Star Trek: The Next Generation Overview

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today, visit www .sfi .org. Greetings, my fellow

shipmates! I'm Mike the Birdman Dodd, and this

is Future Imperfect. But I'm not alone as I trek

across the stars. I'm joined with my fateful

exo... Steve Megatron Phillips. And of course,

it wouldn't be Future Imperfect without two of

my favorite guests on this show from That Guy

with the Glasses and ThatSciFiGuy .com... That

Sci -Fi Guy, Leo Thompson. And Nick Wright. I

actually don't have any kind of like, you know,

cool nickname or anything. You're Phoenix Wright.

Phoenix Wright? No, that's another guy. No, that's

the other guy. OBJECTION! Now, one of the things

I've been trying to do on this show, we were

supposed to do this show last week. Unfortunately,

oh yeah, that's E3. Shit, so I kind of forgot

about that. So we're it seems like we were always

a week behind So I'm gonna actually date this

episode used so, you know when it's recorded,

but I'm gonna make you work for it Today's star

date is six six nine three five point four Try

and figure that out email us at feedback of this

week and geek net. I'll try and give you something

if I can So today's topic will be well something

all of us are familiar with. This was one of

my first experiences with Trek and I know we've

told the story many times. We're talking about

Star Trek The Next Generation, more or less as

a whole. We're going to talk about the seasons

and everything else, share our kind of stories

with it, but also what it means as a show, what

it means to the Trek franchise. And well, where

this series could go now that the Abramsverse

is now two movies deep, will they eventually

reboot TNG? So I guess who wants to start our

discussion point today? Don't everybody rushing

at once Okay, well all right, I guess We'll start

Oh, sorry Leo go ahead Well, I was gonna say

like, you know, I mean to me the show was like

around When I was growing up my parent like as

a kid my parents were Trekkies I was kind of

always more like a Star Wars, you know And so

I watched a lot of it as a kid But it wasn't

until I kind of like, you know matured and got

you know older and found Star Trek on my own

That I kind of became a fan This is one of the

shows that I I've told this story on previous

shows, so I'll just go through it very quickly.

I kind of got into by accident. I remember finding

of random repeats on my satellite dish. My grade

seven teacher, Mr. Collins, loaned me a tape

of the shows and my friend Wayne and I used to

talk about it all all the time and he would tape

the shows for me off of television because he

had cable whereas I had satellite, but my parents

would never let me watch the satellite between

the hours of basically 6 PM and midnight. That's

all my parents did was watch TV. In fact, I'm

pretty sure they're there right now. And it's

just, it's one of those things that really caught

my attention because it was one of the few shows

where I could buy toys and watch the show at

the same time. And I never felt once like the

show was ever talking down to me. And it really

got me interested in astronomy and hard sciences

and all that things really wish I went into astronomy

When I was younger, but unfortunately I suck

at math Yeah, so that's that's what the show

kind of meant to me It was a gateway for sciences

and it made me feel like I was watching smarter

television Than fucking friends or something

equally as insipid Right. I think before I saw

Star Trek The Next Generation, I didn't even

know that there were shows that were that involved

and would actually trust you to think. I started

watching it when I was about 12 years old, and

it was already almost over at that point. It

was something that was really a refreshing change

of pace, and like you, it got me interested in

space and astronomy. It didn't really work out

that well for me, but I'm doing other things.

That's cool. But it's something that, you know,

I never got any sleep because it came on at 10

.35 every night and I would stay up and watch

it until 11 .35 and then I would have to get

up way early in the morning and go to school.

So yeah, that was responsible probably for me

being late to school quite a bit. But it was

worth it. My little black and white TV in my

bedroom. No regrets. No. All worth it. And Steve

what about you? This I remember watching a lot

mostly at the dinner table with my family this

was this and reruns of the original series were

pretty much how I got into track although I Find

this show to be a lot more enjoyable to me than

any of the other ones just for the simple fact

that This is the one that was airing while I

was young so yep I remember a decent chunk of

the show and certain characters kind of held

with me over time. And I just liked a lot of

the callbacks to the original series that were

in here and a lot of the new aliens and technology.

