Kevin: Hello, and welcome back to Subspace Radio.
It's me, Kevin.
Rob: And me, Rob!
Kevin: And we are here to talk about Lower Decks, Season 4, Episode
6, Parth's Ferengi Heart Place.
Rob: Sure, why not?
We've been given so many beautiful things this season with Lower Decks.
Let's go back to Ferenganar and see it in more than just like a, a rainy,
uh, uh, matte painting or something like that from, uh, Deep Space Nine.
Let's, let's get the full idea, as Mariner says, this would
be heaven if God was stupid.
Kevin: I forgot that line, that is good.
Um, I too noticed the distinct lack of rain on Ferenginar this episode, uh,
Rob: There was some rain.
I believe I did see some rain.
There was some, uh, ponchos that our intrepid crew members were wearing
to stave off the, uh, the non stop monsoon and rain of, uh, Ferenganar.
Kevin: Ah, my eyes were dazzled by the Uncle Quark's Youth Casino sign.
Rob: And what was it?
The, the, uh, Haggle at the Museum of Gambling and Gamble at Museum of Hag...
Kevin: haggling...
Oh, so much joy and delight at Ferenginar, a homeworld that we have only seen kind
of a couple of interior sets of before, and one matte painting with a lot of rain.
Rob: Yes, lot of interiors with very low circular, uh, doorways.
But we see a full expansion of, uh, the Ferengi culture.
And of course they embrace commercials and TVs focused on, uh, rent cops.
Kevin: Just like Orion earlier this season, I now realize that this had to
wait for Lower Decks, because it is a comedy society, in some respects, and so,
uh, choosing to show it to us as a cartoon for the first time, or in animated form
for the first time, allows them to go there and go deep with all the delightful
details that, probably would not work quite as well in a live action series.
Rob: Well yes, the groundwork for the Ferengi culture was really built
up in, uh, Deep Space Nine so much so, fans would always go Oh, it's a
Ferengi episode, you can skip that.
But no, there are some good Ferengi episodes out there, but
Kevin: Oh, just you wait.
I, I may surprise you with the episode of, uh, Ferengi culture that
I have brought to discuss today, Rob.
Rob: I'm very interested to see which one you have.
Kevin: Not as skippable as we might think, some of those early ones, I think.
Rob: Excellent.
How did you find, uh, this, this trip onto the Ferengi homeworld?
Kevin: Well, um, yeah, delightful from beginning to end.
I do have to say, I was hoping that you would recognize the title
because I have learned by reading the reference that is in the title and I
thought, that sounds like something that Rob might know something about.
Apparently, Parth Ferengi's Heart Place is a reference to Garth Meringue's Darkplace,
which is a 2004 British horror parody television series created by Richard
Ayoade and Matthew Holness for Channel 4.
Rob: Yeah, Richard Ayoade is of course famous for The IT Crowd.
I sadly do not know how deep cut this reference is, so I'm hearing
it for the first time from you.
Kevin: Yeah, I, I think I need to go and watch this thing, but it, it is bizarre.
It sounds like kind of a parody of the Twilight Zone or something.
It is.
It is a short series that is presented as if it was a, uh, set of lost episodes from
a previously cancelled horror anthology,
Rob: Right.
Kevin: understanding from reading the Wikipedia page.
But boy, reaching into your deep bucket of things you're a fan of and
pulling that out to reference in a Star Trek title, I'm kind of like, okay.
I would say 99.999 percent of people who see this Star Trek
title would go, Hmm, that's weird.
What's going on there?
Rob: Sadly, I am one of those people.
I will need do deep dive like you have done.
So, I, feel ashamed.
Kevin: Yeah.
Bizarre one.
Rob: This episode did of course have the return of Rom and Leeta.
Kevin: Yes, great to have them back, the original actors.
It was one of those sets of characters that I think I didn't realize I was
wanting to see what happened next to them or where they were post-DS9.
