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Star Trek TNG: 215-217 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-10-08 12:00:06
Edited:
2026-01-08 02:36:14
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

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episodes: Pen Pals, Q Who, Samaritan Snare

Files

Comments

Forkbeard83

been waiting for George to meet the Borg

DonkyDave

Q WHOOoooo 2nd great episode of this season after Measure of a Man

ChiefKC

Your will be assimilated, George! Resistance is futile!

Matrim

They do, in fact, occasionally use paper in Star Trek. In TOS they occasionally broke out paper manuals, in one of the TOS movies (I think) they use printouts to give orders to avoid monitoring, and several crew members in most of the various series own physical books (we saw one of Data’s in Measure of a Man).

Joel

The Borg have entered the chat, Resistance Is Futile

Patrick

Patrick Stewart looks extremely at home on a horse. I'd watch a whole episode of Picard horseriding with Data. They're always great together. He always seemed like the best mentor for Data. Also, good Prime Directive and a good Wes episode. He's definitely grown on me more since I did the recent rewatch with Jen Murray on her channel.

JakeyShakeyBakeyBoy

Will just say “Q Who” was the episode as an early teen that got me truly hooked on TNG upon first marathon… then it was solidified later on which I will now shuddup about in respect for Mr. George’s first viewing haha. Love that it shows how outclassed the crew are with little recourse at the present time… Oh and it goes without saying that John De Lancie is impeccable as Q

Matrim

An Imperial Class Star Destroyer (the most common one you see in the OT) is about a kilometer longer than the Enterprise-D

Marcus Hicks

After Measure of a Man, Pen Pals and Q Who are the Season 2 Episodes I have most been looking forward to.

Jared Petty

When George said "assimilate" after 216 is just about died of joy.

Jaaahn

considering Freud is a mostly debunked quack by modern medical standards and his views are extremely outdated, what he would say would be mostly quackery.

Robert Cooper

At the risk of being spoilerish, Picard at the end telling Q he knew what he did here was a lie, or at least an error. The Borg were already nibbling at the ragged edge of the Federation. Q, here, did Picard and the Federation a solid. He let them know what was *already* coming for them.

Matrim

Q: To give you a preview of things to come George: Season 3? Me: 👀

JoeMama47

I am at that age where I realize "that's a younger X" means nothing to most people. So "That's a young Nikki Cox as Sarjenka" probably means nothing to Simone and George.

4drewk

can’t wait for the best of both worlds and then first contact

Guts

Simone has not played Mass Effect D:

Jimazoid

Oh Simone! The highlights of the TNG watch along are your "Space" attempts! Someone needs to make a video at some point! Here's to many more Spaces!

Gryff

Concerning the questions at the start about AI and letters. When I come to a question in Trek I can't answer I usually fall back on Ethics as the answer, or "They are far better human beings than we can even imagine being".

dc

This is true—the Borg have already made incursions into Federation space, scooping out outposts along the Neutral Zone. They're coming. Q did them a solid favor warning Picard about it; Picard even picked up on that, at the end, though he hasn't put it all together yet.

dc

I couldn't wait for the "Q Who?" reaction, since I knew that George was going to be totally turned off by the title and then subsequently love the episode. When the writers realized that the Ferengi were not going to be adequate villains, they went back to the drawing board. The Borg were originally conceived as insectoid beings, and that the parasites in Season 1's "Conspiracy" were envisioned as their scouts, but this was abandoned due to budget constraints.

Robert Gendron

Star Trek ships were meant to be practical, while Star Wars ships were meant to be dominating. So Star Destroyers are larger than the Enterprise by a wide margin. The TNG Enterprise is only about double the length of a modern Aircraft Carrier, original series Enterprise was smaller in length than one.

Stoodles

Anyone else have the Cinebingers version not loading? I just get a black screen when I hit play.

Stoodles

Nevermind. Seems to be working now

Stu84

Q who is my fav Star trek episode. The Borg were scary!

Gryff

"Holy SHIP!" - Tulio, The Road to El Dorado (2000)

Gryff

Something I always loved that the goofy smiling extra always distracts people from in 'Pen Pals' is when Wesley comes into 10 Forward and Riker leaves his date to talk to him he says "Family emergency." and just dips on the lady. Such a good dude move. On a date that was obviously going VERY well. Big laughs, 2nd drink. Uses the ultimate out and just bails.

Mastervodo

I am hoping Jakey is on it!

Raymond DeGraw

As for the comparison of the ships... Significantly larger than the Enterprise-D, with the Star Destroyer measuring 1,600 meters (5,249 feet) long, while the Enterprise-D is 642.5 meters (2,108 feet) long. The Imperial Star Destroyer is more than twice the length of the Enterprise-D, making it a substantially larger vessel. Imperial Star Destroyer Size Length: 1,600 meters (5,249 feet) Crew: Over 37,000 personnel (including officers, enlisted, and ~9,700 stormtroopers) Mass: 40 million tons USS Enterprise-D Size Length: 642.5 meters (2,108 feet) Crew: Around 1,000 (crew and families), with capacity for more.

Guts

22:46 (timestamp from the copy-inclusive version) makes me crack up every time I see it. They way they look at each other feels like they are so close to start laughing and break character. 😂

Robert Gendron

For the Prime Directive with a natural disaster. What if an alien ship was near Earth and saved the Dinosaurs from the asteroid?