Actually, and that's something else I kind of

want to jump into. What made you stay with the

show? I mean, for me... It was the fact that

it opened up a whole new world of things. Like

you just mentioned, ships, technology, and even

callbacks to the original series. One of the

things I always liked about the show is when

they did signs, yes, some of it was technically

technical garbly gook. In fact, if you watch

the season three Blu -ray special features inside

the writer's room, they talk about the infamous

techno babble generator. Where they only have

three columns and you pick each one and it works.

Like the Heisenberg compensator buffer or some

shit like that. For me, their space sciences

were always routed in reality. Like they'd try

and figure it out. Although they'd get some of

their numbers kind of messed up when you compare

warp speeds and you look how far Voyager was

stuck in the Delta Quadrant. In theory, they

should have been able to cross that in like a

year, maybe two. But I digress. Yeah, it was

always when they went to different planets talking

about different atmospheres Stuff that made up

things and even the medical science is really

fascinated with me and more or less the applications

of what you could do with them like You know

that that thing dr. Crusher uses to seal up wounds

Yeah, yeah, I would seal people's asshole shut

That is the first terrible thing that I would

do. This is why I'm not allowed near anything

fun. So what you're saying is you would pop them.

You could just use tape like the kid in the breakfast

club. Oh my god, you have no idea. Or I would

find a way to like grow weird random organs out

of people's backs. I would be sued for malpractice

quite quickly. I was about to say there's no

lawyers in Star Trek. No wait, I forgot. The

jag they featured in measure there. There are

lawyers. Yeah measure. Yeah Another thing that

really kind of interested me and I want to hear

your guys thoughts on this it made Star Trek

or made the Federation feel like a real political

body Like there were divisions. You got to know

what ranks meant. It was just like I'm the captain.

I'm a lieutenant No, it was like here I have

to go up this chain of command how it functions

it just it made it feel more like a Navy slash

kind of military but with a scientific mandate

and I don't know just something about that really

attracted me to it that's true original series

did kind of play a little more fast and loose

with the ranks they had like yeoman and You know

all these different ranks that would show up

once in one episode and never never appear again

And they were they were really a lot more consistent

in next -gen. I think overall it was just more

developed It was always a little bit Navy based

though. Yeah, you know, it's the idea of you

know being out and all the ship and you can be

a Commodore now Yeah, this yeah star star captain

You know, I think we're the show like And it

was somewhere in one of the bonus features I

was watching that, you know, Next Gen really

started to hit its stride, I think, around Season

3. And that's kind of when it stopped trying

to be the original series and sort of get its

own direction. And one of the things that one

of the writers said was that ultimately it's

about the characters. And the situations that

they get into are interesting and blah blah blah

on the technology and all that stuff but ultimately

it's about the characters and their relations

and That's really how you tell a good story,

you know Well, like that's something the original

series never felt. I mean, yeah, there were characters,

but they never felt as deep as I wanted them

to Well, like and this is something that we kind

of talked about in a previous show at some point

It all kind of changed when Roddenberry, sad

as it is to say, passed on and kind of wasn't

the lead of anything anymore. When they went

to, and I think in the beginning, for instance,

they had, the cast and crew started off with

nine crew members on the bridge. If you count

West. Not counting the ever rotating crew of

chief engineers in the first season? Well, yeah,

but I mean as far as like the core people that

were throughout the show and then in season two,

it goes down to eight people and then by season,

you know, three or no, not season three, season

five, you're down to seven people in the main

cast. So I mean, it's as it goes, they kind of.

keep the people that are actually important to

the show and kind of uh it gets more refined

as it goes down instead of and i do agree it's

less the original series and more its own thing

uh which definitely helps it but when they get

the collars on their uniforms that's around the

time when it started getting good which is really

funny i just got you know finished watching season

three on the on the blu -rays and you know i'm

into like costuming a lot more now than I was

in any previous times that I'd watched the show

and I'd noticed that every main cat and basically

anybody with a speaking role had the new uniforms

with the collars and you know without the striped

in the middle of the shoulder but any crew member

on the ship with the old uniform not gonna say

anything they might say yes captain as they walk

like the scene starts and they're talking to

someone they're like I sir it's funny there's

these people wearing these old uniforms and you

can tell instantly like that person's not gonna

say anything it's almost like the old 80s cartoons

when there'd be like a line of buttons and one

of them would be a different color and you could

be like oh that one's the one that's gonna get

pressed One of the things that I also kind of

liked about the series about specifically started

the next Generation is it was the sense of scope

to me the galaxy in the original Star Trek never

felt as big as it did in TNG they talk about

it'll take us a few days at a high warp to get

somewhere or Stuff like that and and it just

it felt like the Federation felt like a real

a real entity, like they're reaching out literally

across the Alpha Quadrant, and how the Klingons

and the Romulans exist in the Beta Quadrant more

or less, just to give you an idea of scope of

how big everybody's space is. And you look at

some of the maps for some of these star charts,

they have four stars, to give you an idea of

where certain planets are in relation to Earth.

