Subspace Radio: a Star Trek podcast

Kevin: Hello, and welcome
back to Subspace Radio.

It's me, Kevin.

Rob: And me, Rob

Kevin: And we're here to talk about
Strange New Worlds, season four,

episode three, "Human Best Friend."
Rob, will you be my human best friend?

Rob: Always, Kevin.

I will always be your human best friend.

Um, yeah, and they're really leaning into
this, um, uh, genre every single week.

We, uh, it's a, it's a,

Kevin: Like a different genre, a big
genre, a, a, a show disrupting genre.

Rob: To paraphrase Forrest
Gump, uh, Strange New Worlds

is like a box of chocolates.

You never know what you're gonna get.

Kevin: Never know.

Rob, I've heard on the grapevine that they
either change course partway through the

season or are doing something different in
the second half of the season for whatever

reason, and that the, the big swings
of genre all occur in the first half of

the season, and we can expect a bit more
straight Star Trek in the second half.

Now, I'll leave it to you and our
audience and my own private thoughts

as to whether that's a good thing
to look forward to or not, but maybe

we can, maybe we can judge this, uh,
one, uh, episode on its own merits.

Rob: Well, this is the one that there's
been a bit of… You know, I've been, uh,

talking up in some ways because I've heard
from the cast who've been doing the Comic

Cons and the, the publicity, uh, tail.

And in one interview, they s-
they all kind of agreed that

episode three was their favorite.

Now, we're not sure whether it's sequence
or whether it's in order or whatever it

was, but if this is the one that they
all loved, I think I understand why.

But I keep on coming back to that
phrase, if everyone is having

such a good time on set, maybe the
end product isn't a great result.

Or if you have tension and
everyone's clashing 'cause they

wanna get the best out of It that
creates some of the best episodes.

So yeah, I, I, I, I think it's
more the, uh, former category,

where they all had an amazing time.

Kevin: Was a holiday for the cast as much
as the characters, is what you're saying.

Rob: Yes.

N- Now this episode was written
by, um, uh, a Lower Decks writer.

Kevin: Yeah, the same one that wrote,
uh, um, Those Old Scientists last season.

Rob: Yes.

Did they write Those Old Scientists
by themselves or did they co-write

Kevin: Couldn't tell you
off the top of my head.

Rob: Yeah, I think, I think they
co-wrote that one and this one

they've done on their own and
it, yeah, and it kinda shows.

There's a lot of people going like,
"This is a Lower Decks episode."

Kevin: Uh, right down to the Dave Foley,
uh, cast as a, uh, as a maître d'.

Rob: Hey, any Kids in the Hall
references or, or casting I'm very

Kevin: I am a huge Dave Foley fan, and
his work, I would say, say what you

will about the rest of this episode,
thought his character work was solid.

He, he, you know, lifted every scene
he was a part of in a good way.

And if anything, I just
wanted to see more Dave Foley.

Rob: Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's why you bring in a guest star.

You want them to elevate things.

Kevin: Let's, uh, let's, uh,
stop beating around the bush

and put our cards on the table.

I too… This one did
not really work for me.

I, I appreciated what they were
shooting for, but I feel like

they did not quite get there.

I generally love funny Star Trek episodes.

I mean, Trou- I'll show anyone who will
watch it The Trouble with Tribbles, and

I'll watch that as many times as I can.

And in general, like, the funny,
funny ones are good, but I feel like

often the funny ones work because
there is a straight premise that is,

like, there are high stakes, and the
comedy is like a foil to those stakes.

But something about the stakes in
this one did not really work for me.

No one particularly seemed to care,
and in part that was built into

the, the everyone's, uh, off their
nut, so they, they, they can't

really find the wherewithal to care.

But it, it was all just a little
too wink, wink, nudge, nudge,

we're all having fun here.

Uh, and I f- I failed to buy into
the, the, the need for Scotty and

Ortegas to find the shuttle to get
it back, uh, active, to get the ship

back in time for these negotiations.

