Matt and Sean talk about what happens when you lose your phone, and why it might be better to cut your loses.
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Hey, everybody welcome to trek in time. This is the podcast that takes a look at star trek in order and in history and what I mean by that is we are taking a look at all of star trek in chronological order. So we’re starting in enterprise which in the trek universe are the oldest stories. And we’re also taking a look at the world as it was at the time of the broadcast of enterprise so we’re looking at 2002 right now which if we hop into our way back machine feels like it was about four centuries ago
I’m just letting my soul take a deep breath I’m holding on. Yeah but who am I who is this holding on it’s me Sean Ferrell I’m a writer I write some sci-fi I write some stuff for kids and with me is as usual.
Strap yourself in.
My brother Matthew Matt how you doing I’m okay Matt may know people may know Matt as the guru and chief inquisitor behind the Youtube channel undecided with Matt Farrell which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact in our lives so the intersection between storytelling and technology.
I’m good. How are you doing.
And the Venn diagram that is star trek well Matt and I are kind of standing on either side of it. We try to anyway. Thank you so much to everybody for listening and don’t forget there are ways you can directly support the podcast you can visit trek in time show and there is a.
We got covered.
Button there that allows you to throw coins at our head and we appreciate every coin that hits us in the noggin. We also appreciate. You’re listening. You’re subscribing and you’re sharing us with your friends all of that really does help Matt I understand you’ve got some. Listener comments from previous episodes.
Yeah there’s one that came in recently for the episode from back in season 1 episode 12 silent enemy where the thumbnail we had was set your pineapples to stun I feel this episode is at the heart of classic trek minus the pineapple plot confrontations with unknown entities while. A significant disadvantage problem and solution teamwork etc reminds me of the original trek balance of power or the movie red October and I like the ah bring up red october I hadn’t even thought of that of 2 submarines underwater just.
Um, yeah.
Cat Mouse game with each other the entire movie and it’s really exciting and it was very thrilling and even though we had pics on that episode I like that analogy of it’s kind of like a submarine battle this kind of slow give and take between the 2 of them.
Yeah I agree. That’s a good comparison and you know as far as as episodes like that some of the best trek is that model balance of terror is one of my favorites where you end up with the. 2 ships really kind of um, knowingly testing each other and that’s where some of the best tension can come from in an episode like that. As for today today we’re gonna be talking about the episode the communicator.
Yeah, yeah.
And this is not about Abraham Lincoln he was the great communicator matt do you want to give us a quick synopsis of what this is about this one’s directly from Wikipedia. It’s brief. But I think it does a pretty good job.
And this is very read and archer retrieve a communicator left behind on an Alien planet but are captured in the process period. That’s it.
Period this episode was directed by James a conner and the story was by Rick Berman and Bret and Braga with a teleplay by Andre Bramanis so it’s kind of a triumvirate there that we are accustomed to seeing in enterprise Andre Baronis has written this teleplay of. Ah, number of these episodes especially in season one and Breman and Braga continue to be the lead story development team for better or worse occasionally this episode aired on November Thirteenth two thousand and two and it earned four point four million viewers a little bit down from previous weeks and what was the world like when this episode aired well Matt you were slow dancing to underneath it all by no doubt and I have no doubt that you were slow dancing to that. But um chi. Yes.
I still am Sean I still am.
Only in your heart though because your knees are old and at the movie theater we were going to see Eight Mile eminem semi-autobiographical film which made $51000000 this week and on csi watch.
Yes.
Well Csi pulled in again. 29000000 viewers leading Tv viewership for the week and in the news well on this day November Thirteenth two thousand and two the headline I thought had an interesting if inverse relationship to this episode. The headline being arms inspectors in Iraq to deploy new technology in the four years since the united nations weapons inspectors left Iraq. Digital revolution has made their gear smaller lighter faster more precise and easier to use millions of dollars in commercial and anti-terrorism funds are accelerating the rush of technology opening new vistas for weapons sleuthing experts say the advances. Giving the inspectors a technological edge in the hide and seek world of iraqi weapons as well as new leverage to disarm Iraq and of course spoiler Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction. But I thought the headline about. Inspectors going in with heightened technology was an interesting inverse relationship to the episode given that this episode is about a nation that is on the brink of war apparently but it’s the. Advanced technology of these alien visitors being the enterprise crew. Their advanced technology is actually the problem not the solution. So.
I I actually liked the fact that they never in the entire episode get into too many details about is there a war is there an impending war. It’s It’s very just like um side conversations 1 ne-off sentences here and there that are giving you a little bit of more insight into like what’s going on on this planet. But they never really go into it in detail like for the viewer’s benefit like where it sometimes feels like the actor mice will turn to the camera and go for those of you out there. We’re at the brink of war with this other country but but but it’s like we never had that and I like that it was a very kind of subtle undercurrent of there’s clearly a lot of tension here. You don’t need to know the details. It’s not. Important. It’s not That’s the that’s the insetting incident to kind of get this whole thing going. It’s not the real crux of the.
Yeah, and the and the crux of the episode ultimately in this one. The planet is kind of of a mcguffin in this episode the entire thrust of the episode is really focused on the Enterprise crew archer in particular.
Yep, Totally totally.
And trying to understand the philosophy around. Not only the prime directive but the nuances of visiting planets that are not ready for first contact situations and ultimately it’s I. In my notes I refer to it’s almost a schrodinger’s cat situation where by going to the planet at all. They are deviating the natural course of that culture’s evolution.
This.
Just by instead of being foot there and becoming a known presence even in the most minimal form that ultimately is the the big gotcha at the end of the episode before we get into the details of that ending though a quick summary of the plot itself this episode. As Matt gave us the very very very succinct Wikipedia summary of basically revolves around just misplacing a communicator you mentioned that there’s no clear depiction of what the tension is between the 2 nations on the planet. It seems to be very much a cold war situation where the military people that they come in contact with are very quick to assume that anybody nefarious is from this other nation and the references are. It seems right out of the textbook of cold war movie one a 1 oh you must be from the alliance you’re a spy. You’re here to steal our secrets you wanted to spy on our leader. All of that is largely forgettable as is the entire setup of. Read misplacing is communicator which they speculate could have dropped out of a pocket. It could have been stolen. There’s no ultimate conclusion to that which I actually was torn about how did you feel about that element.
Ah, um, there’s many episodes where yeah I kind of like the episode I’m okay with it and we’ve talked about like where you’re like oh I that completely like set me off and I just could not get into it. This episode is that for me and I’m wondering if we’re gonna be reversed this week because I didn’t like this episode. Even though there were elements of it that were really well done because I couldn’t get over the instigating the very first thing that sets this all off. Okay, what century we we in and he misplaces a communicator and you can’t locate it I’m sorry I can locate my Iphone anywhere in the world if I misplace it. Previous episodes of star trek in the universe they have done things where they’ve located somebody by their communicator. They’ve already established this in the star trek universe. So the fact that he loses a communicator is just utterly ridiculous. It’s like they should have made it something else that he misplaced something else that he lost that isn’t a communicator in that time we have air tags and things you can put on suitcases now to locate it wherever it is in the world. It’s ridiculous to think that they wouldn’t have some way to 0 in on some transmitter or something like that to figure out where it is. Immediately and because of that just the nonsense of what set it off I just could not get behind this whole thing of okay, we’ve we’ve we’ve left this piece of technology behind that could really taint the evolution of this planet. So let’s go down with more stuff that we can misplace. Into more bad stuff because I don’t want to get ahead of us. But this entire episode is just a series of horrible decisions like the worst decision making you could make they make it every step of the process because they get captured. Now. They have a phaser and they have a triquarter and they have more communicators. It’s like okay, great job guys. Oh and then they rip off their fake foreheads and it’s like oh you’re you’re not even from here. What’s going on and it’s like it was just like bad call after bad call after bad call.
