Not to be confused with TAS The Eye of the Beholder this is one of those episodes I loved as a kid that today seems kinda weak. It certainly isn't as bad as season one Troi centered episodes, but it isn't quite the mystery masterpiece I had remembered it to be. I had forgotten that at least half the episode is actually a psychic flashback/dream that for some reason includes such details as Dr. Crusher making an empathic suppression drug that only exists in Troi's mind since there is no reason the actual murderer would want such a thing nor is there any reason to think Troi has used such a thing before. I do still love the scene where Geordi and Data find the bones in the wall of the Enterprise but it's impact is lessened since it only happens in the dream/hallucination. Side note: if the dude who killed himself really did kill the other two who were having an affair how did he get rid of their bodies? Did he throw both of them into the plasma first before killing himself?
We begin with Riker and Worf being called to a plasma conduit room in one of the nacelles. The door to to the exposed plasma stream is open and Lt. Kwan is at the door about to jump. Riker tries to talk him down, but he says, "I know what I have to do," and jumps to his death. Picard is shocked at orders Troi and Worf to work together to investigate why he may have killed himself. After looking through his logs and talking to his former girlfriend it seems like he wasn't depressed or in a state that had people worried about him. She and Worf visit the room in the nacelle where Kwan killed himself and when has a strong empathic vision of a woman in terror. Worf takes her to sick bay and Dr. Crusher finds she has high levels of neurotransmitters and starts working on a drug to suppress future visions. In Ten Forward Worf is thinking about Troi and has an awkward conversation with Riker where he kinda asks if it would be ok for him to date Troi, but Riker is too distracted by Lr. Corell to get his drift.
Worf and Troi return to the plasma chamber and the safety door is opened for her. I believe this is the point where we switch to her hallucination because up to this point the episode has included scenes without Troi but from her on out everything follows her. She starts with the memory impression again and she sees the woman in terror and also a distorted mans face but she isn't sure who's eyes she is seeing through. She also realizes it is taking place while the Enterprise was being constructed so she starts digging through the records of all the personnel who worked on construction who also currently serve and recognizes Lt. Walter Pierce as the man from her vision. She and Worf question him in engineering but he doesn't seem to know anything, but Troi notices something odd, she can't read him empathically. After a hard day of investigating Worf followers Deanna into her quarters and after both saying good bye a few times they kiss, and then he is waking her up the next morning with breakfast already prepared.
They head to sickbay and are preparing to continue the investigation, but Worf is needed by Ensign Calloway, and not just for official reasons which clearly upsets Troi. In the plasma chamber the stream has been turned off and Geordi is working with Data to scan a wall. Troi tells them there is something behind it and when Geordi adjusts the beam you can plainly see a skull and some ribs. After some analysis they figure out the bones belong to the woman in the vision and Troi figures out that the part with Lt. Pierce is a reflection, he is the perspective she is seeing. She and Worf head go to question him again but Troi isn't feeling well so Worf goes alone, but tells her he will come to her quarters after. Troi's door chimes, but it isn't Worf, it is Pierce. She calls for security and asks why he isn't with Worf. Pierce says Worf left and after calling him she asks the computer where Worf is, it replies he is in Ensign Calloway's quarters. Troi rushes in and finds Worf kissing her and in a rage grabs a phaser and kills him. She rushes to the plasma chamber but as she is about to jump Worf grabs her, only seconds have passed since she first looked into the chamber. Blah blah blah it was a psychic photograph.
Review: I don't know how I would change this episode to improve it, but something should have been done to tighten up the story a bit. It is classic "solve it all in the last two minutes" TNG, but I still enjoyed the majority of the episode. Definitely a few points off for a lackluster conclusion.
6 out of 10
Monday, November 30, 2015
Sunday, November 29, 2015
TNG: Masks
Not quite as good as The Inner Light which is also a tale of an ancient archive floating in space Masks still manages to be one of TNG's more memorable episodes. For those who haven't been impressed with Brent Spiner's acting I would hold this episode up as an example of his range. Plus any episode that is going to be Brent and Patrick going at it for who can do the acting best is ok with me. It seems like transforming a space vessel into a stone city would have dire consequences pretty quickly, but whatever.
The episode opens with Troi helping out at a kids sculpture class. In the back of the room Data is also working on sculpture, but his works tend to be extremely realistic. Troi encourages him to go with the images in his mind, but that doesn't help much either. On the bridge they have encountered a rogue comet that has been travelling through deep space for 86 million years. When they scan it there is a sudden flash and some sort of sensor echo. Troi and Crusher stop by the counselors quarters to pick up gym clothes and Beverly notices a strange stone artifact on the table that Troi doesn't recognize. Back in the sculture class Troi notices that Data has made something out of the ordinary, an ornate mask with a sun symbol on the forehead. One of the students is having problems with his terminal and when Data investigates he finds Mayan style glyphs floating across the screen.
Down in engineering Geordi is trying to figure out what is going on with the symbols and replicated objects appearing all over the ship and Data notices something odd, he can read some of the symbols. Back on the bridge Picard is determined to get the the middle of this crisis literally by blasting off the outer layers of the comet with the phasers. Inside they find what Data recognizes as an archive which has apparently been controlling the ship through their sensors. Picard decides that since it is such an ancient thing they should probably let it do its thing and find out what that is so he sets to work studying the symbols looking for meaning. In engineering Data is hooked up to the computer to try and figure out what is happening with him. When the computer accesses his memories he suddenly slumps over and when he looks up he has a strange symbol on his forehead and a clay tablet on his chest. Also, he is no longer Data.
