Creepy | TNG 6.5, "Schisms" | T7R #361

Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and sci-fi producer, Ryan T. Husk review and react to Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Six.

Producer: Ryan T. Husk
Audio Engineer: Scott Jensen

Executive Producer:
Jason Okun

Special Thanks to Malissa Longo

Every week, we rewatch an episode of The Next Generation, relive and review it. Join us!
Rewatch TNG every week and get in on the discussion - we'd love to have you!

If you enjoy our content please leave us a five star rating and comment/review.
Support and join the community here:
https://www.patreon.com/The7thRule

Watch the episodes with full video here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/The7thRule

Social media:
https://twitter.com/7thRule
https://www.facebook.com/The7thRule/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/The7thRule
https://www.instagram.com/the7thrule/

Get cool T7R merchandise here:
https://the-7th-rule.creator-spring.com/

Malissa Longo creates fun and functional Star Trek art at:
https://theintrovertedrepublic.com/

Get radical Trek swag at Ryan's online store here: 
https://star-trek-and-chill.myshopify.com/

We continue The 7th Rule journey without our friend, our brother, Aron Eisenberg.
He is still with us in spirit, in stories, in laughter, and in memories, and the show must go on.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Data has an electromagnetic signal in his internal servo fluid system.
Riker's arm has been amputated and surgically reattached. Is there
another way to reattach an arm?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Ensen Hegler has a legit early nineties hairdo. Hello everybody,
and welcome to the Seventh Rule. Was Sarroc lofton. Hello,
My name is Ryan T. Huskin. Today we're doing a
review of Star Trek the Next Generation Season six, I
Can't Believe It, Episode five, entitled Schisms. Story by Jean

(00:33):
Louise Matthias and Ronald Wilkerson. Teleplay by Brannon Braga, directed
by Robert Weimer. This was October seventeenth, nineteen ninety two.
Where were you? I know where I was? And how
you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sirok, I'm doing great. I'm doing great. You can non
surgically reattach it with some tape or some.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
I guess you're right being to nitpicky there. Maybe you're right. Everybody.
Please make sure you like this video, subscribe to the channel,
hit the bell icon for notifications, and if you're listening in,
give us a five star rating and a nice review.
We'd really appreciate that and please visit us at the
Seventh Rule on patreon dot com. That's Patreon dot com

(01:17):
Slash the seventh Rule. Once again, that's patreon dot com
Slash the seventh Rule. To support the show, be part
of the team, have some fun with us. Let's talk
about schisms, Sorack. I've seen this episode before, but I
surprisingly barely barely barely remembered it at all. How is

(01:39):
there a sixth season episode that I barely remember? But
you've never seen this before, So I would love to
know what did you think of this one?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, you know, it was something that kind of like,
you know, I was wonder where it was going when
it opened up, because it started off with Riiker Towson
and turning, and I'm like, is he having trouble sleeping
or is he you know, I couldn't that part. I
couldn't tell. And then you know, eventually they you know,

(02:16):
explain that he's over sleeping, which is a different thing.
But then it went to the poetry reading Data's poetry reading,
and I'm like, what the hell is this episode about?
You know, is this just a slice of life episode?

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Right right?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
You know? So that's what I initially thought this was
going to be like, oh, this is one of those
slice of life we get to see Data does the
poetry reading, Riker has difficulties sleeping and gets counseling from
you know, Troy or some medical advice, and it was
just going to be like one of these not much

(02:56):
going on, maybe some diplomacy on the you know, wherever
they go to. But I didn't expect it to take
the kind of turn that it did, a kind of
a dark turn, kind of a dark turn, and so yeah,

(03:16):
that was unexpected for me. I just it went from
you know, sleepy habits to all of a sudden, you know,
things being missing, like missing time essentially, and everybody having
these weird reactions to things. So that's when the mystery
started for me.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
You know, when it first the episode first started, I
don't want to give any spoilers, but my first thought was, oh, no,
not this episode. But I was like, oh, wait, no
it's not it's not this episode. And people that know
Star Trek Next Generation really well, just based on that
they could probably guess what episode I'm thinking of. Actually,

(03:59):
this this is a really good quiz in the comments below, Everybody,
if I say when the episode started, I thought oh man,
not this episode. What episode am I thinking of? You
already have a huge hint. You know, it's not in
the first five seasons, so you know, you only got
like forty seven episodes to work with here. But it

(04:24):
was definitely a slow burn, right. We don't even really
know what this episode is about until about twenty two
to twenty five minutes through, like halfway through, we don't
even know what's happening. Like, yeah, like you said, it
just kind of seems like slice of life. Okay, Riiker
can't sleep well. And then once we see the glowing

(04:48):
you know whatever thing on the wall that's almost midway through,
and we go, okay, finally there's a thing. There's a
tetreon field, there's a thing, there's something that in my
all be connected, you know. But even that was you
notice data and Jordy, we're super chill about it, like

(05:09):
no yellow alert, not oh my god. Everybody you know
the ship can book. They're just like, huh, something really
weird and unexplainable is happening to the ship. No, let's
check it out tomorrow. Let's let's see if it grows.
It's like a spider bite. Let's see if it gets
just check on it tomorrow, see how it goes, and
you know, if it's bigger, you know, maybe.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Not even like scanners out and like, oh my god,
let's read readings and measurements just like they looked at
Like okay, that's what that is. That uh little hollow
glowing you know, it looks like a hole in the
fabric of space and time. It's like, okay, like imagine

(05:54):
walking past that into your house and you wake up
in the middle of night and there's just like this
dement s that's opened up right over by your TV.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
And then your reaction is, I'm gonna have to keep
an eye on I'm gonna come check that out tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah that get up.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Maybe if that's still there when I get up.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, maybe rub some dirt on it. I don't know something,
I'm gonna have to put a painting over it. Ugly.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, it was. It was slightly where reaction, you know,
so you you kind of nailed the head the nail
of the head with this. For me that the tempo
was slow and in the midway, I was like, what
the hell is going Wharf's getting a bullyon barber to
cut his hair and there's a whole scene with the

(06:42):
scissors and stuff.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
And right it just then we found out afterwards why
the scissors had meaning.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah at least.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, but I guess kind of, you know, but it
just felt like misdirection in a lot of ways because
the poetry part. You don't know, is this going to
be significant to the storyline? Is that even a B
story line? You know, there's that misdirection. The scissors don't
kind of make sense right away, but you do recognize

(07:14):
that Dwarf's in the Bowleyan barbershop, So that's like, okay,
let's see how this scene plays out. Not much to
get here except for Wharf's having them for a freak
out moment. So and then I'm digging the wharf usually
use electric clippers. Was it the scissors that, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Like?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Does he always get a scissor cut? Or does he
get some other kind of cut? And you know, I
couldn't figure out why he was looking at the scissor streams.
Obviously they explained that later, but the episode just started
off a little too slow for me as far as
what the mystery was. And I think that if they
had accelerated the pace to kind of get to the

(07:53):
story and the meat of the story earlier before, you know,
just accelerated that first after the pace, they could have
gotten more into who this race of people are aliens
and what their purpose is, where they come from, some
kind of communication between them to exchange, you know, so

(08:18):
that they explain what their motives are. And so I
think that would have been I would have benefited from
that because my curiosity was really about the purpose of
these abductions. Why did he cut his arm off and
reattach it like what? There was no explanation for that,
and I want one is if you're going to tell
me that, then you have to later on tell me

(08:41):
why you told me that. Yeah, and I don't see that.
I didn't see that in this episode. I needed more
follow up on the alien species. They could have done
a whole like, you know, analysis on spectral analysis on
their makeup or whatever, and trying to find their genetics
in the database da da da da, all the lingo

(09:01):
that I'm looking for to explain how do they have
this technology, what are they using this for? What's their
curiosity with human beings? And you know, because this does
have relevancy to you know, when we watch science fiction,
we always attach it to fiction, right, We attach it

(09:22):
to our own lives in some way in our own reality.
And one thing that is exists in our own reality
is the idea of being being abducted or of abductions,
UFO encounters, alien encounters. Those stories have circulated for a while.
I think that, you know, literally throughout civilizations and cultures,

(09:47):
there's been some reference to an exchange of ideas of
visiting from UFOs and aliens and even abductions to this degree.
So I just wanted some more background on that. It
would have been great. Just tell me what you know.
These are time travelers, they were, These are the ancient

