@D. Maybe they could work out how to communicate by starting with very basic linguistic units - but maybe they don't want to. They don't seem to need anything from the Enterprise crew (if I remember correctly). They just want to make contact. Maybe for them, that means sharing their distinctive linguistic culture.
Yeah it's nonsense, but it's fun nonsense with a good underlying theme, as a big fantasy fan not just sci fi I don't mind a bit of colorful nonsense for a fun story, I still prefer shows don't throw logic entirely out the window, but the occasional window chuck episode in a stand alone episode doesn't bother me.
@@andrewbaumann2661 that's when he's doing his sonny bonds voice, which is just really an imitation of cameron mitchell in that one BOTW rambo rip off they love. forgot the name
Episode synopsis: After a questionable sexual encounter on Risa, Riker brings something back to the Enterprise and passes it on to the entire crew. Wesley saves the day by virtue of being a virgin.
I realized that the reason that Mike is more on board with a language built around metaphors is because Mike's first language is built entirely on Star Trek metaphors and comparisons.
I just love how between 51:00 and 51:30 Rich does a whole part of a convo by "memes" to kinda show how dumb the concept is but *entirely* proves how this concept works! We all get what he means *just* by stating memes, exactly like they did in that episode 🤣 hilariously ironic
You know, I always thought that the reason the aliens seem to be speaking english in the Darmok episode is because the translator is, in fact, working correctly, but since their sentence structure is so odd, and apparently meaningless to outsiders, that the translation is worthless, because we can't understand the metaphors.
yes, i always wondered why they were using english words, but after thinking about it, it makes sense that they could translate the words but the words just had no meaning
@@dash4800 But wouldn’t that imply then that the federation has made previous contact with them? And then wouldn’t they have been able to figure out how to translate their dumb language?
@@WealthyIndustrialist Likely there could be cosmic patterns in linguistics and their Federation linguists have discovered only so many ways to speak. Maybe the Tamarians speak a base language the same as some other space faring race
Favorite Darmok moment is Picard's eulogy for the fallen captain. "The Tamarian was willing to risk all of us just for the hope of communication, connection. Now the door is open between our peoples. That commitment meant more to him than his own life." The comprehension and reverence Picard has for it.
As a kid I think I understood on some basic level that the writers never felt bad for Geordie being blind, and I think that translated to the character not feeling sad about being blind too. In fact I distinctly remember having the take away that he was lucky in some ways, being able to see things that no "normal" human ever could hope to. You could even go so far as to say that this translates to his characterization as a person who sees the value in crewmates that no one else does. He literally and figuratively sees more than most other people.
A quote from my favorite TNG episode Data: “Sir, Lieutenant La Forge's eyes are far superior to human biological eyes, true? Then why are not all human officers required to have their eyes replaced with cybernetic implants?" Picard: Fuck you fine.
and not to get on my soapbox or anything, but I truly think that's a wonderful message. in your 80's TV installment of a beloved franchise, having a blind character in your main cast and having that character never be defined by their disability is shockingly progressive. I hate it when media presents characters that have some form of disability as dysfunctional and miserable, their character revolving around their disability. geordie was never defined by his handicap, it was merely a fact about him and he still led a rich fulfilling life serving star fleet, and I think that's wonderful.
@@SpedeVesku Naah. Few episodes are really cool. What about Data and Tasha Yar fucking and Data's behavior afterwards? I was laughing like a baby in a candy store.
@@maxwellkazemba2299 I am half across TOS, when I get there I will be 40 but can skip anything, I don't do things like that... I hope I never get an interest in Doctor Who
@@desmondd1984 Im just getting into RLM but I have heard complaints about Voyager, ENT, Discovery but none about DS9 in the times they have brung it up that I have seen.
Would very much like to see them do a "top 10" episodes of TOS. There's a huge wealth of great 60s TV guilty pleasure stuff in there but also some genuinely very well made and massively influential episodes. It also serves as the template for pretty much everything that came after it. So many classic episode formulas originate in TOS as well as the most iconic characters and species in the setting.
Agreed... I think Mike (and Rich) should/need to do a couple more of these TNG videos to balance the horrific, accelerated aging inflicted on them by the Picard episodes.
This series should never end. They should discuss every episode of TNG. Then do the original series. Then DS9. Then start over on TNG. And keep going in a loop for ever.
"Remember Me" is actually such an insane concept, how a universe can collapse in a way that carries its own logic to the beings occupying it, no matter how absurd the circumstance. Like quantum horror.
When Wesley became an Ensign on the show, Gene Roddenberry came on set and gave Wil Wheaton his own ensign bars from WWII. So I think it's fair to say that Rich is right that he was an insert character - or at least one he cared a lot about.
@@seanwhelan6960 I just looked this up and apparently he was in the Air Force, so they would have been second lieutenant bars. Apparently he gave them to Wheaton at a ceremony with Colin Powell present. A bit weird, but it must have meant a lot to him.
@uNnHkP8mzaA surprising number of classic sci-fi authors were vets. WWII had a lot to do with it. I honestly think it helped the genre because war makes you realize that there are bigger forces and problems in the world than those in your individual life.
@@danielkellyuk you are correct, then I guess I heard wrong about why he picked Enterprise as the name of the ship. However, it was a very famous WW2 carrier so maybe thats why?
i love how they bring that one tiny throwaway line about O'Brien building ships in bottles back several years later in DS9 in his friendship with Bashir
Building ships in bottles does feel like an appropriate gateway drug of a hobby that leads to the hard stuff like building scale models of the Alamo complete with soldiers(sans poor Travis, still MIA 😔). I wonder if O’Brien ever showed his and Bashir’s enormous toy model off to Picard(maybe a holopicture or something)?
Don't forget All good things, where Picard says he knows O'Brien built bottle modles, cuz he "read his file". Yeah, top commanders always read sergeants' files and remember them.
@@obsidianorder1 Admittedly, it's probably a good idea to read up on the file of someone who disintegrates and rematerializes you on a regular basis, regardless of rank.
1:01:15 I love how Mike perfectly describes how a man taking the time to learn to communicate with a strange new species is infinitely more badass than some giant stupid battle. The resolution to that episode is literally Picard having a conversation to achieve a peaceful outcome and it’s SO much more exciting and satisfying than a big dumb CGI fight
I think the Darmok episode goes much deeper than that. It's about reestablishing a communication with our past, and how far the scientific/specific reasoning drifted away from poetic/abstract reasoning (hence Picard reading Homer verses at the end). The most brilliant TNG episode, along with "The Enemy", imo.
In darmok, the reason there’s English words mixed in is because the universal translator is working properly, but they have such a strange syntax based on mythos that the translator can’t put it properly together. I’m pretty sure Data mentions the setup for this with a line or two during the episode.
Yeah, it can't translate the nouns. Names of people and places wouldn't make sense if directly translated. It's translating what it can but even translated it doesn't make sense until you realise they communitcate in metaphor for past events.
I thought that it was fairly obvious to be fair. Interestingly English has a lot of idiom. E.g. Feeling under the weather. It makes native English speakers very difficult to understand.
@@benbooth2783 I had a co worker who studied and taught English in Russia, but Russian was her native tongue. I once told her I was feeling under the weather and she got excited. It was the first time she had ever heard someone say that idiom in a normal conversation.
@@SgtKaneGunlockI agree, but it was too late, and the director being known for the Fast Furious Family films didn't inspire confidence despite his actual love and enthusiasm for Star Trek.
Because JarJarAbrams is to StarTrek what Trump is to America. Garbage. A dipshit who ruined 2 Star franchises, and reportedly wanted to strike in a third, and is involved in Spiderman comics, when everyone and their mother knows that JJAss can't write his own freaking name to begin with, let alone franchise work.
"Junka, when the tapes fell." I would like this to become an RLM style "too-long" joke where they just keep doing more favorite episode reviews until the whole series is done.
I started watching TNG only recently and he didn't really bother me, his naivete was charming among a group of serious starfleet officers and considering a lot of crew have their families with them didn't feel out of place. Infact it was cool seeing him grow and develop as part of the crew like a family. One might say. It's about family.
