little tails which, if detached, grow back fairly quickly. As everyone knows, and in some cultures, eating delicious Sehlat tail is considered a luxury. Number one meets a Sehlat who decides to let her remove its tail and cook it in the traditional way. Unbeknownst to most humans, Sehlat tail can function as an aphrodisiac in their system and is addictive. So very quickly, Number One is being manipulated by the Sehlat who takes over the Enterprise. After much back and forth due to a mistake in the mess hall, the Sehlat accidentally eats some of its own tail, which can be fatal to them. The Enterprise is saved and the Sehlat tail is added to the Starfleet banned list. For humans, this will eventually lead to the failed spin off series Star Trek A Tail Too Far, which is canceled after one episode.
Sean Ferrell: And apparently with good reason. Thank you, Mark. Now regular viewers will recognize that sound and they will recognize those flashing lights. Yes, it is the read alert. It's time for Matt to tackle the Wikipedia description, Matt. Have at it. This is actually from. Let's see, where did I generate this? I believe this is from Google. There you go.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah, it's from Google. So the Sehlat who Ate Its tail is the sixth episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3. In this episode, the USS Farragut is damaged and Captain Kirk takes command. When the Enterprise is seized by a mysterious scavenger ship, Kirk experiences a crisis of confidence. Meanwhile, Pike and the crew on the Enterprise attempt to regain control of their ship, encountering hostile intruders and making a shocking discovery. The episode explores Kirk's journey as he grapples with the moral implications of a decision that led to the deaths of thousands.
Sean Ferrell: So the Sehlat who Ate Its tail, episode number 26 of Strange New Worlds, number six overall in this season, dropped on August 14, 2025. This episode includes the usual cast, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Rebecca Romijn, and Martin Quinn. We also see Carol Kane as Pelia and Paul Wesley back as James T. Kirk. What was the world like at the time of this episode? Appearing in our streaming services on August 14, 2025. Well, Matt, I don't have to tell you what you were singing along to. Yes, it was the Weekend's Blinding Lights. Take it away, Matt. If I close my eyes, I would swear that my co host for this podcast was the weekend. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. And at the movies. These are speculative numbers provided by IMDB, but I'm willing to say yes, I believe them. Number one movie currently in theaters, Weapons, which so far appears to be earning $44 million, as well as Freakier Friday, which is proving to have some legs as a. What is it, the third in a. Yep, every 15 years or so they make another one of these movies, but they keep getting the same actors back, which I think is impressive. And still in the top three, the Fantastic Four First Steps, which is well on its way to making quite a bit of money. It is currently grossing 238 million and for streaming. Amongst the top streaming shows right now is looming ahead of us. Season two of Wednesday. But season one is currently topping the viewerships of Netflix as people prepare to return to that show. Also in the top streamed programs right now, Department Q, which is a absolutely wonderful British crime drama based on a series of, I believe, Dutch novels and transplanted into Scotland for the program. Absolutely fantastic. Give me a police drama. Give me weird detectives. Oh boy. Sign me up. I gobble that up.
And also amongst some of the top streamed programs right now, a show that Matt has just talked about in a different podcast. Foundation Season 3 is amongst the top streamed programs right now. And in the news, we can't shake him. The headlines in the New York Times have consistently been about President Trump. Currently the headline being Trump Backs Putin's Plan for Ukraine to Cede Land to End Fighting. This, of course, was a headline from earlier this week, predating the absolute failure of these talks to accomplish anything other than the fact that President Trump seems to like to compliment Vladimir Putin. On now to our conversation about this episode. Matt, I never thought we'd get this story. This is the the long known background for Captain James T. Kirk, that he ascended to a captaincy as the result of heroic action when the majority of the Farragut's crew was incapacitated. He had to take command, even though he was only an ensign and proved so capable in the command chair that not too long after he'd be given his own captaincy. So here they tell that story. And I found myself, as I realized what was about to happen, a mixture of excitement and dread welled up in me and I was like, please do a good job with this. Please do a good job with this. And what I did not expect was that they would effectively just tell a Flying Dutchman story. Recent weeks I think I've invited you to start the discussion. I think this week, if it's okay with you, I'll start the discussion. Yeah, I'll start it this way. I absolutely love this episode. I thought that they managed to take a simple premise of the Flying Dutchman and turn it into a compelling mystery horror story. It had evocative imagery. The big daddy crewmen who storm through the hallways of the Enterprise with the umbilical that's stealing energy.