It? yeah.
And then on the ship you got the crew trying to rescue them and what they’re doing is just make an os and to jump to the end There’s an entire phaser battle with the cloaked sulaban ship rescuing everybody and it was like how is this making things better. You are making decisions that are just throwing things. Off the track so that your people can’t die and there’s there’s other episodes of star trek not the enterprise but other star trek universe episodes that deal with this exact issue like there’s one of next generation where it’s like I think it was data and ah Kim or what. Their character was they end up on this planet where they end up discovering data and he can’t remember who he is and this whole thing. It’s kind of affecting the planet. It’s like that was such a well-done episode about this same exact subject matter and this one was just so damn clunky and stupid and I couldn’t get past.
Yeah, yeah.
All the bad decision making it’s like you are smart people what is going on with this and it felt like really lazy storytelling and a subpar execution on something that has been done already in the past which goes right back to my complaint about the Berman and braga duo.
Um, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That this is their story. It feels like they just went back to the old cue cards where they sat down at a table with let’s pick some plot points from some random episodes and slap them together and we’re done. It did not feel good to me I did not like this.
Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting that you bring up the the normal dichotomy between you and me and and our responses to this show because I came in here kind of reminding myself like be upbeat about this because um.
I couldn’t.
I can have 2 different conversations about this I can have one about the philosophy behind the ultimate conclusion like I I teased at the idea that by setting foot on a planet you are in a precarious situation and I can understand the desire to explore I can understand I like the idea Of. An episode that revolves around wrestling with the ethics of is it. Okay for us to even go to a planet that is not prepared for first contact is that ethically defensible that as an episode is a really great idea but it only happens if the captain and reid. Going back to get their lost devices and that debate that conversation is happening between members of the crew Aboard the Enterprise nobody on the enterprise has that debate. They are simply talking about ways to rescue things to me This episode seemed very much like a power Rangers episode.
Yes.
Um, yeah, yeah.
It was an excuse to get to a final battle that made no sense. It was as you pointed out the phaser battle stood in the way of how are you possibly helping the situation now. It’s it and. As you pointed out as I was beginning the episode I’m like okay in the year two thousand and two nobody could have speculated that if I misplaced my phone I could ask you to use your phone to locate it for me and that we’d be able to find it in 5 to 10 minutes nobody would have foreseen that day but the makers of this show. Should have known things that they’ve even done within enterprise they have a transporter they the the fact that the transporter was introduced in the series at all I think at this point this episode demonstrates. It was a terrible mistake for them to have an.
Um, exactly then never even came up once not once.
Ah, transporter in the ship from the very first episode of the series means that they are shackled with expectations around what can be done and they are not ever really living up to it. There are too many times where a transporter would be a solution to the problem that they’re faced with. This is one of those times they would have been able to beam up the communicator if they couldn’t beam up the communicator they could have beamed down the away team to go look for the communicator instead of you point out they took more tech with them. They took a shuttle There’s a shuttle parked in the woods. Oh that’ll never be found like it’s photographed. So this is supposed to be teasing out like ufo stories but it doesn’t really go in that vein. There’s been a star trek episode in the original series about that very thing. Which was focused entirely on that there were elements of star trek four that dealt with the idea of people running around tech that they shouldn’t have and people questioning. What is this thing that movie in a comedic style did a better job. With that idea than this episode does and I agree with you the decision making is terrible but it feels like it’s anachronistic for all the characters. None of the characters truly feel like it almost feels like this episode wasn’t written it also doesn’t feel like it was refined or edited or. Dwelled on by the actors I think the actors were doing the best they could with what was a very weak script and that’s why you’re left with having to kind of okay I can understand the philosophical questions posed at the end which I do like but I didn’t like how we got there and as you as you said.
Um, there were some yeah.
Read at the very Beginning. He’s the one person on that crew who they constantly seem to be pulling the rug out from underneath the character who they constantly have saying things like we have the rules are too loose on this ship. And then he’s constantly the one who’s screwing things up and it’s like it doesn’t really jive with the character. It feels like for him in previous episodes to be the one to say like we need to tighten these bolts and get things locked down and a little bit of a spoiler a little bit of a teaser for our next episode.
Yes.
He’s doing that again in the next episode this episode. He doesn’t even know when he lost his communicator and I was like very conflicted about that as a storytelling moment like is it better that we never find out how it was lost or would it have been better if it had been.
This is.
They’re stopped at a security checkpoint and some security officer grabs it might that not have been a better way to set up this episode to literally never have them aboard the ship and discover the missing item but just start at the midpoint start with them being found.
Well I mean to kind of go through the plot really quick of how they go back to this like little restaurant or bar to try to find the booth where they were sitting at where they thought it was lost and everybody’s very suspicious of them because clearly they found it and they’re trying to trap them. They trap them. They’re put into basically a Jail cell. Which by the way production clearly they were trying to save money those bars on the Jail cell I don’t know if you noticed were just would yes it was it looked like if you just pushed on it just a little bit. It would have snapped um but they were in this Jail cell.
I I made some out of balsa wood while I was watching the episode. It was a lot of fun. Yeah.
And that’s during the interrogations when they discover the fake foreheads discovered that they’re genetically altered or aliens and there’s a debate back and forth what I did like about this episode and I’m going to give it some props here. 1 of the things I did like was there was a scene between the captain and Reid when they’ in the jail cell. They’ve been sentenced to death and they’re waiting to be hung and they’re in there talking about it and Reid is basically lamenting of like this just isn’t fair that we’re going to die for this but then he turns to the captain and says genuinely I’m okay with with dying for this.
Um, yeah.
You know I believe we’re doing the right thing this is okay and it was like this really nice conversation between between the 2 of them saying we need to do? what’s right? And if that means us dying. That’s what it’s going to be and both of them are coming to terms with that and you can tell archer’s struggling with it. But Reid is it was just a very touching conversation.
Yeah.
And there’s moments like that between the 2 of them through the entire episode. So I got to give props to those 2 actors their lines and dialogue clearly when they were writing this they came up with some very wonderful moments that happened but then every time you go back to the enterprise. It’s just like get our guns out. Um pp.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It’s like what are we gonna do. It’s like just crazy. It’s like the fact that to Paul wasn’t talking about this and you know nobody else was talking about why that we can’t just go rushing in. There was ah yeah.
They spent their time trying to figure out their rescue plan instead of having that bigger debate and I would have preferred the bigger debate because ultimately what they were doing was monkeying around with a Sulaban ship. And getting comedic value out of trip accidentally cloaking his arm. Don’t even get me started on the science behind that that doesn’t make any sense. It didn’t make sense. It was funny but that should have been.
I will say it didn’t make sense but it was funny. It was funny. It was funny.