As someone who saw and adored Stand By Me when I was 12, I always loved Will Wheaton. Wasn't a huge fan of TNG as a kid (cause I didn't get it at the time), but my brother would always watch it, and over time I came to appreciate it.
The universal translator can decipher the syntax of the "Darmok and Jalad" language, but the aliens use some kind of deeply rooted cultural slang that pulls on important events from their history. That's why people from outside their culture fail to understand them. Rich really touched on this point when he said they essentially communicate using memes.
It's also not without precedent. Like I've heared people use local sayings (in my case Flemish ones) and although I understood the individual words, the meaning of the sentence had to be explained to me.
@@awandererfromys1680This also happens a lot when translating old jokes, I believe we have some Sumerian jokes that were translated but we still cannot grasp what the joke was about due to a lack of cultural knowledge and their memes.
I cannot articulate how happy I am that this is becoming a reoccurring video series. We all need some positive discussion, especially with something Rich and Mike are so passionate about.
The best thing about the “sex escape” in First Contact is it doesn’t even come close to working and riker is caught immediately making the whole thing entirely pointless
He propped her up as long as he could, but, let's be honest - even a Rich Evans with a Rich Evans amount of magnetism and charisma can only do so much.
I've never even watched TNG, but seeing Mike and Rich talk about something that they geuinely love is so wholesome and makes me happy. 5 more hours of this, please.
All of it has been remastered on Netflix. Do yourself a favor, and give it a try. Season 1 is absolutely awful. Some of those episodes make you want to eat a 12 gauge.
Season 1 and much of season 2 are written hilariously behind the times for when the show originally aired. It doesn't make them bad, it makes them so hokey that they're unintentionally hilarious and therefore still worth watching.
On the Darmok episode, technically the Universal Translator is working perfectly. Which is why there's English vocabulary. But their communication is entirely based on metaphor, so you'll never actually UNDERSTAND what they're saying until you learn the context behind the metaphor. That's why Troi's example is brilliant. If you have no idea of what Romeo & Juliette is, "Juliette on her balcony" is just as incomprehensible as "Shaka, when the walls fell". So the logic of the episode isn't as silly as Rich and Mike make it out to be.
That just leads to more questions! How do you only communicate in metaphors, when you need to understand the base language that makes up those metaphors, in the first place? Oo The logic behind the language is just nonexistent. But the language is also not the point, so...
@@NucleaRaptor With their example of a warp core breach, all you really need is one ship to have gone boom and it can enter the lexicon as "Chogdan on the Maloom, His molecules disassociated, his atoms spread wide" or whatever.
In defense of the episode, it does make sense _in a way._ Consider that each of our words is a "metaphor" in the sense that each word carries a meaning shared within our culture. Basically, speaking through metaphor the way they do is like taking one word of English and replacing it with its definition. So in the end, it's still too cumbersome of a language to be totally realistic - at least in the case of human languages since we tend to condense the amount of syllables needed to say something as a language evolves to save time and energy, so you'd think aliens would do it too. But it serves as a sort of *very* simplified metaphor for language itself, and of course works as simple way to create a language barrier that can be overcome and taught to an audience in 45 minutes. As an aside, many other languages are far more context-dependent than English is like Spanish or Japanese, where a native English speaker might wonder how they would easily describe something outside of whatever the current context (trade-off is when you're staying within a context, it's more efficient than English). So a language so structurally different from our own is not a completely _foreign_ concept.
The universal translator is NOT down in "Darmok" It's simply literally translating the words. It's as Troi says "Juliet on her balcony" .... if you don't know the reference, it tells you absolutely nothing. It's giberish. That's why there are English words when the Tamarians are speaking... it's because the UT s actually working.
You can’t take an alien metaphor and translate it figuratively. Certain major mythic tropes like “When the walls fell” or “after the great inundation” are probably common to all civilizations. Hence literal translations can impart similar meanings. But “Juliet on her balcony” could figuratively mean she’s lovesick, or suicidal, or looking at the world beyond her small confines, or waiting for a pizza to be delivered. It imparts far less directly and need to be used as a puzzle piece.
Yes it be like asking a desert civilization about Trees the word could be translated but it that doesn't guarantee it has any meaning other than being a string of characters that can be said.
Oh yes please, I loved TNG but for some reason I connected emotionally more with DS9, I would love to hear Rich and Mike talk more about it. There are some pretty spectacular episodes in there.
@@HellecticMojo Driving for long periods of time within a small number of days has become a surprisingly big part of my life. Also, these guys are on fire. Great, hilarious discussion.
Starting watching TNG for the first time at the start of lockdown. Something very uplifting about a team working together to explore and solve problems whilst the world seemed to be crumbling around outside. Even the not so good episodes have a lot of charm and at the very least decent forehead ridges. The best episodes are some of the best TV episodes in any genre ever.
Welcome to the addiction. I believe i have since rewatched every episode at least 20 times. It never gets old. The darker the times we are in, the more essential TNG's values become.
@@wandersgion4989 there are some underrated precious gems in s1. Where No One Has Gone Before, Symbiosis, The Neutral Zone, and nothing to do with viral infections.
There's a strange therapeutic catharsis to how these guys get a hold of these one of a kind historical sci-fi props and proceed to mishandle them so frivolously. I get a kick out of imagining the uptight collectors and supernerds looking on in horror.
Back in high school, my senior year English teacher showed us the Darmak episode one day after we read the Epic of Gilgamesh because of Picard's references to it. Everyone in the class hated it but I loved it lol
I actually got to use Tamarian just last week. I have a "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" t-shirt and I wore it to work. Onew of the new hires spotted it, laughed, and gave me the "Sharma when the walls fell" line. I pointed right at him and said "Temba, his eyes open !" It was a bonding moment, we're cool now.
My parents dressed me up as Wesley for a Star Trek convention when I was about 9. They dyed my hair to match his and bought me an expensive replica uniform. Never did I feel more loved.
I always imagined the Tamarians have some sort of mild psychic ability that sort of acts like a knowledge "cloud." They have their individuality and verbal language, and then under it, communal knowledge that becomes a sort of instinct. It'd be a good hand wave explanation for how their species can function in the way they do, and be totally unintelligible to other races.
At the beginning of the episode, the transmission the Tamrians send to the Federation is a "mathmatical progression". The Tamarians seem to be able to communicate technical things like math, but past that, you have to understand their metaphor language to communicate meanings and intent.
I don't think they need to be psychic, kids brains are really good at picking up language, even metaphorical language , I bet most native English speakers know what most or all of these metaphors mean even if they don't know the source of them: "the writing's on the wall", "scapegoat", "apple of my eye", "behemoth", "armageddon", "double-edged sword", "land of nod", "straight and narrow", "salt of the earth". Simple right? I bet you picked them up from people speaking rather than sitting down and reading the King James bible cover-to-cover.
This reminds me of all the fun chats you, Matt and Pat had on Star Trek back in the day. I miss those segments! Wouldn’t that be great to have both of them on a RLM Star Trek TNG review?
If they had a kind of Hive mind then they would all remember the events they were referring to in their speech, rather than having to learn millions of different events to refer to.
I still want a cliff hanger. Mike dressed up as Locutus on a monitor giving some goofy line about wanting to review the new Star Trek Galaxy season, then a dramatic pan to Rich in a Riker beard and uniform and says, "Mr. Bauman, Fire!" And Jay would be like, "fire what?" EDIT: This keeps popping up in my feed and I have to say this video has the best thumbnail ever.
