Who Watches the Watchers, Gallifrey Gals Get Warped! S3Ep4

Dan Williams

I think it far easier to say that they are a people from another world rather than to let people believe in a deity. Though far easier to believe in "divine" beings, from the heavens, than that it's not "we're the divine's chosen." I do believe in a God, but I don't think any of our religions have gotten past extraterrestrials. I think all Religions have an aspect of The God within them, because God is always defined as, and must be, completely Infinite and Creator Of All, but that each on their own does not have all the information. All must be combined, because for God to be, It must be bigger than one religion from one corner of one planet in on galaxy..... In one universe? ........... Far better to say Picard is the same as them with better technology, than to let them think them gods..

Dan Williams

I'm always shocked that this episode is so early in season 3, it feels like it should be a season 5 episode, it's sooooooo good!

Dan Williams

It's gotta be an age thing, I don't know anyone out of our (Paula's) age group that eats candy corn one color at a time. But absolutely, always.

Kirk Schwenckman

Paula’s thoughts on candy corn are correct.

Zach Coty

<3 candy corn :)

Kirk Deighton

After decades I finally get the answer to "Who Watches The Watchers?" it was me all along, on patreon. Glad to have found your channel despite what appear to be YouTube and CBS's best efforts to hide it. Real shame after managing to catch the one reference in a previous video to where Season 1 reactions are at, only to discovery they are all blocked in my country by CBS, I understand you may not have access to that stuff, but it would be cool to have access to a complete set of reactions one day somehow, as you gals are great!

Nicholas Walsh

Fun Fact!!! The tapestry given to picard at the end of the episode makes numerous appearances through the remainder of the series and the following movies. He keeps it on his desk chair in his quarters. It also shows up on his ready room chair in the movies. :)

Steve

Ray Wise in Twin Peaks played Leland Palmer (father of Laura Palmer), so it was fun to see him panic troughout this episode as he asked "where's Palmer?". It was like he was having a premonition of his daughter's disapearance. I'm so glad to hear the prospect of you watching some original Trek, just so we can see the reactions to the original opening voice over. "Space... the final frontier... " and how they tweaked it for TNG.

Andrew Hogan

You are not human

The Crazed Spruce

I'm also a candy corn lover. (And as if that didn't earn me ENOUGH hate on the Internet, I also like pineapple on pizza. DON'T JUDGE ME!)

Steven morgan

That was fun, like that episode but on to the candy corn, I had become intrigued by the whole debate which seems to happen every time this stuff is mentioned by Americans, it seems to be you either love it or hate it, so imagine my disappointment when I bought it from an import store to discover that it’s not great but not bad either, they taste like the English treat sugar mice, I’ve had worse American treats..... twinkies are a lot worse

John

And Kat doesn't get to notice that on her own now that you and others have pointed it out. How about talking about it AFTER she notices? Just a thought.

John

Ok, that's pretty funny. I'm surprised they didn't use a very basic bow. I guess that's all that was readily available at Walmart the day they were shooting.

trylikeafool

Robert Williams

A fun bit of production trivia, the bow and arrow that is used to shoot Captain Picard is a off the shelf compound bow, like you would find in a sporting goods store, using pulleys to make the bow easier to shoot at greater power. They just tacked some decoration on it to make it less obvious. Literally, humans didn't invent a compound bow like that until the 1960s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holless_Wilbur_Allen So, humans had literally split the atom, built rockets that could carry humans 500 miles into space, invented supersonic jets, and then invented that bow and arrow. The Mintakans are pretty clever.

Kenneth

"A millenia ago they abandoned their belief in the supernatural. Now you want me to sabotage that achievement? To send them back into the dark ages of superstition, and ignorance, and fear. NO!"

Kenneth

How about Pamela Adlon as Leko's daughter Oji.

John

I can see it now. Picard wasn't being particularly brave when he offered to let Leko shoot him. He figured he's completely screwed up this entire civilization and his career is certainly over, assuming he's not locked up for such grievous violations. Might as well let Leko shoot him. He's got nothing to lose.