(10:07):
Egyptians something, you know, give me something. And then I'm like, ooh,
that's cool, that's cool. Yeah, you know, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, I mean that's a good point because it kind
of ties into something I noticed, which was for a
bottle episode, and this is clearly a bottle episode. They
actually put in a decent amount of money into production value,
like a set, production set design. The masks, like the alien,

(10:38):
we see its face one time and I was like, whoa,
that's pretty cool, what's going on there? And the hand.
I was like, hey, I want to know more about
these guys, because because I always my first thought is
always like what a waste that you made this awesome mask,
this beautiful thing, you know, room that they're in, cool
hand Luke and that's movie, and like, whoa, they're gone forever,

(11:06):
you know, like at least let's see that face for
a few scenes. I just feel bad for the people
that made it and go like I spent all week
making this amazing thing and were and people are gonna
see it for two seconds at best. Also, when I
first noticed it was in the cargo bay, they had
a ton of like those barrels and stuff like that
went on for days. I was like, wow, there's a

(11:29):
lot going on in here. I mean, it sounds kind
of silly, but I'm like, usually when they do something
like that, you know, they get like four or six
tubs or barrels or whatever and they kind of put
like that and then they just get a shot that
makes it look like you know, but they got a
big wide shot and there's like thirty of them. It's
just going on forever. I'm like, who's the poor guy

(11:50):
that had to paint all these things and put up
either way. I just thought, like, I mean, they they
didn't skimp out on the funds on this, you know,
so they I feel like they could used the aliens more. Also,
when you were talking about scissors, it made it made
me think of the movie Dead Again. Dead Again did
the best with scissors of any production I've seen. Anybody

(12:11):
that's seen Dead Again, they know scissors pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Anyways, say Edward's Scissor Hands.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
You know, I never saw that movie.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Well that I think Johnny Depp. Yeah, but but look,
that's why I felt the story got was too slow
for me. The mystery wasn't Uh, they didn't react to
it like it was a perilous, life threatening thing when
they initially saw it. Back to your point that we

(12:46):
made earlier, and that then that makes me, as the viewer,
also not feel that sense of urgency. Right, I'm like, oh, well,
they'll figure it out. It's obviously not that big of
a deal. Data. Data's not chripping, Jordie's not chripping. So like,
you know what, why should I be so upset about it?

(13:06):
But I'm supposed to be upset about it because when
we watch these episodes, the key element of writing a
good story is having something to lose, like there's something
on the line, there's a sense of urgency, there's you
know what I mean, there's an eminent threat. That's what

(13:27):
makes these shows work. And when you identify that urgency
and that threat, that's what raises the stakes so that
the drama feels real and feels you know, activates those
emotions inside of the viewer. And when the cast and
the script calls for, you know, it doesn't call for

(13:51):
a heightened sense of you know, panic or you know, emergency,
and they were real casual, then I'm going to be
a casual observer. Will The episode almost played like the poem.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
That what a metaphor. Actually it's a simile, but yeah,
the poem is a metaphor for the episode because I
was going to say this after the break. But here's
here's the big thing.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
For me.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
This episode had one thing, maybe better and more than
any episode I've ever seen in Star Trek history, and
that was can't tease it for the break because we're
not there there yet. So I'm just gonna say it,
say it, say it, tech no Babbel. It was an

(14:47):
episode of tech No Babble, Trek no babble through and
through more trek no babble than I've ever seen. I mean,
just for for example, just in that poem, right, it
would be higher poem was technobabble. And yes, and you're
right where it was like that poem was a ton

(15:08):
of technobabble, not a ton of substance. I don't want
to go that far with the episode, but that's kind
of the metaphor where we're making here, which was tons
of technobabble, but it left you wanting more.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
I mean, well, and the line is in the episode,
I mean, kudos to Brendan Brogley. Actually he wrote it right,
and this is the line that he writes that Jordi
tells Data in that moment when you ask him, ca,
can you critique my poetry reading? You know, can he
talk about it and tell me what you thought? And

(15:45):
Jordy looks at him, He's like, you know, uh, and
he's kind of like reluctant. And I love that scene
by those good acts so good yeah, because I remember
he's got a visor on. We can't see his eyes,
but we can see that he is like struggling.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Absolutely he does in the eyebrows and.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
That yeah, well Data, Yeah, he.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Just doesn't want to do it as my friend, I
don't want to buzz his bubble. You know, he's putting
in all this time and effort something he loves, he's
passionate about. The last thing you want to do is
like burst somebody bubble. So he's like, ah, he's so reluctant.
But when he finally does say what he needs to say,
it is again back to this metaphor. It's it's indicative

(16:24):
of what the script is talking about, and that is sometimes,
you know, data is more important to focus on what
you want to say than how you want to say
it right, And to me, this episode is a lot
of how do we want to say it? We want
to have the mystery in the beginning. We want it

(16:46):
to affect Wriker first, and then it will affect Jeordy
and then then it'll even Data will So that's how
we want to say it. We want it to be
like this, We want it to be like that. But
what do you want to say?

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (16:58):
And the what do you want to say? Part? It
should be more about this alien race that goes around
doing this too.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Or or a message something they learned, a theme. Uh,
you know, ah something something they learned along the way
or lesson. So but then also just to jump onto
what you were saying, the line that Jordie says before
that just killed me. He says about the poem, well,

(17:28):
it was well constructed, a virtual tribute to form, like
he's like, it was on the nose. It was a
perfect like if you are going for structure and form, boy,
it was you just killed it.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
But which is great because you know that also speaks
to Jordie not being a liar, like he didn't want
to lie, right because he could have just said, oh, no,
that was great. I enjoyed it, you know it was
I thought I thought everybody liked it. He didn't lie.
Jordan instead said, how do I tell the truth about?

(18:08):
You know?

Speaker 1 (18:10):
And Data kind of suffered. I'm not going to give
the way the identity of this person, but Data suffered
with his poem in the way that somebody I knew
back in the day, with her writing, like she was
a writer through and through and she would ask me,

(18:31):
you know, to read her stuff and give her notes
and stuff. And you know, at first, you know, you
read it, Oh, really good, you know, the next one,
and then finally it hit me. I was like, you know,
she clearly wants to be the next Ernest Hemingway or
something like that, right, because it's not like screenwriting. We're

(18:51):
talking about like, you know, novels and short stories, a
lot of short stories and things like that or Edgar
Allan Poe or whatever. So every sentence in her story
could be plucked out and be a work of art
on its own. With the big word and the elaborate description.
Each sentence was like, like I said, like a work

(19:14):
of art. It could just be pulled out on its
own and stand well.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
So.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
But then I realized that she was clearly so concerned
with I don't want to say, like showing off her
writing skill, but making it seem so well written that
the content was missing a soul. And I was like,
I can't, I can't give that note. That's soul crushing

(19:43):
to a writer. If you say it's technically sound, but
you're writing lax heart, I think it was heart. That
was what I was thinking. You're you're writing lax heart.
There's there's there's no heart. It has a point, it
has a hook and uh, you know, a left turn
and a twist, and it's everything is a mastery of

(20:06):
the English language, but there's no I don't feel anything.
There's no heart anyway. So I was like, I can't
give that note. So I definitely felt what Jordi was feeling,
even though he was giving it to an android. It's like,
you can't tell a writer that because that's the writer's
number one thing is you need to affect the reader.

