Matt and Sean ask why this was the finale in Star Trek SNW Season 4, Episode 10, "Tomorrow's Enterprise." Two Uhuras swap places across time, and the hosts land on "whelmed." They enjoy the nods to the original series, from the 1960s hairdos to a secret Scotty and Uhura romance. They still can't see why the season closes without a single tease for what comes next.
Order Sean’s next book, “In the Fields We Thirst” here: https://undecided.link/in-the-fields-we-thirst
Chapters
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:51 - Mailbag
- 06:36 - Episode Description
- 07:09 - This Time in History
- 09:23 - Episode Discussion
Transcript
Intro
Sean Ferrell: In today's episode of Trek in Time. We're talking about an ending, full stop. That was the end of me saying we're talking about an ending. Welcome, everybody, to Trek in Time. This is the podcast that takes a look at all of Star Trek in chronological stardate order. At least it does normally. Normally we watch all of Star Trek according to Stardate, which started with Enterprise, work through Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and on to the original series, which we're making our way through and are very close to finishing to head on to the movies and then Next Generation. But we've put a pause on that as we like to pause for new episodes of new series that are being released right now, which means here, in the year of our Lord 2026, we're talking about season four of Strange New Worlds, this being the tenth and final episode of the season, tomorrow's Enterprise. We also like to take a look at the world at the time of original broadcast, which means we're very often talking about the past, but it's not that past now. It's just kind of a few weeks ago. In fact, it was September 24th. And who are we? Well, I'm Sean Ferrell. I'm a writer. I write some sci fi, I write some horror. As a matter of fact, I have a new book coming out in April of 2027. Wow, does that sound like the future? It's called in the Fields We Thirst. There's a link down below. It's available for pre order now. I hope you'll be interested in checking that out. With me, as always, is my brother Matt. He's that Matt behind Undecided with Matt Ferrell, which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact in our lives. And Matt, how are you on this fine Saturday morning? Matt Ferrell: I'm doing good. I just got to bring up Sean. I texted you yesterday. I saw the movie. You can see everything, that documentary that just came out from Nathan Fielder. Sean Ferrell: I'm really interested in that.
Matt Ferrell: Quick review for anybody listening to this. I don't know what I just saw. Like, I watched this three hour movie, walked out and was like, was that a documentary? How do I feel about this? I don't know what's happening. And it's been haunting me. I dreamt about it, Sean. I dreamt about like, well, how do I feel about this all night? It's like it's been haunting me. Go see this movie. It's. It's bonkers. There were. There were actual cheers and people gasping during a documentary, Sean. Right in the theater. It was. It Was quite an experience. Sean Ferrell: Yeah, it's, it's getting a lot of what sounds like well deserved attention and I really want to see it. And a few weeks ago when I first read about it, I, I said to my wife, hey, do you have any interest in this? And she was like, no, no, not at all. And then a few weeks go by and a couple days ago she was like, you know, I think I'm kind of coming around on interest in that. It's in the zeitgeist right now. It can't be avoided. Matt Ferrell: It's probably going to be nominated for best Picture. That's my hunch calling it here. Best Picture. Sean Ferrell: You heard it here first, folks. Or at least first if this is the first place you're hearing it. Anyway, before we get into our discussion of this week's episode, we always like to take a look at what you had to say about our episode. So Matt, what have you found in the mail bag for us this week?
Mailbag
Matt Ferrell: I'm going to read through a couple of these rapid fire because there was a. This is about the Once La’an a Time episode and there was a lot of, I don't want to say piling on, but there was a lot of similar themes coming through. So see if you can pick up on them here. Here are the three from Eric Dunn. I don't know about when you eat your lunch, but watching your episode discuss this one was definitely more entertaining than watching the actual episode. Mark Loveless writing amazing episode. I mean it made the puppet show look good. That's amazing. And we had Jason Dumb saying, I did not dislike this episode as much as others, but I had to think hard to remember anything about it. Sean Ferrell: So Interesting, interesting. And I will, I will, I will circle back around to that later in this very episode. So. Matt Ferrell: Okay. And then the final one I want to read out is I actually Dan Sims made a comment that I think he raised an actually, you know how we rewrite episodes. Yes, he, he raises an interesting point here. He said, I wonder what a mirror world episode would be like, focused on La'an. Maybe her mirror could have seemed to be really nice, peaceful person on the run, but actually a horrible evil person who is lying to everyone, which would really mess with her psychology, making her think that she is the evil one or something until the real truth unfolds and she comes to terms with herself. I don't know. Just something better than this episode. Sean Ferrell: Wow. But I think that's what's amazing about that comment. Let me just say this. He threw himself a Softball. What an amazing trick that is just kind of like lob one up over the plate and then quickly circle around and knock it out of the park. Matt Ferrell: Yeah. Sean Ferrell: Well done.
