OPN Halloween 26

Is this thing on? Hello, hello. Welcome to Open Fright Knife. I'm Producer John, and tonight I'm here with my co-hosts, Cameron Screamshirt Harrison. Ramadatas! Come on, guys, high five.

High five. That's what you shout when you give a high five, right?

I think so. That's what Lucien taught me. And I believe last year I went with Jesse Flaley. Yes.

Which is uh slightly less stage presence than Jesse Slaley, but it's okay. Yeah. Uh can I just say I am so glad that I finally had a way to make you guys watch this episode of the animated series. This is possibly the most unhinged episode of Star Trek that's ever been made.

Usually when I say trick or treat, that's a rhetorical question. I just give me the treat. I got tricked this time. We got tricked.

We did. And you tricked me into watching my first ever episode of the animated series, which is the magics of Megus 2 for our Halloween coverage. Wow.

Okay, well, I promise you, the rest of them in general make a little bit more sense than this one.

Yeah. Yeah, more sense than an LSD trip.

Where you meet the actual devil and defend him on trial.

Let's just say this would have made a hell of a strange new worlds episode. So actually, I want to talk about that, John, because well, first off, do we do we want to spend a minute or so talking about this week in the real world? Or are we gonna do a whole episode on that?

I don't want to cry. Okay, but look, we can't talk about Star Trek without talking about this, of course, right? This week we did lose Walter Koenig and then Sir Patrick Stewart a couple days after that. Like, this is a this is a tough week to be a Star Trek fan. Um and this is like you know, I I think celebrity deaths affect different people in different ways, and I have always sort of looked at them from the outside and gone, you know, you didn't really know that person. Like is this just an overabundance of empathy? Like, what's going on here? But like when it started happening with Star Trek actors, it did hit me. I mean it the one that hit me the hardest so far has been Nishelle Nichols, because that was on my birthday that year, so I felt very strangely about that. But this one, like I mean, Walter Koenig, you're you're like almost rooting for him to, you know, make it past Shatner. I don't know, maybe that's just me. But it was it really sucked. And then Patrick Stewart kind of feels like it came out of nowhere. Like we didn't there was no, you know, oh he's sick or he's cancelled an appearance at something, and I just I mean it really, really both of these just hit me. I mean Koenig because it's like when you think back to Anton Yeltsin, it's like man, this is tragic and sad in so many ways, and it's just it it compounds that. And then to have Patrick Stewart in the same week, like if if you're out there feeling the hurt, trust me, we feel yeah, we're right there with you. And hopefully we can we can stop the year of 2026 now. Like, we have lost so many big names this year, it has just been terrible.

Yeah, it's not not sad, but uh, you know, when someone who's like 86 who has announced that they're retiring from whatever craft they are known for dies, it it's it's it's a little to be expected, and especially with someone like Patrick Stewart, I'm just reminding myself to be like, be glad we had him at all, and especially be glad we had him for 86 years. Like his his presence on the screen in our lives, and you know, by all accounts his presence as a human being has brought so much greatness to this world. Like, we should l thank our lucky stars that he he was amongst us for 86 glorious years. That's that's nothing to sneeze at for sure.

Yeah, and and I mean, as somebody who did grow up watching him and just learning lessons from Captain Picard and from the whole crew, it it certainly hits, but again, he was 86. I mean, he he won. Yeah, Walter Kenig won, like they made it. So it it is it's good to know they had full lives, and I mean, we have, like you said, we have so much to look back on for both of them. We we have we can see them and hear them anytime we want. Uh, if you have not seen the film Safe House with Patrick Stewart, go watch Safe House with Patrick Stewart because it is unhinged. He just had so much fun with that, and uh, I remember watching that being like, This is this is not the movie I expected, and I will watch this. It's terrible and fun, and uh yeah, yeah, it we'll miss you guys.

I mean, the thing with Picard that kind of shakes me a little bit is he's he's the first of like the main TNG cast. Maybe not counting like Sonic Troy, but uh Majel Barrett. But it I mean it is like oh god's the first domino.

Yeah, and he was always gonna be the first domino, but and it's I I mean it is it's strange now that you're starting to cover Picard Season 2, and honestly, I'm not a comparison or anything, but it's strange to have Patrick Stewart go before William Shatner. It's like, but you were the captain 20-something years before.

Like Shatner may have actually used this episode. He stands in a pentacle every night and believes may have made an actual deal with the devil. I believe I'll make it to a hundred. I have the magic like when you see him, you're like, there is no way he is what 94 93. Like he does not seem to be in his mid-90s at all.

Oh gosh, no, no, no, yeah. And you know, again, that's because he somehow might have made a deal with the devil because the devil is apparently an alien, according to this episode of Star Trek from Oh, okay.

Let's get this right. He's a magic alien, all right? Yeah, that's right, yeah. But I do, I do, you know, we t we just got through a season of Strange New Worlds where people were freely tossing out the word gimmick and any negative connotations that may come with that label rather than the term genre, right? So I want to talk about mediums here because the one th the thing the the phrase that I hate the most is when I ask somebody like, hey, have you seen this anime? and they go, I don't really like that genre. That is not a genre. That is a medium. Animation is just a medium to tell stories. But I think it's also inarguable that people seem to let a little more go with animation than they do with live action, right? Like you can suspend your disbelief a little higher off the ground, you're willing to accept things that are a little more wacky than what you would normally see in a live action show. Because I love this episode. It does not make a ton of sense. It's very wacky, and it is a little bit like okay, what is the moral here? But like I still have a ton of fun with it, and I do wonder, like, if they did this live action. People would probably just hate it, right?

Like it would be Yeah, and and like I said, it would have made a hell of a an episode of Stranger Worlds, especially because it would have been Pike defending the devil, which for Pike as a character would have been, you know, quite the uh quite the leap to take as far as his his the faith in his background and things like that. I sitting there like, oh first off, let me say the the shots of space and the shots of the interdimensional universe, like those were gorgeous paintings. Like sh hands down, like beautiful background art in the t in the animated series. If all the space shots are like that, I'm looking forward to finally watching the animated series because I didn't realize it would look so good. I kind of thought it would be kind of a crappy like watching DS9 and stuff. I'm like, oh, this is so low res, but the animated series looked freaking great on my high def TV.

The wide shot of Megas 2, like, I'll have that for my desktop screensaver. Absolutely. Yeah, yep.

And and it's like it's there's some actual artistry going on here. Like, I mean, it is filmation, right?

