Episode 16: Contaminated Cultures (PRO 1×13 All the World's a Stage, PRO 1×14 Crossroads)

Did you miss us? It has been a fortnight, but has it felt like an a, a millennia? Well, we are back. I am indeed Rob, and the person I am shooting the poo with is, uh, the wonderful Kevin Yank. How are you?

Yeah, it's me, Kev. Uh, I'm, I'm, well it is, uh, two weeks is a long time between missions, uh, but it feels like we're doing the long haul from the Delta quadrant here. Uh, there's a long distance between stars sometimes, We've got two episodes of Prodigy here to talk about, uh, today and a theme as usual. Uh, the, the theme we picked out was contaminated cultures or like primitive cultures that have come in contact with the federation or some other entity and, uh, have their cultures warp.

Yes. And as always, like you came up with a very long, uh, very specific detailed description of it. And then you find on memory alpha that they came up with that turn a phrase, the, uh, contaminated culture. So, cuz of course I do. Yes.

Here's a link. There's a link in the show notes to contaminated cultures. If you wanna read all of the background,

There will always be a link. So we, we are. Episode 13 of season one. All the world's a stage. Of course, the wonderful quote from, uh, Jay, from, as You Like It, um, one of the characters, the melancholy color character from, as You Like It, that pastoral comedy by the Great William Shakespeare and is incorporated in to this episode. And what were your initial thoughts of the episode, Kevin?

Love hate is my reaction to this episode. I love it so much and I hate a couple of small details , but overall, perhaps my favorite episode of Prodigy so far.

Oh wow. That is a big call, is definitely the one that leans, this is the most star Trek of Star Trek, prodigy episodes because it has not only, although that tip of the hat to the past with the original. But it has, unlike our lower decks, which has a like a hint of a cynical edge to it, sometimes.

Yes. There's a barb in every compliment. Yes. Whereas this is a true loving homage. Yes. Like a wholehearted, you know what? That show is so good. We're gonna build our whole society around it.

Exactly. And for me, it's very much a case of. It does owe a lot to the incredible, uh, work of, uh, galaxy Quest as well that I did feel like the Thermians did. Yes. They were sorta like spawned from this culture who embraced it so much, and the even down to the fact like characters spoke like James T. Kirk, and spoke life.

Now you're talking about one of my hate moments of this cause the idea that a planet would be inspired by a glancing contact with Starfleet and, and get a few of the details charmingly wrong, uh, even as they did their best to mimic every single aspect that is like, it makes your heart swell. It is, it is a lovely, joyful thing to behold a. What I will call, I'm sure it wasn't intended this way, but it came off to me as a mean-spirited lampooning of William Shatner.

Oh, really?

I think it was completely unnecessary. Oh yeah.

I didn't see it as mean-spirited as all, because so many of us as huge hardcore fans. Do our Shana. Yeah. We all have our Shatner impersonation, and in many ways, Shatner, the Shatner impersonation is the go-to. Like in Star Wars, you have Vader, you have 3PO, you have Yoda. You have those clear voices and things that you can do well within the Star Trek world. Everyone leans into their Shatner, so the pause is needed.

I concede that, but the, the ultimate effect of it here, to me is to make the show less accessible, more off-putting to its intended audience. Yeah. If you're a kid who's never seen William Shatner do Kirk, let. Do that version of Kirk the larger than life Kirk, um, this character is just gonna be off-putting and weird in, in a cringey kind of way, I feel.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It it, like I was saying, it does the one, it is the one episode of Prodigy that leans so heavily into it. Um, and that's why I was a bit worried about with the previous one, with the, uh, uh, Koru episode, with bringing in these characters. Would that inspire young, new viewers?

Yeah, I agree. Same. Same deal. We'll put them off.

Um, So yes, the crew of the, uh, the Protostar, are obviously worried that they have this machine, uh, that's been installed in the ship that will just immediately, with any contact with a staff lead vessel, will, uh, infect that ship and just destroy it, set it apart as we have already seen in the previous episode.

What I love about this episode, one of the many things I love about this episode is faced with that impasse of we can't go back to star. They just go on a mission. Yep. They're like, what good can we do? We're we wanna be like Starfleet, let's try and help someone.

Which they've been implying they've been doing for like the last, you know, couple of episodes.

