Phasers Set To Stun: Top 10 Episodes from Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 7

0:05 Space the Final Frontier. Join us for a bold conversation our prime directive to recap our favorite Star Trek shows, both new and old, to engage in debate about all things Trek. Prepare to energize with Phasers Set to Stunman, Hello, and welcome back to Phasers Set to Stun. In this ongoing series from a film by podcast, we focus on every quadrant of the expanding universe of Trek by covering television, animation, movies, directors, and more.

0:50 But in the course, as always is your core Trek crew. I'm Scott Hoffmann, I'm David Burns, and I'm Wayne Whiten. And in this episode we're we're continue with Starter Treks, a spoiler free curated episode list of the top ten episodes you can watch as a great way to get into each series after listening to this episode, you can find that list into the description below. And of course we're talking about Star Trek the Next Generation. We're finally into the seventh and final season. It is very hard to believe that we're there. I know, it's amazing, yeah, all the way through, but it has been a great rite. I appreciate you both being honest with me. It's great. And just to be clear, when we get into the top ten, we're talking about the ten episodes to watch in order of appearance, not necessarily an order of preference. So, knowing that this is the last season of an amazing show, I'm sure there's some awards that we have to talk about, Wayne, what can you tell us about that?

1:42 Yeah, this is very important. This season was nominated for the nineteen ninety four Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. You know, this is the first time a syndicated series it's ever been nominated. It was a big thing to be nominated because at the time, sci fi wasn't really considered real draw and to be to be nominated for a dramatic award was was huge. I mean that made the news. They did lose, they lost to Picket Fences, but it's still this was a monumental step for for science fiction television. Yeah, how much things have changed to today because science fiction is taken so seriously now compared to what it used to be. Yeah. Yeah, well, people are finally realizing how how much it can kind of broaden your imagination, your horizons with you know, different storylines and where they can go. And I mean this show in particular. You've got romantic episodes, you've got legal courtroom episodes, you've got passionate adventure, you've got you know, morality plays.

2:40 Yep. There's there's a lot in this in this series alone, let alone the franchise. So I'm glad I got some respect. I feel like you have to send that back to Pulaski and say, see, you should take it seriously. You know. It just shows how groundbreaking this series really was. I mean, I remember back in nineteen ninety four when with one of the news I don't remember which magazine it was, but they stated that this was the end of the greatest science fiction series ever produced. And I agree with that. I mean, they broke so many records that some of them still stand today. Yeah, And it was a lot of feelings because of this. I remember this year of knowing this was going to end, and it was really heartbreaking. It was because I mean, you had fallen in love with all of these characters, you know, and think about back to when we first saw the first season, when we were young. It was hard to get used to him at first because we were used to the og crew, you know, and no one was going to replace Kirk.

3:38 No, one's going to replace back. Well, here we are seven years later. We're like, oh my god, we don't want to lose these guys. We love them. And it was sad, you know, although it helped that, you know, we were during the season when it aired, we had the second season of Deep Space nine. It had already established itself, and we also knew that while they were producing this series, they were also getting ready to produce Star Trek Generations. We knew that they were going to be jumping into the films. Yeah, so you know, it kind of eased our sadness for the end of the series. Well, I think they only had like a week after ending this series filming. They would jump right into Generations filming, didn't they. Yeah, well, actually they started filming the movie while they were filming the season finale, because they started with the Kirk scenes while they were filming the finale, and then then, like you said, like a week later, they had to move right into there, so there was no break for any of the cast. Yeah, good for them. Well, I had seen that they started getting scripts confused between the two, but yeah, I mean I think the way that they planned this out was very smart because, like you said, season two of Das nine had already started, so it's like you had another vind a swing too. You know, it wasn't just kind of like all right, we're in limbo and then we're all kind of holding our breath, knowing that the movies have kind of a cadence to which ones are good and which ones are bad. Plus they were talking about you know, we knew that a third Star Trek series was coming. Yeah. I don't remember ever actually knowing what it was about when these episodes were airing. I think it was right after they started announcing it, but we knew it was coming, so we were

5:11 all curious as to what was next and what it would I like with this toode. And I'm sure we'll talk about it when we get to all good things. But I mean, it really is not an ending ending. You know. It leaves it wide open. You know, they're not saying, oh, the enterprise is down, see you later. No, they're not doing that. So and I appreciated that too. Yeah, and that sticks with the whole premise of the franchise. Right, It's never ending, it's this ongoing mission. So right, I was good to see. All right, well, let's dive into that top ten. I'll start us off talking about the first episode, which is Phantasms. This is a long, strange trip for Data as he starts to have nightmares for the first time. He sees an old time railroad crew tearing the ship ship apart, pressure drinking from Riker's brain, and Wharf enjoying a Troy shaped cake with mint frosting that he apparently loves. Although it starts as a mild curiosity, his nightmares bleed start bleeding into waking reality and threatening the entire ship. And I don't know how much I can say without going into spoilers territory, but I thought it was an excellent mind bending episode that's written by Brandon Bragga and Rene at Savaria.

6:21 And surprised to see that this is directed by Sir Patrick Stuart. Yeah, oh yeah, the next to last episode directed by him for the Next Generation. He had also directed in Theory, Hero Worship and A Fist Full of Datas, which now that I'm mentioning those, I kind of want to go back and see them. He didn't get enough from those, go get some more. I think it's it's one of the more interesting dream based episodes, and it has some of the most disturbing imagery. I would say, so one of the weirdest. It is absolutely so, Dave, what's one that sticks with you? So? For me, this and the I want to call out the photography in this because this is one of the few times they used a steady camp in Star Trek the Next Generation. Yeah, and you can see the use of that in the hallways and stuff like that, especially data as dream sequences. They're using the steady camp, which for some reason they didn't use it a lot, which she could all the time now, which I guess they really didn't see an opportunity for that. But one of the things I loved about this episode is the scenes with Troy in the hallway.

