Phasers Set To Stun: Top 10 Episodes from Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1

On our first "Phasers Set To Stun" episode, we recognize the popularity of the latest Star Trek television shows, and how they're building the fanbase. Did you skip Picard because you never watched Star Trek: The Next Generation? If you're ready to catch up at warp speed, we discuss the ten episodes you need to see from season one, if you aren't ready to watch all 26 episodes!

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The curated list discussed in today's episode contains the following Star Trek: The Next Generation season one episodes:
Encounter at Farpoint (2 parter)
The Battle
Hide and Q
Haven
Datalore
Heart of Glory
Arsenal of Freedom
Skin of Evil
Conspiracy
The Neutral Zone

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Space the Final Frontier. Join usfor a bold conversation our prime directive to
recap our favorite Star Trek shows,both new and old, to engage in
debate about all things Trek. Prepareto energize with Phasers Set to Stuntman.

(00:38):
Hello listeners, and thank you forjoining us for Phasers Set to Stunt.
We've seen so much love for youfrom you for Star Trek from our limited
series, but there's always more toexplore. So this ongoing series from a
film by podcast focuses on every quadrantof the ever expanding universe of Trek by
covering television, animation, movies,directors, and more. Plotting the course

(00:58):
as always as your core crew,I'm Scott Hoffman, I'm David Burns,
and I'm Wayne Whiten. All Right, thank you so much guys for coming
back to this and getting into biggerTrek. I don't know how we're gonna
limit this to our typical hour becausethere's so much to say, but I'm
looking I just gotta wanted to askround Robin Wayne, as our resident expert

(01:21):
on Trek history, what are youlooking forward to with Phaser Set to Sun.
Well, there's so much of StarTrek. I mean, we've got
coming up to sixty years the show. I'm just looking forward to reviewing and
maybe even reevaluating some of the pastepisodes of the different Star Trek series,
sharing my opinions, delving into thebackground info, maybe just discussing the various

(01:45):
areas of the franchise with you andwith the viewers. Cool, David,
what about you? Pretty similar towhat Wayne mentioned, you know, just
like a film buy. When we'redoing all the other podcasts, I get
to revisit films and stuff like thatthat I haven't seen in many, many
years. So the fact that thisis giving me an excuse to go back
and revisit all this Star Trek againthat I have loved so much just excites

(02:06):
me. And the fact that Iget to talk about with you guys and
the listeners just excites me to noend. I'm excited to get started,
especially because since this first episode helpsbring some new interest into the Trek universe.
We all have a friend like ourexecutive producer Jeff, who's interested in
Trek but doesn't know where to start. So one of the things we'll be
doing on Phasers is something we liketo call starter treks. A curated episode

(02:30):
list for first time viewers. SoJeff has gotten hooked on modern series like
Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks,but never got into the clastic series.
So this spoiler free list focuses onthe top ten episodes from each season for
people like Jeff as a great placeto start with starter Decks. We simplify
the menu with choice cuts of PrimeTrek that gives people a taste of each

(02:51):
season. After listening to this episode, you can find the course we're plotting
for you with our list in thedescription below. So Dave, what series
and see? Isn't it recovering today? Well, you know, I've got
this big smile on my face becauseyou know, we talked about how we
were going to start Phaser set toStune and we are going to be diving
into the series that I know YouTubegrew up with in me, and that

(03:12):
of course is Star Trek the NextGeneration. We're going to be discussing season
one today. It's a series thatreally holds a special place in my heart,
and I'm sure it does for YouTubeas well, because you know,
I know, older people than usgrew up with the o G. We
grew up with the next generation crew, and you know that kind of leads
into, you know, to talka little bit about the series as a

(03:34):
whole. You know, this serieshad to break new ground for people because
everyone knew Kirk you know, Spockcheck off through a little boy. They're
giving because a whole new crew,a whole new ship. So that's that's
bold in itself, right, theywere. They were taking a risk here,
you know, and you can seethat they didn't want to spend a
ton of money because they didn't knowhow it was going to be received.

(03:59):
Because come be honest, guys,I mean, if we grew up with
the original crew, like a lotof people did at that time, you're
being told that you got to accepta new crew. Would you be willing
to do that when you're so usedto Kirking all of them? So they
took a big risk here, andyou see that in season one a little
bit, because let's admitted, seasonone is not perfect. Okay, it
is not perfect, So you know, they they're feeling the way like most

(04:21):
seasons do. You know that firstseason's rough. They got to find their
way. I mean even some ofthe actors felt like, ah, this
is gonna be a one and doneand we're out of here, you know.
But it turned a corner, andtoday that Star Trek to Neihering crew
is like the original crew. Nowwe all love them, adore them,
and when we see them at conventionslike we did recently, we race to

(04:45):
them to talk to them and gettheir autographs. So it really it made
its way into our hearts, isbasically what I wanted to say. I
remember the first time I was awareof the next generation was when the video
cassette of Star Trek four came out, had the very first promo for the
series, and that was the firsttime it was ever released, very raw,
no visual effects, sound effects.Music was weird in it, and

(05:09):
I'm like, well, I'll checkit out. And when the show came
I loved it. I thought itwas great. But then I didn't have
that, you know, connection tothe original series like a lot of people
did, so there was no animosityagainst the new crew. I just I
fell in love with them right awayand the first season. I may not
like some of the episodes that alot of people do like, I may

(05:30):
love some of them that people hate, but it's a show that I was
attracted to right away from the beginning. Yeah yeah, Scott, what about
you man? Yeah, So forme, it was my first committed into
Star Trek. So the only tastethat I had had before that was really

(05:51):
Star Trek Rethicon Star Trek two,and it never really got me into the
original series. It's just something thatI enjoyed and I kind of watched over
and over again. I hadn't reallygotten into the subsequent movies, but it
was really kind of a community thingwith my brother and my sister. We

(06:12):
watched it together when it first cameout, and we were there in front
of the TV every single night towatch the latest episode, and we got
hooked pretty quickly. It was itwas a lot of fun to discover it
for the first time and kind ofestablish a relationship with crew that we followed
all the way through the end,and we still I'll still jump on the

(06:35):
phone with my siblings and talk aboutyou know, if you haven't watched this
latest one, you've got to watchit because it goes back to what we
loved. So, you know,it became a series that you didn't missed
an episode right you were there.I mean, I did anything possible to
get home to watch those episodes.Heck, I even wrecked my car on

(06:55):
the way trying to wrest them toget to watch the unfortunately, happened to
have been one of the worst episodesof the series reason my opinion. But
that's that's a different thing. Youknow, I didn't know at the time,
but it became must see television forus, especially for sci fi fans.
This is this is in the daywhen the water water Cooler shows,
yes, where you know, youwatched it from fall to spring and then
it would take a break over thesummer. So the whole summer you're spending

(07:18):
talking your friends, Oh my god, did you can you? What do
you think they're gonna do? Andthat kind of thing. And you know
we're gonna get into one of thehugest cliffhangers later on in this uh you
know, not today in this podcast, but in what season three I think
it is. Yeah, we're gonnabe talking one of the biggest cliffhangers,
and you know it's that they're like, man, you had to wait all
summer to get the the closure ofthat. So I missed those kind of

(07:41):
shows. You know, we're livingin a day where we got streaming and
you get all it almost all atthe same time. Sometimes you don't.
Some streaming services are going back tothat one episode per week time on which
I like, I know a lotof people don't. Yeah, same here,
But it just builds that energy,It builds that you know, excitement
for it. You know, Imiss those days and Star Trek did that
so well guys it yeah, yeah, well it And that kind of release

(08:03):
approach makes it so that in betweenyou have a lot of chances to have
a lot of great conversations with friendsabout speculation. You know what's going to
happen, but you also have allthis build up in your mind. I
bet it's going to go here.I bet it's going to go here.
And it's so much more satisfying whenyou see that in the next episode released.
But it gives you that time tokind of savor it a bit.

