This Is Why I’m In Starfleet

[@tjwparso]

Star Trek · The Next Generation · s04e19 · The Nth Degree Thanks for clicking, thanks for watching, hope you got what you came for. BuyMeSomeBeans: ko-fi.com/tjwparso / paypal.me/tjwparso Intro Audio: Star Trek TNG: s03e06 'Booby Trap' & s03e12 'The High Ground' Outro Music: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZnXlGaYitp0hKM , kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6aWXpuhYtWLqa8 & kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYu6goCsfbOCpKs Discord: discord.gg/JjVnjKmBgv

[@stevechance150]

Hello Neuralink. The future is right around the corner.

[@virgilio6349]

"Should we send a probe to investigate the completely alien object?" Picard: "Nah, send 2 meatbags to poke it with a Starfleet Service Approved Stick™"

[@lordwoods3111]

It IS Starfleet approved after all.

[@CaptainShenanigans42]

"And have them follow all our safety protocols, because those never fail us, no sir!"

[@lordwoods3111]

@@CaptainShenanigans42 Hey now, there IS a reason each of their protocols contains a #A through Z section. As part of Protocol a Captain should not actively endanger themselves without a security escort..... addendum #A If the captain insists it is an order, it’s fine. Addendum #B if the medical officer deems the captain mentally unfit, or unstable, they can be placed in the brig while a security team is sent to preform the task which requires self endangerment. Another protocol- Starfleet must not interfere with the development of non space faring societies. Addendum #A If the society appears to be on the brink of collapse, it is sanctioned. Addendum #B Should ongoing operations to monitor the populace of the society be in danger of discovery, it MAY be necessary to intervene so as not to appear as a hostile force. Addendum #C If they are in active danger of annihilation it is permitted that a Captain or higher officer may choose to intervene.

[@CaptainShenanigans42]

@@lordwoods3111 And here I was thinking I was a major trekkie, you certainly know your stuff. As for my comment, I hope you understand that it was a gag, a jest, a comedic insinuation, a witticism if you will.

[@nweasels]

@@lordwoods3111 Most of those Addendums to the protocols can be traced directly back to Kirk, McCoy and Spock.

[@mahna_mahna]

Reg is the most real character in Star Trek. Even down to his speech patterns. He sounds more like a person actually talking instead of performing a script.

[@voltaicfire1825]

Yes, there's something to be said for stumbling over your words like you don't already know what you're going to say.

[@derekfnord]

Dwight Schultz is a severely underrated actor, IMO...

[@mariomatovina4]

I think I like him because I'm awkward like him, and not good with words.

[@lifotheparty6195]

Reg is the only uniformed member of the crew that didn’t go through the academy.

[@WillJM81280]

He’s relatable to certain people yes. I know plenty of people who speak perfectly smoothly the vast majority of the time.

[@TheZetaKai]

I love how the Argus Array gets referenced in later episodes. This thing is huge, and has implications beyond just this appearance. It always frustrates me when a Big Cool Thing gets ignored later in the series (I'm looking at you, Dyson sphere from Relics), so it's nice to see that this BCT will not be forgotten.

[@Afterburner215]

This array was a model used from Star Trek: The Movie right?

[@jblyon2]

@@Afterburner215 It sure looks similar enough, and we know how they loved reusing every set and prop they could.

[@akumakorgar]

Oh man the Dyson Sphere would have shattering implications. It plays a huge role in the gameplay of Star Trek Online but yeah, it should have been mentioned again

[@sharkdentures3247]

Yeah, while Star Trek is not the BIGGEST sinner in Sci Fi, I DO hate it when "continuity" is BROKEN (or even just IGNORED). I mean, I get that there are time constraints for episodes, but even just injecting a little throwaway line here or there (maybe near the start of the episode), referencing something from a previous episode/ season, now & then, would be nice. Thankfully, TNG DOES do it at least a LITTLE.

[@animateddepression]

The Dyson Sphere gets heavily gayed up in STO

[@sarcasticguy4311]

"There was enough energy in that flash to overload your optic nerves." How I feel after someone coming from the opposite direction on the highway has their high beams on.

[@mikeschmidt4800]

Especially with todays high performance headlights.

[@obiitom]

When you fingerprint unlock your phone in bed at midnight, with the auto brightness control off, and the last app used is Facebook which is still open.

[@sarcasticguy4311]

@@obiitom Haha and you get flashbanged by your phone. Hate it when that happens.