7:28 Yes, this was how you're going to talk about that? Yes, yes, they like a horror film. When she was in the hallway walking and then like all since he stops it like somethings behind her, so she looks back and nothing's there. Man. I love that scene so much. It was like, is this Star Trek? Yeah, well, I mean that was It's It's one of the rare instances where the hallway isn't busy, there's at least one other person walking by, and yeah, it gives it to great effect in this absolutely yeah. And this is a continuation of what we saw last season with Birthright Park one. Now. I love the imagery that's shown here. I mean, you know that that Troy cake. I wanted a piece of that that actually looked pretty good. We all do, we all do? Yeah. And you know the the images of doctor Crusher with the straw stuck in Riker's head, that's that's just weird. Yeah, well in the telephone, yeah, the telephone that keeps right. Yeah, Okay, it's a crazy, a really weird episode. And I love the fact that it's diving a little bit more into uh Data's brain and how he processes all that. And it's kind of like I see that old time crew kind of you know, I don't know if they're their mind workers or if they're railroad workers or what, but it kind of takes me back to times zero. Oh yeah, I didn't start this, is that something I kind of stuck with him there, I don't know, kind of interesting, I do know, in all this craziness and weirdness of this episode, I still have to laugh hysterically when Warf is looking for spot spot come here. Yeah,

9:01 and then did they did give it to him? He's a pretty cat cat tell him he's a pretty cat like really yeah? And I want to point out there there were very little guest stars in this episode, but uh Clyde Casatsu returns to play Admiral Nakamara. Now this this is a long stretch because he appeared once before, and that was all the way back in season two Masure of the Man. It's amazing that they brought him back to play that same character so long, and then of course he appears later in the season, right, Yeah, Yeah, it's a it's a it's an interesting, uh additional kind of guest star there Bernard Cates playing doctor Sigmund Freud.

9:43 I love uh Troy's line where she's like data in the future, come to me instead of doctor Freud. Waste her time with that holiday. So I know this isn't the only kind of darker episode that we get this season, Uh, Dave, I want to talk to us about number two, all right? That would be dark page directed by Les Landale and written by Hilary Peter. The Karen, another race of telepathic beings are on board the Enterprise and a diplomatic mission to possibly join the Federation. Joining them for this meeting is none other than Luxana Troy, who is there to help with the delegations. However, during these important meetings, Waxana suffers a breakdown and falls into a coma. It will take her daughter Deanna to try and save her, but in doing this, she would discover deep, dark secrets that Lousana has been trying to keep hidden. You know, the funny thing is, you know, the last few seasons, I've picked on Lolozana a little bit about some of her episodes, but this was a fantastic episode. Yeah, yeah, I want to call out Hurston Dunce in one of her very very young roles right before Interview with a Vampire. This was about a year before she would get very successful with Interview with the Vampire. But Michelle Berrett being absolutely incredible again in her role as Loxana Troy. I believe this is the last time on the Next Generation h we would see her. I know she made a few appearances in Deep Space nine, but for Next Generation this would be the last time. So many good scenes in this one. I one of

11:15 the things I find funny was the scene where the one poor guy was in the turblelift with Deanna and Luxanna and he's like behind them as they're like telepathy talking to one another, and then they start talking and he's like, what the heck's going on? Awkward? Awkward. Yeah, this gets my vote for favored my of the season. I love this episode. I think this is Majel Barrett's strongest. It's definitely her most dramatic of her performances in the series. I really really liked this episode and it was quite a quite a twist at the end of the episode where we won't get into it. It's worth watching. Absolutely, it is well the mother daughter relationship between la Woxanna and Deanna both performances. Oh my god, goosebumps. It tears your heart out like it's and it has more of this dream imagery, right, the more kind of you know, freaky interpretations that we have. It really gives a lot of death to the Wox on it. So I know, like you said, Dave, sometimes I can feel like it's hit or miss, but this is definitely a hit. So absolutely give give it a shot, and you can feel give the chemistry here between those two actors. Yes, I mean the chemistry has been there the entire series, but in this particular episode, Man, they were on their a game, both of them were.

12:33 And I wonder if there's a you know, a sense of finality to some of those performances, you know, as that the both of the actors know that the series is ending and they know that they won't necessarily, you know, appear together as characters, or they may not. It's it's yeah, it was a stunning episode, isn't forward? Like, what the hell do I do? I came in for a robular nail. I get this. There are two other things missing from this episode. Did you guys notice that the bridge never appears here? Yeah, that's right, it didn't. And this is the only episode where wauks In appears without mister Home. They mixed in him, but you don't they do You're in. I guess they couldn't work out a schedule for him to appear. He was in the original version of the script. But you know, it just it's amazing. It's the only episode that the bridge doesn't appear in. Well, Wayne, why don't you take us to our number three episode? And that will be attached this is written by Nick Sagan and directed by Jonathan Frakes and originally aired on November eighth, nineteen ninety three. Captain Bicard and Doctor Crusher are preparing a diplomatic meeting with the Kess, one of two races on the planet Kesprick that are at war with one another. But when they've beamed down, their transporter signal is intercepted and the two find themselves imprisoned in a prieate cell and have devices and planted in their necks that link the two two of them together telepathically.

14:01 Now desperate to escape and find their way to safety, the Card and Beverly must also deal with their most inner feelings and emotions revealed to one another. This is one of two episodes that were written by Nick Sagan. As I mentioned, you know that's the He's the son of the famous astronomer Carl Sagan. He would go to write a lot of episodes of Star Trek for Wager. But and and this also is also missing something as well. LeVar Burton doesn't appear in this episode. It's the only episode during the seventh season where that doesn't feature the entire cast. You know, I like this episode It's not one of my absolute favorites, but it is. It's a very good episode because of the fact that we've got the Card and Crusher having to deal with their their personal feelings. It's something that they've been kind of building up for the last two years, but here they're they're forced to address it, and you know, we knew this was coming, and and now it was nice to finally have gotten over that hurdle and and see that these two were meant to be together. Yeah. One of the saddest things that happened in all of the Star Trek happened in this episode. The Card loses that awesome jacket. Oh yeah, it's in a cave somewhere, Jack, you can get it. You can still get it. He throws it down, doesn't he? All, Yes, he does. He throws it in the cave, and that we never see it again. Yeah, but no.

15:26 Seriously, though, this is a really good episode. We're getting to see, you know, the inner thoughts of two characters who they've been hinting at for a little while. But it just added so much tension between the two of them, as you know, you know, being attached, as the episode is called. But they can't get far from one another. But the fact that you know, they got to get used to hearing each other's inner thoughts just added that major dramatic level that made it so much better being a big Fight of the thirteenth fan that I am. I want to call out Tom Morga who plays a print guard in this. He was the stunt double for Roy Jason in Fighting Thirteenth Part five. I interesting. Interesting look up his list of credits. This dude has been in I Want to Fake three four hundred films as a stunt dans crazy. Yeah, Yeah, it's it's a very important episode for the relationship. Like they've been together since before far point right, or at least they've they've had connections between each other. There's a lot of history back there, so it does a great job of getting into a lot of that and kind of subtext behind the relationship. But especially for future episodes, you know, how does Piccard approach relationships when he doesn't have the crew. That's a very important element of several seasons of the Picard series that follows this one. So absolutely, if you're if you're hooked on what you've seen, there's much more to come. You've got to watch this one, especially for those two characters. We're also getting to see a side of Riker two where he's starting to show that command that captain and him in

16:59 the conference room when he had both parties in there, how he was getting aggravated with him and was really turning the tables on both parties and how he did that. Yeah, you know, very intelligent move on his part, and it was his plan if he knew what he was doing. And they just shows you Rikers into that position now where he could take over ship. He a long time ago he could have. But well, but you know, we know this episode it really highlights the the growth of all the characters. I mean, you can think back to the first season now, you know, you can never imagine them doing what they're doing in this this season, but seven years they have really changed, They have grown, they have become familiar with one won each other. Yeah, I mean, it's fair warning. The Kesprit dynamic is going to frustrate viewers. Oh yeah, just what it's supposed to do. Like you've got these these two characters in Picard and Crusher that can't help but share their thoughts and understand what's going on with the other more than they ever probably wanted to or felt comfortable with. And then you've got two warring factions that are just obtuse, like they won't see the other side at all. And Lake, you said, Dave, hats off to Riker for handling that diplomacy and just getting them out of their way.