Darmok is one of my favorite episodes as a kid, and still today. It really makes "communicating" BADASS. Because you're right, Picard does walk onto that ship and solve the dire situation like _that_ because he knows how to communicate and be a diplomate. It instilled in ME, a little girl at the time, how _powerful_ it is to understand others, even when you don't have first had context about what they're saying, but grasp the emotions and weight behind it. For example; I might not have seen/been invested in the same tv show someone else has been in, but I know what it's like from other shows I've seen, so I might not get an anime reference, but if you're talking about a devastating character death because of their redeeming sacrifice, I GET THAT FEELING. And I could believe that a culture can grow and learn to communicate in metaphor and still be able to explain complex stuff like mechanical instructions because, at least in English, but I'm assuming this is for most language, _We come up with bullshit words all the time._ I mean the word "Bullshit" itself means something is false or deceptive, what does that have to do with the fecal matter of a specific male bovine species. Or a lot of words/phrases that equate animals and their behaviors to actions, To "Bully" to "hound." I can believe that there is a metaphor for EVERYTHING in this aliens culture and everyone knows it, like "just like riding a bike." Or "Waltz" or "foxtrot" it's the verbal equivalent of dance moves that this culture is trained to know. idk I could suspend my disbelief enough for it anyway.
My take on The Game is that Data saving the day in the Wesley episode is not only not detrimental, it's actually a positive that Wesley doesn't solve the problem on his own. It almost feels like an acknowledgment of the big problem with Wesley early on, in Season 1 especially - so many episodes are just solved by Wesley Crusher being a super genius who singlehandedly solves everything when the rest of the crew is stumped, because he's better than everyone at everything. Here, he realizes he's out of his depth and his best course of action is to keep the threat occupied while someone more qualified works on a solution.
And like many aspects of TNG, this also carried over into Voyager. Instead of Wesley, they had Thomas Eugene Paris, the amazing helmsman who is good at everything.
I often ask if he's putting it on extra thick when he says certain words, but then I remember half the time he says stuff he's f*cking hammered. Not so much anymore.
It’s for the giggles. He’s said ghosts completely normal plenty of times too. Even Jay has a thicker accent than Mike. He would be saying some other key Wisconsin-y words with the same sort of accent if it was just natural.
46:00 The "Cheers" (and later "Frasier" soundstage) was right around the corner of the old TOS soundstage and just a couple of streets away from the TNG/VOY and DS9 soundstages on the Paramount lot. During the first seasons of TNG some actors even went in uniform to the "Cheers" soundstage because they had better catering.
Seriously. Can this be it's own series? Just Rich and Mike discussing shit they like. After years of best of the worst it feels so good to have these two just geek out over stuff.
Good idea. It seems like the right time to let BOTW rest for a while and concentrate on enjoyable things. I've really gotten into watching Re:views here lately. Everybody is good at them and it's where Josh shines.
It’s really interesting to me. At heart RLM is a comedy channel…yet the insight they bring is just exceptional. I’ve never once thought, aside from contrarian Mike doing what he does, “that’s bullshit.” They’re just honest dudes. It’s refreshing. I’d be terrified to have a beer with them.
@@ManDuderGuy Agree, Worf is a homie ... except he has been bodied every time. Remember when he got his spine snapped like a dry twig by a falling box, and just wanted to commit suicide than be crippled.
@@End3r1973 Indeed, in DS9 they don't really have a similar dialogue setup that uses someone as Worf to suggest the 'totally wrong action' to show the superiority of the commanding officers. Feels a bit like a setup from TOS where you had or an idiot throw-away ensign, or later on Chekov make the lead to show Kirk / Spock badassery. (That or McCoy bashing with Spock). In earlier seasons of DS9 you kinda had hyper-aggressive Kira and naïve Bashir, but later on it feels like they where able to spread it out between the cast and make it more of a discussion, thinking up loudly instead doing the opposite of what somebody else suggested. From my memory they did tended to do the same in the (better) TMP movies, showing respect towards every senior member. I feel like they've reversed that back in Voyager, where someone technobabbles to dress someone down (usually poor Ever-ensign Kim) to show who is in charge.
Those moments when these two breakdown a scene and note how comical the actual situation is in hindsight, is the best. Whether its Picard blowing up an ancient artifact or them just pointing out Worf's one-liners, they always make me laugh.
This for me is the best part of that episode. Telling a story and drawing pictures in the sand is such a primal human form of communication. And the alien captain is so soothed by these efforts. It’s such a great moment
I thing Wesley was annoying because the writers were writing him too young. He's a teenager, but he seems to have been written as an 8 year old most of the time.
Wesley was fine as a character and not a plot device. Every time they went full Starchild trope with him it became insufferable. As an awkward, but very smart kid desperately trying to fit in with people he idolized, he was a decent character. One of my favorite rewatchable episodes is his Starfleet test. Good Wesley ep that doesn't need to make him Space Mozart to be interesting.
@@gargamellenoir8460 yes, I have to agree here. I remember there was an episode where they were showing a "day-in-the-life" 23rd century moment and it was like six year olds doing algebra like it was no big thing. So really, how much smarter was Wesley than your average Starfleet officer? But when they wrote him as an exceptionally smart, intuitive person that was still a kid with feet of clay, I was good. People tend to only remember obnoxious Wesley instead of fairly competent, awkward adolescent Wesley. One of my favorite re-watchable eps of TNG is "Peak Performance", which is both a great use of Wesley and at the same time a picture perfect example of MS'ing him because for him to shine, he has to make a security officer look like a moron. But his Worf-Worthy act of Guile gives Riker's ship some much needed juice and Wesley is shown as clever and inventive, and not an insufferable prodigy.
The other problem was half the episodes he was in he caused the problem then at the end of the episode after all the highly trained federation officers couldn't solve it, he solved it in the last 2 min of episode.
There were a lot of teenagers or kids who-are-smarter-than-adults-tropes on 90s TV. Even as a teenager we all knew it was bullshit. So when I saw Wesley doing the same stuff, I inwardly groaned. I don’t think he was acted that well either, which didn’t help. The shut up Wesley episode, although poor writing, was a satisfying bit of of fan service. But his character does improve a lot, and his fall from grace was a good episode.
@@makasete30 interestingly Jake Sisco Really didn't bother me, even though I didn't care about any of his story lines but again he wasn't solving issues that highly trained Starfleet officers on the flagship couldn't figure out.
"Toxic talk show host laughs at young rich Evans in unfortunate shirt ..." by Telepictures? In syndication? (Damn it, there is a joke in there somewhere.)
This is my third viewing of this today, and I just had to comment because it brings me so much joy. There's just so much positivity and stimulating discussion in this video, it literally makes me feel healthier.
"Rich and Mike discuss every TNG episode"
Please. I want this so much...
I would pay money for that
AND TOS, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise.
I would watch it
I'd buy that for a dollar
"The language in the Darmok episode makes no sense!" - quote from a man who talks almost exclusively in TNG references.
@D. Maybe they could work out how to communicate by starting with very basic linguistic units - but maybe they don't want to. They don't seem to need anything from the Enterprise crew (if I remember correctly). They just want to make contact. Maybe for them, that means sharing their distinctive linguistic culture.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, hands in air.
While we're making difficult arguments: 20th-century-alien Lilith wanting to bone Riker is funny and good
all language is metaphor, the Darmod-Speak is no more of a maguffin than the universal translator
Yeah it's nonsense, but it's fun nonsense with a good underlying theme, as a big fantasy fan not just sci fi I don't mind a bit of colorful nonsense for a fun story, I still prefer shows don't throw logic entirely out the window, but the occasional window chuck episode in a stand alone episode doesn't bother me.
Have you ever noticed whenever Rich is quoting anyone, he makes them sound like they're in a 1930s gangster movie?
Most people have just one "other guy"-voice.
I'd say it's more of a 1950s detective movie voice.
"You ain't taking' me in alive copper see? Because I got cripplin' diabetes, see? Nyah!"
@@andrewbaumann2661 that's when he's doing his sonny bonds voice, which is just really an imitation of cameron mitchell in that one BOTW rambo rip off they love. forgot the name
Richard G. Robinson Evans
Episode synopsis: After a questionable sexual encounter on Risa, Riker brings something back to the Enterprise and passes it on to the entire crew. Wesley saves the day by virtue of being a virgin.
o god 🤣
Oh, you mean Space AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIDSSSSSS?
STD metaphor.
Total Chaste Chad Virgin
I never thought of that reading of the episode that’s amazing
Rich Evans of the loud laugh, his hairline receding, his belly wide.
Mike Stoklasa at Milwaukee, his liver hard, his soul bitter.
