880 – Sleep Filled Redemption Part 2 | Sleep With TNG S5 E1

EPISODE 880 – Sleep Filled Redemption Part 2 TNG S5 E1

 

[START OF RECORDING]

SCOOTER: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, my patron peeps; hello patron peeps; what’s up?  Oh, can I get you anything?  Sure, there you go.  How about a bedtime story to go with that?  You know, it’s a bedtime story you make possible, so what do you say we get on with the show?

 

Hey everybody, it’s Scoots and I know this is not an easy time for anybody.  This episode was recorded a few months ago so I just wanted to let you know that and to let you know to check our show notes for resources ‘cause the podcast is here to put you to sleep but there’s more resources in our show notes if you’re needing more.  Please use those links; you’re really important to me so please use them.  Thank you so much.

 

INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep?  Trouble staying asleep?  Well, welcome.  This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.  We do it with a bedtime story.  Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play.  I’m gonna do the rest.  What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place…aside, a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake.  Whether it’s thoughts, stuff you’re thinking of, like what is this guy talking about?  Or what happened, Scoots?  Got a little early mix-up there.  So, thoughts, feelings, could be emotions, could be about…could be past, present, or future-related, physical sensations, anything going on with your body.  Whatever it is; changes in schedule, travel, partners, whatever’s keeping you awake, I’d like to help with that and what I’m gonna do is, I have this beautiful safe place…oh no, mundane…beautiful or mundane safe place set aside.

 

Oh yeah, what…oh, what’s your favorite kind of architecture?  Okay, well this is influenced by that, believe it or not, this safe place.  Totally influenced by that…oh, it’s not an era; it’s a style.  Well, it was vaguely influenced by that and it’s both…you’re right, it’s both mundane…what’s the one where it’s kind of like…yeah, it’s totally like that.  I keep getting the word ‘parson’ put in there and I don’t know why that’s coming in.  Doesn’t have anything to do with the style of the safe place but I’ll tell you what; I got a safe place set aside for you, plenty of room, plenty of privacy or…there’s communal areas and private areas so it makes it a safe place.  It’s solid and malleable, of course.  Then what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna send my voice across the deep, dark night.  I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless and rustified meanders, superfluous tangents; you might say Scoots, what is a superfluous tangent?  I’d say well, sometimes you say could this use one more tangent?

 

I say what’s that tangent over there?  You say well, are you gonna put the extra tangents into the stone soup?  I’d say well, how about I carry the stone soup…I think I’m gonna do…carry the stone soup.  That’s my thing, is I carry it.  It mixes it a bit.  I’m just gonna take an extra…I’m just gonna go 400 steps in this…down this path.  I don’t know where the path goes but I’ll probably be back in 400 steps or some number of steps eventually.  I realize that you don’t feel like the soup needs that but wait, it’s a metaphor?  Stone soup’s a metaphor.  Holy mackerel.  You just lightened my load because I’m walking around with a metaphor inside a metaphor.  It’s like walking around with a cloud.  Holy mackerel.  You know what it makes me think of, is another…I’m trying to think of another superfluous tangent that I could come up with there within that ‘cause I think about…superfluous makes me think of suberfluous which would be a nonsensical word version of superfluous but it’s pretty nice on the ears.

 

Another thing you could say to help you relax or during the day, an inside joke for yourself; you say superfluous.  Okay, and then you say Scoots, could you spell that for me?  Zuperfluous.  Okay, let me try to spell superfluous, right?  Super, S-U-P-E-R, superfluous.  It’s probably harder than it looks in my brain and it looks like spaghetti al dente.  Let’s just say it’s F-L-O-U-S or something; superfluous.  Zuberfluous.  Oh, I changed the word already; zuberfluous.  Zuber, Z-U-B-E-R, zuber…maybe it needs a v.  Let’s just say it’s a word without spelling; zuberfluous.  Okay, but this is a script…oh, I thought this was…that was my book I’m working on; selling to the script’s spelling bee, inventing words to be spelled, my lifetime’s work.  Also, the original title Zuberfluous, or Superfluous or Zuberfluous.  Oh, sorry, that was…there was an accidental zuberfluous tangent in there ‘cause usually I try to bring it back for new listeners.  Superfluous tangents; basically, a whole lot of nonsense and what it is, is if you’re new, I’m glad you’re here.

 

This is a podcast to take your mind off of stuff, to keep you company as you fall asleep or if you’re using…repurposing this podcast as you study or chill or try to relax, or just to take your mind off stuff and keep you company, basically.  If you’re new, again, I’m glad you’re here.  If you’re skeptical, why wouldn’t you be?  I mean, here I am…maybe I’ll stock it…I remember there was pants in the…I think it was the 90s maybe; they were called Zuba pants.  I’m not sure if they were the same pants that were like, zebra pants but NFL teams and NFL team colors or if it was something else.  But I remember there was these things called Zuba pants.  I really don’t know anything more than I loved that name.  I think they were the 90s version of dad jeans.  You’d say what does a suburbanite dude wear on the weekends when they’re sporting around and saying hey Sporto, what are you doing later?  Grilling after I mow the lawn, Sporto.  Oh yeah?  What are you wearing?

