Weekend Trek “Aquiel”

At a certain point, I started to look for YouTube clips for each of these episodes, but every so often, I must find one that nobody liked all that much and the best I can pull is a trailer.

Then again, Jimmy and I usually take a week for these chats.  We got through everything we wanted to say about “Aquiel” in a day.  See below for our discussion.

“Aquiel”

Geordi falls for a murder suspect.

jimmy:  Doggone it, Geordi!

tomk:  Raise your hand if you didn’t think they were being dumb for not suspecting the dog.

jimmy:  I’ll be honest, I didn’t see it coming until the last second.

In fairness, they didn’t even know about the changling until 5 minutes left in the show.

tomk:  Also true.

Maybe they don’t have John Carpenter’s The Thing in the future.

jimmy:  Lol. Excellent point. I didn’t even make that connection.

tomk:  Honestly, I only just thought of that.

But they knew this lifeform would kill and replace another organism.

“OK, this thing could have replaced any living thing it found on the station.  Better quarantine Geordi’s new unadvised love interest and that grumpy Klingon.”
“Sir, what about the dog?”
“She can stay loose because she’s a good widdle girl!  Yes, she is!”

jimmy:  Look, I know you’re a cat person, but no one is going to suspect sweet little Sebastian Fluffypants.

tomk:  Jimmy, I grew up with dogs. I don’t have a dog because I live in a one-bedroom apartment without a yard. I would otherwise have a dog. My ex-wife is a cat person, and she left the cat that liked me bettering behind so I would have company. And then I trained Silvia to bark like crazy whenever Watson comes over.

And I question how good a pet owner Aquiel was if she ran off but left her pooch behind to be killed and replaced by a bad CGI blob.

jimmy:  She doesn’t even remember running off as it had already tried to absorb her, so I think she gets a pass.

tomk:  That sounds like a good excuse to keep the Space Humane Society and Space PETA from protesting outside your house.

jimmy:  Yeah, you don’t want those guys showing up.

tomk:  And maybe I just have a pet peeve for when people leave their pets behind, both for real life and fiction.

jimmy:  That’s definitely true.

tomk:  But yes. It wasn’t a dog.

jimmy:  And now it’s nothing thanks to Geordi having a phaser stashed away in his nightstand.

tomk:  And without a lock on the drawer. That’s just not safe.

jimmy:  I wonder why he had it there in the first place?

tomk:  Look, you gotta protect your dangerous firearms and other similar weapons so they don’t fall into the wrong hands.

Also, he didn’t have a lot of places to stash one given how much space his VISOR cleaning supplies take up.

jimmy:  It gets dirty with all those alien hands taking them off for love rock touching.

tomk:  How else are you going to access the love rock?

jimmy:  Well, given they held it in their hands…not sure why he needed to take it off anyway.

tomk:  Maybe the love rock gives off weird energies that would have disoriented Geordi if viewed through his VISOR.

jimmy:  And she knew that?

tomk:  Doesn’t everybody in the future?

jimmy:  Apparently.

tomk:  It probably comes with the love rock’s instruction book.

jimmy:  Lol

tomk:  Those things are dangerous when in the wrong hands.

jimmy:  It is a mind probe of some kind.

tomk:  Aquiel’s people are somewhat telepathic.  Like Troi’s people.  And Spock’s.  And a host of others.

jimmy:  Though Geordi didn’t seem to know until she told him.

tomk:  Geordi maybe only cares about aliens if he knows they may pull out a love rock if you get my drift.

jimmy:

tomk:  But hey, how about that Picard.  He can play the “personal friend of Gowron” card when some Klingon gives him too much attitude.

jimmy:  He played that Klingon like a violin.

tomk:  He should be OK as long as he doesn’t brag later that he played that stinkin’ Klingon like a harp from hell only to learn later someone recorded that line and played it back later.

jimmy:  Picard’s smarter than that.

tomk:  You’re right.  He’s far classier too.

jimmy:  Indubitably!

tomk:  Far too classy for the likes of us.

jimmy:  That’s for sure.

tomk:  That’s mostly due to the company we keep.

jimmy:  I keep changing the locks but Watson still manages to get back in.

tomk:  That’s because he lives here and sleeps in the office.

jimmy:  Maybe we can create a holodeck program so that he only thinks he’s coming here. Wait, that was last episode.

tomk:  You might end up with a program that is nothing but Wild West Watsons.

jimmy:  I’ll just keep changing the locks.

tomk:  Which, again, doesn’t work if he’s already inside.