(20:26):
Everything else is adding color, you know, but that's not
the bones.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
And and and that's what you got out of his
poem was like he was focused on rhyming. Yeah, and
sometimes rhyming is not necessary. I mean, even in some
of your favorite songs, right, it's just like you don't
it doesn't need to actually rhyme sometimes, you know what
I mean, It just it has it has to feel good. Yeah,

(20:55):
it doesn't have to rhyme.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
But you know what that being said, I would love
a transcript of Data's poem because whoever did write that,
I don't know if it was Brannon or somebody else,
whoever wrote that actual poem is fucking brilliant, because I
was like, wow, that is I mean, obviously the poem is. Yes,

(21:19):
whoever wrote that in real life is brilliant because that
was like beautiful. I was like, I mean, obviously, the
joke is that it's just it's just the mastery of
words and you know, things like that. But whoever wrote
that is a master of words. It was really fun.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh, it was hilarious.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
I wrote a little bit of it down. But he
was talking about the tale of Spot to Spot and
he says, if you, if it wasn't for that tail
you you would lack a counterbalance rhyme.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
And it was all true, and it was all true
and accurate.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Right, And it's funny because they cut to uh Picard's
reaction when he said that, and he kind of like
he laughed because he thought he was like, that's the
only thing that I find interesting what you just said,
which is this dumb ass joke about the tale being
a counterbell.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
We also got, I believe, by far, our biggest Tracy
Coco sighting. Oh, Like she was featured hard. She wasn't
just sitting there with the card.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
She was like they were dating.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yes, she was like this date. She was giving reactions
to him. They were they were interacting with each other.
She was getting shots of her doing thing like standing
up and be like, oh boy, And I was like, wow.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
That is and they gave her that romantic lighting that
they give, you know people when they give that special
glow light. Yeah, yeah, so I saw that too. I
definitely saw Tracy Coco eat up a lot of screen time,

(23:15):
looking very pretty and super thin and just you know,
like I said, impressive, expressive, and it looked like she
wasn't having fun with that poem.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah she was. She was acting the hell out of it.
She wasn't like, hell, hey, I'm just you know, not
no longed, I'm just gonna, you know, chill and be
like No. She was acting the hell out of that thing. Man.
She's like, get that camera tight on me. I'm giving
you something.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
And it's funny because in part of her performance, you know,
everybody else was doing a personal thing. So you know,
Riker's person falling asleep, right, so that's his personal thing.
Troy is embarrassed that Riker's falling asleep, so she's like,
oh my god, and she's doing her personal like, oh my,

(24:03):
I'm embarrassed. Picard is trying to look amused, but he's
also looking bored, you know, and Warf is likely like,
why the hell did I even sign up for this
I'm wasting my time, right, But then you look at
Tracy and she's looking for somebody else to co sign.

(24:25):
She's like, am I the only one? She's like this such?

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Right?

Speaker 2 (24:29):
I mean, this is this is really like everybody's trying
to hide their internalize their own feelings about it. But
she was more looking for approval from everyone else, like,
am I the only one? You guys see this?

Speaker 5 (24:41):
Right?

Speaker 2 (24:41):
This is this is bad? So I liked it. I
thought she was really radiant in that moment, and she shines.
She looked beautiful.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Actually, we got to jump to our break, but that
leads perfectly into the question I want to ask you
more than any other question today, and we will hit
that right after the break on the seventh Rule. DM. No,
we're not TM. I don't think we can say that. Hey, everybody,

(25:11):
welcome back to the Seventh Rule with Sarrock Frickin' lofting Yellow.
Here are the trivioids of the week. The Amargosa diaspora
is an unusually dense globular cluster. Glad I didn't start
the show with that one. Commander Riker overslept again. Data
has a poetry reading this afternoon. Beverly rubs Riker's neck.

(25:33):
That was kind of weird. He just comes and starts
rubbing his neck. I was like, all right, Uh, Doctor
Crusher recommends Picard's Antidell's recipe. The new La Forte sensor
array is on oh IS online and awaiting major scientific discoveries.
Jordie's weser cuts out twice in one day. A few
members of the Enterprise have elevated levels of serotonin that's

(25:56):
concentrated in the hippocampus. I didn't glad I didn't start
with that one either. Ita has an electromagnetic signal and
his internal servo fluid system. Riker's arm has been amputated
and surgically reattached. Ensin Hagler has a legit early nineties hairdoo.
That dude that was the guy that died that like
you know, they opened the door and he kind of

(26:17):
came out. I was like, that guy looks like everybody
I knew in nineteen ninety two, right, with like kind
of the short hair on the sides and kind of
like the this and like bleach blonde on the top
like there like Zach Morris or something, you know.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
What I mean.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
I'm from by the Bell saved by the bell.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Right, absolutely, And was that ensign Rager?

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, although they called her rager. I'm like, I know
for sure last week you called her rager. You can't.
It's kind of like the scientist. There's some scientists that
try to call uranus uranus. Now. I'm like, you can't
change the name. We all know it's been called uranus.
It's called You can't try to change it now because

(26:58):
you don't want people to giggle. Gotta own it. You
gotta say uranus is very gassy. Yeah, you just have
to do it. I gotta own it. And her name
is ensign oranger.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
You gotta own it, Okay, okay, all right, all right, all.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Right, so you ready for that question? Here's the question.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, let let it lose.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Speaking of okay, never mind, all right.

Speaker 6 (27:25):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
The question is in that poetry reading, I couldn't help
but think of you with regards. And I feel like
a monster asking this because I don't I'm usually not
good at even noticing anything like this. But how did
you feel about Deanna Troy's hair in this episode? I

(27:50):
found it to be different than I was accustomed to personally.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Definitely different, definitely different. I just It's just I was
wondering what the change, like, what did I miss? I
was like, did I like, didn't we end her look
on that look? And she just popped up with a
new look?

Speaker 1 (28:11):
And also how long has it been like that? Was
it like that last week? And I just didn't notice it?

Speaker 2 (28:15):
No, it wasn't. It wasn't. It just looks like they
just popped in with a new hair too, but which
is normally done at the beginning of a season if
they decide to do that, right, like Kira's had hair
changes and stuff, and usually they happened at the beginning

(28:36):
of the season. But this seems to be just popped up.
And I don't know if it continues to look like this,
if this is a one time look, or if this
is going to be the the new look going forward
till the end of the season. But the other possibility
that because I really thought about it too, I was like,

(28:57):
her hair looks different. It could have been super just
plain and simply like her hair being up makes it
easier because I'm slightly up to think a little shorter.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I thought, yeah, it was just it made me think
was it already always like this? For like this whole season,
and I just never noticed, because you know, I'm not
usually good about that. But then it was in that
poetry reading that I noticed. I was like, what is
going on? I don't remember that, So I think maybe
it was just in the one episode and never again

(29:30):
because I don't recognize. Maybe I do you know what?
I feel like she actually had It's gonna sound really
nerdy of me. She actually had an action figure of
her with that hairdoo.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Okay, now that I think of it, Yeah, No, you're right,
that is very nerdy of you.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
So I'm a big nerd.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Oh wait, we'll find that action figure though.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, watch it if it exists.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
If it exists, watch.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
This, it'll come up. Where is it? Damn harder to
find than I thought? Oh is this it?

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Maybe not, I can't tell. What do you think?

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Let's see, let's see it. Yeah, it's kind of No,
that's the that's the pullback. No, No, that's not the
same hair too. Yeah okay, yeah, but anyways, I mean,
it wasn't that big of a deal. I noticed it.
But I mean, if the episode is that, yeah, it

(30:42):
must be going slow when you're looking at things like that.
That's what I just noticed.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
It, and it made me wonder, like, has it been
like this for a while? And I just now noticed.
I did also notice Wharf's hair when he went to
the barber. Yeah, yeah, I again I caught myself thinking, Okay,
it's getting a little better, but when does it get
And I know the answer to this, but when does
it get to the wharf hair doo that we all
know and love in these days? Nine words just like

(31:07):
a long and luscious and you know he still got
the bob. When does it change? And I know the
answer if I remember correctly, I know exactly when it changes, well,
when he.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Starts using that shampoo and conditioner that the Boleyan was
talking about.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Right, Loreal, because you're wharfed.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah that's perfect. But yeah, that bolliot was telling him,
you know, you got to do something about these split
ends over here. And so I guess Wharf is advice.
So I think that's great we could look forward to that.
I wanted to highlight LeVar Burton's performance when the moment

(31:52):
when he had the bizer off and he was being
kind of held by Beverly and walked to that seat.
Really good, I thought performance for him that moment because
you kind of forget that he's blind.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
I thought the same thing, because it's really easy with
if you act like you can't see, to accidentally be
kind of looking at things. It's just a natural thing
that we do. Now he does get cover because he
has the white over his eyebolt. But I'm sure you
did the same thing I did. The first thing we

(32:27):
do is we zoom in, we kind of like watch
his acting watch and he was doing it. I agree,
really good.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
And the camera work was good too, as far as
following him because they kind of focused in on that
chair as they were moving and you could see his
hand kind of reaching for the chair because he was,
you know, didn't know where to sit. And so I
just thought, good performance, good moment. Well done by LeVar Burt.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
LeVar Burton grade a actor. I mean every time, whether
it's technobabble, better than anybody, whether it's acting without your eyes,
better than anybody. I mean, the guy does things. They
really struck gold with him. I mean, he's he's amazing.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, and then you touched on a little bit of
what I always wanted to touch on, which is uh
rich or getting you know, kind of macked by doctor Crusher.
With that neck rub that it looked a little softer
and more.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, it wasn't your karate chop. She wasn't going like here.
She was just like, oh you seem tense. Here we go. Yeah, yeah,
he helped falling asleep. There we are. He didn't even
say did he even say my neck is sore?