That should have been an episode like trip’s third nipple you could have had an episode right? But that’s my point is is make an episode in which trip won’t leave the sulaban ship alone and he’s trying to figure out how the cloaking technology works and inadvertently.
Um, but that episode was good I like that one.
And that happens. Yeah yeah.
Cloaks half of his body and part of the ship and that make that the a storyline and then create a B storyline like maybe you know some passing Sulaban ship detects the use of the technology and draws attention to the enterprise in a way that yeah. You could reintroduce an episode around the time the cold war the time Cold War the Tempor Cold war but the the way this is used is it’s literally like a dasx makna machine on board The ship whenever they have a moment where they’re like.
Enter.
Oh we need something special to do this thing. How about the Sulaban ship. It’s like they forget that they’ve got it for long stretches and then conveniently remember in moments like this and they never remember about the transporter. Yeah, the transporter is just out of sight out of mind I keep I.
And then and forget they have a transporter. Yeah.
In that moment when they were talking about like but how are we going to get them back I wanted there to be a shot with cricket noises in the background showing the transporter filled with cobwebs and just like and maybe you know commander O’brien’s great grandfather standing there just like um.
Ah, yes.
I got nothing to do it Ultimately the the elements of the episode that I thought stood out as plot points that made sense and could work getting caught getting revealed to be aliens.
O.
They’ve done that before in other episodes they had 1 with riker where something similar happened because of a riot and rikers hurt and then the doctors at the hospital where they’re treating riker realized this isn’t our species they have had episodes like the 1 you mentioned data has amnesia effectively. And is working to try and figure out how to decontaminate a water source and it’s this whole storyline around people believing in ultimately almost like witchcraft. It’s almost like this ah pre-industrial revolution society that is looking for. Scapegoat of what’s causing this illness and they’ve had that episode. So if you’re going to retell similar stories I’m okay with that you know happening there’s only so many plots that you can come up with especially when at this point this is now the fourth trek iteration. Of just this era we’ve had next generation deep space 9 voyager and now this let alone the original series and those other three of this era were literally back to back and in some cases overlapping. So. For them to have a little bit of writing exhaustion around this I’m like I get it I understand it. But if this was handed to me as a script and I was looking at it I would say well you’ve got elements here that make sense but you need to pull those up and forward and ditch a lot of the rest of it them getting caught fine them getting revealed. Fine then being put through a military tribunal and viewed as spies that need to be executed. Okay I even like the element where archer and Reid are on the fly trying to convince these people that they are from the opposing nation but they needed to.
Ah know.
They needed that to happen they needed that to happen before they were revealed to be aliens.
Okay, so here’s my problem with that. Okay, one of the things that star trek does really well or tries to do really well in general is is that cerebral debate about you have like the Kobi Asha maroo you have no good choices. It’s a no win scenario. You have choice a choice b and maybe even a choice c and they all suck. And none of them are going to actually solve your problem each one of them is going to create its own set of problems. What do you do? That’s the situation they’re in and so they gave the captain in that scene. There’s an element of it I like the fact they’re struggling with this choice of I have no good move here. What do I do. But the choice they came up with they made it seem like we have two choices we can tell them that we’re aliens because they’re thinking we’re aliens. But if they think we’re aliens that’s going to contaminate their evolution worse than starting an actual war. It’s like how.
Yeah.
No, no, no, no, no if anything I would make the argument that saying that your aliens is most likely going to potentially diffuse that it has yes it could go bad but there is a possible good path that could come out of that. But but by saying we’re spies.
Um, yeah.
All you’re doing is escalating their already really bad cold war and so I was like why this is this is what I was saying to you before about every decision they make is a horrible decision and it just keeps compounding by the end of the episode to the point where it’s ludicrous and it’s like Wow these people should not be commanding a ship at all.
Um, yeah.
They need to go back to Earth and then restaff that entire ship because they’re all idiots and that scene that scene did that for me.
When I said when I said that I I liked the element of suggesting they were from the other nation. My suggestion to that would be that should have taken place before they were accused of anything greater than just being strangers like.
But but what I was going to say.
Them saying we’re travelers that kind of thing like them using every excuse they could come up with on the fly and if 1 of them made the excuse and and it would be. You know you could argue that it would be Reid because he’s he’s already made other mistakes in this episode if Reid was to say to some one of these military people like look. We’re from another place and that starts the investigation down the path of oh we think they’re spies and then the doctor walks in and says they’ve got organs that don’t make sense. Their blood is wrong like this is all weird then they’re in the position of saying like look we told you we were from another place. We’re not.
Yes.
From outer space then you deal with the military’s balancing of like do we believe one or the other and they’re both bad. But as you said in the moment they leave this episode with a great ethical dilemma at the very end with.
Right? right.
Archer realizing we step foot on these planets if there are life forms there. We’re potentially screwing things up for them regardless of how well we think things have gone. That’s a great ethical question to leave an episode on. He never.
Yes.
Ever owns and I think in this episode he should have the ending should have also included Oh my God I think we put them on a faster path to war because we’ve now introduced the idea that the opposing Army has super soldiers and higher tech.
Yes.
That’s going to put this nation in a place where they’re going to be scrambling to come up with better versions of weapons or maybe in first strike simply to avoid being quote overrun by an opposing force that has these better tech. Yeah.
That’s that’s precisely what I’m getting at is I did like the very end of the episode. There’s a conversation between archer and topal about this exact thing but it’s a very skin deep conversation. They never address what you just brought up and it comes across as. Well I think we screwed up oh well dun and the roll credits and it was this yeah.
Yeah, even to the point where he makes a joke. He makes a joke when she says there’s a star cluster up ahead and there’s no one and there’s no inhabited planets and he’s like well that’s nice for a change. It’s like now is not the time for you to be making jokes that doesn’t make sense within the context of. What they’ve just been through he and Reid nearly died and they ended up having to blow the lid off of their very existence at all the various tech and as you said mistake after mistake bad decision after bad decision. They show up in a cloaked ship that they don’t even understand. For them. The cloaked ship is advanced technology so they are showing their cards that they don’t even have to these these people who are effectively. It looks like maybe 1950 s level tech.
Well, but going back to my my point I was making about this a B choice that he had when he decided you know what I’m going to tell them that we’re actually spies. There was a sea choice. Keep your mouth shut. Just don’t even tell them anything just let them spin their own wheels and then you could have had them go. Know I think like doctor could have said you know what I don’t think he’s aliens These are probably genetic enhancements. You could to let them make it up and have them just remain quiet because even though remaining quiet is a bad Call. It’s the best of all their options and so it’s like you could have had them do that and it would have at least shown some I don’t know.
You would have I think you would have also had an advantage if they decide they’re going to go look for the communicator archer should have said clearly we take no other tech with us. We go in completely free of anything you have them go in. You have them discover the communicator.
Good thought going into this.
And they pocket it and they try to leave now they’re arrested. They’re shown the communicator and they’re asked what is this and now they just keep repeating the refrain of we have no idea we just found it. We just found it there and Reid can keep saying like okay you caught me I’m a thief I steal things that aren’t nailed down.
Exactly.
Um, Bingo Yes, yes.