18:17 Yeah, they're so frustrating. Yeah, sure was. Well, I'll tell you what, before we get into number four, let's take a quick break, and when we come back, we'll jump into Parallels. All right, we're back. Let me take into number four. This one's called Parallels. It's a very important Wharf episode. I've mentioned the two for episodes before as those that bear a second viewing, and this is absolutely one of those episodes. We open with Wharf returning from a Batlist tournament where he earned champion status. Once he's back on the Enterprise, he finds they're holding a surprise party for his birthday that he really doesn't want to have. But then as he starts having many blackouts and noticing that subtle changes are happening to the world around him. It starts when he sees crew members switching places and paintings hanging on the wrong walls. But when those changes seem further from the reality he knows, he starts to question if he's in the right reality at all.

19:14 This is written by Brandon Braggett and Rene Egaveria, directed by Robert Weimer. Speaking of the birthday party but they host for Wharf, I had no idea until recently how troublesome or how problematic the song Happy Birthday has been for several series. But you had to get rights to people to even sing it, Like even restaurants weren't really able to sing Happy Birthday, And that comes up here. They were supposed to singing that for Wharf in Klingon Ease or in the original Klingon, but the producers couldn't afford the asking price, so they just substituted for He's a jolly Goodfellow, which is a very interesting kind of thing to that even mentioned like there's no word for Alley and pling On, and it was like, yeah, that makes sense. Now that's not a problem anymore. They fixed that about ten years ago, there was some big court case, but yeah, back then that was a problem. It was a huge problem back then, which is ridiculous, Like of all the basic songs. You can say this episode was crazy, man. It was a toolutely crazy, very crazy, crazy good. But I mean because there's so many scenes where like you get jolded out of it because something changes, and like when warf was did that just happen? You jumped too because you're like, wait a minute, yeah, he wasn't right there, but now he is. Yeah. And that's one of the benefits of the second viewing, because the first time you're trying so hard to keep up that it's hard to like chase some of those little easter eggs that are coming through. One example

20:45 I found this time was seeing data with blue eyes. Yeah. I don't think that's necessarily a spoiler, but it was like, why is that somewhat unsettling? Like it's kind of cool to a certain degree, but it's yep, it's a little that's a little odd. But you have to watch it a second time to see that, and then once you catch on to what's actually happening. I don't know. For me, it always those kind of episodes always bring me back for a second watch. Oh yeah, absolutely. And then we get the guest appearance of the one character and he's in gold you know, I'm talking about. He looked good in gold Man. I could see him fitting in with his crew quite easily in that position. I forgot that he was even in this episode. I mean he just suddenly appears, you know, without any fanfare or anything. I'm like, oh, that's right, I forgot. Yeah, And that's one thing worth saying, Like when you're when you're watching this for the first time, there's a bunch of things that are going to change on a dime. We have no warning whatsoever. Just stick with it. You'll figure out what's going on. It's absolutely worth it. But for Wharf, this one turns a lot of things upside down and opens his mind, I think, to some new possibilities and are going think about this. You know, the original script didn't have Wharf doing the jumping. It was Picard. I mean you try to think of that, and our thought is probably the same as the producers. You know, there would there wouldn't be much change to Picard with him jumping back and forth between the parallels, not like not like with Wharf, because they were true. You know, Wharf went through a lot of different changes over the

22:18 years, and and they had also planned on including Tasha Y are in this episode, but they didn't want it to seem like a sequel that Yesterday's Enterprise and anything like that, so they wrote that out. That's a good move that they they took her out of it and put in the other character instead, because it makes more sense. And you're right, it would have felt like we've already been over this territory, why are we doing it again? And plus with you know, I'll give us when I talk about later her appearance later in the seat in the season, it would have took away from that. I'm glad they didn't do it. Oh yeah, absolutely, But I feel like anytime we see Denise Crosby, whether she's Tasha or Cela or anybody else, it commands attention. Ye be so pulled out of it to be like, wait a second, what's going on with La Tasha? Where's this backstory? And yep, we didn't need that. It needed to be quick changes and a lot of choices that Wharf has to make. And again Wharf with the comedy gold when he's in his room and the person's in the room with him and she doesn't leave. She goes to the bed and Warf slowly looks around the Wall figure out what's going on. Let's let's talk about that. You know, this is the first episode with the the Troy Wharf relationship. What do you think about that? So good, so good.

23:33 But yeah, there's so much good stuff in this and we can't give away anything that happens at the end, but there's some really good stuff that happens at the end of this episode that just like will blow your mind on what's going on. And you know the things that you see come up on the screen and stuff that happens. Man, fantastic those its bonanza. Yeah, it is absolutely yep. Yeah, all right, Dave, take us to number five, all right, that would be The Pegasus, directed mister LeVar Burton, written by Ronald D. Moore. Riker's former commander of the Pegasus, Admiral Pressman, is beamed on board of the Enterprise with a top secret assignment. It seems that Pegasus was lost destroyed twelve years ago with most of his crew. Only Riker, Pressman and a few others escaped, but it seems like it still exists and the orders are to find it before the Romulants do. However, there are more secrets that are not revealed to Captain Picard, which Commander Riker is very aware of and must continue to keep it from those he cares about, putting him in a very tough situation that could fracture relationships and lead to a repeat of what happened on the Pegasus. You know, Terry O'Quinn is incredible in everything that man does. He's done a lot, and he's done a lot, yes, but seeing him play Admiral pressman, man, does he do a fantastic job. We could put him and Angelico in the same room and see who's going to come out the winner, because man, those two guys are just something else. Yeah, But Terry O'Quinn, and he just commands his performance in this, and I can see why they chose him for this. My understanding is they wanted him to come