Like, none of it really was sold
enough that I cared about it.

And so, uh, I think most of the
comedy came off as kind of naff to me

Rob: Yeah.

Look, it was Star Trek does The Hangover.

Um, and even, you know, The Hangover,
the original film, I still adore

and think it's, you know, uh, uh,
close to being a modern masterpiece.

But every, uh, subsequent sequel,
sequel just sort of like destroyed

and kinda tainted the original.

And so, uh, yes, for me,
there's some good stuff in here.

I do like the Ortegas-Scotty resolution.

I like that type of stuff
coming to a That was something

they've, that they've kind of
only really infused this season,

so it's been a very short arc.

Kevin: They were setting
up for this, for sure.

Rob: Yeah.

Um, I really appreciated that.

Kevin: You look back to the previous
two episodes, and you can see, like,

every episode has one or two things
that are setups for future episodes.

And it would be a fun game to try to
look at the three episodes we have

so far and try to guess what has
been established that is a setup.

I mean, we talked last week about
La'an, and La'an's going somewhere.

That is a clear setup.

But I feel like there is probably
other things that have been

established that we don't realize
are setups for future episodes.

Rob: I think so too.

Yeah.

Um, so but other than that, I was a
little bit, uh, I was disappointed.

was disappointed in this episode.

And, uh, my, my partner was doing very
much, uh, way as, uh, your viewing

partner does it sometimes, uh, um, tuning
in and going, and she was very much

a case of, "Is it always this silly?"

Well, it depends on your
definition of silly.

Kevin: It, uh, it took me back to the,
quote-unquote, "outtakes" at the end

of a Space Adventure Hour last season.

Rob: Oh, yeah.

Kevin: There were moments that were
funny, but it was all a little too long,

a lo- all a little too self-indulgent.

And I think that y- that was the ex-
it was like I was having the same

experience extended out to the full hour.

There were things that did work.

I will say Spock and his deadpan delivery
of, "you know, I'm really messed up,

and I can be of no use here," and,
the he was seeing them all as plants,

uh, and all of that worked for me.

Rob: And

Kevin: actually seeing his point of view.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

M'Benga breaking bottles in the bar,
uh, as he tried to make cocktails, the

physical comedy of that worked for me.

Dave Foley was… I think Dave
Foley's funny, uh, asleep on a Sunday

afternoon, so, uh, he worked for me.

Scotty's shirt was funny.

I enjoyed Scotty's shirt.

It has a surfing Mugato on it
and a reclining Captain Kirk

on the beach with a cocktail.

There are some press photos this episode
that you can kind of look at Scotty

from every single angle and try to
get a complete picture of that shirt.

Would buy that shirt.

But that's about it for me.

The, uh… Not much else was
funny for me this episode.

Rob: Yeah, I think they were
leaning a bit hard into Total

Eclipse of the Heart in Klingon.

Kevin: That was just cool.

Look, if can bust out Total Eclipse
of the Heart at karaoke in Klingon

on the first try, I don't need to
be drunk to find that entertaining.

That is just good
old-fashioned skills, I think.

Rob: I liked Anson Mount's
acting, but I think his, th- that

scene was a bit stretched out.

I think, you know, him, you know,
his giggling and trying to stay

focused was really… He did,
he did drunk acting really well.

Kevin: Yeah, it was well played,
but again, it was the s- the

stakes were lacking there.

Like, I wanted to feel the tension
of the fact that he's drunk is a

problem, and, like, that tension was
lacking, and so I was just watching

someone be drunk, uh, uh, convincingly.

You know, drunk people are fun to be
around when you're drunk yourself,

but when you're the sober audience
member on the sofa, they're kind

of annoying a lot of the time.

Rob: Oh, if you're sober and you're
with a drunk person, it's the worst.

Um, but yeah it didn't work for me the
fact that Kirk was there the whole time.