Like, well, and then like Lucian's body is one shade of gray, and then his arms are a different shade, and you're like, oh, the arms are gonna move in the shot, the body won't. There we go. Yep.

And I have to ask, John, were you getting big Dr. Orpheus vibes from Lucian the whole time? Oh, absolutely. It's like the same guy.

BNC me! Invisible.

Yes, Dr. Orpheus, is that I I want to give him his proper tutelage. Was it Dr. Orpheus? You said Doctor. Does Dr. Orpheus look like Jim Varney on top of a WWE action figure body? He uh no, he looks like.

Yeah, yeah. Like he is like everybody in this is in better shape than they are in real life. Yeah, but the demo is shredded.

There's like little action figures where for some reason they wanted the chest to move differently than the stomach, and like that's how he's built. Like, were they planning to make action figures for him? Like, well, let's just design him that way to begin with.

I'm amazed they didn't just give him a 12-pack, and like there is not an ounce of fat on Lucian.

Well, he has to be able to tempt people, right? Like, yeah, I did I did, I mean, we do, I think we should probably mention. We really think Sulu's gonna conjure a woman when he has magic powers. And then what was he about to do? Like, right, puts his hand up near her chest and then she turns into the devil. I'm like, what is going on here, Star Trek?

Like, and also, like, okay, we go from moving a chess piece to creating women on the bridge for everybody to watch or you make out. Like, what was the next step? Why aren't we repairing chick customs here, guys?

This is so much the a symptom of the animated series where they they take maybe an hour script and they smash it into 22 and a half minutes.

And you know what? I think most episodes of TOS you could smash into 25 to 30 minutes. Like there are some episodes like, boy, we are really milking these long, slow walking down the hallway shot.

It is interesting because how many times have you seen an episode of any Star Trek where you're like, I don't know that we need this B plotter. I don't know if this needs to we don't need this conversation that we're seeing, right? Like this is pure distilled LSD and Star Trek all in one episode. Like it is it this they do not get weirder than this.

They do get weird, but this is easily the weirdest one. I'm I'm glad to have started with this one because that like that sets a good baseline for what TAS is. I kind of thought they would all be this weird or weirder. Um, acid trips for sure. I I was kind of always picturing TAS just based on the animated style and the time of the era that it was in.

I would love to know how many times Kirk and or members of his crew have just been magically disappeared from their bridge. Yeah. Because I I feel like at least half of the episodes we've covered on Open Pike Night that has happened. It happens in the arena. Uh does it happen? Yeah, it happens to someone in the Trillian episode, right?

Yeah.

And it happens in Kat's Paw. I'm pretty sure someone got zapped down to the planet in Cat's Paw. Or they at least get moved around. Yeah, they get zapped around places.

Yeah. I it's that to me, that's one of the things that's so great about this is like, yes, it is filmation, yes, it's animated, yes, the music is decidedly 1970s, right? But it is so essentially Star Trek at its core. Like, there's so much here that you're like, yeah, I this would happen in Star Trek.

Like, well, I mean, there's so much here that that, to my point, has happened in Star Trek a lot. Like, every time they get zapped from their bridge, they're acting like, oh my god, this must be such a powerful being. Except it happens every three episodes. It's like it's the Wharf syndrome, right? Like, well, we need to show Wharf getting beat up to show how powerful these aliens are, except it happens all the time, so you start to think the opposite.

Right. Yeah. But this was before most other Star Trek.

Like sure, sure.

This is only after TOS.

I would say Ardra from Next Generation, they might have borrowed a little bit from this, with this, like, yeah, you're having to face the devil, that kind of thing. But it is, like you said, it's peer distilled. When we get to the when we get to the trial, they waste no time. But like, here my favorite shot of this episode is when the judge, whoever he is, the pilgrim, is like, here is all your recorded history, and it's film reels and punch cards can be like, oh, it's beautiful. I I I love it. Like, oh, it's such of its time. Yeah, like, yep, you know exactly when this was made. No cassette tapes, no CDs. This is punch cards and film reels.

It's kind of funny because even on TOS, they had like the data tapes that were like data tapes. It's like they were trying.

Oh, this is for the audience. Okay. It's not but then they take half a second to make their verdict. Oh, yeah. And and uh, yeah, I love it. In any hour-long episode, this would have been at least three or four minutes of deliberation and waiting and the time building between let's have a magic duel and hey, that was just a test you passed.

It's like 49 seconds. It is really quick.

Watching that duel again, I'm like, fuck, this would look cool on the on the volume. What it is like meh.

Yeah, Star Trek isn't going far enough now with the genres. Let's do even crazier, which I have a feeling we probably will not see in season five, but I'll definitely be Nazis in season five. Star Trek is equally.

All I'm saying is Akiva was flat out like we are not doing big swings in season five, and I just want to say I don't entirely believe him. I'll say interesting. Interesting. Yeah. He said that before this season, too, so it's like I 100%. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, they might not be doing like a full black and white episode or a full horror episode, but there's gonna be some stuff you haven't seen in Star Trek.

Speaking of which, did you know Rebecca Romain basically made a full movie of a case of Giaroscuro back in the early 2000s? Really? Femme Fatale Brian De Palma? Yep. Like, yeah, we might need to do that on the Patreon.

Brian De Palma. Why do I he directed the first Mission Impossible?

Yes, he did. And this the movie right after that was Femme Fatale starring two Rebecca Romain doppelgangers.

Like I have been uh getting into the spirit this month by watching spooky movies I have never seen before and re-watching some that I I had seen. So Alien is on Netflix right now, so I was like, well, I gotta watch Alien, right? Like anytime that pops up on your screen, you're gonna watch it. My daughter walked in like right before the chest burst of scene. It's like 1 30 in the morning. She walks in and I'm like scrambling to pause, and I'm I managed to get it paused, and she leans over and looks at the screen, and she goes, Why are you watching Alien? I was like, I was like, I don't have a like a quick explanation, uh, because it's a good movie. Why are you out of bed? Why are you in my room?

My daughter was talking to her friend from across the street, and I forget somehow it came up that we had watched The Shining, and her friend was like, I don't know what that is. Or I think she had said something about Jack Torrance, and she's like, I don't know who that is. And we're like, It's she's he's from the Shining. She's like, I don't know. And then Rumble goes, Here's Johnny, and she's like, Oh, okay, got it.

Well, and I have also now seen uh Freddy versus Jason, which I remember we just watched that the other night. I remember being in high school, and people are like, No, you it's really funny, you gotta watch it. And I was like, It's all right.