Guts

Not sure why George thinks this is about not trusting Polaski when Picard leaves for the star base to do the procedure and wants to keep it secret. I think Picard has multiple reasons but none related to not trusting his officers' capabilities. It is about pride and image: 1. He doesn't want to owe his life to Polaski as they frequently butt heads due to both still having big egos. 2. He doesn't want anyone of his subordinates to know of his physical weakness and his past foolishness (remember how obsessed he was with his image, he even mentioned it to Riker at one of their first meetings) as he thinks it could undermine his authority. I think he only tells Wesley about it on a whim in a moment of weakness. Picard even says "It is a matter of image" and Polaski says "Your are still invincible" after the operation.

Michael Bauer

It was such fun rewatching these episodes with you guys - I love Star Trek day. ☺️

John Rose

Watching Simone realize what episode this is was a joy! Eyes the size of saucers...lol

Watchout4J.Who

The Prime Directive is more a liability shield than anything else, the Federation doesn't want to be drawn into every planetary, galactic, quagmire a starship crew might find themselves in "trying to do the right thing". It's easy to make the mistake of presuming the Federation has infinite resources and capabilities. The way the Prime Directive is framed, as non-interference and for the benefit of the various civilizations, isn't much different from UN policies used to limit intervention in seemingly obvious humanitarian instances. It's PR spin, that's why it feels so wishy-washy, the writers don't want to get bogged down either, just be able to touch on an issue and warp off.

Michael Bauer

“Microbrain” is pretty funny - but what really gets me is the part right afterwards: “Growl for me - let me know you still care” 😆 I like how impish Q is.

akaTheBAY-AY-RON

A Star Destroyer is biggern than the Enterprise in TNG. It's more than twice as long, more than twice as wide, and more than twice as tall. But I'll go ahead and open that can of worms... The Enterprise-D wipes the floor with a Star Destroyer. Star Destroyers are essentially battle ships, but in space. They have some hard hitting guns but are all around (the ship and it's weapons) are clunky and slow. I would also say shields in the SW universe aren't as good as what they use in Star Trek. So with the Enterprise being a more agile ship, having better shields, phasers that can vaporize hulls, and Photon Torpedoes that can do even more damage than that, a Star Destroyer is toast. There's anothe dirty trick the Enterprise can do. One Picard wouldn't... but I absolutely would. Anyone on a star destroyer they can get a lock on, they could just beam into space. But Picard is a classier man than me.

Jomero

Enterprise-D is about 2/3s the size of a standard Imperial Star Destroyer. Which one is stronger? Well, I'll just say that Star Trek weapons are measured in megatons while Star Wars are measured in gigatons. But, honestly. it doesn't matter. One is sci-fi the other is fantasy. They're not even in the same genre, let alone the same galaxy and time period.

R. Chang

TNG existed in a time just before prime time serialization really took off. Obviously, we had daytime soaps, but the vast majority of prime time shows were meant to be viewed as individual episodes without needing to have watched any of the previous. The VCR was becoming popular at roughly the same time that TNG came out. And those early VCRs were a bitch to program. So showrunners really could not rely on people watching all of the episodes of a show in order, so they had to mostly just stand alone. It wasn't until the early-to-mid 90s that serialized tv started catching on (outside of the daytime soaps, obviously). In fact, the next Star Trek series, Deep Space 9 is a much more serialized story than TNG. The TV formula we have today with seasonal arcs is largely due to Buffy: the Vampire Slayer from the late 90s. Buffy showed us how to balance monster-of-the-week episodes with an ongoing storyline that lasted the course of one season. Then each season would begin a new serial storyline and while it obviously built on previous seasons, it gave people a clear time to try out a show (unlike soaps, which had a hard time onboarding new viewers). It set the blueprint for all of the shows that came after it. I wouldn't be mad if you guys did a watch of that show, like you are doing with Trek.

Life in the cave of Garanoga

A Star Destroyer is bigger at about 1,600 meters compared to the Enterprise at about 1,000 meters. But it gets a little foggy. The original Enterprise was only about 300 meters and the largest Enterprise (J) is over 3,000 meters. The largest constructed vessel in the Star Trek Universe (Including extended U) is the Voth City Ship at 9 kilometers stern to stern and the largest "moving structure" is the Whale Probe at 7 kilometers. In the Star Wars Universe it's the Banu Rass at about 121,000 meters with the largest "moving structure" being the Starkiller at a massive diameter of 660 kilometers and a circumference of 4,147 kilometers.

John

Dr. Pulaski wouldn't have to erase my memory... just give me 5 minutes and a distraction, and I'd forget everything.

The Real Andrew Kim

I need someone to add in the ddr style "Bad", "Good" or "Perfect!" judging to come up when they make the supercut of Simone trying to hit Space on time XD

Kevin Kerr

Do you all think when Captain Picard goes the toilet he calls it a captains log?

Thall

I don't think 'war' is a good example of an exception to the Prime Directive. Usually, there aren't two parties involved in the choice, so what happens if, for example, the war on the planet is an ethnic cleansing? What if they plea for help? Should the Federation fight to protect the people that had no choice in the war?

Spacedone

TNG existed just before TV shows really started to introduce overarching storylines where the consequences of one episode would form the background of the next. Those wouldn't really start to appear until a few years later with the likes of Babylon 5, which had a 5 season-long story planned out before they started shooting, and even that still had its filler episodes to bridge the gaps between the arc story, particularly early on. That said, the Borg are literally 2 years travel time from the Federation so there wasn't going to be immediate consequences.

Spacedone

Just pretend I'm posting that Batman slapping Robin meme. "And that's why we have a Prime Directive!"