That's right. We see little clips. But it was so refreshing. Just like Strange, New, Worlds was a breath of fresh air to see a. Crew on a ship do a mission. Yes. Yeah. Uh, that's what we got this episode. And it was the same. Oh yes. This is what I love about Starfleet. We get to the end of an hour together and they've fixed the problems of an entire world.

You made a new culture. See how they interact And we, we find out that this race has got some sort of, um, Evil presence or dark presence known as the gallows. And, uh, that's one aspect of sci-fi that I really love. There's been explored in a lot of things. There's a, a Dr who story called The Face of Evil, where, uh, the, uh, colonists of crash on the planet and thousands of years later, the descendants of split into two tribes. So instead of the survey team, there's the sever team.

You can decipher about half of it. Like I knew right away that "en-son" was an ensign. I was like, okay, which ensign? I'm gonna guess. Uh, I know there was an ensign behind all of this, and it was, some of them were just charming. The James t and Sue Lou and Dr. Boones and Spock.

Yes. So good. And the, and the and the Vulcan Signal. Signal Yes. Was different and done wrong. Oh, and what was what?

They all live together on the new end up prize

And what was the, instead of live long and prosper, it was,

uh, live logs and proper , which, which seems to make no sense until later. We find out that the logs are what they call the plays that they put on to teach each other. What Starfleet or Star Flight is all about.

And look, as a high school drama teacher and, uh, a member of many amateur performances back in the day, I do appreciate an animated recreation of a very amateur performance with the use of very bad, um, props and, and, and sets that move very easily from one place to the other.

Yeah, so I, I, I love that they played fair, the gallows. First of all, not an obviously broken word, so you aren't immediately looking for what it actually means. Yes. But when it was revealed that it was the shuttle craft Galileo, it was like, of course the gallows and the, the googly pink eyes were the lights on the end of the Noels. Yes. And it's just Oh, so satisfying.

Very well done. Very, very well done. It was good again, for these, you know, protester crew. Find out more about this federation culture and staff league culture and the positivity of it and how they're inspired by. Yeah, cuz they're so wanting to be a part of staff athlete and they've kind of lost their way a little bit. But going on these missions and then finding out the modus appi of the federation can stay with them and inspire them, whether it be TOS or Voyager. Yes. Mm-hmm.

Indeed. And that, uh, that comes ahead in the next episode in a big way.

Well, at the end of episode 13, they've been able to do a hologram thing so that the people from the colony can.

Yeah, that was one. I think as often happens almost every week, in fact on, uh, Prodigy, it is a, uh, solution that will satisfy the kiddies, but not quite make sense to us grownups. We just have to kind of smile along and go, yeah, sure.

You can change the layout to look like the original Enterprise.

The theater kids can drive the ship. They know how. Damn right. And all it worked in Galaxy Quest. So

It very much did. So, yes. Uh, and another big shocker was, uh, Murf. Murf was um, is in some sort of cocoon as well.

It's like he's going to be a pretty butterfly.

I was thinking that too. I'm going, let's bring out the Murf butterfly. And there was a hint at the end of the episode that they would dispose of the ship and find their own way to get to, to the Federation, which leads into Yes, indeed. Episode 14, crossroads,

Before we go there. I just wanna say the, the connection to cannon of Ensign Garrovick, David Garrovick. Uh, a small red shirt part in an original series episode called Obsession. He was, a single episode guest star. But a big part of that episode, he was a red shirt whose father was killed by a gas cloud and he was obsessed with tracking it down and killing it. And Kirk, uh, is his commander.

never returning to the Enterprise, but, uh, inspiring this culture. Uh, strive to be their very best.

Yes. And what more can you expect from a red shirt?

Well, in Starfleet you inspire a really good theater company to put on, you know, a series of plays that just define a culture. And don't we all want that we've all done impro shows that we thought would change society? Yes. Okay, so next episode. Crossroads, the most recent one that came out. They've decided to dump, uh, the Protostar Yeah. On an ice planet, uh, covered in the snow. Leave Janeway there. And, um, try and find Federation while at the same time.

Yes, it was. They, they stopped short of calling it a wretched den of scum and villainy.

There's no wretched hive there.

They called it a haven for smugglers and anyone wishing to disappear.

Exactly.

But it was much the same vibe.

Yeah. Alec Guinness was uh, uh, pricking ears as up in his grave going, uh, you quoing me . Um, and we had another, Uh, deep cut reference from the next generation. Speaking of Scum and villainy. Yeah, it's the great Billy Campbell returns with in voice form with now with an eye patch and gray hair in animated form.