 

Oh, Sporto, this has already evolved into another superfluous tangent.  You know, I’m wearing those Zuba pants you gave me.  Oh, that’s right.  Thanks, I’ll talk to you…enjoy the mowing of the lawn and the sporting around.  Okay…oh, Zuba pants.  What was I…oh, so this podcast is nonsensical.  I honestly have no idea where those Zuba pants came from, honey.  It wasn’t Sporto that gave them to me.  I think you did.  You’ve always been…you’ve always felt strongly about the pants my friends give me.  These are the pants I love.  I just love sitting around in my Zuba pants.  Actually, I just like saying Zuba pants and I’ll have to Google it later to know what they even are.  But what Scoots was saying was that he’s glad that new listeners are here.  He’s there to try to help them.  Oh, so structurally, what to expect…a little late for that but I’ll still set it up for you, put you at ease.  The show starts off with a few minutes of business.

 

That’s how we’re able to keep the podcast free, a podcast that takes hundreds and hundreds of hours every month to craft, we’re able to keep it free instead of behind a paywall.  You say really?  You craft this thing?  I say yep, believe it or not.  I’m only laughing because I know you’re laughing and because it’s true, but so…and because it’s ridiculously true.  But so, oh, so there’s business, then there’s the intro.  For some new listeners, the intro can kind of throw you off.  It’s kind of just…I don’t even know what it is.  It’s a little bit like recess at the start of…you say okay, so you start your podcast out and then you have recess.  I say well, a recessing sensibility where you could wind down, or at recess…I guess for kids, they run around.  It’s the opposite for kids but…so, where you can unwind and ease into bedtime.  The intro’s where I try to explain what the podcast is.  It takes me twelve to eighteen minutes and I go off-topic.

 

You could either listen to that as you’re getting ready for bed or as you’re in bed or…more and more schools in session and university and stuff like that.  People study to this or code to this or a few people, paint-drying hobbyists who watch paint dry, maybe the bespoke Zuba pants [00:10:00] maker is stitching away on the new Zubas for 2020, Nubas, the Zuba pants that are new; new Zubas.  Okay, so there’s the intro, then there’s business, then there’s a bedtime story.  Tonight it’ll be a recap of Star Trek: The Next Generation episode and what it…what that entails is if you’ve never seen it or you’re…you don’t watch Star Trek or you’re unfamiliar, I’ll be talking about it in a way that you won’t need to have watched it before or if you have, you’ll say Scoots, did that really happen?  You’d say what Natasha Yar are you…are you spinning Natasha Yarn?  I’d say Natasha Yarn, that was actually…that’s the real name of Noir Chardonnay.

 

When I pretend I’m Noir Chardonnay undercover, that’s my real name.  Also, if you ever want to find me in a hotel, remind me to check in as Natasha Yar, not Tash…it’s different but a little bit closer.  Believe me, I’ll be wearing Zuba pants.  Thanks for that question.  So, there’s the intro, then I’ll talk about Star Trek: The Next Generation, a specific episode, for about 45 minutes.  This’ll be the second of a two-part episode, Redemption.  I hope that’s what it’s titled.  Then there’s some thank yous at the end.  That’s the structure of the show.  The podcast is about an hour long.  It’s also a podcast you don’t need to listen to.  You can kind of listen…you can listen.  I’m gonna be here ‘til the very end to keep you company if you can’t sleep but there’s no pressure to listen on your end.  You don’t need to.  You might miss some stuff but you also…yeah.  You say how many times can a person say Zuba pants in a intro?  I’d say is there a Zuba pants podcast?  ‘Cause that has good alliteration.

 

It’d be better if it was Zeke’s Zuba…Zeke’s Zuba…I can’t even say that.  Maybe not Zeke.  Zumba and Zuba, pants…yeah, ‘cause it could be…I cover pants used in Zumba classes.  Zuba pants, the perfect pants for Zumba.  Also, I’m not exactly sure what Zumba is.  I just seen ads for it.  I think it’s like, dance exercise but I’m not positive.  But in the case, I’m picturing the Zuba pants are pretty baggy, so they may be good.  They’re probably made of cotton though, so maybe we’ll have to update that.  Maybe our friends at SWEAT Chicago can help us.  We’ll totally corner that market and start a new podcast; Zuba…Zumba Zuba Pants Podcast.  Oh, you don’t need to listen.  I think you figured that out, huh?  I made that pretty obvious.  No pressure to listen, no pressure to fall asleep, either.  The show’s an hour so you could fall asleep as you drift off.  I’m here to keep you company, to walk at your side and to be here taking your mind off stuff, then you just drift away.

 

You have the easy job but I know it’s not really easy.  But I do want you to get comfortable.  I do truly believe you do deserve a good night’s sleep and I can believe that for you if it’s not easy for you to believe that.  I’m here for you ‘cause I’ve been there and I know how it feels, and I really want to help.  Now, the other side of that is, the podcast doesn’t work for everybody, so give it a few tries and see how it goes but most people, the regular listeners, hundreds of thousands of people I’ve heard from say it takes two or three tries and then they kind of say oh, okay, I get it; this pod…I get what he means by superfluous tangent now.  It took a little while but he’s full of it, that Scoots.  I bet you right now, Scoots is trying to think of another way to shoehorn-in Zumba pants.