I saw something I took something because I thought I could sell it I don’t even know what it is it looked valuable though. So then they go round and round and round with this now. They’re examined by a doctor. Okay, they’re no longer seen as being from that planet. There’s a question Mark over their head are you from another place or are you from outer space. Do you know? what? this tech is is this tech inic indicative of what the alliance can do and you keep so you keep just revolving around that while meanwhile aboard the enterprise trip could be saying we’ve got to put together a team. We’ve got to do these things because we’ve lost contact with them and to Paul could be making the argument of. Everything you’re suggesting would make the situation worse. We we need to we need to either wait until we know definitively that they are in a place where we can get them or we need to wait until we know definitively that they are not ever going to get out of there and then we need to leave. Because we are in a position now where where these people are going to be looking for us and they even suggested something in the episode that did not come back again. Made no sense at one point sado is able to say here’s what their communications chatter is telling me at the end of the episode.
This is.
I Fully expected them to wrap up what the new scenario for this planet was I expected her to say Radio chatter is showing. They’re now on heightened alert and they are fully prepared for an invasion from the alliance that should have been the ultimate ending. With archer standing there saying why I really stuck a finger in a hornet’s nest I Really I Really screwed this up.
You You could have also had some really nice moments between I don’t want to rewrite the whole episode for doing a lot of rewriting here but between the captain and the head of the interrogators the captain of the Alien Planet you could have had.
Yeah.
Not a rapport but you could have had something that was happening between the 2 of them because if they just stuck their ground and like were thieves or travelers and they just never gave up on that and the captain could have been saying things like we’re not here to harm anybody where this is not what we’re here for you’re misunderstanding why we’re here but we can’t help you. Can’t tell you what you want us to say and the the person saying you’re you’re you’re leaving me in no choice I have to execute you because you’ve got to be from this other country and it could have been just this dichotomy of like the captain the head of the Alien place could have just basically been like. Looking a little torn about it but like my hands are tied I’ve got to do this and the captain being like I know you do and I’m doing what I have to do it could have been just kind of this unspoken thing that could have been building between the 2 of them. They did none of that It’s like it’s a shame.
2 things that could have been 2 things that could have come out of that kind of scenario and you say you’re hesitant to rewrite this I’m not I’m going to rewrite it right now. 2 things that could have come out of that that would have been really interesting would have been one if the interrogator. Officer had as archer continued to deny any knowledge of anything and Reid continued to and deny any knowledge if the interrogator had on their own picked up on which one of them was a commanding officer and began to directly speak. As officer to officer with archer and the other thing would have been in the vein of what you’re talking about the idea of both men having that unspoken conversation of I can’t do anything other than what this bad moment requires. And both of them having that it would have been very interesting if the interrogator had after finding out about from the doctor. Oh these are potentially aliens. They don’t have the right type of blood they have extra organs. We’ve never seen before they’re missing bones. If he had said something along the lines of you know my grandmother used to tell me stories that that there were always rumors of visitors from other places and wouldn’t that be amazing. She used to say to me and if this interrogator was teasing out the idea. That there’s an exit door available. If only they’ll own up to not being from that planet and you could be left then with the question Mark of is the interrogator legitimately giving them an out or is he using it to set a trap to get them to admit to something.
Um.
You could have had some very interesting moments between him and archer as they play this kind of equals who are forced into an antagonistic position and then the final sequence. Have your laser battle gun If yeah, your laser gun battle if you want to have it or not like to me that’s the most boring type of ending to an episode like this but have it or not but put these characters in positions to make difficult decisions.
Yes.
Where they know they’re not going to fix the problem as opposed to what they did in this episode which was literally every decision was viewed as well I wish we didn’t have to do this. But I think this will fix it and at no point did it.
Well, there’s I really like that I think they would have worked a hell a lot better and it made me think of the next generation episode. There are 4 lights that episode is is one of my favorite episodes of next generation. It’s basically just 2 guys in a room from the vast majority of the episode.
Yes, yeah.
And it’s just good writing good acting and it deals with wrestles with really complex topics and it’s very nuanced. It’s like you could have had something like that with this of Reid and the captain being tortured or just being starved and beaten and just being coerced to admit if they work for this other. Country or whatever and they just never do. It’s like that would have been basically the battle of wills between the two would have been far more interesting than what they actually did here but at the same time it come back to. There’s still elements of the episode I did like so it’s like even though I was frustrated as hell.
Yeah, yeah.
Still at the end of the day was entertained and so it’s like I I am so conflicted about how I feel about this episode because there’s elements I just despised to a level I have not felt on this entire series until this episode but at the same time there was redeeming qualities so it’s kind of like I’m I’m I’m of 2 minds on the episode.
Yeah I agree with you and I and I think the bormanis at this point as far as dialogue is concerned he knows and the other writers know how these characters sound in conversation with each other trip and mayweather have a very nice conversation prior to trip. Accidentally yeah cloaking.
Yeah, yeah.
Part of his body. Ah and and then afterward when he has cloaked his arm mayweather says it could come in handy on date night like and they give each other this look and trip is just like what the hell are you saying? He’s like if you want to steal some popcorn and it’s this very cute little like wink wink like. Like and normally that stuff stands out as like I wish they wouldn’t have that kind of reference but that moment it does seem like mayweather is really kind of like turning the screw and like like I’m I’m teasing you in a way that that yeah and the doctor as well. Yeah.
Um, well and and a doctor the doctor too The scene with the doctor where he’s the trip is like what what am I supposed to do and the doctors goes yoank and holds up a glove like here you go listen wait it out. There’s a lot of that episode which is fun.
Just holds up a rubber glove. Yeah yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I agree with you for me. This is a largely plotting episode that ends up not having it doesn’t feel like star trek not because the characters don’t sound like themselves as much as it just felt unrefined and. Poorly sloppily put together and disappointing from that side while still presenting good big ethical and philosophical questions that some of the better episodes of star trek present and so I agree with you I’m frustrated by that and I’m curious. Our listeners. Do you agree this this episode one that you kind of had to force yourself through or did you think that it was well done. Let us know we appreciate your feedback. You can leave a comment in the comments directly below the video if you’re watching this on Youtube or. You can find the contact information in the podcast description you can reach out to us through that next time we’re going to be talking about the episode singularity Matt I already know what this one’s about. But I’m going to ask you do you.
I have honestly no clue what it’s about but I’m I’m guessing it’s about 1 thing
1 thing yeah it is it’s about 1 thing 1 thing
It’s their only 1 minute episode just like oh that thing closing credits the episode is over before we even know it’s been a long road getting from there to here. Yes I did.
And wrote roll credits.
Oh no, don’t don’t don’t.
Before we sign off is there anything you want to share with our listeners. What do you have coming up on your other channel.
Um I have some really interesting episodes coming up probably by the time this episode’s coming out I have an episode on tiny houses living in a tiny house. Could you live in an eighty Square Foot room Sean could you would you want to? yes.
Eighty Square feet ah I’m gonna go out on a limb and say no i’m.
Ah, well I have an episode that talks all about tiny houses and why you might want to but you have to watch and find out.
Um, as for me, please check out my website http://seanferrell.com you’ll find information about my books there or you can just go directly to Amazon Barnes Noble or any of your local bookstores or even your public library. You can find out. What books I have available on the website and then ask for them. Basically anywhere you should be able to find them. Oh thank you? Yes, that’s a totally biased opinion right? there.
And they’re good I’m biased but they’re good. Yes.