[@donovanulrich348]

Assholes: *has LED lights, needs highbeams* Me: and thats why your an asshole XD

[@timaahhh]

His scan picked up the Abramsverse. He's very lucky there was no optic nerve damage.

[@macdom24]

I never realized, but that array would have to be MASSIVE it makes the Enterprise look small. It would be literally miles and miles from end to end.

[@kommodore6691]

We don't know the distance for scale though, the Enterprise could be really far away and the camera close to the array.

[@icwiz]

indeed. remember that later they deal with its fusion reactors. Its so big it has many fusion reactors to power it.

[@TheZetaKai]

Also, Worf says that the probe was 1.8km (1.1 miles) from the array. If you look at the spatial relationships, the array looks like a coffee table, and the probe looks like a lipstick case floating a foot above it. That array is friggin' huge; no wonder that the Romulans didn't like it aimed at their territory.

[@Destroyer2150]

Well, considering in Star Trek, transmissions in space have need to be faster than the speed of light, it would be expected comms arrays to be real big, Not considering the amount of noise they have to clean, in order to make transmissions clear.

[@TheCormTube]

Sources say it's 2.4km long, 1.6 wide and about 50m tall

[@Pondimus_Maximus]

“It’s obviously a probe.” Yeah, a probe shaped suspiciously like a bean! You meddle with powers beyond your comprehension, Riker!

[@orlock20]

Grow enough beans and one will eventually become sentient.

[@orlock20]

@IanFromCalifornia human bean, sentient bean and any creature that has bean around and bean observant. They bean watching us and communicating to each other through the bean vine.

[@biliussteed2102]

It’s a combination of Riker and Q. Q+Riker=QRikey.

[@pianotm]

I read that in Q's voice.

[@sulla1537]

The power of the bean is powerful

[@taopilot2669]

"This is why I joined Starfleet." "Oh, I just joined for the holodecks."

[@danieldickson8591]

Yeah, holosuites can get pretty pricey.

[@pwnmeisterage]

Starfleet medical benefits are pretty good, too.

[@seashorerumble1380]

Yeah the community center holodecks are no good

[@mr.robinson1982]

I would spend all my free time & money on the Holodeck & in the Whoredeck...lol

[@lifotheparty6195]

@@seashorerumble1380 I’d imagine it’s like watching porn on a library computer. Maybe you get a private cubical but you know that everyone knows what you were doing lol

[@marieandemerson1555]

Dwight Schultz is one of the best actors to have ever appeared on Star Trek. It's insane that he wasn't made a regular on TNG.

[@briantaverne915]

I agree but he did get a really good spot on star trek Voyager

[@SSJBart-jb5dw]

@@briantaverne915 If you want to hear more Dwight Schultz, he voice acts in the expansion to the video game X-COM 2 called War of the Chosen. Denise Crosby, John de Lancie, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, and Marina Sirtis are all in it too!!

[@Melphster]

Reg was a great character, not everyone in Starfleet is perfect

[@KyleHarmieson]

Apart from Reg!

[@lifotheparty6195]

Reg is the only uniformed officer of the enterprise to not go to the academy. He’s just a kickass scientist who got a field commission for being a kickass scientist. It also explains a lot of people’s attitudes about him. I was in the military myself and there is a ton of culture to be learned during training in order to fit in that he simply didn’t get. It’s why I like Barclay so much. He’s just a dude who got to where he is in his own way. Some of the enterprise resents that he’s a uniformed officer that didn’t earn his commission in the same way others did. Heck, even O’Brien and Scotty were still enlisted before getting their field commissions to warrant officer.

[@DarkestVampire92]

For every Wesley Crusher, there are ten Bradward Boimlers.

[@PR--un4ub]

@@lifotheparty6195 Starfleet isn't a military.

[@lifotheparty6195]

@@PR--un4ub not in the current sense of the word, no. However the training, rank structure and culture is quite similar to 20th century navy and done so by design. In fact, Kirk has a lovely conversation with a 20th century Air Force officer about this topic in TOS.

[@stevenobiol8295]

This was all a daydream Murdoch had during the A team

[@blackwolfap7]

Mr. T could have shown up as himself and been an alien. "I pity the Federation."

[@MrGoesBoom]

I like the fact that as this thing is at the extreme edge of the Federation, it took 2 months both to notice that it wasn't responding anymore AND to get the Enterprise there. Warp drive might be many times faster than light, but it still takes time to get places, Star Trek isn't always consistent on this since it moves at the speed of plot, but more often than not they seem to get that the distance between anything in space is huge. I also liked the fact that they still have remote 'telescopes' and observatories....like in Trek starships can supposedly tell individuals apart by species from lightyears away with just standard sensors....but there's still stuff out there that they have remote platforms for, because it's just so distant/difficult to study.