Funny boy, like, isn't it having watched it in the theaters? I'm like, ooh, this was a lot more fun in theaters. And it was only moderately fun in theater. Yeah, yeah.

It was alright. I mean it's all yeah, it was awesome. What it was was a pretty good, from my understanding, execution of how would you do a crossover with these characters. Like, it seemed to make good enough logical sense for both of where these characters come from, as somebody who does not watch hardly any of Nightmare or Thir uh Friday the 13th. So it was, you know, it was it was acceptably enjoyable for what it was. And then I watched Bride of Chucky. Yes, that is a lot of fun. Because I have never seen a single Chucky movie. That's a decent one to start. Oh, that's a great one to start. So my wife is like, Well, you like Jennifer Tilley, right? And I was like, Yes, I like Jennifer Tilly.

Light is a word I could use there, sure.

Let's watch this movie. And the main character, one of the main characters, is named Jesse in that movie. And I'm like, okay, that almost never happens for me. Like, really? Well, let's go for it.

You gotta keep watching because Jennifer Tilley, once that movie hit success, she was like, Alright, I'm just doing Chucky and stuff now. Like, whatever you got, I'm game, and she is.

I need to watch the TV show. Apparently, it's supposed to be pretty good. Like, I I didn't see it in the video. Sida Chucky is crazy. It's like this episode. Sita Chucky's insane. It's like this episode. Yes, it is. I don't know if this is good, but I'm liking watching it.

Well, and I didn't know that uh Brad uh Durif Duriff was the voice. Oh yeah. And my wife's like, oh yeah, he's really creepy. And I'm like, oh, he was in Star Trek.

Like I I love to do that. Yeah, even creepy in Star Trek, so yeah. Everywhere. Yeah. And let's see, we've been doing we've been watching some some movies, but we've also been checking out different um scary TV shows shows. So we're working our way through It Welcome to Dairy, which insane first episode. Um, like it definitely is like, oh yeah, this feels like a first episode of an It TV series when you get to the last two minutes of it. Like, I can't believe you guys just did this to me. Uh, we started watching Lovecraft Country, um, only one episode into that, and then uh Frum Frum's a weird one. A lot of people are raving about it, and I think I think my issue with it is it's not, it's definitely got lost DNA. Same shared creator, shared producer, shared stars. Um it just it doesn't answer enough of anything fast enough. And we just got to the second season. I'm like, I don't know if I can do this. Like, we're gonna get through it, but um part of I think if you were a fan of Lost and got invested in it, you're gonna have a hard time with From. If you have not gotten into Lost, I bet you're really gonna like From, but it feels like kind of the same show, except Hawaii was a character in Lost, and the town they're in and from is not a character, and so it it doesn't it doesn't hit the same.

I really like Lovecraft Country when I watch through it, and I've been told to watch From, but I haven't checked it out yet.

Yeah, I've been curious about it.

Wayward Pines also we've been watching. Oh, yeah, yeah, I was curious about that. Yeah, I think I made it two or three episodes into Lovecraft Country, and then I was like, oh, that's what this show is. I don't know if I'm interested now.

I it yeah, and I I think it's kind of the same as the Watchmen TV show, which if you haven't watched that, is insanely good. One season, in and out. That show is a banger. And I'm hoping I'm hoping Lovecraft Country gets that good. But tw uh Wayward Pines is way more fun than I ever expected it to be. Okay. I was like, oh, it's the twin peaks or mouth. No. No, no, I mean, yes, but they they answer questions in that, and those the answers to those questions are insane and super fun. So yeah. The first season at least is is really fun to get through.

Haven't been watching anything too Halloween-y, uh, but I I am reading The Shining, so finally picked that one up and it's pretty good so far.

I've never read The Shining.

I was uh reading it while listening to the soundtrack the other night. That was fun.

And that's connected to Doctor Sleep, correct? Yeah, is that correct? Yes.

Okay. And uh it welcome to Derry. Uh young Dick Halloran is a character in the show.

Oh, I haven't seen The Shining or Doctor Sleep. But I did see it. I saw both or all three it's or whatever however many it's there were. I saw they. Um but it's not just us here tonight, gentlemen. We do have some calls to get through, so let's go ahead and hear one of them.

All right. Let's hear from Abby.

Hey, hey, open pike, Abby Summer from the First Flight Podcast. Man, you guys always pick the crazy wackadoo ones for Halloween, don't you? First of all, I have to say I have a soft spot for this one. I have a soft spot for TAS in general. It's just so wacky. But if you don't watch it and you just listen, thank you to my co-host Chris for suggesting that to me. It makes really good radio drama because oh my goodness, the number one thing that I think after this, besides wacky plot and pilgrims and devils and all of that, is it's a really good thing I'm not epileptic or photosensitive because all the flashing and swirling and bright lights, this should almost have a warning on it because I feel like it could give somebody a seizure. But you know, this is just a fun romp through all sorts of wackiness, and I think it's a perfect Halloween episode. It's one of those, it's supposed to be spooky and weird, and really you just end up snickering. And I personally am not a fan of horror and I'm not a fan of scary, so goofy and spooky is definitely up my alley. So what a fun choice! Would not have revisited this right now without you. So thank you very much for making my Halloween a little bit gigglier. Hope this finds you well. Talk soon.

I'll admit, I experienced uh a bit of this as a radio drama. I may have been resting my eyes for much of the trial sequence. I was pretty tired.

Two minutes long, so it's not like you were out for the room. Right.

I didn't follow. I I was they were back open for the wizard duel, so I was there for that.

Yeah, it's I mean, to Abby's point, like I have seen this, I don't know, ten times. I still have only watched the Griffin incident once and a half. Like so good. I'll go back to this gladly before I go back to that. But I just yeah, I mean, I think like you were saying earlier, like all the tropes here, like there's there's a lot of Q in this, there's a lot of Trelaine feeling in this, and the trial, like it does make me wonder like, did Gene Roddenberry have like some kind of like ultimate faith in the legal system or something where he was like, if you put people on trial, you will get to the truth. Like, and then Picard is like half a lawyer, you know, like so. It's like what what is this? Is this his propping up of the United States adversarial legal system?

He came of age in the time of to kill a mockingbird.

