Star Trek Retro Review: "The Big Good-Bye" (TNG) | Holodeck Episodes

[@edwarren8541]

I worked with the actor who played the good cop. He complained "Whenever I get cast for TV, I am always a cop. Then, my agent told me I got a role on the new show of Star Trek. I thought, "This is great! I'll get to play an alien, or a scientist, or someone on the ship. I got the script. What was I playing? A cop."

[@patrickdodds7162]

Fun Fact: In the episode, "11001001", The Bynars fixed the problems that the Jaradan probe caused the holodeck in "TBG"with a throwaway line. (I so dearly miss SUBTLE call backs in continuity in Trek. I miss it so much fucking much much.)

[@kaitlyn__L]

Although funnily enough, that was originally going to be the _cause_ of their problems here, before the episode order got reworked. So it's a subtle callback _and_ a clever script-fix to accommodate last-minute production issues :)

[@AdamKlein77]

Dammit, now I have to watch [01]{8,8} again

[@michaelhall2709]

As I mentioned above, that was actually a much better episode than this one.

[@indianastones6032]

Its the small things like that, which truly make star trek great!

[@empirejeff]

Picard called a senior Bridge staff meeting to talk about the holodeck. What a good captain 😊

[@miguelvelez7221]

😂 It really has a lot of "Dude... I just got the DLC, you guys gotta come over and play!" energy.

[@TK42100]

I still crack up at Worf saying “Auto…mobiles?”

[@Cmdr1962]

Gates was born to wear 40s fashion.

[@talon262]

Well, having been a choreographer and dancer before she became an actor, she definitely had the gams for it.

[@SheilaRough]

​@@talon262if she could've handled the Irish accent she could've played Maureen in a movie about making the Quiet Man. Why I'm still commenting on the Quiet Man , because it's my favorite john Wayne movie, it's really about Ireland and my birthday is St Patrick's day. So give me a break

[@torenatkinson1986]

I have to mention "Cyrus Redblock" actor Lawrence Tierney. Along with a long list of golden age noir roles, he played the gangster boss in Reservoir Dogs, Elaine's father on Seinfeld, and voiced Don Brodka on the Simpsons. That's right, Don Brodka.

[@michaelhall2709]

And he was great in RESERVOIR DOGS, though apparently everyone involved with the film hated working with him.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

Dang, I just looked him up and he died in 2002 at 82. It's hard to believe 2002 was 22 years ago...he'd be 105 if he were still alive today.

[@ZuluRomeo]

And he was a warlord in the DS9 episode "Business As Usual" (the one where Quark turns to arms dealing and has Steven Berkoff in it). Great actor, much missed.

[@patrickdodds7162]

*"Manners, madam, are never a waste of time. Civility, gentleman, always civility. Get that stiff outta here..."* -- TNG (and Trek in general)' s most underrated line. This episode earned it's Peabody for that alone.

[@wedgemccloud]

Right up there with "Manners maketh man." and "Rules… without them, we live with the animals."

[@alanpennie]

That looks like another nod to Sydney Greenstreet.

[@jpotter2086]

So '80s ... episode treats military professionals troubleshooting a holodeck like a suburban family trying to program a VCR. Bookworm kid to the rescue!

[@johnboren8928]

The continuity issue about Picard not having any money despite being giver $100 earlier could have been resolved by him giving the vendor a $100 bill and having the vendor get angry because there was no way he would have been able to give change for a hundred, and throwing the paper at him.

[@DrewLSsix]

So... do holodeck programs have scene transitions? Like do you have to ride in the cop car, get booked, sit in a cell for a few hours THEN get the next meaningful scene in the story when you are interrogated by the hostile corrupt detectives?

[@CoyoteSeven]

From what we've been shown of how the holodeck works, the story will plod along in real time unless you specifically tell the computer to jump forward to a certain time index or scene or chapter or whatever.

[@lunatickoala]

Probably depends on whoever made the program and current trends. Over time the number of transitions probably decreases. In older movies, if characters needed to travel there was often a scene showing that but over time there was less and less of that. The Indiana Jones movies include those specifically as an homage to those old movies.