25:06 back, didn't they for the same role later on? But I guess he wasn't able to do it. You're right, Yeah, I think you're right. I heard that because I mean he had been fantastic. I think he was for d Space nine. I think he was offered to come back, but I guess they could figure that out. That was right during the third season, the two parter where they go back to Earth. I forgot about that. You're right, yep, But so many good things happened in this episode. The Captain Picard Day is absolutely hysterical, and try to turn that back on Riker. He's even funnier between, you know, just showing their relationship together. But one of the big ones. And Wayne, I'm gonna let you take this one. Talk about the music and the composer of this all right, Well, you know, the music for this episode is an oddity for the season. It's the only episode of the Next Generation scored by composer John Debney. You know, he is a phenomenal composer. He's one of my favorites. I followed his work ever since before even this. You know, he really wanted to work on this series, but he could never get the producers to to pay him any attention. I mean he got he got to score two episodes of Deep Space nine earlier this year, the Negus and Progress, but he wanted to work on the star show Next Generation, So in order to get the producers to pay him attention, he went and took the job on the Spielberg TV show C quest TSB hoping that you know, this big, high profile series would would get their attention, and it worked. You know, He's always said in many interviews that working on the show is one of the highlights, one of his top five favorite things in

26:37 his career. And I agree that the score on this is phenomenally good. You know, he had to do it twice. He had to do it twice. We went over in the past seasons about Rick Berman and his idea of music, but he pulled it off and it's it's it's great. I gotta give credit to Michael Mack in this episode as coming in their serial. Oh yeah, oh, I like one of my favorite kind of I don't know what you call it, not necessarily a trope, but one of the things that they come back to quite a bit is Picard's diplomacy on the bridge with other characters who come on. You know, with this, it seems like they're they're very pleasant. It seems like everybody's saying like, oh hello, I'm sorry. It seem to be lost, and then it's kind of like this dripping with kindness. How the card navigates that. It's one of my favorite things to watch in this series in general, and his interaction with commanding serial is no different. He just navigates that situation expertly. I think it's fantastic. And this episode brings up the age old question of why doesn't the Federation use cloaking devices. This is something that people have been asking for at this point twenty five years. You know, it didn't make any sense, but you know here it's all explained. You know, simply put you Starfly doesn't sneak around. That's that's it. Yeah, and that's good.

28:03 They finally, I think even the writer were Ronald Tymore talked about that they wanted to finally get that corrected so that they got stopped getting asked about annoying. Yeah. There's there's two incredible scenes in this episode that I definitely want to call out. One of those is the scene between the Card and Riker when the Card is trying to get Riker to admit that he knows what's going on and to tell him what's going on and the Card's threat that he has. And the other one is between Pressman and Riker when Pressman looks at us, I can make I I made you, and I can break you just as easily. Both of those scenes are just stand out for this entire episode.

28:47 This whole episode is really good, but man, those two scenes just you could just feel the goosebumps on it when when it's being performed. Yeah, all right, Wayne, tell us about our number six pick and Number six is Lower Deck, written by Ronald Wilkinson and Jean Louise mathis directed by Gabrielle Buant. Aired on February seventh, nineteen ninety four. On the lower decks of the Enterprise, four young ensigns find their friendship put to the test when they discover they are up for evaluation for the promotion. These four young officers, Ensign Leavell, Insign Tauric Nurse Ogala, and Ensign Cito Jackson, all have their duties when the Enterprise is assigned to assist in the tax of helping a Cardassian spy, but one of them may have to pay the ultimate price to ensure the success of this top secret mission. Well, this is a much talked about episode and as I come back later, it should be You're right, it's it's definitely a highlight of the seventh season. We see the return of Sharon Phillis Cito Jackson from season five's The First Duty we have, also appearing as Dan Gantha is Nson level. He was on at the time More Melrose Place, and he also did to Our Duty. And we have Alexander Enberg as Incantauric. He would go on to be a recurrent character on Star Trek Voyager. And this is the first episode of Spotlight. Patty Asa takes Nurso Gowa. I mean, he's just been on the show for three years and finally, you know, she gets a storyline of her own

30:18 right here. There's there's so much you talk about this episode. I'm sure you're going to bring up. Both of you will bring up some of the high points of this. The original script, the original intention on the script was to include Barkley with this. I think that would have been a big mistake. Agreed, he was just too well known. We needed four characters that we we'd never seen before or barely known in the case of Cido, you know, and and it works. I mean, this is a completely different look at the Enterprise and a very unique take to the next generation. Yeah, Wayne and the Scotten and are both of you you know, we all know that this is what kind of inspired the animated and lower decks that we get today. But this is my favorite episode of the entire seventh season.

31:12 It really pulls at the heart strings a lot in this episode, and you get to see the side of the Enterprise you don't typically get to see, which is what the animated lower Decks does. It gives us a part of a ship that we don't get to see in the part of the crew that we don't get to see. Well. In this one, you get to meet some new characters. You know, you get to know them really fast, you know. I mean we've seen Seto before obviously, you know, as you said, from first Thuty from the previous season, but some of the scenes between her and Picard are just some of the best writing of scene. Picard is just so hard on her, and at first you're like, God, damn Parkard, give her a break, you know, I mean, she understands what she did. But then when you start seeing what Picard's doing and you realize what's going on with the story and what the Card is going to ask of her, you realize what he's doing and why he is doing it, and I just think it's some of the best scenes with the Card and a crew member that you know, we don't have already got to know and getting to see that Thusito's eyes, it's it's tough for her man, Yeah, you know, it's just you struggle with her and she wants to find her place, and she understands the mistakes she has done and she admits that, and she even man the ball that takes for her to confront Picard like she does about that. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And the episode is shown from their viewpoints. You know, we don't get the full story because the lower decks wouldn't wouldn't get the the full debriefing on the

32:46 mission. You know, they would they would find out when it involved them. And I love that. It was a it was a build up, you know, seeing it seeing the main cast, the big characters from their viewpoint. I think I think it's a really big and brave swing for their last season. Yes, love this episode. I think it's fantastic. And you're showing that moment in a Starfleet officer's life, and you're taking a brave direction by continuing somebody from the first duty knowing but Wesley went through, what the rest of his crew went through with that, and where do they go from here? I think it absolutely opens up a lot of possibilities for them in the future. Obviously. We see that come through in Lower Decks, the animated series, which definitely has a different tone, but it keeps the same heart as this episode. And that's something that absolutely comes through and something that people who are kind of on the fence about whether or not they want to watch Lower Decks just know that it absolutely maintains the heart of this episode specifically. But this type of episode in terms of seeing the ensigns, it's not all comedy. No, there's a lot of serious beats they get into.

