Twatcasted (ENT S2E14)

Here's to the finest crew in Starlink.

When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me.

This is a parody.

Paramount owns the song.

Welcome to The Greatest Generation.

It's a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys who are just a little bit embarrassed about having a Star Trek podcast.

I'm Ben Harrison.

I'm Adam Pranica.

Never really noticed how much Denobulans look like...

Oh, man, what are the guys?

The guys that Bajorans hate.

Cardassians.

Oh.

Like, they have that same Cardassian.

Like, the side of the face is

all Cardassian, but then they don't have the spoon and they don't have the neck things.

I wouldn't even call it a spoon, just an impression.

An impression of a spoon, maybe.

Yeah.

Between the brows.

I think it was because Phlox's wife was so pale in this.

Like, I was like, oh man, is that a Cardassian lady?

I think, in addition to their appearance, Ben, I think there's another aspect that makes them similar, which is they're really linguistically intense,

both of them.

Yeah, both species, I mean.

Like, Cardassians, intense in kind of a threatening, scary way.

Denobulans in like a real cut-to-the-point,

matter-of-fact, but with some bedside manner kind of way.

Right.

Yeah.

Like Flox is very interesting in that he really like cares for his patients' mental well-being, but he never slow rolls information in the way that that might imply.

Yeah, there's no bush beating.

I mean

when it comes to you know correcting bad behavior by some of his little critters, he might beat around the place.

reaching into their little terrariums and whatnot, right?

After this episode, wouldn't you just like to go visit Denobula?

It sounds like a fuck fest.

I mean,

there are scenes in this episode that could be described as like a tease, but boy, what a tease for an entire culture this episode is.

I think that I would just get in trouble if I visited Denobula.

My wife would be like, where are you going?

I'd be like, Denobula.

She'd be like, no, the fuck, you aren't.

You know?

She doesn't have to know.

Oh, yeah, I'm going with Vegas with Peranica to do a bunch of cocaine.

Like, have fun.

What is Vegas if not Denobula?

Oh.

Yeah.

What happens in Denobula stays in Denobula?

It's interesting that they get married, right?

Like, given how poly they are, the fact that they, like, codify it in a way.

Like, and it's like, it seems like everyone has three, right?

Many of the denobulans we know and hear about have three, but I don't see it as a decision made for or against marriage.

I think a lot of marriages are business transactions versus other things.

I think denobulans just have all sorts of flavors of what marriage is, you know?

Yeah, maybe so.

But it seems like you max out at three.

Like he was like talking about one of these ladies and he's like, oh man, almost made her my second wife.

And then I found out she already had three husbands.

She was spoken for.

That's right.

In triplicate.

That appears to be the limit.

Yeah.

What a neat culture.

I want to go through there.

I want to see more about them.

Like, give us seven seasons of this show and give us one or two each season where we learn a little bit more about Flox.

He continues to ascend to the top of very favorite characters in Star Trek.

He's really great.

Yeah.

Well, we're going to learn a little bit more about him as we discuss today's episode, season two, episode 14 of Star Trek Enterprise.

Stigma.

Did you read that this episode was expressly created to participate in Viacom's HIV awareness campaign of 2003?

Could you have possibly guessed

that that's where this came from?

That was the whole intent.

Metaphor!

Man.

This is like the Bugs episode of TNG being made to participate in like the orkin brand

pest control campaign of

1992 or whatever.

One call destroys them all.

I really am surprised.

that that's a 2003 thing.

Like, I really think of that as being a 90s specific thing.

Like, there were so many movies in the 90s where like you found out that the like girl next door actually sadly had AIDS and like

Walker told a little kid that he had AIDS famously Walker told me I had AIDS yeah

like that that was still like a thing that was going on like on a TV network level in 2003 is uh

I guess a good reminder that that period of time lasted a lot longer than I have it in my memory as.

I mean,

not a lot of subtext to this one as far as what it's about.

No.

No, it's really out there.

It's really out there starting in the cold open.

We're in Six Bay and Dr.

Flox is with TePaul there.

She's getting a disappointing diagnosis from him.

She's infected by something and it's not just dark circles under her eyes.

Whatever it is, it's something that she could die from.

Yeah.

And Flox wants to go get

information about it at this medical conference.

Interesting performance by Jolene Blaylock throughout the episode, but it really begins here.

Like

a character coded for not having emotions of any kind really does look ill for most of this.

And it is not just the dark circles.

Like the dark circles do a great deal to help her out.

Yeah.

But her entire attitude...

To whatever extent she's permitted to have one as a Vulcan, you can really feel it.

She's playing green green under the gills.

Yeah.

So that's our cold open.

When we come back, we are in orbit of a planet.

I love this establishing shot.

This is Dickindy 3.

I've heard of Dick and D2 when you're getting down with a Klingon lady.

Dick and D3,

yikes.

Yeah,

that's airtight.

On the Dicken D3.

There's an interspecies medical exchange happening on this planet, and Feasel,

that's Dr.

Flox's second wife,

is a participant in the proceedings to the extent where she's like trading gear with Enterprise.

She comes up there to give them a neutron microscope.

She's like the IT person at a company, it feels like.

She's up there to make sure that it's set up and that the mouse works and they're using it right when it's connected to the network.

Oh, by the way, you're welcome.

