Star Trek's 60 Greatest Moments: Episodes 40-31

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[00:00:37] Fansets are pins, have character. Hi, this is Andy Robinson, Elam Garrick and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and you are listening to the biggest little podcast this side of the Gamma Quadrant. It's the Trek Geeks podcast with Dan Davidson and Bill Smith. Failure to tune in would not sit well with the Obsidian Order.

[00:01:50] The countdown of Star Trek 60 Greatest Moments rolls on with episodes number 40 through 31 tonight on Thursday Night Geeks. Good Thursday evening one and all. Bill Smith alongside the Admiral Dan Davidson here for yet another week. Dan, good to see you buddy. Hey buddy, good to see you too. The way you said that when we first started with Star Trek, all I could think of was send your ships because you kind of had a little Star Trek 60.

[00:02:19] No, I was stuttering a little bit. I don't know why. It was wonderful. It sounded fantastic. Well, thank you. I take that as a compliment, I guess. Sure, sure, sure. No, it's great to be here buddy. It's been a couple of weeks. Great list we have tonight. I'm looking forward to the discussion and as always, it's good to see you man.

[00:02:38] It's great to see you too. You know, I was going to say something about this later in the show, but I'll say it now. Dan, yesterday was your 57th birthday. So happy birthday buddy. It was. Thank you sir. Welcome. You're now older than me for two weeks and I will revel in this for every moment I can. That's you old bastard older than you by two weeks. You are, but actually this is the two week period where we're not the same age.

[00:03:07] It's funny because it's funny that you say that because I get the same lottery numbers when we do lottery tickets and I usually do four draws at a time when I get them. And the numbers, one of the sets of numbers that I have is numbers associated with Sue and I, and one of us is our ages, but now we are the same age until her birthday. So I have to come up with a different one number in our string of numbers for the next couple of weeks.

[00:03:35] Well, you'll get a chance to two weeks from tonight to be able to, I guess it's the first next two weeks from now, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The first, we'll actually on my birthday be doing the next Tuesday, Thursday night. I have no idea what I'm saying. Wow. Wow. You're okay, pal. I got a shed delivered today. Oh, and some people happens. Yeah. So Brad's mag, you know, was commenting on Instagram because that looks like a guest house.

[00:04:02] It's a 20 by 10 shit. Okay. It's gigantic. We're going to put like the lawnmowers in it, the generator, anything that is garage worthy. Cause the garage is going to be the workout space. Cause you know, we've got a rack that we need to put together and all that kind of stuff. Nice rack. Hey, nice rack. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so that was the first step was to get, uh, get that. And it was delivered today. We had to take down three panels of our vinyl fence so that it would fit through the gate.

[00:04:32] I've actually joked with my wife that we have a shed that was here when we moved in and it's really nice. The guys, the folks who lived here before us were meticulous about everything. So it's in fantastic condition and it's got stuff in there, but I've talked to my wife. I was like, you know what? I may want to empty all this stuff out and turn it into like my Lego collection room and have like lights and shelves and stuff like that in it because it's just getting full. So you should run power to it and make it the podcast studio. Oh, that would be very good too. Yes.

[00:04:58] I, that, you know, dig a line, you know, have electrician run power, do it, you know, underground. There you go. Cause ours is already wired. Well, yeah, I could sit there on my, my lawnmower doing the podcast. That's great. Dan, let's say good evening to our Thursday night bridge crew. And of course, up front, our chief ombudsperson, Helen is here. Helen. Good to have you here. Ross is here. Of course. What up?

[00:05:27] And see, um, Burley is here with lots of, uh, lots of, uh, what are these calls? Spock mojis. Spock mojis. Yeah. We get a little happy birthday for Dan yesterday. Happy birthday. Thank you. Jim is in the house. Good to have Jim. Jim here. Uh, Ross says, I think that's the size of my shed. It gets full fast. Yes, it does. It does. We thought about getting the one with the loft, but you know, at this point I'll just, I'll get creative and start hanging stuff all over it in the inside.

[00:05:56] So that's great. Dan, we're going to debut a brand new feature tonight, but an old feature, but in a new way. And Dan, that is to ask you, what are you drinking in a brand new segment sponsored by our friends? So excited star Trek wine. So after a year and a half of doing this segment, Dan, we finally have a sponsor for it. And of course it is the amazing star Trek family of wines. Um, what are you drinking?

[00:06:25] What better sponsor for this segment also? Yeah. Very excited. We love them at star Trek wines tonight. I'm doing something that I haven't done very often in a while, but I'm going margarita, but I got my star Trek glass, but I've got a Merlot floater on the top, which is a thing we started.

[00:06:41] I saw him a couple of years ago. I saw something like this down in Disney and it was fantastic. And we went out to dinner a couple of weeks ago in Portsmouth and they had one like it. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to start making some of those at home. And they're pretty snappy tasting. They're really good. So it's no longer a floater. It's nice. And it's kind of like red now, but it's a Merlot floater. Um, I think that was the name of my last band. Um, I am drinking my next band, uh, because of our, uh,

[00:07:11] our partnership with starter coins. I am finally opened the, the cork on my Romulan rye. Uh, this was a limited edition. I got to tell you, I have one here. I use my Trek geeks, uh, ice cube. It is very blue, but it's actually quite tasty. Um, so cheers to you. Cheers to everyone in the audience. Cheers to our friends. It's star Trek wines. They have a special tracking link set up for Trek geeks and our viewers. So if you go to trekgeeks.com slash star Trek wines, you'll be all set.

[00:07:41] That way we get, uh, the, the credit, I guess, for, for sending you to their site. And of course they've given a special discount code. You can save 10% off your next purchase of a hundred dollars or more by using the discount code. Trek geeks 10. That's Trek geeks 10, all capital letters, no spaces with the number one zero. You see it there on the bottom of your screen. Uh, Dan, so it's like to have this partnership. It's the kind of thing we've, we've been hoping would happen for some time, but, um,

[00:08:11] um, I, I'm very happy that they're with us and we hope they're with us for a long, long time. Same. Um, got to go over and see them at their booth in Vegas, uh, uh, last month. And as always, it's great to see them. They have amazing new products coming out. Um, so very honored and excited to have them, uh, um, as a sponsor here for this very special say, maybe the most important segment of the entire show when you come right down to it.