The promotion of an idea that humans so far removed from any connection to their homeworld, become these kinds of monsters who are willing to do what they're doing to anybody. The lack of empathy, the fact that the through line for the character development was about empathy. The moments that they gave between characters, primarily Kirk and Spock and Kirk and Scotty and Kirk and Uhura, I thought were lovingly rendered with a real understanding of what are we trying to say? Not just like, what do we give the fans? Because the fans want to see these two people standing next to each other, but what do they say to demonstrate they don't know each other yet, but they have to build bridges, to trust each other in this moment. And what does that look like, and what can that promise for the future? I found so many moments in this episode hitting the nail on the head for me as far as how. How do you make all of this work while also just telling a kind of spooky ghost story. And I found myself sitting there by the end of it thinking, they threaded the needle for me. They did it. So I found myself very pleased in the conclusion, So I turn it over to you.
I hope you enjoyed this one.
Matt Ferrell: I'm relieved to hear you say this, Sean, because this is my favorite episode of the season. This is gonna be one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. For Strange New Worlds, I was worried because the pattern we've had so far this season is good episode, bad episode, good episode, bad episode, good episode. And we were on the rant for a bad episode. And so when it started, I was like, please break the curse. And it did. When I realized I was in the same boat, when I realized I saw the Farragut, I saw Captain Kirk, I was like, oh, dear God, are they going to do the big how to Kirk take over the Farragut thing? And I was like, oh, my God, they're doing it. They're doing it, they're doing it. And I was, like, bracing myself for, please do something good. And I felt that way, just like you. And I even turned to my wife and I said, do you understand what's happening right now? And she was like, what are you talking about? I was like, this is when Kirk takes over the period. I was like. I was explaining it to her. I had to pause, and I told her basically a little bit of the backstory, and she was like, oh, okay. She didn't seem to care as much as I did.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah, yeah. You describe that moment, and that describes many, many moments with me and my partner where I will say, like, I think you need to understand the bigger context here. And she's like, I really don't think I care. And I'm like, no, but you're going to care, because once I tell you the bigger, bigger context, you're really care. And then she's like, you told me now, and I still don't care, but thank you for telling me. And can we just watch this stupid show now?
Matt Ferrell: Yes. So anyway, my take on this episode was if you took all that history out and you're just watching it for that Flying Dutchman story you brought up, I thought it was fantastic.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: And I've brought this up numerous times. Part of the reason I love science fiction is because it can put a lens on the current state of your society without being on the nose. You can tell almost like a fable, a myth, and the subtext can make you re evaluate your own personal beliefs without being in your face about it. I love that about sci fi and this show. This episode, I think did that brilliantly.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: With who are these monsters? The monsters are us. You know what I mean? It's like here's the call was coming for humanity. Here's a humanity that has lost its morals, it has lost its ethics, it has lost its sense of empathy for others.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: And then here's Starfleet, which is all about that. And that whole discussion they have at the end of the episode, not to jump to it, but like they have the whole debate around this, around having empathy for the other. Like when Pike and Kirk are having this incredible conversation and Pike is tearing up as he's talking about it of like, I have made these horrible decisions. You've made one. We have to live with it. That's the whole point, is that the other can't remain the other. You have to understand them. And it was like hitting me like a ton of bricks. And I didn't feel like I was being lectured to. It didn't feel like it was hammering you over the head with this message. It was done with taste. Grace, I just want to pay the writers as much compliment as I can for this episode because it was exciting from the Flying Dutchman story and it had a clear point that was just definitely handled. And then for me, the whole Star Trek fanboy of seeing Kirk interact with Scotty for the first time, and we're hearing him call him Scotty for the first time, all of that stuff. And how Lieutenant Scott thinks that Kirk's off is nut. And it's like, who the hell. You're making horrible decisions, dude.
Sean Ferrell: I don't follow you.
Matt Ferrell: The whole discord among this group that we know becomes super tight. And Kirk, who's this cockshot, arrogant guy that we know him to be, we see him basically break down and be like, he chokes. Full on chokes. The whole the way that all of that's handled, I thought was brilliant. The way Spock pulls him out and kind of shows the first time he's going to be his guiding hand in keeping Kirk on track. It helps to kind of fill in all the voids of like, well, how did this crew come together? Like, when Kirk became captain, why did he choose Spock and Scotty? And it's like, oh, we're seeing the first interactions. And he sees the brilliance of Scott, he sees the value of how Spock helped him. And so it's like he wants these people around him by the time he becomes captain of the Enterprise. So it's really cool to see how all this kind of feeds together on top of this just exciting story, it being sucked inside this gigantic spaceship that's eating things. It was just, I just love.