Picard shows up and learns that Data is currently Ilhat, some sort of trickster who is trying to avoid Masaka, apparently an evil queen who lives to make people suffer. When Troi arrives Data switches personas and seems to believe that she is Masaka. Data is confined to quarters and the rest of the crew sets to work on the new problem, the archive has grabbed them with some sort of tractor beam and even replaces the power cells on their photon torpedoes with live snakes. Data continues to exhibit more personalities all of whom seem to fear Masaka to varying degrees, but also revere Korgano who apparently used to hunt for Masaka. Eventually Picard learns that to talk to Masaka he must build her temple and gets one of the personas to show him the symbol which Geordi feeds back into the archive. The temple appears and Data changes again. This time the symbol on his forehead is gone and instead he dons the clay mask he made early in the episode and assumes the thrown. Masaka won't acknowledge any of them but Picard figures out how to make Korgano's mask and convinces Makaka to sleep so she can begin the hunt again and the ship is released.
Review: This last run of episodes in season 7 have been amazing and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. It is so amazing to see the writers take advantage of how the characters have grown throughout the show to make amazing episodes like thing.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with Troi helping out at a kids sculpture class. In the back of the room Data is also working on sculpture, but his works tend to be extremely realistic. Troi encourages him to go with the images in his mind, but that doesn't help much either. On the bridge they have encountered a rogue comet that has been travelling through deep space for 86 million years. When they scan it there is a sudden flash and some sort of sensor echo. Troi and Crusher stop by the counselors quarters to pick up gym clothes and Beverly notices a strange stone artifact on the table that Troi doesn't recognize. Back in the sculture class Troi notices that Data has made something out of the ordinary, an ornate mask with a sun symbol on the forehead. One of the students is having problems with his terminal and when Data investigates he finds Mayan style glyphs floating across the screen.
Down in engineering Geordi is trying to figure out what is going on with the symbols and replicated objects appearing all over the ship and Data notices something odd, he can read some of the symbols. Back on the bridge Picard is determined to get the the middle of this crisis literally by blasting off the outer layers of the comet with the phasers. Inside they find what Data recognizes as an archive which has apparently been controlling the ship through their sensors. Picard decides that since it is such an ancient thing they should probably let it do its thing and find out what that is so he sets to work studying the symbols looking for meaning. In engineering Data is hooked up to the computer to try and figure out what is happening with him. When the computer accesses his memories he suddenly slumps over and when he looks up he has a strange symbol on his forehead and a clay tablet on his chest. Also, he is no longer Data.
Picard shows up and learns that Data is currently Ilhat, some sort of trickster who is trying to avoid Masaka, apparently an evil queen who lives to make people suffer. When Troi arrives Data switches personas and seems to believe that she is Masaka. Data is confined to quarters and the rest of the crew sets to work on the new problem, the archive has grabbed them with some sort of tractor beam and even replaces the power cells on their photon torpedoes with live snakes. Data continues to exhibit more personalities all of whom seem to fear Masaka to varying degrees, but also revere Korgano who apparently used to hunt for Masaka. Eventually Picard learns that to talk to Masaka he must build her temple and gets one of the personas to show him the symbol which Geordi feeds back into the archive. The temple appears and Data changes again. This time the symbol on his forehead is gone and instead he dons the clay mask he made early in the episode and assumes the thrown. Masaka won't acknowledge any of them but Picard figures out how to make Korgano's mask and convinces Makaka to sleep so she can begin the hunt again and the ship is released.
Review: This last run of episodes in season 7 have been amazing and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. It is so amazing to see the writers take advantage of how the characters have grown throughout the show to make amazing episodes like thing.
8 out of 10
Saturday, November 28, 2015
TNG: Thine Own Self
This is a really good episode, but it isn't actually quite as good as I remembered. I was totally with this one until Data managed to come up with a solution that one serving of would cure radiation poisoning. I am no expert, and I will retract my criticism if one steps forward, but it doesn't seem reasonable that the damage done to ones DNA by from exposure to radiation could be cured with a sip of medicine. But honestly if that one nitpick is the most serious criticism of this episode I can't really complain. OK, the B story isn't the best one ever, but Deanna trying to get a promotion to be a command officer is something I can see them wanting to do, especially since I suspect the staff knew this would be the last season. And the twist of her needing to be willing to sacrifice a life to save the ship was actually both clever and realistically grim.
The episode opens with Dr. Crusher in command of the night watch on the bridge. Troi returns from a reunion and is surprised to find her in command. Crusher explains that she like to take a night shift or two every once in a while and that she applied for the rank of commander years ago to stretch herself. She tries and fails to contact Data who had been sent after a lost probe on an occupied world to recover radioactive fragments. Next we see a father with his daughter in a hella renaissance looking village. They are startled when Data walks in looking disheveled and unable to respond at first with a case labeled "radioactive" in his hand. Garvin, the father, tells his daughter Gia to head to school while he figures out what is going on. Eventually Data recovers the ability to talk and explains that he has no memories other than having walked the two hundred or so miles from the mountains. Garvin examines Data's case and while Data can read the word radioactive, he doesn't know what it means. Garvin removes one of the fragments and handles it for several minutes.
Back on the ship Troi has approached Riker about taking the Bridge Officers Test having thought about her discussion with Dr. Crusher. Back in the village the local "scientist" has declared Data to be an ice-man and they have given him the name Jayden. The towns blacksmith buys half the metal fragments from Data and makes jewelry out of them. Data stays with Garvin and Gia who really enjoys having him around. On the Enterprise Troi is taking her test but keeps failing the engineering portion. Riker wants to help, but he can't give her the answer, she is going to have to figure it out. On the planet Garvin has become ill and no one knows why. His hair is falling out and he has burns on his hands. In town Data is accosted by the blacksmith, he and several others have also become ill and they blame Data for it.