Hahahaha
Bravo!
poetry for the ages
Someone needs to cross-stitch this and have rlm frame it
@Polymorphidz short of verse meaning of Shakespeare quill fluid authenticity true.
I realized that the reason that Mike is more on board with a language built around metaphors is because Mike's first language is built entirely on Star Trek metaphors and comparisons.
Most underappreciated comment.
Mike and Rich Evans at Milwaukee
Jay's eyes wide open
A few examples:
Picard and Vash at Risa = love fucking.
Worf and Dax at DS9 = rage fucking.
Riker in da house = fucking.
I just love how between 51:00 and 51:30 Rich does a whole part of a convo by "memes" to kinda show how dumb the concept is but *entirely* proves how this concept works! We all get what he means *just* by stating memes, exactly like they did in that episode 🤣 hilariously ironic
Stoklasa, when Shatner blocked
Watching Rich and Mike talk about TNG is strangely wholesome and comforting.
Exactly the feeling of watching Star Trek!
Damn it, you took my comment!
Because it reminds us of a time when some media was still made for people who aren't idiots.
@@Scott.Sandifer LMAO, kid... welcome to RedLetterMedia. Hope you enjoy all the reviews that praise recent movies and TV shows.
@ well, Rich does have a Mormon sister
You know, I always thought that the reason the aliens seem to be speaking english in the Darmok episode is because the translator is, in fact, working correctly, but since their sentence structure is so odd, and apparently meaningless to outsiders, that the translation is worthless, because we can't understand the metaphors.
yes, i always wondered why they were using english words, but after thinking about it, it makes sense that they could translate the words but the words just had no meaning
I agree with that. Wasn't that there was no translator or it didn't work, their structure was so different that it didn't make sense
@@dash4800 But wouldn’t that imply then that the federation has made previous contact with them? And then wouldn’t they have been able to figure out how to translate their dumb language?
@@WealthyIndustrialist Can't. Too dumb
@@WealthyIndustrialist Likely there could be cosmic patterns in linguistics and their Federation linguists have discovered only so many ways to speak. Maybe the Tamarians speak a base language the same as some other space faring race
This video is evidence that Mike is using RLM to buy TNG props and write them off as a business expense.
"Their corruption has poisoned the platform. Honor will soon have no meaning."
Hey don’t snitch!
Earl Grey tea, hot, in every prop beer bottle.
Seems legit.
That ain't a crime. He's a *professional* TNG stan.
This is the best Halloween present I could have asked for.
yo vinny
Hey! It's Vsauce, he's here!
BINYOT
Yeow!
Hey, Vinny.
Favorite Darmok moment is Picard's eulogy for the fallen captain. "The Tamarian was willing to risk all of us just for the hope of communication, connection. Now the door is open between our peoples. That commitment meant more to him than his own life." The comprehension and reverence Picard has for it.
Yeah and that final moment with the knife ritual. Beautiful.
@@BunkerFox PURE id on that man. And so impulsive.
As a kid I think I understood on some basic level that the writers never felt bad for Geordie being blind, and I think that translated to the character not feeling sad about being blind too. In fact I distinctly remember having the take away that he was lucky in some ways, being able to see things that no "normal" human ever could hope to. You could even go so far as to say that this translates to his characterization as a person who sees the value in crewmates that no one else does. He literally and figuratively sees more than most other people.
This, exactly. Sums up my take away when I was kid perfectly.
💜
A quote from my favorite TNG episode
Data: “Sir, Lieutenant La Forge's eyes are far superior to human biological eyes, true? Then why are not all human officers required to have their eyes replaced with cybernetic implants?"
Picard: Fuck you fine.
@Kodiak KDK-85X never considered it to that degree. Thanks for the kind comment!
and not to get on my soapbox or anything, but I truly think that's a wonderful message. in your 80's TV installment of a beloved franchise, having a blind character in your main cast and having that character never be defined by their disability is shockingly progressive. I hate it when media presents characters that have some form of disability as dysfunctional and miserable, their character revolving around their disability. geordie was never defined by his handicap, it was merely a fact about him and he still led a rich fulfilling life serving star fleet, and I think that's wonderful.
"I never really understood the Wesley hate" cuts to scene of Wesley doing cartwheels in ridiculous garb. Outstanding! Thanks guys!
"Rich Evans superimposed, sits on couch," is how I've felt since February.
I would happily watch a series of Mike and Rich just talking about literally every single episode of TNG and I've never even seen the show
it's on netflix, do yoself a favor
Just skip the first season
@@SpedeVesku Naah. Few episodes are really cool. What about Data and Tasha Yar fucking and Data's behavior afterwards? I was laughing like a baby in a candy store.
@@maxwellkazemba2299 I am half across TOS, when I get there I will be 40 but can skip anything, I don't do things like that... I hope I never get an interest in Doctor Who
And then they need to go over them a second time
Mike and Rich's very genuine affection for TNG is infectious. I would love to see them chat about DS9.
Seconded, though I'm guessing it's not their favorite Trek show.
@@desmondd1984 Im just getting into RLM but I have heard complaints about Voyager, ENT, Discovery but none about DS9 in the times they have brung it up that I have seen.
@yadisdis oh yeah, I think they are fans, but their passion is TOS/TNG, and more "episodic" Trek.
DS9 is very good but it's a different kind of show.
Same here, For me Star Trek is epitomized as TNG/DS9. Where TNG establishes the premise and DS9 tests its limits.
Would very much like to see them do a "top 10" episodes of TOS. There's a huge wealth of great 60s TV guilty pleasure stuff in there but also some genuinely very well made and massively influential episodes. It also serves as the template for pretty much everything that came after it. So many classic episode formulas originate in TOS as well as the most iconic characters and species in the setting.
Mike looks about 10 years younger when talking about Star Trek.
When talking about good non-Kurtzman Trek :)
Agreed...
I think Mike (and Rich) should/need to do a couple more of these TNG videos to balance the horrific, accelerated aging inflicted on them by the Picard episodes.
Smiling makes anyone look full of life. And TNG and beer is the only thing that makes Mike smile. Imagine if they made TNG Beer ...
@@WanJae42 Let's call it "Romulan Ale", just a thought. XD
He looks like Palpatine when they talk about Discovery.
This series should never end. They should discuss every episode of TNG. Then do the original series. Then DS9. Then start over on TNG. And keep going in a loop for ever.
Just ignore Voyager? You're killing me
Hell, even Enterprise has merit. There's good stuff in Voyager for sure.
Yes!
You basically just described what Star Trek fandom is like.
I see we're ignoring STD here
I’m 52 and never watched TNG until you guys started talking about this show. Now I am addicted to it.
"Remember Me" is actually such an insane concept, how a universe can collapse in a way that carries its own logic to the beings occupying it, no matter how absurd the circumstance. Like quantum horror.
Yeah. I it's underrated and I think it mostly gets ignored because it starred Beverly Crusher
There's a great blooper when Picard asks if anyone ever made a ship in bottles as a boy, and Michael Dorn goes "I did not play with boys!"
@Craig X gottem
I am not a merry man!
When Wesley became an Ensign on the show, Gene Roddenberry came on set and gave Wil Wheaton his own ensign bars from WWII. So I think it's fair to say that Rich is right that he was an insert character - or at least one he cared a lot about.
@uNnHkP8mza I believe he served on the WW2 carrier Enterprise
@@seanwhelan6960 I just looked this up and apparently he was in the Air Force, so they would have been second lieutenant bars. Apparently he gave them to Wheaton at a ceremony with Colin Powell present. A bit weird, but it must have meant a lot to him.
@uNnHkP8mzaA surprising number of classic sci-fi authors were vets. WWII had a lot to do with it. I honestly think it helped the genre because war makes you realize that there are bigger forces and problems in the world than those in your individual life.
@@danielkellyuk you are correct, then I guess I heard wrong about why he picked Enterprise as the name of the ship. However, it was a very famous WW2 carrier so maybe thats why?
Watching two outdated hairline middle aged men talk about a 30 year old TV show is my idea of a perfect 80 minutes, love you guys
Rlm outdated??? Pffft
It's something like Warren Zevons's "invalid haircut," I imagine.