Speaker 2 (33:45):
No, she said, She's like, I don't see anything wrong
with you except for a little tension in your neck.
And then he was like, well, I got.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Like, yeah, yeah, your pants are shrinking.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Bro. What she did call him hot milk toddy. I
was like, whoa, yeah, oh no, she said drink a
hot milk todd. Okay, never mind, But.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
We know what she meant.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
The correlation was there.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
We knew, we know what she meant.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yeah, Riker's been called the hot milk Toddy before.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, it was a little out of character, but you
know what crushers thinking, you know what, the cards being
too aloof the card's not, you know, giving her what
she wants, Like every once in a while he has
breakfast with her. He calls her doctor all the time,
like he's not he's not chilling when she's like, but

(34:43):
Riker over here.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
He's cokers thinking, Riker's thinking I crusher.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah he is, He's thinking that. Absolutely. He's like, he's like,
we need more female cast members here, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah, which reminded me because when I saw him going
into the alien Hole, I was like, gosh, Riker's been
in more alien bule. What do you mean, like not
another one?

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah, that's funny. So here's something else for us. When
Oops accidentally clicked by on that Troy Action figure, I
don't even want to know. Well, okay, I do want
to know. How much is that? Oh it's only six bucks? Okay.
I thought it was gonna be some crazy amount. Okay,
So there was also and I love that we're finally

(35:38):
getting this a little bit. In TNG, got a lot
of extra people with extra lines, like x Ensign Rager,
she got a bunch of lines. Some other guy in
engineering what was his name? His name was.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Go to one slap in Five's with the LaForge all
the time.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah, like he was, Oh I can't find it, but
he was doing stuff. And uh, not only was he
doing stuff, but before he got lines, they almost introduced him.
You know, there's this guy in engineering, and I wish
I could see where I put.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
His name.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Before he had his lines. They had him in another
scene in the background, but he was doing more than
just being in the background. You know, usually when somebody's
in the background, you just don't even see their face
or just doing something like this, but this guy kind
of kept turning to the camera a little bit and
like reacting. I'm like, clearly, there's this guy's got the
confidence of somebody that's gonna get some lines later, Like

(36:39):
he's trying to be a character more than just like background.
And then it turned out that he did. But the
big one was there was this lady that showed up
when they were going into the conference room, right that
the strange lady, And my first thought is she's in
on it, kind of you know, like, who's this lady?

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Why? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
And then you start thinking, wait, is she liked some
mysterious alien that's like in on it? And being like, oh, yeah,
it happened to me too. We're all we're all so
confused as to what's going on. What do you guys
think it is? But then she just disappeared, and that.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Was it disappeared. It was weird, That's what I'm saying.
There's a lot of misdirection in this episode that led
to nowhere, and I'm sorry that this is what was
my big problem. The moment that it slowed up the
most for me was this extended scene describing the table. Yeah,

(37:40):
that table scene, the way it was cut and filmed,
it went on and I was like, guys, I know
it's a metal table before we even before we even
started the table talk, I was already like because they
said it's cold and this and that, and it's like
it was so obvious it was some kind of a
metal table. But we went through three iterations of a

(38:03):
wood table just to get there, and it was like,
how many tables are we really gonna like? Are we
just gonna bring like I do?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Like the way they were like, no, making a metal
table and it suddenly went from being a wooden table
into a metal contraption with I was like, whoa, how
did that? Was quite a leap by the computer, But
that's because the writer's like, dude, we can't. It's already
long enough. We can't go through every single let's just
skip ahead, you.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Know, exactly.

Speaker 7 (38:31):
So, but yeah, that thing and they're like no, But
there's also a contraption. Here a computer, make it have
an arm that comes up, and it was just like,
come on, guys, one.

Speaker 8 (38:43):
Mind meld could have got this over with like a
like one Vulcan mind meld would if we wouldn't have
to go through this whole like talk it out, d Dad,
then we know exactly what it was.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Or even a hypnote therapy session maybe with Troy doing
some hypnosis on one of the characters. That would have
been great, you know, And that way we could have
just got to the point already. We didn't need to
spend ten minutes just trying to figure out was the
chair forty five degree angle or was it leather seats? No,

(39:16):
it had a blanket on the back. I felt a
pillow like it was a cat. And then we're talking
about the light that hangs over in brighter, No, a
little bit more bright. Come on, guys, It doesn't further
the narrative. It doesn't advance the story. We know it
was a probing chair of some sort. It doesn't matter

(39:38):
what the hell kind of materials it was made out of,
or how bright the light was, or this that you're
going to show us the chair in about.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
In a probing chair I want to know what kind
of material it's man, But I will say the guy
I was trying to remember his name was Shipley, the
dude in engineering Shipley. There was something that I actually
didn't mind this episode. I actually kind of liked it because,

(40:08):
you know, sometimes it's nice to get a slow episode.
Sometimes it's nice to just kind of get slice of
life stuff. But what I really actually did like about it,
and it took me by surprise, was at the end
when the plans coming together. Riker is on the alien

(40:29):
whatever warf is doing his thing. Data is doing his thing,
but cards like Engage and all this stuff, and it's
like we watched it the slow burn through this whole episode,
and suddenly they're all working together on this plan like
the A team, you know what I mean. And they're
all doing their thing. It's like a well oiled machine.

(40:49):
They all know their roles. It's great. And that's like
always so iconic Star Trek and it took me by surprise.
I caught myself like smiling, like I'm like, yeah, that's
my It wasn't exciting. It wasn't like ships blowing up
or up, or Kirk and the Gorn. It was just
like it was just really fun and cool to see
everybody knowing their role and working together and having it

(41:12):
all turned out. Yeah, and I really just that's like
quintessential Star Trek. This is why we watch Star Trek
is to see them all come together. They all have
their special abilities, their special powers, and they use them
and they work together on stuff, and it's just that's
that's what I love. So for me, that was you know,

(41:35):
that was the A plus frosting on a kind of
a slow episode.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
You know, yeah, I mean I like the premise of
the episode. Like I said, it's pullucked out of our
own headlines about abductions and acounts with aliens, and so
I think it's a good premise. I just like I said,
I wanted more expansion about the origin or nature or

(42:03):
purpose or intent of the aliens themselves. I thought they
were you know, well designed, Like the makeup like you mentioned,
was super extensive and it's like so unique that it's like, well,
this race looks interesting, like the Gorn sort of something
to that effect. And so I want to I want

(42:23):
to understand at least have some knowledge base where the
Federation from their rest vest interactions with all kinds of
life forms, you would think that they have some kind
of informational database on something like this. And after this experience,
now with the with the enterprise, what would that information

(42:46):
be in the database? You would say, Oh, we made
a life force that.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
Did this.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
You had this thing on our whole somewhere or whatever,
and somewhere on the bulkhead. And it doesn't explain enough
about the race, in the in the aliens themselves, their purpose, intent, origin,
you know, something to that effect. So even if after
this experience, the Federation is no more knowledgeable about this

(43:14):
race or this group of individuals as entities than they
were beforehand. And that's why I'm talking about advancing the narrative,
because I'm curious about if there are aliens going around
abducting people and doing medical examinations on them, what purpose

(43:36):
would it be for? And give me a hypothetical that's yeah,
well that's the fine. Just give me some imaginatory, imaginative idea.
And that's why I would watch science fiction, because you
give me that and I get to pumptificate on something
like that. I mean, they removed his arm and reattached
it like they didn't.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Follow technology out, Yeah, without him feeling like sore or anything,
or I seen any marks at all. So I had
like a big ass nitpick. And it wasn't just of
this episode, but this episode did something that is like
a big nitpick to me in other episodes. I was

(44:17):
gonna tell it, but it'll have to wait for things
left unsaid because we're almost out of time. So it's
time for the home run of the episode.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
I'm giving the home run for this one is Jonathan Frakes.
I thought he did the best acting in this. I mean,
he carried it for me with his acting and you know,
he had moments there like he's just he's just fun
to watch for me when I watch him as an actor.