[@kaitlyn__L]

In Bashir's holo-program Garak doesn't know how they got to Bashir's Hong Kong pad on the other side of the planet, so I guess there was fast-travel. Else he'd know how first-class jet travel was like in the 60s 😅 Oh yeah! Tom Paris criticised Tuvok for too much realism when their holding cell experience plays out in real time. That's pretty direct confirmation that that is _not_ the norm in holodeck narratives. But also 100% possible.

[@douglaswolfen7820]

I think there would have to be time skips. They're just an essential story-telling tool. Every other form of storytelling has them after all But it's a good question, because they'd probably be considered a little more jarring in holodeck stories than they are in other media, so maybe holodeck stories are often written to have fewer time skips? Less waiting around?

[@calebleland8390]

​@@CoyoteSevenI always assumed that, especially when you look at the holodeck scene in First Contact. Picard just tells the computer to skip several chapters and the scene automatically changes. But one can presume that, without that prompt, you would be stuck waiting for an eternity to get to a particular scene.

[@allanolley4874]

Dick Miller is the epitome of the grizzled no nonsense working man (or at least was in the 80s & 90s) and so well cast as the new vendor (and from what I remember his role in the DS9 episodes were they travel back to 2024). One dissonant note I remember about this episode is that Picard seemed awfully ignorant of the actual content of the Dixon Hill novels for someone who was supposed to have read them at least a little. Overall yeah I remember it relatively fondly. I'm kind of sad we didn't get to here Steve do at least one line of a full on noir voice over dialogue "It was raining in the city..." Maybe one day...

[@kevinkeeney9418]

I always assumed it's been awhile. Like, I have fond memories of the Hardy Boys books from my youth, but I only read them once, and I would be hard pressed to remember specific plot elements if I were to step into Chet's role in a virtual recreation.

[@torenatkinson1986]

There's a 1.5 hour documentary "That Guy: Dick Miller"

[@allanolley4874]

@@torenatkinson1986 Wow thanks. I just watched it. Star Trek content is provided by both Ira Behr and Robert Picardo (although he is there because of the Burbs). They do mention the Deep Space 9 episode but not this TNG episode. Still interesting stuff.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@kevinkeeney9418 Exactly! Or like how I've probably read every book that Agatha Christie ever wrote, but it's been years since I've read any of them, and if I was dropped into a holodeck program of a specific Agatha Christie mystery, I would most likely have no idea which one I was in, unless it was one of the most memorable, like if I happened to notice that we were on the Orient Express...

[@decepticonpecock]

What if he's a fake fan who's only ever played the holonovel adaptations and never actually read the text.

[@Kleion_RFB]

I don't generally notice things like continuity issues, and it's not like it's a big deal, but this episode does have one of the few that I noticed myself. Wesley is working outside of the Holodeck with a few technicians, they get the doors open, and then Cyrus Redblock and Not Peter Lorre walk out into a completely empty hallway, with Wesley (and the technicians) apparently having cleaned up and run off without even waiting to see that his mom is ok. Given that this was his whole motivation for coming down to look at the Holodeck in the first place, it's a really apparent one.

[@miyahollands6136]

the deectives are playing good cop, bad cop. Picard responds "There are 4 lights!"

[@TrumbullComic]

Yeah, it's a good idea to make Picard's goodbye to his friend McNary the final scene of the episode, since it's the emotional heart of the story. I bet they could've managed it if they'd just had Picard make his greeting to the Jarada from the holodeck. Then we could've gotten a last bit of comedy with McNary giving Picard some side eye as his buddy Dixon Hill suddenly starts speaking in gibberish. Then BAM! Hit us with the big goodbye, leave us with the final question of whether or not McNary's wife and child are going to be there when he gets home, fade to black. That'd be a good film noir ending.

[@michaelhall2709]

Not bad. That would at least have tied the A and B plots together, which the episode as aired utterly fails to do.

[@uroviiv]

I know it doesn't really matter, but I always wondered at the in universe origins of the holodeck safety. Did Starfleet's engineers just never figure out how to make blanks and finally went 'screw it, there's clearly no better solution than using real guns in our public entertainment system. Let's just add a safety and hope nothing ever messes with it,'? And if not, what situation were they anticipating that would need a lethal holodeck? Besides, I guess, gunning down Borg with a twentieth century machine gun.

