Woooo, made it through TNG season 1! With a name like The Neutral Zone I expected this to be an episode about the Romulans, but they only showed up at the very end to give us something to look forward to next season. Instead this turned out to be an episode about three survivors from the 1990's who were frozen at the moment of death and despite the odds made it into the 23rd century and where revived and healed. One thing this episode got right what that cryogenic freezing at the moment of death was a short lived trend that hasn't really continued in any serious way at this point. Also, I kinda love that one of the guys is pretty much 80's guy from Futurama, or I guess Futurama stole him from this episode, but it is still entertaining.
While waiting to rendezvous with captain Picard the Enterprise encounters a derelict vessel from earth hundreds of years ago. Riker isn't really interested but Data insists on beaming over with Worf to take a look. They find a serious of capsules with frozen people in them. Most of the capsules have failed but three are working and Data beams them back to the Enterprise right as the captain arrives and takes them on a course into the neutral zone. Picard is pissed for some reason about the frozen people, but after Crusher heals and revives them he is little choice. The three are very different, one is a woman whose husband had her frozen when she died suddenly, one is a wall street type who just wants to know what happened to his money, and the third is a musician who burned himself out on drugs.
The situation on the Romulan border is tense, Federation outposts have been disappearing and they haven't heard from the Romulans in decades. As the people from the past adjust to their new situation Picard tries to come up with a plan. Troi builds him a profile of the Romulans and Riker seems ready to fight. When they arrive 80's guy manages to be on the bridge when they encounter the Romulans. The Romulan captain explains they have lost outposts as well and don't know what is causing it. They agree to work with the Enterprise to find out what is doing it, but also promise to try and stem the growth of the Federation. They take off without really doing anything and the frozen people are sent back to earth to try and rebuild their lives.
Review: Not much actually happens in this episode. There are some touching moments where Troi helps the woman locate her descendants on Earth and a kinda annoying moment where the musician tries to talk Crusher into giving him some drugs. 80's guy seems to have the best character arc as he gradually accepts what has happened and how he can't control his fate, at least for now. Not a super exciting episode, but it has its moments.
6 out of 10
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