Malcolm Wolf

Candy Corn is not available here in New Zealand. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Chrissonator

One of my all time favorite episodes of S3, just for the subtle approach toward theology, etc.

Anthony Wickizer

I even love the hesitation before he says “Picard.” I read it as him not having fully thought through his approach and realizing introducing himself was a bad start. Haha

Bruce Bromley

They were for a while but I think copyright disputes got them kicked off Vimeo. That is why they are now using Wave. I too like to download them because I have to deal with a lot of buffering if I watch online. I want to suggest that they might be a be able to have two versions for us patrons to their usual one with the episode included and a downloadable watch along one we can sync up to our own copy of the episode. Fingers crossed.

marko

Great reaction from The Paula and The Katrina.

Geoffrey Smeltzer

Hi, is there any way to set the videos to be available to download? I would like to save the episodes to watch them on my TV. Thanks!

John

People, please be careful of spoilers. Kat is clever. Thinking you're cleverly avoiding giving something away doesn't mean she's not going to be spoiled by 10 different people making obscure remarks about something.

John

I notice Paula starting to quote some lines before it happens in the episode because she was getting excited. Their videos could have been slightly out of sync, though. I do love how Picard regards Nuria. He's a philosopher at heart and he knows he's seeing them at the beginning of their species' epic journey and he's just overwhelmed by how much they have to look forward to.

John

I know it's a minor detail, but I'd delete your comment and let Kat notice it for herself.

paulh7791

Stop teasing her Paula, we have a long way to go. Thank you both, enjoying it.

Peter Evans

Ooh, certainly this. Classic Trek movies would be a blast!

GreyIrohNee

A classic, season three has some great gems

Pickupthepieces76

It would be fun to watch some classic Trek. It you watch enough episodes in between regular programming over the course of TNG, it would properly set up the first 6 classic movies. I hope you will watch all the Trek movies at some point, likely after TNG finishes.

Andrew Hogan

I fell asleep twice during this episode, lol. This is one of my clunkers for season 3. It has a bunch of small little things in it that bother me. It’s basic trek formula and I think it’s been done better in other episodes, so for me this one just falls flat. It touches on good points, but as mentioned small superficial things about it irritate me. I used to love candy corn and now I can’t stand it. I’m sure they’re thrilled to be compared to a cat litter substitute. I was just wondering how many episodes you watch in a sitting, sine the first couple you were so into Crusher being back. There are a bunch of very good episodes coming up that aren’t discussed as much because of the second half of this season that touch on some very heavy issues. I figured out the viewing timeline for us (viewers) over the course of the season, interesting to see where certain episodes land for us with the finale coming up in May but for you guys it might be the end of this year. I was in high school when Buffy was on and man was I in love with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Charisma Carpenter. It got way too soap opera-y for me after about 4 or 5 seasons, whenever Angel and Spike came on full time so I checked out around then. Happy Turkey Day.

Arek Schneyer

I adore this episode. one of my favorite of the season, though of course it's hard to pick one. I was looking forward to this one and was not disappointed. I love every scene, every step Picard makes to explain to Nuria what he is. He starts with the comforting: "feel the warmth of my hand", moves on to the very logical: "your people live in huts", and finishes with vulnerability, showing how they die. The idea that sometimes the only way to fix a problem arisen from a broken rule is to break it again is a little weird, but it shows trust in other people.

Tristan Rose

Another interesting bit of trivia from this episode is that the actress who plays the young Mintakan daughter "Oji" is Pamela Adlon (at that time Pamela Segall) who is known for her voice acting as Bobby on "King of the Hill" and also costarring with David Duchovny in "Californication" as well as many other movies and TV shows.

Graham Mills

https://i.redd.it/wtojnu5idq141.jpg

Colin 3of5

I forget the name of the episode but in the original series Spock and McCoy are sent back in time through a time portal and in one scene McCoy pulls up Spock on being emotional and Violent just like his ancestors in the time period they are in.