(44:53):
You know, he walked into the bathroom when he was
struggling and he kind of he does one of these
and he's looking at himself in the mirror, you know,
just he makes me want to watch him. I'm like,
what the hell is he doing something in his eye?
Like he does one of these and then he starts
going through his mouth with it, you know, and it's like,
as an actor, is that's a choice that he made.

(45:13):
I know they'd scripted and say check your eye and
they roll around it out, you know, And and when
he was short and looking sleep deprived or just irritated,
it translated the most for me. I felt he was
the most impacted by whatever was happening. It seemed as

(45:34):
that he he played that the most. And he was
also the most convincing at sleep deprivation and things of
that nature. So I just thought he was the highlight
of the episode.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with I think the production designer,
and I should have checked the production designer's name, but
I'm gonna go with the art department, the production designer,
set designer, Gary Speckman, Michael Lakuda's in there, Jim Magdaleno,
scenic artists, a lot of people because they put some

(46:09):
cool things together. Also, there was a nook of engineering
that I feel like I'd never seen before. In that
scene where I told you there was that guy Shipley
in the background, I was like, I feel like I've
never seen no, it wasn't even know it was engineering.
I was like, I feel like I've never seen this
area before, even though in the back wall I saw
a couple scuffs on the wall, So I'm like, either

(46:30):
that was like people working on stuff and they scuffed
it or that's where stunts happened. So something happened in
this area before, but I saw it. I was like,
there's two scuffs. But anyway, I think they killed it.
Secondarily to LeVar Burton, who always does a great job
acting for us, and he's brilliant. Here are some other people,
not all great actors, but all brilliant. Their names are

(46:53):
doctor Anne Marie Siegal Eve England out in Wales, even
that Blackman, Tom T. J. Jackson, be Out in Missouri,
Titus Mouller, doctor Maham Manor and Neil oh Palatte, Joe Balcarati,
Mike Goo, doctor Stephanie Baker, Carrie Schwent, Faith Howel, the
Matt Boardman, Chris McGee, Jake Barrett, Henry Hunger, Allison Leech Hide,

(47:14):
Julie manasfe Jed Thompson, doctor Susan V. Grooner, Glenn Iverson,
Dave Gregory, Chris Sternet, Greg Kenzo Wickstrom, Cassandra g chuck A,
Chris Garris, and of course Jason m Okin. All right,
everybody stick around, We've got the free for all up.

(47:34):
Next we will be right back on the seventh rule. Hi, everybody,
welcome back, to the Seventh Rule with Sarrock, Frick and Lofton.
It is time for the Free for All with Melissa
f Longo hi F for Francesca. Jason m Oakin is
also here. Alison Hyde is here at the heart of

(47:59):
New Mexican co. Special agent Crafty Bear reminds you to
be kind a Neil O Palatte's floating outside in space.
Faith hol is on the bridge of the Enterprise d
where well you have to wait and find out ball
of light is in something that is only light. Actually.
Eve England is out in Wales with her Abyssinian Kiosk

(48:21):
Maroon hoodie Chuck A reminds us that it's a jake,
and Chris McGee has some kind of cool red alert
shirt or something looks like, oh things are yeah, the
IMD store.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Yeah, excuse schisms. Given schism schisms, I'm gonna say about
a seven point one or yeah some point two?

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Okay point two? Did anybody else have any guesses that
doesn't already know all about this?

Speaker 2 (49:02):
One? Seven?

Speaker 9 (49:04):
Seven, seven five?

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Wait wait wait, wait what did you say said? Okay?
I thought you said three point two like Jesus and
somebody else said one other one seven three seven three
four seven four Wow, pretty cool, but like we're playing
darts and everybody's like, but there was one bull's eye

(49:31):
and that was the person that said I think it
was Chris McGee seven point five. Yeah, well done, come
on down. Okay, uh we have I didn't cats catching
non appearance mentions. It was Antidel but we've never seen
her before.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
But spot.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
Spot tell yes, spot that deserves a non appearance mentioned.
I love you guys. Does anybody else get any now?
What about some kind of or some sort of feels
like this episode would have like forty of them Chris McGee.

Speaker 9 (50:12):
Three, you're close, true, Troy. First I said in the
holodics scene, and other a restraint of some kind, and
then Warf later on was talking about there was something
attached to it, a tool of some sort, scissor like,
and then finally one of the last lines of the episode,
Jordie says, maybe it was a probe of some kind.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Excellent. All of those were sounded pretty crazy, all of
them actually. But all right, Malise Alongo, please get a
start off on the right track by telling us what
you thought of this episode.

Speaker 10 (50:51):
Enjoyed this episode?

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Okay, so it confines two things that I really like.

Speaker 10 (50:58):
And Carrie's cut the hint there in her background with
the pencils on the ceiling and everything. The X Files
at Star Trek Hello, it's about abduction story, which is
kind of fun and and it had me thinking that,
you know, the one of the perks of being abducted

(51:21):
on a starship as opposed to being abducted from Earth
right now is that nobody's gonna think you're crazy. People
believe in aliens in space. So you got that covered.
You got that hurdle covered. I enjoyed this episode.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
I thought Riker was amazing with his sleepy self. It's
just like and the poetry reading scene is probably one
of my favorite scenes ever because talk about comedic timing

(52:04):
from everyone in the room, from Data to Riiker to
Picard and Lieutenant Jay next.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
To him, and.

Speaker 4 (52:17):
And Troy and I love this scene because it shows
us day to day life and it shows us relationship
without hitting us over the head with it. You see
the relationships between Riker and Troy and how they're really close.

(52:37):
You see that everyone's here supporting their friend Data even
though they're not really having a great time, and and
uh and.

Speaker 10 (52:50):
Picard is even has a relationship with somebody on the
crew that we don't hear words from, but there's still
that relationship there. And another thing I also like about
this episode is that the crew of the Enterprise is
always said its best when they're working together to find

(53:10):
a solution to something, and I love that. And so
this episode had slices of life for me where we
got to see everyone working together to find the solution
to this problem. We had everyone not at their shiny,
rosy best, which is interesting and I am honest. And

(53:36):
there's that creepy creepiness that about abduction that hasn't been
solved yet, which I like too. I like that the
twenty fourth century doesn't necessarily have all the answers. It
still leaves that question about that abductees claim, about the

(53:59):
mystery of who's taking them and why are they taking
them and and what is the purpose? So I enjoyed
this episode very much.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
And we enjoyed that very much. Thank you very much,
Melisa f Longo. All right, Jason Emok and their thoughts
top four episode for you or what?

Speaker 3 (54:20):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Absolutely it is?

Speaker 6 (54:23):
Actually Over the years, I've grown to like it more
than certainly on the kind of a first watch. It is,
you know, obviously not one of the best episodes so
the series, but it's certainly a passable entry.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
It does.

Speaker 6 (54:34):
Yeah, frankly, it's worth watching just for the you know,
to hear out the spot them alone. Your Prince delivery
is just you know, as Melissa said, everything is just
you know, top notch. I think the teeser itself is
just is just wonderful because you get to see everything here.

(54:55):
I think, you know, certainly it's it's shot pretty decently.
I think where it may have failed a little bit
as in its execution of this sort of alien room.
I think it was written to be a little bit
more dreamlike and creepy than it ended up being, but
that's probably just the limitations of it all.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
And I think frankly most.

Speaker 6 (55:14):
Of the time having high resolution and high definition helps here.
You get to see a little bit more of those aliens,
and maybe that was not necessarily a good thing. It
was nicer when they were a little bit blurrier. Again,
I mean, it's it's it's certainly sort of a different
type of episode, and you know, Freaks gets a lot
more to do and it's wonderful just to see him

(55:37):
do more than just, you know, perform a Riker maneuver
and stand and go to Holideck four. So I think
it was kind of interesting to see that slice of
life and and and see something unusual happen. There's a
lot more to say here, and I'll save that for later,
but again, it's it's an interesting episode and and it
for me, it aged better than a lot of others.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Actually, thank you very much, Jason Emok and I realized
I got a lot more to say on this episode too,
so not things to say for things left unsaid too.
I think Sarah and I were just talking about there's
just so much to talk about with this episode. It's amazing.
Alison Leech hid always the coolest earrings in the building.
What do you think of this one?