I did read in the show notes for this one that they, you know, as they kind of went back and forth with what the A story was going to be and what the B story was going to be, this did get called meet the feasal

for, you know, some drafts of the script.

How do you think your face smells generally?

Because that's how wife and husband greet themselves, not with a smooch, not with an embrace even, but just with a little

around the face sniffing.

They kind of waft, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do they, like, maybe they're like more aware of their pheromones than humans generally are.

Like,

like we do pheromones, but it's not like something that we're conscious of.

Maybe dinobulins are like, ooh, nice pheromones on that one.

They go all the way up.

I like a good smelling face, I have to admit.

I think that's a good greeting.

I've been using this like sulfur-smelling bar of soap on my face per my

dermatologist recommendation.

I feel like my face would smell bad.

Have a little bit of a rotten egg thing going on, you know.

Are you in that way where you're not really smelling your own farts or your BO?

Like, can you not smell your own face too?

Like, that just doesn't read?

I'm just, I'm hoping it's washing off, you know, but like you're in the shower,

you lather up with the sulfur soap and it smells bad when you're rubbing it on.

Soap should smell good.

I know.

What are we doing using bad smelling soap?

It kind of defeats defeats the purpose.

Apparently, according to my dermatologist, it gets rid of something that I don't want on there.

I don't remember what.

Well, Archer invites them to do lunch with them while the microscope is getting delivered.

It's not like Feasel like has an armload of microscope parts.

She's up there to greet without that.

Turns out that the microscope's coming later, and that's something that Trip Tucker can take delivery of.

He's not going to dine with them.

He's got some work to do.

I think I should make sure your equipment gets up to six bay in one piece.

She would like to see him though, and she gives him a great big denobulent smile to let him know she thinks he's a bit of all right.

This is a moment that tells us we should maybe keep an eye on her

while she keeps an eye on Trip Tucker.

Yeah.

On the surface, Dr.

Flox asks some Vulcans about Pinar syndrome.

And he makes up some story about a colleague of his on his home planet and the research that they're doing on it.

But this group of Vulcan doctors makes it clear that folks with Pinar syndrome are kind of stigmatized where they're from.

Their behavior is neither tolerated nor sanctioned.

And helping Dr.

Flox with this research isn't something.

Well, they'll take some time to think about whether or not they want to help him.

It's not a no immediately, I guess.

Yeah.

I heard Pinar syndrome was originally described by Australian Vulcans, and it was just like a Pinari.

Kind of a...

that was like just the first word uttered.

They were kind of horrified by the idea of it.

You're saying we got maybe an Australian-dubbed copy of this episode, and then in the American version, it's Pinot syndrome.

It's Pinot syndrome in America, yeah.

Do you think the movie Pinocchio in Australia is Pinarchiar?

I think it probably is, yeah.

All right, good to know.

Do you think

Pinot Noir in Australia is Pinar Noir?

I definitely think that.

So, yeah, they're weirdly reticent to share any information about this syndrome.

Like, Fox has gone down there with a story that Pinar syndrome is very similar to a different thing that Denobulans get, and he's got a buddy who's down bad with it and would just love to get whatever research they have on Pinar syndrome.

And they're like, nope, we don't really talk about that stuff because the only people that get that disease are uh yeesh

we've had a couple episodes recently where there is a character actor uh in the cast that you you know you're familiar with you can't take your eyes off of them and it's important to note starting here one of these vulcan doctors is played by michael enson who has made an absolute career out of playing scolding twat type characters

over the decades and that is to say i don't have high hopes about these Vulcans assisting Dr.

Flox with what he's trying to do.

He was a scolding TWAT on TNG, right?

Yep.

Yeah, he's in a lot of things.

He was in first contact.

The episode of TNG, not the movie of TNG.

He's been TWAT casted.

He really has.

Man,

you see that guy

in the room at the casting call

when you're brought out for a roll.

You're like, oh, no.

Am I a Michael Ensign twat type?

Yeah, I mean, your eyes start to roll ahead of his monologuing already, and also because you're about to lose the part to Michael Ensign.

I thought the writing in the next scene where Fiesel and Tripp are working on the microscope was just a ton of fun because it is all

horny words.

Insert the thick end into this opening.

You can pull it out now.

Wendy, just isolate every line she has, basically, and we'll use them for a million years as drops on this show.

That's why I'm here.

There's a physicality to this scene that's unmistakable, too.

I mean, she's teaching him bowling, and that is probably the shorthand when you're blocking a scene like this.

Right.

Like, get as close to each other as possible, and for some reason, physically demonstrate the thing you're trying to teach.

Yeah, push yourself up into their personal space.

I think one thing to note here, like one of the magic tricks that Melinda Page Hamilton does as Fiesel

is

for as aggressive as her flirtation is,

there's also a sweetness to it and an almost innocence about it.

Like

in a workplace environment that depicts a one-sided romance that may or may not be you know against the rules, there's often like a curvature to these scenes, like a shading of darkness to it that you just don't get.

I would say at all in the scenes between Fiesel and Trip Tucker.

It's played for comedy a little bit that Trip is uncomfortable.

It's not played for anything close to an assault.

Right.

It's because it's like, hell yeah, except, oh, shit, she's married.

Like, that's what's going through his head, not like, I wish she would point that death ray of sexual energy at someone else.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know what?

