March 24, 2025 • 47 mins
Studying a comet is fun and games—until you fall in. Let’s break down Breaking the Ice!
Each week, we explore and celebrate the lives that the Star Trek universe has forever changed. From former and future cast and crew members to celebrities, scientists, and astronauts whose personal and professional journeys have been affected by the franchise, we sit down and dive deep with a new friend, laughing and learning from their stories. Sit back, grab a drink, and join our hosts, Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer, as we get geeky in The D-Con Chamber.
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Each week, we explore and celebrate the lives that the Star Trek universe has forever changed. From former and future cast and crew members to celebrities, scientists, and astronauts whose personal and professional journeys have been affected by the franchise, we sit down and dive deep with a new friend, laughing and learning from their stories. Sit back, grab a drink, and join our hosts, Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer, as we get geeky in The D-Con Chamber.
Let's get social! -
📘 Facebook: The D-Con Chamber
📸 Instagram: @thedconchamber
🐦 Twitter: @thedconchamber
🌐 Website: https://thedconchamber.com
🌳 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thedconchamber
Want more? Find us on Patreon for extended episodes + fun bonus content! https://patreon.com/thedconchamber?ut...
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-d-con-chamber--6181422/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our wonderful executive producer, mister Dave Tabb is in the
house today. God bless him. Thank you, Dave, thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey everyone, Connor here. We just want to take a
moment to thank you so very much for tuning in
and being a part of the Decon Chamber family. Your
support keeps us going and we couldn't do this without you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And if you love what we do and want to
help us even more, please consider joining us on Patreon.
You'll get exclusive perks, behind the scenes content, and even
opportunities to chat with us directly.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
And don't forget to check out are awesome mergh because
who doesn't want to wrap their favorite podcast in style? Baby?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Every little bit helps, I promise you, and we're really
very very grateful for all of you who make this
show possible. So thanks for being there and please enjoy
this episode of the Decon Chamber. This show has been done.
We've come. It's the count.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, trekkies and trekkers. Welcome
back to another episode of the Decon Chamber. As always,
I am with my co host best friend in Los Angeles.
We are doing Breaking the Ice a watch party of
Breaking the Ice. Now, this episode is interesting because one
(01:33):
it was nominated for the two thousand and two Visual
Effects Emmy. Yes, and it's written by Maria Jacques Metteau
and her husband Andrea Jacques Metau and directed by Terry Windell.
As we've just said before we started, none of us
have any real visual reference to who these people were,
(01:55):
which it's a great episode, but but nothing against them.
I just don't remember.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It was early days for us and our heads weren't
necessarily in the writer's room, particularly or who maybe was
directing the episode. It was, you know, episodic directors coming
and he obviously he cut his teeth with Voyager. I believe.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He'd done a lot of Star Trek.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, and this was a big episode to cover. There
was a lot going on, and he did it very well.
I think the main story that might have been Malcolm
and Travis going to the comic got overshadowed rather neatly
by to Paul's missive marriage and your lovely relationship blossoming
(02:49):
with her.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I didn't say, to be quite honest with you, I
didn't realize it happened that quickly.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
No, I didn't either. It was and and it was
very sweet. Actually yeah, uh at the end and natural,
it didn't come it didn't come out of left field
horribly and it wasn't like, oh, clunk, clunk, anyway, we
should let's not get too far ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Of our So there's a lot going on in this episode,
you know. We start with uh, I think it's the
first time that we get to see Trip Tucker with
his pecan pie. Yes. Yeah, And as we sit there
in the dining hall, we more Tuckerism's coming out. We
(03:35):
drop out of warp and we see we hear the
captain tell us that we are in the presence of
an asteroid the size that we've never seen before. We
should all come take a look at that, you know.
And in the meantime, in the meantime to Paul's already
(03:58):
received this letter.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, that's and it comes from the Vulcan ship that
has been definitely following us, the Timura captain by Vannik
played lovely beautiful performance by William Lute, and the missive
has come from that ship that she needs to return
(04:24):
to Vulcan. And we don't know initially why because it's encrypted.
It didn't come through the normal channels as personal missives.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is just the reason why they're following us nu a bit.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I mean, it's maybe maybe an excuse, but it's certainly
they do have this message and it is relayed through them,
So maybe that's a bit of you know, subterfuge camouflage
that it's.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
A little confusing because I wouldn't imagine they would send
a Vulcan ship really to follow us when they could
have sent a message that she would have just agree.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm probably sure that the idea was that they're they're
they're using that as a you know, a smoke screen toil, yeah,
to beat up our bums and not uh not not
received well by the captain. I love the fact that
we're going to call this asteroid archer asteroid. That's a
(05:24):
rather nice touch. And uh so, yeah, there's some very
nice graphics there with that, you know, snowball hurtling through space.
And of course then Malcolm and and Travis Mayweather are,
uh we're ordered to go visit the comet. It's it's
(05:45):
got a heavy deposit of elysium. That's right, that's right,
which is uh which even the Vulcans don't necessarily have
a great understanding of, although they've pooh pooed you asteroids,
and it's not something that their research particularly follows.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And Okay, somehow you could somehow make an association, which
is what happening happening right now with you know how
we're trying to find heavy metals that are good for
electric batteries. All right, it's you know, you know things
in Africa and yeah, in which we can find heavy metals,
and this is an opportunity to to at the very
(06:30):
least acknowledge or identify an asteroid that could serve us.
And there's nothing on it. It's just bare, it's barren.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, it was amazing. I mean that's stage nine. I mean,
I mean they went all out. You know, I couldn't
believe it when I walked into that, and they've done
that in about three days. And it was just you know,
the size of two tennis coats. It's covered in snow
and little mountainous ranges and there was the shuttle pod deposited.
(07:05):
I mean, it was amazing and uh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
It was incredible. And and just to rewind a little bit,
you know, we have this sort of through line with
throughout the episode where we're uh, you know, in the
first in the first scene, I'm showing Jolene Uh to
Paul these illustrations from you know my like my.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Cotton, the comic relief. We're doing a phone home like
the space station to ken Ken Mass that's been an island.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
That's different that that was that that's later when I
had that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
What are you showing her?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Initially we're showing her that that it's like my aunt
or some relation to me's fourth grade class has sent illustrations.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Isn't it from the same school in Carry.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It's not looking at this closely, it's actually not that's
a whole separate part of this, but the initial one
which sets up the you know which, which is a
very cute scene there at the end through three quarters
of the way through. But initially, you know Billingsley, Uh
(08:25):
is it? It's flocks right where they're looking at the illustrations,
and and and and Paul is unwilling to address the
curiosity of people with what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
M h m hmm.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
She shuts it down very quickly, and she's got other
things on her mind, obviously, because she's she's been married
off as it were, yes.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And arranged marriage since birth, well since childhood by her parents.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah. So we get to a point where Archer's very
excited about the idea of us exploring this asteroid, and
he sends the two of you out, you, Malcolm and Mayweather,
you find out what we can find out.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Sarious time in that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
The idea was too Essentially my take was, is that
the possibility of mining that asteroid?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah? Yeah, and research, research, and and and boring down
and finding this elysium elusive elysium. Uh and just yeah,
doing some exploratory plant planetesimal asteroid work.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And this wasn't the first time you'd been in the
EV suit, right.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
No, I've done We've done a little steps stretch on
the fight or flies. I think it is when we
when we go to that and we find them hanging
all upside down being, you know, mind for their human minerals.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
By some I will say that I loved watching both
you and Anthony come out of the shuttle pot, which
audience you have to remember coming out of the shuttle
pot in an EV suit gracefully.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh my god, it's not an easy feat man.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I mean, how do you describe this? What's a comparison?