[00:08:41] I have to bring this up. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't prepared to share the screen, but I wanted to talk about this cause they debuted it in Vegas. Yes. Um, and I am amazed that they were able to do it. They now have oops. There it is. Soaring and brandy in the appropriate bottle. That's right. That bottle is wow.

[00:09:04] We were talking to them. And of course, you know, for years, the story has been that bottle is trademarked by the Dickle whiskey company. And I think Tennessee, I could be wrong about that, but, um, they actually went and met with the Dickle and said, we'd like to use this, this bottle design. And here's why. And they got permission to do it, which is amazing. So you can order this right now, you know, with the, the classic, you know, styling on the story and brandy bottle. They've also got a Romulan cosmopolitan, which I'm sure.

[00:09:35] Um, and the story and brandy, uh, original edition. So, um, they've even got a gene Roddenberry bundle, which is kind of cool. Uh, so, um, I, I want one just for the bottle, but I mean, I will absolutely consume what's in there.

[00:09:49] Yeah. It's, it's awesome. I'm looking forward to getting something like that myself. It's funny. I was, now that we moved back to Maine, I was looking and I can get everything that Star Trek wines has available except the captain's table line of spirits, which is no idea why, but may they can't deliver those to Maine for some reason, but everything else is fair game. So I'm going to be, uh, I'm going to be making some, some purchases. I'm kind of thinking.

[00:10:12] That is bizarre, Dan. I'm not going to lie. Well, let's do this. Let's, um, let's adjourn for a brief moment. We'll get set up to talk about, uh, you know, um, Star Trek 60 greatest moments and continue that conversation, all that and more coming right up after this.

[00:10:52] And we're back. And, um, Dan, I, of course I forgot to take off the crawl on the bottom. I mean, it's like, it's my first day. Where is Garcia when we need him? Garcia drink.

[00:11:07] That's fine. Um, is the Romulan rye is illegal as the ale is. It might as well be because it's pretty tasty as somebody who's a developed an appreciation for whiskey and bourbon and rye. Um, so, um, Dan, Chris Mumfrey in the house tonight. Oh, I guess we can all, you know, we can now relax. Yeah. We can all celebrate. Yay. Great. Um, hi Chris.

[00:11:31] Love you, buddy. Uh, Dan, we, we congregate now again to talk about Star Trek's greatest 60 moments with episodes number 40 through 31. Um, this has been a series that I've loved putting together with you. It's been some great discussions that we've had. Um, you know, we're getting close to the midway point after tonight, um, or we'll be at the midway point after tonight.

[00:11:56] So, um, I think we get into some that could divide this fandom, uh, this evening. Yeah. I've got a, I got a couple of, um, comments about a couple of things on the list tonight, which are probably going to shock some people. I'm going to just put that out there right now. So we'll see what happens. Let's review what we talked about last time. When we were here, we talked about episodes 50 through 41. We had seven of nine joining the Voyager crew, Picard refusing to let his vengeance define him from Star Trek. First contact Christopher Pike is accepting his fate in Star Trek discovery.

[00:12:26] Kirk destroying the enterprise on the search for Spock. Odo finding his people and then rejecting him in deep space nine. Bye. Let history. Bye. Let history never forget the name enterprise from the next generation. Kirk refuses side box offer to take away his pain. I need my pain. Um, not asking Cisco for a Starfleet Academy recommendation data, creating law,

[00:12:52] and then Cisco convincing the profits to stop the dominion solid list. But tonight we get into some brand new ground with the next 10 episodes. Um, what'd you say? We just kick it right off. I like, I like that image is beautiful too. It's fantastic. Nice job. Thank you. Thank you. I, uh, I'm able to do a lot with a very little kind of like podcasting with you for 12 years. So Dan, let's take a look at number 40 on the list tonight.

[00:13:20] And that is Kirk seeing the refit enterprise for the first time in Star Trek, the motion picture. I don't know about you, but I felt a certain way. The very first time I saw this at nine years old, um, or 10 years old, I guess, because it came out in December. Um, at this moment for me was everything just seeing the, the affection and the love and Shatner's eyes right there. Um, really just, it, it gets me still even today. Yeah. It, even today, so many years later, the, the,

[00:13:50] of course the soundtrack for this entire scene is one of the best parts of it. It's absolutely beautiful music. Um, as you have pointed out more than once, this is your favorite version of the enterprise. And you can certainly see why in the scene, it's absolutely wonderful. It's, it's an emotional scene. It's, it's, you get to see Kirk seeing what his, his really, his true love is. And, and what changes have been made to it. I love how in parts of the scene, he's,

[00:14:20] you can see him actually like physically looking at different areas. Like at one point he's looking up and he literally goes. And looks like down to the left. And I've always thought that was funny. Um, but I, I just think this is fantastic. Here's a, here's, I know what the answer is for me. Do you think it was a better to introduce it in this slow paced, five to seven minute visual orgasm that goes on with the scene? Because it is that good or would have been better. Do you think if it was a faster paced, you know,

[00:14:50] um, adventure moment, this, it, to me, it's without a doubt, is this the version that they did in, in the movie? The scene is perfect. The way it is. Yeah. Um, you know, a lot of people talk about how it goes on forever and it's starship porn, and that's exactly why it's, it's needed. It's been 10 years since the enterprise, you know, had new adventures. We get reintroduced to this brand new refit version of the enterprise. And honestly, I love it. You get to see all of the changes, all the fan boys in the audience and all the brand new people in the audience

[00:15:19] get to see this ship up close and personal. Um, what, what did you call it? A visual orgasm? Visual orgasm. Yes. I guess that's what we're going with. That's the hashtag for this episode. Um, was it, I love what, uh, Jim would say. Yep. Jim just said, Oh, cut it out. Same time. You got it. Jim is saying, are you saying this is a, was it good for you to moment? Jim, I'm going to say, I don't smoke, but I would have a cigarette after that.

