Rob: Welcome back everyone to Subspace Radio.
Another episode of Star Trek is out and we are here to talk about it.
It's me, Rob.
Kevin: And me, Kevin
Rob: And we are here to talk about the latest Star Trek:
Starfleet Academy episode Ko'Zeine.
For those of you that don't know, that is the best man.
Kevin: Will you be my Ko'Zeine, Rob Lloyd?
Rob: Anytime, anytime I will give up going to Ibitha – not Ibiza, Ibitha – to come.
If you are kidnapped and have to marry, uh, royalty, I will
be there to be your best man.
Kevin: Good to know.
Good to know.
Rob: So, yes.
Uh, as we, uh, predicted after the, uh, trauma and, uh, the tragedy and
the loss, the deep, deep loss of last week's episode, this episode
was a bit of a, a reset, a bit of a recovery episode, a bit of a.
Kevin: Bit low key.
Rob: Bit low key, a bit of an internal looking inward into our characters.
Um, and this focused on relationships between characters as opposed to single
episodes focusing on one character.
This episode focused mostly on the relationships between, uh, Jay-Den
and our, uh, soon to be married.
Kevin: Darem Reymi.
Rob: And also that we had, uh, Caleb and Genesis, uh, working on working
out their relationship as well.
Kevin: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, what did you think of this one, Rob?
Rob: This one was okay?
Yeah.
It's not the strongest of the season.
Yeah.
It wasn't, it wasn't bad, but it, yeah, it was.
Kevin: I was definitely partway through this episode looking at
my watch going, okay, this is a, this is, this is a not good one.
Like, it's not bad, but it's not good.
Rob: Yes, yes.
it was a necessary lull in proceedings, and
Kevin: Was it?
I don't know.
I think it's letting them off easy.
I, I think there are definitely things about this episode I like.
I think the performances all remain strong.
It really feels like they spent all of the money and all of their creative juices
on every other episode of this season.
And this was the one that, that barely squeaked by.
I, uh, I don't know if it was the return of the conspicuously circular space
of the wedding moon that we visited.
But it was, that was the first appearance of the, the volume that we have
had almost every week on Discovery.
And as soon as we went there, I was like, oh, it feels like
a Discovery episode again.
Rob: Yeah.
It definitely felt like actors on a stage as opposed to that is an actual,
you know, environment behind you.
Um, and I guess it would be one of those bottle episodes or uh, a
one-off episode in a 26 episode season that you could kind of get behind.
But when we're dealing with only 10 episodes a season, um, and near the
tail end of the season, you kind of, um, treading water a little bit.
Kevin: There were conspicuous absences in this episode.
How much buildup did we have about Darem's parents earlier in the season?
They were on screen in this episode, they were cast, but we didn't get
any lines of dialogue from them.
We didn't get to meet them.
It was weird.
I don't know if they filmed those scenes and decided they weren't happy with how
they turned out, so they chopped around them and left an awkward feeling episode.
But that's the kind of feeling I had for much of this episode is that
there had been things chopped out.
There were things missing that would've made this episode work in an alternate
universe, and by their absence, it made the episode kind of feel weird.
Rob: Yes, it did.
We, we spent most of our time with, uh, the meant to be betrothed bride.
Um.
She had a lot of heavy lifting to do.
She had a, a major focus in her dealing with, you know, sacrifices made and
the person she was going to marry has changed because of his time at Starfleet.
Kevin: Tough ask that role to be like, you know, born into
royalty of her planet, no less.
Uh, and to play that likeably?
And for us to not blame her for the situation, for, for us to like her
and then actually like sympathize and empathize with her as she is watching,
listening to Jay-Den's speech and watching the, the kind of dawning
realization pass across her face.
All of that stuff, very sympathetic for a character that we have never met before.
So this is why I say the performances were strong, but I felt like they
were propping up, uh, an episode that felt barely written at times.
Rob: Especially with, you know, the prominence of, uh, his parents
earlier on, and that shaping his decisions and the pressure put upon
him to then have them there and be mute was really clumsy writing.
And that should have been, you know, that's sort of like writing 101.
You set up this, it is like, you know, I'm going to do a very nerdy theater
reference, they, it's like Chekhov's parents, they're mentioned early on.
need to see that go off and.
In, uh, again, a longer season we could have had the introduction of the
bride, we could have the introduction of the parents, and that all comes
to a head at this particular point, but it's just too rushed and muddled.
And it, yeah, it didn't, didn't hit the emotional impact that it could have
because we were not getting the full story that we were kind of promised.
Kevin: I remember when we were talking about late season Discovery, I would
sometimes say this one felt like it was like it needed one more pass.