It's it's it's like.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
It's like doing the limbo.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's like a big an elephant coming out of a
small box.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah. No, it wasn't easy.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
But the look on your faces when you.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Come out all just like nah. I noticed that when
we had to when we when we set the explosives
after the hilarity of the snowman scene, and arts are
saying we're being observed. People stop acting like children. It
was all good, but I thought that was rather nice
for the making the eyes and sticking it in his nose.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
That was a rather cute.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
But I just noticed that. Then we crouched down behind,
you know, one of the sort of said snowy outcrops
of the asteroid, and the ease with which I just
went down on all fours with the eighteen pound helmets
to thirty eight pound backpack, and I was like, I
don't think I could do that now. My knees would just.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Even even the point when you came out, I saw
your breath, because that was a real thing we had
to deal with. Yeah, I saw your breath in like
your first breath onto the visor, and I thought to myself,
how many times did they have to do this damn
(11:51):
thing to make sure that this didn't look and I
thought to myself. The hair team must have been like, yeah,
it's going on. Yeah, there were It was a thing.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
And I look, God, bless you, you said to me
on new mus occasions. Well, Anthony's got bigger batteries than you,
and he did, I mean, and we would be miked up,
so we we we so we could actually exchange you know,
in real time through a microphone to each other through
the headsets, and of course sound would never turn it off,
(12:26):
and uh, you know, and you know, in between takes,
Anthony would be bopping around that set, bopping around the
studio from craft service to hair and makeup, just chat
chat check check check, chack chat. And I'd be sort
of you know, I'd find a dark corner somewhere where
I could deposit the backpack on an Apple box and
(12:46):
then sit comfortably and hopefully quietly, only to listen to him.
At one point I did cry out.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
In the dark shut do you think that we had
we had it was had we reached a point where
and it was a very simple solution, which was to
take two Apple boxes. Yes, since that means about it
about about a sixteen by twelve just.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
They basically built a state where you could wrest them.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Backpack and then add the other one on top of
that get some relief because.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
They're getting it on and off. Was was even more arduous,
right the least that that was the initial you know,
plan was every after each take, as it were, they'd
rush around you and suddenly the helmet would be off,
the backpack would be off, and it'd be great.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
But putting it all.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Back on again, it was just, you know, oh my god,
can the helmet off?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Was arduous?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Arduous?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, but had we gotten to a point where we
did have those apple boxes yet? I don't know that
we did?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
No, not at this point, I I it was getting close.
Everything changed in season two when Scott and I did
Minefield and he spent some serious time in that suit
and he put his back out.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well so we're one episode eight, so.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, I see in one episode two it was a
minefield and he suddenly that that marked the trainer came
by and all of a sudden, a lot of attention
was paid to re designing ergonomically those suits, and God
bless Joe. Joe could do twenty minutes, not even I
mean she could do twelve minutes and then have to
take it off. Yeah, yeah, they were, they were. It
(14:33):
was a tough that was a tough thing. And uh yeah,
but as you say, Anthony got bigger batteries than me,
and he was He's ten years younger than me.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So you know, I also think that there's something interesting
in that the two of you make a snowman that
we then find out you add vulcaneers to a little
bit later.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
You know, I didn't notice that. Yeah, that's uh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It was. It was almost like a you know, middle
finger to the Vulcans.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
A vanic watching because we're being watched.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, there's no way that you wouldn't have known that
you're being watched. Yeah, no way.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
We're alerted to it by the captain, like, you know,
quit messing around down there. We are being observed. He's
so perse isn't name Vanik? And uh that dinner party
scene when he comes aboard and he's he's already eaten. Yeah,
(15:32):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well that both the captain and Trip what they're eating
they don't want to eat?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
No, yeah, Trip again, Trip is still quite so you know.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
He is, he is. But I will say that, you know,
this was actually earlier than I thought it was for
his character to have, uh a less a sense of like,
you know, going out there and kick an ass and
being sensitive. And you know, he has that scene with
Archer where he's kind of obligated to, you know, based
(16:11):
on his conversation with Hoshian engineering, he has to read
this letter. Yeah, I mean because it and and and
Ron recognizes in the reading of the letter that like, oh,
that what I wanted to read. And and goes to
the captain and really has a struggle with what what
(16:35):
is the right thing to do? And I remember later
in our series that I had gone to them and said,
you know, look, Trip has to get his foot caught
in his mouth at some point, because otherwise he just
seems like this sort of like bull in a china shop.
And this was unexpected to me in seeing this, that
(16:57):
that that he he's really struggling with the idea of
someone's private letter.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah. And there's natural gentlemanliness. It is evident. It's not
like he has to be taught that this is not
something you should do. It's a it's a it's not
a come to Jesus moment.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
It's a struggle. It's a struggle about what what's the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, I know I've overstepped unwistingly, or rather I've been
forced to overstep the mark. And god knows, I wish
I didn't have to, you know, and pleased with her,
Why did you not have this sent through normal channels
as a personal piece, And her excuse was, well, it
would have taken too long or something, but it is.
It's a it's a very clever device to then get
(17:50):
you and.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
To pull He enters into her chambers for the very
first time, and and she says to him, and I
don't think it anything expected by Trip, that that that
he was the one and for her reasoning, which was,
you're the only one who knows. I mean, you know,
(18:10):
there may be deeper elements to that, but you're the
only one who knows about this, so I need to
talk to you about this. I don't I think that
I think that Trip developed his emotional life as we
went along, mm hmm. And and I think that this
(18:32):
is the first example where we get to see him
struggle with morals.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, yeah, and and a loot on we had an
actor that that could encompass that quite handsomely, so you know,
it wasn't a stretch for you to you know, be
the be the good guy and uh.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Right, and I and I and I think that, uh
I again, you know, we look back on these things.
I don't remember the writers, I don't remember the director,
but I remember that what was it done?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Particularly in these early days. You know, we got more
involved as the episodes went by, But yeah, I don't
in the remember Terry at all. No.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
In the meantime, you know what season one, I would
say season one entirely, I'll say for myself, I was like, well,
I got a three three line byline for what my
character was, will help me develop this? And we got
that opportunity to do that throughout that season. But I mean,
(19:41):
you know, it's hard to write a bible for yourself
when you only know that you're a good old Southern boy,
good at engines.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Right, Speaking of which, Yeah, so then we get to
that lovely comic scene which it goes on longer than
you'd imagine, when we're doing the phone home to the
Kenmar High School Kerry in Ireland and being asked the
usual space questions about you know, what do you do
when you poop?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
My memory of this and it's wrong obviously was that
this was like well into season three. Wow, I had
no idea that it was this soon. Yeah, and uh,
I thought that scene was handled so well.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I was ever so slightly pushed by Scott's delivery. I mean,
but it but it was, it was, It was in
the It had the same tonality and the ring about
it as you would get on a space station interview
in present day, certainly in that present day.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Talking to a third or fourth grade class.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, and and trying to infuse our excitement about being
up there and doing what we were doing, and and
and still the wonder of what we were doing to
young children there on planet Earth who might follow steps.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah. A little side note to that was that was
the first That was the very first scene. No, sorry,
the first one was unexpected in Flox's office. But this
is one of the very first times where I went
(21:30):
from a poop question, sir, having no idea what I
was supposed to say, No, no idea, you know, and
we've got and this is embarrassing to me to say this,
because we've got Linda, John Scott, We're all sitting there,
(21:53):
we're answering these questions. And I just after it got
from poop question to sort of discribe what all of
that meant. That was not a night that I was
good on.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, I don't know. I thought he's a living it.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well well you I mean, you know, you see how
it's how it shoped, like you know, we went to like,
you know, take to the point where I remember saying
to jan Janned it was pretty close right. She was
waspervisor and I remember seeing the Jen I was like, oh,
I guess what you're saying now.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
You just weren't actually.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
D lp as in my delivery.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
It was like, come on, it's all about the re
sequencing and and turning into molecules that could then be
you know, reused. And one of the chicks was boots. Yeah, yeah,
you're wearing boots. It was late at night. It was
late at night and night was it a late one?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah? This is one of those those times when I
went back to my trailer and did a DiCaprio from
I was just like, damn you you're better than this,
better than this.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
How could you know?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
You know this?