 

Oh, they’re Zuba pants, but maybe I’ll…yeah.  They say oh, both of those are brands that you can’t use those names, sir.  I’d say well, that’s okay ‘cause I was using a nonsense word about something I already forgot about that just barely sounded like…I don’t know if I was saying Zuma phone or something earlier.  Your products just came naturally flowing out of there.  Anyway, if you’re new, I’m glad you’re here.  If you’re a regular listener, I’m glad you’re back.  Aren’t you glad you’re back, listening to this intro, getting cozy, getting a little…you know, a little dose of nonsense?  Let me tuck you in there.  What do you want me to do with your feet?  Okay, you got it.  I’m here to help.  I appreciate you coming by.  I work very hard, I yearn and I strive, and I’d really like to help you fall asleep.  Thanks again one more time for coming by and here’s a few of the ways we keep this podcast free for everybody.

 

Alright everybody, it’s time to talk about Redemption II.  No, that wasn’t the second Redemption II…or for your favorite latest pop artist or 90s boy band.  There probably should have been; could be, if, you know, if I’m fully compensated.  Oh, actually, you’d have to compensate…it’s not the title of my episode but you could just credit me with the idea and free tickets for the entire tour which I know is…never mind.  How about just a friendly smile?  Okay, this one opens…so, this is Part 2.  It’s called Redemption II.  I don’t know, did anyone have an album Redemption II?  Or was that a…okay, I’m distracted.  This starts off with the last time because it’s Part 2 of the first episode, Redemption.  I think I also wondered if they filmed this over…apart from one another or as one episode.  I don’t think I could find that online, though I didn’t dig too deep.  But it starts off last time, we got Gowron…my pen ran out of ink here.  Gowron, civil…oh, we gotta prevent the civils trouble with the Klingons.

 

Not many Star Treks start out with these Next Generations ones.  I would speak with you…they’re like, this is Duras’s kid.  We have…oh, we have Duras’s heir; follow us.  Worf says I’ll speak with you as Duras’s dad.  Then Duras’s kid Toral, Toral or Toral…I don’t know, but follow me, then some lasers, I think.  Picard can’t do it…honor returned; that’s Worf.  Off the ship…Enterprise out…Tasha Yar.  Do not discount Picard or humans.  They appear at the most inopportune times and now…I didn’t look this up either ‘cause I do my research before I record…oh, whose voice that was.  Somehow, I missed this page in my research.  If you’re a patron and you see my notes, usually I box…I put a box around the words I want to look up.  This one I just put parentheses; whose voice is doing…now?  The conclusion.  Okay, it opens with trouble in space.  We’re on Kurn’s ship, Worf’s brother’s ship.  Worf’s like, withdraw…this is a first teaser of some subtle theming.  He says no way, man.

 

Kurn says chart a new course right into that star.  Somebody says but sir, or something like that.  Then there’s two ships on their tail.  They toss outwards like corona and photosphere; the shields are failing.  Maintain course, says Kurn.  I guess I thought Worf was gonna be on Gowron’s ship but now he’s serving for Kurn who’s…shouldn’t he be in charge?  Just a question.  Let’s see, stand by…the two ships on their tail, they go right into…they don’t make it through the photosphere.  Amanyak…I don’t…Amanyak…what does that say?  Two ships at Amanyak.  Let me look here…closing, they go into the sun…I have no idea what my handwriting says there.  Two ships out…had Amanyak…Enterprise.  I don’t know what it says.  Maintain course, closing…whatever.  They don’t get there, and they’re out.  They go into warp drive.  Then we have Captain Picard meeting…star date; he says we’re at Starbase 234 and meeting with the Fleet Admiral Shanti and some other higher-up dude.

 

Riker’s there, Picard’s kind of making his case…let’s see.  Riker watches…it’s worth watching the scene a few times just to watch Riker watching Picard.  What does that say?  Oh, Picard basically proposes a blockade…first, he’s like we gotta intervene but in a way that is allowed.  Admiral Shanti’s like no, we can’t intervene.  Picard says well, this concerns us all, internal…you know, the whole [00:20:00] thing from last episode.  He says well, if the…who are those called?  The Romulans are involved; this is probably bigger.  I think they’re supplying them.  They say, using their cloaking devices, so we’ll do a blockade.  Well, how are you gonna catch them?  Looks like I said Tash and beans but it’s tachyon beams.  Again, you gotta watch this just for Riker watching Picard.  That’s really hard acting, just having to be there silent and be in the scene the whole time, I think.  I mean, I couldn’t do that.  I can barely…I can’t act.  Tachyon beams…assemble your fleet, she says.

 

Riker says nicely done, which becomes another…I think this gets used at the tail end of the episode.  Then the episode opens; we’re like, seven minutes into the show now.  No, no, it’s…well, right now we’re at 5:08 and I’m at 7:0-something, so that’s funny.  Then captain’s log…something says hey, that was relatively painless.  I think that’s Picard saying well, we established our…getting the…oh, getting the permission was painless but implementing the plans aren’t gonna be easy.  Gravitron, Riker…oh no, let’s see…Geordie, Data, Riker, and Picard…twenty claps?  What does that mean?  Oh, twenty ships; they’re talking about assembling the ships for the blockade.  He says Geordie, can you do it with twenty ships?  He says more ships, the better.  Then Picard’s like okay, get those other three ships, whatever…I don’t know what they were called.  Data find offering…Will and Geordie…Data…oh, Data…first officer…I don’t know, but he says Riker, you’ll command that ship.