It was a little underwritten and in the, the game of toxic or non-toxic
between Caleb and Genesis, which is a, it's a charming idea, but it was
not quite, it didn't quite make sense.
What is this game, toxic or non-toxic?
Um, I guess we can kind of infer it, but it Okay.
So it's toxic.
He's poisoned and anyway, like it, it, it just felt weird.
It felt like we were, we were not quite told enough to understand
what was going on, and then by the time we figured it out, it it, ugh.
The whole thing about Genesis wanting to sit in a chair that wasn't
her father's, um, like that is, it's supposed to be weird because
she's hustling him, she's lying.
It's not the truth.
But the whole vibe of the episode made me second guess it and go,
are we just not being told, given enough information to understand
what's meant to be going on here?
Uh.
Rob: Yeah, I'm probably confessing a little bit too much, maybe
because I had faded out of episode
Kevin: Yeah.
Rob: and, uh, instead of looking at my watch like you were, I was
maybe on my phone doom scrolling.
Um, and I'm there going, well wait a minute.
Why is she trying to, like, what is so embarrassing, or about
these references recommendations?
Are they fake or,
Kevin: All of her references originally said that she cannot
trust that she belongs where she is, and she's driven by fear.
And she hacked those references to, to, well, she rewrote them to remove those
Rob: yeah,
Kevin: that they were unvarnished, glowing instead of varnished glowing,
Rob: Varnish glowing.
Kevin: and, and this is her secret.
Rob: Yes.
Yeah, Sorry, I missed it.
Look, there's always a highlight when you've got, uh, Tig showing up.
Always happy to, uh, to have her presence on screen.
Um, yes.
And how did you find the, uh, the, uh, the flirting slash chemistry between
our Genesis and Caleb starting to occur?
Kevin: Yeah, I, I enjoyed what they did there.
Like these, these, um, young people full of hormones in the prime of their life,
uh, bumping into each other awkwardly.
I think it was played perfectly.
The, the, the spark was there.
The spark was acknowledged.
But both of these people did the right thing.
Rob: Yes.
Kevin: Were friends for each other rather than, um, crossing a line into a space
where I don't think this show needs to go.
Um, so I, I really enjoyed the line, they, they trod there.
I think it was beautiful.
Rob: Yeah, especially, it would be a bit of a, a dogue we say here at
Subspace Radio, dogue move, uh, for Caleb to, uh, be doing such things.
Um.
So, yeah, we'll be interested to see, 'cause uh, it is revealed in
the episode that he, um, has not spoken, uh, for four weeks to, um,
Kevin: Tarima.
Rob: To, yeah, since this, uh, since this tragedy has occurred
and, uh, uh, all that has gone on.
So Genesis there not only to, uh, distract him
Kevin: Yeah.
I like all that stuff.
The, the flawed people being inexperienced and flawed is, that's good.
I think that's show is all about.
And I love that they continue to give it to us.
It was just kind of lost in a, in a episode that was, uh, underwritten
in, in its plot, I think.
Rob: I agree.
And I've only recently just found out that, um, not only is there a
season two, they've pretty much just finished filming season two as well.
Kevin: Yeah, yeah.
Lots to come.
I'm, I'm looking forward to it.
What did you think of, uh, the evolution of Jay-Den and Darem's relationship?
Because I, my read of it, I think is one that, to me it is very clear, but I'm not
hearing a lot of people discussing it.
Rob: Yeah, I, I, I'm kind of over the whole, oh, I'm an asshole
and deal with it type of thing.
And he's like, there's, you know, being asshole or not being a good people
person, and then there's just being mean, and just for the sake of it.
I'm there going, it didn't really earn its stripes, like at the end to be that
endearing moment of, oh, he's still, you know, doesn't know how to handle people.
I'm going, right, so now he's just still being an asshole to, to Kyle?
Kevin: To me, there is another layer here that has not been said out loud,
but is there in the performances and I suspect is there deliberately in
the subtext, which I think ever since that scene where Darem helped Jay-Den
uh, with his public speaking fear with the breathing exercise and they
got just a little too close to each other, I think Darem has an attraction
to Jay-Den that is not reciprocated.
And he knows it's not reciprocated, but he still, he feels envious
of what Jay-Den and Kyle have.
Wants what he can't have.
And that is what is driving the assholy behavior.
I think it is a, like a defense mechanism and he, that last moment of vulnerability
after Jay-Den and, and Kyle walk off, that's what I see in his face is like, I,
I keep, why do I keep being an asshole?
Um, and it's because he likes Jay-Den, but he's not, doesn't like him back.