Yeah, yeah. That's true. I am definitely more versed, coded, and soaked in more modern Star Trek, so like unsure of what was happening when when all the flashing was going on and the ship got pulled down to the planet. Like, I'm like, did they destroy the Enterprise? And then I was like, at the end, is everybody, is the whole crew on the Enterprise gonna have to like get together and do magic and just rebuild the Enterprise to get out of there? And then after that, they're just like, guess we're on a magic ship now. Like, you know, one of those, like, do we put the ship of Theseus? But like, well, yeah, because uh Lucian. Like, it's like, you know, Kirk would be there trying to build the ship, but he's like, I don't, you know, I need everybody, I need the whole crew who knows, like, build the different systems of the ship. Scotty, help me with this, Sulu help me with this, you know, that kind of thing. But um I was not expecting a Salem with it.

No, yeah, that came out of left field for sure. I know I have things to say about that, but I I mean that not to put like my film nerd hat on for this, but that was kind of my one of my big problems with this episode is like, so we have this scene that it comes out, like speaking of left field, where Spock is like, I'm going to draw a pentagram in the circle of the ground with chalk that I have, and if I stand in it, I'm going to be able to use magic. I'm like, uh look, if you want to say like we are in a world where thoughts can become manifest, sure. I don't know why you need a pentagram, except that allows this to be a Halloween episode. But okay, we'll go with that. And then Bones, of course, is the one who's like, ha, ha, hog, hog swallowed. No, no, no, no, no. So it needs to be Bones at the end, who's the one who's like, who they're all having to say, believe. You just have to believe, Bones, because when it's Kirk at the end, you're like, well, yeah, of course Kirk is gonna do what Spock did. Like, there's no arc there. Like, that was the big moment when they start shouting at him like, you have to use your thoughts. Anyways, I think I think there could have been a little stronger arc there with because that's supposed to be the big climactic moment. Like, that's the theme. It's like embrace what you don't understand, right? That's the theme of Star Trek.

I think for sure Bones never believed it the entire time.

Like, he's like, This was I I drunk myself into a stupor. That's all I'm putting in my log.

I had a couple too many minky lips, it's fine. This will all blow over. Like, and then they all get a pint at the end. Like, it's so it's like, yeah, I mean, uh, you're not incorrect, Cameron. I will say, this series won an Emmy back in the day. So but the the it's the little things for me, like the detail of they put Eric's in one of the stockades, right? And they drilled a a third hole for his third hand so that all three of his hands are hanging out of the stock.

I'm like, yeah, that's that's cool. Like, I'm glad they did that. I was yeah, I was looking at the stockades carefully. I'm like, man, they really they they filled all the characters in. These aren't just generic uh generic outlines. Like, yeah, I can see that that's Tulu, that's yearks, like that. They're all there. Yeah. So um I did I did appreciate when Lucian's like, come to my planet, takes the three-white guys, leaves everybody else off. Like, damn, I'm Lucy.

Okay, and when he's like, hey, if you need a castle, just talk to a contractor wizard. And then he builds what could only be described as like a bouncy house-sized castle out of glass, by the way. So, like, no privacy, there's no rooms in this thing, it's just kind of the shape of a castle. Is that just a proof of concept for that buyer?

The shape of it's like a Kwanzaa hut. It's like a glass quant. So did filmation, this is filmation, did they just reuse, and I think this was before, so maybe maybe this was the birth of She-Ra? Because that lady on the planet looked just like She-Ra. Maybe it wasn't before the the cast.

They reused a couple shots in this episode from this episode. Spock talking. I was like, oh, that's the same exact shot. Okay.

Spock talking, and then the opening shot where it's like, oh, we're zooming into the windows on the bridge, was also the same shot later where they're like, oh, the ship is tilting now. It's going down to the planet.

Like that's just smart filmmaking.

It is. But I do like that when they split the Enterprise in half, like you can almost see like a knife cutting the animation cell straight down the middle, and then just slowly moving those two halves of the ship apart. Like, but yes, to your point, Cameron, that did happen across filmation shows where they were like, well, we have this character, and there will be you'll find other characters in the animated series where you're like, I'm nearly certain that is just from He-Man. Like, it happens pretty frequently.

Did they also do Space Ghosts then? Because apparently all of the Megas 2 people in their maybe original form, although I think their original form is not supposed to be something we can comprehend. Just a bunch of Space Ghosts. Bunch of Space Ghosts.

And a maybe legitimately the scariest looking things in the episode, in my opinion. Yeah, yeah. Those were creepy.

Yeah. A lot creepier than Cousin Eddie as a pilgrim, or sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Even when he's like, my name is Asmodeus.

I was like, no, your name is John or Paul or Luke.

Like, come on, man. It is Randy Quaid, that is your name. Don't yep. Let's go ahead and hear from Platy.

Hey there, Open Pike Knight. It's Plady M3, and I'm calling in with my hit shits and giggles about the animated series Magics. Alright, hit. Lucian, awesome six packs abs. The look of joy on Kirk's face when Spock moves that puzzle piece. Magic. Also, when Sulu made a woman appear and was about to kiss her, and then suddenly Lucian pops back in and Kirk's like, oh, oh, oh, we're just all learning to protect ourselves here. Yeah. Sure, right. Also, props to the writer for getting good use of their thesaurus, pulling out the word perfidy in describing humans and calling the love potion a love filter, which was also correct usage. Alright, come on now. Shit. What what what's the Megan's calling humans the vilest beings in all the universe? Really? Think about some other races in Star Trek. These people don't get around much. What's with the records of Earth only existing on tapes and punch cards? That's not futuristic. Alright, so to be clear now, Lucifer's a Megan. Um, don't see Star Trek V's god here. Oh shit. But my wife's name Megan. So could that mean that Star Trek V's god is Megan? But Lucifer's also Megan? Which one's my wife? Alright, but for real, like, what was up with that old witch with the love filter? Everybody can look young and beautiful, but she stays looking like an old hag just to sell love potions? And that sorcerer contractor? What the hell was that empty shell of a thing you built? The giggles here were the extraordinary phenomenon on the screen that were just fireworks. And did you see Nurse Chapel just fall like she was turned off when they got pulled into that storm? I was cracking up at that. Alright. Weird episode, Platty and 3 signing off.

Leave it to the RPG nerd to be like, hey, they correctly use the word filter when describing a potion. I appreciate that, Platty. I really do. I didn't bump on that little. We we promise not to tell your wife that you're worried she's either God or the devil.

I was wondering, I was like, wait, going into the are you telling me that the writers of the movies don't consider the animated series canon? Is that what we're doing? Apparently not.

I also love that like we're gonna go where the you know the start of the universe and see if matter's being made into the center of the galaxy. I'm like, yeah, guys, we aren't we are not the center of the universe.