[00:15:49] Now, if I really wanted to. And mum for saying, um, only starships. Oh, very nice. Yeah, no. I mean, if you're going to get it up close and personal look, you know, up at photon torpedo tube, then you might as well. So, you know, sell it. One of the things that I like about the scene also, Bill is we've seen similar stuff now in future day, a future, uh, or current star Trek with the special effects and the visuals and everything. But for in the late seventies,

[00:16:15] having the scene where you get so many great closeups of the ship in different sections that we probably don't see close up any other time. Really, really works. I mean, everything from the struts to the, to the warp core, uh, to the warp engines, uh, everything looks just fantastic. And now they did this scene. I absolutely love it. Absolutely. Um, you know, the 10 year old in me loves this scene and it always will. Dan, let's progress on to number 39 as we crack the seal on the thirties.

[00:16:45] And that is Picard and data say their final goodbye in star Trek, Picard season one finale. Um, I, I didn't expect this scene to be as emotional as it was for me. I mean, I feel like now we've said goodbye to data a few times, but I feel like Picard finally got the closure he needed in this before he surprise comes back as some kind of automaton, um, with a human soul.

[00:17:15] Damn it. Um, if you can take away that part, that it's a little weird and that they exist in this consciousness for just for moments. I think this is a really beautiful scene and I love the way it's done. The scene broke me, dude. Yeah, it really did. Um, for a bunch of different reasons. Of course, the, the acting between the two is superb, but the whole idea of how they did this, like you said, it's in, you know, they're in this digital world and it's this nice,

[00:17:47] quiet fireplace going dark and kind of dusty room. And then we see the special effects of, uh, you know, they're doing, they're saying the goodbye and then data ages and then kind of just kind of like disintegrates. Isn't the right word, but that's the word I'm going to use here. He kind of just kind of like, it goes away. Broke me. Just absolutely. Just so sad. Uh, such a sad moment in this. Um, I understand why data wanted to do it. It's something that, and, and he,

[00:18:16] this is the ultimate part of being human, right? Is dying. There's a commercial on the radio right now. It's like, everybody's going to die. You're going to die. And it's right. Data finally gets to experience that ultimate moment of being human, I guess, but it, it's a, it's a very sad scene, but at the same time, it's a very fulfilling scene. Wait a second. You're listening to radio commercials where they tell you everyone's going to die. Oh yeah. When I'm listening to serious, there's a commercial for, um,

[00:18:45] life insurance and the guy, it's some podcaster. He talks, we don't like to talk about death in our culture, but you're going, everybody's going to die. You're going to die. So protect your family. That's basically what the premise is. Yeah. That's kind of depressing. That is so cheery. I mean, I, wow. I don't know what to do with this information. Um, but, uh, but yeah. So why don't we press on now? Cause I don't really have a way to come back from that. Um, Jim says,

[00:19:15] given how well they de-aged Delancey the following season, disappointing me a little bit that they didn't seem to really de-age data here, even a little at first. Yeah, I can appreciate that. I'm sure it must've come down to something budgetary toward the end of the season. Um, maybe they just didn't think to do it or they thought it would look okay. Clearly it didn't look as okay as it should have. Well, I will to that point. I totally understand what Jim's saying, but devil's advocate, he did say,

[00:19:42] and was it one of the movies or later in one of the late seasons that he incorporated an aging program into his subroutines? Maybe, maybe that's why. I don't know, but I can see where Jim's coming with that. Yeah. Okay. That's fair. The moment with Q when he is young is a little awkward looking. Um, but so if they did that for the whole season with data, it might've looked really kind of strange. Yeah. Yeah. It would've been nice if they could have de-aged Picard at the same time because it wouldn't have made sense to de-age data and not Picard. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:12] But what do I know? Dan, this takes us to number 38. And that is Spock returns to himself at the end of Star Trek three, the search for Spock. The Katra is back in the noggin. He's starting to, you know, fire on all synapses again. And Dan, your name is Dan. Spock returning to himself. I like the way that you put it like that. Um,

[00:20:38] this is kind of like the whole friendship overcomes death aspect that we've seen more than once in Star Trek, but it, it, I like it. One of the things that I will say about this, I love the fact that Spock is back in this movie. We get to see him, you know, as a, as a teenager and Pon far and all that stuff. I love that we get to see Spock return. I don't love that. It took the entire movie for us to finally get Leonard Nimoy back on screen.

[00:21:07] That's always been a pet peeve of mine for this movie. Um, but it's still, it's great to see him again. Really? Yeah. I didn't realize that was a pet peeve of yours. It was it because, because, you know, it's the search for Spock, you know, we want it. Spock back, we hear his voice and, and we see the video of him and everything like that. But for the fact that it took until the last, what, five minutes of the movie for him to show up was, is always like, Oh, really? Movie's over. Interesting. I,

[00:21:37] I've always kind of felt that it kind of happened the right way. I, I like the way they set it up for comic effect in the next movie. Um, but I do think that that scene where they're, you know, they're, they're doing the, uh, the felt or pan or whatever it's called, um, goes on a little long. Yes. Like it seems unnecessarily long and longer than the starship porn in the motion picture. But here's the interesting thing. It's not as long. And like an actual time, I don't know, it's not,

[00:22:06] which is kind of funny that it seems like it's so much longer. It just drags. So horribly, you know, because there's all these closeups and these panning shots. And, you know, you see the, the old lady with her hand on every, on both their heads. Yeah. Sorry. Did I say that out loud? I'm sorry. I thought, I thought that was you. Yeah. You know, I, this is a,

[00:22:36] a detour, you know, uh, earlier, just a few moments ago, um, Mr. Mumford brought up only starships, Dan. And I'm going to, we're going to talk about this a little later. I know a little secret about you. And I found out, let's just say a little birdie told me. So we're going to talk about that a little later. And I, you're, you're going to be called on the carpet. So, um, how about number 37?

