The Beige and The Bold

I'm here with Joie from The Jump and Shoot podcast. We're watching the last episode of Ro Laren with you all.

Ro has grown a lot and now she's learning about her own culture during a mission to infiltrate the Maquis. I won't ask if you can think of a reason for a man and woman to talk privately in a bar; I'll ask how many reasons you can think of for a man and woman to talk privately in a bar. 7? 47?

You can find Joe on twitter at:...

Gepwin is my guest again and we're watching "Bloodlines" with you.

Maybe there's a version of this where Dr. Crusher discovers all of the medical chicanery in Picard's Son (I forget his name and I don't care) and Data and Geordi figure out Bok's one trick that physicists hate to route his subspace transporter beam straight into a holding cell, we wrap this all up without a third act.

But we have a third act.

You can find Gepwin on ...

It's another Solo Session. Worf is worried about Alexander's future, but luckily a Klingon consigliere named K'mtar is there to help. Also there's something about a plot to murder Worf by, *reads smudged writing on hand* the Dumas Brisket?

I didn't have fond memories of this one, but it's surprisingly solid, even if later Treks--*ahem*--destroy everything it builds towards.

Is that such a big deal though? Do these stories matter le...

Journey's End has been a long time in coming. It feels like the beginning of the end of the series and it's also an episode I recorded with this guest host almost two years ago. 

That said, there are a few things I'd like to get off of my chest:

• Picard does not have Native American heritage.
• Ro Laren was 8 episodes of TNG and a prominent character in 6 of those episodes.
• Cardassians had neck frills in their original a...

I'm hanging out with Gepwin this week while we watch Genesis.

I feel like our science nitpicking would be really petty and mean if anything at all happened in this episode. I'm not the kind of guy to expect big arcs out of TNG, but some level of drama and real stakes are necessary. And no, "the ship will be animals forever" is not real stakes. I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them, but my arms get tired, yo.

How stupid w...

I continue watching each episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This time with my friend Dr. Izixs as a guest.

Delivered exactly on Wizard Central Time, it's the one where Data has hot rocks and no memory and Troi has no rocks and a hot memory. A memory of being in command.

Despite being a bit rickety, is this one of the best episodes of the season?

You can find Dr. Izixs' podcast, Watchers of Tomorrow, on podbean here: https:/...

Unedited, slightly incoherent, and mostly redundant, The Beige and The Bold Solo Sessions are episodes where I run through a show with just you, the listener, as my companion. In "Sub Rosa," things get messy.

Sub Rosa has gotten infamous in later years as the one where Dr. Crusher fucks the ghost. I've heard it said that if Riker had fucked the ghost we wouldn't give that episode nearly as much guff. I disagree. Riker gets a lot of...

Hey it's me and Matt lookin' at one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's last classic episodes: "Lower Decks." We're gonna watch it together on Netflix and then talk about it some.

Given that Star Trek: Lower Decks is based on this episode, it's surprisingly heavy. The series has a lot of humor with only touches of drama and pathos, but it does have those as well. It's true to its roots and it's the best Star Trek I've watched since...

Unedited, slightly incoherent, and mostly redundant, The Beige and The Bold Solo Sessions are episodes where I run through a show with just you, the listener, as my companion. In "Homeward," I basically miss everything Dr. Crusher was saying because she addresses a lot of my concerns, but--

--what about DOMESTICATION?! Do you know how long it took for us to make wheat, corn, and other plants edible?! The Boraalans aren't starting o...

I'm watching TNG's 7th season alongside you, the viewer, and Alex from Media Thinkings and Cinema Joes.

It's about Riker and loyalty versus principle. It's a great conflict that has a lot of ideas behind it and addresses a lot of the structure of the Star Trek universe. "Sadly, we don't see any compelling alternative ideas behind this. Don't be a dick and murder your crew, future Starfleet captains."

Also, this episode is connected...

I'm watching TNG's 7th season alongside you, the viewer and Grymm from Descents part one and two. We're talking about Worf. In time.

It's a collection of roads not traveled, which is a pretty good look when, dead Geordis aside, most are pretty badass. Worf ranks up if people die I guess. It feels like Starfleet wouldn't function quite so much like a Klingon ship, but I guess it does. As is, it makes Worf look a little undervalued. ...

I'm watching TNG's 7th season alongside you, the viewer and Joie from Jump and Shoot. We're talking about climate change. In space.

Season seven puts the "beige" in The Beige and The Bold and this one is no exception. I've gravitated further from "language of television" and closer to "lazy contemporary assumptions." This episode is that so much because Star Trek just ignores climate change and then everyone pretends they handwaved...

I'm watching Season 7's "Inheritance" alongside you, the viewer. No co-host this week, just me talking about moms. Specifically, Data's mom, who appears out of nowhere after decades and wants to start a relationship with Data.

In retrospect, it gets weird. I'm going to blame it on Star Trek: Picard, but it gets weird.

Am I wrong though? Is Dr. Tainer's desire to reach out to Data after years when she chose to pointlessly abandon hi...

My guest co-host is Gepwin this week and he's on to something with these tricorders. They do an awful lot. 

I'm not sure if there's some big idea or approachable social metaphor or human story in this episode. Unless it's homeopathy. Because we get one ounce of those things and whole lotta tap water to keep 'em in.

You can listen to Gepwin and Dr. Izixs to their own watch of Star Trek in Watchers of Tomorrow: https://watcherso...

In the far distant future of the 24th century, museum exhibits will interact with you.

It's hard to say anything about "Masks" because there's no human story, no lesson, and no real point to it. It's a standalone idea that's executed with moderate skill. It's a Star Trek episode that happened.

I dunno. How are YOU doing?

My guest this week is NamelessSeeD, who runs For Heroes Gaming. You can check it out at https://www.fourheroesga...

Dark Page is a heavy and surreal episode which is a hard thing to make fun of, but me and Smokey try. 

I hope you guys like How I Met Your Mother*. 

It's great how this episode deals with language and trauma. As best as a 45-minute episodic TV drama can. It utilizes Majel Barret effectively and Marina Sirtis gets some decent work. I'm not sure why this episode isn't remembered better. It's got an IMDB score of 6.4, which ...

Unedited, slightly incoherent, and mostly redundant, The Beige and The Bold Solo Sessions are episodes where I run through a show all on my own.

Man, "Phantasms" has got it all; lazy pseudoscience, disdain for people who aren't the main cast, and a gaping hole where a big idea should be. It's a yawner that's only slightly redeemed by its strong and bizarre visuals. 

I cover The Original Series' saurian brandy and its contribut...