Matt Ferrell: I like the idea of the mirror episode and that whole idea of, there, here's La'an that looks like she's got it put together, and she's this great person, but she's actually truly maniacal underneath. And La’an would kind of have to come to terms with herself. Like, oh, I'm actually not bad. I'm actually. I'm actually okay. It's like, that would have been much more better. It would have been so much more entertaining than once on a time. So. Thanks, Dan. Sean Ferrell: I mean, like, do we want to rewrite that episode again a little bit right now? Like, just to say this. Just to say this? Matt Ferrell: Yeah. Sean Ferrell: They wanted to do the whole fantasy kingdom thing. Yeah. Like, make that a link to the mirror universe. Do something where you play with, like. The mirror universe also has this fantasy realm. It's a bridge of the two of them, and you get the mirror versions coming through from both sides. Matt Ferrell: Oh, my God. Sean Ferrell: That could have been. That could have been a lot of fun. Matt Ferrell: That blew my mind. Sean Ferrell: You just could have been a lot of fun. And then the fantasy realm could be in literal distress of. We need, like, the fantasy realms Kingdom could have been. We're in distress because the two universes are ripping us apart, and we need to be fully assumed into either one or the other. Excuse me, I just hit myself in the face. But we need to be absorbed into either one or the other, and we have no control over that. How that's happening. And then it becomes a question not only of the mirror universe interactions, then you have the various crews looking at, is this kingdom something that they want or that they want to repel, and which one of them will make a sacrifice in order to save or destroy it? Yeah, that could have been amazing. Matt Ferrell: Yeah.
Episode Description
Sean Ferrell: I think I just. I think I just pitched a Star Trek book. I mean, do I want to write that? I think I might. Wow. Yeah. What a missed opportunity. Matt Ferrell: Yep. Sean Ferrell: Wow. Okay. Sorry about that. On now to this week's episode. So those lights you see, those sounds you hear? No, that's not Matt falling into the mirror universe. It is, in fact, the read alert. It's time for Matt to tackle the Memory Alpha description. Matt Ferrell: Uhura has to work together with her future counterpart in order to solve the mystery of a temporal phenomenon. Sean Ferrell: This episode originally dropped on September 24, 2026. That's right. A month ago to the day. So let's look into the Wayback Machine, Matt, shall we? And see what was going on back in the heady days of September. But, yes, you were singing along to Ella Langley's Choosing Texas yet again. Take it away, Matt. Good. And at the movies, we had a new number one again. We had that long string where it seemed like the only movie in the universe was Brand New Day. And then we moved past it into the sequel to practical magic, 30 years or so after the original when here comes this one, Resident Evil. This is, of course, based on the video game franchise and on television, a new show appeared on our screens on Apple TV. This one with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as brothers in a show based upon the rumors that they are, in fact, brothers. Matt Ferrell: Can I just make a comment about this, Sean? Have you tried watching this? Sean Ferrell: I have not. I saw a. I saw. You know how you see trailers, you see ads, and you're like, yeah, clearly they've put their best foot forward in order to make this, like, really, really seem appealing. And I saw a trailer for it that I was just like, this looks really, really bad.
Matt Ferrell: Well. Well, I did not see a trailer for it, but I liked the idea of it. I was like, hey, I like these two guys. Sue and I, my wife, we sat down to watch this, and 15 minutes in, I turned to her and said, I'm willing to stop this anytime you want. And she said, no, let's finish it out. So we watched the entire first episode. It is some of the worst tv. It is absolutely awful. And it's just shocking that you have these two wonderful actors in this horrific program where. Oh, my God, Sean. It's just. If you want to watch a train wreck, watch the first episode, or at least the first 10, 15 minutes, and then you'll get a taste of. I don't know what that is. It's bad. Sean Ferrell: Okay, you heard it here first, folks. And in the news on this day in the New York Times, September 24, 2026. How China's leader plans to win the future with AI. A decade ago, Xi Jinping asked if China could master AI. His push is remaking the economy, challenging the United States, and keeping society under control. On now to our discussion of this episode, in which we see, gasp, a past Uhura and a future Uhura forced to work together. Can they make it work? Well, I'm going to throw it to you, Matt. Not can they make it work? I'm not going to throw. Can they make it work at you? I'm going to throw this. Did they make it work? How did you feel? This is kind of two questions in one. How'd you feel about the episode? How'd you feel about this episode being the season finale?