Rob: I am, I am, I am digging the fact of how low key, um, this has all come about.
This is a, his historic moment in Star Trek to have our
first openly gay, um, Klingon.
Kevin: Yeah, with at the center of an openly gay love triangle, I want to
Rob: Yeah.
And it's just, it's just dropped in and it's not made this big
thing, which I, which I dig.
I really love that type of stuff.
Kevin: I like that it's being underplayed for us to see.
Uh, yeah.
I, I assume it will come to a head at some point, but, uh, really
enjoying the subtlety around it.
The actors are doing a great job of it.
I feel like they, uh, they know what to play even if the, if it's not in
the script specifically, and I'm really
Rob: Yes, and I think it's.
Yeah, underplayed, but it's not sort of like, it doesn't feel restricted.
It's a nice way of just going, this is another relationship.
It doesn't need to be, uh, forced or it doesn't feel, seem to be held
back, um, which I really appreciate.
It just plays out really nicely in a, you know, almost offhanded
way, which for me is more powerful.
Kevin: Speaking of playing out nicely, the end of this episode does work for me.
Like I guess I'm a sucker for a needle drop and some slow motion,
but, um, Caleb's heartfelt letter to Tarima over, like commenting on
the characters around him and what they mean to him and to each other.
All of that did get me, and it was like, oh, I'm back, uh, in the, in
the dying moments of this episode.
But it did feel like they were patching up something that had been
broken up up until I was, I was off the bandwagon and then they got me
right back on, right at the end.
Rob: We have talked about it before in, in previous episodes, but it is that
very much iconic, late nineties, early naughties classic television drama
where you get to the end of the episode.
And you have a letter being read out or a diary entry or, or,
or a blog entry being read out
Kevin: Someone being vulnerable the audience, yeah.
Kind of
Rob: A needle drop is hit.
The characters walk through their lives, go through a moment as it relates to
them in the voiceover, they are shown.
We've had little moments of that in Star Trek, but mostly, you
know, a lot of it has been brought back in modern Star Trek for sure.
Um, but this is definitely one of those moments you go, all right, we're, we're
hitting something, uh, uh, classic from, from the turn of the century.
Kevin: Yeah.
My only other thought of this episode is I feel like I, I, I, we are seven
for seven of making sure every one of these episodes has a moment where two
of our cadets look into each other's eyes and there is a spark and something
almost happens, something does happen, but there is not going to be an
episode without a romantic spark in it.
And uh, yeah, I
Rob: we're doing it for the kids, Kevin.
We're
Kevin: Yeah, yeah.
Think the formula is clearly there.
It's clearly working.
But if there's anything form that is starting to feel formulaic
about this show, for me it is that.
It is that there is no episode that's going by without,
uh, a romantic something.
Rob: Yes, yes.
Not much of SAM in this episode.
She's kind of still recovering
Kevin: No, but her hair made up for it.
It was amazing.
Rob: There is, uh, one thing I wish I could be a part of,
but it is a wonderful thing.
The world of the, uh, black American culture and their, and their hair.
It is a whole other world and it's incredible.
Kevin: Is incredible.
Yeah.
Uh, uh, I am sad that SAM has been glitching for a month and sent
away to a holo-spa, to, uh, uh, or a Holotech Rehab Spa, is the
name of the place that they say.
It seems bizarre to me that I suppose maybe Earth of the 32nd
century would have one holo rehab spa maybe, but I don't know.
That seems like a weird sci-fi thing.
Just like a galactic meteor shower is a weird sci-fi thing that doesn't make
sense if you think about it twice.
Rob: Well look, when you say holo spa, that's ridiculous, but when you
added the extra five or six words in between, that made it legitimate.
Kevin: So, yes, I, I hope, uh, I hope SAM is feeling better by next week.
Rob: Yes, we shall see as we move into episode eight.
Now, uh, as always we do here at Subspace Radio, we're sort of
like inspired by, uh, something, uh, that we saw in this episode.
And, um, uh, Kevin came up with the idea of, um, alone on the bridge.
Kevin: My first thought, to be honest, Rob was arranged marriages, but, um, and,
and, and there is that going on here.
We could have gone back to Amok Time and, and Spock and his wife T'Pring to be, but,
uh, yeah, I, I thought maybe let's take it in, in a slightly different direction.
And that moment where Caleb and Genesis are alone on the bridge and
Genesis says, When else am I gonna get a chance to be alone on the bridge?
It's, it sparked this realization to me that these moments
are, are rare and special.
They do happen now and then, but every time they do it feels strange.