That was such a delight, our visit to DS9 last season, of like getting to see these
characters in the aftertimes, uh, in the happily ever after period of their lives,
Rob: Especially with Deep Space Nine, because it doesn't
end that happily at all.
Kevin: No!
And getting to see Rom and Leeta leading Ferengi culture into a bright
new future was, uh, great to see.
And yet, you know, they aren't that changed.
They are clever, deceptive negotiators for a good deal, just
like any good Ferengi should be.
Rob: Rom is, uh, the Grand Nagus, but he's also a union man.
Let's not forget that.
We had quite a few stories this time.
We had the, uh, I'm not sure even which the A plot is, but
we had the negotiation plot.
We had, um, we had Tendi and Rutherford having to pretend to be a couple.
Kevin: Oh, that gave me life.
That was so good.
Rob: We had Mariner catching up with an old Ferengi friend who
first appeared in season one,
Kevin: Yes, continuing to grapple with her demons.
Rob: Yes, um, she is repeating the same story again, but doing it in a, a bar
fight, which, uh, was kind of frustrating.
And, uh, Boimler being suckered in by, um, commercial television.
Kevin: Will they or won't they?
Rob: This moment where he goes, they just lied in a commercial.
Ha!
That's hilarious.
Kevin: Yeah, absolutely.
The negotiation plot, I don't know if this is what's needed, but it is
kind of bothering me this week that we can't seem to decide whether Captain
Freeman is good at her job or not.
In one episode, she's screwing up a, thousands year old computer by
not taking advice from her own crew.
And in the very next, she's the only one who sees what the Ferengi
are doing at the negotiation table.
So I think we are being asked to accept that she is not a great captain in
terms of, uh, skill and experience, but she's better than most admirals is
also what we're being asked to accept.
Rob: Yeah, there's a reason why she's staying at California class.
But yeah, there was very much a case of this, there was a lot of...
familiar tropes.
So that, for me, was a very classic sitcomy type setup, where you have
to achieve something, the person in charge is actually not as smart as
the person who could be doing it, and then right at the end it flips around.
That was classic sitcomy structure.
The same thing with Tendi and, uh, Rutherford.
They were sort of like, um, the friends having to pretend to be a couple,
and then that gets a bit too awkward for them, and what does that mean?
That was very...
classic sitcomy type stuff as well.
And then we were treading the same ground with Mariner, and Boimler with, that was
a bit of a classic cliche as well again, he wants to do all this other stuff,
but he's drawn into a lot of stuff.
So for me it was very much filled with nothing but, in many
ways, cliche sitcom type stuff.
Kevin: Yeah, and all of them reset at the end of the episode as well, which,
for me, that is the only thing that I wanted more from the Rutherford/Tendi,
story, is seeing them, like, cross that line and then blush at the
feelings they had for each other, uh, I was like, oh, this is so delicious.
This is what I have wanted to see from these two, but then by
the end of the episode, they're like, well, okay, we fixed that.
Let's crawl into the Jeffries tube together.
Ah, this feels right.
And it's a good comedy beat, but to me, it undermines character
development that I am craving.
Rob: Yeah, and there was a sense of, they, they didn't go in many
ways far enough of specificities.
It was just generic stuff about I like your eyes or all this type of stuff.
They didn't go into that
Kevin: they didn't get real with
Rob: Yeah, where that connection with the two of them go, is so strong.
And so why they are feeling so awkward.
They're getting so awkward about talking about nudity or they're
getting talking about you know, they're pretending in this particular way.
I'm going I want to go further about why they feel so awkward
because how the two of them are so connected to each other individually.
Kevin: Yeah.
And I can't tell if I want that and they're not giving it to us
yet because they want to tell that story later and they're giving it
a, they're giving us little, little crumbs and eventually we'll get there
over, over many episodes and seasons.
Or if I am wanting something that this show just is not that show,
like maybe this show is like, we are not the big character arcs
or relationship stories show.
We are a comedy show.
Uh, and so we're not going to go there.