(08:26):
Yeah, and they use that togreade effect. In this series. There's
a lot that are standalone episotic andit never comes back to what's going on,
So very good standalones. But thenalso the through threads of the characters
are are very well done. Unfortunately, some got more of a chance to
explore that than others, but we'llget it. Into that, especially with

(08:46):
this season. So when you're watchingseason one, you know you're going to
see a lot of lower budget stuff. You know, I mean, the
special fact are still good, don'tget me wrong, but you can tell
that they didn't have the biggest budgetthat they needed. So you know,
I applor everybody do not hold thatagainst the show at all. And you
know that was a problem too atthe time, because you know, it

(09:07):
looks low budget, but kind ofkeep in mind at the time that it
was made, it's actually one ofthe most expensive series on true Mission.
They were spending over a million dollars, which today that's like cheap, you
know, if anyone spend a milliondollars, But back then that was incredible.
But there was no CGI, therewas no easy view of doing the
visual effects, so they were reallystruggling to get this stuff out. Yeah,
and if you notice still, likeeven the uniform is a little bit
rough. They don't fit some ofthese actors very well. If you notice

(09:31):
that, it's almost like they werein a rush at times to get some
of this stuff done. You know, when we were watching some of these
episodes, I'm like, oh,that uniform doesn't look too good. On
him some of them. Some ofthem do, don't get me wrong.
And as this you know, andagain as we talk about the first season
is going to be rough and alot of shows, and as this show
progresses it gets fantastic with everything.This first season has some serious teething problems

(09:52):
at times can be hard to getthrough, but there are some really good
stuff and you can't skip it.I mean, if you have to look
at it to the as a whole. We have to start at beginning to
appreciate the end of the series.And I agreed. Yeah, well,
well, all right, well wegot it a lot to discuss. Only
ten episodes. Wayne, start usoff with the first of our favorite picks.
Tell us the title and what it'sall about. Well, for the

(10:15):
first we have to go with thefirst, and that would be encounter at
Farpoint. While in route to theirfirst assignment, the newly commissioned USS Enterprise
is interrupted by the omnipotive being knownonly as Q. Captain Picard and his
new crew are put on trial forthe crimes of humanity, and the outcome
depends on them solving the mystery ofFarpoint Station and its builders. The episode

(10:37):
was written by DC Fontana, andGene Roddenberry, obviously to people who were
from the original series. Directed byCorey Allen, and it originally aired on
September twenty sixth, nineteen eighty seven, the premiere of the series. It
is a two hour episode, theonly two hour episodes from the first season.
Obviously they were going to it's sometimeswhen you watch on televisions, broke

(10:58):
it up in two pieces, butit aired as a pilot. There are
some great things about this episode.I don't want to give too much away
on it, but you'll see somegreat appearances, including DeForest Kelly, who
makes a very brief appearance just asa favor to Gene Roddenberry, you know,

(11:18):
kind of kind of sue the theworries of the original series. But
in another character I want everybody topay attention in this is someone else who
appears in it without a name.Cole Meeni first appears in this episode.
He doesn't have a name in thisseries. That didn't get a name until
the second season, but that's MilesO'Brien. He becomes one of the main

(11:39):
cast and characters later on in theshow and of course in Deep Space nine.
And another thing I'd like to pointout on this which I absolutely love
this. The visual effects for thisepisode were done by industrial like magic.
When Roddenberry came to them to dothe models, he says, hey,
we'll do your visual effects. Andthat actually was the most beneficial thing for

(12:01):
this show because they did such ahuge catalog of visual effects for this episode,
just simple shots like the Enterprise flyingby or orbiting a planet, that
those effects were be able to bewere able to reused throughout the entire series,
keeping costs down and allowing them tomake these great episodes throughout the seven

(12:22):
years. If my minor thining isdidn't they try to get Lenard Nimoy at
first? That's correct, Yes,yes, yeah, he wasn't interested.
Yeah, so that's when they wentwith the divorce. Kelly. I do
like that they did that kind ofto bridge the original crew with the new
crew, to show that, youknow, we're in the same you know
Galaxy, you know, world ofStar Trek. So I do appreciate they

(12:43):
did that, and I feel whythey did it, so it makes it
It's a simple scene and it's veryit's a beautiful scene. It's it is
yeah, and Bones is that kindof character where it's almost like one of
the most human characters, like fromPresident Day right, because he's like,
wait a second, he talks thatdata about wait a second, now you're

(13:05):
an android. Yeah, and youknow, kind of that new kind of
perspective that he adds to it.So I think he was the right character
in there. And I'm glad wegot an appearance by Deforce Carol Kelly there.
And it's set a trend that forevery New Star Trek series that came
out up till the end of Enterprise, someone from the previous series appeared in

(13:30):
the pilot episode. Yeah. Ohyeah, that's right, that's true,
that's true. Anything about that,but you're right, very interesting. I
find it also interesting that this isthe episode well it starts off with the
whole Star Trek nextiration, but isalso where we get the catchphrases from a
card come make it So, Yes, which is used quite a lot throughout

(13:50):
the series. Yes. And there'sa lot of missteps to in this episode,
and you could really see a lotof deeping problems where they're really trying
to get things right. Troy's outfitsbehind that makes me laugh every time I
see she looks like a teenage cheerleader. In this very snippy shirt and puffed
out here extream eighties right there,Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of

(14:13):
my one of my favorite guest starson this episode is a voice that you'll
recognize if you're a fan of Transformersor g I Joe, the voice of
Duke Zema and Major Blood. MichaelBell plays a major role in this and
that man has a mile long listof voice acting credits, and to see

(14:39):
him live action here I think givea really really great performance is very refreshing.
So Jeff in particular, you know, come watch Duke in a different
kind of role. You know.I think they even had to create Hugh
as a second storyline, wasn't it, Because this was originally done as like
a one hour Then a paramount wantedwith a two hour pilot, so they

(15:03):
had to come up with another storyline. So that's how they put Q into
this two part episode. So Ifound that interesting. So, and that's
why there's two riders. I believethe far Point storyline was by DC Fontana
and Roddenberry went and we wrote thescript and added all the Q to to
expand it to the two hours.Yeah, and for those who know Star
Trek, you're gonna see Q quitea bit, So yeah, get used

