Speaker 1: Report to Transporter Room three.
Speaker 2: Oh, Brian, here, I need you in Transporter Room three.
Speaker 1: This is the Captain. Meet me in Transporter Room three.
Speaker 1: Join us in Transporter Room three. Captain. We're heading for
Speaker 1: Transporter Room three. This is your favorite transport room, isn't it.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Transporter Room three with your hosts, Phil
Speaker 1: Perello and Soak Laura Energize.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the first episode of Transporter Room three,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six edition. Mister Scott, how are you.
Speaker 1: I'm good, Phil. It's twenty twenty six. We've got the
Speaker 1: new Star Trek TV show. Yes, we do to talk
Speaker 1: about Starfleet Academy.
Speaker 2: We do, and I think my opinion of it will
Speaker 2: surprise our listeners.
Speaker 1: Listen. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how to break
Speaker 1: this to our listeners.
Speaker 2: You guys are gonna want to sit down. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: got you need to say, in a beanbag chair or something.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, I was really shocked at the texts
Speaker 1: I was receiving from you, Phil, how emotional you were
Speaker 1: about this situation. I was worried. I almost I was
Speaker 1: going to contact your wife Rachel when I was reading
Speaker 1: these texts, Like, I was like, is Phil. Okay, because
Speaker 1: it seems as though correct me if I'm wrong, seems
Speaker 1: as though Phil likes Starfleet Academy.
Speaker 2: Yes, I do. And that's all I'm prepared to say
Speaker 2: about it. I'm not taking questions at this time.
Speaker 1: You gotta say more. This whole episode about that.
Speaker 2: You know what. Okay, here's the deal for Christmas. I
Speaker 2: put it on and I was like, what, I'm not
Speaker 2: feeling it this The opening, uh, stuff was a little
Speaker 2: clunky with Holly Hunter and Paul Giamati and the actress
Speaker 2: from Orphan Black whose name I'm blanking on, Tatianasslani.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm not buying that the Federation would
Speaker 2: separate a family like this, and then they tried to
Speaker 2: explain that with some adr dialogue later when she's when
Speaker 2: Holly Hunter's character is walking around the arboretum. Yes, right, yeah, back, like,
Speaker 2: still doesn't That's clearly they're addressing the note on that
Speaker 2: right still doesn't make sense, especially if you lost your
Speaker 2: own son in a field situation. Yeah, why would you
Speaker 2: separate another mother from hers?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, I guess it's well, maybe we should back
Speaker 1: up a bit because this is kind of I think
Speaker 1: maybe going to be one of the things that one
Speaker 1: of the through lines through the whole season at least.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, So let's tell everyone listening that we're reviewing the
Speaker 1: first two episodes of Starfleet Academy.
Speaker 2: Get too ahead myself here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just you know, because we'll be talking full spoilers,
Speaker 1: so FYI, and we're doing the first two because those
Speaker 1: are the first two that come out this week. They're
Speaker 1: both dropping on January fifteenth, which will be this should
Speaker 1: this pod episode of the podcast should be posting the
Speaker 1: morning after they drop. So f YI, is the first
Speaker 1: two Kids These Days is the pilot episode, directed by
Speaker 1: Alex Kurtzman. It's basically a movie or well it's like
Speaker 1: an hour and fifteen minutes. And then Beta Test is
Speaker 1: the second episode of the season, also directed by Alex Kurtzman.
Speaker 1: So just FYI, if you guys don't want any spoilers,
Speaker 1: go watch him then come back here. But yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: in terms of what you're talking about with the Holly
Speaker 1: Hunter and her stuff with her son, I agree with you, Like,
Speaker 1: I I feel like all the flashback stuff in that
Speaker 1: first episode when we see the young kid and Tatiana
Speaker 1: Maslani like that stuff. It felt all felt a little
Speaker 1: rough to me, and and yeah, it's it feels a
Speaker 1: little undercooked or something. The stuff about Holly Hunter that
Speaker 1: she that that she would be willing to basically separate
Speaker 1: a a parent from the child because of what seemed
Speaker 1: to be like a desperate situation for the Tatiana character, right,
Speaker 1: like they were they were living, they're living in the
Speaker 1: time of the Burn where they didn't have starship travel
Speaker 1: and they was they were starving. So she put she
Speaker 1: throws in with Paul Giamatti's bad guy noose Braka and uh,
Speaker 1: she's trying to feed her child and herself. Right. So
Speaker 1: then for Holly Hunter's captain character whose name I don't
Speaker 1: think I'll ever be able to pronounce, for her to
Speaker 1: then like throw Tatiana's character into the slammer, that seems extreme, right,
Speaker 1: a little little yeah, and it feels a little on
Speaker 1: the nose, Like let's talk let's talk about family separation
Speaker 1: in this day and age.
Speaker 2: When the show was pitched and developed, we weren't in
Speaker 2: a fascist country at the time, so yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 2: think they were ahead of the time there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So but I agree with you that that stuff
Speaker 1: like didn't I mean, like I think the actress is good,
Speaker 1: Tatiana Masslani. I hope I'm pronounce.
Speaker 2: They are amazing. Yeah, and they're brief but impactful scenes.
Speaker 2: I and that child after took, Yeah he's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I like that little teddy bear that he
Speaker 1: has too.
Speaker 2: That was an interesting touch.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and uh and Giamati. The trailers were giving us,
Speaker 2: you know, campy bad performance vibes. I mean he's chewing
Speaker 2: scenery is yeah, like like like termites.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's that's what he's Yeah, that's what he's
Speaker 1: going for though, right, I hate him Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like he's a good villain.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And they say something in the second episode, Holly
Speaker 1: Hunter says something about like how do you even know
Speaker 1: that what he told you about your mother is true?
