Good Wesley episode? Good Wesley episode? Good Wesley episode? Aaah, I’m sure it is. Sadly, I think this marks a dropoff in the number of eccentric Great Man Scientists we see in Star Trek. They still come around, but they’re more rare. I’ll miss all you lil’ Rick Sanchezes. I’ll miss all y’all.  

We’ll get back to making fun of Doctor Crusher’s parenting skills in time. In time. Right now, I’m going to celebrate Troi having a handful of scenes.  

Also, I know the sound quality is bad. I honestly don’t know why. If it’s too bad, go ahead and tell me. I’m not leaning towards rerecording, but I’d hop over that line with a gentle push.

IT’S BEEN A LONG ROAD.  

You’ll have to excuse the audio. Derek and I started this conversation over a friendly game of Stellaris and the topic of Tarantino’s Trek came up and we started recording…without headphones. Both of us. Sorry.  

We’re finally done with Season Two and while I feel really good about Season 3–yes, Riker gets his redemption–I would like to do something like Season One’s Skreliosis or Season Two’s marathon. I’m open to suggestions. We’d even be willing to have some guests.  

I also wanna say that–and maybe it’s because I’m listening to the Enterprise intro for no reason–we’ve been doing this for three years and it’s been great.  

Thanks for listening.

Just like all the emotional parts of my relationships, my only contribution is, “Let’s get this over with.”

I think I missed a great opportunity for a Data/infallible/space pope joke here.

It's a great episode and we have a lot of fun and the Riker-scene-inducing Ferengi are actually completely useless and break our flow.

But it's fun.

It's a straight. Pulaski's got a straight.

Picard loses a bet to Riker and he's gonna be angry at Worf for a long time I bet.

I’m convinced Picard liked Dixon Hill as a kid and slowly fell out of love with them as he grew older. You can’t trust nostalgia Jean-Luc.  

This week’s episode is “Manhunt.”

One day, we will stop fencing over the nature of Riker and Troi’s relationship. Today is not that day. 

Also, the Hellghast are from the Killzone video game.  

It’s hard to say, “I’d rather watch a 40-minute anti-abortion allegory than watch this episode,” but I’d mean it. Every time. How many other, actually productive, directions could this thing have gone into?

Man, this is a great episode about Picard and Wesley and NOTHING ELSE. 

My experiences with handed-down wisdom probably aren’t singular, but they aren’t universal either. 

Ah, being Southern.  

*Sigh*  

Will Riker continues being a bit disappointing. He’s getting offered commands left and right and episodes like this make him seem not ready at all for them. Not at all. I wonder if there’s another Will Riker around that they keep recommending for commands and the offers keep ending up in this Will Riker’s mailbox or something.  

I don’t know if it’s conceited that I want “I live an alternative lifestyle of austere bachelorhood” on a t-shirt.

I’m holding onto this “Q is a benign, albeit adversarial, guide for humanity” idea for as long as I can. 

Sometime in Season 3 if I remember correctly. 

I think I was wrong about the number of Borg episodes in The Next  Generation. I think it’s six, including this one. 

The Borg cast a big  shadow over the series though, especially season three. I knock Voyager  for running them into the ground, but what could have been a better  villain for Voyager? Could you have made anything as iconic as the Borg  when Voyager was on the air?

What can we say about Pen Pals?

What CAN'T we say about it?