I'm reminded of the sitcom Friends.
When got real good is when these characters started having
multi episode arcs in their relationships with each other.
Ross and Rachel go through their will they won't they period, and then they
get together for a whole season, and then they break up, and then they
get back together, and then they get married, and then they have a baby.
Like, that sort stuff is what brought people back week after week to Friends,
is like, yes, every episode was a self contained story and, and comedy episode,
but the character relationships, the friendships grew and evolved and were
affected by each individual story.
And we have a bit of that here in Lower Decks, but I can't tell if
they are going to go all the way with something like a Rutherford/Tendi,
will they, won't they story.
They're definitely hanging a lantern on it by having Boimler watch a
show literally entitled Will They, Won't They who have unacknowledged
feelings for each other in workplace.
Like, they know what they're doing there.
They're telling us, we know, what you want and we are going to put
it on a Ferengi soap opera you that we know what you want and then
we're not going to give it to you.
So I kind of want to give them credit and say it's obviously deliberate, I hope
they're going to get there eventually.
But I don't know.
I don't know if that would break Lower Decks to to go the full Friends route.
Rob: Yeah, I mean to reference Friends again, I mean one of the key plots
as well in the final season was where it felt a little bit like jumping the
shark with Joey developing feelings for Rachel and Rachel kind of, and then they
kind of realize, no, this doesn't work.
We are just friends.
And I find that there's something quite powerful in the structure of
Lower Decks about, you know, a guy and a girl can just be friends and it
Kevin: It is, it is refreshing and interesting for its own sake, but I think,
nevertheless, this episode gave us a fresh taste of what's on the other side
of that line they are refusing to cross.
Rob: Yeah, exactly, and there's always, in long serving shows, those
relationships that come and go and last and endure, but also those
relationships that try to start, don't kind of work, why don't they work, and
how do they, you know, stop, start, and kind of stay, uh, in that friend zone.
It was very much a case of they were manipulating the audience who have been
watching it going we've been seeing what you're doing and that's the writers going
well we know you see what we're doing and we're going to do this because we know
that you know that we know that you know.
Kevin: Speaking of Friends.
So we, uh, we journeyed to Ferenginar, in this episode and,
it, uh, prompted us to think what other, like, really great Ferengi
episodes have there been in the past?
We've, we've certainly delved into some of them before in our explorations
of Deep Space Nine, but let's go looking for, for us, our favorite
Ferengi episodes of whatever series.
And, uh, yeah, Rob, I might surprise you this week.
Rob: I'm very interested to see where will you be coming from?
Where will you be going?
Will you be going with the first episode of Star Trek Next Generation
with the appearance of the Ferengi?
Kevin: Uh, no, I will not be going for The Last Outpost, which is a very early
TNG episode where we, where Ferengi are introduced, but they are, they are little
more than hissing, energy whip wielding, two dimensional villains in that episode.
Although there is, there's a taste of like, they are established as
like a mercantile race and there is a, there is a certain kind of
logical thinking that they are not capable of because in their nature.
There, there are those seeds planted there, but I would say that the Ferengi
did not capture my interest then.
But I did pick, I went back to find like, when was the first time that I felt
like I wanted to lean in on the Ferengi?
And this is Season 3, Episode 24 of The Next Generation.
Ménage à Troi.
Rob: Ménage à Troi, alright, ok, take
Kevin: Do you remember this one, Rob?
Rob: I do not, but I was hoping that you would, uh, slip into my pool for a little
bit, but I am more than happy to come and,
Kevin: I trust you to tell us where the gold is for Ferengi in
Rob: The gold pressed latinum, thank you very much.
Kevin: Uh, so in Ménage à Troi, Riker, Deanna Troi, and Lwaxana Troi
are kidnapped by a Ferengi ship that wants to use the telepathic powers
of Lwaxana Troi in order to have an advantage in business negotiations.
And at the same time, the captain who has his eyes on Lwaxana Troi as a
prize in his business, also has fallen head over heels in love with her.