(15:26):
to it. Get used to itall right. Well with that, Dave,
take us to the next episode.What's our number two pick? So
we have the episode called the Battle. In this episode, the Enterprise meets
up with a Feringi ship, whichwhere we meet Damon Bach, who wants
a meeting with Captain Picard. Itseems the Feringi has a gift for him,

(15:48):
which turns out to be the Stargazerthe car served on in the same
ship he did the legendary move knownas the Picard maneuver all, isn't it.
What seems is if Fringy has somethingup there fleet, as they often
do, and they even have abigger surprise waiting for Picard that we discovered
back is holding for him. WhatI find interesting about this episode is the

(16:11):
Picard maneuver for one, because,for those fans who know Star Trek very
well, Patrick Stewart constantly would pulldown his his his top because he kept
pulling up on him, so thecast secretly started calling that the Picard maneuver.
Patrick Stewart did it so much thatit became a commonplace that he started

(16:33):
doing it on you know, onpurpose. Because we expected it to happen.
But yeah, so the Pacar Mauverhas two meetings in the series,
one for actually in the show andone for you know, behind the scenes
for the fans and stuff like that. So I found that quite quite humorous
for sure. This episode was directedby Rob Bowman, which I did not
know because Rob Bowman did a lotof X Files and when you know what

(16:56):
a huge X Files fan I am, I didn't realize he directed episodes of
Star Trek. It's so I startedto dig into these. I was like,
oh, the crap, this isRob Bowman. But very I thought,
this is a really good episode.Guys, what do you think?
I agree? I agree, Andyou know with this is the Feringi's second
appearance on the show, and theywere supposed to be the big batties to
take over Klingons, and that firstappearance is just it's just horrible. You

(17:22):
know, they don't work at allin the first appearance. But here in
this episode, it seems like thatthey realized that right away and changed it.
There's still they're still at the Feringithat we're familiar with redew Space nine,
or they're getting there. They've beenthey've been improved. They're more scheming,
they're they're more they they're more normalbecause they're just really really fairal In

(17:45):
the first episode, I like theperformances of the Feringis and the actress that
played him to Yeah, I know, this is the episode that I think
Will Wheaton said that fans turned onhim. Will Wheaton said, you know,
because they gave us the clunky dialogueand a very absurd dialogue in this
that he says, this is theepisode that a lot of the fans turn

(18:07):
on his character. Here. Icould see that. Yeah, yeah,
You've got to give some respect toWill Whedon for that, because I think
his character goes to great places,but especially in this first season, the
sweaters, those sweaters and the dialogue, and he's got some that's a big

(18:29):
hill to go ice skating up right, it is. And just the fact
that I think Wesley and Data hadso many scenes where people were like dismissing
them, were saying like, oh, you're talking too much and all this
other kind of stuff, and I'mlike, I'm really glad they didn't continue
with that with the characters because itjust seems so demeaning. And yeah,

(18:51):
so I'm glad I went to abetter place, and I'm glad they went
to a better place with the Ferengias well. Like I mentioned, that
first appearance really does feel like aPlaymate's a Glub kind of who is the
who had the license for the toys? Wasn't a Playmates? That was?
That was gloom Glub at the time. Yeah, yeah, it felt like

(19:11):
a toy commercial, right, like, oh no, it's the Varengi and
they've got their whips. Watch outcrew, that's okay, I've got Riker
Like Yeah, this one very muchfelt like they were starting to round them
out a little bit more. Andyou've got some history on uh Picard on
the Stargazer, so everybody got alittle bit more depth in this one,

(19:32):
which is a welcome change. Yeah, we're starting to see us in that
character development here. You know,we didn't get to much of that encounter
fair Points, so we're starting tosee a lot of that and getting developed,
which I like, you know,we need to know our characters and
where they're coming from so that wecan care about them. Right. Well,
the next one on the list isHide and Q, And as you
mentioned, Q comes up a lot. He's a very important character to this

(19:53):
series, and this is definitely theone where he starts to become or the
queue that we're used to. Soin this one, the Enterprise crew is
forced to play a deadly game whenQ returns with attempting offer for Riker to
trade his humanity for unlimited power aspart of the Q continuum. Now there's
a little bit of a spoiler inthere, but it's it's an interesting premise

(20:18):
to think about. You know,they've seen what Q can do. They
see a lot more of that here, so to offer that up, they
do that in very interesting ways.I think they play it out in some
morality decisions that they have to make. And we also see more of the

(20:38):
playful side of Q. In thefirst episodes, he was so menacing and
it was all about kind of orchestratingthis trial kind of idea. But this
is, you know, using thepowers to play the games. A lot
of costume changes. He impersonates oneof the characters in kind of an interesting
way. It's interesting. A fewthings I didn't know about this is that

(21:04):
Troy does not appear in the episodevery much, and she thought at the
time that she's going to be cutfrom the show, which is going to
be horrible. Yeah, And Imean it's I guess having to know that
with such a big cast, ifeverybody's going to get equal time, it's

(21:26):
going to be very difficult to dothat kind of a show. But that
had to be kind of unsettling forher, and I'm glad that's not the
direction they took. I think she'sone of the best characters that they have.
And credit to John Delancy for whathe did with Q. I saw
that the director of this episode wasstudying the first episode intensely to try to

(21:47):
make sure that he was getting Qright, and John just slipped right back
in and took it to great newplaces. So this is the cue that
you'll be seeing a lot more.There's a lot more fun that happens with
So it's definitely the kind of episodeyou want to buckle up for it.
And this is the first appearance ofLeVar Bert with that as visor. Yeah,
so you're right, yeah, yeah, and that that's used to it's

(22:11):
a great effect at this one.And it's it's tough to talk about these
things. Is that talk about spoilers? I know it is. You want
to make sure that you're giving somebodyenough to know, you know, what
they're in for. But uh,there's so much to say about how it
resolves, so just don't let usknow. This is another example too.
It's a great, it's a goodepisode. This is probably one of the

(22:32):
few that worked where where they're reallytrying to copy some of the feel and
look of the original series. It'svery much of a Traline type of of
episode. And even in so muchas it sets that that planet set is
so fake with its gel background andit's it's sand ground, but it looks
just like something out of the sixties. They didn't do that again, fortunately,

(22:53):
but it's it's just so incredibly fake. But then it's Q created it,
So you know, who's to saythat that's not the way it supposed
to work? Like he did iton purpose? Probably you know, Yeah,
well, to that effect, Iknow that the original series we're talking
like sixties special effects. There isa bit of you know, there's almost

(23:14):
that original series aesthetic to some ofthe special effects like in this episode,
so it almost seems like there's abit of an accidental bridging effect there.
But yeah, it also kind oftakes you out when you're used to the
Star Trek today and you're like,really, just a flood of green,
that's the sky, just green.Okay, it needs a pretty green,
right exactly. Well, let's takea quick break and we'll get back to