You hit on something I think just as important there is that like Trip Tucker's kind of impressed by her and her willingness to be so forward.

Like there's an appreciation for her deal.

Because they're like, she's doing it in front of Flocks, you know?

Yeah.

Nice to see Trip getting some sexual opportunities, you know.

We cut over to the captain's table where it's Archer and TePal, and she is still looking very unwell.

And if Archer were perceptive in any kind of way, he might think to ask her if something is wrong.

But Hoshi breaks up the meal with a message to let him know that a bunch of Vulcan doctors are on their way.

We cut over to what seems like a new playset, Ben, this conference room.

Is this new to you?

I think they've used it once before, but yeah, I commented that it really reminded me of the conference conference room in Deep Space Nine and the way that it's shot and the way it's laid out.

But yeah, this is

the same doctors, and they all gather around the conference table, and they're pretty testy.

They have not come to offer any information

about Pinar syndrome.

Their answer is nar

on that.

And they start to talk about, like, you get it from mind melts.

This is only something that comes from melding.

And they're like, we would like to know what you think about mind melds.

And it's kind of a weird, there's a weird tense moment where they're sort of asking her to go out on a limb and like try to guess what their answer is almost.

You've used this word a couple of times, like a Czech question

about

shibboleth.

Is that what you call it?

Yeah.

It kind of feels like that to me in a, like, they know the answer to the question they're asking.

They want to make sure that she knows the answer to the question also.

And not just the answer, but the answer stated in such a way that makes clear her feelings on the answer she's giving.

Yeah, like as I was saying that.

Like I realized that that's how I experienced it in the moment, but in retrospect, she should just know instinctively, and she does.

Like she describes like how the Melders are an oppressed minority in their society and nobody respects them and like that it's like well known you know it's no surprise that people in power would would carry the beliefs that these doctors carry so it's more that she doesn't want to come with the answer because she doesn't want the oppressed minority oppressed anymore so but i think her answer is one of neutrality like right in her description of those that meld i think she's being politically in the middle based on who she's talking to.

Right.

To give her a list of known meldists

and ask her if she knows any of these people starts to kind of have a like, are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

You see this list?

You know these people?

Do you condone

this list?

Because they don't.

We find their behavior unacceptable.

And what's clear in the scene that follows is like, this is is that scene from the crime drama where the detectives give the suspect the cup of coffee.

Right.

And a moment later, they're pulling prints.

Right.

That's what happens here.

And it turns out the prints they pull off of this pad indicate that TePal has this syndrome.

Yeah.

And like, I mean, this episode gets here eventually, but like when

they

say like we don't have a cure for that disease because why would we like worry about curing a disease that you only get for immoral behavior?

Like, I feel like that's the moment for a Star Trek captain to jump in and be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You know, like Captain Picard, I don't think would have let that slip, but it takes like three more bites of the, we are just openly bigoted against this apple before Archer starts lawyering around at them.

Well, I think crucially, Archer isn't in this scene.

Oh, yeah, I guess he's left at this scene.

To witness this.

And I think he's absent in a lot of moments that would have inspired that kind of pushback.

Like, it is interesting how sidelined Archer is for most of this story, kind of working to solve the problem in a way that an administrator would, instead of like a strong Starfleet captain that does the monologuing and does the lawyering and so forth.

Fox is in the background of this scene where Trip and Fiesel are playing with the microscope.

It's interesting little moment.

Like, Fiesel and Fox are like catching up on some of the tea, like who, who's with which wife and when and where, and who's running out of wives, etc.

And like, Fiesel is very, like, openly, like, getting touchy and stuff with Trip, but Fox gets called away, and her sexual attention is now, like, totally focused on him, and he really starts to wither under it.

There's such a choice being made here with the hand-on-shoulder move because it is not just hand-on-shoulder.

It is a grab.

You can see the uniform being pulled with her fingers.

And that's such a difference in how you see their interaction.

It's really intense.

Yeah.

Phlox comes into the clarinet closet to find Tepal and a very pissed off Archer because Archer has been totally humiliated by these Vulcans who took surreptitious medical readings of his first officer.

and came back and told him about the terminal disease that she has and how it's been kept from him for a year.

I love how Archer's preamble is like, now look, I'm used to having my pants pulled down by the Vulcans.

It happens all the time.

I go into rooms with Vulcans with my pants already unbuttoned just to make it easier.

Because the struggle for some reason is something they seem to enjoy.

So I can take that one thing away from them.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's got a bunch of questions, and

the way he plays hurt here, I found pretty compelling.

He's like,

you know, you're going behind my back doing this stuff.

Y'all understand that I'm not perceptive enough to see when a close co-worker is sick.

I was never going to notice or ask.

So it's even more hurtful that you go behind my back trying to solve her problem when I could help.

I'm the captain of the ship.

And so they try to explain the stigma.

to Archer in a way that he understands.

And what's clear is that if this information got out about TePaul, she would lose her job.

Yeah, if the high command caught on, it would be really bad for her professionally.

And I thought it was also interesting, we learned in this scene that mind melds are something that not all Vulcans can do.

It seems to be limited to a very small minority of people.

Right.

And it seems like that minority can be the pitchers of the mind meld, and anyone can be a catcher.

Right, right.

It's fine if you're a pitcher, but catcher?

Come on.