Data begins investigating what is causing the illness by building a microscope and eventually an geiger counter. He figures out that the metal fragments have been releasing particles which he correctly surmises are the cause of the illness. Before he can make a cure he is attacked by the blacksmith and one of his assistants. Data manages to fend off the blacksmith but the assistant hits him in the face with a pickaxe revealing the wires and flashing lights under his skin. They run away and Data puts on a hood to keep from scarying Gia who has also become ill. After telling him she won't be scared Data does show his face to Gia. On the ship Riker tells Troi she has failed and he can't let her take the test again if she doesn't put the ship first which she correctly figures out means she has to be willing to sacrifice someone to save the ship and manages to pass the test. On the planet Data comes up with a cure and gives it to Garvin and Gia, but has he puts it into the well he is attacked and impaled by a mob. A few days later Dr. Crusher and Riker show up and ask Gia about Data. She tells him he was killed and the metal fragments buried. They beam him and the fragments up to the ship and repair Data, but he has no memory of what happened.
Review: TNG really managed to end on a good note with a solid run of good episodes. I both wish they had made more and also understand that it probably is for the best they ended on such a positive note.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with Dr. Crusher in command of the night watch on the bridge. Troi returns from a reunion and is surprised to find her in command. Crusher explains that she like to take a night shift or two every once in a while and that she applied for the rank of commander years ago to stretch herself. She tries and fails to contact Data who had been sent after a lost probe on an occupied world to recover radioactive fragments. Next we see a father with his daughter in a hella renaissance looking village. They are startled when Data walks in looking disheveled and unable to respond at first with a case labeled "radioactive" in his hand. Garvin, the father, tells his daughter Gia to head to school while he figures out what is going on. Eventually Data recovers the ability to talk and explains that he has no memories other than having walked the two hundred or so miles from the mountains. Garvin examines Data's case and while Data can read the word radioactive, he doesn't know what it means. Garvin removes one of the fragments and handles it for several minutes.
Back on the ship Troi has approached Riker about taking the Bridge Officers Test having thought about her discussion with Dr. Crusher. Back in the village the local "scientist" has declared Data to be an ice-man and they have given him the name Jayden. The towns blacksmith buys half the metal fragments from Data and makes jewelry out of them. Data stays with Garvin and Gia who really enjoys having him around. On the Enterprise Troi is taking her test but keeps failing the engineering portion. Riker wants to help, but he can't give her the answer, she is going to have to figure it out. On the planet Garvin has become ill and no one knows why. His hair is falling out and he has burns on his hands. In town Data is accosted by the blacksmith, he and several others have also become ill and they blame Data for it.
Data begins investigating what is causing the illness by building a microscope and eventually an geiger counter. He figures out that the metal fragments have been releasing particles which he correctly surmises are the cause of the illness. Before he can make a cure he is attacked by the blacksmith and one of his assistants. Data manages to fend off the blacksmith but the assistant hits him in the face with a pickaxe revealing the wires and flashing lights under his skin. They run away and Data puts on a hood to keep from scarying Gia who has also become ill. After telling him she won't be scared Data does show his face to Gia. On the ship Riker tells Troi she has failed and he can't let her take the test again if she doesn't put the ship first which she correctly figures out means she has to be willing to sacrifice someone to save the ship and manages to pass the test. On the planet Data comes up with a cure and gives it to Garvin and Gia, but has he puts it into the well he is attacked and impaled by a mob. A few days later Dr. Crusher and Riker show up and ask Gia about Data. She tells him he was killed and the metal fragments buried. They beam him and the fragments up to the ship and repair Data, but he has no memory of what happened.
Review: TNG really managed to end on a good note with a solid run of good episodes. I both wish they had made more and also understand that it probably is for the best they ended on such a positive note.
8 out of 10
Friday, November 27, 2015
TNG: Lower Decks
Probably my favorite part of watching through all the Star Treks is getting to come upon an episode like this one. I am sure I saw it when it aired, but coming near the end of the final season it is having to compete for air with some heavy hitting episodes. At the same time, from what I have seen so far this season this may be my favorite episode other than All Good Things. I know there are more really good episodes coming up, but it is going to be hard to match Lower Decks ability to make me care as much as I do about these four young crew who other than Ogawa are previously unknown. All those lame first season episodes suddenly seem worth it if they led to such an amazing concluding season.
The episode opens with Troi and Riker working on crew evaluations in Ten Forward. The waiter named Ben stops by to see if Deanna wants some dessert, but also to listen in a minute. We cut across the room to Sam, Sito, Taurik and nurse Alyssa Ogawa (I am almost certain this episode introduced Ogawa's first name) and Sam is stressing out. He is worried about promotion he is hoping for and only gets more stressed when Ben walks over and tells them all that Sito and Sam are up for the same position. Then we see Sam at conn and Sito at tactical for a training drill. Sito doesn't get things done fast enough for Riker, but instead of chewing her out he offers advice for how to do it better the next time. Picard interrupts coming out of his ready room to order them towards Cardassian space at maximum warp. In sickbay Crusher is talking to Ogawa about possibly promoting her, but also asking about how things are going with her and her boyfriend.
When they arrive at the border they start searching for an escape pod and with Tauriks help they are able to beam the occupant of the pod directly to sickbay. Before he arrives Ogawa is ordered out of sickbay and finds Sito standing guard outside. Picard enters sickbay and when he leaves he orders Sito to follow him. In his ready room Picard informs Sito that she has been recommended for conn but that he doesn't believe she should be allowed to take the position due to her involvement with the Nova Squad incident at the academy. She is clearly shaken and leaves. Next we see Taurik working with Geordi to blast a shuttle with a phaser. Taurik correctly figures they are trying to fake damage that would occur while being chase, but Geordi won't tell him why. Next there is a great inter cut seen of the officers and the four friends in this episode all playing poker at the same time. I can't possibly do justice to this well shot scene so just go watch it!