If anybody has any comments or corrections please do reach out as I mentioned before the contact information is in the podcast notes or on Youtube you can just scroll beneath the video and leave a comment there. Please do remember to subscribe to like the episode and to share it with your friends and to come back next time we appreciate your listening. Talk to you soon? Bye bye.
I’m just letting my soul take a deep breath I’m holding on. Yeah but who am I who is this holding on it’s me Sean Ferrell I’m a writer I write some sci-fi I write some stuff for kids and with me is as usual.
Strap yourself in.
My brother Matthew Matt how you doing I’m okay Matt may know people may know Matt as the guru and chief inquisitor behind the Youtube channel undecided with Matt Farrell which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact in our lives so the intersection between storytelling and technology.
I’m good. How are you doing.
And the Venn diagram that is star trek well Matt and I are kind of standing on either side of it. We try to anyway. Thank you so much to everybody for listening and don’t forget there are ways you can directly support the podcast you can visit trek in time show and there is a.
We got covered.
Button there that allows you to throw coins at our head and we appreciate every coin that hits us in the noggin. We also appreciate. You’re listening. You’re subscribing and you’re sharing us with your friends all of that really does help Matt I understand you’ve got some. Listener comments from previous episodes.
Yeah there’s one that came in recently for the episode from back in season 1 episode 12 silent enemy where the thumbnail we had was set your pineapples to stun I feel this episode is at the heart of classic trek minus the pineapple plot confrontations with unknown entities while. A significant disadvantage problem and solution teamwork etc reminds me of the original trek balance of power or the movie red October and I like the ah bring up red october I hadn’t even thought of that of 2 submarines underwater just.
Um, yeah.
Cat Mouse game with each other the entire movie and it’s really exciting and it was very thrilling and even though we had pics on that episode I like that analogy of it’s kind of like a submarine battle this kind of slow give and take between the 2 of them.
Yeah I agree. That’s a good comparison and you know as far as as episodes like that some of the best trek is that model balance of terror is one of my favorites where you end up with the. 2 ships really kind of um, knowingly testing each other and that’s where some of the best tension can come from in an episode like that. As for today today we’re gonna be talking about the episode the communicator.
Yeah, yeah.
And this is not about Abraham Lincoln he was the great communicator matt do you want to give us a quick synopsis of what this is about this one’s directly from Wikipedia. It’s brief. But I think it does a pretty good job.
And this is very read and archer retrieve a communicator left behind on an Alien planet but are captured in the process period. That’s it.
Period this episode was directed by James a conner and the story was by Rick Berman and Bret and Braga with a teleplay by Andre Bramanis so it’s kind of a triumvirate there that we are accustomed to seeing in enterprise Andre Baronis has written this teleplay of. Ah, number of these episodes especially in season one and Breman and Braga continue to be the lead story development team for better or worse occasionally this episode aired on November Thirteenth two thousand and two and it earned four point four million viewers a little bit down from previous weeks and what was the world like when this episode aired well Matt you were slow dancing to underneath it all by no doubt and I have no doubt that you were slow dancing to that. But um chi. Yes.
I still am Sean I still am.
Only in your heart though because your knees are old and at the movie theater we were going to see Eight Mile eminem semi-autobiographical film which made $51000000 this week and on csi watch.
Yes.
Well Csi pulled in again. 29000000 viewers leading Tv viewership for the week and in the news well on this day November Thirteenth two thousand and two the headline I thought had an interesting if inverse relationship to this episode. The headline being arms inspectors in Iraq to deploy new technology in the four years since the united nations weapons inspectors left Iraq. Digital revolution has made their gear smaller lighter faster more precise and easier to use millions of dollars in commercial and anti-terrorism funds are accelerating the rush of technology opening new vistas for weapons sleuthing experts say the advances. Giving the inspectors a technological edge in the hide and seek world of iraqi weapons as well as new leverage to disarm Iraq and of course spoiler Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction. But I thought the headline about. Inspectors going in with heightened technology was an interesting inverse relationship to the episode given that this episode is about a nation that is on the brink of war apparently but it’s the. Advanced technology of these alien visitors being the enterprise crew. Their advanced technology is actually the problem not the solution. So.
I I actually liked the fact that they never in the entire episode get into too many details about is there a war is there an impending war. It’s It’s very just like um side conversations 1 ne-off sentences here and there that are giving you a little bit of more insight into like what’s going on on this planet. But they never really go into it in detail like for the viewer’s benefit like where it sometimes feels like the actor mice will turn to the camera and go for those of you out there. We’re at the brink of war with this other country but but but it’s like we never had that and I like that it was a very kind of subtle undercurrent of there’s clearly a lot of tension here. You don’t need to know the details. It’s not. Important. It’s not That’s the that’s the insetting incident to kind of get this whole thing going. It’s not the real crux of the.
Yeah, and the and the crux of the episode ultimately in this one. The planet is kind of of a mcguffin in this episode the entire thrust of the episode is really focused on the Enterprise crew archer in particular.
Yep, Totally totally.
And trying to understand the philosophy around. Not only the prime directive but the nuances of visiting planets that are not ready for first contact situations and ultimately it’s I. In my notes I refer to it’s almost a schrodinger’s cat situation where by going to the planet at all. They are deviating the natural course of that culture’s evolution.
This.
Just by instead of being foot there and becoming a known presence even in the most minimal form that ultimately is the the big gotcha at the end of the episode before we get into the details of that ending though a quick summary of the plot itself this episode. As Matt gave us the very very very succinct Wikipedia summary of basically revolves around just misplacing a communicator you mentioned that there’s no clear depiction of what the tension is between the 2 nations on the planet. It seems to be very much a cold war situation where the military people that they come in contact with are very quick to assume that anybody nefarious is from this other nation and the references are. It seems right out of the textbook of cold war movie one a 1 oh you must be from the alliance you’re a spy. You’re here to steal our secrets you wanted to spy on our leader. All of that is largely forgettable as is the entire setup of. Read misplacing is communicator which they speculate could have dropped out of a pocket. It could have been stolen. There’s no ultimate conclusion to that which I actually was torn about how did you feel about that element.
Ah, um, there’s many episodes where yeah I kind of like the episode I’m okay with it and we’ve talked about like where you’re like oh I that completely like set me off and I just could not get into it. This episode is that for me and I’m wondering if we’re gonna be reversed this week because I didn’t like this episode. Even though there were elements of it that were really well done because I couldn’t get over the instigating the very first thing that sets this all off. Okay, what century we we in and he misplaces a communicator and you can’t locate it I’m sorry I can locate my Iphone anywhere in the world if I misplace it. Previous episodes of star trek in the universe they have done things where they’ve located somebody by their communicator. They’ve already established this in the star trek universe. So the fact that he loses a communicator is just utterly ridiculous. It’s like they should have made it something else that he misplaced something else that he lost that isn’t a communicator in that time we have air tags and things you can put on suitcases now to locate it wherever it is in the world. It’s ridiculous to think that they wouldn’t have some way to 0 in on some transmitter or something like that to figure out where it is. Immediately and because of that just the nonsense of what set it off I just could not get behind this whole thing of okay, we’ve we’ve we’ve left this piece of technology behind that could really taint the evolution of this planet. So let’s go down with more stuff that we can misplace. Into more bad stuff because I don’t want to get ahead of us. But this entire episode is just a series of horrible decisions like the worst decision making you could make they make it every step of the process because they get captured. Now. They have a phaser and they have a triquarter and they have more communicators. It’s like okay, great job guys. Oh and then they rip off their fake foreheads and it’s like oh you’re you’re not even from here. What’s going on and it’s like it was just like bad call after bad call after bad call.