Speaker 1: And and I thought that was interesting. But it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like this guy yeah right, like like like he's he's
Speaker 1: very manipulative and like he's yeah, he's cracking jokes and
Speaker 1: he's funny and stuff, but he's also really evil and
Speaker 1: bad and and manipulative. So I think we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a problem talking about this episode. But I don't know
Speaker 1: anyone's names except yeah.
Speaker 2: It was just so the main character is Caleb Muir.
Speaker 1: Okay, he's the one who.
Speaker 2: Was separated from his daughter, kind of from his mother,
Speaker 2: kind of becomes a curly haired, long haired space pirate
Speaker 2: right right, right, snatched and pulled into Starfleet Academy. Right,
Speaker 2: the show tries to do its version of Pike recruiting Kirk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, right, right right? Yeah.
Speaker 2: This this actor Sandro I. I hope I'm not mispronouncing
Speaker 2: his name, but I might be a Sandro Roasta the brooding,
Speaker 2: you know, squinty acting of the pirate part. I was like,
Speaker 2: I don't know about this guy. And then once he
Speaker 2: gets in the Starfleet Academy charisma for days and I
Speaker 2: was hooked.
Speaker 1: It's a funny go ahead, Scott, it's a funny moment,
Speaker 1: right because he doesn't he doesn't want to put on
Speaker 1: a uniform, he doesn't want to cut his hair, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: he just walks through the portal. He doesn't realize it,
Speaker 1: just it all happenstaneously.
Speaker 2: Right. It's great, Which is that's my new favorite star
Speaker 2: Trek Tech.
Speaker 1: Yeah it's cool, right, Yeah, I wish I wish I
Speaker 1: had that. My wife the other day was like, you
Speaker 1: need a haircut so badly, and like I hate going
Speaker 1: to get my haircut, and I'm dealing with it. It's
Speaker 1: like a fifty to fifty chance that they're going to
Speaker 1: get it right or not. And yeah, like if I
Speaker 1: could just walk through a portal downstairs, like heck, you
Speaker 1: know so, but it's a fun moment, right, He's like,
Speaker 1: oh shit, like you know, but you're right, there's something flips.
Speaker 1: I think. So what we were saying about how the
Speaker 1: flashback stuff I didn't think works that well and isn't
Speaker 1: the best way to start the series off. Once they
Speaker 1: get to the academy and he yeah, he gets his
Speaker 1: hair cut coincidentally at that moment, but once he starts
Speaker 1: to interact with the other cadets, that's when the pilot
Speaker 1: really started to take off from me, and I really
Speaker 1: started to enjoy it. And I think that I mean,
Speaker 1: I've only seen the first two. You've seen the first six. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: and we're only talking about the first two here. But like,
Speaker 1: I really like this cast of kids too, Like I
Speaker 1: think they're fun, Like I like the interactions.
Speaker 2: The chemistry is great, amazing casting one of the I
Speaker 2: would say this is one of the best cast shows.
Speaker 2: It's like it's right up there with DS nine Discovery. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like some really great personalities.
Speaker 1: Great personalities. Yeah, the Star Treks sometimes gets the casting wrong,
Speaker 1: Like I think Star Trek Enterprise is an example of
Speaker 1: a show that ye didn't quite pull it off in
Speaker 1: a few you know. But these guys right off the bat,
Speaker 1: I like all of them, you know, And uh, the
Speaker 1: show doesn't seem to want to take itself too seriously either.
Speaker 2: And and at the same time it does tackle serious
Speaker 2: relatable topics that these students would deal with. I gotta
Speaker 2: give the actress who plays Genesis, Ah, who's kind of
Speaker 2: like the snarky, cool student who maybe is potential love
Speaker 2: interest for Caleb or maybe they just have Sparkage's sense,
Speaker 2: you know. She plays Genesis. It's Bella Shepherd. They have
Speaker 2: a really natural acting talent, Like I can see where
Speaker 2: this goes, Like I dig this. Yeah, yeah, it's really well.
Speaker 2: I was just so impressed by all the performances.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that that actress. So there's a moment in
Speaker 1: episode two where Caleb is kind of with the we'll
Speaker 1: talk about episode two in a few minutes, but Caleb
Speaker 1: is kind of flirting with this other character and there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a look in the Genesis's eyes
Speaker 1: of like she's jealous, I think, right.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think so yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: So well you want to talk about the other cadets
Speaker 1: real quick.
Speaker 2: Sure, I'm a big, huge fan of the actor that
Speaker 2: plays Sam.
Speaker 1: Yes, carries Brooks, And again we're probably mispronouncing everyone's names.
Speaker 2: No offense to that at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we apologize if they're listening.
Speaker 2: But if they are, I apologize.
Speaker 1: What do you mean they're not listening? I thought Paramount
Speaker 1: Plus made them all listen to. I think Anthon Mount's
Speaker 1: listening right now.
Speaker 2: I know he's listening.
Speaker 1: So Sam stands for a series acclamation mill I think,
Speaker 1: m hm. Basically, Sam is a hologram as well. We
Speaker 1: find out right.
Speaker 2: It's the first hologram to enroll in Starfleet.
Speaker 1: Academy, right, yeah, which is interesting because obviously the doctor
Speaker 1: Robert Picardo is back, you know, the O G hologram,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't even notice. He doesn't even Like in
Speaker 1: the first episode, Sam says something like the Sam's from
Speaker 1: a planet of holograms or something, right, right, and the
Speaker 1: doctor doesn't even know about that, Like he's kind of
Speaker 1: surprised to hear.