It's like the bridge is, is designed to be this hub of activity that you
imagine, especially on our ships that fly in space is, is staffed full time 24 7.
There is always a crew up there and it is always full of, of activity, or at
least it's the night shift, you know, quietly, uh, making course adjustments.
But the idea that it is completely empty for one person to, to be in by
themselves, it is a special moment and I wanted to explore those moments.
Rob: And especially within the, uh, 60 years of Star Trek, as we see in the
opening logo, there have been so many different type of bridges that have, uh,
accompanied, whether it be an actual, uh, Starfleet chip or whether it be
something of a smaller scale like, uh, uh.
Like a Runabout or even even the Defiant, um.
Moving through all that from the original Enterprise, which is more
trying to get that feel of a submarine.
So like you say, that packed environment is what a bridge
should be, in whatever size it is.
But to have those moments of just one character isolated in that space for.
Whether it be through something traumatic or, or dramatic, or even for some
reflection, let's go a bit deeper and have a look at what we have in other stories.
Kevin: Yeah.
Well, I might kick us off with TOS then.
Um, so we've talked before about season one, episode 25, This Side of
Paradise, which is the episode where the, the colony has the plants that,
uh, that are brainwashing people and everyone is happily beaming
down and Kirk is the last one to go.
And he has a scene on the bridge where he makes a log entry and talks about how
his crew has mutineed and left him alone.
And he, he can't fly the ship by himself.
Uh, and so he is marooned there until, uh, the flower that is over the railing
catches him in the face and he has brainwashed along with everyone else.
And that is a definite alone on the bridge moment.
But we've talked about it before.
So I'm gonna take us instead to season three, episode 16.
The Mark of Gideon.
This is very original series.
Rob: I was looking at that one.
Kevin: Yeah, it's an episode I often forget exists.
It's not particularly well remembered.
It, it's one that is often rated low and and criticized
as being full of plot holes.
But in this episode, the Enterprise is visiting a planet that they are
trying to, uh, convince to join the Federation, but they are xenophobic.
They won't allow anyone down even though their planet is reputed to be a
paradise where no one ever gets sick.
But they have finally, through diplomatic channels, agreed to let one person
beam down and begin the negotiations.
And that person is Captain Kirk.
So Captain Kirk gets on the transporter platform.
They are given the, the precise beam down coordinates.
He beams down and reappears in the Enterprise transporter
room, or so he thinks.
He finds himself in an empty USS Enterprise.
He walks around trying the communication panels on the walls, eventually
making, uh, his way up to the bridge and calling for McCoy, and Scotty,
any crew member, is anyone aboard?
And he is completely by himself.
And there are some beautiful long moments where he's just kind of walking silently
on the bridge f feeling how empty it is and how strange it is that no one is here.
Um, many of the shots of the empty spaces on the ship.
You can tell now in HD that they are, um, frozen images that there are basically
photographs that are just sitting there.
Well, other ones you can tell are live because the grain is, uh,
of, the, of the film is moving.
And that sort of jankiness of the original series is on display here, uh,
which I think is fun in its own way.
But yeah, he is alone for, I, it feels like five, 10 minutes of this episode
where he's just, um, searching the Enterprise, trying to find anyone
and figure out what's going on until he meets Odona, who is a mysterious
lady, who, who does not remember how she got on the ship, only that the
place where she came from before was, was completely crowded with people
and that she was struggling for air.
And that's all the information we really get.
Um, and Kirk, Kirk is questioning her and trying to understand.
Did she come from the planet Gideon, is she from somewhere else entirely?
What the heck is going on?
The, the, the mystery is kind of left for a long time in this episode, and I
kind of enjoy living in this mystery.
Unfortunately, when the mystery is unraveled, so does kind of the episode.
It, it turns out what is revealed is that the planet Gideon
suffers from overpopulation.
The, the planet is completely overcrowded.
It is, it is encased in a seething mass of people because they love life so much,
they don't believe in birth control.
And because the planet ha is free of illness, no one ever dies.
And so it has just completely overcrowded.
And the reason they want Kirk there is because Kirk carries a virus who will,
uh, that they can use to infect the local population and kill off enough
people to control their population.
Rob: That took a turn,
Kevin: Yeah, and in order to, to do that, they built a replica of the
USS Enterprise, for some reason.
So that Kirk would stay there long enough and be confused long enough
that he would pass this virus onto Odona, who it turns out is secretly
the daughter of president of the planet who they are going to sacrifice
as, as the first infected person.
Um, yeah, it, it, it doesn't that kind of spiral of logic that does not quite
make sense, they never quite recover from that in this episode, uh, yeah,
there's a lot of back and forth over will they let her die and keep Kirk so
that Kirk can continue to infect people or will they save her so that she can
take Kirk's place and her infected blood can be used to infect other people.