Limbo Slam

Now, I could be wrong, but I believe the Borg were created due to budget constraints. And that they wanted to bring the bugs from conspiracy back. But instead, they reused assets from the original DUNE show. Which if true, I believe was the greatest decision they could've ever made.

John

And yet another example of Worf being TOTALLY RIGHT.

Joe Stacey

Yes! Mine was the 47th 'Like'. It's Trek. There's significance. It's interesting that you just accept Q at his word when he says that he was kicked out of the Continuum. Not saying he wasn't, but why accept that it's the truth?

TomGas2025

Regarding Cameo appearances from know actors...in the first episode Pen Pal the little girö was played by a very youbg Nikki Cox from unhappily Ever after. She played the daughter Tiffany. And thefe will be some like James Cromwell a few times, Ashley Judd, Olivia D'abo, John Kolikos (Battlestar Galactica and ST-TOS), David Ogden Stiers (MASH) and so on...there are a lot but often often under heavy Prosthetics.

GAB

The inconsistent script problems seemed to go away when the head writer, Maurice Hurley, left at the end of the season. The next episode (218) is a stinker in my opinion, but it's not the worst TNG episode - certainly not as bad as 222 or 104.

Jomero

George: If interesting plot threads being interrupted by "problem of the week" episodes bugs you, I'd recommend building up a high tolerance to it now. TNG was mandated to be a "problem of the week" show by the higher ups. There are absolutely threads that are readdressed here and there, but I'd say like 80 to 85% of the show are stand-alone episodes. Deep Space Nine has a much more contiguous and overarching narrative, but even then it was mandated to be interspersed with one-offs (though not as many as TNG). The big seasons-spanning plot thread for DS9 was pitched to the higher ups and the writers were originally told "Cool. Don't make it more than three episodes." They fought back hard and eventually won (with the comrpomise being the one-offs interspersed). But, TNG at least paved the way for it. Just don't expect answers and continuations of things to happen back to back.

David N

It always surprises me how much damage the enterprise does to the borg ship when they first meet. Makes me wonder if the borg encountered a more war like species like the romulans or klingons first their scout ships would have been whiped out before they could adapt to the weaponry. If you blow up a borg cube down to space dust can it reform or transmit the adaptations needed to other ships before its destroyed? If not, maybe using a class of weapon they havent encountered en masse could cripple a fleet or destroy an important base before they could adapt to it.

DanManMtn

Two things. Was George saying geology doesn’t effect evolution? We sit here because a big ol’ space rock killed the dinosaurs. But I enjoyed hear his thoughts on the PD! Second, at 7,000 light years, if the Borg travel around the same speed we do, it should be quite some time before they get to Federation space (Don’t want to say specifically how long.) Guess we’ll just have to keep an eye out…

Paul Peavler

“I don’t want to open the can of worms on which is stronger” says George as he rips open the can of worms on how big a Star Destroyer is.

Ginger

"How powerful is Q?" yes. :D

DanManMtn

Great way to put it and I bet a lot of the writer’s Dad’s were of the WW2 generation that definitely felt that way. As a man, you had to be tough and never be seen as vulnerable.

Ian Tellam

Hi. Yeah the Borg are definitely one of the things that make TNG increasingly compelling going forward. Allow me to put on my uber-nerd hat for a moment... It's funny you mention Warhammer as the Borg were very clearly an influence on certain aspects of early 40k, with this episode coming out during it's first edition. Not just the very obvious visual nod of the Servitors being pretty much clones of the Borg aesthetically (having just painted a bunch it's hilarious how on the nose Borg they are), but I think it's overlooked how much the Tyranids took conceptual inspiration from them. A hive mind organism from the far reaches of space that can't be reasoned with and only exists to consume. They're quite a xenomorph-borg crossover faction in many ways, and their background was completely revamped in the early 90s from an intelligent race of mind-controlling aliens to the all-consuming swarm they are today. Coincidentally, it's interesting that in the first season of TNG, the recurring big bad was going to be the mind controlling bug aliens from the Conspiracy episode (where the beacon was left running supposedly to attract them) but got changed to the Borg who link in with the S1 episode that followed.

Ian Tellam

Apparently they ended up being a major plotline in Star Trek Online. So at least there's that.

Ian Tellam

Yeah, it dresses it up in technobabble, but Star Trek is full on space magic for the most part.

Paul T Hewes

oh, you mean the Pakleds? They do have the biggest hats.