Next we see Sito in Worf's self defense class. After the class is over he offers to let her into the advanced class if she can pass his challenge. He blindfolds her and tells her to defend herself while he continually throws her to the floor. Eventually she removes the blindfold and says it isn't fair at which point he tells her she has passed. The test was to see if she would stand up for herself when something totally unfair happened. She goes right to the captain and tells him she doesn't think it is fair to judge her for something she has already paid the price for. Picard then congratulates her on having passed his test, now it is time for her secret mission. She meets the senior staff and the Cardassian spy that was in the pod in the observation lounge. She is offered a mission to fly the spy back to Cardassian space pretending to be a Bajoran prisoner and then escape back to the Federation in an escape pod just like he did. It will be dangerous, but she agrees to go.
Sito heads to the shuttle Taurik was shooting earlier and Worf is there. He even stays to watch her shuttle fly away. The last thing we see of her is the Cardassian putting her in handcuffs just before the patrol ship stops them. In Ten Forward Sam, Taurik and Ogawa are meeting and it takes a few minutes, but eventually Sam figures out the other two know something but aren't telling him. After searching Picard risks violating the treaty to send a probe to look for the escape pod. All it finds is the debris and they intercept a report that the Bajoran prisoner was killed trying to escape. Picard makes an announcement and the three surviving friends are devastated. That evening Taurik and Ogawa are sitting together in Ten Forward when Sam walks in. He got the promotion he wanted, but he can't help but think that he got it because Sito was killed. Worf is mourning at his own table but Ben talks him into joining the three friends who you can tell appreciate him coming to sit with them.
Review: This is a very well told tale with a ton of emotional impact. It really makes me look forward to DS9 when there are important characters who never go on the bridge (err ops).
10 out of 10
The episode opens with Troi and Riker working on crew evaluations in Ten Forward. The waiter named Ben stops by to see if Deanna wants some dessert, but also to listen in a minute. We cut across the room to Sam, Sito, Taurik and nurse Alyssa Ogawa (I am almost certain this episode introduced Ogawa's first name) and Sam is stressing out. He is worried about promotion he is hoping for and only gets more stressed when Ben walks over and tells them all that Sito and Sam are up for the same position. Then we see Sam at conn and Sito at tactical for a training drill. Sito doesn't get things done fast enough for Riker, but instead of chewing her out he offers advice for how to do it better the next time. Picard interrupts coming out of his ready room to order them towards Cardassian space at maximum warp. In sickbay Crusher is talking to Ogawa about possibly promoting her, but also asking about how things are going with her and her boyfriend.
When they arrive at the border they start searching for an escape pod and with Tauriks help they are able to beam the occupant of the pod directly to sickbay. Before he arrives Ogawa is ordered out of sickbay and finds Sito standing guard outside. Picard enters sickbay and when he leaves he orders Sito to follow him. In his ready room Picard informs Sito that she has been recommended for conn but that he doesn't believe she should be allowed to take the position due to her involvement with the Nova Squad incident at the academy. She is clearly shaken and leaves. Next we see Taurik working with Geordi to blast a shuttle with a phaser. Taurik correctly figures they are trying to fake damage that would occur while being chase, but Geordi won't tell him why. Next there is a great inter cut seen of the officers and the four friends in this episode all playing poker at the same time. I can't possibly do justice to this well shot scene so just go watch it!
Next we see Sito in Worf's self defense class. After the class is over he offers to let her into the advanced class if she can pass his challenge. He blindfolds her and tells her to defend herself while he continually throws her to the floor. Eventually she removes the blindfold and says it isn't fair at which point he tells her she has passed. The test was to see if she would stand up for herself when something totally unfair happened. She goes right to the captain and tells him she doesn't think it is fair to judge her for something she has already paid the price for. Picard then congratulates her on having passed his test, now it is time for her secret mission. She meets the senior staff and the Cardassian spy that was in the pod in the observation lounge. She is offered a mission to fly the spy back to Cardassian space pretending to be a Bajoran prisoner and then escape back to the Federation in an escape pod just like he did. It will be dangerous, but she agrees to go.
Sito heads to the shuttle Taurik was shooting earlier and Worf is there. He even stays to watch her shuttle fly away. The last thing we see of her is the Cardassian putting her in handcuffs just before the patrol ship stops them. In Ten Forward Sam, Taurik and Ogawa are meeting and it takes a few minutes, but eventually Sam figures out the other two know something but aren't telling him. After searching Picard risks violating the treaty to send a probe to look for the escape pod. All it finds is the debris and they intercept a report that the Bajoran prisoner was killed trying to escape. Picard makes an announcement and the three surviving friends are devastated. That evening Taurik and Ogawa are sitting together in Ten Forward when Sam walks in. He got the promotion he wanted, but he can't help but think that he got it because Sito was killed. Worf is mourning at his own table but Ben talks him into joining the three friends who you can tell appreciate him coming to sit with them.
Review: This is a very well told tale with a ton of emotional impact. It really makes me look forward to DS9 when there are important characters who never go on the bridge (err ops).
10 out of 10
Thursday, November 26, 2015
TNG: Sub Rosa
This episode wants to have its ghost cake and science eat it too. Hopefully that terrible analogy will make a little sense. Basically they want to tell a straightforward ghost story but not actually have to have magic and or ghosts as a thing. Tell me these aren't the elements of a ghost story: a haunted candle, a change of eye color caused by a ghost lover, a ghost lover across generations, and space Scotland. They even have fog show up on the bridge of the Enterprise for Gene's sake!