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You knew it, and you knew it in the bath last.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Night, seventh whiskey sour, you be fine.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
That's such a brilliant scene, isn't it real? I so honestly,
I so related to his character in that film.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I think every actor, Yeah, at a moment that he
does so so well on that film.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, the bit even when the girl tells him you're
the greatest actor I've ever worked with, and he's just
about tears up because the accolade from a seven year old,
it's just it's just everything you needed to hear.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
It is.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
It's pathetic and sad but true.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
She even knows his life at that point.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yes, uh, well so yeah the explosion that of course,
Well so then we're knocked. Yeah, we've done the explosion
and it knocks the asteroid off its access and now
we're facing you know, imminent heating from the star that
(24:15):
we're going to suddenly turn into and the ice is
going to melt, and we've got to get out of there.
And Malcolm is not at all perturbed until until the iron,
until until until you know, the energizer bunny down there
around the well. Yeah, and suddenly now we're fighting the
(24:37):
clock and nothing like a good ticking clock in an episode.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
And nothing like nothing like banging around in a shuttle pipe.
It was it looks so much larger on television.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, and it wasn't it was. I mean, how big
is it? It's about the twice it's about two broom cupboards.
Let's say it's probably six feet wide.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Tops and eight feet deep.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Maybe seven and twelve feet deep.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's not big, and it's full of stuff, and.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
It's full of stuff, and it's very low ceilings, and
it's all metal barred. And when you're in an EV
suit and you're wearing an EV suit, which actually, if
you've got the head on, that's not a bad thing
because if you do bang the head, it's it just
jars the neck rather than actually, but when we did
Shuttle Pod one, man, I must have banged my head
(25:27):
a dozen times constantly. My scalp was just like, you know,
bumped up.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I wonder, I wonder in terms of so it's not
quite clear in watching the episode, we're still in a
bit of a wandering dance with the Vulcans. Yeah, very
much so, and us needing their help in that way,
(25:59):
you know again breaking the ice. Yes, but you know,
I don't feel like we actually did well.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I guess it's that final moment when to Paul suggests
to a very recalcitrant, unrecalcitrant Jonathan Archer that we might
employ Vani's assistance and help with the tractor beam. That
because we've missed with the we don't.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Have the technology. We don't have We don't.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Have the tractor beam, and we're struggling with a grappler
which only one deployed, And as we're trying to pull
the shuttle part out, another seismic shift happens on the
asteroid and we drop another nine meters and there's an
any minute now, it's going to turn away from the
star and it's all going to freeze.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Over and we're screwed.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So it's I thought that was a rather poignant moment
where Archer is forced to swallow his pride. You know,
human pride is always human ego, and pride is usually
the yeah, the the the end of any advancement in
any endeavor, when people dig their heels in, And yeah,
(27:17):
maybe I think that.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Again. This we're we're looking at our first season and
this episode was a surprise to me. I don't know
what we're going to see going forward, but this was
an opportunity for us to have a relationship with the Vulcans,
and man, they don't want to help us, but they
(27:45):
will not have us die.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
No, they don't make it easy, and they certainly want
to keep us under their thumb. And uh, as much
as we found out in you know, the last episode,
you know, then not they're not beyond a bit of duplicity. Uh,
you know they were, they were hiding a.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Mass protect by the time our show comes on. We
believe they are duplicitous to an end.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, that they've been lying to us for you know,
fifty years about and keeping us you know, landlocked as
it were, because it didn't they didn't think we were
ready for it.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, it's like a sort of you know, it's interesting
also that you know, in that conversation in the dining
hall or in the Captain's mess that we don't get
any notion about how Vulcans.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Feel about what they're doing. We know what we're doing.
They just sort of hovering around monitoring and monitoring or
spying on us.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
As a as a as a real slap in the
face from the.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Captain because the previous episode, you know, pagem they clearly
have something else going on that we didn't know about.
And uh, they've they've got so much more going on.
In fact, I'm gonna rewind this for myself for a second.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So in.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Shadows of gem mm hmm, we get to see that
they've got a whole operation about monitoring everything.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well certainly back to Andoria.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, and then we leave that episode and come into
this one where they also want to give us nothing.
And it's not until their own vulcan requests that they
assist us.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
There's no really broc as a broke as a relationship
where we would accept their assistance. I think think Vanick
Vanik offers the assistance in a in a in a
in a very what's the word, you know, over fatherly
and rather disparaging way judging. Yeah, yeah, and and and
(30:16):
it's it's to pull the brokers the deal between Archer's
resistance because of ego and vanity and pride, and says, no,
you use the tractor beam. That's what's going to save
the day. And and you don't have one. We don't
have we don't have the technology. You ask about that,
don't you And he says that's proprietary, you know, sod
(30:39):
off And so yeah, it's a it's a step forward
that because you know, she says, you know that they'll
be expecting you to say no, and we'll figure this
out on our own, even if it's our.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
To our own detriment. Uh. And that's also some of
those scenes that's in particular, my memory of my own
character and his snarkiness lasted much longer than I thought
it was going to remember it being so you know,
(31:15):
there are so many moments where and this is the
first episode I think where he sort of has, as
opposed to a snarky moment, a reaction of like when
to Paul walks away at the end of the episode
and he has this grin on his face. That grinned
to me meant that you know that that trip got
(31:36):
something prior to this. As we all know, he's kind
of a.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Little bit I mean, he kind of is. He's a
good old boy. And yeah, especially with twenty five years
you know, history as it were looking back hindsight. Yeah,
I mean at the time, it was because sited a
good old American boy. Yeah. Well, you know, yeah, we've
(32:08):
talked about this.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
We were on for you all. We were on the
seventh Roul yesterday talking uh with Sarrak and Ryan and
you know the wonder of being able to do this,
of going back and looking at these episodes is really
impactful to me, and I find myself looking at my
(32:33):
performance in a critical way as opposed to be Hey,
Connor's on TV, right, you know what I mean? Yeah? Great,
I quite agree. Yeah. And to be able to to
have the opportunity distance, Yeah, and to have the opportunity
and to be able to do this with with all
of you, uh, to express my own sense of what
(32:59):
I thought happened was happening versus how I see it
now twenty some years later. I find fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I find it and it is and it's and it's
fascinating to see it with the hindsight lens in place too,
where we were talking about that yesterday that a lot
of our show must be seen through the lens of
nine to eleven, which, oddly enough, this episode came directly
at that moment I looked through the shooting schedule. Did
(33:30):
nine to eleven happen on a Sunday? Because I was?