Speaker 11 (56:18):
I like this episode? Is it like fantastic?

Speaker 2 (56:21):
No?

Speaker 12 (56:21):
But it is really fun and also a little creepy.
I truly enjoy that it is a Riker episode where
he doesn't have a love interest. We actually just get
to see Riker be Riker and have BedHead, which I
thought was great. That he has to be woken a
full hour before he has to be on the bridge

(56:44):
to do his hair, and he asked Jordy.

Speaker 10 (56:47):
To wake up.

Speaker 11 (56:47):
I'm like, ask Data to wake you up.

Speaker 12 (56:49):
He's not sleeping, like, let JORDI have his morning, Go
get Data. So but I love that that he, you know,
he needs his time. I also love that he had
regular sheets and pillow cases.

Speaker 6 (57:00):
It made me.

Speaker 12 (57:01):
Really happy that he didn't have like the weird shiny
material that.

Speaker 11 (57:05):
I'm like, that's not comfortable to sleep on.

Speaker 12 (57:07):
So love that, and that he got to be the hero, like,
you know, he got instant Regger out there with him.

Speaker 11 (57:13):
And you know, she's his coworker.

Speaker 12 (57:18):
I love the scene where he takes the con, which
is like the only time he takes the con during
the run of the series. They just like like, no, no.

Speaker 10 (57:27):
This is wrong.

Speaker 11 (57:28):
So I do.

Speaker 12 (57:29):
I really like them all, you know, fearing it out
working together. I really enjoy that Beverly's like, here, have
a hot toddy to try and sleep instead of me
giving you, you know, some form of medication, see if
this will work.

Speaker 11 (57:46):
I like that because that's.

Speaker 12 (57:47):
Very on brand for her because she definitely does love
using you know, like folk medicine, which I think is great.
And yeah, I mean Ode to Spot is you know,
just classic next generation and really happy we get it,
and they mention it again.

Speaker 11 (58:05):
Soon, which I think is hysterical. Sad he wasn't like
holding spot while doing a spot that would have.

Speaker 5 (58:11):
Been great too.

Speaker 12 (58:12):
And there's one sad thing about this episode is that
this is the last time we see Mott, so no
more normal, the last time we see him on the series.
So little sad for that, because he's great and nothing
is better than watching Wharf be intimidated by a bullyan barber,
because that was very well done and very funny.

Speaker 11 (58:33):
So yeah, it's it's a good episode.

Speaker 12 (58:36):
Everyone's doing their job and being wonderful together and so
I enjoy it, but not is it great?

Speaker 11 (58:43):
But I do really enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
Great stuff, thanks very much. Yeah, Matt was kind of
bullying Wharf for a while there, right, all right, special
agent crafty bear, you're.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Thoughting' there agonizably sorry, while.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Please go ahead carry on? Yeah, love.

Speaker 13 (59:08):
I love this episode.

Speaker 14 (59:09):
Yet death immediately to me had very much like an
episode straight out of The X Files, which did, funny enough,
did not would not premiere until right about a year
after after this episode aired. About a year after this
episode aired, The X Files got started, one of my

(59:31):
favorite TV TV.

Speaker 13 (59:32):
Series of of all Time.

Speaker 14 (59:35):
I had a major, major crush on Moulder for a
very long time still.

Speaker 13 (59:39):
Due to to a certain to a.

Speaker 14 (59:40):
Certain degree, And I love when Rikers being when he's
floating into the what I call the abduction rift, when
he's floating like straight across very much like some early
memories on the on the ex shalls of Milder's sister
being abducted. She's floating kind of almost almost almost in

(01:00:01):
the in the same sort of manner. So that was
a nice comparison, nice comparison for me. For me anyway,
and personally, hot milk by myself, I find is.

Speaker 13 (01:00:10):
Kind of gross.

Speaker 14 (01:00:11):
If I want hot milk, it's gonna be in a
in a cappuccino, not by itself. But that's just my
personal personal preference and the leaves that the computer makes.

Speaker 13 (01:00:21):
Aside.

Speaker 14 (01:00:22):
I really do like the Holidax scene, you know, going
from like one table to another. I thought Deanna did
such a great job with with with the whole group
coach coaching, coaching them through you know, one thing or another,
and then the sound of the of the clicking stars
and it just sends just chilled on your spine, you know.

Speaker 13 (01:00:43):
Mixed up hairs on your on your arms raise up.

Speaker 14 (01:00:48):
Almost to a yeah, and reminds me a lot in
the same way of the hair the hair raising too.
If you've ever watched the horror movie series The Grudge.
If you've watched that series, you know, Oh the sound
I'm talking about. Just hearing that just gives me the
absolute wigans and actually fun fun fact, Marina Sertis does

(01:01:08):
have a role in the Grudge three sequel. She is
fantastic and that I believe she plays an artist. But yeah,
very yeah, sounds like that just give just give you
the give you the shivers. Even just thinking about the
sound gives you the shivers sometimes. And as the seventh

(01:01:30):
Rules resident poet, I of course love the poetry scene.

Speaker 13 (01:01:34):
I probably buys opinion.

Speaker 14 (01:01:36):
I feel like Oh Spot is probably one of these
single greatest poems in existence, and not just because it's
about a cat.

Speaker 13 (01:01:42):
I just I love the way it's written. I think it's.

Speaker 14 (01:01:45):
Absolutely, absolutely fantastic, and Deanna trying to keep Raker awake
absolutely priceless. We've we've all been there trying to keep
ourselves awake or having someone else try to keep us awake,
and it never works. A very along, and then the
last song You're Here is just a little bit of
a Riker snoring.

Speaker 13 (01:02:05):
And I do believe this is my own personal head canon.

Speaker 14 (01:02:09):
But John Luke and Jay were absolutely on a date.

Speaker 13 (01:02:13):
The body language says everything. She's leaning in towards him.
They don't have to say a word. They are obviously
there on a date.

Speaker 14 (01:02:22):
And her facial expressions in that scene are just she
says so much without saying a word a word at all.
But I wouldn't be me if I didn't take a
page from from Data and David briefly from from my
usual limericks, and I created a poem entitled ode.

Speaker 13 (01:02:42):
To the Seventh Rule. So I'll finish with that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Oh.

Speaker 14 (01:02:48):
This group was created to celebrate Trek. It's led by
pals Ryan, Aaron, and Sarah. Loved to the vibe, thought
I'd joined.

Speaker 13 (01:02:56):
What the heck?

Speaker 14 (01:02:58):
I'm so glad I did because all of you rock.
So Rock brings his acting experience and knowledge. Ryan is
our resident pun master general. Well Aaron's loss, we humbly
acknowledge Melissa in his place shows her heart is plentiful.
Through this podcast, I've made many friends Chuck Cassandra of

(01:03:21):
Faith and two, Chris's, Alison, TJ and Matt The list
never ends. Seeing all of your faces simply fills me
with this.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Very nice, excellent and it was like three times as
long as the usual one, so it's like bonus, We're
all like, is there more? This is good stuff, thanks
very much, specially Agent craft Bear. Yeah, anil oh Platte,
you've got a poem about us as well, right, I.

Speaker 15 (01:03:53):
Know, and it would probably be really really bad advice. Yeah,
this is one of my favorite episode.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I don't know.

Speaker 15 (01:04:00):
I like it when the crew aren't the most technologically advanced,
when they when there's sort of an unknown I think
it is really fun and where you know, we see
them being treated like you know sometimes you know, when
they pop on a planet, they're just kind of watching
and now that's happening to them, except you know, they're

(01:04:23):
amputating people's arms and stuff. But you know, I thought
it was it was pretty creepy. I like that. I
also liked that we got to see a lot of
different like ensigns and lieutenants with lines that we I
feel like there were a lot in this episode which
kind of made the ship feel bigger. You know, it
wasn't just you know, the the usuals. So that was

(01:04:45):
really nice. And Riker, I think, you know, in Deep
Space nine we have them torturing O'Brien, they should definitely
just be torturing Riker because he's so good at looking
just having everything go wrong. And I think the expressions
the last thing I'll say, I think the expressions on
his face when he looks terrified were really good. Like

(01:05:07):
he it really convinced me that, like when he's floating,
you know, when they're when they're taking him and he's conscious,
you could really see I felt like, oh, you know,
he's he's showing a lot of fear, and I felt
that like how he was probably thinking at that moment,
like man, I kind of wish I was sedated right
now because this is going to be scary. So yeah, overall,

(01:05:29):
good episode, and I like episodes that end without a
clear ending sometimes, but this one was was really good,
very ambiguous.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Great stuff. And Riker agrees with the Ramones. Thank you
very much. Anil Oh Palatte, All right, Faith, how cool uniform?
How are you? What did you think of this one?