 

Geordie, you’ll be his first officer.  Then we get the BC plot which is that Data stays behind and he says listen, I’m confused, commander.  Oh, looks like the Excalibur is the one that…what better ship for Riker?  Data says why aren’t I getting a ship to command?  He goes, can I ask you a question personal in nature?  Picard goes, well, I need you here; why?  He goes well, there’s not a lot of senior officers available.  I only got twenty-six years of experience but if you don’t think androids are ready to command, then maybe I should work on my performance.  Picard goes, go and get in charge of the USS Donald Sutherland.  That’s a ship with some gravitas if I ever heard of one.  He goes, there’s nobody better suited than you ‘til they name a ship after me, then that’ll be the most gravitas on a ship.  That’s that scene.  James…oh, no one does it better.  Something…how does that scene end?  Somebody says nobody does it better.

 

Oh, no better suited…no one better…just made me think of that James Bond song Baby You’re the Best, or whatever.  But he says no one better suited to the task than you.  Then we’re at that big Klingon party.  It’s a post-battle party.  We get a little Mike Hagerty as Larg, an actor everybody’s probably familiar with.  We’ll talk about that maybe.  Kura intros…oh, what’s his brother’s name?  Not Kura…he then shows Worf to Larg; Larg’s like…they throw drinks around and then Worf has to do multiple WTFs in this.  He says dude, what WTF?  Shouldn’t we be working on stuff?  Kurn, that’s his brother’s name.  Says does it matter?  He goes here, we’re all Klingons.  He says is there nothing in your heart but duty?  I said hardy-har-har.  I didn’t even laugh ‘til just now.  Worf goes there’s no…well, he goes technically, there’s D-U-T-Y in my heart but I’m not gonna say there’s duty in my heart because then Scoots will have a go at it.  He goes, responsibility.  Worf says it’s not duty.

 

He goes, what about glory?  We can’t think about stabilizers ‘cause Worf wanted to work on the stabilizers.  Son of Moog’s, let’s live this night like it was our last.  I think Worf tried to join in but then Lursa and B’Etor are watching and they say Worf’s not like his brother.  They say no, he’s trying but he’s not…he’s unsure of himself.  They say maybe we could restore his confidence, hubba-hubba-hubba.  Oh, there’s also, Worf was kind of…the camera had him in this half-light for a little while which was cool.  What does that say?  Tomarnan verde…oh, tomorrow…oh, that was…I said oh, that’s like that Dave Matthews song.  I guess that kinda is what they’re doing; you drink and be merry.  Tomorrow we’ll big-farm it.  Another ship we see…then we see Timothy Carhart, the actor.  What is that?  His Hobbs…something.  I forget.  We’ll find out his name, don’t worry.  Some name…if we trace this back, I wonder if…this guy may have been on Facebook before every other dude that knows everything.  But Data rolls up…this scene kind of played out a little bit like a play.

 

I’ve watched this episode quite a few times and requests…but it’s…so Data comes, he has command of the ship.  Hobson…okay, that’s the dude’s name; Hobson.  He’s Christopher Hobson.  We’ll talk more about him in a bit but Data says I take command of this vessel; note the time and the date.  The dude says I’d like to be transferred.  Data says why?  He goes, I don’t think I’d be a good first officer for you.  Data says you got a great record.  Adequate record, I mean.  He goes, I mean, for you.  Then he says I’m not big on androids being in charge; I’ll be honest.  Data…really, I really enjoy Data’s commanding and how it had imperfections, but I don’t know.  He goes request denied, dude.  Get to work.  Then if you thought Data had it rough, Picard’s got O’Brien as his bridge buddy.  I don’t know if O’Brien’s the first officer but Picard said okay…I mean, O’Brien does fine.  I’m just giving him a hard…come on O’Brien, I’m just giving you a hard time.  The guy goes like, O’Brien’s on the bridge?

 

You’re short-staffed.  O’Brien Comedy Cast, that’s my other podcast.  I’m just jealous of you; I’ll be honest, O’Brien, so don’t worry about it.  Yeah, but they’re getting underway.  Picard says engage, so that’s great.  What else?  Oh, Data goes to work…that was on the last scene.  We see the armada which is cool, then there’s an ad break.  What does that say?  The phasers?  The faners?  Oh, the sisters?  Is that what that says?  Tasha tries to calm them.  I guess the next scene is…B’Etor says the Romulans are late; where’s the supplies?  Then Sela, she’s Commander Sela.  She says it doesn’t matter; we took out Mempa system, we got Gowron, and the convoy will be here in due course.  Lursa says the Federation fleet left Starbase 234 for Klingon territory; twenty ships.  They say who was in charge?  Picard.  Sela goes, hm.  Toral goes what is going on?  She goes Sela, much like Picard, doesn’t like…she goes, silence the child and get the Romulans ready.  Movar is her sidekick.