Speaker 2: It, right about that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Interesting?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm hoping they dig into that more as
Speaker 1: we go along in the season. I'm assuming Sam and
Speaker 1: the doctor will continue to have some kind of a
Speaker 1: dynamic vie.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Right, but you catch the nod to Voyager when
Speaker 2: the doc Doc Zimmerman comes in.
Speaker 1: No, well, he definitely says, please state the nature of
Speaker 1: the medical emergency. That and he also medical tricorder.
Speaker 2: Just like, you know, this is great.
Speaker 1: That's and you know I saw it. I went to
Speaker 1: the premiere in New York last week, and uh, and
Speaker 1: so that.
Speaker 2: Was that Scott was the vibe there with the audience
Speaker 2: like this is good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. I mean, you know, it's like all
Speaker 1: the talent were there in the audience, so it's like
Speaker 1: the audiences obligated vibe on it a little bit. But
Speaker 1: like it's a lot of trekkies and fans in attendance.
Speaker 1: There were people in costume and stuff. Uh and uh,
Speaker 1: so you know there's a mix of industry people and
Speaker 1: then real fans. But those lines, like with Robert Piccardo,
Speaker 1: those were all going over like gangbusters, like people people
Speaker 1: were digging it. And there's a lot of affection for Voyage.
Speaker 1: We've talked about this before, right, like, it's not a
Speaker 1: surprise that they've brought back seven of nine and now
Speaker 1: the Doctor because a lot of people really like Star
Speaker 1: Trek Voyager was there Star Trek. They grew up on
Speaker 1: that in the nineties, right, So, so Phil tell me
Speaker 1: the same character reads as being on the spectrum to me,
Speaker 1: did you think that?
Speaker 2: I felt that vibe too, and I really appreciated that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wanted to get your take on it.
Speaker 2: I get to talk to my sibling in law about that.
Speaker 2: But their behavior, my sibling, my sibling in law is
Speaker 2: they are autistic functioning and the behaviors I saw on
Speaker 2: screen were very similar to what I've seen them do. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I just like, what how fully formed this actor's
Speaker 2: take on this character? Feels like I don't I can't
Speaker 2: believe I'm going to say this, but and my wife
Speaker 2: couldn't believe it you when I told her. But the
Speaker 2: way the character came on so confidently, assured and all
Speaker 2: that it reminded me of you know how in those
Speaker 2: early episodes of the original Trek, Spock was Spock you know, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: or on Stranging worlds Anson Mount was Pike yeah, and
Speaker 2: a Whoa was a hooa yeah, you know, even you
Speaker 2: can't say that about DS nine. You know, Cisco Kirado,
Speaker 2: especially Odo, they got groove eventually. It took a season.
Speaker 2: It took two seasons for Odo to.
Speaker 1: Actually yeah, you had to get the collar on baby.
Speaker 2: That's a lot everything, but Sam is my favorite. They
Speaker 2: go to some very interesting places in these first six
Speaker 2: and uh and I just I love how they're the
Speaker 2: odd person out and also like everyone has a degree
Speaker 2: of misfit to them, even a cool popular guy was
Speaker 2: all about the physical fitness and having something to prove. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that story plays out and the cleanon who wants to
Speaker 2: be a doctor.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, he a doctor or a scientist. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure one or the other.
Speaker 2: Because there's a nod you don't usually hear a Cleon.
Speaker 2: I'm paraphrasing Holly Hunter's line, but do no harm is
Speaker 2: not a I know a.
Speaker 1: Cleon would take exactly.
Speaker 2: That made me think. I thought that was brilliant.
Speaker 1: It's great.
Speaker 2: Civilization is on war and blood lust, and you want
Speaker 2: to be the opposite of that. You want to save
Speaker 2: lives instead of take well the great idea, great idea,
Speaker 2: and how that outcast vibe, you know, that war type
Speaker 2: level to.
Speaker 1: It, you know, yeah, and he I love the scene
Speaker 1: where he first meets Caleb. They kind of all are
Speaker 1: sort of a meeting I guess in the hallway and
Speaker 1: the one guy is making the one guy who's one
Speaker 1: of our main cast members is making fun of the
Speaker 1: Klingon because he has his binoculars or whatever. And we
Speaker 1: find out that he uses the binoculars to for bird
Speaker 1: watching and his mom taught him about bird watching, and
Speaker 1: it's just again such a non Klingon type thing. It's
Speaker 1: just a great moment, and I love the friendship that's
Speaker 1: formed between him and Caleb in that moment. The Klingon's name,
Speaker 1: I guess is Jay den Krog played for Karim again Diane.
Speaker 1: And then the other guy who I just mentioned is uh,
Speaker 1: I guess it's darun Remy. Is that played by George Hawkins.
Speaker 1: That's the guy who's like that ship the It's funny,
Speaker 1: but this show, like, I don't even know what these
Speaker 1: alien races are. I'm reading here. He's a Keonian cadet
Speaker 1: and that's the that's the guy who is the shape shifter, right,
Speaker 1: I think that's who that is who he turns out
Speaker 1: to be one of he comes when we first meet him,
Speaker 1: he comes across as the jerk at the academy. He does,
Speaker 1: but he's part of the group too. Actually he's one
Speaker 1: of our guys that turns out he helps save the
Speaker 1: day in the end, right, And I like that. I
Speaker 1: like that, serve Yeah yeah, So so okay, so we're
Speaker 1: we're kind of swooning over this show right now. And again,
Speaker 1: everyone listening, I'm just gonna remind you Phil is a
Speaker 1: Starfleet Academy fan.