It? yeah.
And then on the ship you got the crew trying to rescue them and what they’re doing is just make an os and to jump to the end There’s an entire phaser battle with the cloaked sulaban ship rescuing everybody and it was like how is this making things better. You are making decisions that are just throwing things. Off the track so that your people can’t die and there’s there’s other episodes of star trek not the enterprise but other star trek universe episodes that deal with this exact issue like there’s one of next generation where it’s like I think it was data and ah Kim or what. Their character was they end up on this planet where they end up discovering data and he can’t remember who he is and this whole thing. It’s kind of affecting the planet. It’s like that was such a well-done episode about this same exact subject matter and this one was just so damn clunky and stupid and I couldn’t get past.
Yeah, yeah.
All the bad decision making it’s like you are smart people what is going on with this and it felt like really lazy storytelling and a subpar execution on something that has been done already in the past which goes right back to my complaint about the Berman and braga duo.
Um, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That this is their story. It feels like they just went back to the old cue cards where they sat down at a table with let’s pick some plot points from some random episodes and slap them together and we’re done. It did not feel good to me I did not like this.
Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting that you bring up the the normal dichotomy between you and me and and our responses to this show because I came in here kind of reminding myself like be upbeat about this because um.
I couldn’t.
I can have 2 different conversations about this I can have one about the philosophy behind the ultimate conclusion like I I teased at the idea that by setting foot on a planet you are in a precarious situation and I can understand the desire to explore I can understand I like the idea Of. An episode that revolves around wrestling with the ethics of is it. Okay for us to even go to a planet that is not prepared for first contact is that ethically defensible that as an episode is a really great idea but it only happens if the captain and reid. Going back to get their lost devices and that debate that conversation is happening between members of the crew Aboard the Enterprise nobody on the enterprise has that debate. They are simply talking about ways to rescue things to me This episode seemed very much like a power Rangers episode.
Yes.
Um, yeah, yeah.
It was an excuse to get to a final battle that made no sense. It was as you pointed out the phaser battle stood in the way of how are you possibly helping the situation now. It’s it and. As you pointed out as I was beginning the episode I’m like okay in the year two thousand and two nobody could have speculated that if I misplaced my phone I could ask you to use your phone to locate it for me and that we’d be able to find it in 5 to 10 minutes nobody would have foreseen that day but the makers of this show. Should have known things that they’ve even done within enterprise they have a transporter they the the fact that the transporter was introduced in the series at all I think at this point this episode demonstrates. It was a terrible mistake for them to have an.
Um, exactly then never even came up once not once.
Ah, transporter in the ship from the very first episode of the series means that they are shackled with expectations around what can be done and they are not ever really living up to it. There are too many times where a transporter would be a solution to the problem that they’re faced with. This is one of those times they would have been able to beam up the communicator if they couldn’t beam up the communicator they could have beamed down the away team to go look for the communicator instead of you point out they took more tech with them. They took a shuttle There’s a shuttle parked in the woods. Oh that’ll never be found like it’s photographed. So this is supposed to be teasing out like ufo stories but it doesn’t really go in that vein. There’s been a star trek episode in the original series about that very thing. Which was focused entirely on that there were elements of star trek four that dealt with the idea of people running around tech that they shouldn’t have and people questioning. What is this thing that movie in a comedic style did a better job. With that idea than this episode does and I agree with you the decision making is terrible but it feels like it’s anachronistic for all the characters. None of the characters truly feel like it almost feels like this episode wasn’t written it also doesn’t feel like it was refined or edited or. Dwelled on by the actors I think the actors were doing the best they could with what was a very weak script and that’s why you’re left with having to kind of okay I can understand the philosophical questions posed at the end which I do like but I didn’t like how we got there and as you as you said.
Um, there were some yeah.
Read at the very Beginning. He’s the one person on that crew who they constantly seem to be pulling the rug out from underneath the character who they constantly have saying things like we have the rules are too loose on this ship. And then he’s constantly the one who’s screwing things up and it’s like it doesn’t really jive with the character. It feels like for him in previous episodes to be the one to say like we need to tighten these bolts and get things locked down and a little bit of a spoiler a little bit of a teaser for our next episode.
Yes.
He’s doing that again in the next episode this episode. He doesn’t even know when he lost his communicator and I was like very conflicted about that as a storytelling moment like is it better that we never find out how it was lost or would it have been better if it had been.
This is.
They’re stopped at a security checkpoint and some security officer grabs it might that not have been a better way to set up this episode to literally never have them aboard the ship and discover the missing item but just start at the midpoint start with them being found.
Well I mean to kind of go through the plot really quick of how they go back to this like little restaurant or bar to try to find the booth where they were sitting at where they thought it was lost and everybody’s very suspicious of them because clearly they found it and they’re trying to trap them. They trap them. They’re put into basically a Jail cell. Which by the way production clearly they were trying to save money those bars on the Jail cell I don’t know if you noticed were just would yes it was it looked like if you just pushed on it just a little bit. It would have snapped um but they were in this Jail cell.
I I made some out of balsa wood while I was watching the episode. It was a lot of fun. Yeah.
And that’s during the interrogations when they discover the fake foreheads discovered that they’re genetically altered or aliens and there’s a debate back and forth what I did like about this episode and I’m going to give it some props here. 1 of the things I did like was there was a scene between the captain and Reid when they’ in the jail cell. They’ve been sentenced to death and they’re waiting to be hung and they’re in there talking about it and Reid is basically lamenting of like this just isn’t fair that we’re going to die for this but then he turns to the captain and says genuinely I’m okay with with dying for this.
Um, yeah.
You know I believe we’re doing the right thing this is okay and it was like this really nice conversation between between the 2 of them saying we need to do? what’s right? And if that means us dying. That’s what it’s going to be and both of them are coming to terms with that and you can tell archer’s struggling with it. But Reid is it was just a very touching conversation.
Yeah.
And there’s moments like that between the 2 of them through the entire episode. So I got to give props to those 2 actors their lines and dialogue clearly when they were writing this they came up with some very wonderful moments that happened but then every time you go back to the enterprise. It’s just like get our guns out. Um pp.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It’s like what are we gonna do. It’s like just crazy. It’s like the fact that to Paul wasn’t talking about this and you know nobody else was talking about why that we can’t just go rushing in. There was ah yeah.
They spent their time trying to figure out their rescue plan instead of having that bigger debate and I would have preferred the bigger debate because ultimately what they were doing was monkeying around with a Sulaban ship. And getting comedic value out of trip accidentally cloaking his arm. Don’t even get me started on the science behind that that doesn’t make any sense. It didn’t make sense. It was funny but that should have been.
I will say it didn’t make sense but it was funny. It was funny. It was funny.
That should have been an episode like trip’s third nipple you could have had an episode right? But that’s my point is is make an episode in which trip won’t leave the sulaban ship alone and he’s trying to figure out how the cloaking technology works and inadvertently.
Um, but that episode was good I like that one.
And that happens. Yeah yeah.