The episode opens with Dr. Crusher attending her grandmothers funeral. A man she doesn't recognize throws her grandmothers favorite flower on the grave but disappears before she can talk to him. After the funeral Troi and Crusher talk about the man and head to the grandmothers house together. Picard meets with the head of the colony about their terraforming efforts and agrees to work with him to improve the system. At the house Troi notices a picture of the grandmother and remarks on her stunning green eyes, Crusher replies that all the women in her family other than her and her mother have had those green eyes. Troi leaves but soon after a man enters the house and startles Beverly. His name is Quint and he has been taking care of her grandmother for many years. She isn't happy to have him barging in, but before he can leave he warns her to not light the heirloom candle that has been in her family for generations.
Back on the ship Beverly meets with Jean Luc to talk about her grandmother. She was startled to learn that she had a 34 year old lover named Ronin who seems to have made her extremely happy. That night after lighting the candle Beverly has an intense dream about being caressed by a man she doesn't know. Geordi works with the colonists to improve their weather management system, but something seems to be wrong and a massive storm is brewing. Down on the planet Quint warns Beverly again about lighting the candle and claims the ghost is responsible for the storm. She of course ignores him and returns to the house. She hears movement but doesn't see anyone. Suddenly she has an intense headache and there is someone there. It is Ronin who recognizes her and explains he is a ghost from Scotland and has been with the women of her family since the 17th century. Beverly tells him to stop by he tells her she is going to merge with him.
The next day Beverly is back on the ship and seems happier than ever. Something is wrong on the ship and there is fog on the bridge for some reason. It turns out Quint has been messing with the energy transfer beam to the colony but before they can stop him he dies of mysterious causes. Beverly tries to talk to Ronin about Quint death but he clearly has some power over her and manages to move the conversation away. Next we see her in Scottish garb about to beam to the planet. Picard tries to stop her but she tells him she has resigned her commission. He notices her green eyes by lets her go. He does follow her down to the planet though and finds her in her grandmothers house. He insists on talking to Ronin who finally appears but refuses to answer Picards questions. Data and Geordi are working to exhume her grandmothers body since it is infused with dangerous radiation. Ronin stuns Picard and rushes off to stop them. Beverly confronts him in the graveyard and destroys the candle. He tries to enter her for safety but she blasts him with a phaser. Later she admits to Troi she kinda regrets it because her grandmothers journal made it clear she was happy with Ronin.
Review: I would have enjoyed this more probably if they had just gone TOS and let Ronin be a ghost. Making him sort sort of energy alien only raises further questions. I actually enjoyed this more than I expected even if it isn't a really great episode.
6 out of 10
Happy Thanksgiving!
The episode opens with Dr. Crusher attending her grandmothers funeral. A man she doesn't recognize throws her grandmothers favorite flower on the grave but disappears before she can talk to him. After the funeral Troi and Crusher talk about the man and head to the grandmothers house together. Picard meets with the head of the colony about their terraforming efforts and agrees to work with him to improve the system. At the house Troi notices a picture of the grandmother and remarks on her stunning green eyes, Crusher replies that all the women in her family other than her and her mother have had those green eyes. Troi leaves but soon after a man enters the house and startles Beverly. His name is Quint and he has been taking care of her grandmother for many years. She isn't happy to have him barging in, but before he can leave he warns her to not light the heirloom candle that has been in her family for generations.
Back on the ship Beverly meets with Jean Luc to talk about her grandmother. She was startled to learn that she had a 34 year old lover named Ronin who seems to have made her extremely happy. That night after lighting the candle Beverly has an intense dream about being caressed by a man she doesn't know. Geordi works with the colonists to improve their weather management system, but something seems to be wrong and a massive storm is brewing. Down on the planet Quint warns Beverly again about lighting the candle and claims the ghost is responsible for the storm. She of course ignores him and returns to the house. She hears movement but doesn't see anyone. Suddenly she has an intense headache and there is someone there. It is Ronin who recognizes her and explains he is a ghost from Scotland and has been with the women of her family since the 17th century. Beverly tells him to stop by he tells her she is going to merge with him.
The next day Beverly is back on the ship and seems happier than ever. Something is wrong on the ship and there is fog on the bridge for some reason. It turns out Quint has been messing with the energy transfer beam to the colony but before they can stop him he dies of mysterious causes. Beverly tries to talk to Ronin about Quint death but he clearly has some power over her and manages to move the conversation away. Next we see her in Scottish garb about to beam to the planet. Picard tries to stop her but she tells him she has resigned her commission. He notices her green eyes by lets her go. He does follow her down to the planet though and finds her in her grandmothers house. He insists on talking to Ronin who finally appears but refuses to answer Picards questions. Data and Geordi are working to exhume her grandmothers body since it is infused with dangerous radiation. Ronin stuns Picard and rushes off to stop them. Beverly confronts him in the graveyard and destroys the candle. He tries to enter her for safety but she blasts him with a phaser. Later she admits to Troi she kinda regrets it because her grandmothers journal made it clear she was happy with Ronin.
Review: I would have enjoyed this more probably if they had just gone TOS and let Ronin be a ghost. Making him sort sort of energy alien only raises further questions. I actually enjoyed this more than I expected even if it isn't a really great episode.