34:05 And yeah, this one which should have you know, on the on paper, it feels like something that should just be a filler episode. We check in on the encense and we see that from them. No, no, it goes to such a serious place and it's a it's an excellent, excellent episode. I'm talking about it. And another scene that I really want to call out is the contrast of showing the insigns playing cards and the bridge crew playing cards. Yeah, the way they went back and forth between those two scenes of what was going on, and then you even bring in the Bin character who is at both locations. You know, he shows up at the end with the bridge crew and sits with them. Man, I love those two scenes. That is why I love this episode so much. It's just so well developed the key cast, I would say, even though there are major developments in it, for them, it's it's standalone about characters that don't necessarily fit with the rest of the the ship, but they deserve to be heard. It's a major development for the series though, to be able to turn and tell a story like this in their final season. You can see again just how far the show has went. But I'll tell you what I think. That's a good place to take a little bit of a break before we get into number seven. We'll come back and talk about I of the Beholder, all right, So back from a quick break, let's talk about number seven, I of the Beholder. So this episode opens with a shocking scene as one crew member threatens to jump into a critical part of the

35:35 ship and end their own life. His death leads counselor Troy to an investigation into his suicide, which quickly becomes a mysterious look into the past. We also see the beginnings of her relationship with a member of the crew there. She lives long enough to serve out the visions that threaten her sanity and her life. This is written by Brandon Braga and Rene Ecaveria. They keep coming back to these three. I don't know how, I'm just lucky. And directed by Cliff Bowl. There's a very very very interesting guest appearance here by Mark Rolston, who we've talked about in My favorite movie from nineteen eighty six, Aliens Private Drake there. I was surprised to know that he is also the voice of Lex Luthor in the Young Justice animated series, and he plays Norman Osborne in the Insomnious Spider Man games for the PlayStation, which was a revelation for me. Like, when you see his face depicted as Norman Osborne, it's uncandy. I'm like, oh my god, it's Drake. It also has one of the more disturbing uses of a skeleton in start, which I won't say where, but man, that's this surprised the heck out of me. Yep, this is an odd episode. It really is an odd episode. It's a very creepy episode. These visions are really disturbing, and then we you know, we start the episode off like with a punch,

37:05 Yeah, with the crewmen jumping in. That's just it's shocking and you know it. It's this is farther than the series has ever went when it comes to too dark disturbing episode. Yeah, and this is the first time we get to see inside of a work no cell too, is it not? Yeah, it is. Yeah, that's odd too. Up until this point, until I first saw this episode, I didn't even know you get up in there. I thought it was all but you know, but they actually have people that are stationed there. That's got to be a very lonely job and the danger for when if you think about it, because that where you're gonna be getting shot at to try to get shoot your new cell so you can't move anywhere. Yeah, that's that's where all the Klingons always aim at. Yeah, that's like the gunner World War two. Man, that's a position you don't want. Yeah, I'll just let people at their desk have like anything that they want. What do you guys need like a cappucino machine over there? You know, maybe some rails would be good in this episode, just you know, on the other side of something doors. But now it goes to very interesting places. We've talked before about Counselor Troy and the burden that she has to bear the weight that she has to bear for this ship in terms of taking care of everybody's mental health. I certainly hope she's not the only one for doing that for the entire ship, because my god, if you just take care of the bridge crew, you get a full time job. Yeah, that's true, but some very interesting deep dives into the kind of things that she has to do day to day beyond dealing with

38:37 a crew member suicide, but how people are dealing with that and the what she has to go through on her own. You know, it's a little bit torturous and it's going to mess with her own mind obviously. You know that you brought up a big point that I've never really ever thought about. You know, is it just her with you know, we get over a thousand people on this ship. Well, you know, Crusher, she has her own team, right, I mean, she has to handle everyone, and we never see anybody else helping her, right, Yeah, good, we've never seen anybody to according to that, she's by herself. I've never thought of that. I thought that she at least I hope she at least has her own medical staff. Maybe there's some lieutenant junior grades or ensigns at least that are able to, you know, learn from her, because if Troy is taken out, who's taking care of all these people? Right, but at least being able to you know, maybe kind of triage for Troy and you know, helped to take care of out of the ongoing needs.

39:37 But yeah, it's got her hands full. Absolutely. And this continues themes too from parallels between Troy and Wharf that you get to see a lot in here, which obviously has a lot to do with what her visions that she's seeing in this episode. It is a really good mystery that you get in this episode. You're on pins and needles the whole time. Man, I love this episode. You're right, it's not something we ever seen in Star Trek or have got received to see in Star Trek. I loved it for just that very reason. But here's a funny note. If you didn't past notice this at first, go back and watch the episode again. Apparently Marina Sotis had lip injections prior to filming this episode. Her upper lip is it more prominent than any than her than usual. I saw that I would advise and it might just be me build in like an extra ten minutes for watching this episode, because once they once the revolution or the resolution comes around and they understand what's actually going on. Yeah, it took me a while to figure out what was happening because I had so many preconceived notions about who was doing what or what was leading to it. When they explained it, I was like I had I had to rewind that at least two or three times.

40:51 I'll just damn it all right, Dave, I guess the number eight. That would be Journeys and directed by Corey Allen and written by Ronald D. Moore. The Cardassians have been given new territory by the Federation due to a peace treaty which reassigned certain planets for both parties, and one of them just so happens to be inhabited by Native American colonists who have been there for twenty years. History begins to repeat itself as Picard is forced to remove them, and to make matters worse, the Cardassians have arrived earlier have been expected. Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher, who was on leave from Starfleet, seems different and is invited down to the planet by one of the Native Americans who says he has seen him in his visions. It is here Wesley learns of a different path that is put in front of him that will change his life forever.

41:42 You know, when I first I remember way back then, when I first saw the trailer for this episode what was coming, I was kind of like, really, we're going to go over this territory again that we've seen so much. But watching it and then watching it again like I did recently, and this is a good episode. It really puts Picard into position that he doesn't like to be in, and of course nobody would want to be in. And then when you find out about his family's past, it really puts him on, you know, on edge of what he has to do and needs to do. And then when the conductor the Kardassians show up, and then you know, the fighting starts that this man so much stuff just goes off the rails here. It becomes a mass. Yeah, and then Wesley's showing up and then just acting like a jackass. Right there, I want to say, shut up, Wesley, because the way he was treating his mom, he's treating Jordan, I'm like, what the hell's your problem?

42:31 Man? But then you realize what was going on in his life, and you know, you start realizing, all right, maybe I've had this kind of feeling before too in my life that I'm questioning of what's going on. So it really made it made a lot of sense. So overall I liked this episode. Yeah, it's definitely one where you know, there's a lot of I'm not exactly sure where the shift happened in the movie. We've talked about it before, but there are a lot of times where you're they're questioning orders, they're questioning what's the right thing to do here. I know what Starfleet is asking to do, I know what it seems like the straightforward thing to do should be, but it really isn't, and there's a lot more thought that goes into it, and there's a lot more that somebody has to do to make a personal decision as far as how they want to go forward. When I watched this for the second time, Dave, I agree.