And I don't know, there's just something really

interesting about that too, just because it makes...

It makes the world bigger, gives you more possibilities

for stories. I felt this series was never confined

really by budget, so to speak. I mean, the budgets

got bigger per episode as the series went on.

I mean, especially after they got free of kind

of network control. I think their budget was

up to $2 million per episode. Think about what

two million dollars can buy when you really think

about it and there never were any real sets on

TNG that I ever felt really cheesy. There were

ones that were beautifully immersive and you'd

get these wonderful matte paintings too. A couple

of those first season sets were a little cheesy.

The episode with the Ferengi. Okay, that'll give

you... Well, the first two seasons though were...

80s cheese. Yeah. Yeah, it's like Mike said they

had a limited budget as well They got more once

they had more money. They obviously used it Well,

I mean we kind of take we live in an age of great

television now where we have things like Game

of Thrones and Walking Dead We expect excellence,

but back then that was a rarity We didn't have

anything else really on the air at the time that

looked as good as you know third season fourth

season Star Trek Next Generation did yeah, well

in in Star Trek the Next Generation when Don't

think people really took it seriously until and

at the same time didn't see it as a Dramatic

serious show Until the best of both worlds hmm

right which I loved ever saw like in one of the

bonus features they were talking about the guy

who wrote that episode was kind of like He kind

of felt like he had half a foot out the door.

He wrote that episode to be like, hey, whoever

comes in next, have fun figuring this out. And

then they managed to convince him to stay. And

then he had to figure out how to like. Oh, crap.

How do I get him out of this? It's a wonderful

little tidbit. I mean one of the things, another

thing too, I mean to kind of talk about some

of the storytelling because there's a wonderful

special feature on the third season blu -ray

where they talk about inside the writer's room

for this series just some of the high concept

ideas they'd have while they sound stupid when

you say them would get better and better at how

they would they weren't selecting scripts out

of normal solicitation but if they liked your

script they'd call you But they couldn't use

it, but they'd call you anyway, and it would

eventually be rewritten so they could get around

that shit. And I remember one of the episodes

out of the third season I love so much, because

I think it's one of the best of the series, and

it's called The Offspring. And if you want to

explain it really simply, Data has a baby. And

there's just something about the performance

of the woman that plays Lao I really like. And

when she's dying because her neural net's breaking

down, Yeah, that's tremendously sad and I know

and that's also that's Brent Spiner's daughter.

Oh, is it really? Yeah Wow, that's why it was

such a touching close dramatic See no Like there's

I mean a lot of about that scene that really

works is despite data not understanding The emotion

the fact that she's gone, but he integrates her

memories into himself. I Really like that and

then that's something about Star Trek is that

some of the situations? From an outsider may

appear completely ridiculous But they never you

never feel outside of it. This was sci -fi television

that took itself seriously, as opposed to other

things that might have been on the air at the

time. Like, I mean, before this, the only serious

sci -fi show I can think of was the early Battlestar

Galactica and Battlestar 1981 or whatever the

hell it was called. And Star Trek did something...

where you believed in these characters, you wanted

to know more about these characters, you would

develop attachments, I think more so than any

sci -fi series had done previous to it, because

it's almost like you knew these people as acquaintances

or as friends, and I know that sounds really

weird, but follow me through here, that you just,

you knew what certain characters would do, you

knew what certain characters were feeling. I

mean, Picard's the kind of guy I would look up

to as an uncle or something. Someone like Riker

would be willing to come down to your quarters

at three o 'clock in the morning if you've got

a problem and he would talk to you. Riker is

like the fun uncle. Yeah. Picard is the responsible

uncle. As somebody who grew up without a really

strong father figure in the house, Picard kind

of filled those shoes, at least as somebody to

look onto as an example. If I'm thinking about,

well, what should I do in this situation? That's,

let me think about what Picard would do in this

situation. That's probably the right thing. Now,

whether I'm going to do that right thing or not,

that may be a different story. I might go the

Ryker route. I've definitely thought to myself,

what would Picard do a good number of times?

