Weekend Trek “The Survivors”

Sometimes, something mysterious will happen and the crew of the Enterprise will see whatever happened through to the end…even if whatever they are investigating doesn’t want them to do so.  Wait, that’s most of their investigations.

That sort of thing happens with this episode, and Jimmy and Tom chatted about it.

“The Survivors”

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a colony planet, only to find the planet devastated…except for one patch of land and the old married couple living there.

jimmy:  They missed a great opportunity to have this be the song stuck in Troi’s head:

tomk:  Or maybe the theme music from the long running reality show.

jimmy:  Nice.  Also a good call.

tomk:  I know I would go insane from something like that.

jimmy:  There is a great SNL digital short by Adam McKay starring Willem Dafoe and Will Ferrell where DaFoe has an implant put in his head that plays his favorite song over and over again ad nauseum.  But I always struggle to find it online.  Needless to say, it works out about as well for him as it did for Troi.

tomk:  At least he got to pick the song.

jimmy:  You’d think that would help…

tomk:  Not much. Troi just got some music box piece.

jimmy:  Smart thinking to take out the empath.

tomk:  And Troi is so useful otherwise…

jimmy:  Well, she at least probably would have picked up on one of them not being human and the other not existing.

tomk:  True, but I don’t think Old Man Green Jeans intended to do that.

jimmy:  No?  I thought that was exactly what he did.

tomk:  I got the impression he wasn’t trying to really hurt anybody.

jimmy:  Hurt?  Maybe not. Keep her from revealing his secret?  Definitely.

tomk:  I somehow figured it was an unintended side effect of what he was that Troi scanning him made that happen.

jimmy:  Perhaps. I thought it was intentional. Either way, it rendered Troi more useless than usual.

But hey, she got a new outfit!

tomk:  That was a nice skirt thing she had going.

jimmy:  Is there any reason besides boobs that she doesn’t wear a Starfleet uniform?

tomk:  I don’t think so.  You can thank/blame Roddenberry for that, I am sure.

jimmy:  I mean, I’m not complaining, but it makes little in universe sense.

tomk:  If I remember, wasn’t some superior officer commenting her outfit being inappropriate or something why she started wearing a uniform?

jimmy:  We’re not there yet.

tomk:  No, we are not.  All your questions will be answered then…maybe.

jimmy:  For an entity that can wipe out an entire race with a thought, he sure does keep to himself as I doubt we ever hear of him again.

tomk:  Picard can’t judge him.  How do you judge a guy who commits accidental genocide?

jimmy:  I don’t think it was an accident.

tomk:  Well, maybe not.

But that could just be a conspiracy theory talking.

jimmy:  Was Mr Green Jean more powerful than Q?

tomk:  Interesting question.

Was he more powerful than the Greek God the original crew met?

jimmy:  Was he more powerful than a locomotive?

tomk:  Well, he was more powerful than the Enterprise‘s warp drive, so probably.

jimmy:  His creations easily fooled the Enterprise’s sensors.

tomk:  Oh, godlike beings always do that.

It’s a basic requirement for being a godlike being.

jimmy:  That’s the last step to graduate from powerful entity.

tomk:  And along the way, you can win a Klingon’s respect if you aren’t a pranking asshole.

jimmy:  He respects gall. And good tea. And a nice house.

tomk:  And Picard makes sure Worf goes with him every time he goes down to the house.

jimmy:  Well, he is the chief of security. I’m surprised Riker never put up much of a fight about Picard’s multiple away missions.

tomk:  Picard guessed what was going on by then.  Riker was too embarrassed by a rabbit snare.

jimmy:  And Worf had lost his reputation.

tomk:  He’ll get it back. That’s like his whole thing.

jimmy:  Well, technically he never lost it since the ship really wasn’t there.

tomk:  So, he only lost illusionary honor?

jimmy:  Exactly.

tomk:  I thing that earned you a nice bowl of GAGH! served at room temperature like a good Klingon home cooked meal.

jimmy:  Umm.  Thanks?

tomk:  You said the cookies were fattening.

jimmy:  True.  The GAGH! is not.

tomk:  Especially when you can’t bring yourself to eat it.

jimmy:  Exactly.

tomk:  See?  I do look out for you.

jimmy:  Thanks, buddy.

tomk:  Your gratitude earned you a pie.