43:23 I watched it the first time and I was like, well, I don't know if I really want this episode because it did feel like territory would kind of explored before. But knowing how important it is for Wesley Crusher's character, it is absolutely worth watching. And with what we were just talking about with Lower Decks thinking of the first Duty and Lower Decks and episode as kind of a trilogy arc for Wesley, it absolutely has to be seen. And I'm still not sure at the end. You know that everybody made the right decision, but you will understand a little bit more how are those decisions can be and doing It's a tough situation, man, how do you get out of that? Yeah? Yeah, this episode when it first aired, this it was obviously this is the beginning of the end for the series. This is we're starting to wrap up storylines and plus you know this episode, along with the two parter Deep Space nine that was airing at the same time called the McKee uh, this is the beginning where of the setup for Star Trek Voyager. You know that they're they're starting to lay the seeds for the upcoming series and can close the storylines for the next generation. You know, the colony here is intended to be the home of Commander Checkote. Yeah, and you don't They don't really say that because I don't know if the character had been created yet. I know they were still in the writing stage. But that's that was is what they've come up with in continuity. Plus, you

44:59 know, we get the character of gall of Beck. He really gets around. You know, he's been jumping back and forth between this this series and Deep Space nine and then he'll appear again on Voyager. You know, he we see a lot of him. Richard Poe. He just fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, And I believe this episode two lays the groundwork for the d m Z too, doesn't it sets up for the that's right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know another thing I do want to point this out because I caught this on the the watch of this for the notes here, just like h well, after you get done watching for Troy's Big Lip, watch the scene where Wesley follows Lacanta up the stairs. You'll you'll real quick briefly spot one of the sound men standing and shot, Oh okay, boss, that's that's a member of the Q. Continue. They gotta they gotta pay the mortgage. That's right, all right, Wayne, Let's take it to number nine, all right. That's Preemptive Strike, written by Narren Shanker and Renee at Tavaria and directed by Patrick Stewart. Originally aired on May sixteenth, nineteen ninety four, The Enterprise is sent into the recently created Cardassian Federation Demilitarized Zone to infiltrate a Mackie cell who has been committing acts of terrorism against the Cardassians. Their plan is to send the newly promoted Lieutenant Roe Laren

46:30 into their mist to draw the McKey out into the open and arrest them, but Lieutenant Rowe begins to question her allegiances and finds herself making a decision that could put her career in Starfleet in jeopardy. Well, you know, as I just said this, we have the return. Haven't been seen since last season of Michelle Forbes's Roe Laren. This will be her final appearance on the Next Generation and her only appearance this season. She last appeared at the early in season six and Rascals and Again. This episode, just like journeys In, is continuing the setup for the upcoming Star Trek Voyager series. This was originally intended that the instructor that Roe mentions joined the McKee was going to be Chick Coote as well, but that didn't quite fit with the continuities. Later established that he had resigned his commission two years before. That would have happened, so they they just kind of ignored that. That's just something that they just hoped everybody would forget. This. This is a I love this episode.

47:36 I love it for a lot of things. I love it because of Michelle's Forbes appearances. I love it because of her interaction with Patrick Stewart. Those are some of the Yah make it Up life scenes. Oh wow. I love it because of Jay Chataway's beautiful score that he wrote for this. You know, I never really paid close attention until it came out on CD a few years ago, and it is just beautiful. The whole episode is an incredible experience. We're right at the end of the season now, so you know, once again we're closing out storylines. But boy, I'm sure you guys will bring up more of this, but this this is one of my favorites. Didn't wasn't the intention Michelle Forth to be on Voyager? No, it was Deep Space nine. Actually, yeah, she was going to be the second the second main character, but she didn't want to commit to doing another TV series, so they wrote the character of Kia Kiara Nourice for it, and that kind of soured her relationship with the producers of star Trek.

48:45 They weren't sure she's going to come back, but after hearing what their plans were, and you know, she changed her mind. She wanted to do this to close out the character, and as good as she did, because glad you didn't. Yeah, because what happens in this episode has a lot of implications with the Card and we could see that later on into the Cards series, which we're not gonna give you explore in anything away. But when it does happen, you know, it's it's a big shocker for all of us. And it adds so much drama between the characters too, And they've got a fascinating relationship they do like all they do. There were times when they were they were so close. I was wondering if there was some kind of you know, relationship happening. I don't necessarily think that's the case, but considering where they were when they started out, it's it's very interesting to see how far they've come and how much, you know, she's basically welcomed into the Fold as part of the Bridge crew and then sent on a mission that has a lot of moral ambiguity, to say the least. I think the Maquis is a very very interesting set of characters. It's an interesting premise to go through, and I'm glad that that's introduced here and that it's explored more on DS nine and on Voyager. I think that's a brave place to go for the franchise. Honestly, it is. I think Michelle Forbes

50:22 knocks it out of the park with this performance is Rolin. It's it makes me want to go and watch some of the previous episodes with Rolerin and dig into it. I'm glad that they made the decision. They did nothing against Michelle Forbes. But you know, Kira Maurice, I can't imagine DS nine without that character. We'll get into that a lot more. It would have been different, it would have been a different dynamic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And getting more of a look into the Bajoran life and what they've been put through with the Cardassians. It is so complex, I'm so intricate. But then just one morning for Jeff, Admiral Cheyev is in this episode, so jee so, you know, and I want to point out another guest staring this episode, the leader the Maquis is playing by John Franklin Robbins.

51:19 You know, He does a wonderfully warm joff for a guy who's playing a terrorist. You know, I can understand why why Iro liked him, but I'm familiar with him because way back in nineteen seventy five, he appeared as a time Lord on Doctor Who. He is the time Lord that sent the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane on a mission to stop the creation of the Daleks. An incredible episode. Scott. I don't know about you, but I'm really shocked that Wayne was able to find somebody from Doctor whose universe it is? But no, Wayne, I really liked him in this role. I felt like that was rose connection to almost him reminding her of his of her father. Yeah, you know, I really, I really did, and I think that's what pulled her to the Machis the way it did, And I think they needed that character. And you're right, it felt kind of odd that somebody liked that was a terrorist, But when you realize what they're doing, and it made well you got to see both sides too.