@@The_FeudNeeding that permit to walk around downtown has never felt so apt.
"Riker should've blasted her" c'mon Mike, you know Riker blasted her
in the FACE!
Lol classic
i love how they bring that one tiny throwaway line about O'Brien building ships in bottles back several years later in DS9 in his friendship with Bashir
When the writers thought about the lore more than 5 minutes after their current scene.
Building ships in bottles does feel like an appropriate gateway drug of a hobby that leads to the hard stuff like building scale models of the Alamo complete with soldiers(sans poor Travis, still MIA 😔). I wonder if O’Brien ever showed his and Bashir’s enormous toy model off to Picard(maybe a holopicture or something)?
Don't forget All good things, where Picard says he knows O'Brien built bottle modles, cuz he "read his file". Yeah, top commanders always read sergeants' files and remember them.
@@obsidianorder1 Admittedly, it's probably a good idea to read up on the file of someone who disintegrates and rematerializes you on a regular basis, regardless of rank.
And in "All Good Things". Picard in the past mentions obriens model ships. Miles is like how the heck did you know that?
My headcannon is that the "ship in a bottle" booby trap was designed for the Borg, who would never have thought to turn off all the tech.
Sold!
Nice
And Picard destroyed it, he really was still a Borg...
@@theorionproject6172 Booby Trap was before Best of Both Worlds. HACK FRAUD
@@SuperRetronerdthere's always one that has to spoil a joke/fantasy
"Star Trek: Picard; when the walls fell".
"with his hand on his forehead!!"
@@kevesdancey Multiple Tom Cruises superimposed and laughing!
Nice! I’m at rest.
Picard and Riker, hands in face.
Discovery: when the Trek failed.
1:01:15 I love how Mike perfectly describes how a man taking the time to learn to communicate with a strange new species is infinitely more badass than some giant stupid battle.
The resolution to that episode is literally Picard having a conversation to achieve a peaceful outcome and it’s SO much more exciting and satisfying than a big dumb CGI fight
To be fair, “Picard having a conversation to achieve a peaceful outcome” is more or less how both seasons of PIC ended
I think the Darmok episode goes much deeper than that. It's about reestablishing a communication with our past, and how far the scientific/specific reasoning drifted away from poetic/abstract reasoning (hence Picard reading Homer verses at the end).
The most brilliant TNG episode, along with "The Enemy", imo.
"Load up the forton potatos." Another classic Rich Evans quote.
I personally wont accept Forton Potatos without bacon, sour cream, and cheese at a MINIMUM.
An embarrassing slip in the heat of life-or-death combat: "Fire potatoes!! ... torpedoes. "
Forton Potatoes are best when wrapped in tin foil and thrown in a fire.
four ton potatoes
Fortran portraits?
"Rich and Mike's Top 178 TNG Episodes - re:View"
Sign me up.
I am here for this!
Ok so I assume 178 is the total number of episodes? I vote for ignoring the irish peasants in space episode, and we just call it 177.......
@@rrson648 what was wrong with the Irish peasants in space? Riker got freaky with their woman leader
In darmok, the reason there’s English words mixed in is because the universal translator is working properly, but they have such a strange syntax based on mythos that the translator can’t put it properly together. I’m pretty sure Data mentions the setup for this with a line or two during the episode.
Yeah, it can't translate the nouns. Names of people and places wouldn't make sense if directly translated. It's translating what it can but even translated it doesn't make sense until you realise they communitcate in metaphor for past events.
Did you guys just out-star treked mike
I thought that it was fairly obvious to be fair.
Interestingly English has a lot of idiom. E.g. Feeling under the weather.
It makes native English speakers very difficult to understand.
@@benbooth2783 I had a co worker who studied and taught English in Russia, but Russian was her native tongue. I once told her I was feeling under the weather and she got excited. It was the first time she had ever heard someone say that idiom in a normal conversation.
@@factsdontlie4342 Nice.
O'Brien saying that he built ships in bottles was actually great groundwork for DS9. Thanks, competent writers!
Makes me wish any Star Trek series or movie had competent writers for the past 10 years
@@hayberdasher8625 star trek beyond isn't bad
@@SgtKaneGunlockI agree, but it was too late, and the director being known for the Fast Furious Family films didn't inspire confidence despite his actual love and enthusiasm for Star Trek.
Oh shit, O'Brien playing with Bashir with models in later DS9 seasons. Someone in the high ranks actually loved this franchise dearly.
@@hayberdasher8625 Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds. Both great shows.
The best part about 'First Contact' is trying to buy that Riker would hesitate to bang a new alien.
Well... I think he would've came back and fulfilled his promise had he been able to escape & get healed & back in a position of power first.
If you’ve watched Frasier (or Cheers) it’s totally plausible
Re: Wesley being Roddenberry's insert character, Roddenberry's full name was Eugene Wesley Roddenberry.
Hey you're right
🎶 The more you knowwwww 🌈
...and Gene was a bit mystified and disappointed by the backlash.
@@Starscreamious I didn't say it was a mystery to me. LOL
Amongst my group of friends the dislike of Wesley is pretty common.
@@pauld6967 maybe some don't mind him but indifference seems to be the best reception that character seems to get, I am in that camp.
Came here to say this
“Wanna watch two old hack frauds talk about their favorite TNG episodes?”
“Money Plane”
Preeten boy from 90s, looks up from computer screen, gives thumbs up to camera!
Ah yes. Two blokes discussing a thirty year old show already has more views than your average of episode of the modern iterations. Perfection
Because JarJarAbrams is to StarTrek what Trump is to America. Garbage. A dipshit who ruined 2 Star franchises, and reportedly wanted to strike in a third, and is involved in Spiderman comics, when everyone and their mother knows that JJAss can't write his own freaking name to begin with, let alone franchise work.
Extreme TDS alert. Yikes
@@aserta What is the second franchise trump ruined?
@@aserta Who would you rather have: Trump for 4 or possibly 8 years, or Abrams and possibly Kurtzman for Star Trek? I can't decide.
@@aserta The shows you're criticizing are bad, but to be honest, you sound like you're losing your mind. Chill out.
RLM is the Cheers of TH-cam.
10+ years of RLM and no one has summed it up as perfectly as this
@@killergoose7643 thanks fellow alcoholic
IT’S A SHOW ABOUT NOTHING!
Wheres everybodies knows ours names.
Rich is at all times Norm, Morn, and himself.
Rich: “Let’s talk Star Trek TNG.”
Mike: “Make it so.”
Jay: “Gotta go.”
Jay always was more of a Commander Shepard type of person.
@@aserta I thought he was a Lieutenant Colonel? : D
Either way, who doesnt love Joe Flanigan.
We need a Darmok language based on BotW references. "Lowblow, behind the wheel." "John DeHart, his tank top black."
1) something old, cheap, barely working 2) someone insane with enormous ego
Or RedLetterMedia references.
"Colin, dying laughing at osteoporosis lady".
@@diccchocolate416 Niel Breen eating tuna. Niel Breen eating tuna in his car.
splendid idea.
"Stoklasa at the table, his BotW vote insane" (a common event or an expected outcome)
"Plinkett, his VCR repaired" (an impossibility)
@@MoragTong Rich Evans and the Showbiz Pizza Bear at Shakey's (abject horror)
Yes keep this going! I'm loving the Trek talk. Make a side channel RedShirtMedia it would be awesome.
No sense to split their audience.
But yes I agree I can sit and listen to nerds talk about Star trek forever
my top 2 youtubers together at last
@@kyubii972
Yeah because you can only watch one TH-cam channel.
@@kyubii972 fair point. I'm just hungry for trek chat.
I second the idea!
TNG is really missing decapitations and eye gouging.
Data got his head knocked off a few times. Now if only Ryker had his eye violently ripped out.
It’s actually missing unfunny Rick and Morty style humor
[Sam Neil scream]
Where we’re going, we won’t need eyes to see.
Don’t forget about excessive drug consumption and abundant expressions of suicidal ideation
"Junka, when the tapes fell."