Kevin: and then somehow got back to the
Enterprise but wasn't on the shuttle.

Rob: Yeah.

That just… It, that was,
that was, that was naff.

I'm gonna say it, that was naff.

I can't believe I'm saying that about my,
my Strange New Worlds, but that was naff.

Um, he goes, "No, I've been here the whole
time, and now we're close 'cause you've

opened up to me," and we're hugging.

And I'm going, "Mm, hmm, hmm." Yeah.

Kevin: It, I, I mean, I enjoyed the
bait and switch that when they were

in the transporter room and he's like,
"I, I need your help." He needed an

extra set of hands at the console, and
Kirk's like, "I can help." And Spock's

like, "No, you can't because you don't
exist." Like, that was fun, that tension.

And again, the Spock side of
that I found funny, but the, the

reveal was kind of like, wah, wah.

Uh, guess what?

It matter.

Guess what?

It wasn't a problem all along.

A lot was made of the fact that it
was Alpha shift that really needed

the holiday, and it… And then Alpha
shift, I think I think alpha shift

is just the bridge crew that we know
because that's the only people that

were on the shuttlecraft, and that
was apparently the only shuttlecraft.

I've had it suggested maybe the
rest of alpha shift went to other

hotels in other shuttlecrafts.

Uh, that's probably the only
explanation that we can find here.

But boy, when they got back to the ship
and Alpha sh- Alpha shift was still

inebriated, uh, the fact that there
were no sober crew members around to

help, uh, was, was kind of a clanger.

And the fact that I was thinking of
the logic of that meant that I was

not, uh, bought into, uh, and, and
caught up in this episode at, at a

moment where I really should have been.

Rob: Yeah.

Yeah.

For, for me, this was a big deflate well.

It was tho- those, those logic jumps,
uh, that you could… It just, yeah,

wasn't written strongly enough and
it wasn't executed well enough for

you to forgive some of the plot holes
that may come up or the logic jumps.

It was just a case of, yeah,
they're doing it for a point.

They literally said, "Let's do The
Hangover in Star Trek," but I mean, I

don't think, I don't think The Hangover
is as influential as a, a touchstone in

pop culture as to, to warrant an entire
episode of Star Trek to be focused on it.

Kevin: Agreed.

Rob: But I will focus on the fact
that I did like Ortegas and, uh,

Scotty, even though they didn't
really explain why Ortegas was

completely sober and nobody else was.

Kevin: I think it was just the,
the, uh, blueprint of The Hangover.

You need one, you need one sober
person who's trying to wrangle the

chaos into, uh… the one person
who is worried about the situation.

So yeah.

But yeah, they never explained it.

Um, yeah.

Uhura's outfit was cool.

Rob: Uhura's outfit was cool.

I think Chapel was done dirty
just doing bingo with, like,

space vampire demon goblins.

Kevin: Weird.

Rob: Yeah.

Kevin: In general, uh, Chapel's not
getting a lot to do this season so far.

Rob: Not much.

Not much at the moment.

So um, coming in for one or two scenes if
that, very short and, uh, little impact.

So that's something to keep a note
of for the next couple of episodes.

Kevin: All right.

Well, we did not love Human
Best Friend is what I'm hearing.

On t- on to the next one.

M- maybe, maybe we can, uh, pivot
to talking about some other holiday,

uh, planets in Star Trek and maybe
find some happier times there.

Rob: Maybe.

Maybe.

Hopefully your episode is… 'Cause sadly
I don't wanna preempt it, but is, uh,

probably of the same ilk as what we have
just witnessed on Strange New Worlds.

Kevin: Well, I'm gonna take us to an
oldie but a goodie, the original series,

Season 1, Episode 17, "Shore Leave,"
which is the, classic holiday planet.

And the, the whole the whole
premise of the episode is they

do not realize the nature of the
planet they find themselves on.