That is ultimately the, the dilemma of this episode it,
it doesn't really make sense.
So, yeah.
I would not watch this one for the plot or for, uh, the deep world building,
but those, that first 10, 15 minutes of Kirk going, why is my ship empty?
And, and where is everybody?
And who is this woman, um, is, is enjoyable.
Just the, the mystery of it.
Rob: Yeah.
Kevin: Hmm.
Rob: Well, there you go.
Well, I'll jump ahead.
I'll jump ahead and look.
I'll look at, um, Voyager.
I always come back to Voyager.
We're doing season four, episode 25 One.
Kevin: Ooh.
Sounds like a Borg one.
Rob: It is a Borg one.
It focuses on Seven of Nine.
Voyager is traveling through, um, as quick as they can to get home.
Uh, the focus is on Seven being taught, uh, interaction socially by the Doctor.
The Doctor is playing mentor to, uh, Seven of Nine and immediately this
is one of the stronger relationships within the Star Trek franchise.
Team the Doctor and Seven of Nine, it's great.
So obviously they're in the holodeck and um, it's trying to elicit out of Seven
of Nine, a way of engaging in small talk and conversation and what that entails.
And Seven of Nine will have nothing of it.
It's a waste of precious time and, uh, she does not care to find out about what
they're interested in or who they are.
But, um, the Doctor is insistent that she needs to make herself a part of this crew.
Um, there is a nebula, of course there's a nebula, and it is, uh, is
so wide, so high, so deep that they cannot go around it, for it would take
an extra couple of months and they cannot, yeah, um, uh, afford that time.
So they're gonna go through it.
Uh, as they start to go through it, um, the skin burns on the crew.
They're agonizing pain and they have to get out of it.
Uh, one of the crew members, we have a dear red shirt on the bridge, uh,
succumbs to the pain, just to let know that this is a real threat.
So, through much debating and discussing, the only option they have is for
the Doctor within a short amount of time to create an entire bay of
cryogenic chambers for the entire crew.
Kevin: But Rob, who's going to fly the ship?
Rob: Well, that's a very good question.
It can't, it cannot just be
Kevin: it couldn't possibly be a Borg drone, who is just saying how
social contact with her fellow crew members is completely pointless.
Rob: Someone would say that this is a convenient plot device.
So yes, Seven and the Doctor are the only ones on the ship.
Kevin: Hmm.
Rob: Um, the, uh, the tension is, uh, is building up.
There's a strain in their relationship.
Um, going through the nebula is affecting the systems on
the ship, degrading systems.
So they have to constantly keep in, uh, in contact and
repairing these type of things.
Gets to the point where the mobile emitter is not working that properly.
And so the Doctor is confined to sick bay, like he was in, uh, the early days.
And Seven of Nine has a lot of time on her own, wandering the
same corridor over and over again.
And yes, spending time on the bridge alone, so much to the point where she
gets, uh, the point where the Doctor is, you know, almost completely stuck there.
So Seven of Nine never sees him.
She starts to hallucinate.
She starts to see things.
Kevin: I love the creepiness of this episode, the creepiness an empty starship.
These, these places that are usually full of crew and depend on that crew to work
when it is, when it is empty, it's creepy.
Rob: Yes.
And um, uh, uh, uh, alien is in the, the Nebula as well.
He comes over the to do trade, um, but he's just a figment
of Seven's imagination.
Kevin: Yeah.
Rob: Uh, whispers and voices are heard in her head, and this is, you know,
Kevin: I love a psychological thriller Star Trek.
Rob: And especially when
Kevin: We haven't had one of those in a while.
I'm looking forward to a new one of those.
Rob: And yeah, especially coming with the, the likes of Seven of Nine, who is meant
to be cool, calm and collected, and have a rather, you know, cold view of humanity.
To have them reconnect with their humanity, with panic and
anxiety and fear and tension.
It's great.
And when you've got such a wonderful actor taking that all on.
Um,
Kevin: an episode for sure.
Rob: Yeah, she wasn't just brought in just for a look.
Well, she was brought in just for her looks, but she, uh, she had the hidden
secret of being an incredible actor to
Kevin: Hmm.
Rob: Um, so yeah, it focuses on the isolation within this
space, trying to solve all the problems, what is real, what isn't.
And the coda at the end is, um.
Seven of Nine goes up to, uh, to Kim, Paris, and B'Elanna and, uh,
asks if you can sit down and engage in conversation so you know how
desperate she is if he wants sit down and find out what Harry Kim's up to.