And that's something I don't think a lot of sci

-fi shows have really gotten right since. Now,

I know you could make arguments for like for

other television shows, but this one felt the

most organic. I mean, I see Geordie as the best

friend. Who's who's intensely interested in stuff?

Data would be that's He's also the best friend,

but he's a different type of best friend one

He's almost like the impressionable little brother

because he's so curious about everything Troy

I don't know how I don't know how I describe

her basically as the girl who would listen to

you Crusher very much felt like the mom figure

But she knew how to be you know kind of fun to

at times wharf Very competitive, but fun, too.

And that's something that I don't think a lot

of other television series, at least in sci -fi,

really embrace the fun side of it. The only other

character I can think that's kind of fun from

a really respected sci -fi franchise that was

on television, I'd say Starbuck from Battlestar

Galactica was fun, and some of the other kind

of Viper pilots. But with Star Trek, everybody's

likable. Except Dr. Pulaski. We did figure out

like that. Did you say data? They wanted her

to be bones and it doesn't work like bones and

and Spock picked on each other back and forth

as Where data kind of would just take it because

we can't get the joke. Yeah, so it kind of turned

her into a bully Picking on the special kid Yeah,

and that was she only had one season and I figure

that you know Maybe they could have pulled up

a shear with her and make it so that you really

don't like her at first But over the seasons

you grow to appreciate her more and see her develop

as a character But we only got to see her for

a little bit and everybody was like, you know,

let's screw her bring back crusher Yeah, and

in that scene like that the infamous scene of

you know data I mean my name is data and all

that stuff, you know that scene what it like

it closed and she goes to like he or data goes

to leave and she's and she calls him data again

and she's like i mean data whatever and if she

like if she hadn't just thrown the like whatever

at the end of it it would have been like a good

character moment it was like wow you almost grew

there and then you backpedaled he should have

just started calling her dr pool ascii But yeah,

I mean, I really think out of characters that

you should give a shit about, she was the one

people least gravitated. And it's not that she

gave a bad performance. In fact, there's a number

of - No, she was a great actor. Yeah, like there's

a number of her episodes I really like. Just

people like to crush her more. And I think there

was a warmth to her. Whereas, like you said,

Pulaski is very much meant to be that bones comparison.

And it never came across - as sincere. It always

had a little bit of a hint of meanness to it.

Not much. Just enough. Well, you know, and like,

you know, she, yeah, she was a great actress,

but, you know, that can happen. Like, honestly,

on Deep Space Nine, Major Kira, like, I hate

that character. I love Nana Visitor. She's a

wonderful, happy person. And, you know, she,

which just proves that, like, she was acting,

you know, and she played a character that I just

hate. Even if she was sometimes directed poorly.

Yeah. Like, every time Kira cried, I just cringed.

But I mean, yeah, you know, like, except about

Plasky, you know, she played the part while she

was acting. Just kind of an unlikable character.

Now, to talk about characters in Star Trek, especially

TNGs, to talk about some of the villains of this

series, and one of the best villains I think

it's ever been created for Star Trek, an argument,

I think, in sci -fi in general. John Delancey

himself cute. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. That's something

you're going in that direction Dylan I've never

met a more charismatic in like I interviewed

him for the My Little Pony Brony documentary

a couple of months ago, but I hate you all over

He is such a personal guy like literally he extrudes

that kind of confidence and when he when he plays

Q and he's talking to Picard I love that he's

that lovable asshole. I just loved his character.

That was such a memorable way that he portrayed

that. I don't think that anybody could have topped

that. Oh, no. I mean, like honestly, if they

wanted to bring Q into like a new show or movie

or whatnot, it still needs to be John Delancey.