52:15 Yes, the Federation and the Kardassians are claiming them as terrorists, but the Joran see them as freedom fighters. And that was a huge point on Deep Space nine. You know, the storyline, so it all depends on which side of the line you're standing on. Well, I'll close us out with number ten, which just happens to be the last episode all good things. In this two hour conclusion of the entire series, Captain Picard finds himself shifting between the past, the present, the past and the future, from his first day on the Enterprise before the far Point mission in this past to his future as a retired admiral tending to Chateau Picard. The only constant is Picard's awareness that something is threatening all of existence, and that reason might be Picard himself. Written by Ronald D. Moore and Brandon Brega, directed by Winrick Colby. This is one that I've got to admit, I've seen this several times. It makes me a little dizzy. The narrative makes me pretty dizzy every time. So when I talk about episodes that are worth rewatch, this is absolutely one of them once you find out what's going on. It's two hours, so that's a big commitment, but definitely worth it. Production on started Generations apparently was beginning while this episode was made. Like you said, Wayne, it was good to know that they had kind of that look to the future that was happening at the same time. But knowing how emotionally exhausting

53:45 this, even just the idea of doing this episode had to be I'd have to take a couple of breaths if I'm one of the crew having to do this, being like this one means a lot. But there's there's a lot in this one. There is one, so much jumping around, so many different sets and callbacks and guest appearances that are really really worthwhile, even the costume changing. Yeah. Yeah, and it was perfect. I mean everything they did was perfect. This had to be a big one. I mean this this was the series finale, and in my opinion, they did it perfectly, right. Yeah, the best of the fine season finales for all of them. It's it's a bookend. Yeah, I mean, you know, going back to the events of Encounter far Point, the season or the series premiere for the series season finale was was perfect. I'm genius, you know, we we I never thought we'd come back to that, but you know, the trial never ends, and you know, they couldn't have ended the series better. Yeah. And what I like about this one too, And I don't know who mentioned earlier when we were talking about Parallels with it.

54:57 I don't know if if you ever Scott, but when you were talking about Picard was supposed to be the role of Wharf for Parallels. Well, in this episode you do get a card kind of in that role now because you get those edits where you're back and forth and the scenes are changing constantly with him. You know, he's talking about one thing, the next thing you know, he's on a different bridge, or he's you know, you know, he's at home in France, but it's like, what's it's. So you get those same weird edits that you were getting in Parallels, and it worked so well in this and you're right waying. I mean, this is such a good book and to the entire series, and I agree this is the best finale of all of the Star Treks and the question, the look in the detail that they put into this is just phenomenal. I mean, you know, we've got the future scenes are great, we got new uniforms, we got new ships. Then you know we go back to the to the past scenes and they have recreated the look from the pilot perfectly.

55:52 I mean, you got you got yar, you got a Brian back, you got Troy wearing her cheerleader outfit with her, and you know, they even went and changed the sets because the sets had changed over the years, and they went back and dug out all the old stuff and and and rebuild it. They spent a lot of time on detail and it really shows. Yeah, and I was just gonna say, there's also an important medical condition that comes up in this one that makes it absolutely essential viewing for at least for the Piccard series follow up, if not of the other instances where Card comes up. The way that that's handled I thought was absolutely beautiful, especially because it has so much to do with what he's experiencing and how they're kind of rationalizing his point of view in the future. It's it's a very important thing to mention and it's got to be scary for Picard given what that means for his future. So absolutely worth watching, And yeah, I applaud them for where they went with this. This I feel like was a brave direction that could have been very, very confusing, even though it still is to a certain degree. But once you know what's happening, you you fall in line with it, and I think they could have gone to much different places with him being confused with all the time jumps, but when they explain how that works, it's it's just done really really well. Yeah. And with Q, you know, he's he's causing the time jumps, but he's he's

57:28 giving a gift to Picard really, I know, allowing him to take a look at the future and and see what what the path that they're they're heading towards, which fortunately does not become the path that they do end up on. But you know, Q sometimes has looked as a bad guy, but not in this not in this story, really not here, I think, I think actually he is helping, helping Picard and helping the other crews the Enterprise to strengthen their future. You know. Yeah, and come on, we all got a mis seeing dated with all the cats. That was hysterical. Oh yeah, a good job to the writers. Absolutely gray streak and his hair, yeah, perfect, perfect. Well, I know that in when we talked about Tapestry, it was never necessarily resolved whether that really was cute or not. But you do see so much of his growth, you know, when we first meet him, he's almost like mister mc sistol plick, right, Yeah, you're right, right, Yeah, but he's grown to respect the card I think as much as he's wanted to kind of mess with them. It's a little bit more like, how can I nudge you toward awareness without handing you the answer and wanting to you know, see his growth personally aside from the species overall. So, yeah, just getting to relive a lot of those memorable moments that we saw that you know, years ago at this point was really neat to see. But one of the things that I want to call out too. I don't know if you both know that the or not, but Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes were the only only

59:00 actors appear in every episode of the series. Yeah, you're right. Interesting, Yeah, considering how busy data is, that's yeah, that's very surprising. You know, this this finale was huge at the time. You know, it was highly advertised, highly publicized with in all the magazines you know, uh most of the time back then in the nineties, the Next Generation aired after the regular programming. It was a syndicated show, so the network could stick it in anywhere they would, and they usually showed it in around ten o'clock. I know, for me, it was Thursdays at ten o'clock, usually on Fox. They were the ones that mostly bought it at the time because their program ending ended at ten o'clock. But in nineteen ninety four, the Next Generation was constantly pulling in better ratings than many of the network shows, and so for this finale, a lot of the channels preempted their scheduled program to get the actual network program and moved The Next Generation down to an eight o'clock slot instead of showing what they would normally show. And because of that, this ended up being the highest rated episode of the series.

1:00:07 It got a seventeen point four on the Nielsen scale, which is if you look at it's only two million viewers, less than Seinfeld at the time. Just shows how big this show was at the time. Yeah, Yeah, and it won. It won the nineteen ninety five Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. It was nominated for four Ammy Awards. Outstanding Individual Achievement for Special Visual Effects is the one it won. But this was huge, and on top of that, they even made a documentary that aired a couple days before It's called Journeys in the Saga Star Trek. The niction generation. I remember that because they showed that behind the scenes on how they filmed this episode. It was hosted by Jonathan Frakes, and it was the very first time that we actually got to look at the sets for a Star Trek Voyager again one last time. I want to call that warf for a comedic moment. So when Picard was on the bridge and he's back right before encounter at far point and he's going to the card going around queue que What is a queue?

1:01:07 Oh? Yeah, the alphabet. As far as I know, I love that. Well, i'll tell you what, guys, we've talked about a lot. We still got a little bit more to go. So uh hanging there with us. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll come back. We'll wrap up this last part of Starter Trek's TNG. All right, we're back, So let's look at dis honorable mentions. So these Picard face Paul moments, I think I know what mine is going to be, but I'll defer to the room first. Dave, Oh, give to me to wait. All right, Wayne, let's start with you. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're starting with me because I think I'm going to disagree with you guys, I'm going to choose a force of nature. It fell in the middle of the season. This is where a group of scientists discovered that everyone warping around the galaxy is damaging the fabricous space. So they create a speed limit for all starships work five, which that that's a ridiculous thing. I mean, it's mentioned like twice afterwards in Star Trek and then it's completely forgotten.