(23:37):
finishing our list. They check itout. There's a brand new podcast on
the way exploring the discographies of theBeatles and the Beach Boys. It's called
Apples and Oranges and and Lodges.On February seventh, we will be matching
albums against each other in a onev one format, discussing every single track
and then giving our verdict on whichalbum is better. Pet Sounds versus Revolving

(24:03):
Sergeant Pepper versus Smile. Wouldn't itbe nice if most people knew how well
the Beach Boys actually held up againstthe Fab Four. Both bands inspired each
other to keep pushing the boundaries ofwhat was possible in pop music here,
there, and everywhere, and whatwe got were some of the greatest albums
of all time. Awesommer Long versusA Hard Day's Night, River Sol versus
the Beach Boys. Today, solet's come together for some fun, fun,

(24:25):
fun, and help me Ronda getthis podcast off the ground, and
we'll sure appreciate you being around.On February seventh, wherever you find your
podcast that's Apples and Oranges. Februaryseven, we're back and we're going to
talk to Wayne about the next episodeHaven. Okay, this is one of

(24:47):
my favorites from the first season.This is Haven. The Enterprise visits the
planet Haven, where counselor Deanna Troyis visited by her mother Lausana and is
reminded of her commitment to an arrangedmarriage to a human doctor named Wyatt.
While plans for the wedding is beingmade, the Enterprise must deal with the
appearance of a plague ship on aheading for the planet. This was written

(25:10):
by Tracy Tormat and Lane o'conne,directed by Richard Compton. This I just
I love this episode for many reasons, and the biggest one being this is
the first appearance of Major Barrett asthe Vaux Santa Troy. She amazing,
Yes, immediately from the from theget go. It becomes an incredible character

(25:32):
that that's fun to watch, veryout bearing and and and the way she
her and and Patrick Stewart worked together, and just it's it's fun to watch.
Every minute is yeah, you knowit's it's a perfect casting for her.
We also see another first appearance too, the Betazoy gift box is the

(25:56):
head is played by Armine Shimmerman,who went on to play Quark on Deep
Space nine. This is his firstStar Trek appearance. And this is something
I just learned too. The directorRichard Compton, he actually used to be
an actor and he appeared on theoriginal series as Lieutenant Washburn in the episode
of Doomsday Machine. I've got togo back and watch that because I had

(26:17):
no idea about But another thing tooI want to bring out is the music
for this episode is probably some ofthe best from the first season. It
was Stump by Dennis McCarthy. Hedid the pilot and this was very early
in his career. Wonderful score,very beautiful and subtle, but with some

(26:37):
great themes. And because of that, he was certain he was going to
get fired. One of the producersof the show, Rick Berman, did
not like music on the show,and if it was up to him,
he would have every episode without anymusic. And because of the themes and
because it stood out in the miniof the scenes, he was afraid he

(26:59):
was going to get fired and thatI'll bring this up later on, maybe
when we get around to talk toseason three or four, because it got
worse and worse as years go by. But I completely disagree against Berman.
The music is fantastic and does everythingto enhance the episode. Well, you
know, if if Rick Berman everhears this, I'm sorry, mister Berman,

(27:19):
but you are wrong. Music iseverything when it comes to TV movies.
Whatever it is. Without it,it's not gonna be good at all.
I'm sorry. Yeah. And there'san amazing use of a musical instrument
in this episode, a little gong. Oh, it's played an amazing time.

(27:41):
Now she storms out and just knocksit over. I love that.
Yeah. And for those who don'tknow, start track too, ma.
Joe Baird is the voice of thecomputer for Enterprise and the original number one
and the original number one that's yes, yeah, yeah, and that's a
that's a great oh. And NurseChapel exactly exactly. So, I mean

(28:02):
it's one of those things where youknow, I didn't have that experience with
Majel Barrett before Lowak's on a Troy. So going back and watching things like
The Cage and watching some original seriesepisodes, it's like, Wow, she's
really been with this through the wholething. If you were listening to Lower
Decks this past season, watching thoseepisodes like you said the Gift Box tonally,

(28:30):
I think a lot of things thatcarry through into lower decks you first
start to see here. It's aninteresting balance of comedy and drama because it's
kind of both types of episodes arerunning in parallel in this one or both
types of stories, but it neverfeels like can we get done with the

(28:52):
comedy, get back to the drama. It's used to great effect. I
think it broadens the the betazoid aspectof Troy a lot war because you can
kind of see what it means forher to be half human half bitizoid in
how the walks out and used thesure powers and just the dynamic she's She
comes back so often, and it'ssuch an amazing character. It's a trait

(29:17):
every time she comes back. Andher appearances are so varied. I mean,
we've got you go from some episodeslike Manhunted are huge comedies, and
then you turn into one's like DarkPage, which are serious, serious dramas.
Yeah, you can perform at all, and she's fantastic in every bit
of it. Yeah, yeah,completely agree. I'm glad we got a
taste of her in the first season. Yea's I'm glad we picked this one.

(29:37):
It's really great, Dave, what'snext on the list? So the
next one is one of my oneof my favorites from the from this season,
and that is Data Lore. Thecrew of the Enterprise travel to Omikron
Theta to the site where a colonyhas mysteriously vanished and so happens to be
where the starship Tripoli found Data.The way, team uncovers the lab that

(30:00):
belonged to Data's creator, doctor NoonanSung, where they find a disassembled Android
that turns out to be Data's brotherlaw Laura is reactivated and of course quickly
turns on the crew and find wefind out he's working for with the entity.
There are so many good things aboutthis episode, guys. One of
the biggest ones for me is Datalearns to sneeze but no, but just

(30:26):
kidding. One of the biggest onesthat we learned here is how good of
an actor Brent Spiner is. Yes, yes, this man can turn that
switch on and off like it's nothinganyone who know he plays Lore and he
plays Data in this, and heis so good at playing Data. Who's

(30:49):
good, Who's you know, likea kid learning, you know, those
kind of things. Then he turnsthat switch off and becomes Lord. Who
is this the complete opposite of Data, you know, evil and just you
know, wants to destroy everything.And you know, it's amazing to watch
him be able to turn that onand off. And even the creators who
were working on this episode were kindof concerned on how that was going to

(31:14):
come off. If Brince Speiner wasable to pull it off. Well,
guess what, he pulled it offextremely well. And you know we see
that in later years too, youknow of Brnce Speiner's acting coming out,
and he's so good at it,guys, you know. And again this
episode was directed by Rob Bowman.Again, but yeah, this is among
one of my favorites and is thefinal episode written by Geen rod Berry.