Episode Discussion
Matt Ferrell: Okay. I thought this episode was okay. This is complicated for me, Sean, because I'm a little bit of that. The torpedo is coming out of the phase are being scout. There was logic leaps in this episode that I had trouble letting go about how this future and past were working together. So I had trouble reconciling some of those logic leaps. And it was causing me to get disconnected from the magic trick of watching a TV show or movie. But if I remove that from my criticism, this was a decent Trek episode, in my opinion. It was like middle of the road. Like, it wasn't the greatest episode. It was definitely not the puppets or the lawn thing that we talked about last time. It was a good, solid, nice, hard sci fi concept. Little ethical dilemmas going on. One of the central characters is the centerpiece of everything. A very clear A storyline and a character that we like and seeing how she evolves and struggles and how she's going to come to be the Uhura that we know and love like that. But it was not a finale. It wasn't a finale. I was like, why is this. Why is this the finale? Why did we get the previous episode full stop? Because we know how much I love that episode. Why wasn't this like the previous one? And then there was like a finale. It's really. This strikes me completely, as you've brought it up before, they filmed this season and next season, which is a more truncated season, as. As one filming block. And that's what it felt like to me. It felt like somebody just arbitrarily said, okay, this is where we're going to stop and then we'll pick it back up nine months later, ten months later. It just doesn't make any sense why this was the finale in any way, shape or form. So, yeah, that's kind of like where I'm landing and then. And to juxtapose it against a show like Slow Horses, I just watched the finale of the most recent season of Slow Horses.
And my favorite thing about that show is not only is it some of the best TV on television right now, it is also, they do the same thing. They will film two seasons at once because it's like, let's get all these actors together. They're hard to get together. Let's film as much as we can at once. And then they're releasing it like non stop every year in new Slow Horses with these phenomenal actors, really top notch writing and filmmaking. And the best part is the finale feels like a finale. It wraps up the storyline of the season. And then after the last scene, next season on Slow Horses and they show you a 90 second teaser clip of what next season is going to be about. It's like, I freaking love that. Here's a show that's about to wrap up the whole storyline of Pike and the whole strange new worlds thing. And they end this season with a whimper and just like hitting a pause button when they could have very easily gone, nice little cliffhanger or nice little storyline to wrap up teasing that next season. This is it.
It's wrapping up next season and show us teasers of what's about to come. Sean Ferrell: Right? Matt Ferrell: What the living hell is going on here? It really feels like this entire season was so phoned in and nobody was really at the helm of making sure that they were doing this in a smart, intelligent way to roll it out to us, the viewers. It feels like they're just kind of phoning it in, just making the episodes, getting their paycheck and walking home. It's very disappointing, but I thought it was a decent episode of Star Trek. Sean Ferrell: So I don't know. I think that the pattern I've seen in the past few weeks or months is I go into the show notes before Matt and I talk and I put in stuff for like, what should be the, the episode image and title, what should be the teaser, like description and stuff like that. And sometimes my suggestions don't make it into the final version. So I've noticed, I've noticed that over, over the past few months. In no way, shape or form do I care. Like I'm, I'm a part of the team that puts together like, well, maybe we call it these things or describe it this way so somebody else is like, hey, this would be better. Okay, cool. My suggestion for the title card of this episode was the word whelmed. Matt Ferrell: Yes, I saw that. Sean Ferrell: That is, that is how I felt about this episode. It was just whelming. Another word that a friend of mine uses often that came up in my description was cromulent. It's a perfectly cromulent episode. Matt Ferrell: There you go.