Speaker 16 (01:05:49):
And my cup and ignore the feet behind me. This
one is just I remember it being super memorable the
first I saw it. I really I think probably was
petrified the first time, but after, of course, seeing you
know what it is, it takes away that little bit

(01:06:11):
of fear, so I just really enjoy the mystery of it.
I enjoy the characters working together to kind of everybody
has that one little piece of memory and working out
what is going on and how to stop it. So,
you know, having our crew work together in that way
is always fun to see. And of course, as you

(01:06:31):
guys have said, Tracy Coco is amazing. This is I
think my favorite appearance by her because we get to
see her clearly, clearly on a date that is not
head canon, that is canon cannon. She's keeping there. So yeah,
great episode, fun to watch. Put it on again after
we record.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Do you think it's possible that she was just like
an ensign that was just interested in the captain but
he was like, oh no, because I don't think you would.

Speaker 16 (01:07:03):
Play that either he's either he's taken her on a
date or we are not even speaking.

Speaker 11 (01:07:08):
Don't I don't think you would play like that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Good point, Thank you very much. Faith howell out on
the Bridge of the Enterprise, d Ball of light Boy
You've started a lot of Next Generation episodes actually including
this one. What do you think of this one?

Speaker 7 (01:07:24):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:07:25):
Man?

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
It was enjoyable to watch. You know, as I was
watching it this time, and I had in mind something
that mine shared with me some months back, and just
a random conversation that we were having where she notices
that and a lot of things that I describe I

(01:07:48):
focus on empowering the individual, and she just simply reminded
me not to forget about the group or the community
or family or you know, connecting with other people. And so,
as I was watching this episode, and someone mentioned this already,
actually I think it was Melissa that talked about how
everybody works as a team and and uh, and they

(01:08:10):
worked together to saw this issue, but very specifically it
really jumped out to me in the relationship between LaForge
and the Data and then the actions in this episode,
especially the scene where Data was the one that had
time missing after Jordi came back from the sick day.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
And I really appreciated the way that that you know,
Brent delivered the line, Oh, you are correct, that was
the concept just completely blew him out of the water.
But I can't believe that you're the one that's right,
and this is like like, so I thought that was funny,

(01:08:54):
But I also, you know, thought that it really informed
the work that they were doing together. And it was
between that and again, you know, Troy and Riker working
together is kind of how they were able to get to,
you know, what's going on in this mystery. And so,
you know, as my you know so graciously reminded me,

(01:09:17):
it takes the community, it takes the whole crew. Actually,
that's something that I've never forgotten is why I like
Star Trek because they all work together so well, you know,
it's they were starting to use the computers at track
you know, who is missing from the ship. It reminded

(01:09:38):
me of the episode Remember Me, where Beverly was the
one that was experiencing you know, people missing from the ship.
So I thought that that was kind of an interesting
call back in my mind, and I guess Balls of
Light kind of thought it was HILARI various, Excuse me.

(01:10:03):
It's just the scene where la Forge comes back into
the cargo bay after he has this patched the team
to scan and study and do diagnostics, and they've already
had this plan that if this thing starts getting out
of hand. We're going to be that you know whatever,
that section out of the ship. But instead when he

(01:10:26):
comes back and asks, hey, you know, how's it going
in here, and the dude's like, oh, take a look
for yourself, and there's just big ball a light in
the room and he's just sitting in there call me like, oh,
I'm just doing my work and scanning stuff and scanning
stuff and doing my work, and there's a big old
ball alight there, and that just kind of blew my mind,
and I thought it was funny. I also got a

(01:10:48):
kick out of the how Riker floated through the portal
wide awake, and not only was he wide awake, he
was pumped full of neural stimulants so he was hyper
aware of it, but also it called back another thing

(01:11:10):
for me, and it's from the clip episode I think
it was at the end of season too, and an
episode before that which the clip was from, where he's.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
Yelling Dana, something's got me.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
I was waiting for him to say that there's so
much to say about this episode. Someone else mentioned and
I think it was a Neil that it's kind of
interesting when they have maybe a bigger bad than they
are you know someone that the unknown They don't know
what it is and they really can't get at it.

(01:11:47):
Like the shot they took was the only shot they
had and it just happened to work. So when that happens,
we see their character change a little bit. They're not
interested in what's over there. They don't want to scan it,
they don't want to explore it, they don't want to
make first context. They just wanted to stop, and that's
what he did. I'll say more later.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
All right, great stuff, Thanks very much. TJ. Jackson be
out in Missouri aka ball of Light. All Right, Eve
England out in Wales has not seen Light in like
three hours. It's super late. What do you think of
this one? This is your first time ever seen it?

Speaker 17 (01:12:27):
Yeah, although I think I've seen bits of this one,
I think I've read about it as part of the
sort of track Halloween stuff. So I was quite looking
forward to watching this when I saw the title pop up,
and I have to say, it's definitely the favorite episode
I've seen for a while. It just was it was fun,
it was creepy. I felt like, oh it's Halloween time.

(01:12:49):
I felt like you need to be watching this in
a couple of months time. It was just like it
wasn't perfect, but it just kind of it was as
slow burn. It had all the stuff, you know, you
started off as everyone said, you know, a slice of
life on the Enterprise, but we start to realize it's
not a regular day and there's something really weird going on.

(01:13:09):
So I just love how that sort of really does
take a bit of time for us to get to
the bottom of what's going on. And again amazing we
actually now get a good use of Troy and actually
doing something that she's qualified too, so that was quite
nice as well. And I love that that scene in
the Holidack was really cool, I think as I can't

(01:13:30):
remember who mentioned it, but I was slightly disappointed almost
that we did actually see the aliens and we saw
I think we saw too much of that alien place,
because I found that all of the creepiness in terms
of the way that they shot. They had the sort
of unsteady camera, loads of times, they had creepy music,
it's lots of claustrophobic close ups of Riiker, and I

(01:13:52):
thought all of that was really cool, but then I
was a bit disappointed with the aliens that seemed like
sort of weird monk things and that sort of lost
me a little bit, but I thought generally, I thought
what they were trying to do was really cool on
it it was just yeah, something really different, and they
need to do more episodes like that. I think I
really enjoyed that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
Mm hmm, great stuff. Thank you very much, Eve England
out in Wales. All right, Chuck A aka T and
G Fanatic your thoughts.

Speaker 5 (01:14:23):
Well, I really liked this episode. It was, you know,
just enough creepy to keep your attention and figuring out
what was going on. I don't know if anybody else
can hear that clicking sound in the background. That was amazing.
As mentioned, I love the Lieutenant J. Tracy Coco's scene,

(01:14:46):
her best scene in probably any of the Next Generation episodes.
And I saw Tracy at a convention a couple of
years ago. I don't know if you can see it,
but she signed that she signed that shit thing.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
On hold it up.

Speaker 5 (01:15:02):
Yeah, yeah, she mentioned that that was her favorite scene
as Lieutenant J. And I thought the what Eve mentioned
about the the reveal of the aliens was could have
been done a little better.

Speaker 2 (01:15:22):
I was.

Speaker 5 (01:15:23):
It was good to see where they were all going Uh,
the I like the scene when they were trying to
figure out the crisis and the cargo bay and they.

Speaker 13 (01:15:36):
All go over there and open the door, and.

Speaker 5 (01:15:38):
The two it was a two or three of the
crew like looking like, what's going on? Why are you here?
It was kind of an interesting scene. And Uh, I
wanted like like was said that. I think TJ said
it that. UH wanted to say, data, something's got me.