Logan Kerlee

TNG 215 - Star Wars ships are larger but Star Trek ships are lot stronger. Think about it George - each Star Wars film begins with "A long time ago in a galaxy far away.." wheras Star Trek is in the future. Star Wars' only advantage is that it can include The Force but that has little to do with ship to ship combat. Oh! Duh, also, Star Trek has shields. lol, good reference George to the Red Queen! hahaha, made me laugh! Wesley folds way too easily. He's a bright kid but a bit annoying. hahaha I've never heard someone say "picking nits." That sounds mighty strange. Nit picky isn't strange at all but picking nits is just awkward. :/ :) Lpve seeing your kitten Simone! <3 It's good that Data's down there - just in case something bad were to happen that could interfere with breathing or anything similar. The episode was a good one. Not a favorite by any stretch but I enjoyed it. It actually made me feel something which doesn't always happen with this show or shows in general. Dilithium is VERY valuable, yeah. TNG 216 - lmao - I love that you both hate Q, I've always loved the character! He's mega interesting! :) hahahahaha, wow! xD That ensign is terrible! lmao, yeesh. I can sorta see the resemblance of her, sure. LMAO - George! You're the best, man! hahahaha, wow! Q is God more or less. Has the power of one, at least. He's all knowing and all powerful. The trouble is, he knows it. I LOVE THAT YOU'RE INTRODUCING US ALL TO YOUR NEW KITTY!! hahahaha, Michael is awesome! <3 :D I like that Guinan's a part of the crew. lol, bugs me that Geordi and their crewmate just left the drinks on that table! xD Glad that you caught that George - Peecard, I mean. :P OH FUCK!! THIS IS GOING TO BE BAD!! I'm scared right now. xD Wow! THE BORG! The Borg are fucking scary. When I was a kid I was a bit scared of this race. They've adapted. They've taken knowledge from The Enterprise. That's correct George. The Borg are purely functional. Nothing is there that isn't necessary. Terrible first day, yeah! Oooh - I love that George has NO IDEA what/who The Borg are! I remember being introduced and being scared of them! The Borg are probably my top favorite sci fi villain race. They're scary while also being very unknown. I know quite a bit about them as I've been a Star Trek fan for nearly my entire life. Warhammeresque, George? I don't see the correlation between the two, unless you're talking about 40k. Yeah - I do too George! I love Q episodes and I LOVE that we've been introduced to The Borg! They're so god damn OP, it's scary. There are and will be ways to combat The Borg that haven't been discovered yet. I'm very much looking forward to more encounters with them. The Borg assimilate everything that they encounter. They do this to improve themselves. lmao - Q's an asshole to everybody. They're all just as capable as Q but none are anywhere as interested in Q is with Picard/humanity. xD I'm REALLY wanting to explain EVERYTHING concerning The Borg! lol - it's hard not to. :P TNG - 217 xD You were a TINY bit ahead this time Simone! lol, sorry. :P I didn't comment on this episode at all! lol, wow. This episode was huge on ego, though, yeah! xD

Logan Kerlee

I was legit so psyched once I realized that The Borg were being introduced! lmao, I got a huge smile on my face with a bit of fear even though I knew how everything was going to go. :D I love The Borg! :)

Logan Kerlee

I'm a big fan of her content! Such a cool person. :)

Paul T Hewes

Gomez does go on to become the Captain of the Archimedes and hangs out with Carol Freeman and the Ceritos.

Logan Kerlee

I've used that image for reference sometime ago. I lost it but I'm happy that someone else came across it! :)

Logan Kerlee

The Federation wouldn't save any planet or herd/species of animals from their destruction from natural causes.

Logan Kerlee

Favorite day of my week! <3 :D

Logan Kerlee

See what you said there, Red - "combat between 2 similarly equipped vessels" but Star Trek ships are MUCH more advanced than anything in Star Wars. While it's true that some massive ships had shields they would be wiped away after only a few moments (phasing weapons in Star Trek can be modulated/changed on the fly) which means that once they find a way to break through their shields it's ggwp. lmao, I'm sorry - I get too heated about this. :P

akaTheBAY-AY-RON

It's all been friendly chatter so far, didn't seem too heated to me. Just fun to nerd out on stuff like this. XD

Alex Macdougall

the exterior of the borg cube is also just straight up made partly from actual warhammer sprues of the time.

Edina Lewis

It’s crazy to me that someone can know the Tyranids, the Zerg, The Geth and yet have never heard of the Borg!!

s0rd3z

MICHAEL!!! 😍

Doug

You draw a distinction between a plague and the planet cracking in half when really there's no difference. In both scenarios nature has conspired against them and alone they would either need to solved the issue with the knowledge they have or succumb to its final outcome. There's also an element to consider of the burden you take on if you interfere, even anonymously. Air you committing to save every single race ever when an issue comes up? Will you apply that equally to every race regardless of their society? Sarjenka's society was fairly benign, what if they had been a savage war like race who tortured, maimed and experimented on their war prisoners? A race with seemingly no conscience. Would you be as happy to save their planet? Do you then become responsible for that race moving forward if they develop space travel and go out into the universe and start wars with other species? Where does your burden of interference stop? The Prime Directive is broad, but it's broad for a reason because it takes away all of these problems. It simplifies matters because interfering with the development of a primitive culture is overwhelmingly complex.

Kevin Knadle

In "Samaritan Snare," on the shuttle, if you look real close it looks like Picard is holding several hundred pieces of paper.

Jpsynergy

Q Who is awesome. I never made the Warhammer 40k connection but I mean come on they could be some weird faction of tech priests worshiping the Machine God. Very cool. Also TNG is a lot of problem of the week. No one knows the frustration of wanting to know about the thing they mentioned in a previous episode better than Star Trek fans. George is already there.

Andrew

Also Mädchen Amick from "Twin Peaks" in "The Dauphin".

Ben Schwartz

Request: I'm BEGGING you guys to turn your mics down or turn the movie/show volume up in the mix, for the uploaded versions where we don't need the original source video. It's hard to listen to the movie/show at a decent volume without it also resulting in your voices loudly booming over everything which is quite unpleasant... particularly when Simone laughs/giggles/talks loud (no offense intended!!). It forces me to turn my volume down, but then I have trouble hearing the source-video. Maybe I'm the only person who cares about this, I dunno. Just a request. Love you guys.