So he is both throwing himself emotionally and in business terms
at the poor ambassador Lwaxana.
Rob: It's Majel Barrett.
I mean, who wouldn't be?
Come on.
Kevin: Yes, this is, if you enjoy Majel Barrett's turn in Deep Space
Nine, and you've referenced it several times, Rob, I you are a fan, this is
that in The Next Generation for me.
We often think of the times where she came on board the Enterprise looking
for a husband and, uh, and, know, creeped on each and every man in the
corridor, but this is a different color for Majel Barrett and to me,
she is playing much stronger here.
She is able to seriously, as a serious diplomat, rebuff the advances of
this creepy little Ferengi Damon who, who then kidnaps her from
a garden on Betazed, along with her daughter and Commander Riker.
And then she, along with Riker and Troi, they have one of those great escape
capers where they play the aliens against each other or play their weaknesses.
There's a great scene where Riker is playing chess with
their captor, the Ferengi guard.
And he's like, Oh, if only I could get out there, I would be able
to see the board better and, and give you a better lesson in chess.
Rob: Ha
Kevin: And the Ferengi is like, all right, but don't try anything, human.
And he lets him out of the, uh, out of the cell.
And of course, Riker takes him down.
But, um, lots of good telepathy between Troi and her mother Lwaxana.
And the telepathy is not just used as a gimmick to like, comment
on the situation or the people.
They're actually using the telepathy in order to get one over on the Ferengi.
And so it is in some ways a really interesting Betazoid story as well,
speaking of Betazoids not being very well explored, as we were
talking about last week, with the three Betazoids on the Cerritos.
This is another kind of, we actually visit Betazed.
We actually spend some time in a park there, and for the Troi and Riker
shippers, they, taking a stroll in that park, remember the good times they
had together when they were dating.
And there is a very, very sexy kiss.
Before they get kidnapped, Riker and Troi are well on track to getting
back together in this episode.
for those nasty Ferengi to sidetrack them, I think, I think they would have gotten
back together here in, on this picnic.
Rob: Ferengiiiii…!
Kevin: But yet, um, one of the Ferengi officers is played by Ethan Phillips,
who's, uh, who, you know, as, our great chef Neelix on the Voyager.
Rob: Well, we say chef in inverted commas.
Ha
Kevin: You know, technically, technically.
Rob: Ha
Kevin: There is, uh, the introduction of Oo-mox, the, uh, the, erotic massage
of the Ferengi ears in this episode.
Rob: Excellent…
Kevin: Yeah, Lwaxana just absently, as she's trying to sweet talk the Ferengi
captain into giving up his command codes, she just starts absently, uh, fingering
his earlobes, and he goes, Oh, no one has given me Oo-mox like this before.
uh, there you
Rob: ha,
Kevin: That, that moment there was like, okay, the Ferengi are
now fully formed as as a culture.
They are about love and business being intermingled and, uh,
getting Oo-mox wherever you can.
Rob: Oh look, it's a good culture if you can get it.
Kevin: I feel for me that this episode is like the exact halfway point between where
the Ferengi started, which was an attempt to create the recurring villains for The
Next Generation, way back in The Last Outpost, and it didn't quite work out.
It didn't quite work, but that was the intent, is like,
these will be our Klingons.
And it's halfway between that and where the Ferengi ended up in Deep Space
Nine is almost like the clown or the comic relief, of that very dark story.
Uh, and here you can see everything that they would become in Deep Space
Nine but it is also still connected to the, the creepy, you know, finger
waggling parody of a stereotype that, uh, that the Ferengi started as.
And so, it's a great one to revisit, I think.
Rob: Excellent.
I have to definitely give that a, uh, watch because yeah, mine,
uh, my experience is definitely Deep Space Nine and beyond.
Kevin: What have you got Rob?
Rob: Well, I've got in many ways, the most Ferengi of Ferengi episodes.