(01:15:59):
I wanted Reker to say when he went through the
portal there remember me, like Boemler said in Strange New World.
That would have been interesting. Like I said, I really
liked the episode. I liked it the first time I
saw it, and I don't skip it when it's when
I can watch it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:19):
It's a very good episode.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
Well that's interesting. Can you tell us real quick what
episodes you do skip?

Speaker 5 (01:16:30):
I think we mentioned a few. We've been doing reviews
of a few that I skipped different the first season, okay, yeah, yeah,
and a few in the last fifth season.

Speaker 10 (01:16:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:16:45):
We had two or three episodes in the fifth season
in a row there that worked really good at all.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
So thanks very much, Chuck A aka A T and
G fanatic. All Right, somebody, we never skip Chris the
Dark Lord, what do you think of this one?

Speaker 9 (01:17:03):
Holy technobabble, Batman, there was so much of it in
this episode. But like everyone else, I very much like
this episode. I don't think it's great, but I also
don't think it's bad either. I enjoy watching it when
it comes up, and I think it achieves its aim
at unnerving the audience. Having never seen The X Files,

(01:17:24):
I know I'll get there eventually. I liken this to
sort of like Star Trek's version of Fire in the Sky,
even though that movie was released a year later. Now
everyone loves the teaser segment this episode, as do I
and I thoroughly agree that it's hilarious. However, I thought
it was rather unusual for the show. Not bad, just different.

(01:17:45):
It does little to set up the rest of the episode,
and Face to Black on a rather sedate moment with
Riker snoring. Maybe I'm just used to teasers showing some
drama or imminent crisis accompanied by a musical sting, but
we don't get that this time around. Probably the most
memorable and most disturbing moment for me from this episode

(01:18:08):
is when doctor Crutcher tells Riker that his arm was
severed and reattached, only it's now off by a fraction
of a micron. I don't know what scares me more
the fact that such a thing happened without his knowledge
and especially consent, or that it wasn't put back on straight.
I love that, as others have observed, Lieutenant Jay and

(01:18:31):
her shoulder pads get a seat next to the captain himself,
and she gets quite a lot of focused screen time too,
And we also get to see in some Kelloggs sitting
behind Wharf and Jordie. Then later at tactical on the bridge.
Also though that we get a call back to the
seat last season's Cause and Effect with on Adelle's recipe
for a hot milk toddy. Oh, one little nitpick, I'll

(01:18:55):
mention here that reports calling for damage control team to
cargo A four. Oh, but don't bother hurrying. It's just
some injured and probably dying crew members in there. And
then I got the video popped up wrong, but that's okay.
As usual, Wharf gets the Comedy Award for his expression

(01:19:15):
as Mott is lowering him in the barber chair. It's
nice to see that we're still going to be using
Phillip's head screws in the twenty fourth century. And finally,
like others, I really enjoy that holidics scene. The group
tries to piece together their shared memory. Obviously, the computer
takes some major liberties when changing the table, especially after

(01:19:39):
Troy asks for the wooden table to be changed to metal.
It's hard for me to still call it a table
at that point, but interesting the way the group describes
what they want the holiday computer to make. It's eerily
similar to how you prompt an AI image or video generator,
fine tuning your prompt as you go to get the
result you're looking for. Not many memorable coaches to choose

(01:20:04):
from in this episode. I'll go with Jordy saying, think
more about what you want to say instead of how
you're saying it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:12):
Mm hmm wisdom. Thank you very much, Chris McGee, excellent stuff,
all right, Jake's final take Throck Any final thoughts on
this one.

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
Yeah, I'm surprised, Chris you didn't go with the hot
milk Toddy, But that was also a memorable quote. I
will say that number one. I thought it was interesting
when we saw the bathroom. Riker gets up and he
goes right to the bathroom, and we rarely see the
Star Trek bathroom, so just seeing it was special for me.

(01:20:48):
I was like, there, it is the Star Trek bathroom.

Speaker 3 (01:20:52):
I don't think.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
My character has never been in a Star Trek bathroom,
so I think that actually I've never seen a Star
Trek bathroom. So I think that was cool to see.
Number two. I'd hate to be the guy having it
cut Wharf's hair. I mean, what a diva.

Speaker 1 (01:21:12):
And then.

Speaker 2 (01:21:15):
It's like you can never please him. So yeah. Also,
I just want to say again that Leforge playing blind
when he has his visor off, it just looks so good.
It's very believable. I just you know, there's just there's
a certain thing that you look for, and he checked

(01:21:38):
all those boxes for me as far as believability about
not having sight. I loved when Riker was told that
his arm was cut severed and reattached. The look on
his face was like what else has been severed? He

(01:22:02):
had a look on his face like he was thinking
like what is going on there? Like you have any
other secrets to tell me? So that made me laugh.
And you know, I had an experience kind of like
this episode, and I think I've told the story before.

(01:22:23):
But you know, very briefly, I felt some kind of
examination occurring under the six conditions like this in like
an almost abducted type situation. Now, you know, I understand
it could it could be described as other things like

(01:22:43):
a vision or a dream or some kind of you know,
I was in a rem state or whatever. But for me,
it felt real and I did feel like I was
being probed and observed by some kind of non human entity.
And so when I watched this, it actually is pretty accurate.

(01:23:08):
And in my experience, this entity did not let me
open my eyes to visually see what was going on,
because according to what the communication that I received through
telepathy was that I wouldn't want to see what I
was going to see because it would be fear I
would be fearful. And so that's what they communicated, like,

(01:23:32):
you don't want to see us, and I was like, Okay,
I don't want to see it. And furthermore, the other
thing that I think they got accurate they got right
in my own personal experience was the sound. There was
a there was a there was a sound wasn't like

(01:23:53):
a clicking sound, but it definitely was a describable sound
that intense and cream an intensity the more you resist,
so if you were trying to fight it, it got louder,
and the vibrations were punishing to like hear, so it
mads you calm down because you didn't want to activate

(01:24:16):
this loud sound. So the sound was actually part of
the experience they actually got. That is right as well.
And lastly, part of my own experience, which I found
accurate in the description here was temperature. I felt cold.
I woke up freezing, and in fact, the sensation of

(01:24:38):
coldness is what activated the experience altogether. I felt cold
while I was in the middle of the night sleeping,
and I was like, I got to wake up and
open up the window. I closed the window, and while
I'm trying to do all that, that's when I felt

(01:24:58):
the sensation is communication, this restrictive force, this paralyzation, and
also the presence of non cuman something. So it felt
real to me. And I'll get all the rational explanations.
It could be a dream, it could be that, totally
fine with it, but I felt real to me, and

(01:25:21):
this description felt real and accurate to me to some degree.
And you mentioned fire in the sky, Chris McGee. I
also watched that movie. I thought it was a very
great movie. It's based on true story and it's very
psychologically like, it's like an emotional movie to watch if

(01:25:42):
you have had any kind of glimpse of this experience
or interaction with something that you can't explain, that's not
able to verbalize because it's something that's unknown. And so yeah,
I think they got it right. And what I would
have liked to have got out of this episode is
the same thing I want to know from my own experience,
which is what the hell was that? And what purpose?

(01:26:08):
Like is what purpose? Why? What were you studying about
me or about write or about the characters? Like what
is it that you why did you pick these people?
If you're examining a simolization or society, then you should
generally know the makeup of their DNA, their genetics. It's

(01:26:30):
not that you don't have to kill every lion or
abduct every lion to know what the structure of a
lion is and the anatomy of it. So why specifically
do these things target certain individuals and for what reason?
And so that was something I wanted a little bit
more explanation and answers to because I'm curious, and I

(01:26:51):
think science fiction allows us to at least hypothesize of
those kinds of questions, and so I would have liked
more follow up.

Speaker 1 (01:27:01):
Mm hmm, heavy stuff, great stuff, Thanks very much, Sarak.
All right, that's all the time we have today, or buddy,
if you can believe that, unless you are a patron,
in which case we'll see you on the other side
on things left unsaid. But until then, thank you very
much to Chris McGee, Chuck A. Eve England out in Wales,
Ball of Light in Missouri, Faith Howell, special Agent Crafty Bear,

(01:27:29):
Allison Leech Hide, Jason m Oak, and Melissa Longo for myself,
Sir Roc, Melissa, and mister Aaron Eisenberg. We will see
you next time, and until then, always remember that their
seventh rule