MacGuffinStuff

I was not expecting a Halloween TNG episode but apropos. Q, Who? I have seen it but forgot and got it confused at first for another episode I think. But the moment I saw that cube I actually said very loudly, "Oh SHIT! NOOOO!" And started laughing at myself because they legitimately terrify me, I mean not physically but the idea of them is terrifying, the cyberpunk AI Cenobites, the god-damned Borg, no thank you (actually I love them as fan or sci-fi horror). Also, another plug for Battlestar Galactica lol, similar theme, all I'll say about that.

TalynOne

Or they simply don't care. As a human I don't put much effort into saving the life of an ant. The things that threatens an ant, don't threaten me.

TalynOne

The reason the alien parasite thing wasn't ever addressed is the show runners considered the material too dark for Trek and had no wish to revisit it.

Angzarr

I read that in Dwight Schrute's voice...

Matrim

So, I know it must feel a little frustrating that not every episode is built into an overarching narrative, but you have to keep in mind that TV was very different back then. You had 25ish episodes a season, written by a dozen different people, and aired once at a specific time. If every episode were important to a long narrative people would inevitably miss stuff that they could only see again on a rerun during the off season. Just get comfortable with the fact that a lot of episodes are going to be fairly self-contained and enjoy them for what they are.

Seth's Coffee Cup Ambush

Q Who is a great episode. I'm one of those people who struggles with the first couple of seasons and this is when the series kind of kicks into gear for me. I like Measure of a Man a lot but this is the one I was excited to get to. In 217, it looks like the costume designers really liked the red surgical gowns from Dead Ringers the year before because they are so similar. Can’t blame them, it’s a great look.

Angzarr

Mick Fleetwood should be in next week's batch, not that you'd know it (and thus not a spoiler)

Angzarr

The Borg were invented specifically as a replacement to the parasites when they were abandoned... so, it worked out well.

Ian Tellam

Really? I wonder which ones. GW didn’t have a lot of plastic kits back then, it was still mostly metal minis. Would have probably been easier to use sprues from other modelling kits.

Angzarr

And looking annoyed when Data suggests maybe they should have listened to Troi!

Angzarr

I wonder if it's like Zathras, all pronounced slightly differently?

Angzarr

I forgot that we didn't get a certain bit of dialogue in this episode!

Kelly Pickard

George, you've now met arguably the most iconic baddies from TNG, the Borg. They are so cool, and you haven't even encountered the creepiest stories with them yet. Also, do give Q a chance! He's one of the best characters in all of TNG. He ends up being more of a frenemie in the long run. It's not so much that he's an asshole as he is interested in teaching Picard and his crew certain lessons he thinks are important, and he doesn't wear kiddie gloves while doing so. Q Who is a great example of this, teaching them that the deeper parts of space get into cosmic horror territory and that no amount of bravado on the crew's part will withstand it.

Angzarr

Well, count me in the minority that love the Pakled! There are so many alien species that are variations on a few themes, almost always better than humans in some way. There are the stronger violent scary ones (Klingons, Naussicans, etc), smart ones (Vulcans, Data, etc), God-like ones, telepathic ones, energy beings... I appreciate the novelty of the Pakleds in going completely the other way. Why wouldn't there be plenty of alien races that are worse than humans in some way too? Why not gullible ones with poor language skills? Also, personally I find them hilarious. Pakled-ese was actually kind of a meme in the software engineering department I worked in back in the early 2000s. "It is broken, can you make it go?" when there were bugs or outages, "We are smart!" when they were fixed, or "We look for things, things to make us go." when searching the web, or trying to find answers in printed manuals, etc. Although personally I preferred an ironic "Yes! I am inveeeencible!" (from Goldeneye) when I fixed something or solved a problem... especially if it was of my own making.

Jomero

When I was designing the worst crew for the worst federation ship for a ttrpg, I made a pakled the chief engineer and a naussican the chief medical officer.

DasBigUn

If I remember, they usually say the same way. HOWEVER, they do probably talk on a different frequencies

dys

I kinda love the Pakled as shown in Star Trek: Lower Decks but have absolutely no memory of them from TNG.

dys

This episode with Q introducing us to what is at least for now the real Big Bads for TNG is the main reason why Star Trek fans even like Q in the first place :D

dys

I'm mostly with TalynOne on this, the Q just don't care. Our Q, John de Lancie, does a little bit but he also wants humans/the Federation to be challenged by them so why would he wave his hand to wipe out the threat he finds so interesting?

Rayna Storie

George this is the Borg You wish it was the Geth! And I love seeing Simone's eyes light up when she saw that cube cuz she knew oh s*** I know what this is

Michael Bauer

Nah, time and again Picard proves he's not as narrow-minded as to view vulnerability as a personal weakness. It's not his idea of people and character that makes him not want to show vulnerability - it's his idea of command and effective / inspiring leadership. And to a certain extent - that absolutely makes sense, as leaders should be generally transparent, but also shield the people they lead from worries and burdens which i) they shouldn't have to worry about and ii) would harm the whole enterprise (harr harr) by forcing them to deal with that. Finding a good strategy for when and how (not if, that is undisputed) to communicate developments and seek feedback without unduly burdening people or hindering them in their work is one of the harder parts of leadership. Star Trek generally provides very good examples of leadership - but no doubt Picard is quite self-conscious and still has to learn a little more confidence at this point. The show (even up to this point) shows him learning this - getting more attuned to his role as the captain of the federation flagship (with children on board!). Showing him being willing to learn and adapt is also a great example of good leadership IMO.