Sean Ferrell: It is. There is, there is nothing about this that stands out. There's nothing about this that stands in the way. I will add a few footnotes to that. There were some things about this that I really did like in the form of adding more flavor, adding more seasoning to the original series in ways that I was just like, I get that and I like it. Yeah, there were a few things also, as opposed to what you just said, I do think that there were some elements here that it's kind of a double edged sword. On the one hand, there were elements here that I thought completely undermined its sci fi ness at all. And there were certain things here that undermined its storytelling that if they had adjusted both, they could have improved both to making this actually a pretty good season finale that could have teased at where we're going in the final season. And what I mean by that is. Let me just talk about the first part first and ask for your response. The things I liked, I liked them introducing a Scotty Uhura romance. I like them introducing it as a secret that they were keeping. Because there are original series episodes in which Scotty and Uhura will be standing next to each other or talking to each other and Scotty will make references to her where he refers to Uhura as darling and other little, little terms of endearment that feel now with this seasoning on top of it feel like, oh, they're referring to. They have a deeper romantic connection. Maybe it's not constant in the original series, but they do hint. This now adds a hint of, oh, they have a past. There's a, there's a deeper background there. I liked that. I'm like, I just thought it was sweet. I thought it was a nice deepening of the character. And there's also the playing around with the, the 1960s look when they show the future. I enjoyed the little, you know, okay, everybody's got a wig.
All the ladies look different because they're all suddenly wearing mini skirts and they're, you know, their, their hair, hairdos are all reminiscent of the original actors. And there's direct reference when they do the whole future Enterprise hearkening back in a much more direct, on the nose way to the original series, like Nurse Chapel saying, you mean my thing with Spock? Like, okay, yeah, they're now throwing direct, they're drawing direct through lines to anybody who may not have ever watched the original series and saying, like, yeah, these are things that the original series talked about. Here are some details of, of where these characters go in the future, which of course is in our past. But I enjoyed, I enjoyed some of those elements. They feel, as I'm talking about them right now, very much like I've used the word seasoning. It does feel like seasoning. I think that the, you know, these were elements that were easily added in. They added some nice flavor, but they. They weren't part of the. The nuts and bolts of making this episode tell the story. It did. So I thought when it comes to those little splashes, they're pretty good at that. So were those elements that stood out to you as, like, charming and enjoyable. Matt Ferrell: I was on the fence about the relationship with Scotty and Uhura. I do get the whole, like, they're taking what at the time, watching the 60s Star Trek, those darlings come across as a little sexist. Sean Ferrell: Yeah.
Matt Ferrell: And they've rewritten it to not make it sexist, which is like, hat tip to you. Well done, guys. But I'm not sure how much I'm in favor of that. Having them have that relationship. It felt a little weird to me, but it didn't. Wasn't off putting. I absolutely adored everybody looking more like the original series, like Uhura's hair and Chapel's hair and the costume starting to get a little more closer to the original series where we know Kirk. It was like, okay, they're fully bridging that gap now. That gap is now basically closed. And then Spock being extremely logical at this point, it's like, oh, we're jumping forward and we're seeing him back into pure Vulcan mode. It's like, it's nice to see them kind of bridging the gap back. And seeing Kirk at the very beginning of his time on the Enterprise was, I thought, fun to see him back in charge. So I love those little elements, how they sprinkled them in. I don't know if you want to. It just takes me to the other thing of, like, how they felt like the characters were very true to themselves. Again, I always say the same thing again and again when they seem to know these characters inside and out when they write them. And one of the things I really appreciated was, like, here. Here you have them, Uhura’s, switching places. So the future ones in the past and the past ones in the future. And it's like, oh, come on. How is nobody recognizing that? This is not. Like, her hair is different. Her outfit doesn't fit. Like, what. What is going. What outfit is that? Like, nobody. Nobody's coming on. I'm like, come on, this is ridiculous. And then almost within, like, a scene of me thinking that somebody's like, you're not our Uhura? And I was like, yeah. Sean Ferrell: Oh, okay.