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

Warp Drive numbers are Logarithmic, like Earthquakes and Decibels. However, Warp is very inconsistent too, then there was that time the Enterprise traveled about 3 whole Galaxies away in just minutes due to "Q", meanwhile "Voyager" couldn't manage 40,000 Light Years over 7 Seasons.

[@andreww2098]

@@TIMEtoRIDE900 in this very episode they get transported 30,000 lightyears, one must assume the cytherians sent them back or the Enterprise would have been in the same boat as Voyager! which given that the ships computer would have stored the modifications made to allow that trip makes you wonder why starfleet didn't pass on the method to Janeway once they made contact!

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

@@andreww2098 They also had "Warp 14" when the crew were turned into chemical cubes in 1965. The Aliens modified the existing engines.

[@andreww2098]

@@TIMEtoRIDE900 they had a rework of the warp speed scale, warp 14 in the old scale is like warp 8 in the next gen as they changed how warp levels were equated, warp 10 became the absoloute universal limit,and all speeds up to warp 6 were the same as the old gen but it got weird after that with speed increasing exponentially with each warp factor! Enterprise-D had a top speed in an emergency of warp 9.8, Voyager could top out at 9.975, doesn't seem a lot of difference but that extra .175 extra would leave the Enterprise in the Dust!

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

@@andreww2098 Did they ever find a bathroom in the old enterprise's schematics ?? LOL

[@InquisitiveEngineer]

Starfleet: Let's go put a huge and extremely powerful telescope out at the very edge of our territory and make it unmanned. Starfleet when someone tampers with it: [surprised Pikachu face]

[@michaelkolano8686]

maybe that's the point? if you are looking for new, strange life wouldn't the equivalent of a giant neon sign help?

[@donovanulrich348]

^^^^^^^ And why would we put a station on the edge of space, with a crew, waiting to be attacked? Lol No one rides in the voyager telescope

[@javierpatag3609]

Sounds like the kind of assignment you either give to a dutiful masochist or someone you want to get rid of.

[@travissmith2848]

And when it takes out an unmanned thing feed it a manned one hoping for different results.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

james webb telescope starts sweating

[@posindustries]

My favorite thing about the Argus Array is how it broke down constantly.

[@drozcompany4132]

You know how many miles of Cat 6 cable are in that thing alone?

[@Josh_Fredman]

Dr. Crusher's exasperated but patient "What?!" is so well acted!

[@MrShadowpanther3]

Except as a top medical professional, she should have recognized that his idea possibly had merit. Everyone knows that while Barkley is socially awkward, he is a top engineer. Reg, when this red alert is over, why don't you try your theory and we will see. Cutting the time on this would be awesome. - B. Crusher

[@Josh_Fredman]

@@MrShadowpanther3, "should have"? She did! Watch her reactions. Barclay's first outburst is purely an opinion; there's very little for Dr. Crusher to professionally evaluate. After Barclay gives more explanation, she begins to consider it. That's when the red alert interrupts them. I would consider that to be just about as open-minded as a member of our ego-driven species can reasonably be.

[@joffrecordan]

I was trying to remember which mysterious alien device this was when Barclay started saying smart bio stuff. Ah yes, space-mower man.

[@freeman2399]

lol

[@gundam4509116]

everytime i watch one of these clips I end up watching this episode and more!

[@bubblesculptor]

Same!

[@329woody]

Anyone find it odd that Barclay increases the shield 300% to save them yet nobody seems to care to replicate this or at least use this to permanently increase them? This information would have boost them past the romulans and klingons easily.

[@Necrobadger]

And here's one of the few times I will defend TNG. Just because something works once doesn't mean it can be instantly translated to all starfleet ships. Years of testing and research goes into every advancement. What if using that tech while another random, rarely used tech causes the ship to be instantly destroyed? That's why, through all the series, certain things are only done in certain situations. Yeah, overloading the phasor banks may work in one episode, but in another the energy being used already might cause doing that to instantly blow the warp core.

[@329woody]

@@Necrobadger Riker litteraly asks him how he did it. You would think at this point he would have got Data and Geordi to at least look at it. The information would have been more important then the array they were trying to fix.