[00:23:06] All right, let's do it. Does that sound good? I like those. Yeah. Whatever else you don't talk about, I don't want to talk about it. So, okay. Dan, number 37 on our 60 greatest moments in star Trek is Picard and Dathan. And then we're going to talk about that. In Star Trek, the next generation season five, Darmok, where, you know, Picard has his fancy uniform at number 37. Um, of course, as you know, this is the one where, um, they're both on this planet.

[00:23:35] They don't know how to communicate with one another until Picard goes metaphor, you know, almost like, um, uh, Ravencroft, you know, Slytherin. He sounds like the sorting hat from Harry Potter. Um, uh, but, uh, this is a classic episode and it comes in at number 37 on our list. Dan, I love how you call it Ravencroft, like the actor instead of Ravenclaw, but that, that think that was, that's actually quite funny. You know what it is in Merrimack? There's a condo development called Raven. Oh yeah.

[00:24:05] You should drive it by it every day. Every time we drove by it, I would go Ravencroft. And that's why I did that. That's awesome. Okay. So here's going to be something that is probably going to generate some, um, what the fuck did he just say? And this is going to be against the grain, so to speak. I understand the importance of this moment in this episode. And the episode has always been a fan favorite. This episode for me is like you with yesterday's enterprise.

[00:24:34] I'm not a giant fan of this episode. I, I, I, I understand its importance and I like what they do, what they do in it, but it's just number one that I'm like, Oh my God, I cannot wait to watch that episode again. Maybe because it's a very dramatic episode. So there's not a whole lot of, of action and, and stuff like that in it. I don't know, but it's just never one that is, has been like on my, it's not in my top 10 list. That's for sure. Yeah. Which is probably a huge shock to a lot of people.

[00:25:04] And, and, uh, you know, well, it's not on our top 10 list either because it's number 37. And, uh, for those of you listening to the audio version, you can send your complaints to Dan at track.com. Um, I think that this, this episode is just classic star Trek to me. You know, we seek first to understand and Picard spends most of this episode, not understanding. And it frustrates him. Um, you know, when he has that breakthrough and they're able to work together to fight the predator, I mean, alien, um, you know, it,

[00:25:34] it, it unlocks something. And I, I, I think it helps those two species, us and the, uh, the, um, the, whatever they call it, the, the weird heads, um, come to an understanding. Um, I'm really shocked. And the walls fell with this one right now. Um, I'm not doing so well. Um, but again, that's Dan at trickgeeks.com. It's funny that you said that, um, it's probably on purpose, but I also was,

[00:26:04] have always been disappointed that we never knew anything else about that creature. We only saw glimpses of it when his cloaking device was, was, you know, whatever, like you said, predator slash alien. I would have liked to have seen more about it. Maybe see what it really looks like when it's in phase or not cloaked. I understand why they didn't, it has nothing to do with the actual heart of this episode, but it would have been something I would have liked to see. Well, I'm telling you, it's the predator. I mean,

[00:26:32] and then he went to LA and he was in town over Thanksgiving with a few days to kill. That was the marketing line for predator too, by the way, um, Dan, before we go to the break at the bottom of the hour, let's talk about number 36, the halfway point on our list of episodes 40 through 31. And that is the enterprise crew rescues the whales and star Trek for the voyage home. Such a great moment filmed, of course, on the, uh,

[00:27:01] the storied back lot at paramount pictures where they had to excavate a parking lot, a parking lot you and I have walked on. We have. Yes, we have to, to open up that tank, which had been sealed up for decades to shoot this scene. And, um, Shatner's toupee is doing all the work in this scene. And yes, yes it is. And you know, cause for those of you listening, it's, it's the shot of Spock holding onto the side of the bird of prey and Kirk's in the water about to splash. And, um, his hair just doesn't look quite right now.

[00:27:30] I wonder why that is. Um, but this is great. Hey, this is still one of the most loved star Trek movies of all time by fans and non fans alike. And it's easy to see why. Oh yeah, absolutely. This has always been, um, a great movie and it's, I talked about how I was like bummed that, we didn't get enough of Leonard Nimoy in star Trek three. Well, we get tons of them in this one and it's, it's, there's a lot of humor. There's a lot of, of, of, of character development. And yes, the whole entire scene where the whales, they,

[00:28:00] they figure out what's going on. They're able to get the whales back to earth and, and avoid the, the destruction of the planet. Just a, it's, it's, it's, it's a perfect star Trek story. Um, solving a problem through compassion, I guess you could say instead of violence and weapons and, and stuff like that. So yeah, it's, it's a great one. It's always good. And yeah, the hair is very, it's distracting. Even in that picture, it's like, huh? The underwater scenes, it's worse. Cause it looks like it's its own sentient life form. Uh,

[00:28:30] Helen says, I love them all diving in and swimming with the whales and Kirk pulling Spock into the water. Absolutely. I love that you get a smile out of Spock in the scene. And although I know it's Leonard, I'd like to believe that it's Spock's human half coming out because they've saved the planet. And this is indeed something to be excited and joyful about. And you wouldn't expect a Vulcan once they come out of the water after being thrown in to go, wow, which he does very loudly. And it's always been funny to me. Same here. Well, Dan,

[00:28:59] that is our midway point. We are going to adjourn for just a minute. We're going to, uh, reset the table to talk about our dear friends at fansets.com. And, um, I see that as I vamp for time and, um, and really get a whole bunch of stuff ready so that I don't look like I don't know what I'm doing. How am I doing? You're doing great. You look fantastic. All right. I'm just, I'm just getting ready to pull up my fanset stuff. And I just realized that all the stuff that I wrote earlier is gone.