I would like this to become an RLM style "too-long" joke where they just keep doing more favorite episode reviews until the whole series is done.
Mike and Jay on the couch, when the wheel spun.
Surviving edged weapons, his bow drawn
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m Razors on hat, his face punctured.
Neil Breen, his black tank top.
Rich, his blood sugar increasing.
Wisconsin, when the snow fell.
Exploding varmints, when the fur flew
i look forward to rlm's commentary on every single tng episode
They should make audiobook
This is the excuse I need to watch it a 5th time... who am I kidding, I will anyways.
I look forward to a tng ASMR video
This is the power of math!
I want both an RLM commentary and a Harry Plinkett commentary.
I was 12 when I watched TNG and as a result Wesley Crusher wasn't an annoying little kid, but something of a role model. Naturally, I was bullied!
"Shut up Stuart!"
I started watching TNG only recently and he didn't really bother me, his naivete was charming among a group of serious starfleet officers and considering a lot of crew have their families with them didn't feel out of place. Infact it was cool seeing him grow and develop as part of the crew like a family.
One might say. It's about family.
As someone who saw and adored Stand By Me when I was 12, I always loved Will Wheaton. Wasn't a huge fan of TNG as a kid (cause I didn't get it at the time), but my brother would always watch it, and over time I came to appreciate it.
NOT NOW, STUART
The secret to pulling in the adolescent boy demographic isn't Wesley Crusher, it's Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi
Rich quote of the year- “It’s like an alien species that only communicates through memes.”
Basically just like us, then. Classic Star Trek.
I know who Rich is, I CLAPPED!!!
@@Tuning3434 Thank you for the example...
Jackie Chan makes the face.
3 panel Drake, Man admires other female, Pikachu surprised face
Rich Evans acknowledging his own meme is like an out of body experience. These are special, they need to make more.
The universal translator can decipher the syntax of the "Darmok and Jalad" language, but the aliens use some kind of deeply rooted cultural slang that pulls on important events from their history. That's why people from outside their culture fail to understand them. Rich really touched on this point when he said they essentially communicate using memes.
It's also not without precedent. Like I've heared people use local sayings (in my case Flemish ones) and although I understood the individual words, the meaning of the sentence had to be explained to me.
@@awandererfromys1680This also happens a lot when translating old jokes, I believe we have some Sumerian jokes that were translated but we still cannot grasp what the joke was about due to a lack of cultural knowledge and their memes.
I think they could have even used the term itself. Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" in something like 1973, iirc
46:11 This is Emmanuel Grouch III, Callsign "The Rumble". Captain of the Federation Starship...Money Plane.
*Money Plane.*
I am so envious of this joke.
You wanna see a dude f*ck an alligator...
Imagine having a *holodeck* and your best date idea is just like a Sandals resort.
To be fair he's pretty desperate
Yeah. Even Wesley brought that monster princess to stand on that asteroid cloud.
It was the 90s.
Imagine having a holodeck and still wanting to date someone.
Not everyone can be Tom Paris.
I cannot articulate how happy I am that this is becoming a reoccurring video series. We all need some positive discussion, especially with something Rich and Mike are so passionate about.
When watching this, I remember joy...
The best thing about the “sex escape” in First Contact is it doesn’t even come close to working and riker is caught immediately making the whole thing entirely pointless
He had sex with Lilith...pointless?
It's nice to see Ellen getting cancelled didn't have any fallout on Rich Evan's career.
He propped her up as long as he could, but, let's be honest - even a Rich Evans with a Rich Evans amount of magnetism and charisma can only do so much.
I've never even watched TNG, but seeing Mike and Rich talk about something that they geuinely love is so wholesome and makes me happy. 5 more hours of this, please.
Ain't dat da troof!
All of it has been remastered on Netflix. Do yourself a favor, and give it a try.
Season 1 is absolutely awful. Some of those episodes make you want to eat a 12 gauge.
@@Rokaize
Really? That's good to hear, I gave up like halfway through season 1.
Season 1 and much of season 2 are written hilariously behind the times for when the show originally aired. It doesn't make them bad, it makes them so hokey that they're unintentionally hilarious and therefore still worth watching.
I’m with you. I never was a Star Trek fan, but I can appreciate Mike and Rich.
On the Darmok episode, technically the Universal Translator is working perfectly. Which is why there's English vocabulary. But their communication is entirely based on metaphor, so you'll never actually UNDERSTAND what they're saying until you learn the context behind the metaphor. That's why Troi's example is brilliant. If you have no idea of what Romeo & Juliette is, "Juliette on her balcony" is just as incomprehensible as "Shaka, when the walls fell". So the logic of the episode isn't as silly as Rich and Mike make it out to be.
Shaka when the walls fell
That just leads to more questions!
How do you only communicate in metaphors, when you need to understand the base language that makes up those metaphors, in the first place? Oo
The logic behind the language is just nonexistent. But the language is also not the point, so...
thats what I was screaming at the screen :D
@@NucleaRaptor With their example of a warp core breach, all you really need is one ship to have gone boom and it can enter the lexicon as "Chogdan on the Maloom, His molecules disassociated, his atoms spread wide" or whatever.
In defense of the episode, it does make sense _in a way._ Consider that each of our words is a "metaphor" in the sense that each word carries a meaning shared within our culture. Basically, speaking through metaphor the way they do is like taking one word of English and replacing it with its definition. So in the end, it's still too cumbersome of a language to be totally realistic - at least in the case of human languages since we tend to condense the amount of syllables needed to say something as a language evolves to save time and energy, so you'd think aliens would do it too. But it serves as a sort of *very* simplified metaphor for language itself, and of course works as simple way to create a language barrier that can be overcome and taught to an audience in 45 minutes.
As an aside, many other languages are far more context-dependent than English is like Spanish or Japanese, where a native English speaker might wonder how they would easily describe something outside of whatever the current context (trade-off is when you're staying within a context, it's more efficient than English). So a language so structurally different from our own is not a completely _foreign_ concept.
"I don't hate Wesley Crusher....but Will Wheaton's a complete tool."
same tbh
He's not nearly as annoying as people who like him.
People like him? Shocking.
The universal translator is NOT down in "Darmok" It's simply literally translating the words. It's as Troi says "Juliet on her balcony" .... if you don't know the reference, it tells you absolutely nothing. It's giberish. That's why there are English words when the Tamarians are speaking... it's because the UT s actually working.
It’s working, yet unintelligible because the context of the words/phrases is so specific and exact.
You can’t take an alien metaphor and translate it figuratively. Certain major mythic tropes like “When the walls fell” or “after the great inundation” are probably common to all civilizations. Hence literal translations can impart similar meanings. But “Juliet on her balcony” could figuratively mean she’s lovesick, or suicidal, or looking at the world beyond her small confines, or waiting for a pizza to be delivered. It imparts far less directly and need to be used as a puzzle piece.
@@JoeyArnold7 rent free
Yes it be like asking a desert civilization about Trees the word could be translated but it that doesn't guarantee it has any meaning other than being a string of characters that can be said.
Like Wittgenstein said: "if a lion could speak, we could not understand him"
I wish you guys would tackle DS9. A lot of great Worf moments in that series.
Double Penetration 9
I was just thinkin of the Season 7 Episode Blaze of Glory - what a fantastic episode with Worf and Kor, the Dahar Master!!
Oh yes please, I loved TNG but for some reason I connected emotionally more with DS9, I would love to hear Rich and Mike talk more about it. There are some pretty spectacular episodes in there.
I wish you guys would tackle the rest of Fire & Blood so I can be fully out of ASoIaF content and dwell in that realization.
@@KameronJ7 We're getting through it
47:39 "I have always wanted to make love with an alien."
Finally a character I can relate to.
"I want to believe... and make love"
00:00:53 Booby Trap
00:17:50 The Game
00:37:51 First Contact
00:47:37 Interlude with Mike's goofy prop
00:49:52 Darmok
01:05:24 The Next Phase
I LOST THE GAME
@@Fallen420chan rip
Which one is the thumbnail based on?