[@3Rayfire]

@@sirsneakybeaky Reg did eventually get transferred to R&D, of his own volition. He's the one that came up with the experimental method they used to contact Voyager in the last couple of seasons.

[@danieldickson8591]

Barclay at that point was functioning on an intellectual level beyond his colleagues. They didn't really understand how he could do what he did, and after his mental reintegration, neither did he.

[@pwnmeisterage]

Barclay casually adjusted the shield intensity, frequency, modulation, oscillation, etc to an exactly _perfect_ "resonance" or "attunement" with the incoming exploding energy stuff. Made it completely harmless. Apparently this sort of almost-instant calculation and control is beyond the ship computers. And apparently it's something the Cythereans made happen, could make happen again.

[@paytahblazed6107]

This Is Why I’m In Starfleet, it was for the holy beans

[@Minchandre]

"Between 4500 and 7000 angstroms" - also known as "most of the visible spectrum".

[@scottdelinger1]

Or 450-700 nm, as engineers and scientists would say…

[@scottdelinger1]

Or 450-700 nm, as engineers and scientists would say…

[@John_Ridley]

I was thinking... if that's where you're scanning, can't you just look out the window?

[@InAMinMaths]

In other words. ‘I can see it’

[@drozcompany4132]

@@scottdelinger1 I'm surprised he didn't give the field intensity in Janskys

[@somewhereoutthere8405]

Aboard a state-of-the-art interstellar starship equipped with sensor systems that can read a planet’s subatomic structure from outside of its solar system.. and you want to send a shuttlecraft to study a probe hovering over an observatory practically next door to you.. short of keeping an unknown computer system at “arm’s length” from your primary computers.. it seems a bit of a forced situation..

[@TheZetaKai]

IKR? Other than proximity, the shuttle is far less capable of performing this task than the Enterprise OR the array itself.

[@anthony7697]

Actually - it makes perfect sense. This episode is in season 4. Season 2's episode 'Contagion' showed what a probe could do a starship. This probe, while seemingly inactive at that moment, may be the cause of the issues at the station - who's power source is now unstable and computers non-functional. So they are likely as you said 'keeping it at arms length' as with the shuttlecraft they can beam their out - or as dark as it may seem the worse case scenario is the loss of in this case 2 crew members as opposed to the hundreds on the Enterprise.

[@rowlandbuck2703]

Synchronicity. I recently had the thought that In this future, they would do things just to do things. A change of routine even if it meant sacrificing a little efficiency.

[@virgilio6349]

@@anthony7697 Then why not send a disposable probe first to study the alien artifact? I rember in ToS they always launched a probe at anything they encountered just to see what info they could get.

[@anthony7697]

@@virgilio6349 Simple - because it's not isolated. The probe gathers it's information and relays it back to Enterprise's computer - meaning that a corrupted data stream would still end up potentially infecting the Enterprises computer. The shuttle craft is completely isolated - it's systems are not tied to the Enterprise to get readouts it just needs the crew on it so if it gets infected with something like in Contagion - it alone is the only thing affected.

[@lukez9721]

I liked Barklay. It reminded us that not everyone has to be perfect to be in starfleet and do great things

[@HunterWickProductions]

He did help get Voyager home, so.... there's that....

[@koshi6505]

"This is why I got into Starfleet. Random crewmembers taking the fall for my curiosity."

[@DarthSathion]

Conspiracy theory: the entire Star Trek TNG series is a interactive holo program bought by Barclay to enjoy at his leisure

[@Ricky-oi3wv]

He seems the type, tbf.

[@sonicguyver7445]

Whenever Barkley gets assertive it reminds me of Fredo Coreone. "I'm not dumb! I'm smart! I can do things! I'm smart! Not like everyone thinks!"

[@zagnorch1336]

Oh, great... now I'm seeing Barclay, er, "going fishing" with Lt. Worf on a rowboat in the middle of some remote lake.

[@odysseusrex5908]

Do you mean Fredo Corleone?

[@fenrislegacy]

The difference is that Reg is more than smart, he's one of the Enterprise's top engineers. Fredo was as smart as a chimpanzee riding on a segway.

[@zagnorch1336]

@@fenrislegacy How dare you insult chimpanzees like that! For shame!

[@jamethlawthon5602]

@@odysseusrex5908 no

[@mqbitsko25]

"Let's try a high-range scan." "Electromagnetic band?" AS OPPOSED TO WHAT?

[@Sentinel82]

GaAmMa RaYz!!!

[@lubrication4207]

Sub space?

[@robertschulke1596]

Possibly a rubber band? Black velvet band?