Kevin: Yeah.
Uh, so good.
Um.
Yeah, love a bit of character growth.
Rob: It's when with Voyager was at, its at its peak, you know.
It was going really well at this point.
That introduction of Seven of Nine really, um, brought in a new, you know,
dynamic and really spiced things up a bit.
Kevin: It is luxurious, isn't it?
To, to be able to have an episode like this.
I, I mean, thinking of, thinking of Starfleet Academy and current era
Star Trek, each episode has to be doing so much in the arc show that it
is basically impossible to devote an entire episode to a single character.
We had, uh.
We had, um, Terrarium, uh, last season of Strange New Worlds, that finally,
finally gave our character, our, our helmswoman, a a story to herself, and it
was so long coming that it felt earned.
But apart from that, it feels impossible to devote a, an entire
hour of television to one character's experience, a subjective experience
that changes them, and then they, they are changed for the rest of the show.
Rob: Yes.
And when you have Jeri Ryan, that is something you can do.
I mean, it's a big thing, there's one particular episode of modern Doctor
Who, Hey, I'm bringing in Doctor Who into our Star Trek podcast.
Who would've thought, um, it's a great episode called, uh, Heaven Sent with
Mr. Peter Capaldi as the doctor and,
Kevin: Hmm.
Rob: the entire episode is just him.
So that's a 45 minute episode of the Doctor trapped in this,
uh, uh, maze and loop of time, and he has to break out of it.
And it's when you've got an actor of the caliber of Peter Capaldi or indeed Jeri
Ryan, you can sit there for whole 45 minutes and go, this is utterly absorbing.
Kevin: I, I agree with you, but I think that to a one I think our our
cadets are strong enough in Starfleet Academy that any one of them could
carry off an episode like that.
Is just no space in a season to devote an entire episode to just one character.
They gotta keep it moving.
They gotta keep the A's and B's plots playing against each
other because there's too to do.
Rob: We've had them as them as like an episode focusing in on them, but
them within that world surrounded
Kevin: Yeah.
It needs serve other, other purposes too.
Yeah.
Rob: Yeah.
And to be like episode 25 here in Voyager, that's right near the end of the season.
To, to just go, yep, just before we do the season finale, let's,
uh, chuck in a episode that just focuses on one character.
Kevin: Well from, uh, from Voyager, I'm going to take us to the next
generation for another episode that is centering around just one
character and their experience, but it's a guest star, this time.
This is season six, episode four of The Next Generation,
Relics in which Scotty returns.
Rob: Well, now we have mentioned this one before.
We have talked about this one before.
Kevin: Have no doubt.
This is one of my favorites.
It is.
It is so full of things that make me happy, this episode.
This is almost a prototype for an episode of the week that
is gonna make Kevin happy.
It is, it is full of Star Trek nostalgia.
It is full of science and sciencey concepts.
There's no antagonist other than science, elusive science.
And, uh, and there it's a procedural.
There are the episode hinges on people being good at their jobs, and that is
what is gonna get us out of this or not.
So for those who haven't seen it, Relics is an episode where the USS Enterprise
encounters, uh, an uncharted Dyson sphere, which we are explained by Data and Picard
is a sphere that has been built around a star at the distance of approximately,
give or take, the orbit of planet Earth.
And that the, therefore the interior surface of that sphere would be completely
habitable and completely capture all of the radiant energy of this star.
That this is the most efficient form of solar energy, that you
could, um, you could house a giant civilization on the inner surface of
that sphere, if, if a race could be advanced enough to build such a thing.
And that race, we don't get to meet it here, we just find their abandoned
sphere and crashed on the surface of that sphere is a 75-year-old ship with
a transporter locked in a feedback loop containing in its transporter buffer,
Montgomery Scott, who was on his way to a well-earned retirement when his
ship crashed into this Dyson Sphere.
Rob: Welcome back Jimmy Doohan.
Kevin: He's so good.
This is.
I think this is the most that Jimmy Doohan has ever given to do.
It's certainly the most lines of dialogue.
Even some of those animated series episodes where he was playing three
different characters, I feel like he still had less to do than what
he, he got to do here, and what he's given to do is delightful.
I love, more than anything in this episode, that Montgomery Scott is
the biggest fan of Montgomery Scott.
He's constantly trying to tell people stories of his greatest hits.
Did I ever tell you about the time that we were spiraling out
of control down to PSI 2000?
The captain wanted me to repair the engines with a cold start,
and I told him, Captain ya, cannae changed the laws of physics.
And he is telling his own stories, just like fans do about Scotty on
the Enterprise, and it is delightful that he is his own biggest fan.