Yeah. Great's a strong word.

I like Billy Campbell. Come on. He was the Rocketeer.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if the Outrageous Okona was the character we needed to bring back from the past, but I guess everyone gets a turn, right?

Everyone's getting a turn right now. No matter what spinoff we get, everyone's gonna be coming back in some way, shape or form.

He ends this episode on the Protostar, stuck in the neutral zone, so I hope they're going somewhere interesting with him. Uh, in all honesty, if they take Okona on an interesting character arc, I am here for it. Like I am, I would love the idea that this, uh, cringey eighties lethario from one episode of TNG, if he became the heart and soul of, uh, this series for a few episodes, and we ended up falling in love with that character, great. I haven't seen it yet.

Look, look and look, if, if he does look like he's the pirate king from, uh, Pirates of Penzance. So if he does, yeah, if he does break out into one of those, uh, Gilbert Sullivan songs, I'd be very happy.

Uh, what did you think about this episode overall?

There's some good stuff in there, like, but I'm getting, I'm getting frustrated by it. I mean, obviously it's the buildup of television tension and all that type of stuff, and I'm there going mm-hmm. They're the good guys. Don't think they're the bad guys. And you've got the bad guy and you think he's the good. Yeah. And it's just,

It's a plot episode where they're like adding complexity to string it out.

And they've got the Yeah, they found the, the guy who was on the, the outpost and he thinks they're all monsters and animals and

Barniss Frex. Yeah. If he sticks around much longer, we're gonna have to do an episode on bad Starfleet officers, because Vice Admiral Janeway calls him out and she's like, some Starfleet officer. Won't even answer his communicator.

Yeah. And, and, and also, and she does turn and goes, you didn't tell me they were children, . Yeah. But yeah. Well, uh, how did you find the doctor in this episode as compared to his first appearance where he was,

They've laid off. I think they, I don't know if they course corrected or what, but he's, he is much more professional and fading into the background a bit more, I think.

Yeah. He did bring the sass with Jankom. Yes, indeed. They were a bit sassy back and forth.

Yeah. And I guess that's what he was written for. Yes. Uh, so. Worked for me. Yeah. I did like it.

And we had, uh, we had a Klingon show up.

Yeah, lovely. I, I didn't realize how much I was missing seeing Klingons on screen, but this was a real Klingon and I liked him.

And being put into place by a Trill. So it was very much, I had flashbacks of Dax and Worf. It was, uh, yeah, it was very good.

All the plot machinations of this episode to me are just there to create this one scene where Dal comes face to face with Vice Admiral Janeway and confesses that he really wants to live up to what is needed to be a Starfleet officer. Uh, and Janeway gives him the great advice of, fear of failure has killed more dreams than anything. So I usually go for it.

Look, you know, when we got to the first half of the season, I went, how this show can't get any better. You got Kate Mulgrew back as Janeway. You know how they did that? They gave us two Janeways. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want, you want Mulgrew? We'll give you two Muglrews.

We'll pay you twice.

So yes, we had an exciting chase through the snow. We had avalanches, we had races through deep warp, we had drifting into the neutral zone. Romulans show up.

Those animated Romulan warbirds were pretty sweet. I have to say they looked even better than the ones we got in Lower Decks in, in Rutherford's fever dream about his past personality.

It's a brilliant grain of the, of, of, of the ships just stood out beautifully in the, in the. Good design those Romulans. Bad haircuts, but they know how to design a ship. Yes. So we end on a bit of a cliffhangery type thing with, uh, with uh, drifting into neutral zone. Cannot communicate with, uh, Janeway's ship. The Romulans coming in.

I have a bone to pick with these Romulans, and it's not the first time this has happened, where the Federation is minding their own business, clearly outside of the neutral zone on their side of it. The point of a neutral zone is it creates a vast expanse between you and your enemy, and you stay on your side and they stay on their side and no one goes to war. In this episode, Jay W gets a little too close to the neutral zone. and the Warbirds uncloak and go, what do you think you're doing?

Well this is, this is the beauty of Star Trek, kevin. You know the, it's not black and white. It's many layers of gray.

Geography is fluid in Star Trek.

It's very, very fluid. Yes. You know, there's only so many outer and inner rims we can have. How many rims do we have here? Come on.