Uh, Deep Space Nine, of course, Season 6, Episode 10, we
don't just have one Ferengi.
We have a magnificent six Ferengi.
What an episode.
The Magnificent Ferengi is the most Ferengi of episodes
that you could possibly
Kevin: right there in the title.
Rob: Yep, we have, uh, Moogie has been captured by the Dominion.
We are in the heart of the Dominion War and, uh, Quark has been given
orders by the Grand Nagus to go and form a negotiation to get her back.
And so he calls upon, uh, other Ferengis to join him to, uh, bring back his mother.
Who, of course, as we all know, is, um, quite of a trailblazer
within the Ferengi community.
She does not, uh, walk around naked.
She does wear clothes.
Uh, she, gets herself involved in all sorts of commerce.
And so much so, she is advising the Grand Nagus on all the financial
situations of, the Ferengi culture, so much so that she's pretty much
ruling the Empire, uh, unofficially.
But she needs to be rescued because she's been captured by the Dominion.
So Quark gets, uh, Rom, Nog, uh, Brunt, we have Brunt back,
the wonderful Jeffrey Combs.
Is not an incredible episode of Deep Space Nine or Star Trek unless
you have Jeffrey Combs there.
Plus, a couple of other Ferengis, like a cousin of Quark's is
there and a Ferengi assassin.
So, having a little bit of a touch from the Next Gen era we do see a violent
side and a quite threatening side of Ferengis as well as their love of latinum.
This is just pure like I've talked about, uh, Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang,
which is a homage to the heist movies
Kevin: I was gonna this has the feel of a Ferengi heist movie.
Rob: It is very heisty and also of course the Magnificent Seven, uh, which it
takes its name from, based of course on Seven Samurai, Kurosawa's great film.
It's about getting a crew, group together to go off on
Kevin: There is a plan, everyone plays their part, and then the
joy is watching the plan go wrong, and how they the punches.
Rob: Look, and it wouldn't be a Star Trek episode from the 90s for, or
the noughties for me to talk about if it didn't have a awesome rock star.
So I've talked about, uh, Voyager, where Tom Morello, the guitar
player from Audioslave and of course Rage Against the Machine appeared.
Um, and in this episode we have Iggy Pop.
I kid you not, Iggy Pop is, uh, here playing a Vorta,
Kevin: Yeah, great Vorta.
I mean, they couldn't have, they couldn't have Weyoun because, uh,
Jeffrey Combs was otherwise occupied.
Though, I would back Jeffrey Combs to play in a split screen scene with
himself, two different characters, and have plenty of audience members
not realize it's same actor.
Rob: Look, it's a crime that hasn't been done, that they just haven't created
an entire Star Trek spin off show with Jeffrey Combs in every single role.
Look, they do it in animated Star Wars, uh, with Bradley D.
Baker.
He's the voice of every single clone in The Bad Batch series.
They could do that with Star Trek with, um, Jeffrey Combs.
I kid you not.
Kevin: Iggy Pop plays a great Vorta, though.
I love the kind of arch, uh, version of the Vorta that he plays here.
Rob: Both, both actors playing Vorta in this are great.
Of course we have Keevan, who's been kidnapped, is, uh, taken on
board, and his disdain for, uh, Ferengis is, uh, made very clear.
And if this was done in modern times...
I know what his final lines would have been.
In the 1990s, as he is shot and he looks at the hole in his stomach, he just
says before he dies, I hate Ferengi.
And I have no doubt that he would have dropped the F bomb, if it done nowadays.
If it was good enough for Amanda Plummer in Season 3 of Picard, it would be good
for Keevan in, um, Magnificent Ferengi.
So yeah, this is just amazing.
All the Ferengi characters are firing on all cylinders.
You see all the different level of, Ferengi culture there.
And different types of characters.
Even, in many ways, more so than how Klingons are represented, there's sort
of like very much a uniformity with Klingons, a little bit of variety is
obviously with Worf and stuff like that.