[@cashcleaner]

RIGHT?!

[@HierophanticRose]

GrAvItOnZ!!!!

[@ThatSlowTypingGuy]

2:32 Geordi: Hit it with a positron emission. Me as a kid: That sounds neat! Me as an adult: You're shooting antimatter at it!?

[@LordTalax]

Yeah the burst could have been just the matter and antimatter annihilating each other.

[@irwinblair5494]

We actually use positrons in medicine, it's called PET or positron-emission-tomography

[@pwnmeisterage]

"Positron emission" sounds much more futuristic and sciency than "X-ray burst".

[@nicerperson1]

Typical Navy engineers, "It's an unknown configuration Captain!" - Captain, "try hitting it with a hammer a couple of times".

[@rogertroja4400]

@@pwnmeisterage Positron emission is very different than an x-ray burst. Electron capture causes characteristic X-ray emission, but positron emission usually does not... although the resultant daughter product is the same. Positron emission generally results in an eventual annihilation reaction and two resultant gamma rays.

[@operator8014]

I like how Geordi and Crusher are looking at Barklay like he was acting unusually there at the end. That was like mid-shelf Barklay, perfectly standard.

[@elektrosoundwave]

I admit I was always disappointed that Barclay never sang the Witch Doctor or saw an invisible alien leftover from a previous war

[@stormthrush37]

0:33 "I'm bored. Can I go?" lol, look at Georgie quietly sulking into the shot.

[@quandary1382]

"This is why I joined Starfleet" "Really? I joined for the porno holodecks."

[@artman2oo3]

1:03 you ever notice how sometimes they don’t slap their comm badges to summon somebody? But most of the time they do?

[@_WillCAD_]

On the bridge, the computer is constantly monitoring all audio, and the AI is smart enough to deduce context and intent of things like personnel summons and all-hands announcements from the captain or OD, so using the combadge is not necessary to signal a specific individual. They do this a lot - any time someone yells, "All hands, brace for impact!" or something of that nature, the computer knows to relay it to all stations. Off the bridge, and especially off the ship, you have to tap the badge to initiate a connection to the ship's computer or make a call to a specific person.

[@bashnagata3496]

The Enterprise has it's own communication system independent from the comm badges. Sometimes they use that instead.

[@_WillCAD_]

@@bashnagata3496 The combades are fully integrated with the internal comm system whenever the user is aboard, but can also function independently when the internal comm system is unavailable. Unfortunately, this has always created a gaping plot hole, because in theory when the comm system is down, you should be able to call anyone anywhere on the ship directly via combadges. But when aboard, the combades were always disabled in some fashion when the internal comm system went down.

[@sam11182]

Star Trek is amazing! Especially with the fact that Netflix never dropped them! finding this episode there was amazing

[@JosephDickson]

This episode is why I won't join Starfleet. 🤣

[@TheZetaKai]

I, for one, would love to have some aliens raise my IQ an order of magnitude or two, but that's just me. More than likely, the probe would just be a von Neumann machine, so it would strip the shuttle for parts to make copies of itself, so I'd wind up dead.

[@pwnmeisterage]

Brocolli was always intelligent, a good engineer, with avid expertise on holographic tech. But post-Nth-Degree Barclay was especially gifted, creative, able to interface and synergize technologies in ways never considered possible before. Even after the alien "program" was removed from his mind.

[@TharzZzDunN]

@@TheZetaKai Ahem! Dead and replicated as a pile of tinned meat sausages. 😋

[@zagnorch1336]

This episode has inspired me to create a TNG-themed "A-Team" spinoff, featuring Picard as Hannibal Smith, Riker as the Face Man, Worf as B.A. Baracus, and Barclay as H.M. Murdock... with occasional appearances by Counselor Troi as Amy. You gotta admit that, while it might not be much better than the so-called "Star Trek" shows they're putting out now, it couldn't possibly be any worse...

[@Rational_Investor]

This, sir, is a truly brilliant idea!!! LOL!

[@Ceyx000]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZ21q2aLjs2Mi7M

[@zagnorch1336]

@@Ceyx000 What an @$$#0le... dude stole my idea five years before I came up with it!

[@Qwentar]

Barclay as Howling Mad Murdoch... heh... you certainly know Dwight Schultz' T.V. career.

[@zagnorch1336]

@@Qwentar I also tried to shoehorn in a rogue-nuclear-weapon plot as a nod to his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Fat Man and Little Boy," but I figured that would be a little too esoteric.