(31:37):
M interesting. I did not knowthat. Yep. Yeah, I totally
agree about Brince Speiner's range. Imean before I saw him here, I
didn't even know who he was fromNightcore, a completely different character, but
from the comedy roots, you know, they've got somebody who is at this

(32:02):
point has a lot of experience asa comedic actor playing a character that has
no emotions, and he plays thatwith comedic beats that are so subtle that
you don't realize you're watching a comedicactor play that through. And to see
him play both roles with Lore,I'm very glad they went in the direction

(32:23):
they decided to go. I knowthat there were early iterations where it was
supposed to be female android that theyfound I'm glad they didn't do that.
I'm glad they let him explore this. Laura is one of my favorite characters,
one of my favorite villains. Ikeep going back to the episodes with
Lore whenever you have a chance.But there's so much of an aspect of

(32:46):
discovery with this one. Not theshow, but that the concept of discovering
something. You know, they landon the planet and this rock face moves.
They get a little bit deeper intoyou know, the lab where they
find where data had come from,and oh, there's there's just so much

(33:08):
great use in this, and greatmoments for the Wesley character as well.
Yeah, you know, I goback to say it quite often. I
said it another podcasts before, Soif you've listened to those, and I
repeating myself. I apologize, butcomedic actors are probably one of the most
talented people when it comes to makingthat transition from comedy to drama, because

(33:31):
the comedy is hard, really reallyhard to pull it off properly, to
have that timing Scott that you mentioned, if you can, if you're really
good at that, and you canpull it off, drama seems to come
to them people very easy, andthey do it so well, and Brent
Speyer proves that in this episode andbeyond Yes, and this is one of

(33:53):
those episodes. This is one ofthe gems of the first season and a
really good reason why you shouldn't skipthe season. This episode is important.
It's it's important to these series asa whole. You really need to see
this one. Absolutely, Yeah,totally agree, and we'll see that,
Dave. What you're talking about withcomedic actors, One's Garnon becomes part of

(34:14):
him. Whoopi Goldberg. Yeah,I would not have guessed in a million
years that Whippy Goldberg, where shewas as a standup comedian, would have
been on Star Trek. But bothof them, like Brent Spinder's legacy,
once you get to a certain pointand you you know you get all the
way through all these episodes and youlook back at the catalog of characters that
he's played to greater effect with enormousrange. He's yet one of my favorite

(34:39):
actors in this in this show,I agree. So the next Monato list
is called Heart of Glory, andthis time the focus is Wharf. So
we find that three Kleon warriors arefound adrift on a derelict ship in the
neutral zone between Federation and rabuland space, which brings a mystery to the enterprise
along with a personal test for Wharf. I think in the first season one

(35:04):
of the things that they're starting tokind of they don't quite have their feet
under them, so to speak,as far as what they want to do
with certain characters, and I thinkthat's definitely true for Wharf. I think
it was kind of two dimensional incertain places, embarrassingly so in some cases,
but I'm glad that the actor playsWharf. Michael Dorn was really happy

(35:28):
with the outtime of this episode,and it shows that there's more depth and
more interest than to just say,oh, the Klingons are now friends with
the Federation. I guess they don'tget into it too much as far as
you know, what's that relationship?How did it happen? It's a while
before we get the movie Undiscovered Country, one of my absolute favorites, that

(35:50):
starts to explain that. But yeah, it's amazingly well done, and I
think this is where we start toget concepts of you know, honor being
so important to Wharf and loyalty beingso important. There's also an amazing escape
sequence. I won't say too much, but I thought it was a very
inventive use of costuming in escape.Geene Roddenberry. I don't know if he's

(36:15):
the one who came up with theidea of putting a Klingon on the bridge
of the Enterprise, but I thinkthat was a unique idea because you wouldn't
expected that, right anybody's in theoriginal series would not expect a Klingon to
be a part of the crew.So I think that was a bold move
and I feel like it wasn't justyou know, a shock factor for the

(36:37):
audience. They had a plan forhim, they just didn't know right away.
But you know, Scott, whatyou were kind of leaning towards,
you know, they just put himon the bridge, and they did that
with a few like you said,I'm looking at you, Tasha, you
are I apologized in East Crosby thatthey didn't have a plan for you right
away, But yeah, I reallyliked that they did that, and I'm

(36:57):
glad that they finally started finding hisway. And this is the episode You're
right, Scott, that I feellike they're finally starting to get their feet
under them, you know, asyou said, So, yeah, this
is the first episode that Wharf reallyhad anything to do. Many of the
episodes he was just in the background. I wasn't sure what they were planning
on doing with him or if heeven really was going to be part of

(37:17):
the main cast. I mean,you know, I'll admit most people know
that I'm not the biggest fan ofthe Klingons. This isn't one of my
highest regarded episodes from the first season, but I won't deny that of the
importance of the episode, especially tothe development of the Klingons, because before
this we really we really didn't haveany development at all. The original series

(37:37):
didn't do any didn't explore the Klingonrace that much, and with the exception
of what is Star Trek three,which kind of kind of touched into it,
very lightly. This is the firsttime we actually see the Klingons that
were familiar with today and a lotlearn a lot about their culture, and
putting Wharf on the bridge was thebest way to do that because through him

(38:00):
we can see how he reacts andhow he explores his own his own race,
his own culture. Yeah. Ifind it funny too that I mentioned
earlier that that one episode was thefirst time that we saw Jordan LaForge without
his visor. This is the firsttime we get a POV from Jordan Laforge's
visor. Yeah. Yeah, theyuse that a lot of interesting ways.
Yea. And with this one theythere are scenes where we get to see

(38:22):
from Jordy's perspective how he sees theworld, how he kind of absorbs it,
and we see how he sees othercharacters like Riker and Data, very
unique ways that he sees them.And I thought it was interesting in the
scene that we're talking about, itwas actually their body doubles. It wasn't

(38:43):
actually Riker in Data, so it'sinteresting. We also get a lot we
kind of get three sides of theKlingon race with this one. You get
the three Klingon warriors without spoiling toomuch. Who feel a certain way about
clingon culture and where it's going.You get the the captain of a playing
on ship who sees in a verydifferent way, and you've got Wharf smacked

(39:06):
out in the middle. But there'sa lot that I think, I'm glad
that this comes up so often inthe rest of the series that they choose
to focus on Wharf in this way. In some cases he's the big cliffhanger.
We'll get to that later seasons.But yeah, I'm glad they did
more with Michael Dorn. It hadto be disappointing for any episode where he

(39:30):
just looks at the script and says, Wharf growls yeah, like again,
really, can I do more thansnarl cobocks please? Well, Tassy Yard
had clicks buttons on a screen.You know, they didn't know what they
were going to do with some ofthese characters, and it shows so badly
at times. Yeah. Yeah,there are a couple of times when here

(39:50):
Tasha say like, shouldn't I godown there, sir, and no,
stay here and be at the console, and she's like, yeah, we
met in these Crosby Galaxy cut andColumbus an amazing an amazing talent there we
can't say too much, but wow, yeah, we'll get into that later,

(40:12):
all right. And in this episodethey did save some money too,
because he used some stock footage fromStar Trek the motion picture. It worked,
all right, Wayne, Take usto the next one, all right.
The next one is The Arsenal ofFreedom. This was written by Maurice
Hurley and Robert Lewyn and directed byless Landown. The USS Enterprises investigation into

(40:34):
the disappearance of the USS Drake leadsthem to the planet Ninos, where the
away team is trapped on the surfaceand the Enterprise must deal with an automated
weapons system set for total destruction ofall life on the planet. Now,
this this is an interesting episode.You know, it falls later in the
season, but this is only thesecond time we see the Enterprise separate mm

(41:00):
hm, and you know it's it'ssad we didn't get to see this more.
There was a very good reason whywe didn't get to see this very
very much. And this will bethe last time you see it until season
four and then that'll be it untilmovies. Yep. But here you know
it. This is something that theywanted to use a lot more. They
just couldn't for logistics reasons. Butwe got this. It's a good episode.