They think it is an uninhabited
planet with, uh, with no people,

no animals, just peaceful gardens
and, and tranquil forest paths.

And everyone is constantly
remarking at how beautiful it is.

And then the strange
occurrences start occurring.

It starts with McCoy seeing a white
rabbit followed by a, uh, a s-

small blonde-haired girl chasing
him through the forest, and, uh,

it just escalates from there.

It is, it is the hallucination planet.

It is your imagination come true.

Uh, and, uh, yeah, uh,
that is the episode.

It is a, an hour of hijinks of, of
characters revealing their inner thoughts

because they become manifest, uh,
before their very eyes, unexpectedly.

Have you seen Short Leave before, Rob?

Rob: I have not, but I think I have
seen a clip of, uh, a, a certain

literary character's appearance.

So I think I've seen either
stills or a little clip of that.

Kevin: A Don Juan?

Rob: Yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Kevin: Yeah, this is
a, this is a good one.

Also, uh, but also in, in certain
details has not aged super well.

I mean, we've got Kirk, Spock, McCoy,
Sulu, and one beautiful never seen

before yeoman, um, on, on the planet.

McCoy, in this one has a, a bit of a
crush on this, this Yeoman Barrows,

and, and they, they are flirting
quite a bit through this episode.

There are moments of like, uh,
you know, gender, gender dynamics

that do not quite, uh, pass the
smell test here in our modern age.

Rob: Yeah.

Kevin: There are two moments, I don't
know if it was the director or what,

but where male characters refer to a
woman who is standing right there in the

third person, and in order to indicate
which beautiful creature they're talking

about, they place their fingers under the
woman's chin with, uh, with two fingers

to go, "Uh, the beautiful Yeoman Barrows."

And Spock is, Spock does it once.

Uh, it is, it is very shocking
by today's modern standards.

So yeah, it's, uh… There, there
are glitches you have to look over,

but m- most of all this, this episode
is just a, a good time, uh, as our

characters are taking what is meant
to be an entertaining, relaxing,

frivolous situation, they are
taking it deadly seriously, and that

tension is what powers this episode.

Rob: So is there a threat?

Is there a, is there a danger, or
is it just the that it's being taken

Kevin: they start imagining things and the
initial imaginings, like the white rabbit

from Alice in Wonderland, are harmless.

But pretty quickly, uh, they start
imagining things that aren't so harmless.

Like Sulu imagines, uh, an old pistol from
a Western and is, is firing it off into

the distance because he's so excited that
he has a new pistol for his collection.

Uh, and, and, you know, a firearm in the
hands of, of a Starfleet officer, it's

not too bad, but it is a first escalation.

Eventually, we get samurai warriors
chasing people down, tigers appearing out

of nowhere, and Don Juan, who tries to
abduct the, uh, young, uh, Yeoman Barrows.

I, I should point out before we get
any further, the cold open alone

of this episode is worth watching.

This is like the, the mandatory, "Oh,
everyone needs a break. We should

really have a shore leave" scene.

And it's, uh, Kirk on the bridge,
and he's, like, complaining

about a crick in his back.

And Spock's over his right shoulder,
and Yeoman Barrows is, like,

taking his report and walks behind
him, and he goes, "Ugh, my back."

And Yeoman Barrows reaches down and, and,
like, starts massaging the captain's back,

and that's a little, you know, a little…
But she's, she's all business about it.

But but Kirk's like, "Oh, yeah,
harder. Push harder." And then Spock,

in conversation, walks in front of
him, and you can see Kirk go, "Oh,

crap, I thought it was Spock giving
me a back rub. It's my yeoman."

And he suddenly very, uh, very, uh,
sh-shy about the whole situation.

But it's very early, uh, fodder for the
shippers, the Kirk-Spock shippers there.

Uh, Kirk would've been fine with it with
his first officer giving him a back rub.

Rob: The scene that launched
a thousand fan fiction pages

Kevin: Yeah.