 

Lursa goes well, twenty ships is a bluff.  Sela says maybe, but trust me, I’m way more hyper-intelligent, I would say Sela is, at least strategically.  What else do I have?  Perhaps…I don’t know when that happens.  They zoom on her when she says perhaps, though.  Better leaders…Gowron has some dusty supplies.  Better leaders…you’ve failed…Worf, we have to get to work.  Oh, so then we’re at the Klingon meeting hall or whatever.  Everybody’s upset with Gowron.  Worf’s trying to be an adult and say we gotta get to work; work together, get to work.  Quit messing around with all this.  He goes, this isn’t a locker room.  [00:30:00] He goes, save the arm-wrestling for when we’re already at victory.  No one really wants to listen.  Worf’s breaking up all his thing…now we can continue.  Then we just see a shot of Troi walking on the bridge.  Picard and O’Brien are talking about subspace anomalies.  Picard calls Riker, he says time to spread the knot or something…oh, spread the net.

 

Can’t really…that’s undoing in that.  Data’s ship, all-stop.  This dude is so…Hobson…he put the pass…he’s so passive aggressive.  Let’s see, all-stop.  The [inaudible] gets there.  He says tell them we’re ready.  Hobson starts giving out orders.  Data says…he goes yeah, we got a leak.  Data goes why isn’t the backup ready?  He goes, we didn’t test the backups.  Then he starts…he says Terry, get down to engineering.  Data goes how come the phasers and everything’s offline?  Then Hobson ignores him.  He goes Keith, I want you…then Data goes whoa, whoa, whoa, Hobson, bruh, it’s inappropriate for you to determine a course of action without consulting me, the commanding officer.  Then Hobson, I mean really, this is totally out of chain-of-command; he speaks back.  He says I’m worried about the people on deck.  He goes, everybody, belay those orders.  What should we do, sir?  Data says…this is one of the highlights of many when Data says okay, now that you’re going through chain-of-command, just redo what you did and get back to work, which I loved.

 

He said oh, go ahead and do this, this stuff you just said, but not in a way like…he’s just great.  Makes him undo it and do it again.  I love that he gives out the same orders.  End scene.  Oh, Data’s face around 18:45; he says oh, I’m in a pickle here.  They don’t really have…they have more…they don’t have a flashy bridge like the Enterprise lux bridge.  Picard FaceTimes Geordie and Riker.  He says energize, then we see the Romulan seal…commander…tachyon emissions, something…oh, coming from the fleet; they’re scanning with tachyon emissions…they’ll find us.  Sela goes, figure out a solution.  I’ll have to convince Picard by other means that he should get out of here.  Let’s see, Romulan ship…oh, then they say hey, Romulan ships, this is O’Brien.  Guard, a Romulan ship just showed up.  It’s hailing us.  Then there’s like, a WTF moment.  Picard goes, put him on screen.  Then he sees Tasha, stands up, and then O’Brien looks up and sees her.

 

Then he goes…let me see what he says.  He goes, Tasha?  She goes nope, Commander Sela.  I think then every person on the ship turned and looked.  She goes, my mother was Tasha Yar.  Then there’s major drama music.  She goes, you got twenty hours to hit the road, Jack.  Then we have Troi, Picard and Crusher.  They say what is…is this possible?  No, unless it’s a clone.  Not possible for her to be Tasha Yar’s daughter.  Could be a trick or something but she’s not lying.  She thinks she’s her daughter.  Then Picard goes thank you, then he’s alone.  He pauses and thinks.  You get a close-up, then Guinan comes in.  He goes jeez…she goes yeah, news travels fast.  Picard goes, it’s just a distraction.  She goes, you remember the Enterprise C?  Picard goes, Narendra III.  She goes well, what happened to the people left on that ship?  They went to Romulus, Picard says; rumors.  Guinan goes nope, Tasha Yar was one of the people on that ship and she made it to Romulus.

 

Picard goes, that was twenty-three years ago.  She’s only like, twenty-six so it’s not possible.  Or twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six.  Guinan goes yeah, I know it’s not possible or probable…likely, but I do know she was on that ship and she was an adult.  Yeah.  I think you sent her there.  Picard goes nah, I don’t…she goes, I know that you did.  I just know.  Picard goes, you never even met her.  Then he says well, if you have a vague intuition…she goes no, no, no.  You can’t dismiss this.  If I’m right, you gotta…you’re responsible for this situation in some sense, which I think is a little bit drastic but maybe she was just trying to empower Picard.  Picard goes, time to meet this Commander Sela.  Then…let’s see, I lost my…Guinan…vague intuition…oh, then we see Worf and Kurn…for the good of the empire…something, something, yo.  What happens?  So, Worf and Kurn are like…Worf goes, we gotta focus, man.  What are you doing with…in this nonsense, and Gowron too?

 

Kurn goes, you chose Gowron; not me, man.  Now you don’t like him anymore?  He goes no, no, it’s just, I want more…Kurn goes, don’t speak about this.  Either follow him or don’t.  He’s our leader.  The time for debate is over.  Maybe it was the wrong choice for you to put on that uniform.  Then Worf gets…some lackeys take Worf for a visit somewhere.  The good of the empire…something, something.  Worf no longer…I don’t know.  The time for debate is over.  Worf…okay, so then there’s a commercial.  Then Sela rolls into the ready room or the conference hall on the Enterprise.  They’re both standing, kind of a little stand-off.  Eventually, Picard sits.  First, Sela’s arms are crossed.  A little [inaudible] gone.  Only question on my…so, we’ll go through the dialogue in a second.  At some point, she sits on the table with her knee up and kind of tells her tale.  She says all that’s left is Romulan…doubt I’m full of them…fourteen hours, and then Picard’s thinking face.