[@McCaler]

Got to admire a man who can think that advanced.

[@mrmister7947]

"let's try the neutron dexitometer... after we read a good book from our local library"

[@PureGoldNeverCorrodes]

Computer’s down, Reg. Reg’s down, Computer.

[@Turboy65]

Barclay is my favorite character who wasn't part of the regular cast. He should have been in more episodes.

[@JemHadar422]

Great episode, I recall watching this on a Saturday evening when I was 12 years old.

[@allyourpie4323]

Okay,but imagine if Worf got the smart flash.

[@Brian6587]

Love the quality in these clips. Looks incredible.

[@aggressiveattitudeera887]

The Nth Degree.

[@chasethevioletsun9996]

Timely, as Lower Decks quoted Geordi last week.

[@zacharyrussell9618]

"Now look what you did Geordi, you broke Barclay!"

[@stingerjohnny9951]

The broccoli got steamed

[@alamaxout]

This was a fun episode

[@homer1075]

I would think howling mad murdock would be the pilot.

[@malcolmt7883]

He could've escaped into storage bay and built a crazy machine to defeat the aliens.

[@Grizzlox]

I sometimes wish to be of highly advanced intelligence, but there is a limit to how intelligent I would want to be.

[@Fidi987]

The more intelligent you were, the dumber the people around you would seem. That could be really frustrating for you, you would be all alone and most ideas or conclusions you had you coulnd't share with anybody. Also, everybody would appear to be a a child'd developmental stage to you, if you IQ exceeded 500 or so. Probably already at 200.

[@trollme.trollmehard.9524]

Curiously, why? Is it the risk of leaving everything behind, perhaps something else?

[@Grizzlox]

@@trollme.trollmehard.9524 Fidi987 summed it up nicely

[@Grizzlox]

@@Fidi987 exactly

[@TheZetaKai]

There are also logistical issues with enacting your will. A great idea still needs people to make it a reality, and the most intelligent people would likely be very frustrated with having their ideas scuttled by less-intelligent actors. Our leaders are never the brightest minds, but they make the decisions that control our lives, and without the power to make those decisions, raw intellect is just a font of idle thoughts.

[@TimpossibleOne]

That's an odd place for a control panel. The seated station is only capable of running 1 or 2 types of scans, while the one behind the doorway arch can run many types of scans? Also, they're still handing off charts/pads to one another? They can't send the work to one another through the ship's computer or better yet, share the same workflow through that connection? I saw a clip yesterday where they sent a work order throughout the ship by hand from person to person to person to person for a simple energy adjustment. I'm pretty sure it was to highlight the 4 "lower decks" crewmen that was the focus of the episode. But, still…

[@TharzZzDunN]

Don't forget that a lot of military regulations are archaic structures grounded in tradition that serve only to keep the enlisted busy and not trying to break something useful. 😉

[@travissmith2848]

Also remember that when the show was done something like a PADD only having a few documents on it at best was not unreasonable because we didn't even have the first e-readers yet and while provision for it was somehow made in the tech manuals wi-fi was decades off. A simple real time data stream was bleeding edge tech!!

[@Dowlphin]

It's all just silly directing ideas to wow the audience with implied specialty and importance of certain acts. Low-level drama.

[@regenjo]

00:52 drunk Picard

[@paxnorth7304]

Holy Moly I never realized the Bridge main control panel has wood inlay. Now that's class.

[@stevengalloway8052]

"And a heaping of beans should be in the cards as well, Doctor Crusher!" 😆

[@RobertEskuri]

I like how the most nervous awkward engineer in Starfleet is transformed into one of the most intelligent humans in this episode. Fate has a sense of humor 😂

[@VoodooMcVee]

Tto be fair, he's normally quite intelligent even without alien interference. He just can't communicate very well.

[@svensorensen7693]

"There was enough energy in that flash to overload your optic nerves." I see. That positron emission to the probe must have started up Assassin's Creed 3

[@JMUDoc]

I think I'm right in saying that this episode has the longest teaser of all the TNG episodes.

[@thomasmcginnis3783]

Ol' Reg be taking that uptown train, methinks.

[@mrknucklehead5882]

As a kid I would get so excited when Howling Mad Murdock would team up with the guy from Reading Rainbow. It was confusing but I was there for it.

[@tolfan4438]

Remember when the mission of the Enterprise was to seek out new worlds and new civilizations and boldly go where no man has gone before and now they're doing maintenance repair Mission

[@philbegay1946]

My thoughts is Lt. commander Data could say Google scan for Alien races in this section. Could Google exist in the the future?