But here, like, Nog is completely different to Quark.
Quark is completely different to Brunt.
Uh, Moogie is completely different to Quark.
This,
Kevin: I love that stuff.
I've talked many times about how entire cultures or species or worlds
are often in Star Trek shrunk to a single city block, and that we
are told represents a homogenous culture that, occurs off screen.
Here we get six Ferengi together and each one represents a completely
different color of the rainbow from that.
amazing culture.
I love that that makes Ferenganar feel bigger.
Rob: Yeah, just incredible and there's a, there's dark humor in there as well
with the, with the death of Keevan and Nog realizing they can reanimate his
body to still do the, the exchange.
Kevin: Oh, I forgot about that.
Ah, that this is among everything else, this is a Weekend at Bernie's.
Rob: Yes, there's tribute to Weekend at Bernie's.
It just shows the cunning and intelligence of Quark.
Uh, of course, uh, Moogie is kidnapped by the Dominion because
she was going to an exotic location to have her earlobes lifted.
Kevin: Uh huh.
Rob: Yeah, so they are firmer and more, more supple than they have
ever been in over a hundred years, I believe she says, is one of her lines.
She's starting to negotiate with, um, the Dominion, with, with the Vorta,
played by Iggy Pop, about you should be doing this and doing that, and you
should have skin care as well, and he says the famous line, It would be great
to negotiate this with you a bit further but we're going to have to kill you.
Kevin: Having revisited this episode, I have a question for you, Rob, which
is, you feel like there is the potential for the Ferengi to carry… I'm not saying
is going happen tomorrow or even ever, but would it be possible to create
a fully formed Star Trek series with Ferengi characters at the center of it?
Like, are they robust enough to carry a series, or are they one of those
ingredients that are good in small doses?
Rob: Um, well I think Aaron Eisenberg proved it because he was such an
incredible actor and an amazing performer and what he did with Nog over seven
seasons to get him to the point where he was, you know, he wasn't a regular.
He was only there every, you know, like a supporting character would come in and
out for a couple of episodes every season, but he felt like he was always there, and
his, his place as a Ferengi in Starfleet, um, really showed that he could keep
his belief and heritage and who he is as a Ferengi, but strive for more ideals.
And how that affected, you know, Rom as well.
Um, so I definitely would, I don't know if you could do like a
Ferengi-centric um, but you could, I'm always quite disappointed that
they haven't put another Ferengi as a, as a Starfleet member on, on a ship.
I think that would be a fantastic choice and I mean it, you know, no
one did it better than, than Aaron.
But there's definitely, uh, room for a, not a character similar to Nog,
but with that type of a Ferengi who's moved on from the capitalistic ideals
and really embraced the Federation.
But using that cunning and intelligence and all that stuff that is lauded in
Ferengi culture, using that to be a cunning member of a Federation crew.
Kevin: You mentioned Richard Ayoade's, uh, IT crowd earlier in the episode.
And that got me thinking of like, how many comedies are about strange
characters in ordinary situations?
Rob: Yeah.
Kevin: there's no stranger characters than Ferengis.
And I kind of like the Star Trek comedy that was driven by...
a group of Ferengi each week placed in what would otherwise be an
ordinary situation in the Star Trek universe and seeing them react to
that and interact with that situation.
I feel there is potential there.
Rob: Well, yeah, and I mean, especially that's been the ongoing debate about,
you know, Roddenberry saying there's no religion in his future, or no money
and stuff like that, but that may be a case of the Federation future.
But it's, as we've talked about before, how those ideals are far more
interesting if they're not in a vacuum, and so to have this, uh, culture that
is everything in many ways against the Federation belief that is driven by
capitalism and is driven by oppression of the female of the species, um, shows
our ideals within Federation and how they compare and the light can only
shine bright in against that darkness.
Same with, Mariner saying, you know, this is, you know, this is heaven if
God was stupid, um, is a case of sure that, you know, the Federation may not
have religion in it, but religion is, is a powerful, potent thing that has
been around for thousands of years, and will be around for thousands more
years, whether you believe it or not.