[@alanpennie]

I suspect The Maltese Falcon gets parodied so often because it's such a good example of the *have a guy come through a door with a gun in hand* style of mystery writing.

[@MichaelHaneline]

$100 in 1946 is the equivalent of about $1700 today.

[@ErikStronks]

The story is set in 1941, which would make $100 about $2140 today

[@sirB0nes]

The episode title is a nice bit of film noir pastiche as well, combining "The Big Sleep" with "The Long Goodbye," both novels by Raymond Chandler (and eventually movies) that featured his recurrent detective character Phillip Marlowe.

[@CynthiaWarren]

I liked this episode. It was fun seeing the cast so confused by things that are ordinary to us, even when the tech is outdated by our standards. BTW, a fun idea for future retro review themes: episodes that build main character backstory. You could call it Backstory Development Episodes. You should get a nice string of episodes to review from that.

[@no_sht_sherlock4663]

The fact that the lipstick survived outside the holodeck and the characters didn't, cracks me up

[@niceguy191]

I like how they operate on Wile E Coyote logic and somehow make it into the hallway before dissolving for dramatic effect.

[@AaronLitz]

Non-living, non-animate material is simply replicated. That was real lipstick. Moving objects are shaped forcefields with holographic projections over them. That's how you can eat inside a holodeck. The stupid idea of there being a kid of different "holodeck matter" that evaporates outside of a holodeck didn't start bubbling up until much later, most likely from writers who badly misunderstood what happened at the end of this episode.

[@AaronLitz]

@@niceguy191 I assume they went as far as the projectors inside the holodeck could reach outside the door.

[@snakebitcat]

I thought the reason why it had fewer coffee stains was because everyone on the Enterprise drank tea, Earl Grey, hot.

[@dkSilo]

Loved the references. The quickfire ones and others sprinkled in. Didn't get all of them, but most. My favourite one was to the MCU Kingpin, very on point with the visuals (and crime boss parallel). Nice video. Totally didn't remember the weird holodeck stuff that never returns (like vanishing people or holodeck characters able to leave for a few steps before slowly disintrigrating). Looking forward to more holodeck stuff.

[@JonSonOfJoe]

Steve, Are you going to do "The Royale"? Though not technically a holodeck episode, the planet is a simulation of some sort and allow the TNG crew to do a Ocean's 11-esque episode.

[@ezterry]

Thanks! Enjoying this and many historic episodes. The Starfleet Jobs skits i think mostly made me notice the channel.

[@koini11]

Re the whole 'if it crashes everyone inside dies thing'. I feel like this was a very common trope of tv and film in the 90s. You couldnt move for plots about immersive but deadly computer games that would fry your brains back then.

[@koini11]

I say this being unable to think of an example but like people being stuck in quicksand, It seems like a common plot point you never see any more.

[@peopleseethis]

I'm sure it's just because they hadn't decided the "rules" for the holodeck yet being the first episode of its kind, but how did the holodeck put real lipstick on a hologram woman so that it could leave the holodeck and be seen by Crusher? The dudes disappeared when they walked out.

[@laikapupkino1767]

It was Revlon long-lasting holodeck lipstick. Available in holodecks, holosuites and holonovels across the galaxy...

[@TrumbullComic]

I'm wondering why the bullet in Whalen's stomach didn't instantly disappear as soon as he was carried out of the holodeck.

[@CoyoteSeven]

That sort of thing happened often with those holodeck episodes. Like when Moriarty drew an outline of the Enterprise on a piece of paper and Data was able to exit the holodeck with it. But then in that other episode with Moriarty they were trying to transport a holographic chair out of the holodeck? Consistency!

[@bailey64]

Holodecks (mostly in the first season) also used replicator/teleporter tech to physically produce some elements (like water if some one gets wet, since it's easier than somehow simulating the clothes they are wearing being wet), so it likely just manufactured the lipstick as it was applied to Picard's face. Making whole people is clearly beyond what the holodeck can make physically (much to Moriarty's frustration).