[00:29:29] So yeah. Oh, fantastic. You don't, you don't need stuff. Just wing it. We'll be right back. And of course, Dan,

[00:29:56] we return to talk about our dear friends, nay, our Star Trek family at fansets. Um, um, the, the presenting sponsor now and always of the entire Trek geeks podcast network. We love these guys. And, uh, we honestly, we couldn't do without them. No, I, that's, that's a good way to put it. We absolutely could not love them all. Every single person associated with fansets. We think are fantastic. and always excited to discuss the new releases from fansets. As you know,

[00:30:25] on the first and the 15th of every month, they drop their newest pins and this week is no different. So head on over to fansets.com and you can see the newest stuff, including the newest in the star Trek patch collection. It's the star fleet command patch. It looks absolutely beautiful. And how good would that look on a leather jacket? I just got to say that right now. Uh, next up in their line of awesome deltas, you can get the doctor's Delta from star fleet Academy. And guess what, buddy? It's available in both pin and magnet form. I bet you didn't expect that. Did you,

[00:30:54] I don't see that one on the website yet. perhaps that is a, an error. If you go into, uh, the newest things, it should be the first. I am. But that's weird. Cause it was a little while ago. Well, I know that this one is, I know that they have all the other start star fleet Academy deltas. Cause it's kind of like the future. Perfect thing where they've got like 37 of them, 30, 47. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Um, actually here it is. It's further on down the page. There you go. There it is. The doctor. You know, I really liked the way that one looks quite honestly.

[00:31:24] It's it really does gold against the pewter color. It's fantastic. Yep. It looks really good. And I'll tell you what, I can't wait to get extra one of these because you always need an extra golf divot. That's all I'm going to say. And next up and last but not least a little bit of history, buddy, the newest in the line of autographed star Trek pins brings us, an odd from the very woman who played the iconic character over 60 years ago. It's the salt vampire pin autographed by Sandy Gimple. Absolutely. Wow.

[00:31:54] I never thought I would think this, that the salt vampire is gorgeous, but fansets makes it happen. Sandy Gimple is just so delightful too. It's great to see her at cons. Um, you know, it figures she was in the first televised episode 60 years ago and she's still out there doing cons. And I know she was rather young at the time when she did it, but good for her. I think this is a, an amazing addition to people's collections and I hope that everybody takes advantage of it. Go get this,

[00:32:24] go get the doctor's Delta, go get all the other stuff and put it in your cart. That's right. Get it, put it in there and at checkout, use the special discount code Trek geeks for 10% off your entire order at fansets.com. And of course, Dan, when you spend more than $30 on fansets.com. Yeah. What do you get? Um, free shipping in the United States, Dan,

[00:32:52] you do in fact get free shipping on orders over $30 or more. Thanks. That's your, that's your cue. Fansets. Our pins have character and we thank our friends at fansets for being the presenting sponsor of Thursday night geeks. That was, that was amazing. You know, I said, I was going to do this at the bottom of the show, Dan, but I think I'm going to do this now. Um, we need to have a discussion you and I, because, um,

[00:33:22] I was told by somebody that you were getting into personal photography. I thought that might mean artistic things. And what I found that it was, was actually an only fans account. So I, I have questions. Does this mean now you're kind of like an adult content creator? Um, have they, you know, like deleted your account? What's going on with that? I can neither confirm or deny anything you're talking about. Well, I'll tell you,

[00:33:51] cause I've done my investigation. Think of me as section 31, but a good section 31. Oh, okay. I did find they closed your account because your photos were objectionable and gross. And buddy, I want you to know for your birthday, I've done something special for you. I, I, I wanted you to have an outlet for, you know, your, your photography, for your selfies, for your tasteful, semi nude photos.

[00:34:20] And so I created you a website. Oh boy. Okay. And that is only dance. So everybody right now can go out to only dance.com. You can subscribe if you want to, it's four 99 a month or one triple, which is kind of funny. Um, but if you go to trek geeks.com slash only dance, you can take a look at the almost nude photography of Dan Davidson and, um, and enjoy it. I guess is the word you'd use and joy.

[00:34:50] Is that right? In this context, I, Hey, whatever floats your boat and whatever warps your drive, whatever. Well, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So warp your drive over that and we'll be right back. And here we are.

[00:35:19] So we continue Dan with star Trek, 60 greatest moments. And, um, that means we're in the back half of, of 40 to 31. We'll start again at number 35. Um, I know that there's some value at this, at this juncture of the list, we've got some big moments coming up and, um, there are no, there are no bad ones in the bunch. No, there really aren't. No, even though, even for the episodes that we aren't big fans of, there's cool moments in them. So yeah, it's awesome.

[00:35:49] There really is. So why don't we go ahead and we'll kick it off with number 35. I think this is a slightly controversial pick, um, that it almost makes the list at all, but let's go with it. And it is the Voyager crew returns home at the very end of the end of the series finale, um, in Star Trek Voyager end game. Um, I, I think the, the controversy here is that people wanted to see what happened to the crew after they got home. And it's right after this moment, you see executive producer, Rick Berman, blah, blah, blah.

[00:36:18] And Jerry Taylor and Brandon Brogan. That's it. It's done. It's over. No more show. Um, I really feel like that did a show a disservice, but this moment is what people waited seven seasons for. Yeah, you're right. You're absolutely right. Now, first of all, I'm going to talk about for those who are listening, the picture that Bill is showing on the screen is they have just come out of the, um, uh, the Borg trans work conduit. And so you have Voyager heading to earth. And the thing that bothers me about this scene, even though it's a fantastic moment and I'll get into the good parts about it in a second,

[00:36:48] you have to have an enterprise D looking starship there. You have to have a defiant starship there. Why not just focusing on Voyager? I mean, they deserve it. Um, after having their own show for seven years and getting home, I understand the welcome wagon, this, that, and the other thing. No problem. What I've always had a problem with, with this episode, although I do love it, I've talked about it before the whole board conduit trans work conduit crap with the steel girders, keeping them.

[00:37:18] it just drives me insane. But the fact that we get to see this pretty cool story with time travel and two Jane ways and all that stuff, it really is cool. And to finally have them getting home. One of the best moments is when, um, Admiral Paris and, um, Barkley are on screen and you can see the Admiral kind of look down in the direction of where Tom is and just kind of has this look on his face. Like I'm so glad you're home.