I looked at the shooting schedule.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
No, it was not a Sunday. We were meant to work,
because I was meant to go to work.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Yeah, So I'm confused.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Maybe a Monday.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
I don't shot the eighth and we shot them, we
shot the seventh and the eighth. I don't know. It
says we went back to work on Monday.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I remember seeing tenth. I remember seeing waking up, getting
a call from a friend and saying, turn the TV on.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, it was in the morning.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Here to see the plane go into tower two.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Saw that one live, saw the smoking of Tower one,
did not see the plane. Didn't the second plane actually enter, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah, And and then and then getting a call from Mary,
you're not going to not come to work today. So
it was a workday.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So this it was a workday. But this and this
episode was the episode that it happened on. And that's
quite something to take into consideration.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You know. And and at that time, if if if
anybody in our audience remembers who were alive, it was
like America said to everybody else, Nope, we're going to
kick your ass.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
There was a reaction, and we all felt it. There
was some you know, I think people of cooler minds
and more liberal leanings definitely were already saying, you know,
let's take a step here, take a moment. I know, my,
my gut reaction was you know what, you've ever stepped
the mark, guys, Now we're going to kill you? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(35:16):
And it was it.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Was a guts we are we are both liberal in
our politics, we are, but at that moment, man, it
was like mm hm no.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
It played into uh yeah, you know the line, and
it plays into a natural human emotion, which is, you know, okay,
we're all done talking now exactly, and you've you've poked
this big bed, you know, way too many times and
now this time. Yeah, it was it's like I'm going
to put hands on you now. Yeah, I know, which
(35:52):
is you know, we as we know it is not
generally the best, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
But the fascinating thing about our show is that it
lived within that environment it did, and and how we
all felt about that, and how we all responded to that,
and that I'm talking about our cast, I'm talking about
our particular world. You know. We we we had a
sense of of of something that you can't do that.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Well, yeah, I was I got it too. I thought
I thought it might be the cancelation of our show.
And you know, we ever gonna do? Is this what's
gonna happen now? I mean, there was some there was
some self interested thoughts my mind.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I mean no, I mean I've told this story before.
I've told it on our show that you know, at
that point when this all went down, and this might
be this episode where I thought to myself, dude, you're
an actor, do something real, you know. And it wasn't
(37:03):
until a conversation with my father on the phone literally
in my trailer where I was struggling about everything we're
all struggling with and I and I shared that with
him and I was like, I think what I'm doing
is ridiculous, this is this is stupid. I mean, why
am I even here? I mean, I should be doing
something else. And he disagreed with me completely and said,
(37:26):
what you're doing now is giving somebody a Thursday or
a Wednesday or whenever the hell's on and giving them
some kind of respite, some sort of way wise.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Of him, and I was because it's yes, as you say,
after certain ages an act, you kind of go, it's
not really a proper man's job putting on a putting
on an accent and a.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Limp, right exactly, But.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Actually, yeah, I mean, if you do give someone respite
from some dreadful eventuality in their life and incident, and
we know we've we've come across that at the conventions
where people have just come up and said, look, you
helped me through one of the worst three months of
my life, you know, and some of.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
The d of our job.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Ye's the wonder of our job in mind, it really is, and.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
That people walk up and say, you know, I'm this
because of your character. Yeah, I've got through this because
of your character, because of your show.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, you gave me an hour off from the worst.
And we've heard some just dreadful, you know, like life
can be very very very cruel and very difficult.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
I hold that very close to my breast that if
I did one thing in my work, it was having
an influence in a positive way for people that I've met.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yeah, and as was discussed yesterday on the on the
Lappies with the Seventh guys, you know, being a part
of this franchise, it's got longevity, and you know we
are our legacy will be remembered and God bless this
show that we've created and the interviews we've done with
(39:18):
two iterations of it now will go down in the
annals of Star trek historical posterity, and I hope that,
you know, future fandoms, generations of them have this as
a library that they can go back and research if
they choose to go back and encompass the whole phenomenon
(39:40):
of this extraordinary TV franchise. And having done the show.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
And having spoken to people about what we've done on
the show matters a great deal to me, And doing
this show with you matters a great deal to me.
Doing something I don't want to call it important, but
we're doing something of value.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
It is a value. I quite agree. Yeah. No, I'm
doing it with with a best friend you know so,
and the lover is there mate, you know like radiance.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Yeah. Yeah, we're going to die loving each other.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
One way, damn it, one way or another. I'm gonna
love you.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
You may not like it. It's like it's like a
Cassis seventies movie.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah. The ending of the peak Ampire is rather cute,
isn't it. When she's quarters, well, it says a bit.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
I think I felt as though that was a little
gilding Lily, did you I didn't, did uh? I I
don't think that we quite earned the pecan pie in
her room at that right, Okay, Yeah, but we did eventually, Yeah,
we did.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
I mean, uh, and the fact that she she knew
she could trust you now with deep personal secrets that
you were you were not going to go blagging that
around the ship. Uh. And yeah, I didn't mind it.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I thought it was I mean, yeah, I mean I
did find it romantic definitely. But then of course we
find ourselves moving forward. It looks as though she's going
to be with the captain mm hmm. Yeah, that dynamic
was was interesting. I think that I think that what
(41:48):
it did was it it set the template for these
very different people to potentially connect.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, and I look forward to seeing the
next episode and see how that develops. Yeah, and I
think is it a mike' sussmin episode coming up next?
We're going to have him on with us, and we're
gonna Mike's been following our podcast, our Chestion make is
loving it. Thank you, Mike, And he reached out and
(42:23):
said he'd like to come on, and uh, he said, yes,
who are you again?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
I got to tell you, you know, I want I love
the you know, the research we do in the talking
to people. There's something really interesting to me that really,
I mean hits my heart about the two of us
talking about these episodes that we've worked on together all
this time, so long ago, and revisiting them and talking
(42:56):
about them passionately, but as we are now, yeah, and passionately,
and as we are now.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, and and with a with a with with with
the ability of the time and the maturity to look
back and critique our former performances.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You've got no problem with that. We're good at that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah. So I have to say I've got I think, uh,
Anthony and I acting in that space suit, even the
voice was not easy. Uh, And you know, the lighting
to look good in that in that helmet was not easy.
And I have to say I looked at this episode
and went, you know what, I'll pull that off, you know,
(43:44):
I mean, God knows. Dustin Hoffman, bless his heart, in that.
What was that precursor to the Pandemic movie that he
did with Kate Winslet, It's got Me Kill Me Virus Virus.
I mean, I mean that's with a lot of money
thrown at that movie, and he has he has a
(44:06):
couple of dodgy looks in that helmet, in the virus suit,
and so Yeah, to pull off a helmet like that
and it sounds good in it. I was like, yeah,
sums up to that.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Did you look at the whole thing?
Speaker 1 (44:23):
You know, I'm not entirely sure we might well have done.
I mean, I I don't look. I do remember they
had the whole speaky thing. It was all wired up
to sound department. So there's a good chance that the
sound on the day was the sound they used. Yeah,
that was the whole part point of.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, what happened?
Speaker 1 (44:46):
I have him in my backyard.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
I stole him battery in his nose.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
God bless those set builders and everything. Man, I mean
Planet nine, Planet hell sustake. They really went all out
and it was so much fun to walk into a
landscape like that. I mean, now you know, we know
that they create these AI landscapes, that.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
This is going to get better and better at it.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
I was watching something on sixty Minutes the other day
about the guy in in Nvidia. Yeah, and what they're
doing now.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
I mean we had fricks On who was talking about this.