Cloaks half of his body and part of the ship and that make that the a storyline and then create a B storyline like maybe you know some passing Sulaban ship detects the use of the technology and draws attention to the enterprise in a way that yeah. You could reintroduce an episode around the time the cold war the time Cold War the Tempor Cold war but the the way this is used is it’s literally like a dasx makna machine on board The ship whenever they have a moment where they’re like.
Enter.
Oh we need something special to do this thing. How about the Sulaban ship. It’s like they forget that they’ve got it for long stretches and then conveniently remember in moments like this and they never remember about the transporter. Yeah, the transporter is just out of sight out of mind I keep I.
And then and forget they have a transporter. Yeah.
In that moment when they were talking about like but how are we going to get them back I wanted there to be a shot with cricket noises in the background showing the transporter filled with cobwebs and just like and maybe you know commander O’brien’s great grandfather standing there just like um.
Ah, yes.
I got nothing to do it Ultimately the the elements of the episode that I thought stood out as plot points that made sense and could work getting caught getting revealed to be aliens.
O.
They’ve done that before in other episodes they had 1 with riker where something similar happened because of a riot and rikers hurt and then the doctors at the hospital where they’re treating riker realized this isn’t our species they have had episodes like the 1 you mentioned data has amnesia effectively. And is working to try and figure out how to decontaminate a water source and it’s this whole storyline around people believing in ultimately almost like witchcraft. It’s almost like this ah pre-industrial revolution society that is looking for. Scapegoat of what’s causing this illness and they’ve had that episode. So if you’re going to retell similar stories I’m okay with that you know happening there’s only so many plots that you can come up with especially when at this point this is now the fourth trek iteration. Of just this era we’ve had next generation deep space 9 voyager and now this let alone the original series and those other three of this era were literally back to back and in some cases overlapping. So. For them to have a little bit of writing exhaustion around this I’m like I get it I understand it. But if this was handed to me as a script and I was looking at it I would say well you’ve got elements here that make sense but you need to pull those up and forward and ditch a lot of the rest of it them getting caught fine them getting revealed. Fine then being put through a military tribunal and viewed as spies that need to be executed. Okay I even like the element where archer and Reid are on the fly trying to convince these people that they are from the opposing nation but they needed to.
Ah know.
They needed that to happen they needed that to happen before they were revealed to be aliens.
Okay, so here’s my problem with that. Okay, one of the things that star trek does really well or tries to do really well in general is is that cerebral debate about you have like the Kobi Asha maroo you have no good choices. It’s a no win scenario. You have choice a choice b and maybe even a choice c and they all suck. And none of them are going to actually solve your problem each one of them is going to create its own set of problems. What do you do? That’s the situation they’re in and so they gave the captain in that scene. There’s an element of it I like the fact they’re struggling with this choice of I have no good move here. What do I do. But the choice they came up with they made it seem like we have two choices we can tell them that we’re aliens because they’re thinking we’re aliens. But if they think we’re aliens that’s going to contaminate their evolution worse than starting an actual war. It’s like how.
Yeah.
No, no, no, no, no if anything I would make the argument that saying that your aliens is most likely going to potentially diffuse that it has yes it could go bad but there is a possible good path that could come out of that. But but by saying we’re spies.
Um, yeah.
All you’re doing is escalating their already really bad cold war and so I was like why this is this is what I was saying to you before about every decision they make is a horrible decision and it just keeps compounding by the end of the episode to the point where it’s ludicrous and it’s like Wow these people should not be commanding a ship at all.
Um, yeah.
They need to go back to Earth and then restaff that entire ship because they’re all idiots and that scene that scene did that for me.
When I said when I said that I I liked the element of suggesting they were from the other nation. My suggestion to that would be that should have taken place before they were accused of anything greater than just being strangers like.
But but what I was going to say.
Them saying we’re travelers that kind of thing like them using every excuse they could come up with on the fly and if 1 of them made the excuse and and it would be. You know you could argue that it would be Reid because he’s he’s already made other mistakes in this episode if Reid was to say to some one of these military people like look. We’re from another place and that starts the investigation down the path of oh we think they’re spies and then the doctor walks in and says they’ve got organs that don’t make sense. Their blood is wrong like this is all weird then they’re in the position of saying like look we told you we were from another place. We’re not.
Yes.
From outer space then you deal with the military’s balancing of like do we believe one or the other and they’re both bad. But as you said in the moment they leave this episode with a great ethical dilemma at the very end with.
Right? right.
Archer realizing we step foot on these planets if there are life forms there. We’re potentially screwing things up for them regardless of how well we think things have gone. That’s a great ethical question to leave an episode on. He never.
Yes.
Ever owns and I think in this episode he should have the ending should have also included Oh my God I think we put them on a faster path to war because we’ve now introduced the idea that the opposing Army has super soldiers and higher tech.
Yes.
That’s going to put this nation in a place where they’re going to be scrambling to come up with better versions of weapons or maybe in first strike simply to avoid being quote overrun by an opposing force that has these better tech. Yeah.
That’s that’s precisely what I’m getting at is I did like the very end of the episode. There’s a conversation between archer and topal about this exact thing but it’s a very skin deep conversation. They never address what you just brought up and it comes across as. Well I think we screwed up oh well dun and the roll credits and it was this yeah.
Yeah, even to the point where he makes a joke. He makes a joke when she says there’s a star cluster up ahead and there’s no one and there’s no inhabited planets and he’s like well that’s nice for a change. It’s like now is not the time for you to be making jokes that doesn’t make sense within the context of. What they’ve just been through he and Reid nearly died and they ended up having to blow the lid off of their very existence at all the various tech and as you said mistake after mistake bad decision after bad decision. They show up in a cloaked ship that they don’t even understand. For them. The cloaked ship is advanced technology so they are showing their cards that they don’t even have to these these people who are effectively. It looks like maybe 1950 s level tech.
Well, but going back to my my point I was making about this a B choice that he had when he decided you know what I’m going to tell them that we’re actually spies. There was a sea choice. Keep your mouth shut. Just don’t even tell them anything just let them spin their own wheels and then you could have had them go. Know I think like doctor could have said you know what I don’t think he’s aliens These are probably genetic enhancements. You could to let them make it up and have them just remain quiet because even though remaining quiet is a bad Call. It’s the best of all their options and so it’s like you could have had them do that and it would have at least shown some I don’t know.
You would have I think you would have also had an advantage if they decide they’re going to go look for the communicator archer should have said clearly we take no other tech with us. We go in completely free of anything you have them go in. You have them discover the communicator.
Good thought going into this.
And they pocket it and they try to leave now they’re arrested. They’re shown the communicator and they’re asked what is this and now they just keep repeating the refrain of we have no idea we just found it. We just found it there and Reid can keep saying like okay you caught me I’m a thief I steal things that aren’t nailed down.
Exactly.
Um, Bingo Yes, yes.