Matt Ferrell: Thank you. And then somebody else comes walk in the room. It's like, I figured it out too. And I was like, oh, good. Okay, everybody's not stupid and just, like, blind to, like, oh, I didn't recognize she got a new haircut. It was. I'm glad they did address that. Especially with. There was a sequence with Pike with the future, Uhura and Kirk with the past, and both of them were the first ones that recognized you're not mine. Sean Ferrell: Yeah. Matt Ferrell: And I thought that was so nice, because even though we didn't like the episode where Pike was having the. Had to figure his way out of that puzzle with the Q thing and all that stuff, we didn't necessarily like that episode, but he had to come to terms with the loss of his daughter and that Uhura was. Is kind of like his pseudo daughter. Sean Ferrell: Yeah. Matt Ferrell: That comes back up here with him recognizing, you're not mine. And it was like, oh, that's nice. It's like they're. Even though I didn't love that episode, it's. They're still pulling on that string, that tie between these two. And I thought that was very nice. So there were elements of how they sprinkled the original series in here and gave us some fan service, but away, like you said, seasoning. Sean Ferrell: Yeah. Matt Ferrell: But the care. It's the thing about the characters that I just truly adored. They pulled in more than the hairdos. It was the characters themselves. Sean Ferrell: Yeah. That's part of what takes me around to my other part of the comment, which is the stuff that could have been, like, truly, like, pushed some of this stuff forward. I go back to something we talk about a lot, and you brought it up at the beginning of this discussion. Is this just like, they're filming too many all at once, and they were just kind of like, oh, we'll just leave it here. Like, they had the opportunity for, not cliffhanger, but real heavy teasing, and to do something that would have fit perfectly within the logic of what the characters knew and when they knew it. You have that nice scene between future Uhura and Pike. And Pike is very clearly. He comes across as emotional in this because he's talking to her. And it's just like, you've grown beyond what I know you to be. And I feel like there's an element, an understated element from the actor who is playing it. As I know I will never get to know you as you are here, because I won't be there. Like, he's got that in his head. I don't know why the writers were like, they won't talk about the future when both of them know the future. They could have had Uhura say, I need to tell you something. I need to tell you something. Even though I know I'm not supposed to, I need to tell you something because you're in danger. Matt Ferrell: That's. That's the. Sean Ferrell: That's. Matt Ferrell: Wait, wait, hold on. That's my confusing part about this. It was told in a way that makes it sound like he becomes an Admiral before the accident. Is that true? Because it almost sounds like the future Uhura is before he actually has his accident. Sean Ferrell: That's what. I don't understand why they did that, because what I think they were teasing at, like, I don't recall the timing of his character being an Admiral during the training session where he ends up saving the students.
Matt Ferrell: Yeah. I mean, getting hurt. Yeah. Sean Ferrell: So in my memory, like, my recollections of the timeline are he's involved in saving the students, and as a reward for having done that, he is in the Admiral position. So from my perspective watching this, I was like, she knows that he's in danger. And why in that moment, they're currently. Both Uhuras are in this moment. Basically. Working from this perspective, we can change. We can reset the current timeline. We can change the timeline, and we can do it in a way that makes us both happy. Future Uhura, from that perspective, would say potentially in that room with Pike. I know we have protocols around time travel. I know we're not supposed to reveal things to people in the the past that would change the timeline, but I am currently actively working to do that. And given that I'm trying to do that, I feel it's okay for me to try to reset an even greater thing that may be avoidable as well. I need to tell you something. You're going to be a part of an accident. You need to avoid this thing. And before she even gets the sentence out, he simply says the training exercise, and she's like, what? And you have this moment where he says, there are some things in the future that we simply cannot shrug off. We cannot try to get out of the way because they are set in stone. And have him tutor her in what you need to be willing to give up in order to get something back. And you have this moment where you're now hinting at next season as well. You could have it be like, oh, my gosh, I have the opportunity to save you. And him say, I can't be saved. And it builds in this real gravity.
Matt Ferrell: I think that's the thing that I'm finding confusing because my understanding was the same thing, is that he gets hurt. He's given the Admiralship after he's hurt posthumously. And that's why Kirk is on Enterprise as the captain. I'm wondering if the show is rewriting this and they're having him get promoted and he's technically taken off Enterprise. Kirk becomes the captain, and then he gets hurt while he's an admiral going through the training session with some cadets. I wonder if that's what they're doing. Which is because. Because the fact that there was no hint on her that he gets hurt. So my interpretation of the show that we were. We watched is she has no clue he gets hurt because it's. He gets hurt, clearly, after her knowledge base here. So it's like it goes against everything I understand of his timeline. So I'm curious if they're going to actually rewrite the timeline a little bit or explain it in a different way to help this make sense.
