#037 - Star Trek TNG 3.22 "The Most Toys" (with special intro memorial for Patrick Stewart & Walter Koenig)

Note: This episode begins with a special 7-minute memorial to two actors we lost within the last 8 days, Walter Koenig of "Star Trek" and "Babylon 5" and Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and the "X-Men" movies.

This week we take a long & detailed look into the classic & possibly under-rated TNG episode, "The Most Toys." Data's death is faked so that he can become a part of a criminals collection of one-of-a-kind treasures.

- Note: A snippet of the memorial intro comes from a Walter Koenig panel at Phoenix Comic Con 2013, a panel Todd attended as part of the "Babylon 5" 20th anniversary weekend. Also, this episode was recorded before Walter & Patrick passed away, as was our next TNG review.

- This was one of Nick's top 10 choices, but how highly did Todd think of the episode? Did he change his score while recording, like he did with "The Measure of a Man"?

- How much did the performance of Saul Rubinek, as criminal trader & collector Kivas Fajo, factor in to the co-hosts loving this episode?

- What line of Shakespeare is highlighted in this episode?

- How does one scene of Geordi & Wesley going through Data's things, thinking he's dead, hit closer to home for Todd due to recent losses in real life?

- What psychology do the co-hosts appreciate regarding Kivas Fajo's urge to collect things and Geordi being distracted by suspicions of how Data supposedly died?

- Out of respect of Patrick Stewart's recent passing, Todd edited out a moment of criticism for "Star Trek: Picard." Which "new Trek" show didn't escape criticism in the final edit?

- What moments of great dialogue did the co-hosts highlight? Was Data either lying or in denial when blaming the discharge of his weapon on the transporter?

- How did the co-hosts fill 55 whole minutes with just the good stuff about this episode?

- As the first negative, what did Nick think Data should have done in this episode to anger his captor?

- What other very minor logic issues did the co-hosts find with this episode?

- What are some interesting things about the background of actor Saul Rubinek?

- How many times & ways did the crew of the original Enterprise think Captain Kirk was dead?

- What are other Data-centric episodes throughout the series?

- What other episodes throughout the franchise have abduction as a theme?

- Which movie did a friend suggest to Nick as having a similar theme to a subplot of this episode?

- Todd came up with 12 similarities between Kivas Fajo and...someone else...and, Claude AI gave him four more similarities. Nick had concerns about leaving that segment in. What creative but possibly incoherent editing method is used to downplay who Todd is comparing to Kivas Fajo, and can you tell who he's talking about anyway?

- During the "Neighboring Sectors" segment which episode did Todd originally put at the bottom of season 3, which got regraded & bumped up three spots after the recording of this review?

- Which other episode came up again as one Todd ranks at or near the bottom of season 3 but that Nick really loves?

- Which two Trek fans compiled a list of all appearances of Shakespeare books throughout "Star Trek: The Next Generation"?

- What is the tragic backstory of why Saul Rubinek had to be cast very quickly to replace British actor David Rappaport, who had already filmed for two days?

- For the "Captain's Chair" segment, how did the co-hosts split their vote for MVP, and how were neither one the obvious choice?

- How is this review almost 2.5 hours long, and if we should have moved something to a bonus episode instead, what exactly should we have moved?

Listen now for the answers to these and other unique questions as we collect..."The Most Toys."

Please rate or review us wherever you listen to podcasts. Our e-mail address is [email protected].

Royalty-free music in this episode comes from Pixabay.com.