 

She rolls in; she says what do we have to discuss?  First, they…oh, they play a little chess game.  Picard goes oh, we’re just here doing work.  No intention.  She goes oh, humanitarian work?  Picard goes well, keeping external powers out of Klingon affairs.  She goes well, you wouldn’t have to do that anyway ‘cause we could slip by you; you wouldn’t even know it unless you have a way to detect us.  She goes, but that’s not really why we’re here, is it?  Don’t you want to know about Natasha Yar being my mom?  Picard lays out; well, she was…was it possible she was on the sea as an adult?  ‘Cause she should have been a child, right?  She goes yeah, she was; twenty-four years ago, sent there by you from the future.  I’ve seen this episode; I think we covered it, even.  Maybe it was Yesterday’s Enterprise.  I’m not sure.  It was one of those time Enterprise ones.  She goes yeah, general…a Romulan general fell in love with her, made a deal, and then I was born.

 

Picard goes, can I see your mother?  She goes no.  She goes, one night when I was four, she wanted me to leave Romulus and I said this is my home.  I stayed with my father, more or less.  That’s when she says also left Romulan…never doubt that.  Picard goes doubts?  I’m full of that.  He goes, I guess it sounds like it’s true but it’s not gonna affect my judgment.  She goes, fourteen hours; use them wisely.  Picard thinking face.  Then we see B’Etor kissing Worf…wakes up and says let me give you a kissy-poo.  What?  Then they say welcome.  Sigh…oh, he sighs.  What do you want?  Your family…oh, they say why don’t we work together?  Your family does not value honor.  We could be friends.  Toral will need firm guidance and he’s gonna be leader no matter what.  You could make B’Etor join us and he goes, you got a world without honor…where honor has no meaning?  Then Tash…Sela calls.  She says dude, I don’t got time for this.  She must have been watching on FaceTime on mute.

 

She goes, I don’t got [00:40:00] time for this.  I need the security protocols.  Then we have Picard on the bridge.  He says we must expose them, Gowron.  You gotta make a move so if they make a move…and he says okay…what does he say?  Very well; somebody says that.  Then he goes oh, by the way, Worf is with the Duras family now, not by choice.  Yet another Picard close-up, then Picard and Riker go over the game plan that fake them out, to fake Sela out.  They’re gonna make a fake gap to trick them.  Then we go to Sela’s ship.  Her ship has some cool neon on it, so if you like neon, you like Romulans.  Romulans; we like neon, too.  They say she’s with…meeting with her advisor Movar or whatever.  They find out everybody’s making their moves.  She says do you have an idea of how to deal with this?  He goes yeah, big pulse and we can disable their network.  Then she says okay.  Then they say hey, wait a second, one of the ships ran out of gas and they gotta re-deploy.

 

There’s an opening in the net.  At first, Sela says oh, wow, not enough ships.  Movar says let’s move our…she goes no.  He goes, it’s what we’re waiting for.  She goes yeah, so does Picard.  He’s giving us what we need.  He expects us to take it.  She goes, we’ll send an energy burst where the android is in command.  That happens.  Do we have a way through the pulse?  Yeah, we want to block off…I don’t think so.  Oh, it’s go-time now.  08095.  I don’t know what any of that is.  Oh, that was Sela.  She says that; that’s where they send the tachyon disrupter.  Touched…call the Sutherland, they say.  Oh, O’Brien says yo, there’s…it’s all disrupted.  They call Data in the Sutherland.  He says yes sir, ten million kilometers of non-detection.  Picard says oh boy, better fall back…he goes…’cause yeah, are you gonna go through it?  We’ll fall back, we’ll re-establish a new net which doesn’t seem like the best move, in my opinion.  I mean, maybe he’s just buying them time to out-think which happens.

 

Then Hobson says okay everybody, we’re supposed to go to Gamma Edron.  Data says okay, get the course ready.  Then Data stands up, he goes to a computer…let’s see, this is a great, great couple of scenes.  Even in my notes, I used strong words to describe this guy.  Data goes to the computer.  The guy sits at his side looking at what he’s doing like he’s…holy mackerel.  He goes, what are you doing?  Data goes well, he goes, the tachyon net, there may be a residual tachyon signature.  He goes, well, we don’t have a way of detecting it.  Data goes, all-stop.  The guy goes sir, the fleet’s been ordered to Gamma Ed…whatever.  Data goes, if we don’t do this now, it’ll be too late.  Reconfigure the sensors, ion particles…the guy still has something to say.  He goes…sits at his side, all-stop…he goes…oh yeah, the area is flooded with tachyon particles.  We’ll never find it.  Data goes, I’m aware of the difficulties.  Phasers on.  The guy goes, what about the three decks?