You know what was it like, it's it's sixty or
ninety screens. Yeah, to see the environment that you're in.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Yeah, you're literally acting in the environment tennis ball attached
to a stick, yeah, no kidding, Yeah, and that ours
were all our scenes were practical or a tennis ball,
last stick. And now they're they're they're working in extraordinary
you know, visual.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
The luxury of the environment of what you're supposed to see.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Must be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Yeah, So well, it's a great episode and nice to
talk to you about it, mate.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah. Likewise, I hope you enjoyed this. Yes, I really
enjoyed watching this episode. It was it was one of
the ones that I thought actually was further on to
our cannon, but it was. It was you know, before
the first half of our first season was over.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Yeah, and something of a filler, but it wasn't. It
was actually, yeah, more than a And as I said earlier,
I think, you know, the main storyline got overshadowed and
superseded by the what was probably going to be the
b storyline, which was to Paul and this secret message,
and all of a sudden that became really the thrust
(46:50):
of the episode, which you know, yeah, not a bad thing, all.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Right, Chelle, Thanks so much. It's Cosmos, It's com
Our wonderful executive producer, mister Dave Tabb is in the
house today. God bless him. Thank you, Dave, thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey everyone, Connor here. We just want to take a
moment to thank you so very much for tuning in
and being a part of the Decon Chamber family. Your
support keeps us going and we couldn't do this without you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And if you love what we do and want to
help us even more, please consider joining us on Patreon.
You'll get exclusive perks, behind the scenes content, and even
opportunities to chat with us directly.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
And don't forget to check out are awesome mergh because
who doesn't want to wrap their favorite podcast in style? Baby?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Every little bit helps, I promise you, and we're really
very very grateful for all of you who make this
show possible. So thanks for being there and please enjoy
this episode of the Decon Chamber. This show has been done.
We've come. It's the count.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, trekkies and trekkers. Welcome
back to another episode of the Decon Chamber. As always,
I am with my co host best friend in Los Angeles.
We are doing Breaking the Ice a watch party of
Breaking the Ice. Now, this episode is interesting because one
(01:33):
it was nominated for the two thousand and two Visual
Effects Emmy. Yes, and it's written by Maria Jacques Metteau
and her husband Andrea Jacques Metau and directed by Terry Windell.
As we've just said before we started, none of us
have any real visual reference to who these people were,
(01:55):
which it's a great episode, but but nothing against them.
I just don't remember.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It was early days for us and our heads weren't
necessarily in the writer's room, particularly or who maybe was
directing the episode. It was, you know, episodic directors coming
and he obviously he cut his teeth with Voyager. I believe.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He'd done a lot of Star Trek.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, and this was a big episode to cover. There
was a lot going on, and he did it very well.
I think the main story that might have been Malcolm
and Travis going to the comic got overshadowed rather neatly
by to Paul's missive marriage and your lovely relationship blossoming
(02:49):
with her.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I didn't say, to be quite honest with you, I
didn't realize it happened that quickly.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
No, I didn't either. It was and and it was
very sweet. Actually yeah, uh at the end and natural,
it didn't come it didn't come out of left field
horribly and it wasn't like, oh, clunk, clunk, anyway, we
should let's not get too far ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Of our So there's a lot going on in this episode,
you know. We start with uh, I think it's the
first time that we get to see Trip Tucker with
his pecan pie. Yes. Yeah, And as we sit there
in the dining hall, we more Tuckerism's coming out. We
(03:35):
drop out of warp and we see we hear the
captain tell us that we are in the presence of
an asteroid the size that we've never seen before. We
should all come take a look at that, you know.
And in the meantime, in the meantime to Paul's already
(03:58):
received this letter.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, that's and it comes from the Vulcan ship that
has been definitely following us, the Timura captain by Vannik
played lovely beautiful performance by William Lute, and the missive
has come from that ship that she needs to return
(04:24):
to Vulcan. And we don't know initially why because it's encrypted.
It didn't come through the normal channels as personal missives.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is just the reason why they're following us nu a bit.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I mean, it's maybe maybe an excuse, but it's certainly
they do have this message and it is relayed through them,
So maybe that's a bit of you know, subterfuge camouflage
that it's.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
A little confusing because I wouldn't imagine they would send
a Vulcan ship really to follow us when they could
have sent a message that she would have just agree.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm probably sure that the idea was that they're they're
they're using that as a you know, a smoke screen toil, yeah,
to beat up our bums and not uh not not
received well by the captain. I love the fact that
we're going to call this asteroid archer asteroid. That's a
(05:24):
rather nice touch. And uh so, yeah, there's some very
nice graphics there with that, you know, snowball hurtling through space.
And of course then Malcolm and and Travis Mayweather are,
uh we're ordered to go visit the comet. It's it's
(05:45):
got a heavy deposit of elysium. That's right, that's right,
which is uh which even the Vulcans don't necessarily have
a great understanding of, although they've pooh pooed you asteroids,
and it's not something that their research particularly follows.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And Okay, somehow you could somehow make an association, which
is what happening happening right now with you know how
we're trying to find heavy metals that are good for
electric batteries. All right, it's you know, you know things
in Africa and yeah, in which we can find heavy metals,
and this is an opportunity to to at the very
(06:30):
least acknowledge or identify an asteroid that could serve us.
And there's nothing on it. It's just bare, it's barren.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, it was amazing. I mean that's stage nine. I mean,
I mean they went all out. You know, I couldn't
believe it when I walked into that, and they've done
that in about three days. And it was just you know,
the size of two tennis coats. It's covered in snow
and little mountainous ranges and there was the shuttle pod deposited.
(07:05):
I mean, it was amazing and uh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
It was incredible. And and just to rewind a little bit,
you know, we have this sort of through line with
throughout the episode where we're uh, you know, in the
first in the first scene, I'm showing Jolene Uh to
Paul these illustrations from you know my like my.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Cotton, the comic relief. We're doing a phone home like
the space station to ken Ken Mass that's been an island.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
That's different that that was that that's later when I
had that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
What are you showing her?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Initially we're showing her that that it's like my aunt
or some relation to me's fourth grade class has sent illustrations.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Isn't it from the same school in Carry.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It's not looking at this closely, it's actually not that's
a whole separate part of this, but the initial one
which sets up the you know which, which is a
very cute scene there at the end through three quarters
of the way through. But initially, you know Billingsley, Uh
(08:25):
is it? It's flocks right where they're looking at the illustrations,
and and and and Paul is unwilling to address the
curiosity of people with what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
M h m hmm.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
She shuts it down very quickly, and she's got other
things on her mind, obviously, because she's she's been married
off as it were, yes.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And arranged marriage since birth, well since childhood by her parents.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah. So we get to a point where Archer's very
excited about the idea of us exploring this asteroid, and
he sends the two of you out, you, Malcolm and Mayweather,
you find out what we can find out.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Sarious time in that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
The idea was too Essentially my take was, is that
the possibility of mining that asteroid?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah? Yeah, and research, research, and and and boring down
and finding this elysium elusive elysium. Uh and just yeah,
doing some exploratory plant planetesimal asteroid work.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And this wasn't the first time you'd been in the
EV suit, right.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
No, I've done We've done a little steps stretch on
the fight or flies. I think it is when we
when we go to that and we find them hanging
all upside down being, you know, mind for their human minerals.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
By some I will say that I loved watching both
you and Anthony come out of the shuttle pot, which
audience you have to remember coming out of the shuttle
pot in an EV suit gracefully.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh my god, it's not an easy feat man.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I mean, how do you describe this? What's a comparison?