(41:28):
It's it's well done. We gotsome weird planet sets down there,
which lots of plants and another oneof those gel backgrounds, but we gotta
we get a lot of good charactermoments. But what I find funny is
this is one of those times andthe original series did this a lot where
most of the important bidge Bridge crewbeam down to the planet and get stuck

(41:51):
there, leaving the Enterprise with thevery very inexperienced Jeordie Lafort. Yeah,
who has to fight the others onthe Enterprise, you know, for to
to respect him. Unfortunately, hedoes gain his respect, and you know,
we see the seeds of what willcome in the series and and you
know, but here he's just alowly ju lieutenant junior grade and doing his

(42:16):
best to keep everyone alive. Yeah, I think it was was it Lieutenant
Logan? I think who was givinghim the hardest time in this episode?
Yes, he was the chief engineer. One of the this is That's another
thing about the first season is,uh, they hadn't originally planned to have
an engineer set, so they neverreally cast a chief engineer. So every
episode has a new chief engineer.I mean, I think the Enterprise went

(42:37):
through like a dozen of them duringthat first season. I don't know what
was going on, you know,until finally, you know, Jordi gets
gets the position. But yeah,and and I mean, Logan is kind
of an Asshole's probably why you gotBooter tell you the truth. Yeah,
get out of here, Logan.Nobody likes you, buddy. This is

(42:57):
also the episode that I'm gonna butcherhis name plays the peddler. Yeah,
then I believe Yeah. Yeah,from like Fastoon member has been high ghost
never dies. This dude is awesome. He hops up. I just I
love watching him. Yes, he'sa highlight of the episode too. Every
time he's on the screen. It'sfun to watch. Yeah, and I'm

(43:20):
glad that we get to see theside of Jordy that we get to see
here, because I feel like hischaracter wasn't used in the best ways in
the first season. If you knowhim from any of the later work,
you know that he's an essential partof engineering. I'm pointing that much by
saying it. But until then,you know he's he's at different consoles,

(43:45):
at different stations. It's not reallyclear what his career path is following,
and a lot of times when he'skind of telling jokes to Data in this
episode, he really shines a lotof confidence, especially if for a lieutenant
JG. Like you know, it'slike having Ruthford or Boiler on the on

(44:07):
the bridge. Yeah, and heowns it, and I think he masterfully
goes through the situation and the waythat he's supposed to. So I'm glad
that they made better use of LeVarBurton. Yeah, it's gets another idea
too, where another example of wherethey had an idea but it didn't work,
I think Roddenberry's idea and they thoughtit would be funny that a blind

(44:30):
man is steering the ship, andthat's what the original intension was out on.
Yeah. Yeah, that didn't workbecause it didn't get a character anything
to do other than sit there andpush buttons and you know, you know,
that's it. So I'm glad thatthey stopped that right away. One
of the things in that I youknow, you talk about all these characters

(44:51):
finding their way finally and what theydid with Laforge's character. But one of
the things that I really appreciate thatwe're going to see over the years is
the relationship between Jordi and Data.I love the relationship between those two on
how it just becomes such an incrediblefriendship. Yeah, you know you you
you see this android desperately trying tobecome human. You know, it's like

(45:12):
the like Pinocchio, the wooden boywho wants to become humans so bad.
You know, it's very similar here, and Jordi really helps him along that
way. I know it's kind ofout a place to talk about in this
episode, but you know, Ijust bringing up Jordy, you know,
I just want to mention that becausefor those who have not seen Star Trek,
you're going to see that, youknow. Over you know, the
seven years of the next generation ofthose two friendship just blooming, and I

(45:34):
love it so much. I alwayslook forward to seeing that and think about
it. Go thirty five years later, uh season three of Picard, when
when Jordy activates Data for the firsttime after they thought he was dead,
and he turns and sees Jordy forthe first time. Yep, think of
the emotional impact that had on allus. Here where this work going all
the way back to the beginning,this is where it started. This Yep,

(45:55):
that shows exactly how incredible the characterizationsand the creation of these characters through
the years. I'm not gonna lie. I teered up when that happened,
because I mean, I grew upwith this crew, So when I got
to see that that many years later, I teared up and it started.
Yeah, I'm glad they chose whothey chose, and they they got this

(46:16):
crew. We're definitely absolutely Dave.What about our next one, Well,
we're gonna be very careful on howwe talk about this episode. Yes,
this episode is called Skin of Evil. The Enterprise receives a distress signal from
Detroit Deana Troy Shuttlecraft, who wasreturning to the ship, but is discovered

(46:37):
to have crashed on a planet,and away team beams down to find a
poll of tar that turns out tobe a very evil entity known as Armis.
Commander Riker and crew have to finda way to reason with the creature.
Deaner Troy, being held against theirwill, is forced to communicate with
the being to learn its secret,But as we discovered in this episode,
the damage has been done, changingthe dynamic of the Enterprise crew forever.

(47:01):
Now again, I know we've gottabe very careful in what we talk about
this. I don't want to spoilthis for anyone because it was shocked all
of us. The ending of thisepisode was just beautiful. I think that
is my favorite part of the entireseason in my opinion, was the ending
to this episode because none of ussaw it coming, and when it did

(47:23):
happen, it was like, whatlike a shock to the system for sure,
and it was handled so well.And then one of the things that's
said at the end just wow.I mean even now I think about what
was said and I'm like, ohmy god, it's just heart reaching,
absolutely, you know. And thisgoes back to, like you know,
we talked about the original when thesets and props of this haves that original

(47:47):
feel. It really does, especiallyon the planet when when with the tar
and stuff like and Wayne, youknow, if I had side conversations recently
back at Galaxy about this episode,how I know you weren't a big fan
of the tar and stuff like that. I find it it's a little cheesy,
it's a little it's a little originalseries, a little bit too much
Original series that for my liking it. You know, you got an ancient

(48:12):
evil which has never really explained verymuch, or at least not explained to
my liking. But and this wouldprobably be my least favorite episode of the
entire series if it wasn't for theevents of later in the episode, which
I can't talk about. So Ican't really talk about my favorite parts.
But this is this is another episodethat you can't You can't skip it.