 

Data goes, we’ll take care of that when it’s easier.  This guy reminded me a lot of Facebook.  I said, was this guy on Facebook before it was invented?  Because his next couple things, I’ve seen the splainers…I mean, this guy was splaining before it was a thing.  He says, you know, he’s projecting a meaning onto Data that’s irrelevant.  He says, you don’t care about the people on the ship.  We’re not machines.  Potato…I don’t know why I said that.  But Data goes Hobson, carry out my orders or I’ll relieve you of duty.  He goes, not that…he goes, D-U-T-Y.  He goes yes, sir.  It was great; you should definitely re-watch this.  O’Brien says captain…to Picard; Sutherland’s not coming.  Picard goes, call him.  Hobson says the Enterprise is calling.  Data goes, sweep maximum range.  He goes, aren’t you gonna answer the call?  This is how you’re supposed to do it, too; he just ignores it.  He goes okay, overlay the display, highlight any signatures, concentrate a sensor sweep…still, just like commenters, he says this is pointless.  These readings could be anything.

 

No way to fairest…to figure this out.  Data goes okay, reconfigure for Level 6.  The guy goes, Level 6?  Then Data goes do it, but very strongly, like in a command…as a commander.  Then the guys goes okay, I’m ready, but Picard’s calling.  Then Picard says Data, hey, what’s up?  Data goes stand by and get ready, Hobson.  Hobson goes, don’t you hear?  Picard’s calling.  Data goes, go, go.  Dude is pretty…Data aces it all.  Do it…something.  But then they detect the convoy.  Data stands…they say oh boy…Hobson goes…oh, Movar goes Sela, we’re busted.  She goes, let’s get outta here.  Oh, and that’s when Movar says they need this convoy, otherwise they can’t win.  She goes, it’s over.  Movar says what should I tell Lursa and B’Etor?  She goes, they’re on their own.  Then Hobson says okay, they’re headed back.  Data goes, make a full report.  Take phasers offline and clean things up.  Then Hobson [inaudible] he goes, yes sir, captain.

 

If I was Data, I’d say too late dude, you’re gonna be cleaning the latrines for the next six months.  But Data’s probably nicer than me.  Where are we?  Data stands, heading back…make full report…yes sir, captain.  Data pauses; he likes it.  Toral is…he’s like, we’re in trouble; we’re defeated.  Where are the Romulans?  New cape, Toral…in Worf’s care.  Worf takes over, sisters ditch.  Oh, so the sisters ditch Toral as Worf takes over.  Toral goes, how come the Romulans never came?  Worf takes over, and that’s it.  Then…oh, Toral…Worf is in command, then Kurn breaks in.  He says hello Toral…Toral.  Then we have captain’s log, personal log, by the way, 45025.4.  Picard goes yep, we got it; Gowron’s victory.  We’re at the Klingon home world.  I’m gonna do a full report.  Then Picard’s in his…Data says can I come in?  I know I disobeyed an order.  Ends don’t justify the means.  Picard goes no, they don’t.  But I also can’t have people just following orders blindly without knowing the situation.

 

He goes, I noted it in your record.  Data goes to leave.  He goes, Mr. Data, nicely done.  Data goes great, sir.  Nicely done…smile.  Oh, Picard smiles.  That was nice.  Oh, then we see a Klingon light fixture for a little while.  Gowron says great report, Picard.  One last matter to attend to; they bring…Worf and Kurn come in, then Toral.  They say Toral, you’re busted.  Toral goes Duras’s family’s…rules.  Gowron says not today.  He goes, Worf, this is the family that took your honor.  I give you Toral.  Worf says, I prefer not to traditionally take Toral to the big farm.  They go, this is our way.  Even Kurn says it; that’s the Klingon way.  This is just classic…great…I don’t know, great character…Worf goes I know, but it is not my way.  [00:50:00] Great acting.  He goes, he hasn’t done anything and I can’t make him totally responsible for his family.  Then they say well, Kurn’s gonna have to do it.  One of the…this is the actor…oh, Gowron reminds me of this SCT…we’ll talk about it.

 

The real actor is Robert O’Reilly.  But Worf says no, this is…they say well, Kurn could take Toral…Worf goes no, no, no.  He’s mine; just put him in…whatever.  He goes, I’m sparing him.  Then Gowron goes, as you wish.  Then Worf turns to…Picard goes, permission to return to duty, sir.  Picard says granted.  Then they walk off together, so great end to the episode.  Really good stuff.  Now let’s run through some notes, here.  One thing was Tasha Yar reminding me of this game that I don’t think I ever played called Yars’ Revenge.  I’ll link to it.  It was for the Atari 2600 in the Game Boy Advanced and Game Boy Color.  It just always had really cool album art cover, a little bit like a fly…oh wait, you can’t say that.  I just always thought it had a really cool album cover.  I’ll link to it in the show notes.  But that was a game; Yars’ Revenge.  This episode could have been called…I guess it’s not Yars’ Revenge, but another great comedian that Gowron reminded me of…someone that I grew up kind of watching and really influenced me.