Well, one, I love that like in an episode that gets this batshit crazy with magic, we start off with pretty hard science, like the beginning of the universe, and we theorize that that might still be creating matter, except we're going to conflate the words galaxy and universe, so problem A. And then we get to the Salem Witch trials where no one was burned, not a single person was burned during the Salem Witch trials. They were hung and one guy was pressed to death. Like, open a book. The filmation is cheap, but the writing doesn't have to be.

Yeah, that was definitely a anecdotal burn the witch thing. It's like, yeah, man, they like famously guy got rocks piled on him, said more weight, and fucking died. Like, which is one of the most badass final lines in all of literature. History.

Literally equivalent to bring it on. Like it is exactly the same thing.

And what was up with the three Musketeers era French guard in Salem? Yeah. It was like it was like the guy from Monty Python was in the background there. He's about to like make fun of their mothers being hamsters.

But even their own internal logic doesn't make sense. Like, we've been persecuted in this country for being different. Let's go to another place full of humans. Like, it's gonna happen again, man. Like, it's that's not because you happen to be able to do that.

Also, that's not how Salem was settled, I'm pretty sure.

Well, but for the for the science of it, like 1974, right? So I mean, I don't know because it's like we had a lesser understanding, sure. But we I mean you do have like in TOS, they're like, hey, there are there are thousands of stars in the sky or millions in the sky. It's like you're still off by like several orders of magnitude.

I mean, you know, this is before Hawking, this is before Sagan, this is before like really important works that made everyday people understand the nature of the universe a lot better. And it's like still galaxy industry. It's not a terrible theorem. Yeah, galaxy universe. I'm like, all right, all right.

But they take it a shot. I mean, Star Trek has has done that a lot, though. I think they've, you know, maybe at this point they're just leaning into like, look, in the future we use the terms differently, okay?

I still don't understand how the galaxy is quadrants.

So yeah. But also, you whether you're doing the galaxy or the universe, the fact that these interdimensional beings would leave their spot, and the first place they would come across is Earth, which is on like the outer rim of our galaxy and very far away from the center of the universe. Like, I think they would have run across a Klingon or a Borg or something or two before they hit Earth.

Look, they came here for the turkeys, and that's why they dress like that. No other planet has turkeys. Right. That's why they dress like that. They just didn't want to seem, you know, like they had no reason. So they were like, oh yeah, we're space travelers. That's why. That's that's what we did. But it I mean, it does have this to me, it is the a word that keeps popping up is charming, right? Like it's not special. Like it's it's you're not gonna watch this and go, Oh, maybe this is the best Star Trek series of all the Star Trek series, right? But you're gonna go, it's it's charming, it's comfortable. Like, I know these voices, it's great. I'm recognizing these voices in more than one place. Like very clearly, George Takay as the vengeful spirits, like yes, he is.

Yeah, and that was a cool sequence. I like the vengeful spirits, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And James Deween famously throughout this series will provide the voice of essentially anyone who is not from the main cast. And perhaps unsurprisingly, Nichelle Nichols will play any female character that is not uh Christine Chapel. So you'll run into that.

It's it's sad that like only the three main stars get the opening credits because I'm like that was a little weird. It's cool that you got the whole cast advertised that in your show, but okay. I do wonder, like, I don't know much about the creation of the animated series. Maybe I've heard that like they took original scripts that they were going to use for the original series and turned because that's what it feels like. It feels there are a lot of really fascinating sci-fi ideas in here. Like, I mean, it's not original, but yeah, like interdimensional god beings came to earth and posed as gods, and that's where our myths come from. I mean, Thor deals in that, and we've seen tons of things deal with that, but like it's still really cool, and this episode just skims right over it. It's really cool that the the the crew of the Enterprise would have to defend the devil in trial, but they just kind of skim over it and then make a really nonsensical joke about it at the end. Uh so yeah, it does feel like I could just see Roddenberry like crying as he's like cutting up the scripts and like turning it into like a 20-minute kids Saturday morning cartoon.

But honestly, like at least I I I do look forward to watching the animated series, and I do look forward to them not being an hour long. That's true. Yeah. Because of the of all the TOS episodes we've watched so far, I'm like, man, I I would love to go into a type 37.

Yeah, we've got to watch City on the Edge of Forever. I've got a piece of the action. Ah, nice. I mean, a piece of the action, but it drags.

Like there's there's moments where you're like, okay, we get it. Yeah, you need to watch City, you need to watch Doomsday Machine.

Doomsday Machine is amazing. Yes. It is I mean, it's I mean, that's amazing TV takeaway that it was made in the 60s, and for that it's yeah, yeah.

There are episodes of the original series where you're like, I can absolutely see why people would demand this show be brought back after it was cancelled. That kind of a thing. That makes sense. And then there are ones where you're like, oh, this is why it was cancelled. Well, I was so in the animated series, to your point, Cameron, this is not the only episode where maybe ancient interdimensional aliens were the gods of earth, so don't worry, you'll get more of that. Hell yeah. And it's it's also not the only instance in Star Trek writ large where Spock is like, just believe, and the mind bullets will not kill you. Like it's it's fine. You guys believe you gotta watch the Western episode of TOS. It is almost as wacky as this episode of the animated series. There is one other episode of the animated series that is equally batshit, but it seems to have less of a reason to be. Like, this is oh, it's the devil and it's magic. Okay, it can get weird. There's one other episode that's just weird, and you kind of don't really get an explanation for why. And it's it's very fun.

To those points, like it again, it's kind of a fascinating idea that Spock of all people would be like, oh, ritual, and like you have to say these words just right, and you have to have more gongs and crystals surrounding you, and so like of course he would get that. Like, it would have been cool if they had pulled in like the Vulcan mysticism a little more to be like why he picked up on it first and how he taught the rest of the crew how to manifest their own ladies. Uh, but to the point of like the uh we are now entering a place where everything is indistinguishable from magic. Like, I just Starfleet, buy a fucking probe or two, like they're headed to the center of the galaxy/slash universe, and they say, our scientists theorize that the laws of physics might not work here, and then they get there, and the laws of physics start working, and they're like, quick re retreat, back this bitch up, like send a fucking probe in.

That it does seem to like with the with a couple of exceptions in TOS, specifically, where like the episode is designed around a probe doing a thing. It does seem like they're much more likely to like, well, what if we just drive there? And it's like, well, that could be dangerous, like, but that's a little more of that wild west, you know, sheriff guy kind of out among the stars thing going on. TNG is much more like, would it make sense for the captain to go down on every away trip? Like, maybe we should have more probes. Hey, what if we put out a signal buoy?