[@wentencel]

Holodeck got me pregnant again

[@elliottgussow9555]

Additional traditional references: William Boyett as the other cop - he played cops all over TV. The title "The Big Goodbye" is a reference to "Dragnet.' All Dragnet episodes were titled "The Big _____."

[@breengreg]

The way Picard gushes about the holodeck is insane. He acts like it’s magic.

[@FailSonOfAnarchy]

Redblock is played by Lawrence Tierney, a tough guy actor from a bunch of noir films in the 40's. He even played John Dillinger in 1945.

[@miguelvelez7221]

OMG... I never realized the Redblock/Greenstreet connection.

[@patrickdodds7162]

Ooh! Ooh! This episode mentions the London Kings which would later be referenced on DS9 as Buck Bokai's team--which would also be referenced in VOY's "One Small Step"! (This episode rules!)

[@McFlingleson]

You know, it always kind of seemed to me like the Federation should just quietly avoid the aliens who demand Captain Picard do the ceremonial greeting. They always sounded like the kind of people who are just more of a headache than they're worth.

[@kemmdog4444]

I guess Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong isn’t going to cut it with those aliens.

[@ryannickens7848]

Universal greeting, first attempted on the Sharkticons, or was it the Junkions? I forget

[@Chris-tf7gi]

Seems I've always agreed with you on how good The Big Goodbye is. Well said on how Picard got a chance to lighten up and how secondary characters even get some depth. Only thing that's always nagged me a tad is it'd be nice if that mystery item were found or identified. If that young lady were not killed early on she could returned to lay a big... kiss on Picard, igniting sparks with Crusher for the future. Barclay wright that program?

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

You could disappear if the computer crashes? See, that's the problem. The scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they SHOULD. That's gonna come back to bite them again when "Elementary, Dear Data" comes along.

[@lunatickoala]

Many of the cast and crew also expressed that this was their favorite episode to work on in the first season. Which is essentially a slight on the series because if the best episode and even the best scenes in the episode are the ones that have the least to do with what the series is supposed to be about, then the series is kinda crap. It's like going to a restaurant and the only good thing on the menu is a dessert from the bakery next door. TNG era Star Trek was at its best when it broke away from what Roddenberry wanted, when the story wasn't about humans with "evolved sensibilities" preaching about the superiority of the Federation Way to the heathen savages of the galaxy. What do "Q Who", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "The Best of Both Worlds", "Chain of Command" all have in common? There's a lot of eating of humble pie.

[@stevewithaq]

5:30 - OR - maybe Picard didn't lose the money, but was just running the classic "plead penury to score a free newspaper" routine - a sweet grift if you can pull it off!

[@StormsparkPegasus]

The "stop the technobabble and get to the point" was used extensively on Stargate SG-1 to avoid technobabble. They would have Carter start to explain something, and O'Neill would interject with "I don't need to know all that, just tell me if it will work or not." "Yes, sir" "Thank you."

[@ChesterRico]

A Daredevil reference? Damn, I miss that show.

[@scottwesty9568]

Man, with the way you said "A San Francisco street" for a second I thought you said "treat" Could have been a great Rice A Roni joke/reference.

[@fy8798]

I'd like going to work and the boss calls everyone to a staff meeting to discuss how Amazing Ultima IV on their computer is and we should all play it.

[@hadorstapa]

I was always bothered that the panel Wesley is focussed on for fixing the holodeck seems to be next to the holodeck, but is nowhere near the exit when Redblock and stooge try to leave. I guess the words of Picard about it being the passage to his world suggest the writers had in mind some kind of connecting zone between the corridor and the holodeck itself (which would have avoided that business with the snowball.)

[@poozizzle]

The greeting at the end is the only part I really remember. It was a jarring way to end an episode

[@NihlusKryik]

Steve, we need a Starfleet Jobs Interview with a ship’s fiction expert

[@BrianRRenfro]

I always thought it was hilarious (and that was probably the point) of everyone dressing up and walking around the ship like a fucking Viking or whatever they are playing when they could just have a Holodeck Jumpsuit issued to them and the holodeck could just dress them which could be made weightless and stretchy and feel like it isn't even there if you so wished. Of course, again, I know, it's entertaining to have them walk around dressed as a pirate but still...