Ron

While Samaritan Snare was not a great episode, it does have a few points-of-interest: * As he mentioned, Picard strongly wanted to project an image of command and strength and detested anything that would break that mask. Also, he was embarrassed by the recklessness of his youth -- something he definitely would not want to share with the crew at large. * As the ship's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Pulaski would ordinarily have kept that information private. (We're not actually shown any gossiping.) In the US, Picard's medical confidentially would be covered by the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) Act. I think in Canada, the closest analog might be PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents) though PIPEDA would have a much broader mandate. * Medical Confidentiality: McCoy vs. Pulaski : One notable instance where McCoy protected personal medical information was in "Is There in Truth No Beauty" where McCoy kept Dr. MIranda Jones' blindness from Kirk and Spock until it was absolutely necessary to reveal it. > McCoy (to Dr. Jones in front of Kirk and Spock): "Wait a minute. I realize you can do almost anything a sighted person can. But you can't pilot a starship. I'm sorry, but you must be realistic. You are blind. There are some things you simply cannot do." (I love this scene!) This is especially noteworthy because Dr. Miranda Jones was played by Diana Muldaur who also plays Dr. Pulaski. * Burying the Lede: This episode is notable for giving us some important Picard backstory.

BubblyRainbows

I have the opposite problem. For this video, the show's volume was loud enough that at some points I couldn't clearly hear what George was saying. It didn't make the reaction unwatchable, but I would have loved to turn the show down a few notches. Maybe it's just a difference of hardware between us.

Angzarr

I'm pretty sure I remember there being Pakled background actors in DS9 too, wandering around the station.

gfixler

Speaking of Picard and Troy's cat, Stewart was a practical joker on the set. I saw Sirtis at a convention once, and she said that he snuck into the kitchen ahead of her, and put her cat in the microwave, so when she went to warm up her coffee, which she did every day, I guess, she found her cat inside looking at her.

Michael Kemmet

Enterprise-D vs. Star Destroyer size comparison - quick version The standard SD is much larger than the Enterprise. Roughly 15-20x bigger by volume. Length - 1600m vs. 650m Width/Beam - 985m vs. 475m Height/Depth - 450m vs. 135m Crew - 37k crew + 10k Stormtroopers vs. 1k standard(6k-15k absolute max) We're not going to go into how realistic any of these figures are, but those are the canon numbers. (For comparison, a modern US aircraft carrier is 330m long and has a total crew of about 4,300(2,600 run the ship, and the other 1,700 are related to aircraft, marines, or other non-ship duties.)

JGoss

Samaritan Snare is ass. It’s a textbook example of an “Idiot Plot”. Riker had to be so out-of-character stupid and negligent, ignoring all the blatant warnings from Troi and Worf for the plot to happen. A properly written Riker wouldn’t have fallen for that. In reality, this Riker should have been demoted or worse for his dereliction of duty.

Dan

I'm surprised George didn't reference the Reapers, given that he has played the game

Dan

I didn't realize Picard mentioned laughing in this episode. I wonder if the writers already had a reason in mind.

Dan

It really is fantastic that she doesn't remember episodes or their orders, but remembers enough to be super excited when something happens! The juxtaposition of her freaking out with George saying, "Huh?" was awesome. You can tell how excited she is that George has no idea what's coming!

Dan

It's the same thing the Jedi do, really. They're known for being peacekeepers, but they also avoided picking sides in more cases than people tend to remember. It wasn't until they became a big part of the trusted government's apparatus that they started getting political, which is also when they lost their way and their ability to detect the dark side slipping into power. If they had stayed neutral and hadn't gotten full of themselves, they would have been in a better position to see how Darth Sidious was setting everyone up.

Dan

Or played Mass Effect and know the Geth but not think of the Reapers. "You exist because we allow it. You will end because we demand it."

Dan

My experience is more similar to Bubbly's than Ben's, but it's most notable during the intro song. The theme booms for me and drowns out the talk between George and Simone. But outside of that, I find the mix to be pretty good.

Dan

I'm shocked that no one in the reaction or comments mentioned, "It's got electrolytes"

Dan

It really is fantastic that Simone doesn't remember episodes or their orders, but remembers enough to be super excited when something happens! The juxtaposition of her freaking out with George saying, "Huh?" was awesome. You can tell how excited she is that George has no idea what's coming!

gfixler

Yay, it's Michael Day!

Three Dalmations

George, this show aired in the 1980s. There was no culture of binge watching, because shows were on TV once a week and then disappeared forever. So there were no season arcs. The reason we tuned into TV in those days was not to see what happened next after a cliffhanger, but to spend time with characters in a new situation each week. I’m only saying this to try to give you some insight into a different time and a different style of making TV, because if you are expecting the show to have a strong ongoing storyline, you will be disappointed. Some threads and themes will continue, but always in a subtle way. Characters will rarely reference what happened last episode unless it is a two parter. The shows back then were written for audiences who were expected to tune in weekly but also expected to miss weeks when life happened, with no way to catch up .

Ryan Johnson

In the pre-show banter you were wondering if there was paper in Star Trek, and then at the end of the first episode Picard was reading a paper book when Data walked in, so yes. There's paper.