It kind of, it makes it okay for us to all be fans of Scotty, if he himself
can see him in those glowing terms.
And I, I think like the tension of this episode is that,
uh, he is a man out of time.
He is, he is not exactly an expert on 24th century technology,
and he kind of gets in the way.
And he has a crisis of confidence as he's like, oh, am I past my prime?
Uh, am I, am I past my use by date?
Geordi finds him annoying for about half this episode, and shoes him
out, ends up shouting at him in in engineering saying, you're in my way.
And it's, it's heartbreaking to see our o, our old Scotty
knocked down to size like that.
And Scotty, what he does is he takes a bottle of green alcohol from Ten
Forward and goes to the holodeck and he summons for himself a recreation
of the bridge of the Enterprise.
Rob: Yes.
Kevin: He, he walks around, he toasts to his past, his fallen comrades.
He says, here's to you lads.
Cheers to you lads.
And, and sits down and drinks and, and, uh, and is, feels sorry for himself.
The, the wide shot that shows the bridge is stolen from This Side
of Paradise, the original series episode that I mentioned first.
It is one of the few shots of an empty USS Enterprise bridge and
they use that for the wide shot.
And then the, the rest of the scene is played with just like two segments of the
bridge visible in the background because that's all they could afford to build.
Rob: Oh my gosh.
Kevin: Uh, Picard comes to the, uh, to the holodeck and, and they, they
share a drink and they talk about ships and, and what they mean to them.
And Scotty says, I've, I've served on 10 ships, but this was the first one where
I was chief engineer and it's still the only one I think I still think about.
This is where I was home.
It's just so nostalgic and touching and lovely.
Um, but yeah, it all is all rooted around this scene of Scotty alone
on the bridge of the Enterprise.
Rob: Excellent.
Thank you for taking us, uh, uh, back to that beautiful moment.
Jimmy Doohan getting a moment to shine.
Kevin: This is the final appearance of Montgomery Scott
in the timeline of Star Trek.
We see him fly off, they, they give him, uh, one of the shuttle
pods from the Enterprise because to replace his crashed ship.
And he says, oh, I might make it to that retirement colony I was headed
for originally, but I feel like I've got one or two other adventures
in me first, and he flies off.
And that's the last time we see Scotty.
His final appearance on screen as an actor is in Star Trek: Generations
where, um, he witnesses the, the seeming death of Captain Kirk on the Enterprise
B. Um, that is the, that is the last time we see James Doohan play Scotty.
But the events of this episode are meant to happen after that.
Rob: After.
Kevin: Which makes it a little weird when they bring him out of, uh, out
of the transporter buffer and they say the Enterprise is here to save him.
He's like, I bet old Jim Kirk got her out of moth balls just to come and get me.
Doesn't really make sense because he, he should believe that Kirk is dead.
But at the time, this show aired, Generations was not yet written.
And so that is just one of those little blips, I guess you have to, you have
to assume Scotty was still a little dizzy from the transporter buffer.
Rob: Yes.
Yeah.
The, it's the little, uh, continuity connections and
corrections we make along the way.
Kevin: Yeah.
And this is why still, I can still forgive a continuity blip here or there in modern
Star Trek because it was never perfect.
Rob: No.
No.
And it's not meant to be.
It's the same like in Star Wars when, um, uh, Alec Guinness says, I
don't remember ever owning a droid, looking R2D2, and they go, well,
you spent three movies with R2D2.
Kevin: He didn't own it, Rob.
It was his friend.
He, he built it.
You don't own something you built.
Clearly, that's what he, meant.
Rob: What he told me was true from a certain point of view.
Damn that Obiwan Kenobi.
Um, so from the highs of Relics, I'm gonna take us to the, to,
to the lows of Enterprise.
Yes.
Yes, we are making our, we are making our way to, uh, season
two episode nine, Singularity.
Singularity.
So, uh, this is a T'Pol focused episode, um,
Kevin: You've got theme in your episodes.
You got One.
And Singularity.
I guess it makes sense, people alone on the bridge.
Rob: Yeah, it is a common Star Trek thing to go, you know, if we're gonna
have one person alone on the bridge, it's bridge, it's gonna be someone
who's isolated from everybody else.
Um, so yes, everyone in the crew is, uh, succumbing to this almost rage
type of, or, angry, uh, dangerous type of altering to their personalities,
to the point where they end up, uh, knocking themselves out, being knocked
out, being overwhelmed by it all.
We've got Dr. Phlox trying to perform invasive surgery that
will no doubt kill crew members.
Um.