All right, so we had our loving homage. We had our plot heavy action episode. Uh, we're getting some variety in our Prodigy at the moment, which I'm loving.

Very much so.

But the thing we picked out this week to talk about is that idea of a contaminated culture. And we saw it with the Endaprizians, here. And, uh, Rob and I have each picked out, uh, one example of another contaminated culture that, uh, we wanted to revisit here on this episode. So who should go first? Rob, what do you think?

Well, let's, um, let's start off with, uh, the original series. An Excellent Choice. Um, yes. Yes. And I've heard of this episode many, many times before, but I've never actually seen it so, To finally watch it for the first time was

You had never seen A Piece of the Action until today?

Until today. Today was my, uh, first time of watching. Ooh, uh, piece of the action.

I, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the joy that is A Piece of the Action.

It's a, a great deal of fun. Uh, right smack bang on near the end. Of season two. So they're very much, uh, set in their ways and, uh,

They had the confidence to go there with the comedy, with the broad comedy.

And, and, and Shatner just is allowed to just sail into the, the hammiest over the top fun I have ever seen.

Yeah. So good. As a kid, when I first saw this episode, I bought it 100%. In fact, I'm pretty sure I learned what gangsters were by watching this episode as a child and it, it works that way because our crew are the outsiders learning about this culture. You don't have to know what a gangster is, you get to learn it through this episode. So everything that they do is accessible. It is not a genre episode that assumes knowledge in any way.

Yeah, and it's a beautiful balance of, they're aware of the fact that they are caught up in a universe where they are ships that traveled through space and they're aware of all this type of stuff, but they're stuck in this tribute to this certain era of American history.

Uh, for anyone in our audience who has not seen A Piece of the Action season two, episode 20 of the original series, like,

Like me three hours ago.

Yeah. Uh, the quick recap is that the Enterprise comes to make second contact. Wow. I didn't remember that we had seen a second contact before. Yeah. They returned to a planet that was first visited by a Starfleet ship a hundred years before. That ship met an ill-fated end shortly after that mission. And so the radio transmissions of their visit did not make it to Starfleet until just last week.

A hundred years prior to, uh, TOS. Yeah. How was that in relation to Archer's timeline? Where is that?

It'll be right around then.

Right.

And in fact, they did, uh, There is a Starship Horizon that appears in Enterprise in one season. Ensign Merewether, was his family ship. He in his quarters. On a bookshelf behind him is a copy of Gangs of the 1920s.

Excellent.

The same white hardbound tone. Uh, so yes, the connection is definitely there in this episode of the original series. It turns out that this book was left behind by the original visit and the very impressionable natives of this planet make it their bible, effectively, and model their entire culture.

They are experts in mimicry, so they take everything and they can do it absolutely perfectly, which is a great, uh, yes, great plot filler. They can just, you know, logic jumps.

So they read this big book and credit to the production design, it's a big, thick book. Like there's a lot of gangster information in that book.

Well, Chicagey was a, a very violent town.

Originally pitched, uh, with the two words, President Capone, in the original pitch document for the original series.

Nice.

Um, this, this episode is basically Kirk, Spock and McCoy trying to navigate this culture of gangs and bosses. Getting kidnapped and thrown in one cell and then escaping only to get picked up and get kidnapped and thrown in another boss's cell. And all the bosses want them to provide weapons or heaters as they are called in this culture. And,

Uh, yeah, bring the heat!

And ultimately it's resolved by Kirk going, you know what these people will respect is another boss. So he goes, Hey, the Federation's moving in here.

Yeah, we've gotta take our percentage. We want 40% of you get nothing And can And can I just say this is like, like this is 68?

Yeah.

Yeah. So this is, the Kirk's hat is very much like a 1970s pimp pat. It is very furry. I'm there going this,

It's very fuzzy in HD. You can tell just how fuzzy it's, it's

So like HD from Paramount Plus I'm there going, that is a pimp hat from the seventies I don't think that was even in existence anywhere near the 1920s.

Well, yeah, they did their best. Those, uh, those Icosians.

But there's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff in there that harks, harkens back all forward to me from like, my favorite era of growing up with the original crew was the movies, and especially that Star Trek IV Voyage Home, that that interplay between, um, Shatner and Nimoy is just, yeah. Burst at just how flashy they are back and forth. And you see that here, like yes, with their team.

The whole, don't lose yourself in the role there buddy.