The Real Andrew Kim

In regards to Picard's motivation to keep his heart situation a secret there are several factors to consider, some in universe and some due to real world reasons. First off, George was kinda getting there in terms Picard being more like how he was at the beginning of the show, remember this is an era of episodic tv, the concept of serialization was not heavily embraced in US for a long time, having said that, I personally don't see a problem with this in that, yes there are episodes where he shows growth, but like all human beings we are creatures of habit so its not farfetched if not realistic for him to still have some core characteristics that stick with him especially since we are still early in the shows life, but there are definitely future episodes that have a transformative effect on his character coming up. It was also well established that Picard is a VERY private person early on, and only really reveals parts of his background to a select few individuals, Wesley being one of them due to him feeling like surrogate father figure, Riker and Troy as his closest advisors and personal friends and old friends like Beverley and Guinan. This really holds true through out the series up through the newer PICARD series from a few years ago which really delves deep into his personal background. As for real world reasons, my theory is that it seemed like the writers had an idea for how Picard and Wesley could bond in a long road trip story and needed to find an excuse for why he would need to suddenly leave the ship last minute. Another POV to consider is the generational factor. This was still the late 80s and this show has its roots from a creator that served as an Air Force pilot in WWII and was a Police officer in LA. Older generations up to I would say Gen Xers, had a very different perspective about self-image and how you present yourself outwardly to the others, especially in military circles. As progressive as the show was, it came up in a much more conservative minded world and there were certain expectations of how one present themselves to others, especially in positions of power and leadership. You see this with how your parents or grand parents' generation probably still has a tendency to judge and criticize how others dress (usually young people), at least mine do. they still comment how people with tattoos, long hair and beards look like gangsters or homeless people....George :P Or how women shouldn't show so much skin. But, you guys being younger more open minded people DGAF about how other's present themselves as long as they are respectful, which is why you think its no big deal if Picard has a heart issue while Picard himself has a certain amount of Ego about his image and it clearly means a lot to him if he is willing to go through all that to keep it private. I guess the modern equivalent is how much people care about how their online personas are interpreted especially in the influencer space, people will bend over backwards to put out a perfected public image on their social media profiles. That's what people did, but in the real world back then. This is not to say that people don't still care about their public image today, but something about 2025 and how people in power no longer seem to feel any shame about their public image, it just doesn't seem to carry the same weight it once did. apologies for the essay and rant.....

Jeff Jake

To answer your question regarding ship sizes: USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class) Length: ~642.5 meters Beam (width): ~463.7 meters Height: ~195.3 meters Crew/Passengers: ~1,000–1,500 Volume: Around 4.5 million cubic meters (depending on internal configuration) Imperial I-class Star Destroyer (Star Wars) Length: 1,600 meters Beam: ~900 meters Height: ~400 meters Crew/Passengers: ~37,000 crew and 9,000 stormtroopers Volume: Around 50–60 million cubic meters Comparison The Star Destroyer absolutely dwarfs the Enterprise-D in linear dimensions — it’s roughly 2.5 times longer and several times more massive by volume. In fact, by rough volume comparison, the Star Destroyer is about 10–12 times the size of the Enterprise-D. However, the Enterprise-D has vastly superior technology on a per-volume basis — it’s faster (warp vs sublight), more self-sufficient (replicators, warp core), and far more comfortable for its crew.

Logan Kerlee

I totally spaced (hahahaha, wow) that Star Wars ships used shields. I could've sworn that they either didn't exist or would be defeated easily by Star Trek technology. lol, that was mighty foolish of me! xD I was being a big headed idiot when I wrote that. lol, I'm sorry.

PJ P

To me the whole Picard thing is simple: the heart replacement represents a major regret and arguably traumatic event in his life, possibly a personal shame. It's something he lives with daily, but having it addressed so directly might be beyond his comfort. Remember, Picard is a very personal person who tries to project the very image of a gold standard starfleet officer, and in many ways this humanizes him.

REDR58
>>189978745

Hyperspace as seen in Star Wars is faster than warp speed. Using hyperspace travel actually puts you in an extra-dimensional state where you are in the “tunnel” allowing you to take a “shortcut” and you can cross the galaxy (the galaxy seen in Star Wars is roughly equivalent to the Milky Way galaxy) in a matter of days in Star Wars using hyperspace travel. In Star Trek it’s a matter of decades perhaps, if not longer. The problem with hyperspace is it requires “hyperspace lanes”which must be set out ahead of time, so hyperspace is faster, but warp speed is more flexible. Remember that in Star Wars (episode four) Han Solo explicitly tells Luke that they could easily fly through a star if they are not careful. https://www.space.com/32712-warp-drive-hyperspace.html https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Hyperspace https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Warp_drive In any case, these things travel as fast as they need to for the story sake. As an aside, war drive might be more “realistic” but it’s never going to happen. It is impossible to travel the speed of light.

John Miller

There's actually an argument to be made that hyper drive is not faster, because the Star Wars galaxy is much smaller. Proof of this is that, in both the Star Wars TV shows and movies, they are able to move in between star systems, without traveling through hyperspace. That also explains the need for hyperspace lanes. Everything in our galaxy is so far apart, you don't really need to worry about hitting anything. The Star Wars galaxy is so much small, and tightly packed, you can't travel in a straight line, without hitting something.