Speaker 2: Which is shock. That's the biggest twist I think of
Speaker 2: any Star Trek, even when Sessca was revealed to be
Speaker 2: a Cardashian. Here's the thing, though, I stand by. It
Speaker 2: makes logic hard to buy that they would send out
Speaker 2: Harvard University.
Speaker 1: I agree. I agree to.
Speaker 2: Have a fleet of starships surrounding their big ass school.
Speaker 2: And the first time they take the school out, what happens?
Speaker 2: It gets shot up. These that would be like me
Speaker 2: and rolling at Florida State for four years and they
Speaker 2: told my parents, I'm sorry, something happened to your kid.
Speaker 2: He got sucked out of an ill luck because we
Speaker 2: picked up the entire campus clean on space.
Speaker 1: During orientation, during for orientation.
Speaker 2: You know, I agree, it doesn't. I agree, but what
Speaker 2: about the point we're training you. I understood it's thin,
Speaker 2: they're just the just justification is thin for it.
Speaker 1: I agree, But I was glad to see an episode
Speaker 1: two they don't go anywhere. They just they're in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: that the ship does not take off, yes and right, so,
Speaker 1: and I was glad for that. So I'm hoping that
Speaker 1: the show. I'm hoping the show finds a balance and
Speaker 1: that we don't feel the need to go into space
Speaker 1: every episode, because another thing about Episode one that I
Speaker 1: didn't love was the space battle stuff, the the you know,
Speaker 1: like the Star Trek Discovery, Strange New Worlds need to
Speaker 1: like have this some crazy action scenes, you know, the
Speaker 1: big chase scene that Caleb has early on in the Shuttle,
Speaker 1: and then the stuff, you know, the big fight with
Speaker 1: Giamatti's ship later on, like like it all becomes too
Speaker 1: cgi Spectacle Abrams style. You know, Kurtsman likes to do
Speaker 1: that stuff, and it's like and you know what, I
Speaker 1: get it. You get they're gonna have some of that,
Speaker 1: and like, you know, I mean, it's fine here or there,
Speaker 1: but I hope the show is not gonna feel the
Speaker 1: need to do that every week, and episode two doesn't
Speaker 1: have any of that. So I was glad. Episode two
Speaker 1: is like a character story basically, right, like it's yes,
Speaker 1: So I was glad for that. But I think we
Speaker 1: do have to talk about Holly Hunter because I'm lukewarm
Speaker 1: on her performance. Sure, I think she's maybe the week.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say she's the one who's the problem,
Speaker 1: but she's she's miscast maybe, I don't know. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what it is. What do you think is she
Speaker 1: It's like she's just not the right person for this role.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I like what she's doing really
Speaker 1: with the we see in episode two. She's got this
Speaker 1: thing about walking around barefoot, right, Like.
Speaker 2: They're making her the cool hip teacher a little different,
Speaker 2: little quirky, right, got a little bit of Gynan, Yeah
Speaker 2: vibe in terms of the character right like this they
Speaker 2: can seemingly live forever, these characters. Yes, And I like
Speaker 2: that they were living on Bajor, Yeah for a time.
Speaker 2: I also love the nas to DS nine that this
Speaker 2: show seems to Yeah, but I the way they sit
Speaker 2: in the chair hugging it like it's kind of comical.
Speaker 1: Yeah, A little bit like like it doesn't look comfortable
Speaker 1: to me when she she curls up into the chair
Speaker 1: with her boots.
Speaker 2: Such a nerdy you know, yeah, nitpick, but.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's been done before, by the way, Vash
Speaker 1: sat in Captain Picard's chair one time and curled up
Speaker 1: in it. But she took her shoes off, and she
Speaker 1: looked very comfy in Captain Picard's chair. But when Captain
Speaker 1: what the fuck is her name? Captain Aki, I guess
Speaker 1: is that? Does that sound right Hollyhunter's character Captain Aki
Speaker 1: ak e. Yeah, so we'll get it eventually, by the
Speaker 1: end of the season, we'll know it. But when yeah,
Speaker 1: it looks a little awkward when she climbs in, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to get back to what we were saying
Speaker 1: earlier too, Like, I think she saddled a little bit
Speaker 1: with this storyline about having having separated this child with
Speaker 1: her from her parent from his parent, and she obviously
Speaker 1: regrets that doing that, and she resents Starfleet for being
Speaker 1: in a place that made her do that or enabled
Speaker 1: her to do that, But like, it's still a little
Speaker 1: bit of a tough pill to swallow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the redemption arc they're sitting up is a little tough.
Speaker 2: It doesn't quite shake hands.
Speaker 1: But then there's also times where she just I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's something about just her dialogue reads. It doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to come quite naturally to her. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: hate saying it because obviously she's a great actress, and
Speaker 1: you know, speaking of the premiere, I think they had
Speaker 1: her sitting next to Kate Mulgrew. Kate Mulgrew was at
Speaker 1: the point the hell out, yeah, and she I think
Speaker 1: they were sitting next to each other. When they did that,
Speaker 1: everyone had to get up and one of the time
Speaker 1: and we had to applaud for them, you know, it
Speaker 1: was Holly Hunter and then Kate Mulgrew. It seemed like
Speaker 1: they were right near each other. But when you think
Speaker 1: about like Mulgrew, like, you know, she she just and
Speaker 1: she dove in into doing Voyager at the last minute,
Speaker 1: but she she never seemed to feel out of place
Speaker 1: or anything. It's almost like Holly Hunter's more like this
Speaker 1: the Avery Brooks of Captains, because, like you were saying earlier,
Speaker 1: some of the Deep Space nine characters took a little
Speaker 1: while to find them their place, and Avery Brooks was
Speaker 1: one of them. And I feel like Holly Hunter, at
Speaker 1: least based on the first two episodes, is still trying
Speaker 1: to She's trying to find her place a little bit too,
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: So such, I can't regrudge anyone jumping into this like that,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, we'll see where it goes, right like.