(48:36):
It's too important. You have towatch this one. Yeah, this is
vital to season one. You cannotskip this one, cannot Yeah. Yeah,
there's there's a lot of great interpersonalrelationships come to the surface. And
at the time that we're coming tothis episode, we haven't been with this
crew that much, but you alot of connective threads come out. I

(48:57):
think it's a great use of Troy'scharacter, who is isolated on the shuttle
and has nobody else. She's sittingacross from somebody who might be dead the
I forget the crewmate that's in theshuttle, but you know, surrounded by
this menacing character that I think isused really well. We'll talk in a

(49:19):
later episode about the character itself.The armis character, at least the look
and the feel comes back in anepisode with the shelleyac and I can't watch
that episode without thinking of this one. But yeah, maybe in the next
in the next few episodes, whenwe talk about the rest of Trek,

(49:44):
we can look back on this andkind of get back into it. Well,
the next one we've got, Ifeel like is one of the moments,
aside from Skin of Evil, Conspiracyis the next episode we're going to
talk about. And this one feelsto me almost like a ton will shift
from where we start with The NakedNow for example, which is a very

(50:05):
different episode from where we ended upat the end of the series. This
feels like they're kind of getting intosecond gear and getting ready for the second
season. In this one, Picardhas a clan. This is also one
that's very difficult to talk about itwithout going spoilers. But in this one,
Picard has a clandestine meeting with trustedcolleagues who give them a cryptic warning

(50:29):
about a dangerous corruption growing throughout Starfleet. As the ship gets closer to revealing
the threat, they may already betoo late. So this is one that
won an Emmy for Outstanding Makeup fora Series I just learned. Yeah,
I'm going to tread lightly here withsaying this one, and I tried to
put this in a very specific way, but I was surprised to learn that

(50:51):
this episode was originally intended to leadto an introduction of the Borg in the
second season premiere, Apparently due tothe writer strike in nineteen eighty eight,
the storyline gets pushed back several monthsand the subplot that we see coming to
the surface and this one eventually getsabandoned, which ye interesting, partly due

(51:13):
to budget shortages. But I knowthey don't make much mention of what happens
here, even though it seems enormous, a very bold use of special effects,
I will say in this one,a very almost seems like a non
Star Trek use of special effects.Yep. But I think it's this one

(51:37):
is just fascinating to me. Icome back to this somewhat often, not
as often as like Data Lore,but it's very interesting some of the places
they start to go with this,and it feels like there's kind of a
theme that we see come up invarious series. That's almost like maybe they

(52:00):
are aspects of Starfleet that are notperfect, and maybe there are some things
dipped out. Now this one there'sa sinister reason behind it, so It's
not like it's exposing a fatal flawin Starfleet, but it is interesting to
start to go to that place andsay we're not always going to be good
with authority, going to challenge itfrom time to time, which I think

(52:22):
has used really well. So itkind of great. Go ahead person this
this episode. Again, not togive away too much, but this goes
back to a film Scott you andI covered for nineteen eighty six at the
Sarca film and even even from anineteen fifty three film. And I don't
want I'm I'm not gonna say anymore. Well done. Yeah, but it

(52:45):
really does, Wayne, Sorry,go ahead this. It feels like the
first part of a multi part episodeand you know, I'm not gonna give
anything way, But unfortunately it's neverreturned to. It's one of those episodes,
one of those those plots that youkeep hoping every time a new series
or a new season starts with aseries, I think you're ever going to

(53:07):
return to this? Are we're evergoing to to give a conclusion or a
continuation? We never have in thirtyfive years. We're still hoping what we're
still hoping because there's a lot ofopen ends a lot of questions still left
unanswered. And and I you know, as Scott mentioned, this was supposed
to be a multi part episode.Yep, that just never came to be.

(53:30):
I just I'm really surprised that they'venever brought it back, never brought
the plots back to Maybe I thinkthe best way to do it would be
lower decks happened to Oh my god, get Brandon Williams on the phone.
We have an idea. Yep.Yeah, all right, Wayne, why
don't you bring us home? What'sour top ten episode? All right?

(53:54):
Well, the last of the Topten is the last episode of the first
season, and it is called TheNeutral Zone. Written by Deborah m McIntyre
and Amona Lee, directed by Jameso' conway, The Enterprise discovers a Derelck
satellites containing cryogenically frozen humans from thetwentieth century. Three of the humans have

(54:15):
survived the process, but find itdifficult to adjust to the fact that three
hundred years have passed them by.Meanwhile, the Enterprise is sent to investigate
the destruction of Federation outposts near theNeutral Zone, leading to the first confrontation
with the Romulents in over fifty years. Now, Scott, you brought up

(54:36):
to mention that Conspiracy was supposed tobe the first part that was going to
originally lead to the Boorg. Thiswas to be the second part of that
story. But unfortunately, because ofthe writer strike of nineteen eighty eight,
which had a huge impact on seasontwo, and we'll talk about that in
the next episode, they had tocompletely change the storylines and this is what

(55:01):
came of it. And through thatthough, we got the first appearance of
the Romulans in the next generation.You know, they have been mentioned a
couple of times that there's a threatthat they're you know, they're out there,
but they haven't been seen by theFederation, and it's actually it was
fifty three years. They just likelike vanished, you know, without a

(55:22):
trace, and no one has seenYou're very mysterious. And then here they
are now investigating the same incidents that'sgoing on. And it's a nice redesign
of the Romulans. They don't lookexactly like they did in the original series,
specifically because the makeup designer did notwant them looking like Bulkans. And

(55:44):
then we get their new ship,the wonderful Romulan war Bird. It's one
of the most beautiful ships that wasdesigned for Stars Break the next generation,
right, totally agree, Yeah,Probert, he was the designer of the
Enterprise D and of the Feringi Marauderto incredible ships. He was he was
in one of the best of thebusiness for ILM and he did a good

(56:07):
job. It's a great episode.I don't want to spoil some of the
ending to it. It is leftopen ended, but this fortunately did get
a continuation in the second season,so we did get to see the result
of this the open ended plot pointsfor the end of this season. And

(56:29):
it isn't a cliffhanger. This isn'ta cliffhanger like that that comes later a
show. And this establishes that theNixtunson to take place in twenty three sixty
four for the first time too,isn't it. That's right? You're right,
yeah, yeah, so we cankind of put that because I think
everything from there on out in StarTrek is based off of this year,
right, like they know from thenon out what year everything takes place from

(56:50):
here on out, correct, You'reright, You're right. And they were
able to set all the stargates becausesome of the startings before this are a
little off. They're a little weird. But after this, everything is set
perfectly and you can you can fitevery show from that point all the way
to the present day shows perfectly inthe timeline. Yeah. Absolutely. Here's
another thing that I found very interesting. When Claire is searching for her family
members of Troy, did you guystake a look of the names on the

(57:13):
screen? Yes? I did mentionthat I forgot about it yet there was
like what Gilligan's Island names were onthere, and then the cast of the
Next Generation crew were on there,and I think even is it Mash I
think was was mentioned on there too. That is hysterical. Man, oh
and you miss you missed my favorites. Very clearly on the screen are six

(57:34):
names the names of the six actorswho played Doctor Who at the time.
Yeah, that's right, very cool. I love it when they put touches
like that in shows. And Ifeel like, the face that we see
on that view screen is that notRoddenberry's face. I'm sure. I'm not
sure. She looks up a distantrelative. It's like, oh my god,