It's it's it's like.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
It's like doing the limbo.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's like a big an elephant coming out of a
small box.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah. No, it wasn't easy.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
But the look on your faces when you.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Come out all just like nah. I noticed that when
we had to when we when we set the explosives
after the hilarity of the snowman scene, and arts are
saying we're being observed. People stop acting like children. It
was all good, but I thought that was rather nice
for the making the eyes and sticking it in his nose.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
That was a rather cute.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
But I just noticed that. Then we crouched down behind,
you know, one of the sort of said snowy outcrops
of the asteroid, and the ease with which I just
went down on all fours with the eighteen pound helmets
to thirty eight pound backpack, and I was like, I
don't think I could do that now. My knees would just.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Even even the point when you came out, I saw
your breath, because that was a real thing we had
to deal with. Yeah, I saw your breath in like
your first breath onto the visor, and I thought to myself,
how many times did they have to do this damn
(11:51):
thing to make sure that this didn't look and I
thought to myself. The hair team must have been like, yeah,
it's going on. Yeah, there were It was a thing.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
And I look, God, bless you, you said to me
on new mus occasions. Well, Anthony's got bigger batteries than you,
and he did, I mean, and we would be miked up,
so we we we so we could actually exchange you know,
in real time through a microphone to each other through
the headsets, and of course sound would never turn it off,
(12:26):
and uh, you know, and you know, in between takes,
Anthony would be bopping around that set, bopping around the
studio from craft service to hair and makeup, just chat
chat check check check, chack chat. And I'd be sort
of you know, I'd find a dark corner somewhere where
I could deposit the backpack on an Apple box and
(12:46):
then sit comfortably and hopefully quietly, only to listen to him.
At one point I did cry out.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
In the dark shut do you think that we had
we had it was had we reached a point where
and it was a very simple solution, which was to
take two Apple boxes. Yes, since that means about it
about about a sixteen by twelve just.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
They basically built a state where you could wrest them.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Backpack and then add the other one on top of
that get some relief because.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
They're getting it on and off. Was was even more arduous,
right the least that that was the initial you know,
plan was every after each take, as it were, they'd
rush around you and suddenly the helmet would be off,
the backpack would be off, and it'd be great.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
But putting it all.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Back on again, it was just, you know, oh my god,
can the helmet off?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Was arduous?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Arduous?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, but had we gotten to a point where we
did have those apple boxes yet? I don't know that
we did?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
No, not at this point, I I it was getting close.
Everything changed in season two when Scott and I did
Minefield and he spent some serious time in that suit
and he put his back out.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well so we're one episode eight, so.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, I see in one episode two it was a
minefield and he suddenly that that marked the trainer came
by and all of a sudden, a lot of attention
was paid to re designing ergonomically those suits, and God
bless Joe. Joe could do twenty minutes, not even I
mean she could do twelve minutes and then have to
take it off. Yeah, yeah, they were, they were. It
(14:33):
was a tough that was a tough thing. And uh yeah,
but as you say, Anthony got bigger batteries than me,
and he was He's ten years younger than me.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So you know, I also think that there's something interesting
in that the two of you make a snowman that
we then find out you add vulcaneers to a little
bit later.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
You know, I didn't notice that. Yeah, that's uh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It was. It was almost like a you know, middle
finger to the Vulcans.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
A vanic watching because we're being watched.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, there's no way that you wouldn't have known that
you're being watched. Yeah, no way.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
We're alerted to it by the captain, like, you know,
quit messing around down there. We are being observed. He's
so perse isn't name Vanik? And uh that dinner party
scene when he comes aboard and he's he's already eaten. Yeah,
(15:32):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well that both the captain and Trip what they're eating
they don't want to eat?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
No, yeah, Trip again, Trip is still quite so you know.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
He is, he is. But I will say that, you know,
this was actually earlier than I thought it was for
his character to have, uh a less a sense of like,
you know, going out there and kick an ass and
being sensitive. And you know, he has that scene with
Archer where he's kind of obligated to, you know, based
(16:11):
on his conversation with Hoshian engineering, he has to read
this letter. Yeah, I mean because it and and and
Ron recognizes in the reading of the letter that like, oh,
that what I wanted to read. And and goes to
the captain and really has a struggle with what what
(16:35):
is the right thing to do? And I remember later
in our series that I had gone to them and said,
you know, look, Trip has to get his foot caught
in his mouth at some point, because otherwise he just
seems like this sort of like bull in a china shop.
And this was unexpected to me in seeing this, that
(16:57):
that that he he's really struggling with the idea of
someone's private letter.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah. And there's natural gentlemanliness. It is evident. It's not
like he has to be taught that this is not
something you should do. It's a it's a it's not
a come to Jesus moment.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
It's a struggle. It's a struggle about what what's the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, I know I've overstepped unwistingly, or rather I've been
forced to overstep the mark. And god knows, I wish
I didn't have to, you know, and pleased with her,
Why did you not have this sent through normal channels
as a personal piece, And her excuse was, well, it
would have taken too long or something, but it is.
It's a it's a very clever device to then get
(17:50):
you and.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
To pull He enters into her chambers for the very
first time, and and she says to him, and I
don't think it anything expected by Trip, that that that
he was the one and for her reasoning, which was,
you're the only one who knows. I mean, you know,
(18:10):
there may be deeper elements to that, but you're the
only one who knows about this, so I need to
talk to you about this. I don't I think that
I think that Trip developed his emotional life as we
went along, mm hmm. And and I think that this
(18:32):
is the first example where we get to see him
struggle with morals.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, yeah, and and a loot on we had an
actor that that could encompass that quite handsomely, so you know,
it wasn't a stretch for you to you know, be
the be the good guy and uh.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Right, and I and I and I think that, uh
I again, you know, we look back on these things.
I don't remember the writers, I don't remember the director,
but I remember that what was it done?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Particularly in these early days. You know, we got more
involved as the episodes went by, But yeah, I don't
in the remember Terry at all. No.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
In the meantime, you know what season one, I would
say season one entirely, I'll say for myself, I was like, well,
I got a three three line byline for what my
character was, will help me develop this? And we got
that opportunity to do that throughout that season. But I mean,
(19:41):
you know, it's hard to write a bible for yourself
when you only know that you're a good old Southern boy,
good at engines.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Right, Speaking of which, Yeah, so then we get to
that lovely comic scene which it goes on longer than
you'd imagine, when we're doing the phone home to the
Kenmar High School Kerry in Ireland and being asked the
usual space questions about you know, what do you do
when you poop?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
My memory of this and it's wrong obviously was that
this was like well into season three. Wow, I had
no idea that it was this soon. Yeah, and uh,
I thought that scene was handled so well.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I was ever so slightly pushed by Scott's delivery. I mean,
but it but it was, it was, It was in
the It had the same tonality and the ring about
it as you would get on a space station interview
in present day, certainly in that present day.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Talking to a third or fourth grade class.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, and and trying to infuse our excitement about being
up there and doing what we were doing, and and
and still the wonder of what we were doing to
young children there on planet Earth who might follow steps.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah. A little side note to that was that was
the first That was the very first scene. No, sorry,
the first one was unexpected in Flox's office. But this
is one of the very first times where I went
(21:30):
from a poop question, sir, having no idea what I
was supposed to say, No, no idea, you know, and
we've got and this is embarrassing to me to say this,
because we've got Linda, John Scott, We're all sitting there,
(21:53):
we're answering these questions. And I just after it got
from poop question to sort of discribe what all of
that meant. That was not a night that I was
good on.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, I don't know. I thought he's a living it.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well well you I mean, you know, you see how
it's how it shoped, like you know, we went to like,
you know, take to the point where I remember saying
to jan Janned it was pretty close right. She was
waspervisor and I remember seeing the Jen I was like, oh,
I guess what you're saying now.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
You just weren't actually.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
D lp as in my delivery.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
It was like, come on, it's all about the re
sequencing and and turning into molecules that could then be
you know, reused. And one of the chicks was boots. Yeah, yeah,
you're wearing boots. It was late at night. It was
late at night and night was it a late one?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah? This is one of those those times when I
went back to my trailer and did a DiCaprio from
I was just like, damn you you're better than this,
better than this.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
How could you know?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
You know this?