Speaker 2: And you know, Scott like. As we've talked about before,
Speaker 2: and as some of our listeners have pointed out over
Speaker 2: the years, Star Trek episode ones are not as strongest suit.
Speaker 1: That is quite true. And that's quite true.
Speaker 2: It's a thing someone someone someone sub stack that I follow.
Speaker 2: They kicked out their review for it with really a
Speaker 2: really good line. Star Trekers are franchise that famously tends
Speaker 2: to fumble the beginnings of great things. It's one of
Speaker 2: the property's most enduring traits, all the way back to
Speaker 2: Encounter at for a point in eighty seven.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's valid. Yeah, click, you could argue. Even
Speaker 1: even the cage. You could argue because I didn't even
Speaker 1: get get the go ahead to be air.
Speaker 2: Pilot was so good that they had to redo it
Speaker 2: right first time in TV history.
Speaker 1: Pilot was Yes. Yeah, so no, that's a fair point.
Speaker 1: That's why I was so happy to watch and I
Speaker 1: watched episode two because of you. But you were texting
Speaker 1: me like you were basically like live texting me. You're right,
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: I that's my tism. I apologize for that.
Speaker 1: No, it's fine. They got me. No, No, it didn't
Speaker 1: bother me. It got me excited to go back and
Speaker 1: want to keep watching. And that's why I was. I
Speaker 1: was so happy that the second episode I enjoyed a lot,
Speaker 1: and I think I think you did as well. So
Speaker 1: you want to talk about that one a little bit.
Speaker 2: The Beta test, Yeah, I preferred that one was a
Speaker 2: little smoother.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the opening Kids These Days, great title. By the way,
Speaker 2: it's the flashbacks are a little clunky. Yeah, as we
Speaker 2: talked about. But Beta test, I I was hoping for,
Speaker 2: like you know that there's that ceremony or not not Ceramon,
Speaker 2: there's that tradition of getting the crew together stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was a little dull, minus the charisma of the actors.
Speaker 2: Beta test getting them all into their groove and Beta
Speaker 2: test has am I am? I right with this one, Scott.
Speaker 2: Do we see people climbing gym ropes or things like
Speaker 2: that in Beta test?
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's Jim ropes as much as
Speaker 1: like just like going through the paces of day to
Speaker 1: day academy physical fitness.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, okay, that was all right, that was cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and science class as well. Yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: I wanted their hoodies.
Speaker 1: There's some cool Yeah, there's some cool looks. Yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: What was your vibe with it? How do you? How
Speaker 2: do you like it? Well?
Speaker 1: I liked it. I mean I like the So they
Speaker 1: bring this and again, so this is another one of
Speaker 1: our main characters. I guess this this this Beta's Beta
Speaker 1: zoid girl. Who oh, I guess it's Tarima played by
Speaker 1: Zoe Steiner. Again if if we're pronouncing correctly, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I liked her and I liked her her dynamic with Caleb.
Speaker 1: I thought it was it was cool. They have a night,
Speaker 1: they have a fun meet cute outside where he's trying
Speaker 1: to make a run for it, and I I think,
Speaker 1: is her does she has one of the same titles
Speaker 1: as Loxana Troy, like hold her of the fifth Chalice
Speaker 1: of Beta zed or some shit. I feel like she
Speaker 1: mentions it's one point that she has she has some
Speaker 1: betas betazoid like royalty title, and I thought it might
Speaker 1: have been yeah, so, but I like them too. But
Speaker 1: I like that the two of them together, I thought
Speaker 1: that very much.
Speaker 2: So yeah, chemistry, yeah.
Speaker 1: And then you know they managed to it's a little
Speaker 1: bit of a story B story, which is which is
Speaker 1: always nice to see in Star Trek, and so they've
Speaker 1: got the I guess. The A story is, well, it's
Speaker 1: a story B story, C story, I guess because it's
Speaker 1: sort of Caleb having to still try to figure out
Speaker 1: how he can fit in and get along with Holly Hunter.
Speaker 1: And then it's B story his like newly developed relationship
Speaker 1: with the Betazoid girl. And then c story is like this,
Speaker 1: these like negotiations with with the p and it Betazoid
Speaker 1: representatives who I guess have corded themselves off from the
Speaker 1: rest of the galaxy since the burn, and they're trying
Speaker 1: to get them to join the Federation again. So all
Speaker 1: three of those storylines, I thought like worked well in
Speaker 1: concert with one another, right. I was a little confused
Speaker 1: at first, but was like her dad, who's like I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess he's the leader of Betazoid Beta's ed but
Speaker 1: he's deaf, I guess, is the idea And I thought so, Yeah,
Speaker 1: But at first, I was like, oh, wait, are they
Speaker 1: all did they not speak anymore?
Speaker 2: I was. I was a little confused by that too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I think I guess what it turns
Speaker 1: out is just that that particular character is deaf, which
Speaker 1: you know, there it's it's modern era Kurtzman star Trek.
Speaker 1: They're always being representative of different groups, which you know, good,
Speaker 1: good for them. But I was just a little confused
Speaker 1: by it at first. But but you know, I thought
Speaker 1: it was cool. That's the other thing about this. You
Speaker 1: tell me what you think. But like it seems as
Speaker 1: though the show is maybe gonna deal with a lot
Speaker 1: of the loose ends that Discovery didn't bother to deal with,
Speaker 1: like about the burn and stuff. Yeah, but like there
Speaker 1: was always this big question, all right, so what So
Speaker 1: Michael Burnham and the Discovery got to the future, they
Speaker 1: find out the burn had happened one hundred years ago.