I saw something I took something because I thought I could sell it I don’t even know what it is it looked valuable though. So then they go round and round and round with this now. They’re examined by a doctor. Okay, they’re no longer seen as being from that planet. There’s a question Mark over their head are you from another place or are you from outer space. Do you know? what? this tech is is this tech inic indicative of what the alliance can do and you keep so you keep just revolving around that while meanwhile aboard the enterprise trip could be saying we’ve got to put together a team. We’ve got to do these things because we’ve lost contact with them and to Paul could be making the argument of. Everything you’re suggesting would make the situation worse. We we need to we need to either wait until we know definitively that they are in a place where we can get them or we need to wait until we know definitively that they are not ever going to get out of there and then we need to leave. Because we are in a position now where where these people are going to be looking for us and they even suggested something in the episode that did not come back again. Made no sense at one point sado is able to say here’s what their communications chatter is telling me at the end of the episode.
This is.
I Fully expected them to wrap up what the new scenario for this planet was I expected her to say Radio chatter is showing. They’re now on heightened alert and they are fully prepared for an invasion from the alliance that should have been the ultimate ending. With archer standing there saying why I really stuck a finger in a hornet’s nest I Really I Really screwed this up.
You You could have also had some really nice moments between I don’t want to rewrite the whole episode for doing a lot of rewriting here but between the captain and the head of the interrogators the captain of the Alien Planet you could have had.
Yeah.
Not a rapport but you could have had something that was happening between the 2 of them because if they just stuck their ground and like were thieves or travelers and they just never gave up on that and the captain could have been saying things like we’re not here to harm anybody where this is not what we’re here for you’re misunderstanding why we’re here but we can’t help you. Can’t tell you what you want us to say and the the person saying you’re you’re you’re leaving me in no choice I have to execute you because you’ve got to be from this other country and it could have been just this dichotomy of like the captain the head of the Alien place could have just basically been like. Looking a little torn about it but like my hands are tied I’ve got to do this and the captain being like I know you do and I’m doing what I have to do it could have been just kind of this unspoken thing that could have been building between the 2 of them. They did none of that It’s like it’s a shame.
2 things that could have been 2 things that could have come out of that kind of scenario and you say you’re hesitant to rewrite this I’m not I’m going to rewrite it right now. 2 things that could have come out of that that would have been really interesting would have been one if the interrogator. Officer had as archer continued to deny any knowledge of anything and Reid continued to and deny any knowledge if the interrogator had on their own picked up on which one of them was a commanding officer and began to directly speak. As officer to officer with archer and the other thing would have been in the vein of what you’re talking about the idea of both men having that unspoken conversation of I can’t do anything other than what this bad moment requires. And both of them having that it would have been very interesting if the interrogator had after finding out about from the doctor. Oh these are potentially aliens. They don’t have the right type of blood they have extra organs. We’ve never seen before they’re missing bones. If he had said something along the lines of you know my grandmother used to tell me stories that that there were always rumors of visitors from other places and wouldn’t that be amazing. She used to say to me and if this interrogator was teasing out the idea. That there’s an exit door available. If only they’ll own up to not being from that planet and you could be left then with the question Mark of is the interrogator legitimately giving them an out or is he using it to set a trap to get them to admit to something.
Um.
You could have had some very interesting moments between him and archer as they play this kind of equals who are forced into an antagonistic position and then the final sequence. Have your laser battle gun If yeah, your laser gun battle if you want to have it or not like to me that’s the most boring type of ending to an episode like this but have it or not but put these characters in positions to make difficult decisions.
Yes.
Where they know they’re not going to fix the problem as opposed to what they did in this episode which was literally every decision was viewed as well I wish we didn’t have to do this. But I think this will fix it and at no point did it.
Well, there’s I really like that I think they would have worked a hell a lot better and it made me think of the next generation episode. There are 4 lights that episode is is one of my favorite episodes of next generation. It’s basically just 2 guys in a room from the vast majority of the episode.
Yes, yeah.
And it’s just good writing good acting and it deals with wrestles with really complex topics and it’s very nuanced. It’s like you could have had something like that with this of Reid and the captain being tortured or just being starved and beaten and just being coerced to admit if they work for this other. Country or whatever and they just never do. It’s like that would have been basically the battle of wills between the two would have been far more interesting than what they actually did here but at the same time it come back to. There’s still elements of the episode I did like so it’s like even though I was frustrated as hell.
Yeah, yeah.
Still at the end of the day was entertained and so it’s like I I am so conflicted about how I feel about this episode because there’s elements I just despised to a level I have not felt on this entire series until this episode but at the same time there was redeeming qualities so it’s kind of like I’m I’m I’m of 2 minds on the episode.
Yeah I agree with you and I and I think the bormanis at this point as far as dialogue is concerned he knows and the other writers know how these characters sound in conversation with each other trip and mayweather have a very nice conversation prior to trip. Accidentally yeah cloaking.
Yeah, yeah.
Part of his body. Ah and and then afterward when he has cloaked his arm mayweather says it could come in handy on date night like and they give each other this look and trip is just like what the hell are you saying? He’s like if you want to steal some popcorn and it’s this very cute little like wink wink like. Like and normally that stuff stands out as like I wish they wouldn’t have that kind of reference but that moment it does seem like mayweather is really kind of like turning the screw and like like I’m I’m teasing you in a way that that yeah and the doctor as well. Yeah.
Um, well and and a doctor the doctor too The scene with the doctor where he’s the trip is like what what am I supposed to do and the doctors goes yoank and holds up a glove like here you go listen wait it out. There’s a lot of that episode which is fun.
Just holds up a rubber glove. Yeah yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I agree with you for me. This is a largely plotting episode that ends up not having it doesn’t feel like star trek not because the characters don’t sound like themselves as much as it just felt unrefined and. Poorly sloppily put together and disappointing from that side while still presenting good big ethical and philosophical questions that some of the better episodes of star trek present and so I agree with you I’m frustrated by that and I’m curious. Our listeners. Do you agree this this episode one that you kind of had to force yourself through or did you think that it was well done. Let us know we appreciate your feedback. You can leave a comment in the comments directly below the video if you’re watching this on Youtube or. You can find the contact information in the podcast description you can reach out to us through that next time we’re going to be talking about the episode singularity Matt I already know what this one’s about. But I’m going to ask you do you.
I have honestly no clue what it’s about but I’m I’m guessing it’s about 1 thing
1 thing yeah it is it’s about 1 thing 1 thing
It’s their only 1 minute episode just like oh that thing closing credits the episode is over before we even know it’s been a long road getting from there to here. Yes I did.
And wrote roll credits.
Oh no, don’t don’t don’t.
Before we sign off is there anything you want to share with our listeners. What do you have coming up on your other channel.
Um I have some really interesting episodes coming up probably by the time this episode’s coming out I have an episode on tiny houses living in a tiny house. Could you live in an eighty Square Foot room Sean could you would you want to? yes.
Eighty Square feet ah I’m gonna go out on a limb and say no i’m.
Ah, well I have an episode that talks all about tiny houses and why you might want to but you have to watch and find out.
Um, as for me, please check out my website http://seanferrell.com you’ll find information about my books there or you can just go directly to Amazon Barnes Noble or any of your local bookstores or even your public library. You can find out. What books I have available on the website and then ask for them. Basically anywhere you should be able to find them. Oh thank you? Yes, that’s a totally biased opinion right? there.
And they’re good I’m biased but they’re good. Yes.
If anybody has any comments or corrections please do reach out as I mentioned before the contact information is in the podcast notes or on Youtube you can just scroll beneath the video and leave a comment there. Please do remember to subscribe to like the episode and to share it with your friends and to come back next time we appreciate your listening. Talk to you soon? Bye bye.