[@christophergallagher3721]

2:40 - "Computer's down, Reg." Nek minnit. "Reg is down, computer."

[@geethug6910]

That guy is a straight cheek slapper.

[@FirstLastOne]

Riker, does 'man spreading' like no other!

[@martincook3201]

If that's the Argos array then the alien object is quiet because it's fallen asleep waiting for a teenager to find the correct toaster from the stores round the back.

[@healthandsurvival4461]

Reg and Morn had to be my all time favorite characters from any Star Trek show. Yes, I said all time favorite, that includes the main characters. The main characters are a given, the side characters can go any at any moment.

[@lander77477]

Should sickbay really have red alert lights and the siren in it? Doesn't seem like that would be very healthy for the sick people in there

[@Broadpaw_Fox]

General Quarters is broadcast everywhere, as the whole ship is at risk - everyone has a station and a role, and thus everyone needs to know immediately if it sounds. ;)

[@travissmith2848]

Where do you think the wounded (if any) from whatever tripped the alert status would end up, ten-forward? MAybe the observation lounge/situation room?

[@patmancrowley8509]

One of my favorite TNG episodes.

[@FriedSynapse]

I love that they created a character like Broccoli. He gave the show some realism. Everyone was so perfect and that was great, but a character with flaws and how he is accepted really hits home with me. He was the everyman's window into Starfleet. Of course, he was super smart too.. but I think in the future, it will be easier to be smart because education is free. I just think it's great they worked with him to help him, rather than just say he wasn't fit for duty and brush him off.

[@Dowlphin]

If you got self-esteem issues, you gotta be at least impressively smart to make it onto the flagship where all the TV cameras are. 😜

[@charlestaylor8344]

That intro. Amazing

[@protonneutron9046]

Always hilarious to see high ranking officers who spent 5? years in Star Fleet Academy learning leadership, battle strategy, tactics, advanced science sitting at a helm starring into space "steering" the ship. Something an 18 year old enlisted recruit could do with little training. Officers don't handle controls. They SUPERVISE two levels above that and are management

[@frederickfletcher4095]

Ya Starfleet always seemed really officer heavy to me, especially as portrayed in TNG. I always wondered why they would have lieutenants doing mundane repairs to the ship or ensigns sitting around watching prisoners in the brig, these are jobs that would realistically be handled by enlisted personnel.

[@hanegawamidori4081]

@@frederickfletcher4095 Maybe they realized that there's a correlation between how high your rank is and how liable you are to randomly get killed at doing your job. Minimizing the contact enlisted personnel have with suspicious aliens, or with ship control panels that randomly explode, is the best way to protect them.

[@protonneutron9046]

@@hanegawamidori4081 brilliant 😂

[@Broadpaw_Fox]

I've always taken it as the starship- especially the Enterprise- are crewed by the best of the best. So in setting a high standard, pulling from the officer corps ensures (perhaps) people of higher caliber (intelligence, dedication, problem solving, etc) than the regular enlisted ranks. I also feel that Star Trek is portrayed as using the old mentality of being at least familiar with the details of every job, if not downright proficient at it. It makes the higher ranks more versatile, and in an emergency situation out in space can be life saving. There's also the sentiment of a leader not telling you to do something that they wouldn't (or haven't) do(ne) themselves.

[@dadevi]

It's implied that steering a Starship is far more advanced than any vehicle we have today. Not to mention the fact that the Star Trek vessels are involved in diplomacy, which would require a higher level of clearance than that of a normal enlisted crewman. Also, most of the ensigns and Lts seem to be reassigned quickly after a season or two, so it could be that flagship starships are used to train lower ranked officers to prep them for more difficult assignments on other ships.

[@JohnWilliams-zu8wg]

One of my favorite episodes. Top 5. My absolute favorite is Darmok.

[@guyh7305]

Mirab, with sails unfurled

[@saluteorsurrender]

“We’ll take the probe over to get probed”. Probe: “no the heck you ain’t!”

[@daviddriver2692]

Howling mad Murdock came a loooooong way😁

[@DarthEditous]

"Reg! Reg! Okay now I'll just pause dramatically."

[@guycore5478]

1:49 You can see Burton's eyeball through his VISOR.

[@jsmcmxlvii]

Barclay is underrated. He's the one that you need when the chips are down...

[@myrojyn]

You're one of my top engineers. The kiss of death.