And ignoring it denies you so many opportunities for drama,
storytelling, character development, and telling other sides of the story.
And that was the beautiful thing about Deep Space Nine, with having
the Bajorans as a major focus.
You get to see this, this culture that is fundamentally based on faith, and
everything else follows behind that.
And how that affects that culture was fascinating to see, um,
and how Kira battled with it.
And so to see that as well, how Nog dealt with his, he was torn
between his Ferengi, uh, culture and his, his ideals of Starfleet.
There's definitely more potential there and it shapes the Ferengi
out of just being the Ferengi are the funny, silly ones.
There is definitely more layers to them.
Kevin: All right.
Well, it was there in the title all along.
The Magnificent Ferengi is the best Ferengi episode of Star Trek Deep
Space Nine, if not of all of Star Trek.
Rob: I believe it is.
Kevin: But yeah, this, this visit to Ferengi on Lower Decks this week was,
uh, maybe I will call it a close second.
Rob: Well look, any reference where they have to put gold pressed platinum into
a machine so they could use the gold pressed latinum machine to use the toilet.
Um, I love that doubling up of gold pressed latinum.
And of course you can't park on Ferengenar for free.
You cannot park in Ferenganar for free.
Wherever you park your ship, you have got to immediately
put in, uh, uh, latinum bars.
Kevin: I am told also that Quark's Federation Experience bar that
Tendi and Rutherford go to is, its design is based on Star Trek:
The Experience from Las Vegas.
The Ferengi bar that you went to at the end of that, uh, that
theme park ride into Star Trek.
Rob: There's a wonderful documentary on one of the DVDs.
I think it came out with the DVD box sets years ago, and I still kept that
even now I've got them all on Blu ray.
Um, of the final days of the Star Trek Experience in Vegas when it closed
down, cause like, the actors who'd been working there for years in makeup
and, and, saying goodbye to that and especially quite recently The Galaxy's
Edge experience in Orlando has closed down, which was the interactive, um,
hotel experience, and I've had some friends who are actually cast in pivotal
roles in that, and they've been working on it for the last two or three years,
and like, they thought that was gonna be their retirement plan, that was them
till they were ready to give up acting.
That was the rest of their acting career.
But to have it close down just after three years is an end of an
era and they, I remember that from the, the Star Trek Experience one.
These people who put years of, you know, life
Kevin: way, it feels like just like an unrecognized Star Trek cast breaking up.
Rob: Yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I definitely had that connection with, um, seeing Quark's Federation Experience
was very much in the similar light.
Kevin: Yeah.
All right.
Well, at this point I have stopped entirely trying to guess what Lower
Decks will have for us next week.
It is
Rob: Well,
Kevin: a surprise and always a delight.
Rob: Well last episode we did sort of like bring in back to
the, to the arc that's happening.
And we found out a little bit more this time
Kevin: Oh yeah, there was an interesting twist in the cold open there of the,
the Ferengi who had apparently made a deal with that ship to, to come
and, uh, they told us we would make lots of profit and, you know, him
saying, Oh, they're right on time.
So it's.
It is suggesting that this is not an implacable, completely alien foe, that
this is a presence or a force that is able to cut a deal with a traitor on board
a Ferengi ship is really interesting.
Rob: And, unlike previous episodes where they just happen to come across it, this
ship, you know, the ship that we have seen for the last previous episodes actually
transported into that space, you know, warped out into that space and came there
specifically to meet the Ferengi ship.
So, seeing
Kevin: getting more.
Rob: Yeah, little bits here and there, so I thought we'd finish off the episode
like we did last week with a little bit of a hint on the arc that's happening.
Kevin: Indeed.
Um, it took me way too long to catch on, but I have noticed this week that
no matter what species encounters that ship, the alert klaxon on board
is the exact same sound effect.
Rob: Of course is.