Would love to see JJ Abrams use him but then

again he'd be surrounded by fucking lens flares

His own lens flares too, so that's true whenever

he you know snap his fingers which It kind of

made the universe with Star Trek I'm trying to

find the right way to describe this like we could

talk to a god and the god would actually give

us an answer but the god wanted to challenge

us especially when you look at the series finale

for TNG uh all good things when he says to Picard

you've opened up a new way of perception think

about this humanity is about ready to do something

really great don't waste the opportunity. And

in the first episode he appears, he declares

us this brutal savage race, and we're basically

slated for deletion, so to speak. And I like

that. The fact that, you know, someone challenged

us and we rose to the occasion. Q, while he's

a jerk, I wouldn't necessarily call him evil.

Yeah. To give him a D &D alignment, I might say

chaotic neutral. He's like an anti -hero. Yeah.

I mean, unfortunately, sometimes his actions

lead to bad things happening. For example, when

he put the Enterprise right in front of the board

ship. But think how many lives he saved had that

encounter not happened. We would have been caught

completely off guard. Come on now. We all know

exactly what Q's character was. He was a troll

He was like you mad Picard It's like it's like

a guy poking him with a stick Yeah, does this

hurt yet? Does this hurt yet? Does this hurt

yet? I love the fact when Cisco hits him in DS

9 and he says Jean -Luc never hits me. I'm not

Picard And then he sexually harasses Janeway

Which is awesome. I was just thinking about that

scene. And that's something, too. He always tries

to prey on, like, Jean -Luc. He definitely played

the troll. Tried that shit with Cisco. He wasn't

having it. That's because he got punched in the

face. That's why he never came back to DS9. He

never came back to DS9. Yeah, no he didn't. And

you know, most of these trolls on the internet,

you know, they're trolls because the internet

removes the ability, like the fear of, I might

get punched for saying this. And that's exactly

what happened. He showed up, he tried to troll

Cisco, and he wasn't funny. Oh, he hit me. Well,

I'm not gonna go mess with that guy. So Q has

been summed up as YouTube comments. Yeah. That's

hilarious. Someone needs to draw this. Oh no,

I've already made that graphic. Other villains

that would show up on the show would be the Duras

sisters. I'm glad they died. Yeah, I'm fucking

glad they're splattered somewhere. They didn't

deserve a big screen death. Some of the Cardassian

villains, I mean, they would introduce. Wonderful

character. Love that guy. Can I think of who

else? I like how they made Tasha Yar's Romulan

counterpart bad or whatever. Yeah. Because I

mean, they could have totally come back with

a whole, oh, well, she's Romulan, but she's still

Tasha Yar, so we can make her good. But they

didn't, so. Now, why did Tasha, now, why did

Denise Crosby, rather, leave the show? I actually

talked to her about it once. She kind of felt

like she was standing around on the bridge saying,

I, Captain, and wasn't really getting a chance

to shine. And honestly, a lot of the females

on the show during the first season kind of felt

similar. But I guess what she kind of didn't

know at the time was that in Star Trek, and I

think that happened in the original series too,

all of the main cast get episodes to really show

their chops. Yep, and she just thought she could

do better at the time. She happened to get some

some of the crappier episodes Yeah, she had the

one where they went to the heart horrible stereotype

The African stereotype planet. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

that's why they ended up bringing her back for

yesterday's enterprise and yeah later on when

they were to do something, you know, more fitting

for her. They were able to put her back. She

didn't necessarily request that her character

get killed. She was just like, I think that there

are better acting jobs for me out there because

I don't feel like I'm being used here and I'd

kind of like to leave. And they said, all right,

well, we'll just kill you. Let's see. Black goo.