[@Zoldrandomstuff]

I would have loved to see an episode of TNG exploring how modern humans most often consume media, since it seems like they either have just books, or the holodeck, with no television/movies inbetween; everything's either written on a page, or in full 3D simulation lol.

[@DrewLSsix]

We only ever see a tiny sliver of society throughout star trek.

[@Stephen-Fox]

Film and television are implied to not really be a thing anymore in Voyager, where Tom's considered an absolute nerd by the rest of the crew for being into film generally (and 20th century cinema in specific). One of his holodeck programs was a replica of a cinema and everyone else seems to be generally confused as to why you'd want media that's visual rather than written word or a recording of music but not a 3d simulation. Books or video games. No tv, no film... Maybe no stage plays even since the concept of cinema isn't _that_ different to the concept of a stage play. Which is _particularly_ weird considering the holodeck is treated as a novelty in TNG's first season, cutting edge tech that the crew are amazed by - set around 7 years before Voyager got stranded. Implying that at some point prior to the invention of the holodeck the written word became not just the dominant form of media but the only form of media. And then, bam. Suddenly videogames also existed again. But 3d ones where you can walk around and get killed if the safeties go wrong.

[@carolinemcgovern4488]

I'd love a spinoff of Star Trek but it's focusing on the normal people going about their business living in this society

[@fisk0]

At least it's established as still being a thing in the Enterprise and TOS (Discovery) eras - they have regular movie nights on Enterprise and Discovery had that Short Treks episode about the movie Funny Face. So, while both those shows were produced long after TNG, I'd imagine people in the TNG era would still be familiar with the medium, especially considering how recent Holodecks seem to be according to this episode. You can imagine that with time, movies would be outcompeted by holodecks, but it's so new in TNG that most of the characters have little to no experience with them when they're introduced.

[@wentencel]

I lost internet connection right after your introductory puns and assumed you were just holding for laughter

[@lafara0]

The "Okay... You don't need to be like that" killed me

[@SeventhSwell]

"Wormy Great Value version" is great, since I literally just had to throw out a full package of Great Value sugar that came with worms in it.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

I *knew* there was a reason that I prefer other cheap store brands!

[@jlima01]

Interesting piece of trivia. The are two times I know of that Major League Baseball’s London Kings are discussed. Here, and in DS9 ‘Past Tense’. Dick Miller is a part of both of these scenes.

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Alright that Many MacGuffin gag was brilliant

[@ericgeyer3213]

The writers were still breaking holodeck rules in this one. Though Cyrus and Felix eventually disappear, it's not immediately like the book that Picard tosses through the arch to demonstrate to Moriarty why he shouldn't leave. Also, why does the lipstick stay on Picard's face after he leaves? Wasn't it also holographic? Same with the water that Wesley Crusher seems to be able to take off the holodeck in Encounter at Farpoint and Angel One (the latter in snowball form, hitting Picard in the chest), though probably only because it puts him in an embarrassing situation with the Captain both times.

[@pokepress]

For your EDD discussion, here are a few “gamer”/AI things I wanted to mention. -When Data bypasses the intended sequence of events in the first outing, it turns out that the speedrunning community actually has a name for that-a sequence break! The fact that the program reacts more or less appropriately to this suggests that the developers anticipated this (or someone else tried it) and programmed in an alternate response. -The part where Geordi instructs the computer to formulate an original Sherlock Holmes plot line has some interesting parallels to AI generated content, both from an analysis of how LLMs combine information, and some of the discussions around AI safety. I hope you include those in your discussion. Also, since Data is technically an AI himself, you could consider the interaction between him and the scenarios generated by the computer to be a kind of Generative Adversarial Network.