(57:57):
Yeah, I do know. Theyused a lot of the crew members
and stuff. It's very well yea, but yeah, the Romulins are such
an amazing there, very cordial,very polite, very political menace that comes
back in the series. I lovethe fact that whenever the ship de cloaks,
it kind of slithers into view andby the time it d cloaks,

(58:20):
it's so close you can see intotheir deck windows, right, And but
it's always very polite, and Ithink the way that they manage those situations
is so expertly done and it givessuch a great range to that species.
And I'm glad that we get tosee them. And it's it's only a

(58:43):
taste of the Romneys, that's that'swhat they just just just a little little
bite to you know, to letyou know that that these are the main
menace of the generation. Now.I think because the Feringi didn't work the
original plans, they decided to bringthem back. You know, we we
you knew at the end of thisepisode that we were in for more of

(59:06):
the Romulans. There was going tobe a lot of a lot more to
come than you were looking forward to. A boy, what are you looking
forward to it? After this?And I want to give a shout out
to Anthony James as son commander.Is that thigh they he was in like
high planes Drifter unforgiven, dude hasown tons of work, So definitely shout
out to him because I thought hedid a great job. So that gets

(59:29):
through our top ten. I knowthat. Well we'll go alone and they'll
go hi. Uh, there's adishonorable mention we have to talk about here.
Uh, there's a certain episode thatshould should technically be skipped because it
is not a great episode. Specifically, I think it's episode three Code of
Honor. Yes, yep, verytone deaf and embarrassingly racist episode that most

(59:55):
of the crew would love to forget. If you're going to be you know,
if you want to get the wholething and be complete and go through,
certainly do so. But just knowthat there there are sometimes when we
get stinkers, and if you're goingthrough, I'm on the fence about you
know, should you avoid it ornot. I almost feel like it should.

(01:00:20):
You have to see it so thatyou know what happened. But it's
it's not a high point. Waynemade a very good Wayne made a very
good point to me, and I'mgonna let him talk about it. So
Wayne, go ahead about that episode. Yeah, it's not an important episode
of the series, and you definitelycan skip it, but it's one of
the very few episodes from the firstseason that Denise Crosby got to do anything.
It's it's it's Atasha episode. Andfor that, I'm not gonna say

(01:00:45):
I like because I don't. It'sit is one of the worst episodes.
But she's great in it. Imean, she really gives a phenomenal performance
and shows what what could have been, you know, if she was allowed
to explore her character more, whichshe didn't get too. And in that
case, it's not my least favoriteepisode of the series, it's my second.

(01:01:07):
My my least favorite is actually theepisode before that, in episode two,
the Naked Now. I just thatepisode you can skip. You can
skip both of these. Really,yeah, go straight, which you make
which you make your your second episodeHeyn, which is perfect. But you
know, it's just I don't likeThe Naked Now. I find the the
visual effects are clunky, the actingis is it's clunky to the it's very

(01:01:32):
camp it's doing trying to be toomuch like the original series. Yeah,
and the actors are kind of offcharacter, and you know, it's it's
too early in the series for everyoneto be trying to play drunk yep.
Yeah, and it doesn't work.It's it's it's a cringe worthy episode.
So so if you do need,if you don't have all the time to

(01:01:52):
watch twenty six episodes, twenty sixhours, there's two hours right there,
you can skip. Well. Gettingback into something positive, as Boemler says,
let's talk about Riker. Riker,Wayne, you got a favorite Riker
moment from season one? Yes,I do. You brought it up a
little bit earlier. I like Riker'sperformance, his characterization in Height and Q.

(01:02:17):
You know, he's presented with animpossible decision. You know, he's
got the powers. He's omnipotent.He's got the powers of Q. He
can do anything. He can.He can bring back the dead, which
he does. He brings back Wharfand and and Wesley. He can he
can do anything. He can giveWharf girlfriends and and you know, he

(01:02:38):
he could save and stop war everything. But but he has to make the
moral decision. And and I loveJonathan Frakes's performance in this episode. It's
it's a it's a Riker episode,and it gives Riker one of the few
times in the series, or itmight be the only time where he really
gets to interact with Q because beforethe hour after this it's it's Patrick Stewart,

(01:03:00):
Johnallancy all the way. But herehere it is we've got Jonathan Fraake's
and John Delancy and they do aphenomenal John this This is my choice.
Good choice. All right, Dave, what about you? What's your favorite
record moment? So mine actually comesat encounter at far point at the beginning
of the series, so it's morelike a Picard Riker moment when they first

(01:03:21):
meet on the ship, Rikers isbeamed on board Tasha. Yard takes him
to the battle bridge and you know, he basically, you know, automatically
says, well, something must havehappened because the saucer section was missing,
and you know, he walks ontothe battle bridge, but Card really gives
him this like cold shoulder, youknow what I'm talking about. Yeah,
it comes up, and you know, and then Picard tells him, you

(01:03:44):
know, we're gonna let you reviewsomething. And it never looks back at
him, just keeps looking forward.And then you know he Yard takes him
over and sits him down and hewatches the screen basically watches the episode with
us you know what we've already seen, which was really weird in itself,
but besides the po and of coursewhen it was over, you know,
he lost you. He calls thata little adventure. And then after all

(01:04:05):
of that is asked to manually dockthe saucer section. Talk about being put
to test right away by your captain. There you go, right, yeah,
welcome aboard, sir, Welcome aboard. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
we see that. That kind ofreminds me of was it Ratha Khan m
h. When Chris Yalley's character isasked to, you know, pilot manually,

(01:04:30):
there's always kind of that little testthat kind of comes up a lot.
Yeah, It's it's tricky, like, don't break it. We just
got it, no pressure. Sure, that's fine for me. There's a
bit of quick thinking on Arsenal ofFreedom where you see kind of the cleverness
of Breaker come out when he talksabout the good ship Lollipop and I won't

(01:04:50):
say too much of that spoiling becauseit's an interesting twist, but getting to
see him develop a little bit moreinto kind of his tactical mind and start
to kind of come out. Ithink that comes out a lot more when
the Beard comes back, so we'lllook forward to that in the next season
well. As always, thank youguys for joining me on this one.

(01:05:11):
I love talking track with you,trips to the cons and all this other
kind of stuff where Jeff is justlike, I don't know this yet,
but I'll get there. Just checkout a list exactly if you have a
chance, go through our list.Even if you don't have a chance to
catch them all, that's fine.This is just a little taste kind of
a map to get through some ofthese seasons and then you can just explore

(01:05:35):
as much as you want to.As always, thanks listeners for joining us
for these adventures, these discussions.Hailing frequencies are always open for you to
share your thoughts and your questions onsocial run all the favorite platforms there.
Email us at a Film by aPodcast at gmail dot com, find us
online at a film by a podcastdot com. And if you're looking for

(01:05:57):
more exclusive content, possibly some swag. If you see you to set a
coon, send us some latinum rway through the Patreon and we'll get you
on our list. The next fewepisodes, we'll talk about season two in
a top ten and explore what elsethere is to do. Thanks Wayne,
Thanks thank you