Kevin: The alien red alert sound is the same no matter
what alien we're talking about.
Rob: Excellent, it's the universal translator, it just
translated it into the same sound.
Have you seen the, uh, uh, Very Short Trek episodes?
Kevin: I have seen all of the Very Short Treks, uh, and what
a roller coaster of strangeness.
Rob: Look, I think there's two that we haven't discussed.
So there was Worst Contact and,
Kevin: I don't think we've discussed anything except that very
first one, with the Skin a Cat.
Rob: Uh, no, I think we did talk about the hologram one where there was a
hint of the Prodigy cast in there.
Kevin: Yes, that's right.
What have you thought about our last couple of Very Short Trek outings?
Rob: Uh, Worst Contact did what it said on the tin, it was
incredibly gross and disgusting
Kevin: We never talked about Holiday Party though, I have to say.
And I, Holiday Party is a weird one, where Spock is like screening
bloopers for the rest of the crew.
Rob: Yes!
It's...
Kevin: don't know, I feel like it, it's one that gets funnier with rewatches.
The first time I watched it, the stuff he was showing was so shocking and offensive,
that I was the screaming crew member running out crying in the background.
Uh, that, that kind of spoke to my reaction from the first time I watched it.
But, I have to give it credit, the more you watch it, the more
you become desensitized the trauma and, uh, and, and find the funny.
Rob: I mean, yeah, seeing, uh, half a crewman transported into, uh, is,
is one, one thing that sticks into the memory and it would take multiple
watches to be able to get past that and find out just how wickedly funny it is.
And Ethan Peck, again, you know, as you've said, MVP, uh, putting himself
out there and doing an incredible job.
Kevin: Yeah, but this last one of Walk Don't Run with which culminates
in the jam session with Riker, Scotty, Scotty slash Ringo Starr.
I've, I did not resemblance now.
And Sulu, of course.
Rob: Three part harmonies with, uh.
Tendi?
Kevin: Yeah, narrated very capably by Tendi, and, uh, wow, it's, it's a journey.
I think it's at least twice as long as the others, or at least it feels it.
Rob: That they did the whole song.
They did the I think they'd just do like a verse and a chorus, but I'm there
going no, they've gone to a bridge.
They are, they are really packing in this whole song and let's, let's hear those
three part harmonies multiple times.
Kevin: Look, I'm going to say it, Rob.
to be popular, but I'm going to say it.
This is the best musical episode that we've had of Star Trek this year.
Rob: Look, anything where they sample, uh, George Takei going, Oh my, and
repeating that over and over again, Um, I will always, and having Sulu and Riker
walk in with their musical instruments going, we're here to jam, anybody?
Kevin: It's a cheap laugh, but the half explosion cut off to the credits
at the end will never not be funny.
Rob: Ha ha
Of course, uh, some of our, uh, favorite...
favourite, I do it in inverted commas, characters from The Animated
Series, and we have not seen since.
Our, uh, three armed and three legged crew member,
Kevin: Yeah, Arex played by Jimmy Doohan in the animated series, so it
was weird that we had Scotty played by an actor who is not Jimmy Doohan in
this episode and, if they were really playing the fans, they would have had
the same actor play both of those voices because that's it was in the animated
Rob: Um, so yes, they were ridiculous and silly and I particularly liked,
um, Worst Contact, where they are the grossest people ever and put their fish
head casseroles into the microwave.
Kevin: Oh, yeah, that was the worst one.
Um, I don't even want to spend time on that one.
It had some redeeming characteristics, but as soon as it was like,
oh, that's where you're going?
Okay, I think done.
Rob: Yeah, we're done.
Yep, just blow up, blow up, blow up the warp drive and get the hell out of there.
Kevin: Yeah, my summary is, I'm glad they ran experiment, there
were a couple of chuckles in there, but I'm also glad it's done.
I I
Rob: Ha, ha
Kevin: be hanging out for the next run of Very Short Treks.
Rob: Ha ha ha ha ha.