Like, man, you if anybody who's with Cam on this is like, we need probes, we need stuff like that, read the Bobiverse books. They're very funny. Oh, I've heard about the Bobiverse books. Oh man, you would like the Bobaverse books.

Okay, okay, for sure. Yeah, yeah, we're someone I was reading, I was I was saying something about them somewhere. They might be very four books in. Yeah.

Bobiverse, like easy reads, very fun. Nice, nice, nice. And uh yeah, good ongoing storyline.

So although, even though the rest of the crew is freaking out when you know everything stops working and they're about to die, I I just do love absolutely how Kirk's pluses are completely non here. Like he is just Alright, back it up. No, alright, go to the left. No, like it's I don't know if that's just Shatner not giving a shit or like him being like Kirk is the coldest mother in the galaxy.

Okay. Think about this. If you're William Shatner and you've gone from being Captain Kirk, yes, to now you're gonna be on an animated show, but you're the same character. Are you reading any of the script that doesn't have your name next to it? Probably not. Right? Like you don't know what's happening. You're just reading the lines.

But I was this during TJ Hooker also? Was he busy?

Oh man, now I want to filmation TJ Hooker. I'm here to say a filmation of anything is good. Not necessarily like as far as quality goes, right? But like it should be made and we should give get the chance to watch it. Should exist in this universe. I will also say, Cam, Spock did seem to be the first person to figure out the haunting situation on the Griffin incident for kind of the same reasons you mentioned, where he's like, well, if the if the rules are different, then I should follow the rules, and that means I can do thing X. So 100%.

100%. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, let's go ahead and hear from Starship.

Hello, open pike night. So the animated series, the magic of Megas 2. Um I'm not gonna talk about how silly it is. I don't think you need me to talk about how silly it is with the pilgrims and the devil and the devil being a pretty chill guy. But there are a lot of moments in it that I like, particularly the ending where Spock gets to play lawyer, and when Kirk and Co. don't even bat an eye, when Asmodeus is like, you know, Lucian is like the devil, right? You know, it doesn't matter. He's a living being, and he deserves he deserves the same rights as everyone else. You know, and that's that's just the uh the essence of Star Trek, isn't it? So it's a very silly episode, but I really like the animated series, and this has some good moments in it, despite it all. Although they go to the center of the universe and they meet the devil, but in Star Trek V, they go and they meet not God. So did Lucian move? You know, just stuff to chew on. Live long and prosper.

I I do love Kirk's rationing there too, when they're like, okay, Lucian, you gotta live in a bubble forever. We're basically sending you to wherever the uh you know the bad guys in Superman 2 went. I always forget the name of it. Phantom Zone. Bang Phantom Zone. And Kirk is like, you know, this guy's a pretty outgoing fellow. For someone like him, that's crazy. Like, yeah, Kirk, for anybody, an eternity in a bubble is crazy. You're gonna drive you crazy.

Good politics on Star Trek, solitary confinement is torture. Like, yeah, they're they're like I just like how he has the qualifier like, you know, that guy's really outgoing.

Yeah. He's gonna hate me.

Yeah.

All right. I'm gonna I'm gonna pose this question to you. I've already said I could see it being a fun Strange New Worlds episode, but take that away. Which other trek would you? Like to have seen this storyline take place at DS9.

Which DS9 I mean DS9 because you know Avery Brooks is gonna crush 100% that would have been so good. Yeah. But as far as like where it might fit, Voyager, like this is yeah, not that far off of a Voyager plot, in my opinion. Like, you just do whatever you feel like that week, and characterization maybe be damned. Like so I I think Voyager could have done this and been fine with it. Um there's an episode of Voyager, spoiler alert here, Cameron, where Captain Janeway air quotes dies and then has to like find her way back or something like that, and there's a totally not Q guy trying to help her, and it's like very similar to the next phase, but it's it hits so much less because A, you've seen the next phase, right? Yeah, and then B, when she dies, which ostensibly actually happens, Chakote is giving a like stay with me. No. It might be one of the worst Chicote performances I've ever seen. Like, yeah. So even if you even if this is like the first Star Trek you've ever seen, you're like, well, she's not dead.

Like it's but also keep in mind Cam at this point has also seen Discovery, where somebody dies and gets pulled back out of mushrooms. Right.

So still a more effective death than that one in the Voyager.

Yeah, I mean, because we had no idea. Like, like they actually let that one soak for a few episodes.

I believe they actually thought they were killing the character, and we're like, eh, maybe we this guy's too good looking. Let's bring him back. People did get really mad at us for that.

Let's uh let's reevaluate.

But yeah, I mean I think I think it would work with Voyager because there was and part of it is because they are so far away, right? Like they're constantly running into stuff that they've never experienced and there's no records on. So that would work. But I mean, to your point, John, I would I think it would work for Strange New Worlds. Like Oh yeah. Oh, hands down. I mean, you have a literal interdimensional space lawyer in that show with Marie, like what a great way to bring her back, like have her be prosecuting the devil, and you know, Spock and Pike are defending the devil. Like I there's I think the beauty of this series is that there is so much there that works. Like, it is cheesy, there's no way around that, right? No, but it's got great bones.

Yeah, I know that like this this episode. Nothing about this episode to me. I'm like, this feels like Star Trek. Like, I'm I'm fully on board for all the trek I've seen.

I'm like, yep, this fits in. I mean, it was pretty intense when Lucian brought the crew of the Enterprise down to the planet and started like using them as part of his ploy to overthrow the rest of the aliens on the planet and like really threatening them and their families, and he even had to kill one of the crew members when they got drunk in a little mouthy and might have like told on them. And then he sacrificed himself to show that really, you know, he was you know uh doing all that for the future lives, but not his own for a future he would not be able to enjoy. God, I wish I could remember more lines from Andor. But uh to the the devil of it all, like again, there's some really interesting, like I didn't really even think about it while watching because the devil thing is just like such a throwaway, like, you know, oh well, we don't care, and then joke. Like, I mean, the character is the devil, like he is like this laid-back guy who's like, yeah, everyone else was like being all uppity over here, and I was just like, hey, let's just like smoke a bowl and chill out and do what we want. Like, this is the actual like fallen angel of the Bible, where like he's not some red horned guy down in hell who punishes sinners, he's just like an angel who was like, uh, I don't think we should do what the head guy says. Which, which is like it brings up the question, like, which is a crazy thing to have in a 70s kids show, right?

Is this the is this Gene Roddenberry being like, hey, maybe the devil was cool.

Maybe religion might be a little uh overbearing in Rome.