Peter Evans

Random thoughts while watching: Troi: "We are... visitors. Er, yes, that'll do. (Sideways glance.)" Great work there Troi. ... "The Picard will be pleased!" Dollars to donuts Riker and Troi started that as a popular meme back on board much to Picard's chagrin. "Vending machine repaired! Earl Grey for everyone! The Picard will be pleased!" ... "... if it will hold off the Picard's anger." Picard: "Fat chance. I'm already writing their performance review." ... Hurrah! I like this episode a lot. I tend to like anything with Ray Wise in it a lot though. Favourite action movie? Robocop. Has Ray Wise in it. Favourite TV show? Twin Peaks. Has Ray Wise in it. I kind of like these episodes as well that show the Federation and the crew of the Enterprise aren't omnipotent. Here they actually introduce trouble to a planet. I could nitpick this episode, there's a lot of short-hand involved and once again Trek goes down the route of 'one town / society / leader is the planet' but it's still great stuff, and gets you an emotional level. It's also interesting to see that Picard would give his life to uphold the prime directive. It's as hard-coded in him as the rule of being the last to abandon ship is in any (well most) Captain's credo. There's something very slightly fairy-tale about the episode as well, despite the theme being contrariwise. After all, Arthur C. Clarke's law has it, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Lovely reaction once again from my favourite Galaxy Class girls. Oh, and if anyone knows any newbie reactions to Twin Peaks out there would love to catch one of those! Also, those corn shaped snacks? Bleurgh. Jaffa Cakes are my jam of choice for Star Trek viewing.

Firefly24601

Interesting that proto-Vulcans are assumed to be logical and ordered. From what I grew up knowing, Vulcans were very emotional and aggressive, almost wiping themselves out in war. Until Surak came along with his philosophy of logic, and then Vulcans became cool and logical in order to suppress their emotions. BUUUUT that could be from novelizations and books, I don't know if that's ever been explicitly stated in any Trek TV shows, either the original or Next Generation.

Peter Evans

Picard: "I used to be a God like you. But then I took an arrow to the shoulder." Q: "Oh do shut up, Picard."

Neil McRae

And actually Ray Wise has been in a ton of other stuff. He was Charles Logan's Vice President on "24", he was on "Agent Carter", and I believe he's currently on "Fresh Off The Boat".

Bruce Bromley

They may be loosey goosey a bit on the Prime Directive on TNG but Kirk pretty much ignored it on TOS.. So Paula, when you get to the season finale will you watch it like you two did the pilot, EAF? I'd much rather you torture Kat and have her wait a few weeks before you watch the Season Four premier. Just like I had to back in the day 😄

Neil McRae

Firefly24601

OMG love love the candy corn debate at the beginning! Reminds me of The Apple Sisters, they have a skit on Candy Corn, but it's... not what you'd expect. :D

Ian Smith

This is a pleasing little story,with a well put across (non-aggresive) humanist message. I love Patrick Stewart in this;and Vasquez' Rocks are always good to see (another Trek staple!)

Weapon26

I won't say when. But them being loosey-goosey with the prime directive does come back in an very good episode down the line. Also, it might be good to watch some classic trek! Not only fun to see your reactions, but given some episodes coming up related to vulcans (Being an important race in ST but not referenced all too much in TNG & DS9) and the original ST crew that show up later. Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpVMclplWWU

Jonny Moonsliver

As a kid who grew up watching this show, I struggled with this episode, because I grew up with religion forced on me, and I always instinctively rebelled against it. I didn't like this episode back then, because it was centered around that persistent crisis. As an adult who has found their own way and their own spirituality, while holding reason and rationalism as core tenants of my life, I appreciate what this episode tackles very much.

Jarrod Wild

There's only one correct way to eat candy corn and Paula knows it.

John

Been looking forward to this one. It's one of my favorites of this season. Yes, it's Ray Wise from Twin Peaks. Gene Roddenberry was a very humanistic atheist. He believed religion and superstition had to be left behind for humanity to evolve and Trek frequently revisits that ideal. It's not about a good or bad religion. In Roddenberry's mind, all religions were bad. I loved this because it speaks to that desire to reach beyond your grasp that has driven so much innovation and growth.