6 out of 10
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
TNG: Homeward
I knew that Insurrection was based on a TNG episode, but I am pretty sure this is the first time I have seen the episode since I saw the film. And damn, of all the TNG episodes to adapt into a full length movie, this is not the one I would have picked. The addition of the stretchy faced dudes really didn't help the movie either. This episode dives into Worf's childhood among humans in a way we haven't seen before since it features his estranged brother. And unlike the first few seasons of writing for Worf, this time when he protests against his brothers actions you are like, "yeah, you tell him Worf!"
We begin with the Enterprise answering a distress signal from a Federation observing post on a primitive planet. Worf's adopted brother Nikolai is stationed there so when they arrive and find the atmosphere disappearing Worf asks to be the one sent down to check on things. He finds Nikolai has sheltered the people of the village he was studying into caves sheltered by a deflector shield. Worf is outraged that he would violate the prime directive like this and beams Nikolai back to the Enterprise. Picard refuses to help so they all watch as the atmosphere disappears killing the entire population. (A quick aside, this is at least the third different interpretation of the Prime Directive since TOS and it is by far the most obnoxious. How is it damaging a culture to do something other than just watch them all die of a preventable cause?)
But Nikolai has been busy and somehow secretly beamed the people into the holodeck in a copy of the caves on the surface. He plans to relocate them to a more habitable planet and now for whatever reason Picard is totally on board. Worf has to do some covering for Nikolai when the holodeck starts failing but it seems to be working pretty well. Crusher and Data locate a suitable planet and the ship is on their way. But since the holodeck is having problems one of the villagers escapes into the Enterprise and is psychologically devastated by what he finds. Worf is upset when he learns that not only has his brother married one of the villagers, she is having his child.
The villager who escaped is given a choice of returning to his people with this crazy knowledge or remaining on the Enterprise which kinda begs the question why they didn't at least consider this before they left them all to die? The holodeck starts to fail more spectacularly but fortunately they have arrived at the new planet and are beamed down. Worf makes up with his brother who apparently gets to stay with the villagers rather than facing the consequences of his actions and the escaped villager commits suicide.
Review: The prime directive has always been one of the weaker points in Trek so far and this episode shows why. If it were an actual rule that was followed consistently that would be one thing, but even in this episode it seems to mean different things from scene to scene. This is a classic midseason weak episode.
4 out of 10
We begin with the Enterprise answering a distress signal from a Federation observing post on a primitive planet. Worf's adopted brother Nikolai is stationed there so when they arrive and find the atmosphere disappearing Worf asks to be the one sent down to check on things. He finds Nikolai has sheltered the people of the village he was studying into caves sheltered by a deflector shield. Worf is outraged that he would violate the prime directive like this and beams Nikolai back to the Enterprise. Picard refuses to help so they all watch as the atmosphere disappears killing the entire population. (A quick aside, this is at least the third different interpretation of the Prime Directive since TOS and it is by far the most obnoxious. How is it damaging a culture to do something other than just watch them all die of a preventable cause?)
But Nikolai has been busy and somehow secretly beamed the people into the holodeck in a copy of the caves on the surface. He plans to relocate them to a more habitable planet and now for whatever reason Picard is totally on board. Worf has to do some covering for Nikolai when the holodeck starts failing but it seems to be working pretty well. Crusher and Data locate a suitable planet and the ship is on their way. But since the holodeck is having problems one of the villagers escapes into the Enterprise and is psychologically devastated by what he finds. Worf is upset when he learns that not only has his brother married one of the villagers, she is having his child.
The villager who escaped is given a choice of returning to his people with this crazy knowledge or remaining on the Enterprise which kinda begs the question why they didn't at least consider this before they left them all to die? The holodeck starts to fail more spectacularly but fortunately they have arrived at the new planet and are beamed down. Worf makes up with his brother who apparently gets to stay with the villagers rather than facing the consequences of his actions and the escaped villager commits suicide.
Review: The prime directive has always been one of the weaker points in Trek so far and this episode shows why. If it were an actual rule that was followed consistently that would be one thing, but even in this episode it seems to mean different things from scene to scene. This is a classic midseason weak episode.
4 out of 10
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
TNG: The Pegasus
Despite being such a central character on the show we haven't seen much about Riker's history with Starfleet. This episode solves that a bit by digging into an incident that Riker is revered for, but doesn't seem to think he deserves the praise he has received. From the moment the admiral appears on the transporter pad you can tell Riker is torn up inside. In the end he has to face a court martial, but it is clear that he has made the right choice from the epilogue scene with Picard. It would have been even better if this was the kind of show that might actually risk not having him come back, but that is hardly this episodes problem.
The episode opens with the famous Captain Picard day where the captain is judging several art projects created in his honor. Reverting back to season one Picard he has no time for children or such childish activities, and is quite happy to get a call from an admiral directing him to ignore the dumb warp speed limits and to proceed to pick up a representative from Starfleet intelligence. The admiral they pick up turns out to be Riker's first commanding officer, Erik Pressman, and you can tell Riker doesn't like him from the first moment. The Enterprise is to look for the USS Pegasus, a ship lost while Pressman was captain and Riker was pilot. They believe the Romulans have found a sign that it may still be around despite the official story being that it was destroyed in a warp core breach. In private we learn that Riker was involved in some sort of secret project on the Pegasus that he is banned by order of Starfleet command from discussing with Picard.
They show up where the debris was supposed to have been found but immediately a Romlan warship decloaks and demands to know why the Enterprise is here. Neither side wants to give away what they know so they both go about their business. They find a sign of the ship and Riker tries to blow it up but Pressman steps in and says it is too important for that. They have to hide what they found though when the Romulans notice them giving a close look at an asteroid. The plan to hide it works and they keep pretending to search and will return the next day. Pressman yells at Riker in private for trying to destroy the ship and later Picard threatens to get a new first officer if Riker puts the Enterprise in danger.