[@yensid4294]

Some of my favorite eps from ST:TNG are holodeck eps BUT the whole idea of holograms being solid matter always bugged me. Cuz they aren't. And I always wished they'd come up with a different name since they were clearly going for an extremely immersive & interactive form of VR. I still love the Data/Sherlock Holmes/Moriarity storylines so I guess it doesn't matter. The holodeck added some much needed whimsy to the show & it always tickled me how people from an idealistically perfect future wanted to LARP early 20th century mystery- adventure genres the same way people nowadays love to LARP medieval fantasy adventures. A holodeck was a better solution by the writers than time travel or planets just like Earth but with Romans, Gangsters or NotSees as in TOS. Looking forward to more reviews ❤

[@SheilaRough]

Who wouldn't be impressed with her Maureen O'Hara impression. Gates is still a stunning woman and have you ever seen Maureen in the Quiet Man? Possibly the most underrated John Wayne movie, directed byJohn Ford. starring the most Waynes, 3. John and 2 of his children in speaking extra roles during the horse race speaking to Maureen character about her hat. And director John Ford's brother plays a background chacter. Point is that Maureen is gorgeous in that movie

[@MrEriklenn]

And if anyone asks you "What's the Maltese Falcon?" make sure your response is "it's the stuff that dreams are made of"

[@lock67ca]

Hey, careful there. That rug ties the room together.

[@davedujour1]

Hey, I work in pajamas now. I also work where I live, just like everyone on the Enterprise. But I'm not in the Navy. They've been working from home for centuries.

[@williamblakehall5566]

I appreciated your list of macguffins, from Rosebud to the NOC list.

[@jeffreyjeziorski1480]

Sidney.......Green street... Cyrus.........Red block ..........subtle!!.........

[@freyja4818]

It's brought up more in voyager, but I always am confused by the treatment of holodeck programs as novels. In a novel you can't change the story. I feel that the ability to do anything limits the author's influence over themes, messages, and the story itself. It seems like they'd just be creating npc's in the game world, and pointing them in a direction, but there isn't any reason to expect the author's story to play out.

[@ThePlayTyperGuy]

Yes, the holodeck is more like a video game or any other sort of roleplaying exercise. A book is a book. And with the replicators, you’d have a library at your command.

[@shivermeshoes]

It's a holo-novel, roughly analogous to video games in a story format. Easier than saying 'a holodeck program based on the characters, events and setting of a particular Jane Austin novel'. I'm sure you could set the program so that other characters would stand with blank stares until you said or did the things 'by the book' but the idea of testing out scenarios is much more intriguing. I wonder what would have happened if James Holden never responded to the distress call at the beginning of The Expanse, for instance.

[@michaelramon2411]

I suspect that's a result of the time period TNG was written in - video games were still a long way from mainstream, so they use a comparison that both the writers and audience would be more familiar with.

[@joeeyaura]

i think its a left over word in the future, like how we call mobile phones, phones. when that is the very least they are used for anymore, yes it is a phone but alot more. so it is like a novel, but so much more too

[@DrewLSsix]

Never read a choose your own adventure book?

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

I never understood how the holographic lipstick stayed on Picard's face, especially given the ending where Redblock stepped off the holodeck and vanished.

[@carycharlebois5965]

Isn't "The Big Goodbye" the holodeck program Picard loads when fleeing with Lily from the Borg in First Contact?

[@alanpennie]

Makes sense. Would have been a nice Easter egg to have McNary show up so Picard could ask about his family.

[@M.McCluskey]

I love how no one suggests to transport them out?

[@joehopfield]

That shirt! Also, green *was* my valley...

[@francoislacombe9071]

In TOS, episodes with planets similar (or identical) to Earth were a cost saving gimmick, allowing the use of existing sets from other shows an movies instead of having to build them from scratch. In TNG, holodeck episodes were used in the same way for the same purpose.

[@carlapeay208]

This is the federation flagship, with presumably some of the best most highly trained engineers in Starfleet. And the best person to fix a potentially life threatening malfunction on the holodeck is Wesley?

[@kevingriffith6011]

6:07 Picard should really get with the guy who made that holodeck program. You can't just punish your players for having a day job like that! Some people have to go be starship captains and can't just stay logged in 24/7 to make sure your light-and-force-field people don't go get themselves killed!