Don't bury yourself in the part. Um, but also like in the car, they're going, I believe it's a clutch. That's right because let's the whole line of captain never drive again.

It's not the car that frightens me, captain, it's your driving. So good. Uh, and worth pointing out. There is no plot justification for Kirk suddenly going, well, this is my chance. I've always wanted to put on a gangster accent. It is just there for fun. And Kirk appears to be having fun with it as well.

Look, is it just me? If I'd watched this as a younger man, just having James T. Kirk hold a gun at somebody and say, take your clothes off it. Just of there.

Get outta them clothes.

Get outta them clothes. And it's a,

I love that he calls Bones Sawbones.

Sawbones.

And he calls, calls Spock Spock-o.

Spock-o, that's right. And um, and trying to translate to Scotty with his strong,

Oh, bewildered Scotty, yes, on the bridge is my favorite thing,

And I look on that now going, that should be Uhura, though. Uhura is the,

It should be Uhura. Yes, it should definitely be Uhura. But uh, yeah, when, when Bella Oxmyx calls up and says, you understand? And, and Scotty goes, I don't know.

I, I actually have no idea. And it ends on a, like, cuz the ones on Paramount Plus are all the new HD ones with all the special effects added. Yeah. So, um, at the end of the episode, it literally ends on a, uh, American sitcom freeze frame.

Yes it does.

And then it cuts from the freeze frame to the really beautiful new CGI and they go, you're trying to cover it up, but you added on a freeze frame. Yeah.

With his, eh, Shatner, like, yeah. One thumb pointed at Spock, the other pointed at McCoy.

It's a lot, it's a lot of fun.

That's for a piece of our action. It doesn't even make sense that closing line, but the freeze frame sells it.

Ah, the scene with the kid is really, really cute. Funny.

Oh, so sweet. Yes. What a Oh, hard to cast a good kid bit part, but they did it.

They did a great job. Um, and so, yeah, just a lot of fun. Very, very silly. It's a very silly episode.

I think everyone thinks of Trouble with Tribbles, but this is right up there with silly episodes of the original series for me.

Yeah, and it's a little bit timeless because it. That future representation of the 1920s. So the suits are impeccable. It's like with, um, some of the best episodes of Dr. Who in the seventies is when they set it in, uh, medieval times or back into Victorian era because the BBC costume department could just bring out.

A Cobwebby dungeon looks the same in any area.

Exactly. And they could get those specific costumes that you know, you know, but you're trying to create an alien culture from 300 years in the future. That's hard to create.

This is also why they did those episodes, because they could use the backlot, they could use all the props. They just raid the costume department and they're done.

So any episode, which would come across as dated now because the costumes are trying to capture a, a colony in the future, or a planet in the future. Mm-hmm. That shows the dated this, but here you can just rely on the fun of the episode because the costumes are something that you can relate to apart from, you know, Kirk's fuzzy pimp hat.

Yes. This episode ends with McCoy admitting he left his communicator behind on the planet. So,

Quite unprofessional McCoy.

It's he's, he's deciding whether to, he's, he's deciding whether to mention it. At the end. It's like, maybe I just won't say anything.

And McCoy is so serious the entire episode. You think that that seriousness and dedication, you've been so serious in focus this entire episode and you still That's true. Lose your communicator, McCoy.

This concept is followed up on in an Enterprise, uh, episode Star Trek Enterprise, season two, episode eight, called The Communicator, which I wondered if they had found some way to literally follow up on McCoy's communicator, but no, the timeline is not right for that. But I do want to know the story of what happened to Sigma Iotia as a result of that communicator being left there.

It'd be hilarious if Boimler and and Beckett went to, uh, oh, exactly. Did they?

Gang gangster. It's dying for it. They have mentioned that planet. They have mentioned the gangster planet. This thing writes itself. The Enterprise episode, the communicator is, uh, much more straight down the line. Oh, we were on a mission. We left a communicator behind. Now we have to go back for it. And we've been captured.

That just defines, uh, Enterprise, doesn't it? Ooh, burn. Bit of burn for Enterprise.

You know what does sound fun, though? Ferengi. Ferengi sound fun.

Oh, what a segue. That's incredible. Yes. Influential episode based on these contaminated cultures and Memory Alpha says it is of course False Profits. Season three, episode five of Voyager.

A uh, a rare Voyager tie in to a previous episode of Star Trek.