And honestly, maybe this was the only way to get that point across in the 70s kids show. So I'm like turning around on this episode in a big way, honestly.

Yeah, it's legitimately good. Like, like I said, there's no way around it being cheesy. That's part of the presentation, but like what the content of it is good, and I'm excited, John, for you to maybe see other TAS episodes where it's like this one has a moral, like this one is this one has a very specific plot centered on one character or like you know, that kind of a thing. And I don't know. I mean, the animated series is where we got Robert April, the animated series is where we got the holodeck. Like, there's is Taprine in the animated series?

I saw an image of her on Google when I was looking for Taprine images for our interview with Gia Santo, which if you haven't watched, go listen to. Yeah, it was a really fun discussion. Now I'm Googling it. I did like how the Enterprise had to fly through flying pancakes and then found a giant glass blown ball like you can blow on the coast here in Oregon. That was uh I wasn't expecting that. I wasn't expecting Kirk to turn into a dancing balloon man. Yeah.

That was fun. That is the one part of the episode I'm like, I don't care what's going on here. Like that we're on the planet, oh yeah, you guys don't want to be in pieces. Here's a child version of me for a second. Like, what what is that okay?

Forget that, whatever that was. I put the yeah, the planet is now in symbols you understand and like trees and cities. And apparently they screwed up the castle symbol, like everyone has mentioned, but like that that's kind of a fascinating idea. Like, this is not what our planet looks like, these cool futuristic cityscapes, but they are like you know, what you would consider a house. We're kind of trying to show you what we live. Yeah, it's it's another great kind of interesting experiment.

They're not actually in Salem, yeah, right? Like, this is a thing you this is a symbol that you will understand. Um, Cameron, I think to Pring was in very short tricks in the style of the animated series. Yeah, okay. But I don't believe she appears in the animated series. I bet that's what it was from. Yeah.

Yeah. Why is Mexico red?

Uh is Mexico red just in case.

When they show the Earth, Mexico is very clearly a different color from every other country and continent around it.

Well, there's also like a planet visible next to Earth in that shot, so it's like, come on, man.

That's more what I was focused on than I didn't even notice that. I also love that they just did we here's Earth. We're not gonna zoom in, we're not gonna zoom out. Here's Earth. And there's no flashback.

I will just explain what happened while we were on this planet that you are looking at right now. Like it's yeah, I mean, you can always see the budget in Star Trek, right? But here it is maybe more apparent than another series.

And I did wonder if we shouldn't have done this for our 4th of July episode when fireworks were the cue that they had finally reached the center of the galaxy slash unit. That was matter being created, Ken.

Oh, okay. What do you think it looks like? Well, when the devil arrives on your starship, it is a Halloween episode. Also, I will say, he was not pretending not to be the devil. Like they should have known right away.

He was Mr. Thompson. My name's Lucy, and I have horns and cloven hoover. Gee, I wonder who this is gonna be.

I was expecting an orgy and a wine from cornucopia. It's like he was a bacchus. He was clearly Greek inspired.

My point being, I I think it was I my guess is that that was a symbol he chose. Oh, they'll recognize the devil immediately. I won't have to explain anything. And then they're like, Who are you? And he's like, Really? Okay, humans.

I don't know. Just Kirk being involved in a wizard's tool is not something I ever thought I'd have on my Star Trek bingo card. And that set to a 1970s Funkadelic soundtrack. Like it was good soundtrack. It was like it was kind of better than the end of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, which is uh basically what it was. Or Dark City, or like you know, spoilers the other thing where the they have to just use their mind powers.

Well, and that they cut to him like Spock's like, hey man, you remember magic? And then the next shot is Kirk like rearing back with his arms and pointing them out. It's like, oh shit, he does remember magic because I'm racing it.

Magic missile, magic missile, magic missile. I cast fireball.

Yeah. I'm glad you brought up Dark City because it it does very much feel like that. I'm like, I remember thinking watching that. I'm like, man, this had to be weird to film. It's like, okay, hold your mouth open really wide and go like this. Don't worry, we're gonna add beast to your forehead. It will look awesome.

It won't look awesome. It won't look awesome. I love Dark City. That does not look awesome there. We're gonna watch Dark City again. I love that movie.

Oh god, yeah, it's an amazing movie. Yeah. So, okay. Um, we talked about other other series, so and then we talked about Dr. Culber. So who's more jacked? Dr. Culber or Lucian?

Lucian.

I don't know, man. Like Lucian has the benefit of being animated.

His rib cage sticks like three kids. He looks like that really badly drawn uh Captain America pose that went around the internet at the Liefeld one. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

I mean, that's like it you probably know what we're talking about, even if you don't know who Rob Liefeld is. Like, go look up bad Captain America cover and you'll go, oh, I've seen this. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah.

No, I legit the only reason I know about it is because I had a conversation with Rob Campbell earlier today. He's like, you know, Rob Liefeld, I'm like, no idea who you're talking about. It's like you drew this picture, I know exactly who you're talking about. Yeah.

It's yeah, it's infamous. Yeah. I don't know. I would my gut, such as it were, is to give it to Culber, but like it is hard to argue with the devil. So those shoulders, man.

Like Colbert's legs. He's Culber's on leg day for sure. Yeah.

And like, couldn't we have seen the devil do something cool physically, like lift something really big?

I just like the devil's like he's just like a chill dude. He does nothing, he just hangs push-ups. He welcomes people and come on in, yeah. No, help help have yourself to the to help yourself to their fridge. It's cool. Come on.

No, no, keep it down though. My roommates might not like that you're here. But to Platty's question about the old lady selling the potions, I think it ties in with the wizard contractor guy. Like they're big on proof of concept, right? Like, yeah, they want to show you, hey, I could be as beautiful as you, or I could build you a castle. So here's kind of a general like approximation of one that no one would ever use.

But again, if they like he talks about like, oh yeah, you humans are all about your matter, like form, and like, yeah, okay, it's gonna take some effort to like make all this matter, but that's fine. So, okay, you guys are all thought aliens. That's fine. Why would what do you mean make yourself young and beautiful if you're thought aliens? Young and beautiful as a concept tied to matter.

Well, I don't know. The episode doesn't tell me, and Asmodeus is like, you know, oh yeah, they gave in to their lust and their power, and it's like okay, then like why are you like you're making to your point, Cam, you're making value judgments here, right? Right? Yeah, and those seem to be based on like physical effects that happened to real people, and you're really upset that they attacked you and burned you at the stake. But aren't you magic?