jimmy:  Umm. Thanks!

tomk:  Pies have fruit, and you can share them with loved ones, so they aren’t so bad for you.

jimmy:  As long as my loved ones exist.

tomk:  Are you suggesting some all-powerful, near-immortal alien entity somehow made the Moose exist?

jimmy:  Possibly. What he leaves on the yard sure does exist.

tomk:  At least he leaves it in the yard and not on your carpeting.  That puts him ahead of some humans I know.

jimmy:  Outside of dramatic effect, was there any reason for Picard not to inform the crew of his suspicions about what was going on?

tomk:  He didn’t want to look foolish in case he was wrong?

jimmy:  Especially when he let the aliens destroy the survivors.

tomk:  Well, that would have been an oopsie.

jimmy:  Does Picard do oopsies?

tomk:

jimmy:  Well, luckily not this time.

tomk:  Very true. You don’t wanna know how many times he got that one wrong between episodes.

jimmy:  That’s why they don’t air those ones.

tomk:  Obviously. Those episodes are more depressing.

jimmy:  Nothing a kegger won’t fix right up!

tomk:  Are you saying Captain Jake would have just gotten Mr. Green Jeans drunk to learn the truth?

jimmy:  Can he even get drunk would be the question?

tomk:  Are you suggesting the Night Crew can’t get someone drunk?

jimmy:  It’ll be a challenge is all I’m saying.

tomk:  I’m not sure getting that guy drunk is a good idea.

jimmy:  You’re right.  Probably not a good idea with a guy that can wipe out an entire race of people in an eyeblink.

tomk:  Or drown them in beer. Still dead that way, but also sticky.

jimmy:  Is beer sticky?

tomk:  I assumed swimming in it might cause that sensation.

jimmy:  Either way, deader than fried chicken.

tomk:  But the mystery here did play out well. Nothing that happened made sense and Picard had been a captain long enough to recognize a godlike being when he meets one.

jimmy:  With that power, why not have the entire planet appear to be populated?  When the Enterprise shows up just tell them some punk teenage pulled the “Planet Being Annihilated” alarm as a prank.

tomk:  Um…he’s also lazy?

jimmy:  Lol, fair enough.  But you had to figure the whole “entire planet destroyed except for one house on one patch of land” was going to be suspicious.

tomk:  Very lazy.

jimmy:  Apparently.

tomk:  Or he’s not that powerful.

jimmy:  That was my other thought, but his wiping out an entire race from X million miles away in a heartbeat says differently.

tomk:  Well, he doesn’t like to use the power from the looks of things.

jimmy:  Not to defend his planet at least.  He only likes to do that after the fact and almost destroy the Enterprise for trying to help.

tomk:  He looked more like he was just trying to scare the Enterprise off like a Scooby Doo villain.

jimmy:  To a degree, but especially the second time with the bigger, scarier ship, he was doing damage to the Enterprise.

tomk:  Still, he was a pacifist and wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.

jimmy:  Where do you draw the line though when your pacifism results in the annihilation of an entire planet?

tomk:  I think that was the point.

jimmy:  It was well made then.

tomk:  Would you have stuck around?

jimmy:  Would you?

tomk:  Probably not. I’m not as clever as Picard.

jimmy:  Nor is anyone else apparently.

tomk:  He wouldn’t step in a rabbit snare

jimmy:  Poor Riker.

tomk:  No ladies to seduce.

jimmy:  Well, none without having a Grandmother fetish.

tomk:  You think Riker doesn’t have one of those?

jimmy:  Dear God I hope not.

tomk:  Riker likes the ladies.  He doesn’t discriminate.  He just wants consent.

jimmy:  Anything else on this one?  I did like that the B story was essentially tied to the A story so they were one and the same.  Often times they are barely connected, if at all.  Sometimes that works.  But sometimes you just want 42 minutes of a single thread.

tomk:  And sometimes you just want a sandwich.

jimmy:  

tomk:  Not that sandwich. Picard wouldn’t eat that. You should listen to Picard.

jimmy:  That’s why he’s the Captain.

tomk:  But what if he was…God?

jimmy:  Captain God?

tomk:  Well, he may not want to be God.  Would you like to know why?

jimmy:  I would.

tomk:  In that case…Engage!

Next:  “Who Watches the Watchers”