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You knew it, and you knew it in the bath last.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Night, seventh whiskey sour, you be fine.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
That's such a brilliant scene, isn't it real? I so honestly,
I so related to his character in that film.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I think every actor, Yeah, at a moment that he
does so so well on that film.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, the bit even when the girl tells him you're
the greatest actor I've ever worked with, and he's just
about tears up because the accolade from a seven year old,
it's just it's just everything you needed to hear.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
It is.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
It's pathetic and sad but true.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
She even knows his life at that point.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yes, uh, well so yeah the explosion that of course,
Well so then we're knocked. Yeah, we've done the explosion
and it knocks the asteroid off its access and now
we're facing you know, imminent heating from the star that
(24:15):
we're going to suddenly turn into and the ice is
going to melt, and we've got to get out of there.
And Malcolm is not at all perturbed until until the iron,
until until until you know, the energizer bunny down there
around the well. Yeah, and suddenly now we're fighting the
(24:37):
clock and nothing like a good ticking clock in an episode.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
And nothing like nothing like banging around in a shuttle pipe.
It was it looks so much larger on television.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, and it wasn't it was. I mean, how big
is it? It's about the twice it's about two broom cupboards.
Let's say it's probably six feet wide.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Tops and eight feet deep.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Maybe seven and twelve feet deep.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's not big, and it's full of stuff, and.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
It's full of stuff, and it's very low ceilings, and
it's all metal barred. And when you're in an EV
suit and you're wearing an EV suit, which actually, if
you've got the head on, that's not a bad thing
because if you do bang the head, it's it just
jars the neck rather than actually, but when we did
Shuttle Pod one, man, I must have banged my head
(25:27):
a dozen times constantly. My scalp was just like, you know,
bumped up.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I wonder, I wonder in terms of so it's not
quite clear in watching the episode, we're still in a
bit of a wandering dance with the Vulcans. Yeah, very
much so, and us needing their help in that way,
(25:59):
you know again breaking the ice. Yes, but you know,
I don't feel like we actually did well.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I guess it's that final moment when to Paul suggests
to a very recalcitrant, unrecalcitrant Jonathan Archer that we might
employ Vani's assistance and help with the tractor beam. That
because we've missed with the we don't.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Have the technology. We don't have We don't.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Have the tractor beam, and we're struggling with a grappler
which only one deployed, And as we're trying to pull
the shuttle part out, another seismic shift happens on the
asteroid and we drop another nine meters and there's an
any minute now, it's going to turn away from the
star and it's all going to freeze.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Over and we're screwed.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So it's I thought that was a rather poignant moment
where Archer is forced to swallow his pride. You know,
human pride is always human ego, and pride is usually
the yeah, the the the end of any advancement in
any endeavor, when people dig their heels in, And yeah,
(27:17):
maybe I think that.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Again. This we're we're looking at our first season and
this episode was a surprise to me. I don't know
what we're going to see going forward, but this was
an opportunity for us to have a relationship with the Vulcans,
and man, they don't want to help us, but they
(27:45):
will not have us die.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
No, they don't make it easy, and they certainly want
to keep us under their thumb. And uh, as much
as we found out in you know, the last episode,
you know, then not they're not beyond a bit of duplicity. Uh,
you know they were, they were hiding a.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Mass protect by the time our show comes on. We
believe they are duplicitous to an end.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, that they've been lying to us for you know,
fifty years about and keeping us you know, landlocked as
it were, because it didn't they didn't think we were
ready for it.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, it's like a sort of you know, it's interesting
also that you know, in that conversation in the dining
hall or in the Captain's mess that we don't get
any notion about how Vulcans.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Feel about what they're doing. We know what we're doing.
They just sort of hovering around monitoring and monitoring or
spying on us.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
As a as a as a real slap in the
face from the.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Captain because the previous episode, you know, pagem they clearly
have something else going on that we didn't know about.
And uh, they've they've got so much more going on.
In fact, I'm gonna rewind this for myself for a second.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So in.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Shadows of gem mm hmm, we get to see that
they've got a whole operation about monitoring everything.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well certainly back to Andoria.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, and then we leave that episode and come into
this one where they also want to give us nothing.
And it's not until their own vulcan requests that they
assist us.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
There's no really broc as a broke as a relationship
where we would accept their assistance. I think think Vanick
Vanik offers the assistance in a in a in a
in a very what's the word, you know, over fatherly
and rather disparaging way judging. Yeah, yeah, and and and
(30:16):
it's it's to pull the brokers the deal between Archer's
resistance because of ego and vanity and pride, and says, no,
you use the tractor beam. That's what's going to save
the day. And and you don't have one. We don't
have we don't have the technology. You ask about that,
don't you And he says that's proprietary, you know, sod
(30:39):
off And so yeah, it's a it's a step forward
that because you know, she says, you know that they'll
be expecting you to say no, and we'll figure this
out on our own, even if it's our.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
To our own detriment. Uh. And that's also some of
those scenes that's in particular, my memory of my own
character and his snarkiness lasted much longer than I thought
it was going to remember it being so you know,
(31:15):
there are so many moments where and this is the
first episode I think where he sort of has, as
opposed to a snarky moment, a reaction of like when
to Paul walks away at the end of the episode
and he has this grin on his face. That grinned
to me meant that you know that that trip got
(31:36):
something prior to this. As we all know, he's kind
of a.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Little bit I mean, he kind of is. He's a
good old boy. And yeah, especially with twenty five years
you know, history as it were looking back hindsight. Yeah,
I mean at the time, it was because sited a
good old American boy. Yeah. Well, you know, yeah, we've
(32:08):
talked about this.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
We were on for you all. We were on the
seventh Roul yesterday talking uh with Sarrak and Ryan and
you know the wonder of being able to do this,
of going back and looking at these episodes is really
impactful to me, and I find myself looking at my
(32:33):
performance in a critical way as opposed to be Hey,
Connor's on TV, right, you know what I mean? Yeah? Great,
I quite agree. Yeah. And to be able to to
have the opportunity distance, Yeah, and to have the opportunity
and to be able to do this with with all
of you, uh, to express my own sense of what
(32:59):
I thought happened was happening versus how I see it
now twenty some years later. I find fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I find it and it is and it's and it's
fascinating to see it with the hindsight lens in place too,
where we were talking about that yesterday that a lot
of our show must be seen through the lens of
nine to eleven, which, oddly enough, this episode came directly
at that moment I looked through the shooting schedule. Did
(33:30):
nine to eleven happen on a Sunday? Because I was?
I looked at the shooting schedule.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
No, it was not a Sunday. We were meant to work,
because I was meant to go to work.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Yeah, So I'm confused.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Maybe a Monday.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
I don't shot the eighth and we shot them, we
shot the seventh and the eighth. I don't know. It
says we went back to work on Monday.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I remember seeing tenth. I remember seeing waking up, getting
a call from a friend and saying, turn the TV on.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, it was in the morning.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Here to see the plane go into tower two.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Saw that one live, saw the smoking of Tower one,
did not see the plane. Didn't the second plane actually enter, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah, And and then and then getting a call from Mary,
you're not going to not come to work today. So
it was a workday.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So this it was a workday. But this and this
episode was the episode that it happened on. And that's
quite something to take into consideration.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You know. And and at that time, if if if
anybody in our audience remembers who were alive, it was
like America said to everybody else, Nope, we're going to
kick your ass.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
There was a reaction, and we all felt it. There
was some you know, I think people of cooler minds
and more liberal leanings definitely were already saying, you know,
let's take a step here, take a moment. I know, my,
my gut reaction was you know what, you've ever stepped
the mark, guys, Now we're going to kill you? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(35:16):
And it was it.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Was a guts we are we are both liberal in
our politics, we are, but at that moment, man, it
was like mm hm no.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
It played into uh yeah, you know the line, and
it plays into a natural human emotion, which is, you know, okay,
we're all done talking now exactly, and you've you've poked
this big bed, you know, way too many times and
now this time. Yeah, it was it's like I'm going
to put hands on you now. Yeah, I know, which
(35:52):
is you know, we as we know it is not
generally the best, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
But the fascinating thing about our show is that it
lived within that environment it did, and and how we
all felt about that, and how we all responded to that,
and that I'm talking about our cast, I'm talking about
our particular world. You know. We we we had a
sense of of of something that you can't do that.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Well, yeah, I was I got it too. I thought
I thought it might be the cancelation of our show.