[@busterhikney6936]

Engineer: I can increase the shields by 300% Captain: Fine. Make sure it's dismantled before we encounter the Borg

[@theMightywooosh]

Bean me up Scotty

[@andrewwatts1997]

And so starts one of the best episodes

[@xi32]

I like how in the 24th century Worf pronounce the word kilometers properly. He pronounces it as kilo-meters. And not ki-MOM-eters.

[@DarrenH001]

0:26 Riker leaning on Picard's arm rest, the cheeky fucker 😂

[@JKLauderdale]

2:32 "I've hit it with the positron, the negatron and the megatron but that probe is tougher than Faceman's hair gel!"

[@Dowlphin]

Try hitting it with a negating megaton of positivity.

[@whiteknightcat]

OK, who else noticed the lovely Lt. Jae (Tracee Cocco) in the background on the bridge?

[@augusthawks6576]

One of my favorite episodes.

[@jamesbeemer7855]

Star fleet was originally a military organization . Just like our army ( in reality ) . And yes , exploration was its original porpose . Then the marines were invented , to go in first . ( Hats off to them ) , ( thanks fellas ) , and now we go in to pick up the pieces . THATS WHY IM IN STAR FLEET . Now does anyone else have questions ?

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

3:04 Nice seeing Tracee Cocco (Lieutenant Jae) there with Worf. My favorite scene of hers is this one right here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZzbXpmqiLVqoKM

[@Owl_Space]

I believe that's her walking up the ramp to the back stations at the beginning of the clip as well.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@Owl_Space Yep, that sure is! I read somewhere that she had done over 100 episodes, either as a stunt woman, Lieutenant Jae or as another character (usually with prosthetics). The blooper with Riker cracks me up every time I see it though.

[@Owl_Space]

Pretty much. Tracee Coco holds the record for the most appearances onscreen across the entire franchise, beating out even Shatner. Although she had only one line in all of TNG and it was cut out during editing, she would go on to have speaking roles on DS9 and Voyager as various aliens. Fun Fact: Tracee has said she played Jae as being in love with Picard, which, understandable.

[@nicholashernandez4611]

2:39 Anyone else hear Reginald say ‘what was that?’ and not Geordi? Might be how he covered his mouth as he said it, but I thought it was Reggie.

[@nicholashernandez4611]

Gotta love the medical staff. Beverly tells one of the medical crew to work on something immediately and the crew mate just stays there. You can’t tell me the future is free of medical malpractice with minds like these in charge of Starfleet health…

[@deanhansen5041]

I'm not getting on a shuttle craft with that foo! Murdoch is crazy!

[@dac314]

Another example of STRANGE ENERGIES

[@drockjr]

Silly Reg, always napping on the job

[@Smilingotter]

Everything Barclay did after getting upgraded should be in the ship's records. The medical scanner, the increased shields, the contraption he created in the holodeck, and whatever he did to the engines would have seriously advanced Starfleet's capabilities.

[@BL33NB]

Its something they should give writes as a rule, NEVER do such things unless its planned for the further canon, or has certain limited conditions (IE we only got that special crystals, material, energy field here and cant replicate it) that prevent the need to just forget it for the future. Like the Lab Seven made in Voyager was neat.

[@StrangeDuck]

enterprise, most advanced sensors within lightyears, can put things on viewscreen from lightyears away. picard: "guys, take the vw microbus out and have a closer look will ya?"

[@GalacticWrestlingFederation]

The Federation can handle nearly anything but unknown probes... Sheeeyyyyyyttttt

[@random4969]

That energy blast obviously made him more intelligent lol

[@fireemblemaddict128]

Geordi said Reg was one of his top engineers. I'm gonna cry ;w;

[@albundy6609]

Harry, we should have just kept him on reading rainbow. yes, mayjuh.

[@LongerLasting]

Menacing probe disables space platform: "uhmm..did we keep those whales?"

[@davedube1148]

You just knew something was going to happen to "Reg".

[@leftblank131]

You always know there's going to be a singular crew event when they launch a shuttle craft for no good reason.

[@makegeorgeorwellfictionaga9268]

He is in starfleet, because of those free disco glasses

[@obiitom]

Always wondered why this thing isn't part of something more. With its importance and the amount of power generation it is capable of, why isn't it attached to a DS9/Space Dock like manned station? It doesn't have to be a commercial hub but somewhere with repair crews living aboard, the power required to run the "telescope" could be diverted to weapons and shields if attacked, they could have recreational facilities onboard like mess halls and holosuites for the entertainment of the crew.