Sean Ferrell: And our viewers and listeners, if they have a different perspective on this, jump into the comments, let us know. You can correct us. There was also this part that came up, which, again, as far as, like, teases of details, you've got past Uhura with future Spock you mentioned future Spock comes across as starkly logical in a way that, like, okay, to go back to the Pike accident, I found myself thinking a scene similar. And in the mirror of what I just described, between Pike and Uhura, having Uhura talking to future Spock and saying something reflective of, I know you're Vulcan and you've always been Vulcan, but you seem more Vulcan now than I recall you being. And him hinting at recent events have brought me to a place where this is my best self and have him hint at the fact that he's experienced some kind of loss that has put him in this position of feeling like the best thing he can do for himself in order to heal from it is to really close off the human side. Hint at the fact that he knows what Pike has just gone through. Hint at, yeah, yeah, like, there were opportunities here to hint at future story that they. I anticipate they will show us all of that. So, like, why not. Matt Ferrell: Yes. Sean Ferrell: Why not hint at it? Why not use this as the. Oh, my gosh, next season we're gonna bring all these moments together and. And it's going to be hard. Like, give us that. But that's instead.
Matt Ferrell: That's my point, though. That's. That's my point, though. It's like, it's. It strikes me as there's a reason the. The future that we saw, to me is clearly before Pike's accident. That's the way it strikes me. It's like, this is pre accident future. And I'm curious as to why they made that choice, because what you're talking about will be far more interesting. It creates a tension that kind of exists there that would be really fascinating to explore, but yet they seem to have put it just before the accident. Right. And there. There's gotta be a reason why they did that. There's. There has to be some reason why they did that, because they are good writers. We know they're capable of this, and you know that they're trying. They're probably gonna make the show go out with a bang in the final, like, half season or whatever they're giving us. But to kind of circle back to that. I have a theory on why we got so many. To extend my theory of, like, why we got so many bad episodes this season of they just were, like, having fun for themselves. I'm also wondering if it's the kind of the political machinations behind the scenes of the production where he was like, what's this? What's the showrunner's name? Kurtzman. Sean Ferrell: Kurtzman, yeah.
Matt Ferrell: The rumors I had heard was that he was under a time pressure to get the show finished. Like, he had to get into production by a certain date and then get production done by a certain date to be able to get, like, finish out his contract, get paid, and be able to finish the story he wanted to tell. So, like, that that extra half season was accelerated because he needed to get into production quickly to do it. And so I have this feeling because of the way that this finale did not feel like a finale. I feel like they had probably a really good, solid season written. And then they had some episodes that they had either fully written or partly written that were like, maybe. No, that's not the greatest one. And when they realized we have to extend it, the clunkers got brought back in almost as padding to push it out. So I'm curious, like, it would be funny to see, like, after next season, if we kind of count the number of episodes that we think are good. If you put those down to a season, yes, it might be 10 by the time you do that. I'm just. I'm just wondering if that's at play here and what we're seeing. The reason we got so many more episodes was because they had accelerated and they were a little more willing to take on mediocre episodes as padding to get them out to what they needed to do. Sean Ferrell: I also wonder if we're only a couple years away from the writers strike that we had and the actor strike. And I wonder if that threw monkey wrenches into the timing because he was under a time constraint. And how much of this was maybe like I lost months, I lost months of writers working on these stories. And are some of these things the result of. One of the refrains that I have been making about some of these episodes is when they feel like they are the first draft. Matt Ferrell: Maybe they are.
Sean Ferrell: Maybe they're close to like, oh, it's good enough. We gotta get it into production because we gotta move. We gotta like, we gotta get through this. So, so then my other and, and I'll be brief on this one. My other main complaint about this episode and you mentioned like sci fi ness like this to me felt about as sciency as the La'an fantasy episode. It felt it sell. It felt so hand waves space baby. And like ultimately like I, I, I had no problem with space baby. I had some problem with them calling it space baby instead of like, we're witnessing the emergence of a brand new life form. Like, you had to keep calling it space baby.