And you know, we ever gonna do? Is this what's
gonna happen now? I mean, there was some there was
some self interested thoughts my mind.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I mean no, I mean I've told this story before.
I've told it on our show that you know, at
that point when this all went down, and this might
be this episode where I thought to myself, dude, you're
an actor, do something real, you know. And it wasn't
(37:03):
until a conversation with my father on the phone literally
in my trailer where I was struggling about everything we're
all struggling with and I and I shared that with
him and I was like, I think what I'm doing
is ridiculous, this is this is stupid. I mean, why
am I even here? I mean, I should be doing
something else. And he disagreed with me completely and said,
(37:26):
what you're doing now is giving somebody a Thursday or
a Wednesday or whenever the hell's on and giving them
some kind of respite, some sort of way wise.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Of him, and I was because it's yes, as you say,
after certain ages an act, you kind of go, it's
not really a proper man's job putting on a putting
on an accent and a.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Limp, right exactly, But.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Actually, yeah, I mean, if you do give someone respite
from some dreadful eventuality in their life and incident, and
we know we've we've come across that at the conventions
where people have just come up and said, look, you
helped me through one of the worst three months of
my life, you know, and some of.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
The d of our job.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Ye's the wonder of our job in mind, it really is, and.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
That people walk up and say, you know, I'm this
because of your character. Yeah, I've got through this because
of your character, because of your show.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, you gave me an hour off from the worst.
And we've heard some just dreadful, you know, like life
can be very very very cruel and very difficult.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
I hold that very close to my breast that if
I did one thing in my work, it was having
an influence in a positive way for people that I've met.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yeah, and as was discussed yesterday on the on the
Lappies with the Seventh guys, you know, being a part
of this franchise, it's got longevity, and you know we
are our legacy will be remembered and God bless this
show that we've created and the interviews we've done with
(39:18):
two iterations of it now will go down in the
annals of Star trek historical posterity, and I hope that,
you know, future fandoms, generations of them have this as
a library that they can go back and research if
they choose to go back and encompass the whole phenomenon
(39:40):
of this extraordinary TV franchise. And having done the show.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
And having spoken to people about what we've done on
the show matters a great deal to me, And doing
this show with you matters a great deal to me.
Doing something I don't want to call it important, but
we're doing something of value.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
It is a value. I quite agree. Yeah. No, I'm
doing it with with a best friend you know so,
and the lover is there mate, you know like radiance.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Yeah. Yeah, we're going to die loving each other.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
One way, damn it, one way or another. I'm gonna
love you.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
You may not like it. It's like it's like a
Cassis seventies movie.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah. The ending of the peak Ampire is rather cute,
isn't it. When she's quarters, well, it says a bit.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
I think I felt as though that was a little
gilding Lily, did you I didn't, did uh? I I
don't think that we quite earned the pecan pie in
her room at that right, Okay, Yeah, but we did eventually, Yeah,
we did.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
I mean, uh, and the fact that she she knew
she could trust you now with deep personal secrets that
you were you were not going to go blagging that
around the ship. Uh. And yeah, I didn't mind it.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I thought it was I mean, yeah, I mean I
did find it romantic definitely. But then of course we
find ourselves moving forward. It looks as though she's going
to be with the captain mm hmm. Yeah, that dynamic
was was interesting. I think that I think that what
(41:48):
it did was it it set the template for these
very different people to potentially connect.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, and I look forward to seeing the
next episode and see how that develops. Yeah, and I
think is it a mike' sussmin episode coming up next?
We're going to have him on with us, and we're
gonna Mike's been following our podcast, our Chestion make is
loving it. Thank you, Mike, And he reached out and
(42:23):
said he'd like to come on, and uh, he said, yes,
who are you again?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
I got to tell you, you know, I want I love
the you know, the research we do in the talking
to people. There's something really interesting to me that really,
I mean hits my heart about the two of us
talking about these episodes that we've worked on together all
this time, so long ago, and revisiting them and talking
(42:56):
about them passionately, but as we are now, yeah, and passionately,
and as we are now.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, and and with a with a with with with
the ability of the time and the maturity to look
back and critique our former performances.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You've got no problem with that. We're good at that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah. So I have to say I've got I think, uh,
Anthony and I acting in that space suit, even the
voice was not easy. Uh, And you know, the lighting
to look good in that in that helmet was not easy.
And I have to say I looked at this episode
and went, you know what, I'll pull that off, you know,
(43:44):
I mean, God knows. Dustin Hoffman, bless his heart, in that.
What was that precursor to the Pandemic movie that he
did with Kate Winslet, It's got Me Kill Me Virus Virus.
I mean, I mean that's with a lot of money
thrown at that movie, and he has he has a
(44:06):
couple of dodgy looks in that helmet, in the virus suit,
and so Yeah, to pull off a helmet like that
and it sounds good in it. I was like, yeah,
sums up to that.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Did you look at the whole thing?
Speaker 1 (44:23):
You know, I'm not entirely sure we might well have done.
I mean, I I don't look. I do remember they
had the whole speaky thing. It was all wired up
to sound department. So there's a good chance that the
sound on the day was the sound they used. Yeah,
that was the whole part point of.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, what happened?
Speaker 1 (44:46):
I have him in my backyard.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
I stole him battery in his nose.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
God bless those set builders and everything. Man, I mean
Planet nine, Planet hell sustake. They really went all out
and it was so much fun to walk into a
landscape like that. I mean, now you know, we know
that they create these AI landscapes, that.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
This is going to get better and better at it.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
I was watching something on sixty Minutes the other day
about the guy in in Nvidia. Yeah, and what they're
doing now.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
I mean we had fricks On who was talking about this.
You know what was it like, it's it's sixty or
ninety screens. Yeah, to see the environment that you're in.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Yeah, you're literally acting in the environment tennis ball attached
to a stick, yeah, no kidding, Yeah, and that ours
were all our scenes were practical or a tennis ball,
last stick. And now they're they're they're working in extraordinary
you know, visual.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
The luxury of the environment of what you're supposed to see.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Must be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Yeah, So well, it's a great episode and nice to
talk to you about it, mate.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah. Likewise, I hope you enjoyed this. Yes, I really
enjoyed watching this episode. It was it was one of
the ones that I thought actually was further on to
our cannon, but it was. It was you know, before
the first half of our first season was over.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Yeah, and something of a filler, but it wasn't. It
was actually, yeah, more than a And as I said earlier,
I think, you know, the main storyline got overshadowed and
superseded by the what was probably going to be the
b storyline, which was to Paul and this secret message,
and all of a sudden that became really the thrust
(46:50):
of the episode, which you know, yeah, not a bad thing, all.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Right, Chelle, Thanks so much. It's Cosmos, It's com
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