[@AceOfSevens]

Two fun elements: This is basically an episode about how the boss starts playing a new video game, calls a staff meeting to tell everyone about ti & tries to get them to play with him. Imagine if when the Xboxes were rolled out to the troops in Iraq so that they could play Halo, the first time they played, the Xbox malfunctioned & the covenants shot a couple people for real, but they kept on with the Xboxes for troops plan. That's basically what this is.

[@fisk0]

I mean, would they really have stopped supplying the troops with them of that happened? Don't forget the US supplied their troops with dowsing rods to find mines/IED's, and killed both troops and civilians by undiscovered munitions and false positives. It took over 20 years before the makers of the ADE 651 were convicted of fraud, and in the meantime they had killed thousands.

[@temperingtantrum]

Damn, love your enthusiasm on this one! Well done

[@caseyontiveros2776]

It was nice to see in Discovery S5Ep5 where they just the First Officer ask why something needs to work that one way, and Stamits just says, it does and that's good enough for the First Officer.

[@frenchfriar]

I just watched this episode again! The bit about Wesley saying the holodeck might erase everybody sort of makes sense, if you consider that instead of deconstructing just the setting, a badly done reset might just make it erase everything present. But Beverly not thinking to call in someone from engineering to check out the malfunctioning doorway before she just walks in sort of bothered me. She's a bridge officer, it seems like it would be important for her to report a malfunction like that. On the other hand, her not thinking to do so implies the ship malfunctions like this all the time, to the point of it not being a noticable problem.

[@pupmorningstar]

19:07 - shutting down the holodeck causes real people to cease to exist does come back in a way .. albeit not in TNG but in Steve's most favourite show of them all .. Star Trek: Voyager: Season 1, Episode 11 - Heroes and Demons where Harry Kim is in the Beowulf holonovel. There was also the episode in DS9 Our Man Bashir Season 4 Episode 10 as well that was loosely based on this plot.

[@FordCooke]

This was the second episode in the franchise with the most useless position on a Federation starship, a 20th Century historian. 🤣

[@marienbad2]

"You're a pretty hot broad." "Is that good?" Crusher killing it!

[@Sidecutter]

"If she had a grocery receipt in her pocket, would these cops be raiding the local Safeway...?" Um, yes? 100% yes. That's 100% accurate to what I believe real cops would do.

[@Howlrunner82]

The Holodeck. When the "personal relaxation light" isn't enough 😂

[@patrickdodds7162]

Kudos for the "11001001" reference! You rule!

[@jan-rs6im]

love your reviews - happy trip down memory lane - also love the Big Goodbye

[@uvp5000]

I recall this episode having multiple dimensions, adding welcome texture to the series and characters.

[@cheddarssalad1230]

These sort of episodes always makes me wonder why the holodeck doesn’t use hitscan by default. Hitscan, for those that don’t know, is programming tech used in video games that involve gunplay. Most games do not render bullets as physical objects. Instead the game draws an invisible line from the gun to what it is pointed at and if the gun is pointing at something that reacts to bullets the object will react. It hits what it scans. Sure, holographic bullets are good in a pinch if the Borg show up but far too risky and completely unnecessary in literally every other possible scenario.

[@cbruce78]

My easy fix for "everyone dies if the holodeck shuts down" would be for Geordi to announce that among the circuits that were fried was the auto-cleaning sterilizer cycle that disintegrates all leftover biological matter after each user leaves the holodeck. Hard-cut to Riker avoiding eye contact.

[@Aezetyr]

12:41 - do not put the holodeck through a carwash.

[@johnchedsey1306]

There's a pretty easy explanation as to why "they'll all vanish" was never mentioned again: Wesley was wrong about that. Damn kids being all dramatic.

[@quentra4304]

One of my favorites! Thanks for the review.

[@wesleyrodgers886]

The big sleep. The long goodbye. Raymond chandler. If anyone's interested

[@jediknight131]

Star Trek: TNG: Hard Rain is a great novel that is structured like "The Big Goodbye". Highly recommended!

[@johnsavard7583]

Well, Cyrus Redblock's name... reminded me immediately, given the helps from the context, of Sidney Greenstreet.