The next day they return and the only way to get to the Pegasus is to fly into a crack in the asteroid. Picard doesn't like it but Pressman overrules him and they go in anyway. They find the Pegasus stuck halfway into the rock. Pressman and Riker beam down and we learn there is a secret device that Riker blames for the deaths of all the other crew but Pressman only cares that Riker stood up for him the day the ship was lost. Suddenly the ship shakes, the Romulans have sealed them in. Pressman and Riker return and Pressman brings the device with them. On the bridge Riker violates his orders and tells Picard that the device is a test cloaking device and that it might be able to get them out of the asteroid. Pressman is outraged and tells Riker he is done in Starfleet, but after they are clear Picard decloaks in front of the Romulans and has Pressman arrested for violating the treaty of no cloaking. Riker is also taken into custody for his role, but Picard makes it clear he is welcome back after it is resolved.
Review: I was way more into the science fiction aspects of this story when I saw it as a kid, but the human drama side of it is really good too. Not an award winning one, but a solid tale of captains gone bad.
7 out of 10
The episode opens with the famous Captain Picard day where the captain is judging several art projects created in his honor. Reverting back to season one Picard he has no time for children or such childish activities, and is quite happy to get a call from an admiral directing him to ignore the dumb warp speed limits and to proceed to pick up a representative from Starfleet intelligence. The admiral they pick up turns out to be Riker's first commanding officer, Erik Pressman, and you can tell Riker doesn't like him from the first moment. The Enterprise is to look for the USS Pegasus, a ship lost while Pressman was captain and Riker was pilot. They believe the Romulans have found a sign that it may still be around despite the official story being that it was destroyed in a warp core breach. In private we learn that Riker was involved in some sort of secret project on the Pegasus that he is banned by order of Starfleet command from discussing with Picard.
They show up where the debris was supposed to have been found but immediately a Romlan warship decloaks and demands to know why the Enterprise is here. Neither side wants to give away what they know so they both go about their business. They find a sign of the ship and Riker tries to blow it up but Pressman steps in and says it is too important for that. They have to hide what they found though when the Romulans notice them giving a close look at an asteroid. The plan to hide it works and they keep pretending to search and will return the next day. Pressman yells at Riker in private for trying to destroy the ship and later Picard threatens to get a new first officer if Riker puts the Enterprise in danger.
The next day they return and the only way to get to the Pegasus is to fly into a crack in the asteroid. Picard doesn't like it but Pressman overrules him and they go in anyway. They find the Pegasus stuck halfway into the rock. Pressman and Riker beam down and we learn there is a secret device that Riker blames for the deaths of all the other crew but Pressman only cares that Riker stood up for him the day the ship was lost. Suddenly the ship shakes, the Romulans have sealed them in. Pressman and Riker return and Pressman brings the device with them. On the bridge Riker violates his orders and tells Picard that the device is a test cloaking device and that it might be able to get them out of the asteroid. Pressman is outraged and tells Riker he is done in Starfleet, but after they are clear Picard decloaks in front of the Romulans and has Pressman arrested for violating the treaty of no cloaking. Riker is also taken into custody for his role, but Picard makes it clear he is welcome back after it is resolved.
Review: I was way more into the science fiction aspects of this story when I saw it as a kid, but the human drama side of it is really good too. Not an award winning one, but a solid tale of captains gone bad.
7 out of 10
Monday, November 23, 2015
TNG: Parallels
Always fun to get to watch an episode I loved as a kid, and even better when it is as good as I remembered! The story of Worf getting unstuck from his particular version of reality is particularly entertaining since Worf is such a grump most of the time that at first the other characters think he is just being Worf. It also gives us the chance to see how things might have been different if say Picard had been killed by the Borg, or if Wesley was a lieutenant, or Worf was captain. The one scene that always sticks out in my memory is the one near the end where thousands of Enterprises have appeared and one of them is from a universe where the Borg are winning and then open fire to try and stop the universes from being fixed up again.
The episode opens with Worf alone on a shuttle returning from bat'leth tournament which he won. Upon returning to the Enterprise he is greeted by Riker who follows Worf to his quarters. Worf is apprehensive since it is his birthday and he hates surprise parties. Riker tells him he does too and pretends to leave, but rushes in just as the rest of Worf's friends jump out shouting surprise. Worf isn't exactly pleased but does his best to have fun with is friends. He cuts the chocolate cake for everybody and gets a painting from Data. Suddenly he feels dizzy for a second and then notices the captain is there all of a sudden and the cake is no longer chocolate. He ignores it and goes about his day aiding in the investigation of a malfunctioning deep space telescope array. In engineering he again feels dizzy for a moment and when he looks up everyone in the room is in a different place.
He heads to sickbay to see what is wrong and Dr. Crusher asks if it has to do with his concussion. He is surprised and she tells him he got a concussion when he lost the bat'leth tournament and may be experiencing memory loss. Things keep getting stranger as they are approached by a cardassian vessel he saw in the logs of the telescope. He asks why they aren't attacking them but no one else remembers seeing any Cardassian ships in the log. Suddenly they are being attacked and he is at tactical, but the controls are so different he can't figure out how to turn on the shields and they suffer a direct hit. Geordi is killed and that night Troi comes to his quarters. He tells her he doesn't want to talk about it so she walks over to the replicator and orders hot chocolate. Then she sits down on his bed and calls him over. He is shocked when she kisses him and she is shocked he would be surprised by a kiss from his wife.