We have Trip, uh, Tucker becoming overly obsessed with fixing the captain's chair.
We have the captain, um, needing to write a speech, uh, on, uh, no write
a forward to a book about his father.
And, uh, we have, uh, uh, obsession over cooking in the mess hall.
So, and it all gets to the point where they all collapse and T'Pol
is the only one left on the bridge, uh, conscious and able to, uh,
uh, save the day, which she does.
Kevin: So what the moments alone on the bridge like.
Rob: It's, um, it's, it's a lot rarer than I was hoping for.
So there's is some moments where she's on the bridge with characters
knocked out around, and she's trying to decipher if they're still alive or not.
But most of the isolation in this episode comes to, comes from everybody
else being affected by, uh, what's going on by this singularity event.
And, uh, T'Pol keeping her sanity, trying to keep things together and
keep the crew from killing each other.
There's sort of like fleeting moments where she is not, she's
the only one conscious and everyone else is knocked out.
So there is a moment of her being the only one, you know, awake.
And there is a, a loneliness that builds up in the episode
where she has no one to turn to.
And then that's manifested near the end when she is literally, uh,
the only one still, uh, conscious.
Kevin: This reminds me.
These, the entire crew goes crazy sort of episodes.
I think that that is something seen.
It reminds me of Genesis in, in Star Trek: The Next Generation where they're
all devolving into different creatures.
We talked about that one before where, uh, someone's turning into a spider
and Picard's turning into a pygmy marmoset or something like that.
Um, Yeah.
Yeah.
Rob: And the one where they all get, where they all get sexy as well.
Kevin: Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Everyone except one of us is, uh, is going crazy, is a, is trope.
It also reminds me of, this is definitely an alone on the bridge episode, this
is, Remember Me from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is where Dr.
Crusher is the only one who notices that the Enterprise has fewer and
fewer crew people on it, and everyone else like, it's completely normal.
Of course.
Of course you and I are the only crew members of the USS
Enterprise, Beverly Crusher.
Why are you being so strange about this?
And in the end, she is alone on the bridge talking to the computer, trying
to understand what's going on, and trying to get the computer to admit
that it is bizarre that she is the only crew member of the Enterprise.
Rob: That was another one that I was looking at going, will I
watch that or, and I went, no.
You know what's never failed me?
Enterprise.
Kevin: Definitely should have watched Remember Me.
That is a, that is a good one.
I love that
Rob: And it's a Beverly Crusher centric.
How rare are they?
Stupid me.
Kevin: Cleanse your palette.
Go and watch Remember Me.
Take my word
Rob: Remember Me and also Relics, I've gotta watch Relics as
Kevin: Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, good stuff.
Yeah.
Lots of people alone on the bridge.
Um, f fun to revisit those with you, Rob.
Rob: Very fun.
So yeah, we've uh, got three episodes to go.
Eight, nine, and 10.
Kevin: I have it on good authority that our Professor Tilly is
finally making her appearance this
Rob: Of course, that's right.
I've completely forgotten.
We still haven't had our Tilly appearance, so yeah.
Next episode it will have to be, 'cause we'll be shaping up for,
I assume a, a grand finale of season one for the final two.
Kevin: Yeah, good to, good to have the reminders this week of, uh, Caleb's
mother and I'm still looking for her.
And why didn't you ask Nus Braka when he was here?
It's nice that they're keeping that thread still alive in, in, and so that feels
like a promise to me that they're gonna resolve that by the end of the season.
Rob: Especially when you've got an act of, uh, Tatiana Maslani, uh, in that role.
You don't just have them as one episode
Kevin: Yeah.
You're here for 30 seconds and we'll get back to you some other season.
That's not how TV works, I
Rob: I am sorry, Emmy award-winning Orphan Black star.
You know?
Yes, we know you are She Hulk, but you can only do 30 seconds.
Uh, yeah, and it, I mean, it is getting a little bit contrived now.
The, the amount of times Ake says I'm trying everything, going everywhere.
So there has to be a point where it all comes to a head.
Kevin: Maybe this week, Rob.
Rob: Maybe this week we'll wait to see and we cannot wait to get back into this
Subspace Radio chasm and discuss, uh, everything Star Trek on a weekly basis.
Kevin: It's a chasm now.
Oh.
Rob: It, it is a chasm.
Or it's, or It's like it's so empty.
It's just you and me, here.
It's like the two of us are alone
Kevin: chasm.
Right?
Rob: A yawning chasm of a lonely deck.
A bridge of just you and me and our thoughts.
Kevin: Very good.
All right, well, I look forward to filling my chasm with another
episode of Star Trek very soon.