@@Perktube1 I believe it's Darmok
hey thanks
Watching two old men reminisce about their childhood is so heartwarming.
Manimal & Misfits of Science review coming soon.
80 minutes long, and they still don't get through their whole list.
I love it.
I just watched both previous episodes, drove 8 hours, logged into my hotel’s WiFi, and then got this notification. ENGAGE
Sounds stressful. RLM always helps me relax, hopefully it works for you too!
@@fallenmango8420 what a nice comment. i hope you have a good day
I hope you are a trucker, because I could feel my ass breaking in half when you mentioned driving for 8 hours.
@@HellecticMojo Driving for long periods of time within a small number of days has become a surprisingly big part of my life. Also, these guys are on fire. Great, hilarious discussion.
Starting watching TNG for the first time at the start of lockdown. Something very uplifting about a team working together to explore and solve problems whilst the world seemed to be crumbling around outside. Even the not so good episodes have a lot of charm and at the very least decent forehead ridges. The best episodes are some of the best TV episodes in any genre ever.
Same. But it was funny how nearly every other episode in season 1 was about some viral outbreak. lol
“Decent forehead ridges” lmfao good one
Welcome to the addiction. I believe i have since rewatched every episode at least 20 times. It never gets old. The darker the times we are in, the more essential TNG's values become.
@@wandersgion4989 there are some underrated precious gems in s1. Where No One Has Gone Before, Symbiosis, The Neutral Zone, and nothing to do with viral infections.
I have never watched a single episode of Star Trek but I've watched every RLM Star Trek review at least once.
Engage!
I read this as 'watched every RLM Star Trek review at once' and I was temporarily worried for you
I appreciate your concern, regardless!
Same here. I was wondering if I was the only one.
Me too
what? come on! you get to watch TNG for the first time. Lucky you. ... but as the fraud hacks say, got to pay the troll tax that is the first season
when mike threw away the mask at 49:29, why didnt they cut in the 'break the artefact' sound? boy i really hope someone got fired for that blunder!
It belongs in a museum!
Ah yes, well every time something like that happens a wizard did it.
@@gelraldoldo5152 I'm not Xena. I'm Lucy Lawless.
Are you referring to the sound effect they use all the time where they smashed a toilet with a sledge hammer?
curlin nescar
There's a strange therapeutic catharsis to how these guys get a hold of these one of a kind historical sci-fi props and proceed to mishandle them so frivolously. I get a kick out of imagining the uptight collectors and supernerds looking on in horror.
Back in high school, my senior year English teacher showed us the Darmak episode one day after we read the Epic of Gilgamesh because of Picard's references to it. Everyone in the class hated it but I loved it lol
Fiction that requires some thought to appreciate is rarely popular
I actually got to use Tamarian just last week. I have a "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" t-shirt and I wore it to work. Onew of the new hires spotted it, laughed, and gave me the "Sharma when the walls fell" line. I pointed right at him and said "Temba, his eyes open !"
It was a bonding moment, we're cool now.
@Stellvia Hoenheim Living the dream.
That's so wholesome.
Badass
Isn't it "Shaka" ? Also totally bad ass story. Upvoted.
@Tim HR, when the lawsuit was served.
Picard: Didn't anyone play with ships in bottles when they were boys?
Worf: I never played with boys.
Best outtake ever
“I did sir”
- Miles O’Brien
@@artenke5827 😂
Only guy in Hollywood who didn't.
TRACY!!!
(runs down hallway)
My parents dressed me up as Wesley for a Star Trek convention when I was about 9. They dyed my hair to match his and bought me an expensive replica uniform. Never did I feel more loved.
That's dope, I experienced second hand nostalgia through your story.
hehe nerd 😁👉
lol jk obviously 💜
it's important to remember: kids that are dressed as Wesley don't deserve any animosity you may feel towards Wesley.
45:47 is my new favorite Mike Stoklasa edit. He truly is a hack Freud.
Blink and you'll miss it.
For those who missed it, it's an old man holding a penis.
“Mike drags Rich out of the VHS mines yet again to talk about Star Trek.”
I always imagined the Tamarians have some sort of mild psychic ability that sort of acts like a knowledge "cloud." They have their individuality and verbal language, and then under it, communal knowledge that becomes a sort of instinct. It'd be a good hand wave explanation for how their species can function in the way they do, and be totally unintelligible to other races.
At the beginning of the episode, the transmission the Tamrians send to the Federation is a "mathmatical progression". The Tamarians seem to be able to communicate technical things like math, but past that, you have to understand their metaphor language to communicate meanings and intent.
I don't think they need to be psychic, kids brains are really good at picking up language, even metaphorical language , I bet most native English speakers know what most or all of these metaphors mean even if they don't know the source of them: "the writing's on the wall", "scapegoat", "apple of my eye", "behemoth", "armageddon", "double-edged sword", "land of nod", "straight and narrow", "salt of the earth".
Simple right? I bet you picked them up from people speaking rather than sitting down and reading the King James bible cover-to-cover.
knowledge "cloud" > communal knowledge instinct > gobbledygook > malarky > bullshit.
Terrible hand wave explanation.
This reminds me of all the fun chats you, Matt and Pat had on Star Trek back in the day. I miss those segments! Wouldn’t that be great to have both of them on a RLM Star Trek TNG review?
If they had a kind of Hive mind then they would all remember the events they were referring to in their speech, rather than having to learn millions of different events to refer to.
Rich and Mike should come out with a new series - re:Trek, where they just talk about Star Trek. I would watch it religiously.
that would be great! :)
I'd even be happy with a Star Trek podcast from them
I'm glad Rich Evans realizes he is in fact an internet meme himself
Rich Evans, superimposed, sits on couch.
Dude, he looked at the camera. Are we the meme now?
My favorite part is when they talked about Star Trek
This reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
When they talk about Star Trek- IN Star Trek??? Actually I’m sure it happened. In season4 or whatever🚀
Star trekking across the universe, only going forward cos we can't go reverse.
I missed that part. Timestamp?
Some of the best content I've seen on RLM. Two people speaking passionately and analytically about a great show.
More of this pls.
Mike treating that alien head mask like Picard treated that statue at the end of Generations.
I still want a cliff hanger. Mike dressed up as Locutus on a monitor giving some goofy line about wanting to review the new Star Trek Galaxy season, then a dramatic pan to Rich in a Riker beard and uniform and says, "Mr. Bauman, Fire!" And Jay would be like, "fire what?"
EDIT: This keeps popping up in my feed and I have to say this video has the best thumbnail ever.
Go on..
*Jay is watching weird shit and doesn't notice anything
Darmok is one of my favorite episodes as a kid, and still today. It really makes "communicating" BADASS. Because you're right, Picard does walk onto that ship and solve the dire situation like _that_ because he knows how to communicate and be a diplomate. It instilled in ME, a little girl at the time, how _powerful_ it is to understand others, even when you don't have first had context about what they're saying, but grasp the emotions and weight behind it.
For example; I might not have seen/been invested in the same tv show someone else has been in, but I know what it's like from other shows I've seen, so I might not get an anime reference, but if you're talking about a devastating character death because of their redeeming sacrifice, I GET THAT FEELING.
And I could believe that a culture can grow and learn to communicate in metaphor and still be able to explain complex stuff like mechanical instructions because, at least in English, but I'm assuming this is for most language, _We come up with bullshit words all the time._ I mean the word "Bullshit" itself means something is false or deceptive, what does that have to do with the fecal matter of a specific male bovine species. Or a lot of words/phrases that equate animals and their behaviors to actions, To "Bully" to "hound." I can believe that there is a metaphor for EVERYTHING in this aliens culture and everyone knows it, like "just like riding a bike." Or "Waltz" or "foxtrot" it's the verbal equivalent of dance moves that this culture is trained to know. idk I could suspend my disbelief enough for it anyway.
Good point!
I thought for a brief moment that when Mike threw the alien head off camera it would make the Kurlan Naiskos sound.
so that's how you spell that?