[@JanRademan]

How many doors does the holodeck have? Why isn't Riker, Geordi and the rescue party standing outside when the exit opens?

[@chazblank2717]

I dunno, routine police incompetence and corruption in the 1940’s kinda sounds like period accuracy… those cops would’ve hassled Benny Russel for way less

[@alanpennie]

As a PI (presumably a former cop himself) DH will know how the game is played. The cops will just phone him up to ask him what he's found out and since his client is dead (I suppose he'll need to check they're not lying to him) he's free to talk without any risk of breaking client confidentiality. Philip Marlowe spent a lot of time in police stations.

[@euansmith3699]

So many references; very well done Steve.

[@AdrianBroadwell]

The technobabble absolutely slammed the breaks on the pace of an episode, to quote Mr Roddenberry Joe Friday doesn't pull out his 38 and then explain how it works. It was one of the things that always irritated me about TNG. Also those 'safety protocols' were really crap!

[@Tom_Kowalczuk]

I wonder if writter of 13 Floor got idea for it from this episode? Conversation with cop is very simillar on both.

[@christopherscholl639]

When Picard looks out of the window, and apparently his office is on the 2nd or 3rd floor at an interesection, ready to cross the road.

[@FordLancer]

That holodeck joke was perfect 😂. The reason they couldn’t shut down the holodeck would have made more sense if it was because the emitters, using light projections, would super heat the room because of the technobabble.

[@michaelhall2709]

This episode, written by Mel Torme’s son Tracy, actually won a Peabody Award. I always thought it was terribly overrated. The A plot with the alien negotiations had literally nothing to do with the B main plot, the pacing is as sluggish as in most first season TNG episodes, and Redblock’s dissolving comeuppance is as absurd as it is tacky. I totally disagree that it’s the best episode of the first season; I don’t even think it’s the best holodeck episode of the first season, that being the much more inventive (not to mention fun) “11001001.”

[@sethlogee]

I can't believe you didn't bring up what was on front page of newspaper captain read at news stand. Hitler on the Moon. 🤣🤣🤣

[@jan-rs6im]

and Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart never looked better than in the vintage outfits

[@miguelvelez7221]

I think this is more interesting than compelling as an episode. It's also a victim of time as "simulated worlds" as a scifi concept is pretty old hat now. So there's some shine off the ole apple. Otherwise... Pretty good season one entry. Anytime we get the Trek characters interacting with ither time periods of Earth it's bound to be interesting. Plus all the goid moments like Data throwing himself into his role or Lawrence Tierney throwing HIMSELF into the role he is in. This is memorable but not great. Still establishes a lot going forward, not just that the holodeck is a deathtrap that should be banned 😂 but Picard loving historical fiction LIKE THIS shows us the side of the man that liked getting into bar fights.

[@peterversionone]

Does anyone else hate we never got to see Miles and Bashir’s holosuite adventures(The Alamo, Battle of Britain, and also basically a Braveheart battle) Also, what holodeck episode was it where Picard went 1920’s gangster and shot up everyone with the Tommy Gun

[@TrumbullComic]

That was in the movie First Contact.

[@veronicado1016]

That wasn't an episode. That was the scene from the movie Star Trek First Contact.

[@CrypticCharm]

That was Star Trek First Contact...killing the Borg, with a holographic tommy gun!

[@Stealthwilde]

Not a holodeck episode, it's a scene from the TNG movie First Contact. Picard lures the Borg invading the ship into the holodeck and turns off the safeties, turns out the borg have never encountered a Chicago typewriter and so haven't adapted to it yet

[@getnohappy]

I'd completely forgotten they lean into the existential horror of the holodeck straight away... that would be ignored until The Doctor in Voyager (I'm not counting Moriarty as that overtly shows the Computer creates a conscious entity because Geordie is bad at AI prompts).

[@Stephen-Fox]

As a random aside, I think my favourite Holodeck episode isn't from Trek. Instead it's Red Dwarf's Back to Reality. Which, ok, hallucination caused by a psychic squid that feeds on despair rather than recreational simulation, but it's more or less the same concept.