That seems like a good way to die. Do you think

she ever regretted that seeing the success of

the show later? Oh, I know she did. And that

really sucks, too. I mean, I didn't mind Tasha's

character, and I kind of would have wanted to

know what would have happened with her. But then

again, Worf just became a better fleshed out

character in that role. Well, and then that led

to him growing in DS9. Yeah. And that's cool

to watch a character grow across two television

series. And I can't think of many. To be fair,

it happened with O 'Brien, too. To be fair, Worf

on Deep Space Nine is almost an entirely different

character. They're both very unique interesting

good characters, but no doubt. It's not the same

wharf. Yeah, well he mellowed out. Oh, he got

way more into Klingon II things and I don't know

in In in TNG and all good things anyway he if

you look at the future universe He was headed

towards Klingon politics again anyway, so yeah

it it was just kind of a natural transition showing

him going back that direction Well, like I said,

they're both very good interesting characters

I just kind of feel like it's almost a like a

different like a separation between the two Yeah

Now, can you think of any other characters that

I've grown across two distinctly different television

series? I can't think of many that have jumped

over I Mean, I mean just off the top of my I

mean, yeah, obviously, you know, like you said

O 'Brien You know who thank goodness he did because

he kind of he really spent like oh you're doing

a transport Okay, I get three lines in this episode,

you know, he was chance he was on the con or

on the transporter um but i mean i i never really

watched it but uh right outside the weeden verse

right i was like yeah like there was like angel

and stuff okay okay i never even considered that

yeah buffy uh lezadishka's character in those

there's a lot going on between those two series

Well, I'm kind of glad you brought that up, because

now I feel kind of stupid. Well, that's also,

you know, before that there was just Star Trek.

It's one of those things where we have these

things today and we kind of take them for granted.

Like, you know, we live in a world that Joss

Whedon is making TV in. Well, he was making TV

and now he's making awesome movies. It's not

like it was incredible. I mean, there was, like,

Joni Loves Chachi and stuff like that. You know,

like those spinoff shows. Well, yeah, if you're

talking about, like, you know, sitcom type stuff.

Yeah, but actually fully developing the character.

I'm just getting cheap laughs. Let's say I guess

you could argue Frasier Yeah, definitely Frasier,

but yeah, I mean in terms of dramatic television.

Yeah, it was pretty much this game All right.

Well, we're actually starting to write at a time

surprisingly and this didn't quite go the way

that I expected it to because we spent more time

talking about the characters and Relationships

more so than I did anything and that's And like

I said, that is ultimately, I think, what made

The Next Generation as good as it was, was the

fact that it was very character -based. Yeah,

they were very well -defined. Yeah, I mean, there

might be some goofy episodes, but at the same

time, at least you got character moments that

meant something. in every episode and you kind

of grew with with like these guys and they and

in in the end they felt like a big family that

you know worked together and respected each other

and I don't know there's just something very

powerful about that and I'm really glad that

Gene Roddenberry brought this series back and

then after his death it carried forward and it

just got better I mean obviously without him

we wouldn't have had it well I wonder what the

ground of sci -fi would look like had Star Trek

The Next Generation not come along. Well, for

instance, I want to make a and I'll probably

get panned for it anyway, but it's it regardless.

I'm going to make a Transformers reference only

in the fact that when you stop and think about

it, TNG is to the original series what Beast

Wars was to Generation One. Each each one of

those shows kind of harken back to the original

Mmm. Yeah, I can see and they revitalized the

franchise to where it spawned countless TV series

from it and Countless films. I mean it's it both

of them happen to revitalize and Being that TNG

is such a strong show It kind of made it hard

for the rest of them to follow after the fact

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I'm on their toes. Yeah,

and that's something I'm so glad actually you

kind of made that reference because stuff like

that Really forces a franchise to take a look

at itself thinking. Okay, we've done this. We've

done the quote -unquote toy commercial Can we

do better? And I'm glad that started the next

generation said, okay, we can't see Star Trek

phase two, but we can do this What can we do?

And literally, the sky was the limit. And there's

a lot of good episodes in season one that I like.

I mean, my favorite is the one in the holodeck,

or Cyrus Redblock. Can't think of his name. Or

I can't think of the episode name off the top

of my head. And obviously Encounter at Firepoint

was out doing network shows. I think it had something

like 26 million viewers on its first night. And

that was 20 years after the original series had

left there. And obviously we talked about Star

Trek conventions on this show that have kept

that fandom alive. And I really wonder, like

I just said, what would happen to sci -fi if

we didn't have this. Thank you, Gene Roddenberry

and the entire creative team behind this. You've

given us something wonderful, something enduring.

And even to a even to a point, the show is absolutely

timeless because it'll be regarded just as high

now as it will be in 20 years because of the

strength of the storytelling, the characters,

the relationships and that. sense of wonder,

I think this series brought to a lot of audiences

and a lot of people. I know there was a fan recently

that talked to Patrick Stewart and got him to

bring out something really personal to him. And

that's because this woman was a fan of Star Trek

and wanted to thank him for that. So this thing

saves lives. I mean, there's a part in the Trekkies

documentary, I think it's the first one, with

Denise Crosby. Which she helms that documentary.