Speaker 1: By the end of the season, they cured, they solved
Speaker 1: the mystery of the burn, and the Federation was going
Speaker 1: to like start to reorganize itself. But then it kind
Speaker 1: of like they kind of dropped it. You didn't really
Speaker 1: hear much about the details of that, and here it's
Speaker 1: like this episode already it's like, oh, like okay, they're
Speaker 1: trying to rebuild the Federation. Where are the headquarters of
Speaker 1: the Federation going to be? And questions like that. Like
Speaker 1: I just felt in the back building some backstory too,
Speaker 1: like oh, beta'z ed cording themselves off from everyone else
Speaker 1: to protect themselves. Like that's an interesting thread that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if they continued to delve into that,
Speaker 1: because it turns out by the end of this episode
Speaker 1: that the betazoid girl and her brother are now also
Speaker 1: going to be based at the Academy, but they basically
Speaker 1: have Makos as well, or what they call it the
Speaker 1: War College or something they.
Speaker 2: The War College.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so so she's in the War College and her
Speaker 1: brother is now the one of Caleb's roommates. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of also in the spirit of ducas not deep
Speaker 1: say signed, there's a lot of like B and C
Speaker 1: level characters being introduced to. Right, you have your main cast,
Speaker 1: and then you've got all these other characters who are
Speaker 1: kind of floating around, which I like, like, you know,
Speaker 1: I like that brother was funny. At the end of
Speaker 1: this episode. I also wanted to mention Phil but we didn't.
Speaker 1: We didn't talk about it in the previous episode. But
Speaker 1: and I don't know the character or the actress's name,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but Holly Hunter's first officer, her number one,
Speaker 1: who's half Klingon, half gem Hadar, she's I thought she
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: A lot of great drill sergeanty moments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, like and kind of like with a wink
Speaker 1: in our in our eye, like she knows, like she's
Speaker 1: taking the piss out of the kids a little bit
Speaker 1: and having and enjoying it, you know. So and then
Speaker 1: also tig Nataro shows up in this episode, yeah, which
Speaker 1: you know, I never loved her character all that much,
Speaker 1: but you know, she's funny.
Speaker 2: Live here is great. Yeah, even Colbert being But is
Speaker 2: he like the voice of the AI of the school.
Speaker 1: He's the voice of something? Yeah, I guess so. But
Speaker 1: then there's also the voice of I think the ship
Speaker 1: is Britt Marling. Yes, right, yeah, so I guess you're right.
Speaker 1: I guess he's the one because in the episode two
Speaker 1: you hear his voice a lot, don't you. Like he's
Speaker 1: announcing like it's the end, now it's time for lights out?
Speaker 1: Is at ten o'clock or something like he's he's offering
Speaker 1: a commentary in the background throughout the episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he says angry at one point, which I
Speaker 2: was really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's that's the thing, like the good
Speaker 1: old days of like Star Trek characters and actors speaking
Speaker 1: like in not in like modern colloquialisms. That's just that's over, right,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, once Discovery started, they just they even had
Speaker 1: Captain McCart say, fuck, yeah.
Speaker 2: I saw someone online. Uh mentioned at one point in
Speaker 2: the show, Stephen Colbert says the word says makes a
Speaker 2: joke about morning wood.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, I don't know if I caught that.
Speaker 2: I didn't catch that.
Speaker 1: Okay, it could be a few it could be a
Speaker 1: future episode.
Speaker 2: Maybe they like something leak then.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, okay, so but yeah, and you know, so
Speaker 1: like there the show is doing. So Discovery's mistake, I
Speaker 1: think eventually was mystery box storytelling, right, which was, let's
Speaker 1: get to we were doing ten or twelve episodes and
Speaker 1: we have this big mystery that we have to solve.
Speaker 1: This show has a little bit of that, but it's
Speaker 1: not only that. So the big mystery of the season
Speaker 1: obviously is what happened to Caleb's mom, right, But from
Speaker 1: there then we're I think, like this was this was
Speaker 1: sort of a standalone episode in the way, right the
Speaker 1: mystery is part of it. But like, this episode obviously
Speaker 1: has a big mystery, which is Taddyana Maslani, right or
Speaker 1: what happened to her? But like, it's not solely fixed
Speaker 1: based on the first two episodes. It's not solely fixated
Speaker 1: on that, right, so I think, And from what little
Speaker 1: I know, from what you've told me about what's to come,
Speaker 1: like we're gonna get like standalone stories, which I'm sure
Speaker 1: is still gonna We're still gonna have that main thread
Speaker 1: throughout the season, but we're doing other stuff too, right,
Speaker 1: So Okay, so I don't know what what else? What
Speaker 1: are we missing about these first two that's worth commenting on.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 1: This, Uh, the set design is set is interesting.
Speaker 2: It's the most expensive set, but I I wish the
Speaker 2: Starship interior, the school Starship interior had a little less plastic.
Speaker 2: Y we'll fill in.
Speaker 1: With yeah, yeah, I see what you mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's a massive set. I'm very impressed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm still annoyed by the the big display of
Speaker 1: all the all the names of only characters we've heard of,
Speaker 1: like that that you know in the Academy and Academy Matrium.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, let's put everyone who was ever a
Speaker 1: character on this board.
Speaker 2: I like that that Sulu's daughters on there though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tomara, Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I guess everyone from
Speaker 1: Wesley Crusher to Harry Kim is on that board.
Speaker 2: Finally can get some recognition. Imagine teaching that lesson in class.
