Relics isn't a bad episode at all, but it is one with some issues. I know they like to have a story arc so by having Geordi be annoyed with Scotty for the first half of the episode it gives him somewhere to go in the second half. But whenever writers set out to make a character annoying, they often succeed. That said, I do really like the overall theme of the episode and for one so clearly written around a guest star it works rather well. Not at all surprising, especially if you have read my other reviews, my favorite scene is actually the one with Picard and Scotty having a few drinks on the bridge of the old Enterprise.
We begin with the Enterprise detecting the distress signal from a Federation vessel lost 70 years ago. They stop to investigate and find the signal is coming from an amazingly huge sphere that for some reason they couldn't detect until now. Something about it having too much gravity of their gravity sensors to detect. Picard correctly guesses that the object is a Dyson sphere, a shell build to entirely surround a star providing both a nearly limitless source of energy and also an incredibly huge living space on the inner surface. Riker, Worf and Geordi beam over find the old ship still running at a very basic level. Life support is working, and so is the transporter, and not only that, there is someone trapped inside it! Geordi energizes the system and Scotty appears with his arm in a sling.
Back on the D Scotty has a hard time fitting in. He insists on letting himself into engineering, but his knowledge of modern systems leaves a lot to be desired, he even accidentally turns the engines off. Moving on he runs into Data in Ten Forward and gets the android to find him some real alcohol which he takes to the holodeck. He recreates the bridge of his Enterprise and hangs out drinking until Picard shows up. The two spend a while reminiscing about their earlier ships and generally having a good time. The next day Picard asks Geordi to work with Scotty to recover the data from the old ship and the two beam over. Meanwhile the Enterprise investigates the Dyson sphere and accidentally manages to get dragged inside. The tractor beams are so forceful that they knock out the engines leaving the Enterprise to drift dangerously close to the star inside.
Back on the old ship Geordi is starting to see that even though they do things differently Scotty really is a brilliant engineer. When they realize the Enterprise is gone they manage to get the ship running again and trace the Enterprise to the huge door. They back off before signalling to open the door and manage to avoid the tractor beams and wedge the ship in the door giving time for the Enterprise to buzz through to safety. To thank him Picard gives Scotty one of their shuttles (one of the reasonable sized ones too!).
Review: Given how much has changed between TOS and TNG it isn't surprising that this episode has a few rough patches, but overall I really enjoyed getting to see Scotty back at work.
6 out of 10
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