That was like her project. Yeah, that's phenomenal.

I'd love to see a follow -up to that. I believe

she actually did a second one, didn't she? She

did a second one, but not a third one. Right.

But then again, how much further can you really

take the idea? Yeah. And this woman said, I was

going to kill myself. And then James Dewan, Scotty,

wrote back and says, no, you're not. I want you

to come. I think he called her or something like

that and said you better come to the next convention

and eventually over the course of years they

lost touch but she wrote back and found out that

she became an engineer because of him. I'm glad

that Star Trek saves lives in a way just because

it is such a thing that every one of us can gather

around and do our own thing with. So I guess

final words on this guy. I mean, I pretty much

just gave you mine. So let's start with Steve.

Overall, I have to say that TNG is to me the

most enjoyable out of any of the Trek series.

It's got the most kind of controversial stuff

in it. It's got the most diverse cast. I would

have to argue based on the fact it's got many

aliens in the group. And then you have just so

many touching deep dramatic storylines in the

show that it's it's kind of hard not to Not only

learn something and see the science in it, but

to also be able to take it seriously I Wouldn't

say it's it's not my favorite Star Trek that

probably goes to deep space nine But, I mean,

without it, there wouldn't have been a Deep Space

Nine. It definitely laid that groundwork and

allowed everything after it to come and, like

you said, inspired all these other things. It's

definitely a very important quintessential part

of the franchise. Well, I would say yeah, it

actually is my favorite so after one up you sorry

but yeah, it's definitely was presidential and

You know just so much that we have on TV today

not just the Star Trek series but basically Oh,

you know a lot of different sci -fi and fantasy

shows that came after it were influenced by its,

if not itself, its success, but just the magic

of the characters themselves and the fact that,

you know, today, 25 years later, or however long

it's been now, God, we can still get together

and go to a movie theater just because we want

to see an episode that we've seen a hundred times

on a big screen and get together with a bunch

of different people to go out and do that. It

really says a lot about this show and it's gonna,

like you said, it's just gonna keep on. 20 years

from now, it's going to still be respected for

the really high quality work that it is. Well,

I mean, what more can we say about this show?

And like I said, I'm very glad this show turned

into something more organic than what I had originally

planned. I mean, we had planned originally talking

about, like I said, episodes and everything else,

but this turned into more about the characters

and the cultural significance this thing has

had. So will we talk about Star Trek The Next

Generation again? You damn right! We will. In

fact, that kind of brings up what we're going

to be talking about next month on the show. And

if you and Nick are available, you're welcome

to join us. We're going to be talking about Commander

Data as a character and Brent Spiner as an actor.

And I'll reach out to him and see if he'll do

an interview with us. I give you no promises.

But you never know. And I'd love to. Ask him

about his web series. He'll probably bite. Fresh

Hell? Yeah. It's just funny. If you've never

watched Fresh Hell, watch it. Plug. Send me a

link to that and we'll definitely check it out.

I'll put it in the episode notes below. So anyway,

guys, like I said, this show has been brought

to you by SFI .org, Starfleet, the world's largest

Star Trek online fan club, wonderful organization,

does a lot of really cool work. And hopefully

you've got a chance to sign up for it. In fact,

I need to catch up on my Starfleet Academy courses

at some point. I have been really slacking there.

But as anybody else got any projects they wish

to plug since we are here. Me, for instance,

I'm over on Geekcast Radio doing a ton of the

Star Trek film reviews on M -Wire. Kevin and

I just started the first one of the motion picture

and went through our likes and dislikes of the

film and that's starting out the 12 film review

set. I know I've just mentioned I've had a little

bit of a lull in sci -fi guy episodes, you know,

I've had some other projects that I was kind

of working on and whatnot, but we're definitely

rolling back into getting those coming out a

little bit more. Well, guys, like I said, be

sure to check out everyone's work here, ThatSci

-FiGuy .com and ThatGuyTheGlasses .com and GeekCastRadio

.com, right, Steve? Yes. Perfect. All right,

guys. Well, for Future Imperfect, I've been Mike

the Birdman Dodd with... Steve Megatron Phillips?

That sci -fi guy. And Nick. And until next time,

my fellow shipmates, live long and prosper.