jimmy:  Maybe we should stick to Geordi.

tomk:  Good idea.  Besides, if you really wanna get rid of Watson, just take him to a Canadian film festival.

jimmy:  It would get rid of me, so you might be on to something.

tomk:  That’s how I know you weren’t replaced by a weird blob.

jimmy:  Speaking of, if that thing absorbed the dog, how did he get trapped in the Jeffries tube behind that piece of equipment?

tomk:  It, uh, was still a blob before it solidified inside?

jimmy:  Maybe.

tomk:  You got a better explanation?

jimmy:  I do not.

tomk:  In that case, I think we may have cracked that mystery.  We’re doing better than Riker and Picard.

jimmy:  Plus we had seen it before.

tomk:  Hey, you’re an observant guy.  I’m sure if the dog cast a suspicious shadow, you would have been all over it.

jimmy:  I would!

tomk:  You are exceptionally good at spotting shapeshifting monster and weirdos.

jimmy:  It’s my lot in life.

tomk:  I hear that’s why Ryan wanted you to be head of security.

jimmy:  Yeah, as head of security I never let shapeshifters on board.

tomk:  You’re our Worf.

Only with less moments where the bad guy knocks you out to show how tough he is.

jimmy:  And where the shapeshifter gets on board.

tomk:  They aren’t getting past your keen moments of observation.  Your memory may by your own admission be faulty, but you notice things.  Like how Jenny keeps getting into your donut stash.

jimmy:  She does!?!?

tomk:  Huh.  We may need to rethink your posting.

jimmy:  Maybe I’d be better under cover.

tomk:  So, like, someone whose is working under a false name on a covert mission?

jimmy:  Like that. Yeah. I’ll go by Mr. Thompson.

tomk:  Well, that’s an odd coincidence.

jimmy:  Oh?

tomk:  Well, either someone else is Mr. Thompson…or the next episode is about someone going undercover.

jimmy:  Or both!

tomk:  Well, this is a Geordi Romance episode, and that always means he’s making really questionable decisions.  Unless you have something else to say, maybe we can move on and find out.

jimmy:  I did wonder if when Levar Burton got the script he was like “here we go again.”

tomk:  I actually saw a recent thing he did with Frakes and Dorn where he said he made so many episodes back then he doesn’t really remember them, so every time he finds an episode on TV, it’s like he’s watching it for the first time, and he’s always amazed.

That said, I get the impression there’s a reason Geordi has two kids on Star Trek Picard.

jimmy:  He finally found the one.

tomk:  Yes.

And not a hologram with a love rock.

jimmy:  Good for him.

And to your other point, I can relate with my faulty memory, but it’s still hard for us to think they don’t remember making certain shows. Like during the whole Friends reunion thing where David Schwimmer didn’t remember the classic episode where they threw around a ball the whole show without dropping it. Or Courtney Cox basically saying she has no memory of making Friends.

tomk:  Matthew Perry said he doesn’t remember a couple seasons because of his substance abuse problems.

jimmy:  Yeah, I get that. And you hear rockers saying they don’t remember making certain albums. But I don’t picture Burton as a Coke head.

tomk:  He was probably knocking out an episode every week or so when the show was in production.

Scenes probably weren’t filmed in order.

And Troi’s outfits were probably distracting while the VISOR apparently gave him headaches.

jimmy:  She did bounce back to old Troi for a second there.

tomk:  Yes. Bounce.

jimmy:  Heh.

I did wonder what others did in an ensemble like this when not heavily involved in the episode. Like I think Data had one scene. What did Spiner do the rest of the week?

tomk:  He probably bummed cigarettes off kids in the parking lot.

jimmy:  Is that a Night Court reference?

tomk:  Nah. Just seemed like a funny thing he could have done.

jimmy:  Also funny?  Night Court.

tomk:  They did get the most interesting guest stars.

jimmy:  Indeed.

tomk:  Well, we may want to remember this is not a Night Court or Friends rewatch.

jimmy:  Right. Right. So, undercover eh?

tomk:  Yes.  So, who might be the worst person to send undercover from the main crew?

jimmy:  Barclay?

tomk:  I did say the main crew.

jimmy:  Right. Beverly.

tomk:  Close.

jimmy:  #evilwesley?

tomk:  Let’s just say if Geordi got a very typical Geordi episode, then we will be getting something very far from a typical Troi episode up next.

jimmy:  Intriguing.

tomk:  Ready?

jimmy:  Ready.

Next:  “Face of the Enemy”