Sean Ferrell: It was great.
Matt Ferrell: This was fantastic.
Sean Ferrell: My fear for this conversation is that if I say everything that's in my head right now, this episode will be four hours long. So I'm going to try to really pull it in. This is, as you mentioned, this is what sci fi can do for us. It can give us the opportunity to talk about a thing without it being on the nose, without pushing audience away or lecturing at people. This is the episode. This is what story can do. Story can bring you together without it being, let me tell you how you're right or wrong. Let me teach you what's ethical or moral. Let me just give you components and then you live through it and, and you then draw your conclusions and you see the connective threads and a well rendered story brings all of those things. So this is exemplifying all of that and is exemplifying how Star Trek has always aspired to do that at the same time. This is the episode where Uhura tells Kirk before they kiss, whenever I'm afraid and I see you in the chair, I'm no longer afraid. That's this moment. This is every moment Scotty gives a look at Kirk like, you're crazy if you think I can do that. Every episode where that takes place is explained in this episode of he does legitimately, on a certain level, think that Kirk is nuts.
Matt Ferrell: Yes.
Sean Ferrell: This explains why when Kirk shoots from the hip as much as he does in every Star Trek story of the original crew, why the original crew lets him do it as much as they do because they've seen him get through this. The conversation where they have the chat around, well, we could declare him unfit for command. It's not that hard. Suddenly every episode of the original series where Kirk seems to be doing all sorts of stuff and everybody's just like, Kirk's gonna Kirk. Like, why would they let him do this? Oh, they've been through this. They've been through this harrowing moment and they're all like, he pulls the fat out, he gets the fat out of the fire. Like he can do it. We've seen him do it before. The fact that he throws effectively, as you mentioned, a breakdown. He throws a tantrum and leaves the room saying, stop talking to me. I don't need all your voices in my head. It's the anti Pike. We have this beautiful moment of. We've seen Pike as space dad who looks around the living room and says, hey, everybody, what do you want to do this weekend? Who's got good ideas? And everybody pitches their ideas to him. This is Kirk. Kirk retreats from the bridge constantly and Spock follows him. And then they talk, and then he returns to the bridge with an idea. That's the original series model of leadership. It's not the Pike model of leadership. It's not the Picard model of leadership. If Pike is the space dad looking around the living room, hey, gang, who's got a good idea of how we spend the weekend? Picard is the CEO of the law firm. And everybody goes into the law firm, sits around LA law style and is like, pitching ideas. And he's, okay, we're going to do this, that and the other thing. I'm the CEO. Go do your jobs.
Matt Ferrell: Yep.
Sean Ferrell: Benjamin Sisko is a jazz musician. Like, every captain has their way of doing things. Janeway, Janeway. This episode makes Janeway look even better than Janeway already looked. And Janeway is arguably one of the best captains that they've ever had in the show.
Matt Ferrell: Yes.
Sean Ferrell: Because this episode is demonstrating. This is what happens when you're lost in space, so far away from home that you let your morals fall away and you just survive. Because they meet humans who are willing to do anything, including apparently killing people on massive scale for hundreds of years simply to survive. Janeway was in the same position and didn't let that happen. So, like, all of this is like. And the fact that they tied it into this moment saying, yeah, after the Third World War, there was a group of scientists who were like, we're terrified about the future for this planet. We think that we need to go find a new place to live. So it's. Pelia says, they were the best of us. And this is the. This is where it ended up. Talk about a metaphor for the American dream. And the moment we're in of watching ideals turn into clubs, it's really like this episode does so many things that just make you stand up and say, if you were to show somebody only one episode of Star Trek, to say, what is the purpose of Star Trek? This is now, for me up there with some of the best of the original series, some of the best of Next Generation. This episode is suddenly like, yeah, the pike. And we haven't even touched on the fact we've talked all about James T. Kirk's character arc. Meanwhile, there's a whole other storyline going on inside the ship, which is fantastic. When that thing first shows up and swallows the ship, I was like, is this a living organism? I actually thought like, is this some sort of space animal that is eating ships? And then it pops out into warp and I'm like, I still didn't know what it was. I was like. I was like, holy cow. It, like, it can travel at warp, turns to. It's this ship and it's got all these carcasses of all the other ships and the tech.