1:02:12 Yeah. I guess just like in the real world, no one obeys the speed limit in space, you know, as well as you know, to make to make matters worse, they spend so much time on on data trying to train his cat's spots and you know, try to get him to not tear up the Enterprise. That which would be funny in any other episode, but not this one. This one falls flat for me. All right, Yeah, I can see that having troublesome little speed limit signs floating out. That's that's a good pick. That's a good pick. Are they gonna have to cops? Yeah, so we might all have a different one on this one. I like this. So my episode is Masks. The crew of the Enterprise discovers a comment which has like an archive from an ancient culture, Data becomes possessed with one of the beings and that the card has to approach Data as another being. Brin Spinder even laughs about this episode, so you know, I'm gonna agree with him on this one. The story doesn't make sense and we don't really get a conclusions. It is so weird.

1:03:14 It is Yeah, no, thank you. Well, I think mine is the one that Wayne is going to disagree with. I tried watching this one again because I had heard so many people kind of lambasted, and I was like, all right, well, how bad is it really? Sub rosa? I just oh, boy, Like, you know, everybody has their own thing and that's totally fine. This one, like it was interesting for a minute to see Crusher's family backstory. I do think it's interesting how many you know, like transporting pieces of Scotland to other planets, and it's kind of interesting how many times that kind of thing is done. But then the whole, the whole aspect of the candle with you know, Dracula stunt double as as this sexy cast bird that's seducing Crusher, and you know, I was, I was, I was, I was, all right, I'm gonna Okay, so there's a candle and she's being haunted. Okay, this is going to Canda. His Spookie plays okay, cool. Then she starts talking to Troy about how, yeah, my grandma, who is like eighty, was dating this other guy or you know, took on a lover and they were so passionate and all this other kind of stuff, and now he's my lover. And it was kind of like, wait a second, the grandma that you just put in the ground, you're gonna sleep with the same bad that she was sleeping with that's like thirty years old. And then this

1:04:47 the scene where you know, uh credit to Ellen Albertini Dowell, who plays Pressure's relative, gets possessed by this evil Casper. Not to spoil things, but sits straight up in the coffin and Moscow, Mosco, Moosco. I love that. It's so it's it's so like, what like any other season, it would have felt like more fun, but the more like when we get this kind of thing in the last season, it seasons like, you know, you've only got so many episodes left and you use it on Subarosa.

1:05:30 It just didn't hit for me, but Wayne, I would be fascinating to hear your perspective. I love this episode, probably for the wrong reasons, but it makes me every time. It makes me laugh. I mean when she sets up in a coffin and zaps everyone. I I that's sisterious, you know, and and you know Crusher having her a little romandica uh, you know, sexual things with the candle. It's just it's just funny. It's hilarious. Does it is it? Is it a good episode? No, but it's one of my favorites. It's and say it's worth watching. I mean for curiosity if nothing else, I'm good. Yeah, there's like no, no, no, don't even rewatch it. That's not a two for I'm not suggesting that, but yeah, I'd be interested to see, like, what's the epilogue for Prussure going back to the ship for try to be Like, so you talk how many how many sessions you want to book? Yeah, I'll just open up like a month just for you.

1:06:27 All right, let's get into the positive side. We've covered a lot of crew members talked about favorite moments, and this one we're talking about our important moments from Picard, our favorite ones. Dave, why don't you start us off What's Yours. There's just so many I mean the whole series, but Patrick Store Piccard has had so many good moments, and I'm gonna have to, Like I said earlier, I'm gonna have to go with my favorite episode, which is Lower Decks. Both of the scenes that Picard has with Soito and just amazes me, and how he handles the situation first being hard on her, you know, even harder than a father would be on a daughter, being hard on her because of what had happened to her at the Starfleet Academy. But the second meeting when he confronts her, well, she confronts him and he really has that you know, heart to heart with her, and he tells her as she's leaving why she's on the Enterprise. Yeah.

1:07:23 Yeah, just was like, Wow, that was an incredible moment from Picard, and that's why I have to go with that. That's a good call, Wayne, what about you? Well, I was going to choose Picard's final scene with Roe and from Preemptive Strike, but right at the end I had to change this because I found something had been better. And that's the final scene from All Good Things where everybody sits down to play Poker and Card walks in nervously asking if you can join. You know, of course you're always welcome, you know. It's it's such a heartwarming moment. It shows that these seven characters, they're not just crew members on a ship, like like Riker says to Picard in season three of Star Trek, a card where your family, and they really are a family. They're not just characters, but not just his characters too, but as the actors themselves, they're a family. You can really see the chemistry and how much they love one another.

1:08:15 Yep, yep, that's a good call, Scott. What about you. Mine's from attached and it's a little thing. But Pigard and Crusher are sharing a laugh when they're walking through the hallway with with Riker behind them. M hmm. It seems like such a genuine and pure moment from him. I don't know that we've you know, aside from what was it Timescape when he kind of went, you know, a little off the deep end and was drawing smiley faces in the in the warp cloud. But I mean, it seems so genuine and pure, and it seems like a glimmer of a possible relationship and something like that relationship would really make him happy, I think, you know, and a sense of relief, Like you know, we've been so careful to to hide these things and now we're just gonna let them out. Especially what considering what happens at the end of that episode, We're just fascinating. It's just a moment that it makes me want to see more moments like that for him. So let me just see if that actually happens.

1:09:16 All right, Well, we're at the end of it. We're ready to jump into Star Trek Discovery next week, get into some fresh territory. I want to thank you both for going through this. I found it so fun to go. It has been. It's been an incredible journey. Yeah, it has. I can't wait to do this without this series, especially because I'm not as familiar with Voyager and Enterprise, so I'll be hearing from the experts on the top one. So it's gonna it's gonna be fun. Reliving all this with you guys has just been fantastic. It brings back so many memories when I first watched them on TV when I was young. Seeing them again with you guys and talking about it has just been fantastic. Yeah, and knowing that we have made a new fan with Jeff Ye that's the best one of us. Yeah, yeah, absolutely all right, and I also want to thank our listeners for joining us again as always, join us next week, like I said, where we'll talk about some fresh track with the newest episodes at Start Trek Discovery and its final season. Each week we'll recap the last episode as we get ready for each new episode. Haaling frequencies are always open for you to share your thoughts and questions on social Let us know what you think and share your favorites that we didn't mention. You might get a mentionine in a future show. You can email us at a film by Podcast at gmail dot com, find us online at a film by podcast dot com, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and all your favorite social channels. And if you're looking for more exclusive content and swag, send some latinum our way through our Patreon. See you next time for another episode of Phasers Set to done. Thanks everyone,