The part about this that's a little more complex is the idea that TePaul was assaulted

as the way that she contracted this disease.

And Archer feels like that makes a strong case for Tepal being able to get the sort of medical research necessary to fix her condition.

Right.

And her health is suddenly job one for Captain Archer.

He's going to make it his mission.

It's not your fault that

one of these dirty minority got his hands on you, is kind of the implication.

And like,

she's very reticent.

She's like, I don't want to tell command about the fact that this is happening to me or why it happened or how.

Like, that is not something

I am interested in doing.

And he's like, well, if you won't, then I'm going to go down to the planet and like beat the...

information out of those Vulcan doctors with my bare hands.

I want to scrutinize that just a little bit because

I didn't take it the same way in that the main problem was that it was a mental minority that did the doing, but that it was kind of an unconsensual thing.

And when I think back to that episode where Tepal experienced this, there was a moment, like in the beginning,

she didn't know what she was getting into.

And she was assaulted against her will.

And I think from here and going forward to me,

the biggest problem was that she was assaulted.

It wasn't that it was from a group of people that were ostracized by Vulcan culture.

Well, yeah, but from the perspective of these Vulcan doctors, like anything she could have had to do with anybody that could do this is.

Did you see what she was wearing on her temples and her face?

Right.

It's like the shame of the act falls on the victim

in that way that, you know, culture is so cool for doing to people.

Nice to see that the Vulcans are capable of that kind of cruelty as well.

When you walk around with your face like that, you're practically asking for someone's hands, right?

So Archer, like it's smash cut from this scene into a shuttle pod that goes down to the surface of the medical conference, and he meets up with the Vulcans from before, and he challenges them to share their information.

Especially now that you know it could help to Paul's condition.

But they stand firm.

Like the intimate acts that these folks do with each other, that

contract this disease amongst them, they're not particularly interested in helping these folks at all.

And they don't mind meld shaming to Paul.

Even if it does mean she'll lose her job.

Yeah.

And that makes the whole episode feel dangerous because you don't want to lose to Paul.

You don't want to lose her to two things.

You don't want to lose her to this disease and you also don't want to lose her from her job on the show.

Right.

I wanted so bad for Archer to catch one of these guys and, like, slipping up as a Vulcan, because he says that we take great pride in our ability to govern our emotions.

You take pride?

Pride?

Is pride not an emotion?

Answer me that, Batman.

Yeah.

Faith of the fart.

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And boy, oh boy, do we have thoughts.

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Let's learn everything.

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Yes, episode 59.

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Ben would rather die.

Rather

Up on the ship, TePaul is in her, I guess, civilian attire, like her after-hours, very intense clergy-style robes.

When someone tells TePaul, why don't you slip into something more comfortable, this is that?

It's just a heap of laundry.

Yeah.

She gets a FaceTime.

We don't see who's on the FaceTime, but she gets right back in the cat suit and goes and visits Archer.

And he confesses that he wasn't able to persuade these Vulcan assholes to give him a cure for the disease.

But she lets him know that Dr.

Urus actually just reached out to her and wants to meet up with her in a shadowy, sneaky, aroundy part of town alone tonight.

I believe he wants to help.

Help.

Can he be trusted?

We're about to find out in the very next scene.

So she does go alone, and she meets up with this guy.

It's Urus.

And he has the research that Dr.

Flox asked them for, and he's doing it because he is among the telepathic minority.

Is Urus how Australians pronounce yes?

It is, yeah.

Okay.

Just wanted to check in on that.

Again, we got the Australian copy of this episode.

But here's the thing.

Even though he is among the telepathic minority, he is not infected himself.

And he also makes very clear he is not going to publicly defend her.

He won't jeopardize his position in this community.

And he suggests that, you know, maybe if you just told the doctors that you were infected during a non-consensual meld, you'd get the help that you need.

Why don't you consider that?

Again, Tabal is like very resistant to this.

Like, she does not want to

save her skin by admitting how this went down to anyone.

And, you know, like there is a chance that she could save herself by this.

Like, these doctors would take pity on her and not run this up to the flagpole to the Vulcan High Command, but she resists.

I think much is made of this decision going forward for TePal.

She could make her situation easier on herself by just admitting the truth of the contraction.

And she seems seems to feel a sort of purity about the fight against Vulcan society and how society views the Melders, you know?

But I think what

she fails to consider is that you no longer get to participate in the fight once you're dead or ostracized, which is, I think, what makes Euris's argument here so interesting.

He's clearly on the side of

justice and health care for these people, but he's going to fight on the inside, secretly, where he can do the most work.

Up on the ship, Trip and Hoshi are in the lunchroom talking about movie night, and

Fiesel Flox is over there by the buffet loading a tray up, and Trip is like desperate for Hoshi to stick around.

through lunch period so that he doesn't get left alone with Fiesel anymore.

Of all the days in the lunchroom for them to be serving ants on a log.

Just

look at how ants on a log resembles my arms covered in nipples.

You're never gonna let that go, are you?

And look at how she licks those ants off that log from across the room.

Wow, just two weeks ago, it was Halloween and I went as ants on a log as my costume.

And I kind of feel like our famous chef is doing this at me now that word's gotten out that Fiesel is thirsty.

I love this moment.

This feels so much like school lunchroom politics because when Fiesel walks in, Tripp is like begging Hoshi to stay.