[00:37:46] I always thought that's been one of the most special moments about this episode and that scene in particular. You know, I agree. And I wanted more of that. You know, I wanted them each to, to have an opportunity to go back to their lives or to create a new one or, or maybe create some drama in that sense. Um, but it wasn't to be, um, the series is kind of cut off at the knees right there. And I think it's a really missed opportunity. I know that there are stories that go into this. There's a book, I believe. Um, um, I'm sure there's fanfic that goes into this,

[00:38:16] but I really feel like that it, it did the entire cast of disservice, like get off her a lot. And it's, it's kind of funny that you bring that up because people can say, well, they do talk about the things that happened when they returned because we see them all at the beginning. That's not the same. It's, it's really not. And you can also say that seven talks about what happened to her afterwards when we're in Picard season one, that's not the same either. You're absolutely right. They were short changed. I think the rest, the rest of the episode doesn't happen because Janeway allows herself to be killed.

[00:38:46] It's, it's a reset button, you know, it, it, you know, makes everything right again and allows them to go through. So Voyager getting home when it does completely erases, sorry, the, the front half of that episode, which is kind of cheap in a sense, but I get it. I mean, it was a great story. The other thing that has always been confusing to me and something that I'm not sure I absolutely love, but it's the whole concept of the board queen. So we have more than one board queen because we've had different actresses play the board queen.

[00:39:15] The board queen was killed in first contact, but then she shows up in Voyager and then the original board queen shows up in this episode. I mean, it's just a lot. And then she shows up in Picard again. It's just like kind of crazy that there's so many Queens plural, but it's always called the board queen. I don't know if this is right. I've seen people say that's not right, but this is the way I've looked at it. You know, every beehive has its own queen. And I, you know, why Alice Krieg, you know,

[00:39:44] showing up in the finale, it does kind of invalidate all of that or no, it wasn't the finale. It was like what scorpion. I can't, I'd have to pull it up because they're all, they're all intermingling right now. All the board queens look alike. But you know, it does, it does kind of make it really kind of hard to understand, but then it's all that space time bullshit. So, you know what Alice did play the board queen in the finale. Yes. Okay. I couldn't remember which one it was.

[00:40:14] Susanna Thompson did it another time. And then I don't know who it was who played it in star Trek, Picard, the season three, because it was just some, someone in heavy latex. It's supposed to be, I think it was supposed to be, didn't she voice it? Alice did do the voiceover for it. If I remember correctly, you're probably right. Yeah. Dan, let's move on to number 34. Okay. And that is Kira forgives Eamon Maritza in Deep Space Nine season one landmark episode duet. Maritza,

[00:40:43] of course, bound and determined to make people think he's Gul'dar heel, the butcher of Galatep. And, um, Kira ultimately sets aside her, her bigotry of Cardassians and ultimately forgives the man, um, who really did nothing in the end and ultimately pays the price for it. Sure does. This is, we've talked about how season one doesn't have a, a huge amount of bright spots in Deep Space Nine, although it's Deep Space Nine. So it's good.

[00:41:13] This is without a doubt to me, I think this is a better episode than any other episode in season one, including the premiere. This episode is fantastic in every aspect for a lot of the things that you just talked about, about how Kira's got that bigotry. She's got that chip on her shoulder, the acting, by both, um, Nana and, um, Hulan. Is that his, is that his name? This dude, Harris Hulan. Hulan. Yes. Hulan.

[00:41:42] It's just fantastic. Uh, the, the, the, the tenseness in this episode, especially when they're going at it and, and the security, uh, room is fantastic. And yes, for him to get that forgiveness and then just getting cut down in, in the last 30 seconds of the episode is really, truly heartbreaking, but it is a fantastic episode. And as we're talking about one of the greatest moments,

[00:42:12] not only in deep space nine, but of all star Trek. Absolutely. Uh, Jim says, Andy Wershing played the queen in Picard. She did in season two, but not in season three. Um, so it's the season three one that we're talking about where it was essentially unnamed actress and heavy latex. Yeah. So, um, yeah, this is, this is the high watermark of, of season one. Nana shows that she can very easily go toe to toe. With anyone who walks on that set later to be proven, you know,

[00:42:42] with Louise Fletcher coming on board as Kai win. Um, and this really sets the mark of, for deep space nine is a fantastic drama. So the juggling act that takes place in this episode between how are you supposed to feel about guilt and about responsibility for your actions? Or is it okay to seek revenge or forgiveness or all of those things is is a master craft in this episode. It's absolutely,

[00:43:10] it really is absolutely a 10 out of 10. Dan, that takes us to number 31. I'm sorry, 33. I can't count either. Um, I'm all over the place. I read 31 somewhere and it just stuck in my head section. And that is Kirk meets Picard in the Nexus and star Trek generations. And Dan, not the last moment we'll see from star Trek generations in this countdown, which is kind of amazing for a show that has bill Smith on it. Um, this is landmark. This is what people wanted for years.

[00:43:40] Um, they ideally they wanted all of the cast, both cast together, but to have both captains together, fighting Sauron, you know, uh, to, to thwart his evil plan for the stupid Nexus is, um, is pretty amazing. It is. Um, I will say that it's a great moment because you're right. So many people had a problem with TNG when it first came on the air because it wasn't the original series. And then I think over time, TNG is,

[00:44:10] is, is like the concrete of the star Trek franchise these days. Everybody seems to talk about TNG even more so than TOS for some reason, which has always been something that's confused me, but that's okay with these two meeting. It was fantastic, but I've always felt there was something missing from it. It is a great moment. One of the greatest moments in star Trek history, but I think at the beginning, at least it's very stale to me,

[00:44:40] not until they really start talking to each other a little bit more. Does it really become, Oh, this is, this is what I'm looking for. This is what I love. And then we get to see, of course, uh, and, and I'm talking about before they're on the, the, the cliffs and climbing the vertical ladders and stairways and everything like that. Um, they get to know each other and, and, uh, it, it makes Kirk's death that much more empty for me because these two

[00:45:09] finally do get together. Um, they, and you know, they, you know, Kirk has that, um, don't let them, don't let them promote you. That, that whole type of speech is something that really works once they start to have that connection. Um, and then for him to, to die the way he does, he does just kind of makes it kind of hollow. Don't let them do anything. It takes you out of that chair and that chair. Um, I, in this part of the, of the movie,

[00:45:37] especially Kirk is starting to realize something's not right. I mean, he's making the, the Katarian eggs, which I'm sure are horrible. Um, he's making toast and, um, which is just a, such a Shatner move, you know, the pointing to the toaster. Um, you can see that he, it's starting even on his face right there. You can see something that's just quite perfect about this. It's not the way it's supposed to be.