PG Modehouse

I always felt like my views were at odds with the requirements of general book/tv/film discussion online. But something you both discussed helped me realize something about myself and my headspace when I consume long-form slowburner series. I think during the intro of the Samaritan Snare, George expressed some disappointment and bewilderment that the show returned to it's episodic format after the Borg episode. I think the perspective that informed his feelings was something along the lines of: "this is a TV show, so for the sake of the audience's experience why would you not elevate the stakes after such a huge reveal?" And as Simone started to process and respond to your question, she made an interesting distinction between the general expectations of the TV show medium and the audience, versus what happens in universe. That's when I realized that when tackling long running slowburner series, I've begun to suspect I don't carry a need for escalation. I think I just inhabit the world invisibly and observe, rather than watch. A bit like a kid just looking at the squirrels in the tree out his window. However I'm not saying I'm keeping an emotional distance when dramatic things happen. Some characters may be villains or deeply flawed people that don't hold up to my moral standards like Riker's dad. I feel a sting of righteous anger towards him for pathetically competing with his son, but it also didn't bother me that at the end Riker compromised his own internal standards to make peace with him. I'm definitely moved to tears during tragic backstories and painful bittersweet victories, but I think I'm also happy to just witness this fictional universe/characters either progress or regress on its/their own. Sometimes characters who were growing and improving backslide into their old, worse selves for a bit. Sometimes they take another step toward redemption. Some days are crazier than others, facing existential threats. Sometimes absolutely nothing important happens. One day I'm frantically driving my mom to the ER. A few days later I go shop for groceries and decide to pickup a pack of Oreos just because I wanted them, and that's all that happens. But I find that I enjoy that nothing time too, just observing characters walking their own little topsy turvy paths. I'm okay with an episodic series showing this. Anyway I was never able to articulate what it was, until just now, where your discussion framed it under the parameters of: audience expectations watching a tv show, versus observing a fictional universe unfolding on its own. So thanks, you guys!

Gwydify

Michael: The most powerful cat in the universe. Also the look of shock on Simone's face at the first appearance of the cube was awesome :)

Joel

Loved that moment, when she realized it was THAT moment

SpankTheMonk

Pen Pals: the Deanna cat story that Picard kind of dismissed maybe a nod and a wink to her relationship to her Mom- and Picard not interested in acknowledging that awkward history. Also seeing the Okuda team graphics unique to each episode on the various LCARs computers is so cool. I love the crew discussions and Picard speeches- top elements of TNG. Data just needs to send a bunch of the Great Eagles once they finish saving Frodo and Sam. When Androids dream of the prime directive. If you don’t fix then it is easier to build an intergalactic highway

SpankTheMonk

Q-Who: Ensign Sonya G was a nice surprise, part of the expanded dynamics of the crew as the writing gets better. Welcome Michael, the CDS has blessed Simone with an angel 🐈‍⬛ - ty for adopting! Another Rob Bowen directed episode, director of Reign of Fire. Can we please put a bell on the captain or at least remember where we last put him! Simone’s eyes when she sees a cube 🧿, what happens when she sees a triangle in space! The Borrg now have a taste for the Federation Flesh ☹️. Q don’t care

Jasper Collins

I love the Borg as a concept and I'm excited what George will think of them. The Reapers and Geth do share some similarities but the Borg are an interesting twist in my opinion. We get to see how Picard is when the diplomat fails.

LazyBoy Stays Up Late Watchin Video Tapes

Simone, when George asks questions, let's just say they are rhetorical. George, just because Simone does correct you or answer you, does not imply that you have figured anything out. 🤡

LazyBoy Stays Up Late Watchin Video Tapes

George, Regarding Picard's insecurities, don't underestimate that present-day male emotional maturity we have on TV is "Lightyears" away from the level of immaturity of 1988, 37 years ago. We did not even begin to see mental health and psychiatry being acceptable until The Sopranos in 1999. HIPAA Privacy Rules were not enacted until 1996 as well.

Jay Perry

I think you miss the fact that Luoxana is a narcisist. Even when she is not in her animalistic faze of life, she told Jean-luc how he felt, hoping he would believe it and fall in line. There is a magic that some people use a lot like a Jedi mind trick. As a narcisist, she only believes the best of herself and feels that all other people must agree.

Jay Perry

Picard has a philosophy that requires the Captain to maintain an air of perfection. He believes in it. That's all this is.

Fedora The Explorar

I agree with you that Picard is super out of character in Samaritan Snare. Up the Long Ladder is also awful. Selling these women as breeding stock and force them to have three kids each without their agreement? What?

Michael

The lead pakled played by actor Christopher Collins ,but you might recognize his voice actor name Chris Latta he was Cobra Commander in Gi Joe and Starscream in Transformers

Kris King

While Hugh Laurie has not been in an episode of ST, he did play the captain of a doomed space cruise ship in "Avenue 5", a comedy by Armando Iannucci (creator of "Veep" and "The Death Of Stalin"). Sadly it was cancelled after 2 seasons, but it was very funny and worth checking out.

Elisa H.

E15 Prime directive is pretty simple in its broadest term , it's a vow of non interference with pre -warp civilizations, no exceptions. Now the problem is we (people) are not unfeeling so we can't do that. If there's something that we can do to fix it without them knowing, well... 🤷🏽‍♀️ But they're still not supposed to regardless of circumstance

Angela D. Mitchell

I love Q. He's a fantastic character beautifully acted by John DeLancie, and his growth across the seasons always fascinates me. I love "Q Who" as I think it really does provide a more balanced and scary vision of Q and what he's capable of. To me he's the perfect ancient trickster -- laughably narcissistic yet also unexpectedly terrifying. And Simone, I would absolutely recommend "Picard." It's worth watching, and each season is better than the last. Season 3 is just wonderful.

Ian

Never understood why the holodeck doesn't have it's own changing rooms like a gym might. Not only do you often get physical in there but the sheer amount of costumery necessary seems to demand it. Also, George, if you haven't discovered it by now, there are images out there that show almost every ship from science fiction in a scale representing infographic so you can see them all in their relative sizes. Buddy used to have a poster of it that I would look at forever and I've seen several different versions of that image out there since then.