Please do not leave me alone right now.

I will do anything.

And so she does stick around a bit while Fiesel joins them.

But then, like,

after a very brief moment, Hoshi's got to go.

Like, she's got shit to do.

And she's going down to the planet.

Yeah.

And she can't just talk in phlox-ish with Fiesel all day.

She's made to run interference in a way she isn't aware of, even.

Yeah, like, not great wingmanning, Hoshi.

Like, I feel like Hoshi is sort of written, like, to be a little bit oblivious to certain social cues in that way.

I don't think it's her fault.

She has no idea.

Yeah.

Tripp never told her.

He didn't tell her.

You can't be a wingman unless you're told you're a wingman.

The soundtrack gets so like 1990s psychosexual thriller-esque.

Fiesel and trip talk.

Like Fiesel is played by Michael Douglas.

You want to go upstairs and have a drink?

Sure.

It's great.

There's a fun air of we need to talk with Fiesel.

Yeah.

And I think it is so important to note that Trip Tucker does not say that he's not interested.

All he does is say that she's got a husband.

And those two things mean

basically the opposite in this context.

Yeah,

total non-sequitur, Trip.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're very different statements.

And so he kind of bails out of the conversation and goes away, leaving her completely undeterred.

Trip went to Malcolm Reed for deterrence, he got kind of the opposite.

I feel like Reid is like, great, yeah, definitely smash that.

Enjoy.

I mean, he gets a kind of deterrent, which is do not tell Dr.

Flox about this.

Have you seen that guy's tongue?

Yeah.

He'll fucking whip you with it.

And it would hurt.

Speaking of Flox, JePaul has brought back the information that Dr.

Urus gave her.

And they're looking at it, and it's useful.

It's definitely going to help him slow down the progression of this fatal illness, but it is not a cure.

What did you make of the

tone of this moment and this scene?

Like, it read is kind of nothing to me.

Like, this is neither a thing that helps nor hurts.

It's just more information.

Yeah, I mean, like, to me, it sort of felt like just good TV writer's room housekeeping.

Like, if you're going to give a fatal illness to a character, it's much more interesting to

not totally cure them by the end of the episode.

It's not a key to a treasure box with a cure.

It's more like a picture of the lock again that they've got.

Like, cool, okay.

This helps somehow.

Yeah.

Next season, we got another episode out of this storyline, you know.

Speaking of stopping advancement, Archer walks in to tell TePaul that she's being recalled on account of her diagnosis.

Yeah, and it's interesting because

she has not told Flox why Urus gave her the information.

Like, like, there's so much HIPAA compliance and over-compliance going in every direction in this episode of

people not telling other people things that they might have interesting perspectives on.

And it's all just going to be for naught at this point because she's been recalled.

This is the whole thing she's been trying to

not have happen by keeping this diagnosis from them in the first place.

I didn't like Archer and Flox trying to convince TePaul, you should just admit your assault.

Just tell them you were assaulted and then things will be better.

Like that felt a little gross to me.

Yeah, but also realistic.

Like that's definitely like a kind of guy, you know?

She, I mean, this is another opportunity for her to state argumentative purity against the anti-melds.

Like,

I mean, it is nobler of her to go down in this ship than to fight it.

And that means she's okay taking the L.

She would only reinforce everybody's prejudice against this minority by waiving this off as having been thrust upon her.

So Archer is now rip shit pissed at Orat and goes back down.

to the planet and really wants to kick that dude's ass.

How about the barging and the banging that Archer does?

You're going to have to leave.

I need to talk to you.

Pretty good, right?

He really explores the space of the set here in a fun way.

Yeah.

And it's a cool set.

Like, they built a big old area for this medical conference to be taking place in.

Seems like a medical conference where there's a lot of actual science being done, you know?

It's not just poster board, you know, those trifold poster boards saying, like, here's my intergalactic science project.

I planted radishes and special dirt, and they came up all weird.

It does feel styled in a way that isn't just like strip mall dentist.

It's like, yeah, this is a medical building with like a reception area with like nice magazines and so forth.

Yeah, yeah, you know what it is?

It's like a med spa.

Like, like, there are some MDs on staff, but it's mostly kind of elective things happening there.

I like it, it looks nice.

Yeah.

So, this is where Lawyer Archer finally comes out, and he cites some chapter and verse because TePaul's recall has been at Dr.

Orat's order.

Like,

High Command hasn't been notified yet of her diagnosis.

He is empowered to do this in the field.

And so, Archer has found some technicality in the rules that say that there has to be a hearing to confirm these charges,

the charges of being sick with something.

I love how snooty Arat is with Archer here because Archer's like,

I'm allowed to do this.

You know it.

I've got you dead to rights now, Arat.

And Arat's like, fine, we'll do it tomorrow.

That's how unafraid I am of this Star Trek style hearing.

Let's fucking do it.

Let's do it fast so I can get the hell out of here and on with my life.

Come on, Archer.

We're like 38 minutes into this episode.

You really think we're going to measure of a man right now?

We're not going to fucking measure of a man.

We've got no time.

It's a very, very short measurement of that man.

In Six Bay, Mayweather has sustained some rib injuries, playing some kind of rodeo game.

And Trip walks in and is like,

Travis, you're going to have to get out of your one scene with a speaking line.