1. Yeah I was really hoping for that
2. Oh that’s how you spell it
My take on The Game is that Data saving the day in the Wesley episode is not only not detrimental, it's actually a positive that Wesley doesn't solve the problem on his own. It almost feels like an acknowledgment of the big problem with Wesley early on, in Season 1 especially - so many episodes are just solved by Wesley Crusher being a super genius who singlehandedly solves everything when the rest of the crew is stumped, because he's better than everyone at everything. Here, he realizes he's out of his depth and his best course of action is to keep the threat occupied while someone more qualified works on a solution.
Wesley: I need an adult!
The point about Wesley being Gene Rodenberry’s substitute character seems especially likely when Wesley was Rodenberry’s middle name.
And like many aspects of TNG, this also carried over into Voyager. Instead of Wesley, they had Thomas Eugene Paris, the amazing helmsman who is good at everything.
@@Scripture-Man why?
@@gregbauer4433Except diplomacy, relationships, and programming terribly dull Irish towns into the holodeck.
Mike goes "full Wisconsin" every time he says the word *ghosts*
I blame Zak Bagans.
I often ask if he's putting it on extra thick when he says certain words, but then I remember half the time he says stuff he's f*cking hammered. Not so much anymore.
He's not even from Wisconsin, haha. I think he's from Arizona.
*Chicago
It’s for the giggles. He’s said ghosts completely normal plenty of times too. Even Jay has a thicker accent than Mike. He would be saying some other key Wisconsin-y words with the same sort of accent if it was just natural.
YEESSS MORE STAR TREK
hey RLM,
PLEASE TALK ABOUT DS9!!!!!!
@@judeisurufernando674 and Voyager
Troi is a good second target because she's an empath - she'd feel something was wrong with people eventually.
Yes, long after the point where it would've been useful. "I sense deception", she'd say, from the brig, after the entire ship was already taken over.
the only issue is her powers are so consistently ignored for plot reasons... its so easy to forget she could be useful
46:00 The "Cheers" (and later "Frasier" soundstage) was right around the corner of the old TOS soundstage and just a couple of streets away from the TNG/VOY and DS9 soundstages on the Paramount lot. During the first seasons of TNG some actors even went in uniform to the "Cheers" soundstage because they had better catering.
Seriously. Can this be it's own series? Just Rich and Mike discussing shit they like. After years of best of the worst it feels so good to have these two just geek out over stuff.
Good idea. It seems like the right time to let BOTW rest for a while and concentrate on enjoyable things. I've really gotten into watching Re:views here lately. Everybody is good at them and it's where Josh shines.
It’s really interesting to me. At heart RLM is a comedy channel…yet the insight they bring is just exceptional. I’ve never once thought, aside from contrarian Mike doing what he does, “that’s bullshit.” They’re just honest dudes. It’s refreshing.
I’d be terrified to have a beer with them.
replac
@@amelzon1 Rich talking about Geordie was so insightful (very early in the vid)
I can’t stand them talking about what they don’t like; they’re *delightful* when talking about what they do like.
Picard: Nothing
Riker: Nothing
Everyone: Nothing
Worf: Have we thought about going to war with them?
Everybody makes fun of Worf, until they need someone to go hard in the paint :p
@@ManDuderGuy Agree, Worf is a homie ... except he has been bodied every time. Remember when he got his spine snapped like a dry twig by a falling box, and just wanted to commit suicide than be crippled.
@@nickalbertson335
Worf was never allowed to shine damnit!
He does in DS9
@@End3r1973 Indeed, in DS9 they don't really have a similar dialogue setup that uses someone as Worf to suggest the 'totally wrong action' to show the superiority of the commanding officers. Feels a bit like a setup from TOS where you had or an idiot throw-away ensign, or later on Chekov make the lead to show Kirk / Spock badassery. (That or McCoy bashing with Spock). In earlier seasons of DS9 you kinda had hyper-aggressive Kira and naïve Bashir, but later on it feels like they where able to spread it out between the cast and make it more of a discussion, thinking up loudly instead doing the opposite of what somebody else suggested. From my memory they did tended to do the same in the (better) TMP movies, showing respect towards every senior member.
I feel like they've reversed that back in Voyager, where someone technobabbles to dress someone down (usually poor Ever-ensign Kim) to show who is in charge.
Those moments when these two breakdown a scene and note how comical the actual situation is in hindsight, is the best. Whether its Picard blowing up an ancient artifact or them just pointing out Worf's one-liners, they always make me laugh.
"as stupid as an alien species that can only communicate with internet memes."
Me: *surprised Pikachu face
Drake, the second image!
Sokath, his eyes uncovered!
"Wait it's all memes?"
"Always has been."
Labron James looking up annoyed
Steamed Hams.
I loved when Picard shared a human story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, with the alien captain.
That's because some stories are universal and unforgettable. Other stories are Finn and Rose at Canto Bight.
I love to watch youtube vids about the Epic of Gilgamesh and only comment Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra on every one.
This for me is the best part of that episode. Telling a story and drawing pictures in the sand is such a primal human form of communication. And the alien captain is so soothed by these efforts. It’s such a great moment
I thing Wesley was annoying because the writers were writing him too young. He's a teenager, but he seems to have been written as an 8 year old most of the time.
Wesley was fine as a character and not a plot device. Every time they went full Starchild trope with him it became insufferable. As an awkward, but very smart kid desperately trying to fit in with people he idolized, he was a decent character. One of my favorite rewatchable episodes is his Starfleet test. Good Wesley ep that doesn't need to make him Space Mozart to be interesting.
@@gargamellenoir8460 yes, I have to agree here. I remember there was an episode where they were showing a "day-in-the-life" 23rd century moment and it was like six year olds doing algebra like it was no big thing. So really, how much smarter was Wesley than your average Starfleet officer? But when they wrote him as an exceptionally smart, intuitive person that was still a kid with feet of clay, I was good. People tend to only remember obnoxious Wesley instead of fairly competent, awkward adolescent Wesley.
One of my favorite re-watchable eps of TNG is "Peak Performance", which is both a great use of Wesley and at the same time a picture perfect example of MS'ing him because for him to shine, he has to make a security officer look like a moron. But his Worf-Worthy act of Guile gives Riker's ship some much needed juice and Wesley is shown as clever and inventive, and not an insufferable prodigy.
The other problem was half the episodes he was in he caused the problem then at the end of the episode after all the highly trained federation officers couldn't solve it, he solved it in the last 2 min of episode.
There were a lot of teenagers or kids who-are-smarter-than-adults-tropes on 90s TV. Even as a teenager we all knew it was bullshit. So when I saw Wesley doing the same stuff, I inwardly groaned. I don’t think he was acted that well either, which didn’t help. The shut up Wesley episode, although poor writing, was a satisfying bit of of fan service. But his character does improve a lot, and his fall from grace was a good episode.
@@makasete30 interestingly Jake Sisco Really didn't bother me, even though I didn't care about any of his story lines but again he wasn't solving issues that highly trained Starfleet officers on the flagship couldn't figure out.
Nearly a million views.
This makes me happy. I've come back to these episodes multiple times.
There’s only like 50k RLM fans and we just watch every video 30 times
Sucks that they demonized this video
"Rich Evans superimposed sits on couch." Whoa this is getting meta.
Riker banging the alien nurse was Roddenberry’s final send off
No, that was Minuet.
Toxic talk show host laughs at young rich Evans in unfortunate shirt ... at tanagra
Stoklasa when the booze was taken away, Rich his laugh piercing
Temba, my arms open
"Toxic talk show host laughs at young rich Evans in unfortunate shirt ..." by Telepictures? In syndication? (Damn it, there is a joke in there somewhere.)
Dick the Birthday Boy...at Showbiz Pizza.
This comment section is gold, i died laughing at all of them.
This is my third viewing of this today, and I just had to comment because it brings me so much joy. There's just so much positivity and stimulating discussion in this video, it literally makes me feel healthier.
"A 30 year old outdated television show" even though this is the most asked for content on the channel
nope.
Internet rule # 3: Louder, obnoxious, "passionate" or "community" doesn't mean "majority"
Ask about a 2000year old book
@@theguardian8317 oof someone's salty