Speaker 2: You're telling me this guy was an ensign for Hella.
Speaker 1: But I look forward to continuing to watch. I don't know, Phil,
Speaker 1: like if you feel like you want to keep talking
Speaker 1: about it on the podcast or not, Like, I guess
Speaker 1: we can see what?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, what do you guys think? Do you guys
Speaker 2: want to hear? Do you guys want we the updates?
Speaker 1: Or what?
Speaker 2: Ye? What you think of the show?
Speaker 1: Yeah, let us know, but I will certainly be continuing
Speaker 1: to watch at the very least.
Speaker 2: Scott also sorry that the top of episode two. Yeah
Speaker 2: do you remember how that opens? You remember who we see?
Speaker 1: No? I just watched it last night.
Speaker 2: Our buddy from Star Trek Prodigy.
Speaker 1: Oh that's right, rock or rock or what rock? Tuck right,
Speaker 1: But it can't be the same person, can it. I
Speaker 1: guess I guess who. I guess who knows how long
Speaker 1: those those species lives? Right? Yeah? That was cool? Yeah,
Speaker 1: actually cool and at the same time sort of a
Speaker 1: slap in the face to Star Trek Prodigy fans, because
Speaker 1: this is the show that not only was canceled, but
Speaker 1: was forced off of the paramount streaming service onto Netflix,
Speaker 1: and then they're using one of its most recognizable characters here.
Speaker 2: I thought that too, you know, so like a little
Speaker 2: little nudge to this show that we killed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little little kick in the balls because we're going.
Speaker 2: Out in the business of making good television for all ages,
Speaker 2: including young children.
Speaker 1: Uh. You know. The funny thing is, I'm I'm assuming
Speaker 1: that that. I mean, we're being unfair, right, because I'm
Speaker 1: assuming Kurtzman was Kurtzman's whole mission has been about trying
Speaker 1: to bring Star Trek to younger viewers. So I can't
Speaker 1: imagine that he wanted Prodigy off the air, you know,
Speaker 1: like I think it was a Paramount plus or whatever.
Speaker 1: The studio, you know, it was a money thing, right,
Speaker 1: So I would say so, yeah, I think so. But
Speaker 1: there's a lot of little things there, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of little bits like that. But there's also that
Speaker 1: the Exo comp flying around in episode two.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I love that touch too.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and I think I saw someone speculating that
Speaker 1: it could potentially be the Exo comp from lower decks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the color scheme on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah. So what does this mean then?
Speaker 2: How does animated stuff interact in this live action world?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean we've seen it before because uh yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, but that they passed through the same contraptions or
Speaker 2: narrative devices.
Speaker 1: That right, right, right right, that pack that Pike went through. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: good questions. Yeah, there's there's a lot of That's the
Speaker 1: thing I've only watched. Uh well, I watched episode one
Speaker 1: twice and i'ven't only watched episode two once. But like
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things in the fringes of the
Speaker 1: shot by our Easter Egg, Like in Captain Aki's quarters,
Speaker 1: I noticed there's a bunch of ship models. I think
Speaker 1: I saw the Voyager in there. So like someone's gotta do.
Speaker 1: I'm sure trek Core you guys are going to be
Speaker 1: doing frame by frame analyzes of a lot of the stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I will too, So maybe we'll talk about that stuff
Speaker 1: on the next episode. But also last thing before we
Speaker 1: go to the reprimat then the sixth. It is the
Speaker 1: sixtieth anniversary of Star Trek right now, twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: But the opening.
Speaker 2: Oh crap, I meant to talk about this.
Speaker 1: Thanks, Yeah, yeah, what do you call that? The opening
Speaker 1: opening stinger? I don't know what it is?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the pre am but like the little pre logo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Star Trek pre logo, which usually has been
Speaker 1: like the ship for whatever show you're watching, is how
Speaker 1: they've done it in recent years. This is like it's
Speaker 1: like like Kirk's Enterprise, the Cards, Enterprise, Defiant Voyager, Facula's Enterprise, Discovery,
Speaker 1: Pike's Enterprise, and then I think the Athena, which is
Speaker 1: the ship on this show. And you know, it's a
Speaker 1: cool sequence, but I was thinking, huh, they skipped a
Speaker 1: couple where's the Where's the Prodigy, where's the Cerritos? And
Speaker 1: where where is Picard? The various ships Piccard was on,
Speaker 1: mainly the Enterprise whatever it is the Enterprise.
Speaker 2: G He's not in there. I thought the d was
Speaker 2: in there.
Speaker 1: No, I mean from Star Trek. Picard. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess it's covered by the d which was what he
Speaker 1: wound up on at the end of season three, But
Speaker 1: that's not really that shows that shows that ship is
Speaker 1: really well is it the Enterprise? G I can't remember
Speaker 1: now lost track. So I just was like thinking, we
Speaker 1: know how Alex Kirchman really felt about Star Trek Picard.
Speaker 1: Is it a coincidence that that's the one ship that's
Speaker 1: not the one live action ship that didn't make the cut?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: So it was cool seeing the a yeah, and the Defiant.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was yeah, yeah, no, it's great. It's cool.
Speaker 2: So I like the chronology that it followed, you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean there's the sixtieth anniversary, so I'm sure we'll
Speaker 1: be talking more about that as the year progressive. But
Speaker 1: for now, why don't we head over to the Replmat.
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to the Replmat to get something to eat. Phil,
Speaker 1: Is this going to be a double This is going
Speaker 1: to be a double replemat where a double repeat replemat
Speaker 1: because you and I have the same replemat pic and
Speaker 1: it's the same pick that I had last time last episode. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think that's the first Yeah, and it's our show,
Speaker 1: so we can do it if we want.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's right.