[00:46:05] And I give credit to Shatner for, for just, uh, Shatner has just such great facial reactions throughout Star Trek, but this one, especially where he can see that in his head, something is not right. I think telegraphs a lot and it does a lot of heavy lifting in this part of the movie, quite honest. Absolutely. And, and we finally, finally get to see something that I'm sure Shatner wanted to do for decades and that have him on a horse in Star Trek, which is always cool. And this is the silliest thing to love. But one of the things that I think is so great when they're on their

[00:46:35] horses and they're talking to each other, facing each other, he shows you what a great horse rider is. He just kind of like, and the horse starts moving sideways. And he just, I mean, that's the way that he controls that animal is pretty impressive. I'm, I'm sure that I'm wondering, I got to wonder if I'm sure there's a making of somewhere, if that was a stipulation that he would not do this movie, unless he got to be on a horse, that would not surprise me at all. If that was, no, that actually was a stipulation. Okay. Um, it was in his contract, you know, he, he wanted the horse.

[00:47:05] So I'm sure it's his horse, which they had to rent for the day. Um, you know, and all of that stuff. And of course, anything, the horse was fed and the transportation, um, I'm sure it was paid for by Paramount Pictures and the budget of Star Trek generations. No judgments. I would do the same damn thing. Absolutely. Yeah. Dan, that's going to take us to numero 32. And that is. Zephyrm Cochran makes the first warp flight in Star Trek. First contact.

[00:47:35] And Dan, I chose a look, which you often have on your face. Um, bewilderment and the stuff coming out of your mouth. That's pretty much what everybody looks like. Wow. After I, after I gave you a webpage for your photography, yes, I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. No, you're not. Yes. And seriously, go to only dance. Yes. Check it out. You're not going to be disappointed, but I was not disappointed with Cromwell as Zephyrm Cochran. That's for sure.

[00:48:05] He was a great role. Funny, um, serious when he needed to be. I love the hat. I've always loved the hat for some reason. I always just scratch my head about that. Has it supposed to be a beret? Is it supposed to be a, a Scully with the brim removed? It's got little jewels on it. Um, and Cromwell obviously loves the fact that he's part of Star Trek. So you're seeing him in Vegas on his, cause he has to use a scooter now. Cause he's getting up there in age,

[00:48:35] but he had that thing decked out like the Phoenix. I mean, it was awesome. He had the music blaring. Um, uh, what was it? Ray? He had orders and blaring out of speakers. Uh, it was pretty cool to see. And yes, this is, I mean, Zephyr Cochran is important in the history of Star Trek, but we only get to see him one other time before this. And then the first episode of enterprise. Um, so he's a very important figure and this is great. This, this first warp flight is awesome. The, the humor in it,

[00:49:04] seeing that it's all a predestined thing to have the TNG crew there. It's also kind of cool. when you think about it, so yeah, very good moment. The enterprise crew seems to do a lot of predestination and pretty much any series, whether it's a, an Apollo rocket launch or the big bang or, you know, the dinosaurs, uh, you know, on earth being wiped out, uh, you name it. It seems to happen all just because the enterprise, I think really think they need to take a harsh look at what they're doing

[00:49:32] with their lives and stop, stop impacting history. Or writers need to stop writing. So damn many time travel stories that, and the enterprise is the only people that can save all of humanity in the galaxy. I'll have Thanos or whatever. Anyway, one of the only ship in the quadrant. Exactly. One of the other things that I love about this character is that he has nothing to do with wanting to be a great explorer and,

[00:49:59] and bring about the new wave of space exploration. He wants to be rich. He wants to live on a beach with naked ladies and drinking drinks all day. He says that to the crew and that's honesty right on its face. And I couldn't be happier for him. Well, that's because in all honesty, he's a stand in for Gene Roddenberry. I mean, you know, Gene, as much as we love what he created, wasn't always the, the best of guys. And, you know, I think we talked about this a little bit with, with Roddenberry.

[00:50:29] I think that, you know, uh, Brandon Braga and Ron Moore have confirmed it on the, the commentary track on the first contact disc. It really was a representation of Gene, um, to some extent, you know, obviously taken to an extreme, but, um, you know, Gene, Gene was, uh, notorious. I mean, for, for some of his, um, outside of Star Trek, um, activities. So to put it kind of nicely. So, um, I can see where they would, you know, get a,

[00:50:58] a rich character out of that. And I think it, it does a better job of painting Cochran as something to evolve for, you know, when we see him in the original series, supposedly, you know, hundreds of years later. What's more, what do you think is, is more important in this moment of, the movie, the fact that humanity is able to break the warp barrier or the fact that Vulcans land on earth.

[00:51:26] And there's the proof that there are other beings in the galaxy, which is a bigger moment in this movie to you. It's tough because it's almost kind of like chicken and egg. The Vulcans don't land unless they observe the warp flight. So I think for me, it has to be the warp flight, but you're right. The Vulcans land and, you know, the hood comes back and wait, let me do this, this way. Don't get them caught on your ears. Yeah. Right. So for those of you who couldn't see me do it, I,

[00:51:55] I had a hoodie on and I put my hood over my head like the dude in first contact. So, but yeah, I mean, it's, I think it has to be the warp flight because that's, it's the event that changes everything. Yeah. Yeah. And I do love the fact that in the first opening scenes of in a mirror, darkly, the enterprise episode, they, they use actual footage of first contact for the ship landing and, and Cromwell walking up. And then when he does the hood off and the live long and prosper, they don't show Cochran again,

[00:52:24] but they show his character reaching for the shotgun and blowing the Vulcan away. I just thought, I just think that's hysterical. I just thought it was a great way to turn this into the mirror universe in a really big way. Let me tell you something. After you drink a glass of rye, you get very warm. You're just hot. I didn't think it was menopause. It's gotta be the drink. Dan, that takes us to our last entry for this week. Episodes number 40 through 31 in the list of Star Trek's 60 greatest moments.