Matt Ferrell: It looks like a skull in the front.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah, the skull in the front. The fact that you've got Scotty in that one moment, just like, wait a minute. Highlight that. And he recognizes a Klingon battlecruiser component. The fact that they have the beautiful. Like, this is what the Klingons call it. These are the ghost stories that we're talking about. The thing that lives at the edge of the map. That moment was them literally pitching alternate episode titles. Because all of those phrases sounded like episode titles from the original series. Yeah. For I have touched the sky and the earth is hollow. Like, all of these things. The thing that lives beyond the edge of the map. That's why old maps painted by sailors included sea creatures at the edges and the kraken and the whirlpools, because they didn't know it was there. So they thought dangerous things. It was there. Be dragons. This is dangerous. Don't go too far. This episode is hitting all of that. And at the same time, inside the belly of the ship, the action. The Big Dad. I mentioned the Big Daddies. It's literally like the evocative nature of what looks like deep sea diving suits moving slowly through a dark hallway. Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: The Big Daddy.
Sean Ferrell: Oh, my God. I loved.
Matt Ferrell: Reminded me of the Big Daddies. Just the whole lumbering slowness. Terrifying. And the way that La'an and the captain fought them was so fantastic. It was just thrilling. And seeing them get like MacGyvery. We can't use our guns. Well, here's a bottle of liquor. Let's create fire and get away from them. It's like. It was great to see all that happen. I don't know, Sean. I don't know. I have no nitpicks for me personally and no nitpicks. I thought the A plot was great. The B plot was great. All the character development was great. Just like the message of the overall show, it almost felt like. I can excuse now, the bad episodes because maybe it was like, we gotta shortcut these couple of. Because we're spending all of our time on this one. Like, we want to get this one right. It's like they. If that was the case, you guys did project management. Chef's Kiss. Thank you for putting the emphasis on this one, because you guys got it right.
Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: There's one thing I do want to bring up. Yesterday, Sean saw an article on Gizmodo about this episode of Star Trek. I completely missed this. But there is an Easter egg of Doctor who. The ship is in the ship.
Sean Ferrell: God, I love it.
Matt Ferrell: There's a very quick. There's a very quick clip of where you see the. Inside the ship and the Enterprise is all wound up in the tendrils. And there's tendrils in the background and stuff. And behind one of the tendrils is the TARDIS sticking out from behind one of the tendrils, which raises questions of, like, is the Doctor stuck in here and does he escape when it explodes? Like, what, what, what? There has been a Star Trek gizmo article series in comic books that's taken place. I love the idea.
Well, who's the showrunner of Doctor Who right now? It's Russell T. Davies. He and the showrunner of this show were on, evidently, on a panel together at, like, Comic Con or something, and they both talked about how, like, they would love to do a crossover, or like Russell said, I would love to direct an episode of Star Trek, that kind of stuff. So clearly there's an admiration society between these two. And so there was just, like, a little tip of the hat with this little Doctor who thing in there. But I just thought it was. I thought it was fantastic. I was like, this is a great episode and you just made it better.
Sean Ferrell: I love it. I love it. Yeah. I just, like, imagine, you know, the storyline where the Doctor finds himself trapped inside a giant spaceship that seems to be eating other ships and it's trying to digest him, but it can't do it. And he's just whittling away at how do I get out of here when some other ship comes in and ends up blowing it up? And he's just like, oh, well, they did it for me. I love that idea of him just sitting there, just being like, well, who are these folks? Oh, humans, of course. Leave it to humans. They're going to get out there and they're going to do what they do. I love It. One of the things that I really appreciated too was that they figured out how to plant some comedic relief into both sides of the storyline. So you get on the Enterprise, you get Pelia with her. I have never been so glad that I lived through the 1980s. And she goes and has all those phones and the moment you see that, you're just like. Oh, like the simplicity of the joke there, the fact that the, the pink princess phone ends up with Ortegas on the bridge and she's talking into this thing to pilot the ship out. The kind of jury rigged Goonies never say die sort of flying out of there by like when she sparks out the, you know, 50% port. Okay, pull back on port. Not that far. Like, you know, the fact that the ship is kind of like waddling out of danger. And then in the, in the Farragut storyline, the reliance on Scott as a voice of. What I loved was as a voice of reason. Yeah. Despite the fact that every episode of him up to this point has been he doesn't remember how he does things and he's terrible at note taking and like he's kind of the loose cannon most of the time. And here he is saying like you're trying to bend and break the laws of physics. You cannot do these things. And that was a nice relief to the tension.