You're not really in this show, okay?

I'm in this show.

You're not in the show.

There has been a thing where Mayweather is in shows, incidentally, with reasons to pull up his shirt and show his shredded abs, for example.

Like,

he's that friend that's very into fitness that is looking for a reason to take off their shirt all the time.

That is Mayweather.

Every time you go to a baseball game, he's like, ooh, it's a balmy 68 degrees out here.

Might as well get the t-shirt off.

Yeah.

Sun's out, guns out, right, guys?

Mayweather gets the hint in a way Hoshi maybe doesn't and leaves, leaving Trip to talk to Dr.

Flox alone.

And so he begins to talk about Feasel and her attraction to him.

Dr.

Flox, noted non-bush beater around her, is confronted by a Trip that can do almost nothing but

until it just all kind of spills out.

And he's like, yeah, your wife is like really...

clearly wanting the D, and I just don't know what to do about it.

I'm so uninterested in bush beating, I won't even shave around my arm nipples.

Just look at how hairy they are.

Fox is like, Trip, you should absolutely smash that.

She's one of the great lays.

Go for it, dude.

High five.

Who would know better than Dr.

Flox?

Dr.

Flox, who is psyched for the sexual exploration opportunity that Trip has available to him.

Trip does not want to explore this frontier.

And Dr.

Flox seems genuinely disappointed, huh?

As you wish.

Your laws.

And there's nothing.

Here's another part of it.

There's not that seedy undercurrent of Dr.

Flox being, I would like to watch that.

As a medical doctor,

I would love to be there for it in a chair in the corner, Trip.

You know the chair I'm talking about.

Every hotel room has one.

Put me in that chair, Trip.

There's none of that at all.

It's totally pure.

I wanted him to do the giant smile.

Like,

she did it once earlier, and this seed, like, seemed like another giant smile opportunity.

Oh, well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Over in TePaul's quarters, Archer can't stop having the sort of scene with TePaul where he interrupts what she's doing to tell her that he failed to do a thing on her behalf.

I think this is the third instance of one of those this episode.

And this one's even more disappointing because it's like, not only did I fail to do a thing on your behalf, now you have like a hearing where you have to publicly talk about this thing that you have repeatedly said you would not like brought up.

Do you get the sense that he's doing bad?

Like these are backfires that are happening here to Archer, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

And the backfires are spilling onto TePaul.

At this point they are.

And she really doesn't want it.

And she's like, I'm not going to throw Meldists under the bus.

That's not what I'm going to do.

And therefore, I'm not going to touch on how I happened to come by having this disease because I just don't think that that's going to be good for them.

And

Archer's willing to agree to that.

And so, the next scene is him making his case to this triumvirate of doctors.

Archer does most of the talking, which I think is pretty classic.

It's a good point that having the ability to meld is not something that anyone chooses.

Like, the Vulcan custom that it is a moral failing to meld or to even be able to meld doesn't work when

it's a inherited trait.

If you call yourselves enlightened, you have to accept people who are different than you are.

Isn't it a really awkward comparison though, Ben?

Like,

in order to meld, you must choose to meld or experiment in the melding.

Nothing is stated about a born this way-ness interest in melding, which I think would be a more one-to-one comparison.

I think that's what makes this feel a little

that the metaphor isn't like completely one-to-one perfect is bothering you.

It's not even that it's not one-to-one.

It's like it's it's not even 0.5 to one.

It's just a kind of a flawed metaphor.

Well, is that because you're just thinking about AIDS or

because I was taking this to be like, nobody chooses to be gay.

Like that's that was the metaphor I was interpreting this as.

Oh, sure.

I mean, my interpretation was, I think, of all of those things.

But I think knowing ahead of time that this was an HIV

metaphor as a top-line thing made me, you know, pretty focused on that being the thing being argued here.

Yeah.

But how about Urus, right?

Like they're adjudicating this aspect to things and he'd like, he can't help himself.

He's got to jump in.

You think he's going to be quiet the whole time like you said but no

he says he is a member of this minority yeah and

like the moment you start respecting uris's bold move he immediately undercuts his great action by outing to paul's assault against her will and making clear that that's why she has this disease Not a great look for him, but it does have like the desired effect that he wanted, which is like everybody's like, oh, well, that's totally different.

Hard not to feel complicated about this, right?

Because it's like the thing that saves our favorite character, but it is kind of exactly the opposite of what she'd hoped for.

And this whole episode has been.

In that way, it kind of is like measure of a man, though, right?

Because in your recollection, like data is super down to be a part of the tribunal,

irrespective of what the outcome will be, because he prefers to be

prefers for his humanity to be on trial by humans.

He wants to have his day in court.

And she has zero respect for the anti-meld sentiments of these doctors, so she is not going to say anything one way or another to add to this charade.

Finally, one of us said it.

On Enterprise in Six Bay, Tripp and Dr.

Flox are working on the microscope when Feasel walks in and it's time for her to go.

She's there to say goodbye to her husband.

And Tripp makes up some story about why he's got to go.

And once he leaves, his discomfort gives Fiesel and Dr.

Flox a great big laugh.

Humans.

They are enjoying his discomfort.

They love this.

Yeah.

In a way that feels a little mean.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, they're just like, ah, humans are so prude, like, basically, is what they're laughing at.