[00:52:54] And that is number 31, Janeway sacrifices the Voyager in year of hell part two. Oh boy. Such an amazing moment. And the days before I used to like, or the days when I didn't like Voyager back before I'd seen it all. Um, I used to think that this was the greatest moment in Voyager history because Voyager was destroyed. Um, but I now see how wrong that was. Um, you know, it's another reset button moment. Um, you know, for sure,

[00:53:23] but it's done so well. Um, you know, you've got, you spent two hours, you know, both halves of this episode with this crew, just barely hanging on. And then it finally clicks with Janeway. This is what I gotta do. And then time's up and everything resets. And the crew is back on the way home and, uh, red form and it's back on his ship. Um, you know, and, uh, and all is right with the world. I could,

[00:53:51] I could argue that this entire two part episode is a greatest moment in itself. This might be my favorite Voyager episode. Um, um, I love every aspect of it. I love the time travel or the, the time, um, manipulation, um, aspect of it. I like the reset button aspect of it. Kurt Wood Smith as anorax is absolutely phenomenal. Uh, John LaPriano, I think is how you pronounce his name, uh, plays, uh, Orbris who I loved.

[00:54:20] My wife and I always make fun of the way he talks in this movie or in this episode. Um, everything about this is great, but yes, the end when she's the only one on the ship and the special effects or is it CGI that they use for that, that crash into the time ship. I believe so. Yeah, it's, it's beautiful. I absolutely love it. I actually have the time ship is one of my ships in my case behind me. Um, one of my absolute all time favorite episodes.

[00:54:50] I just love every moment of this because there's so much going on and they, even one of the things that they did so well with this is they kind of started putting things in place for this episode the season before. Yeah, they did. It's just incredible how they were able to do that. So yeah, this is, this is, this is a, this is a big one. And for me personally, I probably would move the entire year of hell up into the top 10. You're an idiot. I love it. Not much. Dan,

[00:55:19] Helen says year of hell stresses me out and I'm glad they didn't make an entire season out of it. So am I, because honestly, I think that would have been a little too much. I think that as a, as a two part episode, I think that that's, it's perfectly told as a story. Um, so Dan, that rounds out our 10 episodes this time around. Let's take a look at how it all shakes out at number 40. Kirk sees the repeat enterprise, repeat, refit enterprise in star Trek, the motion picture 39. Picard and Dana say their final goodbye in star Trek.

[00:55:48] Picard season one 38 Spock returns to himself in star Trek, search for Spock 37. Picard and Dathan understand each other in an episode. Dan hates 36. The enterprise crew rescues the whales and star Trek for the voyage home 35. The Voyager crew returns home. Enough said 34. Kira forgives. Amen. Maritza stupid file clerk 33. Kirk meets Picard in the Nexus 32. Cochran makes the first warp flight.

[00:56:18] And 31. As we just saw Janeway sacrifices, the Voyager to reset the timeline in year of hell. Part two, Dan, a lot of great moments on that list. As we talk about all the time, it's, it's almost impossible to, to keep, you know, making this list even better. Um, but we're going to try in two weeks. When we talk about greatest moments from episodes 30 down to 21, uh,

[00:56:48] we're getting closer. I'll say right now, I'm going to apologize up front. Cause I probably did it a couple of times tonight. I'm going to be saying how awesome something is several times between now and number one, because we're getting to the point where everything is fricking awesome. So yeah, at this point it's, it's degrees of, you know, of separation. There may be a hair width. Um, and that's really the toughest part of this to say something is better than another. Um, you know, all of these moments are amazing. It's part of the reason why we love star Trek so much. And, um,

[00:57:18] we will continue to do it two weeks from tonight when we return. Of course, Dan, we want to remind everybody to go to trekgeeks.com slash only Dan's. Seriously, just check it out. You're going to be amazed at the level of photography that Dan has there. Um, but, uh, in fact, Jude Tappman, you should go to that website right now. Uh, trekgeeks.com slash only Dan's right now. Dan, as,

[00:57:48] as we said before, you celebrated a birthday recently. So happy belated birthday to you. Once again, we'll reconvene on Thursday, October 1st. Uh, we'll have a little birthday celebration for me and then we'll continue. So, all right. any parting words tonight, Dan about your nudity or, or anything else? No, I'm going to let people, you know, we haven't had anybody come back with any comments of whether they thought that any of the things that they saw on that, uh, address that you gave was, was good or bad. So we'll have to wait until next time.

[00:58:17] And maybe, some people will, uh, have some comments, but, uh, no, great, great discussion as always, man. Uh, this, this whole idea of having this stretched out over several episodes for me, and I hope the listeners and watchers feel has really worked because we get to talk about so many great things that people have probably forgotten about because there's so many moments in Star Trek. So to be able to do this and, and talk about them, uh, is, is, is pretty great. I'm loving it. Helen says, you missed my comments. We must have, cause I don't see them in there.

[00:58:48] Uh, let me scroll. We'll, uh, we'll look at them, uh, offline and, uh, and see if they show up, but I didn't, uh, I didn't see the comments in there, Helen. So, um, anyway, that's going to do it for this week. We'll see you all again in two weeks on October 1st for Dan Davidson. I'm Bill Smith. We do hope you all have a pleasant fortnight, live long and prosper. Coconut. That's it. It's your birthday. It's your fucking birthday.

[00:59:17] Toasted coconut ice cream. I'm going to go have some. All right. I'm going to toast you right now with one of these. No, uh, music for Trek geeks is provided by five year mission. They're creating one original song for each episode of star Trek. Get their music at five year mission.net. Trek geeks and Thursday night geeks are a production of coconut media works. Executive producers, Bill Smith and Dan Davidson for the best Trek podcast in the galaxy.

[00:59:46] Be sure to visit trek geeks.com.

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