Um, so yeah, it is, yeah, the, the, the
hallucinations, uh, are, are assumed to

be hallucinations until a knight on a
horse with a lance, uh, stabs McCoy in the

chest and kills him, by all appearances.

McCoy stands in front of him and goes,
"These are not real. Hallucinations

cannot kill us," and then takes the
lance full in the chest, uh, and,

is pronounced dead on the scene.

But then his body disappears.

And by the end of the episode, it is
revealed to be, like, a, a amusement

park planet, and all of these things
are being manufactured underground

by mind probes that are reading
the crew's innermost thoughts.

And McCoy is resurrected underground
and, uh, comes back, uh, with a, a,

uh, cocktail girl on each arm, which,
uh, Yeoman Barrows is not very by.

Rob: Of course.

They could have had something

Kevin: So yeah, it's a, it's a fun time.

It's one of those kinda, you know,
this is season one, so they are still

somewhat establishing the characters
and, like, revealing our characters',

you know, innermost thoughts is a,
is a nice mechanism for doing that.

And I felt like that's kind of
what they were going for with human

best friend this week as well,
is that the comedy, the, the, the

off-their-chops hijinks was also there
to reveal character where they could.

And in some cases, they
succeeded in doing that.

I liked the observation that M'Benga
was so, uh, paralyzed by fear of, uh,

of, of injuring one of his patients
that he, he always had to be careful

with his movements, and so the
opportunity to break a lot of glass

making cocktails or failing to do
so, uh, would be a good time for him.

So that kinda stuff, um, feels
like what they were going for here

and, and in "Shore Leave" as well.

I would definitely recommend it as
a… If I were doing a TOS rewatch,

this would be in the good category.

Rob: Well, good.

Well, that's- we'll, uh, chalk that
up and add it to our list, people.

Well, I'm going ahead, uh, to Deep
Space Nine, season five, episode seven,

directed by Rene Auberjonois, Odo himself,
written by Ira Steven Behr and Robert

Hewitt Wolfe, Let He Who Is Without Sin…

And you know what the biggest
sin is about this one?

That it was made.

Kevin: I have no memory of this episode.

Rob: Um, for those of you listening
at home, a part of our process

is we don't really discuss
anything before we get online.

We just- we figure out what our topic
is, but we don't want to discuss

specific episodes and Um, and so
I did float one about, we were

talking about have they been to Risa?

They talk about Risa all the time.

Have they been there?

Kevin: There's an Enterprise episode
where they go to Risa as well,

and it's not very good either,
so don't beat yourself up, Rob.

Rob: So yes, I s- I swear there's one
they went to a holiday planet in Star

Trek: Deep Space Nine and it looked it up,
Yes, it was Risa, so that was my focus.

I do remember this one and I,
rewatching it, I've gone, "That's

right, it isn't very good." So, Dax,
Worf are having relationship troubles.

They go to Risa to relax and try
and, you know, rekindle the spark

of what their relationship is.

Uh, Bashir and Leeta are going as
well, but they're going for the

process of ending their relationship.

They're gonna do a Bajoran ritual, the,
the, the, the separation, uh, ritual.

And Quark's there.

Why not?

We've got, uh, the head of the
Risa organization team is Vanessa

Williams, 'cause of course it is.

Um, uh, she'll go save the best for last.

There's a reference.

And she turns out to be an ex-lover
of Curzon, um, and so it's that usual

case of Dax likes to let loose and, you
know, they're the original odd couple.

Whereas Worf is, um, you know, uptight.

And through the course of, you know, Worf
not really letting go and Dax letting

go too much, uh, Worf gets caught up
in, like, a, an underground movement

to s- to, to liberate the people of
Risa, but he gets too caught up into it.