Speaker 1: What is it?
Speaker 2: It's twenty eight years later The Bone Temple. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: love it.
Speaker 1: So again a good time spoilers. I guess we're just
Speaker 1: talk spoilers. The movies out tonight, right, So, but yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I had seen it last month and I loved it,
Speaker 1: and then I was so happy to hear that you
Speaker 1: felt the same way.
Speaker 2: It's one of those movies where you're presented with a
Speaker 2: threat and a battie who behaves in ways that you
Speaker 2: cannot wait for their comeuppance to happen. Yes, and when
Speaker 2: it happens, I'm going like, I'm just just pumping. And
Speaker 2: no one in the theater with me at this advanced
Speaker 2: screening is having any reaction? Am I the only one?
Speaker 1: I'm surprised too, because it was like a fan screening,
Speaker 1: right yeah, yeah, yeah, usually the fans get pretty ampt
Speaker 1: for that stuff.
Speaker 2: Not here. What was it like for you when you
Speaker 2: saw it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean people, it was a month ago, so
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember now, but I think people were
Speaker 1: into it, Like, I think people were into it, and
Speaker 1: because that was also fan screening, but I don't remember
Speaker 1: the specifics either, but I mean, but he certainly does it,
Speaker 1: Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, we're talking about right.
Speaker 2: Yes, Jack McConnell's broke my float.
Speaker 1: He's so good, so good, and he does get his
Speaker 1: come up and does he is he dead?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 2: I think they would have given us a satisfying kill.
Speaker 2: That's what that character deserved. And I got it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he might be back, right, he can
Speaker 1: come back asn't infected even right, Yeah. So, but I mean,
Speaker 1: I dug.
Speaker 2: It, man, I dug it. It has some timely stuff
Speaker 2: in it. I think it's needed to Costa's best film
Speaker 2: so far, best studio film. At least.
Speaker 1: Ray finds is so Ray finds.
Speaker 2: He's fantastic.
Speaker 1: He has this. I mean, just once he was dancing
Speaker 1: to Duran Duran, I was like, oh, I was in yeah,
Speaker 1: oh my god. And then that the fact that it
Speaker 1: culminates the big climactic scene is him dancing. I guess
Speaker 1: it's dancing to Iron Maiden where he's pretending to be
Speaker 1: the Devil was nuts.
Speaker 2: It's like you're with the movie or you're out.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's just like it didn't turn into like your
Speaker 2: expected big showdown type thing. Right, I'm surprised all that
Speaker 2: music didn't draw in all the the rage heads.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's true. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. Maybe
Speaker 1: well maybe it did though, because eventually by the end
Speaker 1: we do see have an indication that at least one
Speaker 1: or two of them were entering the zone. Right, But like,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you're right, it's funny. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: fun twenty eight excuse me, a fun twenty eight days movie,
Speaker 1: which isn't really a word that would has been used
Speaker 1: for past installments of the series. Right. This is like
Speaker 1: the third movie or the fourth movie in the series. Right,
Speaker 1: And of course it's there's horrifying scenes and there's go
Speaker 1: very very gory stuff in the movie, but it's also
Speaker 1: like it's kind of a good time at the movies. Also,
Speaker 1: it is you know, and I like the way it
Speaker 1: can to you know, connected to what what came before.
Speaker 1: Also and agreed, did you uh, what do you think
Speaker 1: of like the final the final five minutes, which is
Speaker 1: like the scene I guess the scene everyone's been waiting for.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, this is interesting. I like how
Speaker 2: they set it up. I I would not be teaching
Speaker 2: history at this point. Uh. And then my curate by
Speaker 2: question was, is the mother Naomi Harris's character?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it has to be, right, Yeah. Is
Speaker 1: that the same house he was in at the end
Speaker 1: of the first movie?
Speaker 2: I don't know, Yeah, I have, I don't recall if
Speaker 2: it is good for him that he survived that long there?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Right, Yeah, when you look at the like the
Speaker 1: timeline of the series, they were rescued at the end
Speaker 1: of the first movie, it seemed, and then the second
Speaker 1: movie tells us the second movie, which is kind of
Speaker 1: disconnected from everything else, but it tells us I believe that,
Speaker 1: like they had contained everything for a while, but then
Speaker 1: the ship goes bad again. So Jim, the Jim character
Speaker 1: should have been he should have been able to return
Speaker 1: to civilization at least temporarily. So yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll see. But but the third movie obviously is
Speaker 1: going to be all about him. But I like how
Speaker 1: Spike the Kid is still part of it. Aaron ll
Speaker 1: what's her name, Aaron Kellyman? Is that her name? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I believe so, yeah, that she's also going to be
Speaker 1: part of it. So yeah, yeah, all right, cool. So
Speaker 1: I guess that'll do it for us. But again, as
Speaker 1: Phil said, let us know. Do you guys want us
Speaker 1: to keep talking about Starfleet Academy Because I think we
Speaker 1: will if you guys want us to. So hit us
Speaker 1: up on all the usual channels transport room, through the
Speaker 1: Gmail dot com, Facebook, talk to us on I guess,
Speaker 1: on Twitter or blue Sky if you want, and of
Speaker 1: course also check us out over on discord uh and
Speaker 1: on Patreon. So Phil, thanks for geeking out. I can't
Speaker 1: believe this magical transfer information that has occurred, but you are.
Speaker 2: You are now the new me.
Speaker 1: Phil is the world's biggest Starfleet Academy fan.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm as shocked as you are. You can send
Speaker 2: flowers to my wife, all right, gang, thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: Until next time, We'll see you all on Corved Island