Yeah.

It's not Feasel's job to speak for Trip and defend herself from Trip on her own behalf.

Like,

Trip has got to come out with his feelings here, and he's just unable to do it.

I wish they'd left it a little more ambiguous about whether he'd hooked up with her or not, you know?

Oh, as in, you don't love that it's clear that they didn't?

Yeah, like, I think you can still get this moment of them laughing at how prude humans are after like she spent an entire episode pulling teeth to get him to pull his pants down.

That's a thing only Vulcans do to Archer though

Speaking of Vulcans Euris got suspended

Paul has not been recalled to the high command She gets Archer's permission to Send a message to the high command to speak on Urus's behalf.

So there's like a glimmer of hope that some good can come of this.

Some blow can be struck for Melder's rights.

But

all in all, a bit of a complicated feeling she has about this entire affair.

But did you have a complicated feeling about this episode, Adam?

Are you clear about whether or not Tepal's medical situation has been resolved in any way, or has it just been paused paused as a result of what happened this episode?

Yeah, I think she is

not going to become symptomatic anytime soon, but yeah, they still have a problem to solve there.

Well, I usually like my Star Trek episodes a little more subtle and purpose-driven.

I thought Melinda Page Hamilton's performance was a revelation, though.

Like, I loved every moment she was on screen, and I thought it was an interesting mix of

a

non-consensual or an unrecorded love interest

and an unconsensual mental assault.

And I think in that way, the A and the B stories mixed for

something tonally that didn't quite sit right

with me.

Like, in one scene, it's getting played for laughs, and in another scene, it's getting played for life and death.

And I don't remember that kind of B story happening in Measure of a Man or any other kind of, what I'm going to call, like, moralizing Star Trek episode that this one is, you know?

There wasn't a, like, a more light-hearted take on enslaving a member of your crew happening alongside the trial in Measure of a Man.

Yeah, so...

I get what the episode's trying to do, obviously, but I think the flavors didn't mix for me in a way that you kind of hope they would in an episode that that was clearly important to the people who made it yeah in order to participate in this program uh they were trying to so i think that's where i'm at with it yeah complicated feelings how about you i feel very similarly like i think that

one thing that feels really gross about

about the way sexual assault was treated in earlier iterations of Star Trek is that they're kind of one and done episodes, like they're bottle episodes with no further ramifications.

And like, so to this episode's credit, like, right, this did have a lasting impact on TePaw, and they're like taking that seriously and taking like how complicated it is to have the various different things

from the fallout of that moment.

I also just feel like we're not in the best hands anytime Star Trek does an assault episode, period.

Like, I kind of just,

I don't know.

I think it's telling that TePal never gets to make decisions on her own this episode.

She's like, circumstances either force her outcomes or she chooses not to do a thing and then other people choose for her in a way that kind of sucks.

Every scene, she's walking into a room full of male co-workers who have strong opinions about what she should do about this.

Yeah, and I might, I mean, I don't necessarily agree with her reasons, but I'll fight for the death for her right to not say them.

And I wish Dr.

Flox and Captain Archer felt the same way, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah, I concur.

It's interesting how, like, she's so much better and smarter than Archer in just about every category, except one.

And this is the one where Archer feels like he's got to coach her up, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

Well, better and smarter than us in every category are the friends of DeSoto.

Do you want to see if any priority one messages have come in from those good folks, Adam?

Disagree, but I'll read them anyway.

Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on secured channel.

Need a supplemental income.

Supplemental income.

Supplemental.

Supplemental income.

Yeah, it's extra.

But

This is a promotional P1.

Goes like this.

Since the price for a P1 hasn't ever gone up, Adam and Ben, I'm paying the commercial rate for you to wish my partner, Damara, the very happiest of all birthdays.

Baby D,

this is the fourth of your birthdays that you and I have been together, and I couldn't be happier.

Thanks for jumping off the cliff with me in October 2021 and for hanging on tightly as we free fell together.

There's nobody I'd rather watch trek with ever.

Thanks for making my podcast better too.

Roll air and drop.

Everybody knows the fourth birthday you spend together is the P1 birthday.

Good job.

The call to action is have the happiest birthday possible, baby D.

Happy birthday, baby D.

I feel weird calling Damara Baby D, personally.

Kind of feels like a pet name that I shouldn't get in on, you know?

It's not our fault, it's Patrick C's fault.

Yeah, yeah.

But

you two sound great.

Yeah.

Happy birthday.

Seems like things are going awesome.

Four great years.

A free-falling.

You know, those folks that got together in 2020 and 2021 and still going strong.

Like,

that's not nothing.

That's a little bit extra, isn't it?

Yeah.

It's amazing.

Well, a little bit extra is what you can do to support the greatest generation.

Priority one messages are how you can do it.

Go to maximumfund.org slash jumbotron.

Write some words.

Write some words that Ben could be a little uncomfortable reading because they're terms of endearment or whatever.

Yeah, I don't have any way out of it.

I just have to say what's on the piece of paper.

Ben has to do it, like the teleprompter in that Will Farrell movie.

Go fuck yourself, San Diego.

He's got to read them, word for word, and we'll do the same.

They go a long way in supporting the production of our shows.

Hey, Adam.

It's at Ben.

Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda?

Incredible.

Drunk Shimoda.

I'm going to take the easy road here.