You went to another dimension. What are you whining at? You came to our home and we were kind of mean to you.

And it appears that you could just leave whenever you wanted. Well, he did say something like they had to channel their power to escape. Yeah, I that's true.

He's like, we did have to go have a seance about it to be able to figure out how to do this.

But I love I mean, Star Trek is full of just like the most petulant god aliens. Again, that is definitely another Rod and Berry. Like, I love the legal system. The more power you have, the more petulant you are, which honestly in our day and age is just he's yeah, he's not wrong. Yeah, no, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I just I don't know. Like, I'm I'm gonna be trying to find ways to put in other animated series episodes now. Like, it's not a lot of work to get through them. They spawn great discussion, and they're genuinely enjoyable.

It was super fun. It was super fun to watch this. I'm glad you I'm glad we picked it for our Halloween, something more lighthearted after I mean, a good season, but man, just as a podcast, that was an intense season. Star Trek. Like we just took a month break and like I'm glad we did.

I am I'm glad that we did, and I'm also glad to be back talking about it because it always reinvigorates me when we talk Star Trek. But like, yeah, I think it was absolutely necessary. Like there has been so much real life that it's not that we've been ignoring real life, obviously, but it's like some things you pay less attention to when you need to do a show every week, get it edited, get it out, do three shows every week in Cam's case, doing all these interviews and stuff. It's like there's a lot of other stuff that could be going on, and you just you kind of push it to the side. So it's like you know, like since then I've watched all of Lanterns. Lanterns was so much fun. I watched the rest of Chain Smoker Cat, which I will say uh is maybe weirder than this episode of Star Trek, and you should probably watch Chainsmoker Cat. It is about a chain smoking cat girl. That's all you need to know. And I've been playing video games, I've been playing video games for like five or six years, man. Like it's there's just like so many other things, you know. And then also, yeah, like spent a bunch of time with my family who I totally love. And I I I was not ignoring them during the season, but it there is like just an understanding. Like my daughter would be like, Do you have a podcast tonight? And I could see she was a little bummed if I said yes. And it's like, oh you know, that's kinda that that kind of sucks. Like but she also does her own podcast every night before bed. They're like 45 seconds long, they're not getting released. But I do have this really cool record of her for like two years saying what she did throughout the day and what she's gonna do the next day and how she feels like.

Keep on going with those. Like one of the most impactful things I ever heard was on I think it was on an episode of Radio Lab, a guy who had recorded little interviews with his niece over like 17 years, and and it was like a two-minute audio clip of her just growing up, and like I like that it destroyed me. Yeah, just just hearing that like holy crap. I like yeah, it's very, very cool to hear stuff like that as as a person, a fully formed person, appears. Yeah, and yeah.

I'm really excited, and especially you know, once she's older to be like, all right, here's you. Like, yeah, you want to argue about this or do you want to listen to your six-year-old self talk about McDonald's? Like, which thing is that like and you know, yeah, someday if she's on the precipice of marriage or something, I can go to her significant other and be like, you want to hear the cutest thing ever? And she'll be so embarrassed. It's great. Absolutely. Like, I'm I'm absolutely looking forward to it. Heck yeah. But Cameron, we did mention briefly interviews. Are we just are we just done doing interviews about Star Trek now?

Oh no, we've got more coming. We've got some we've been trying to get for a long time. Long time. Yeah. And we've got some that uh that will hopefully manifest that we've had on many times that people are always excited for. So yeah, keep an eye out. I I do have one one uh one surprise I'm hoping we get. We'll see.

In this in the business, we call that a tease.

A tease, yes. Yes. Also, I guess we should have started this out by like, yes, haha, just joking. We didn't take our two-week break yet. Uh we we wanted to do a Halloween episode, so we threw this one together. After this, we will be going to every other week. Yes. Yes.

Although I uh I don't know, I'll put it out there if people have feedback. I was kind of thinking in between, maybe maybe after Christmas, like we could re-release some of the episode that writer and director interviews that got like two days of being at the top of our feed this this season, and just see if you know, for anybody who missed them, although it looks like people are going back. Our numbers have not declined since we didn't, you know, since the season ended. Our our weekly download numbers are staying pretty strong. So I think people really are going back and listening to all those great writer and director interviews we had for the season. If you have not heard them, go check them out. There was a lot of them. I'm not mad if you didn't stay up to date on them. Yeah. Yeah, I I was just scrolling through the downloads. I'm like, oh hey, those are some those are numbers are better than they were a month ago on almost every episode. So And you know, thank you.

Something that I've seen that has kind of really just made me very happy is there is an assumption among a certain segment of Star Trek fans that like these writers don't care about anything, they don't know Star Trek at all, they don't love this show the way I love this show. And then they listen to our episode or watch an interview that we have with one of those writers, and they go, Oh, I just disagree with the choices they made. They absolutely know what they're doing, they're coming from a place of love. I just disagree with the choices, and that's totally cool. But I'm glad that we can bring some awareness to people like, no, these are not people that were just hired for no reason to crap out a show. Like, they really love what they're doing, and they're doing it with a lot of craft behind it.

So, you know, if you know the only Star Trek series that ever did that was the original series because there was no Star Trek before it.

And maybe the animated series. But if you know one of those Star Trek fans, see if you can get them to listen to an episode, maybe figure out you know what their favorite episode was and send them that writer interview. I don't know.

Just just or the directors this season were also like insanely fun interviews. I'm glad we talked.

And with uh the holidays coming up, again, just take the phones of the people you're in a room with and press subscribe on Open Pike Night. It's not gonna hurt them. Worst case scenario, they have a new podcast they like. Like who that that's a gift you can give for free.

Hey, feel free to if you want to give a gift that's not for free, buy someone a Patreon subscription to our I don't know what we're gonna be having on there soon. We've talked about things, but there will be stuff uh before seasons for sure.

Maybe it's just gonna be all of the animated series.

I I you know what that'd be pretty solid. I don't know. We might need to save that for after the show wraps up. So let's let's keep something in our pocket.

I still nominate we watch Femme Fait Allen review. Yeah.

Hey, but you know what? We're coming up on a period of what do you want us to talk about? If there's something you think tangentially is connected to Star Trek, be it actor, writer, whatever, and you'd really love to hear our take and the community's take, let us know.

Yeah. Absolutely. And it's been a long season and it's been a long night, and it's gonna be a spoo night. So be sure to clean up all the bloodstains, be sure to eat all your candy. You can go anywhere you want, but you can't slay here. Come check out Green Shirt in a couple weeks.

We'll be back.

Woohoo.