Yes. Which they say in the episode of Voyager is seven years ago. So it's from. I'm not sure which season it is in, uh, TNG.

The Price, season three, episode eight.

Wow. So pretty close. So season three, episode five for False Profits. And its a sequel to season three, episode eight of the TNGs.

Ah, well it's that close. Why didn't they just line them up? It would've been so satisfying to match them up.

I know, I know. That's another thing for us to be annoyed about Voyager about. Yeah, Harry. Something else can annoy us just as much as you. Yeah.

An early wormhole episode. Like this is long before Deep Space Nine. TNG had, there was a a, a race whose planet was near a wormhole and they wanted to auction off the travel rights, the ownership rights of that wormhole that would be a, a gateway to the delta quadrant. And, uh, people could come and go open up a whole new, uh, avenue of commerce. And the Federation was bidding and the Ferengi were bidding.

So, yes. And here in the Delta Quadrant, they, um, uh, seen as the, the prophets, the gods of, uh, the sort, like the, the sages, uh, for this, for this culture. And, um, pretty much just milk them for all they're worth. They live in opulence life. They have very scantily dressed futuristic slash early nineties, mid 90s, ladies fing all over them,

Uhhuh

and, uh, while the, the culture is pretty much struggling and living in poverty and living from hand to mouth in a Bronze Age type existence, uh, the Ferengi uh, living, the opulent life, taking all the profits that they need.

A beautiful extension of the premise in my mind. Like if we have established that in the galaxy, there are entire planets that are so impressionable, they pattern themselves after whatever book or instructions you give them. Why would that not be abused by a pair of Ferengi a long way from home?

And there's a reason why the Ferengi Empire has, uh, lasted and been so successful. It knows how to adapt and adjust.

Um, so I have not seen this episode in a long time, so I'm looking forward to reliving it through you. Uh, what did, what stood out to you, Rob?

Yeah, there's some, there's some great stuff in this. I hadn't seen this for a while as well. What really stood out for me. What they deal with a lot in Voyager is, let's look at the Prime Directive. Like Tuvok says, well, the Prime Directive is we cannot interfere at all. And even though these people, uh, the Ferengi are coming here, they're not a part of the Federation. So we can't interfere in any way, shape, or form.

Does Tuvok buy it?

Oh, oh, Tuvok as always. Tim Russ does his normal, passive aggressive raised, you know. Yeah. Um, sigh out. So because doesn't do Nimoy's raised eyebrows.

Yeah, that's, that's what I was gonna say is there were a couple of. Um, Spock accepting the logic moments in the previous episode we were discussing as well. When the little kid goes, uh, Spock goes, you don't even know what the action is. And the kid goes, well, it's gotta be big or you wouldn't be, you wouldn't be hitting Krakko. And Spock goes, Logical.

Logical. That's logical. So, um, uh, and a highlight for me is Ethan Phillips as, uh, Neelix for most of the episode I actually said out loud, they're basically just showing Neelix looking and nodding . And they had, they didn't clearly signify the Janeway was looking at Neelix to do something. I'm just there going, why are they looking at Neelix. Having a shot on him for an extended period of time.

Absolutely. I would buy, all it takes is gregariousness at 11 to be a, a, at least a cheerful Ferengi.

So they try everything in their power to, they can't force the Ferengi off the planet, so they try and convince them by using their greed against them. Um, it's, yeah, it's a very clever episode to connect but not connect and, um, and how it all works out. And there's some great appearances. Uh, in supporting roles. Michael Ensen, uh, he plays the bard, the, the shonky bard, very much like Igor from Young Frankenstein. His eye patch moves from one side to the other.

No!

Uh, he's, yeah, he's like, sings great poetry about the, the Sages arrival and all that type of stuff.

Course I completely forgot that. That's great.

And he's a great character actor who, uh, most, uh, fans will. As, uh, the hotel concierge in Ghostbusters. He's a wonderful, wonderful character actor. He does an awesome job. Uh, Robert, uh, LaBelle as Kafa is great as well. He's been around doing stuff. He plays two Talaxians in other Voyager episodes, but two big standouts. They brought back Dan Shor, who was the original, uh, Ferengi from The Price and filling in as Kol is the great Leslie Jordan, who just recently passed away.

Amazing.

But here he does great here.

I'll be watching that right after this as I put the link in the show notes.