The guy g- wants to cause some damage,
like they change the weather system

to cause people to leave, um, and
that goes a bit too far, and then we

find out the reason why Worf is so
withholding is because when he was young,

as a kid, he was playing basketball
or baseball or something and his

Klingon side came out and he killed a

Kevin: Oh no

!
Rob: That's…

so it's just… It you know,
you're there going, "What

Kevin: like a bit of a hodgepodge ideas

Rob: It is a hodgepodge, and the- it's
the limitations of the time really show.

We've been- heard about Risa for ages.

It's the perfect holiday planet,
and when you get there, it's a

couple of cheap sets and it doesn't
really give that oomph of, you know,

paradise on, on Earth or on planet.

Um, so and it's… you know, Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine can do personal drama

and political intrigue really well.

Um, there are occasional times when
the soap opera nature of the character

interactions doesn't really hit.

Um, often it works really well because
of the state of Deep Space Nine.

It's all about the darkness and the gritty
side of the Federation and the world.

Kevin: Yeah, I wonder if this
connects back to the idea of,

a light episode needing serious
stakes in order to support it?

Rob: Yeah, and that balance
doesn't really work.

When that type of stuff happens in,
say, you know, when you're in a siege

being attacked by Jem'Hadar or, you
know, um, you're trying to figure out

do you give up your moral code to help,
uh, another race come into a battle

so that you can have the upper hand?

How underhanded will you go?

That type of personal drama, Deep
Space Nine flexes its muscles and goes,

"Let's lean into this stuff," you know?

But with this going, "Let's
have some personal drama," it

turns into a bit of bad soap.

Um, and yeah, it's, it's a,
it's a, it's a bit of a mess.

It's a bit of a disappointment.

So I haven't had the best
of weeks of Star Trek, to be

perfectly honest with you, Kevin.

Kevin: Oh, well, you gotta, you
gotta remember how bad it is

so that when the good ones come
along, you truly appreciate them.

Rob: Exactly.

Exactly.

Um, so yes, that was, uh, that was
my visit to Risa and, uh, uh, uh, my

visit to a holiday planet and it was,
um, it was, it was disappointing.

It was not what I hoped it would
be, much like this week's episode.

Kevin: I feel like the one good Risa
episode is "Captain's Holiday," and

that's the one where Picard is with Vash
and they are looking for the Tox Uthat,

a, uh, relic from the future that, um…
a- and we could have mentioned it in our

Bootstrap Paradox episode, uh, where the,
uh, aliens from the future come back in

time to try to stop the, uh, stop Picard
from destroying the Tox Uthat, but the

only reason that they have to do that is
because them coming back in time alerts

Picard to the fact that, uh, the Tox
Uthat is there, and then he destroys it.

So, the, the only reason Picard destroys
it is because they come back in time.

The only reason they come back in time
is to stop Picard from destroying it.

So, where does the loop begin?

It's another bootstrap paradox.

But it is just fun watching
Picard, fish out of water.

Like, he is under strict instructions
to relax and enjoy himself, which

Picard is not very good at doing.

Uh, Riker gives him a, Horgon and
doesn't tell him what it means, and so

Picard is again and again approached
by scantily clad women, uh, and only,

only, uh, a- after several occurrences
clues into what Riker has done to him.

And, uh, all of that is, is good,
fun stuff, but there is a, a, uh,

a dramatic underpinning to this.

And, and also, like, the fact that
Picard is playing against the comedy

here, it helps make the comedy work.

Rob: That's what, uh, Patrick
Stewart is very good at.

He knows how to deftly maneuver
around a, uh, a genre within,

uh, the scene that he is playing.

Kevin: All right.

Well, better luck next week, Rob.

Rob: Look, it- the good thing is we get
to talk about bad Star Trek and have fun

with it, and we're still gonna go back and
watch it, and we're not here going, "Oh,

it's the end of Star Trek as we know it.

Oh, it's gone woke, Kevin.

Oh, oh, it's, it's communist.

It's communist Star Trek now."

Kevin: That's right.

Rob: No, that's left.

Kevin: Yes, that's right.

You're right; it is left.