But ultimately one of the cherry on top here is the conversation when they are talking about, do we unseat Kirk from command? No, we need. Uhura makes the impassioned speech. He got me through a moment. He needs somebody to do that for him. And Spock says, maybe somebody who's less emotionally charged needs to do that. And all eyes turn to him and he then goes and has this command conversation which looks on the surface of it like it was written for the original series. I love that he walks in and Kirk is toying with the 3D chess set and says, I think I was about to beat my captain for the first time. So it's like here is Kirk, who we know soundly defeats Spock all the time at this game, but he hasn't beaten his own captain yet. It gives such a nice sense of perspective of where he is in his career. And the conversation the two of them have feels like it was written for Shatner and Nimoy as opposed to, you know, Peck and Wesley. But the two of them do such a nice job with conveying the early relationship of these two characters.
And I so greatly appreciated it because.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah, in that conversation, one of my favorite lines was, I'm the dog who caught the car. Like, the fact that Kirk is aware of, like, I've always wanted to be this. Now I have it and I'm screwing it up. I don't know what to do with this. I thought that was like, that entire conversation. It was so enlightening. And this is where you and I have constantly complimented this show, where it's not just fan service. They're doing a good job recontextualizing the original series without diminishing it. And this is one of those conversations where it did not diminish. It added a richness to these relationships we know, and it felt true to the character for all of that, especially at the end. I want to bring up the conversation at the end again between Pike and Kirk. It was great to see kind of this mentorship forming between the two of them, because there is a relationship between the two of them and seeing how their different styles still kind of come down the same route. Issues of command and how Pike is imparting on him wisdom that you've seen in Kirk in the original shows and the movies. And you're seeing Pike give him that knowledge. It was just like, once again, it was just like. Like little fireworks going off in the back of my mind of like, yes, this is awesome. Just seeing this is how Kirk turns that corner and becomes the great leader he is. He's taking the knowledge from Pike. This.
Sean Ferrell: We've talked about it before. The episode Tomorrow Is Yesterday, where Kirk is falling in love with Keeler and says to her while walking down the street, a novelist will write a novel, in which he argues that the three most important words are not, I love you, but let me help you. Like, that's here in this moment with Pike saying, extreme empathy is the way. And going even further forward, it feels a little bit like, okay, how do we write this moment? What are we trying to say here? What are we trying to say for Kirk as far as where he is on the path? What is his ultimate destination? And I feel like the producers and writers were like, oh, his ultimate destination is at the end of the Star Trek 6. He stands up in front of everybody and says, you know what? We're all human. It's a line from the movie. And it feels like they took that line and used it as this, the cornerstone for this moment. You're going to have these experiences, and the empathy of this moment is what is going to get you through those hard times. I'm like, holy cow. They created an arc where no arc existed before. Yeah. So hats off, as you mentioned. Like who? Like this is. This is a good one. This is top of the list for me. I easily give this a 10. We've talked before about where does this land? Oh, it's a five. It's seven. Maybe it's a nine. This is for me as a 10. I love this episode and I hope everybody watching or listening enjoyed it. Please jump into the comments, let us know how did this land for you and if you have a different opinion. We're not adverse to different opinions. Share your contrarian opinion. We want to hear it. And maybe we'll talk about it in our next episode. Next time around we're going to be talking about the episode what is Starfleet? This will be episode seven of this season and will be releasing on August 21st.
We hope you'll be swinging back around to listen to our conversation about that one. As always, please leave a comment, like, subscribe, share with your friends. Those are very easy ways for you to support the program. And if you'd like to support us more directly, you can go to trekintime Show. Click the Become a Supporter button there. It allows you to throw some coins at our heads. We appreciate the welts and then we get down to the heavy, heavy business of talking about Sehlat biology. Also, reminder, supporting us directly through that link makes you a subscriber to our spin off program Out of Time in which we talk about things that don't fit within the confines of this program. We hope you'll be interested in checking that out. As I mentioned before, we usually talk about things that come across our paths lately. For me it's been the movie Weapons and for Matt it's been the show Foundation. So maybe if we record an episode today, maybe we talk about those two programs. We'll see. We hope you'll be interested in checking it out. Thank you so much everybody for taking the time to watch or listen.
We'll talk to you next time.