Uh, yes. So Leslie Jordan does a great job. He works beautifully with Dan and they, um, play off each other really well. As with all Ferengi characters, you need the, the powerful one, and the sniveling one. Uh, the, the more manipulative one and the one who's easily manipulated, they work beautifully. Oh, yeah. Uh, together,

It's like a pair of clowns in a way. You need the high status clown and the low status clown.

Ferengis are great in especially this, the, the iteration that they became.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, they're, they're great in bringing that whole sense of just stripping back all that Starfleet facade. Yeah. And giving. A little bit of almost, you know, modern day Earth culture in, uh, in this, in this futuristic world. So yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a funny episode. So you've got Chakotay and Paris going undercover. Um, there's some great jokes in there about cuz this culture has embraced the, the rules of acquisition and, uh, in fact the culture knows it better than the Ferengi do.

Tell me about this, this native culture. They got warped by the Ferengi. Are they another, like, are they conspicuously, gullible?

No. It, they're, they're a great description of it from Janeway. So let goes, they weren't very advanced, but they were doing well. They were doing okay. They were looking after each other. They were, mm-hmm. They were, they were prosperous as in, you know, they weren't making lots of money and stuff, but they were, it was a healthy, thriving culture. But then with this Ferengi influence, um, they're not gullible.

Gotcha. So not so much a, like a gullible species, but there was a myth that the Ferengi were able to exploit and fit, fit themselves into,

Yes, they are. They can reason, but they are very embedded in their culture of their religious culture, and especially, wouldn't you be if the gods that you have been worshiping have been living among you for seven years.

If anything, going back to Sigma Iotia, it with, uh, A Piece of the Action, I almost regret that that planet and species were painted as, you know, mimickers,

Mm-hmm.

because I think it's, it, it's a more powerful point that one book and a visit from a Starship a hundred years later, that small influence can warp a culture very severely over a long period of time, and I think yes, it, it wasn't even necessary to say that oh, they'll, they'll copy anything. I think the point of the Prime Directive is that the smallest, most innocent influence on a primitive culture can have these drastic ramifications down through time.

It is Star Trek in its infancy. Yeah. And so there's concepts and ideas back in the sixties of them going, how do we justify it? Oh, well the culture mimics. Sure, sure. Yeah. So that's why they're doing that. Whereas nowadays they've evolved Star Trek into so many other different interpretations and they've developed this law. Yeah. So now they're a lot more confident to say, no, just this one encounter, brief encounter, this hint. Can have a tidal wave of influence on your entire culture.

I get that. It was definitely primordial Star Trek. At the same time, so amazing that in season two of a TV series from the sixties doing a comedy episode, they would pull out as subtle an idea as like cultural contamination.

Yeah.

From a visit from the Federation. Like that, that, um, that is why we still have Star Trek today, is because they, they were using those deep rich ideas. In a comedy episode.

A comedy episode that has a very high body count as well. There is, there is a lot of people who die.

McCoy makes no effort whatsoever to save those shooting victims by the side of the road.

McCoy's not doing himself any favors. He drops a communicator. He doesn't save anybody. Was he drunk? And doesn't know the physiology of a Klingon? Here? Come on. Hmm. Come on, McCoy.

You got a lot to answer for, McCoy.

Sawbones, if that is your real name.

Well, thank you Rob. I enjoyed that, uh, that trip down memory lane to some, like, opposite ends of the Starfleet timeline, but at the same time, like connected through this one idea, uh, so much fun to visit these things with you.

We had Ferengi, we had pirates, we had gangsters. We had, you know, we had two Janeways. I mean, it's, it's been a hell of a two weeks and, um, see you in a fortnight.

See ya. Little hatched Murf who's walking around that is creeping me out.

Yeah, we didn't get to talk about it in the, when we talk about Crossroads, I was disappointed. Yeah, I was disappointed. It's just Murf upright with a little ex exclamation mark on his head and he's just, yeah, the same form. Now with legs. I'm going, he accidentally sits on a button that causes a photon to go back and hit. I'm going, oh no man.

That's not what I wanted. I wanted. Beautiful butterfly.

I want my moth, I want my, I want my beautiful butterfly. I want my, you know, evolution to the next stage of this, uh, creature. So if it, I'm hoping there's all,

This is an intermediate, this is the larval stage of the new Murf is what you're saying.

This is teenage Groot stage. Yeah.

Okay, good. I have my hopes restored.

We have our eyes, we have our critical eyes on you, Prodigy. Don't let us down.