Matt Ferrell: Like, well, they made fun of that, which is what is when they called it a space baby the first time I was like, you've got to be kidding. You've got to be kidding. This is so stupid. And then the fact that Kirk kept going, oh, we're, we're calling it space baby. And like Pike was saying, it's like I thought that was very funny that they were poking fun at the fact they were calling it space baby. Which kind of took the edge off a little bit. But here's why I thought it was interesting. Hard sci fi was the like the white hole, black hole. The way that it the mirrors of each other. That part I thought was awesome and I was enjoying that. Even though there was logic leaps of what we understand of black holes, the closer you get causes time dilation and so time moves at different rates and oh, let's just keep getting closer. We're just going to slow down from the rest of the universe and everything. It's like we're not going to address that at all. We're just going to pretend that doesn't happen. And like the space babiness of this white hole was just like, that's when for me it was like I saw Fonzie on the bike jumping the shark. It's like that's when I was like, okay, the space baby, you just jumped the shark in this episode. It's in the fantasy.
Sean Ferrell: I hated. I hated some of the stuff that they were doing, which it felt like they did stuff with special effects to try to demonstrate how a black hole works. But it's like, you're not. You're not doing that because there's the moment where she jumps off the ship. And as soon as she passes a point, I was like, are they implying that light is now being sucked into the black hole? And so she effectively looks like she's disappearing? Is that what they're doing here? Because she disappears into a thing that literally looks like it's about three feet away from the nose of the ship. And I was like, none of that. None of that is science. None of that. Like, that is not what. Matt Ferrell: Like, you could have written it away, Sean. But this looks like on the surface, from a distance, it's a white hole. But the closer they get, they're like, there's not a gravitational pull like a white hole. What's going on here? They get closer and closer. It's an embryo. It's an embryo in space. It's like you could have explained it away, but they never said any of this. And so the logic of me is going to time dilation. It's like nothing is being addressed. Yeah. Sean Ferrell: I found myself, like, flashing back to the movie High Life with Robert Pattinson, Interstellar with McConaughey. Matt Ferrell: Yeah. Sean Ferrell: Like, the depictions of, you know, like, you go into. What is it like to go into this moment? And you're just like. In this, she's literally like, Matt Ferrell: that's the end of it. Sean Ferrell: It's just a little bit of, a little bit of a sound effect, a little bit of a. Now I'm in a place where we're seeing both Enterprises on either side. And I was just like, this is not science fiction. This is fantasy. And I found myself thinking from a certain perspective. The entire plot of Uhura’s having to work together was also like the La'an episode. It was almost like a recreation of the. I have a double I need to work with in order to get through this. And I'm like, they gave them to us. Back to back. They gave them to. And this one was definitely a better episode. As I said, it was whelming. I just landed in a place where all of the elements fell into a place where this definitely gets chalked up to me as pushing it a little bit further. Could have created deeper character moments that would have been a lot more fun and. And avoided what felt like some of the first draftitis of like we're telling you a story that ultimately, to go back to one of the comments that you read at the very beginning of the episode, I found this forgetful as I was watching it to the point where I watched this. Matt and I usually record toward the end of the work week. This week that wasn't possible, so we had to push out to now. It is the weekend. Now. This morning, as I got up and was thinking like, oh, I gotta get ready to go record with Matt, I stopped and I suddenly was like, I don't remember any of the details of the episode, and was suddenly struck by. I think that's the biggest damning mark against the episode is that it took me. Wait, what one was this? Oh, yeah, the description. Oh, yeah, okay, I remember now. It was that one. As opposed to the best ones this season where it's been like, I'm thinking about them for days and really, really impressed by the storytelling. And this one just felt like, yeah, okay, there you go.
It's Data on the planet saving the people with the, you know, there's an alien invasion and they're the Aquafor people refusing to leave and the Aquaphor. And like, like we have an episode in Aquaphor. Is that what we're doing? Like, it's that episode. Yeah, it's perfectly fine. It's in keeping with the character. Okay, next. So, yep, viewers, listeners, what did you think about this one? Do you agree that this one maybe had some things that did work, but with the right ladders in place, it could have climbed a little bit higher and been a little more impressive? Or did you like it as is? Or do you think it was possibly unsavable? I mean, I hate to bring up the puppets again, but let us know in the comments. As always, liking, subscribing, sharing with your friends and commenting, those are all, all easy ways for you to support the podcast. If you'd like to support us more directly, you can go to trekintime.Show. Click the join button there. It allows you to throw coins at our heads and it makes you an ensign, which means you'll be signed up for our spin off show, 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.
Thank you everybody for taking the time to watch or listen and we'll talk to you next time.
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