I'm going to take Trip Tucker.

I'm just going to take the most uncomfortable character in the episode.

The most comically uncomfortable character, I should say.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Say what's on your mind, dude.

Like,

what does he think would happen if he was more emphatic with his,

you're great, but we can't.

Yeah.

You can say it exactly like that, and both parties feel good for the exchange.

For some reason, he just can't get over that part of it.

And I think that's weird.

Yeah, he says something about, like, I was raised that you don't mess with another man's wife.

And like.

He could have said that to Fiesel.

I know.

Like, it's...

And it's such an interesting idea that that would be so much more powerful than how clearly attracted he is to her when everyone in the situation is saying, go for it, dude.

I mean,

who's saying go for it?

Is Reed really saying go for it?

I don't feel like he is.

Reed is saying go for it in the worst way possible.

Reed's an idiot, though.

Fox is saying go for it in the best way possible.

And Fiesel's saying, go for it in the most important way possible.

Reed's like, frankly, I recommend you write her a letter as if you're about to die.

It's the only way that really crystallizes one's feelings for someone else.

What about you, Ben?

I'm going to give it to Fiesel.

I think that Melinda Page Hamilton seems like she's having the most fun in this episode.

And I loved her performance in...

both in the way she's like coming on to him in a

way that is very charming without feeling, you know, threateny or anything like that.

But I also just like the moments she has with Flox are also really great.

Like, I think that they

cast somebody that had great chemistry with John Billingsley and like the laugh that they share when Tripp walks out of the room at the end.

It feels lived in.

It feels so natural and lived in to me.

One aspect to her performance, I don't think we talked about at all, but I think we should for just a moment is that like there seems to be a vocal pattern or musicality or whatever that isn't just a John Billingsley thing.

It may be a denobulin thing.

But I really loved how the way she spoke felt so much like the way John Billingsley delivers lines as Dr.

Flox.

Like, they really felt of the same species in that way that was subtle but correct in a way that just makes...

their alienness feel more real.

Totally.

Yeah, the little inflection choices and stuff were great.

Yeah.

Faith of the fart.

Well, a bunch of fun was had by us this episode.

Let's talk a little bit about the next episode, season two, episode 15,

ceasefire.

Both the Vulcans and the Andorians make a claim to a small planet, and military conflict soon erupts.

As the fighting goes on, the Vulcans announce they're willing to discuss ceasefire terms.

However, Imperial Guard Officer Shran believes only Captain Archer can be trusted to mediate the situation, which drags the Enterprise crew into a tense situation.

They used situation twice in one sentence.

I used to really respect Shran's judgment.

He

actually believes that Archer is the best man for the diplomatic need in this moment.

Well, to find out how we will be experiencing our review of this episode.

Uh-oh.

I'm getting forbidden.

Oh, okay.

Hello, that time.

Game of buttholes is Game Board forbidden.

We're going there anyways.

It's the way we determine how we will be reviewing the next episode of this show.

I'm going to go ahead and roll this hundred-sided die.

We're on square one, Adam.

You remember getting there?

I do.

How could I forget?

It's a precious memory.

Weird memory.

You're required to learn as you play.

Roll.

See what the fates hold for the next episode.

What if you rolled exactly 100?

That would be even weirder.

I didn't.

I rolled 49.

Too long.

Did I win?

Hardly.

Which put us on square 50

because 49 plus one is 50.

Regular old episode next week.

There it is.

Right in the middle of the board.

How about that?

Yeah.

Right next to the breadstick square, which is good miss by you.

Pretty close to those breadsticks.

Pretty close to a Neelix's galley.

Yeah, that's a lot of carbs.

Better pray to God we never hit that square.

Could you imagine?

Is Okie Cookie a version of carbo loading?

I'm just...

I'm dipping those breadsticks to get them down.

Oh, really?

I don't think there's any way I could eat 10,000 breadsticks in an episode or whatever the fuck we've got to do for that.

Breadstick power hour is what that is.

Gross.

Yeah.

Do you ever listen to the episode of The Doughboys where they do a chicken McNugget power hour?

I do.

The goal is to eat 60 chicken McNuggets in an hour.

I remember that episode.

It was a great episode.

Tragic.

Yeah.

Tragic comedy is what that is.

That's what that square represents to us.

Yeah, indeed.

A totally different form of comedy than an FOD would be familiar with listening to this show.

Well, looking forward to next week with that, we should thank our producer, Wendy Pretty, who keeps the edits going, keeps the plates spinning around here.

We got to thank Rob Adler, who runs the At Greatest Trek social media accounts on all of the places.

Please give those a follow.

Got to thank Bill Tilly, the card daddy, who makes the trading cards on those social media accounts.

He's also who you'll catch in the DMs if you'd like to mail something into the show for a future Code 47 episode.

And we got to thank Adam Ragusia, who made our original parody of Diane Warren's memorable Star Trek Enterprise theme.

You said it.

He's also the third co-host of a show we do together called Wholesome.

So check that out every Wednesday.

Yeah.

Patreon.com slash wholesome underscore pod.

With that, we will be back at you next week with another great episode of Star Trek Enterprise, an episode of the Greatest Generation Enterprise, where we bring Ginger Jesus in to make peace between me and Adam.

Finally,

see what he's working with under that robe.

You know what I'm saying?

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