 

I guess I was watching it on repeat, is Joe Flaherty from SCTV, the Canadian sketch TV show and group.  He’s also been on a lot of other things; he was also on National Lampoon Radio Hour.  He’s been in movies; he was in Back to the Future Part II, Happy Gilmore.  He’s played other children, but he was on Freaks and Geeks.  He’s just one of my favorite comedians from watching those repeats of SCTV that I’ll probably have to…again.  Then anytime I hear convoy, I think of the song Convoy being sung by Homer…being sung by Homer Simpson but I said what is Convoy?  It’s a 1975 novelty song, according to Wikipedia.  So far, all…everything’s been from Wikipedia.  Performed by C.W. McCall and voiced by Bill Fries and Chip Davis.  He’s a character, C.W. McCall.  But it hit #1 on the country and pop charts and it’s considered one of the hundred greatest country songs of all time.  It has CB dialogue, CB slang in the chorus.  Something, something great big convoy trucking through the night, or something like that.  I don’t know, when they talk about it, it just reminded me of that.

 

Let’s see where else it’s been.  It’s been remade a few times; a lot.  Paul Brandt version, there was a Christmas Convoy.  I don’t see any mention of it in The Simpsons but I know it was in there.  I can hear Homer singing that, I’m almost positive.  Then these lyrics came up; join us.  This, my daughter’s been big on; Pippin…so, this is from the musical Pippin; join us, leave your fields to flower.  Join us; leave your cheese to sour.  Join us; come and waste an hour or two, doo-doodly-doo.  Journey, journey to a spot exciting, mystic, and exotic.  Journey through our anecdotic review…antedoctic review.  We’ve got magic just for you.  We’ve got a miracle place to play.  We’ve got parts to reform and hearts to warm, kings and things to take you by storm as we go along our way.  That’s from the musical Pippin.  If you’re big into 70s-style musicals like Hair, I think you should definitely check out Pippin.  I haven’t seen it.  I’ve listened to the cast album but I have not seen the musical, but my daughter has seen it twice and she loved it.

 

Just a local, small version of it.  But we all know there’s no small performers.  I went over to memoryalpha.fandom.com, you know, Memory Alpha Wiki, to find out about the rules around cloning and stuff in Star Trek.  You gotta know what clone means, but then I said what is the…there’s the dominion, they did it a lot.  This one must have been a episode I haven’t seen; William Riker claimed that a hundred or a hundred thousand Rikers, if he was cloned, would diminish his status.  Yeah, that’s from the episode Up the Long Ladder.  Then the Romulans did make a Jean-Luc Picard version.  I haven’t seen this episode, either.  Wait, is that in…as the Romulans…?  Yeah, I don’t want to spoil anything, though.  You’d think there would…I guess I don’t…I thought it’d be more clear on the law, that it was outlawed or something.  Couple other performers in this episode that you’d probably recognize; one was Timothy Carhart; he played the splainer.

 

He’s been on a lot of CBS dramas but I don’t know where I recognized him from.  Maybe Thelma and Louise or Beverly Hills Cop 3, or maybe I’ve just seen this episode so many times.  But he really does a great job of being someone you don’t…you do not root for.  He’s done a lot of guest-starring, though; Quantum Leap, X-Files, Midnight Caller, Empty Nest, Roseanne, Law & Order, LA Law, TV movies, CSI, 24.  Yeah, lots of stuff; Judging Amy, Frasier.  He was in the Ghostbusters…he’s been in a lot of things.  Oh, he’s been in a lot of movies.  He’s somebody you recognize.  Oh, Working Girl, Pink Cadillac, Hunt for Red October, Air Force One.  It’s just someone I had to look up.  Then Mike Hagerty; now this is someone…holy, you’d recognize him.  He played…I forgot who he played; somebody that was working with the Duras family, the head of one of the Duras groups.  But he’s an American actor.  He was on Friends, he was on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Martin, Cheers, Wayans Brothers, Wonder Years, Seinfeld, Carlin Show.

 

Started in the Second City, he’s known for his Chicago accent and his thick moustache.  More recently he’s been on The Goldbergs, Back in the Day, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Entourage, Desperate Housewives, Deadwood, ER.  He’s been in movies…you’d definitely recognize him.  He’s got that very thick…he has creaky, dulcet tones, no doubt about it.  Just another person I want to point out.  I think that’s it.  Oh, you want to know more about the musical Pippin?  Yeah, let me look that up for you.  Sorry about that.  Okay, just shot over to Wikipedia again.  Pippin is a 1972 musical.  Stephen Schwartz and Rob…Roger O. Hirson, Bob Fosse directed the original Broadway production and helped on the book.  Used as a premise of a mysterious performance troupe to tell the story of Pippin, a young prince searching for meaning and significance.  That happens during Charlemagne…‘cause I thought when you hear the music, you say okay, when does this take place?  It takes place in the middle ages.

 

Show is financed by Motown Records, it’s the 36th longest-running Broadway show.  Oh, Ben Vereen was in it, and Patina Miller.  There was a 2013 revival.  It was conceived as a student musical titled Pippin and it’s performed by Carnegie Mellon’s Scotch and Soda Theatre Troupe.  The Wikipedia article breaks out the plot which obviously I don’t want to infringe on.  Newer productions might have an extended ending.  Though Pippin was written to be performed in one act and its single-act structure does not accommodate easily an intermission, many times, of course, it is broken into two acts.  There’s currently a two-act version out there licensed by Musical Theatre International.  An intermission comes after Morning Glow, as a Act 1 finale.  The 2013 Broadway revival is performed with an intermission.  There you go; a little bit about Redemption II and ending with Pippin.  Goodnight.  [01:00:00] 

 

[END OF RECORDING]

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