Back in sickbay Data has discovered that Worf isn't from the same universe as the rest of them. He seems to be fluctuating between slightly different universes every time Geordi's visor lets off some sort of pulse. Captain Riker and Lt. Crusher get to work on a plan to fix things and Data discovers a fissure in reality. It appears Worfs shuttle traveled through it and that is how he became unstuck. While investigating the Enterprise is attacked by a Bajoran warship. During the fight the fissure becomes unstable and more and more Enterprises start appearing in every direction. Captain Riker manages to contact Captain Picard on the "real" Enterprise and they figure out a plan to send Worf back through the fissure to stabilize things. Deanna is very sad to be losing Worf as it appears she may not get her Worf back, but she understands that he is leaving a son behind if he stays. As Worf heads for the fissure a haggard Riker from a Borg infested universe tries to stop him and Captain Riker is forced to destroy his ship. Worf awakens in the right universe and his Deanna even convinces everybody else he would hate a surprise party. The episode ends with Worf asking Deanna to dinner and her agreeing.
Review: I don't just love this one because of the awesome multiple Enterprise scene at the end, but it really helps. The subtle uniform alterations are a cool way to let the audience know that things are changing. If you like parallel universes (I clearly love them) then this is the episode for you!
9 out of 10
The episode opens with Worf alone on a shuttle returning from bat'leth tournament which he won. Upon returning to the Enterprise he is greeted by Riker who follows Worf to his quarters. Worf is apprehensive since it is his birthday and he hates surprise parties. Riker tells him he does too and pretends to leave, but rushes in just as the rest of Worf's friends jump out shouting surprise. Worf isn't exactly pleased but does his best to have fun with is friends. He cuts the chocolate cake for everybody and gets a painting from Data. Suddenly he feels dizzy for a second and then notices the captain is there all of a sudden and the cake is no longer chocolate. He ignores it and goes about his day aiding in the investigation of a malfunctioning deep space telescope array. In engineering he again feels dizzy for a moment and when he looks up everyone in the room is in a different place.
He heads to sickbay to see what is wrong and Dr. Crusher asks if it has to do with his concussion. He is surprised and she tells him he got a concussion when he lost the bat'leth tournament and may be experiencing memory loss. Things keep getting stranger as they are approached by a cardassian vessel he saw in the logs of the telescope. He asks why they aren't attacking them but no one else remembers seeing any Cardassian ships in the log. Suddenly they are being attacked and he is at tactical, but the controls are so different he can't figure out how to turn on the shields and they suffer a direct hit. Geordi is killed and that night Troi comes to his quarters. He tells her he doesn't want to talk about it so she walks over to the replicator and orders hot chocolate. Then she sits down on his bed and calls him over. He is shocked when she kisses him and she is shocked he would be surprised by a kiss from his wife.
Back in sickbay Data has discovered that Worf isn't from the same universe as the rest of them. He seems to be fluctuating between slightly different universes every time Geordi's visor lets off some sort of pulse. Captain Riker and Lt. Crusher get to work on a plan to fix things and Data discovers a fissure in reality. It appears Worfs shuttle traveled through it and that is how he became unstuck. While investigating the Enterprise is attacked by a Bajoran warship. During the fight the fissure becomes unstable and more and more Enterprises start appearing in every direction. Captain Riker manages to contact Captain Picard on the "real" Enterprise and they figure out a plan to send Worf back through the fissure to stabilize things. Deanna is very sad to be losing Worf as it appears she may not get her Worf back, but she understands that he is leaving a son behind if he stays. As Worf heads for the fissure a haggard Riker from a Borg infested universe tries to stop him and Captain Riker is forced to destroy his ship. Worf awakens in the right universe and his Deanna even convinces everybody else he would hate a surprise party. The episode ends with Worf asking Deanna to dinner and her agreeing.
Review: I don't just love this one because of the awesome multiple Enterprise scene at the end, but it really helps. The subtle uniform alterations are a cool way to let the audience know that things are changing. If you like parallel universes (I clearly love them) then this is the episode for you!
9 out of 10
Sunday, November 22, 2015
TNG: Inheritance
Following up on one of my least favorite episodes I was pretty bummed out when I saw the summary of this episode. "The one with Data's fake mom," is all I could remember about this one, but it was actually way better than I remembered. Data's endless skepticism about whether the woman claiming to be his mother is the kind of thing you don't see very often. A lower quality episode would have had him embracing her as his mother from the very beginning and then have the SHOCKING conclusion that she is a fake at the very end.
The episode opens with the senior staff receiving a briefing from a scientist and his wife. Their plants core has cooled and the ability to inhabit the planet is at risk. Data proposes drilling holes deep into the planet and then injecting plasma into the core the melt it for a few hundred years. (Note: This makes no sense on so many levels. Just to deal with one, our planets core has stayed molten for billions of years, the idea that a remelted core would cool in a few hundred seems remarkably unlikely.) After the meeting the woman, Dr. Juliana Tainer, pulls Data aside and asks if he remembers her. He tells her he does not so she introduces herself as Dr. Soong's ex-wife, his mother. Data has a lot of questions about why he has no memory of her or why she isn't mentioned in the logs of the colonists that make up has early memory as Dr. Soong's wife. She explains they got married in secret but he clearly doubts her story.
While Geordi prepares to blast holes in the planet Data researches her story and confirms that she and Dr. Soong traveled together to the planet they claim to have been married on. Geordi points out that the emotion chip was supposed to contain more memories for Data and that sometimes you just have to deal with not knowing things for sure. Data returns to Dr. Tainer in Ten Forward and addresses her as Mother. The two of them start hanging out and she asks to play viola with his violin solo performance the next day. The two of them rehearse in Ten Forward and she is clearly an accomplished player. They work together on drilling the holes in the planet and she seems to be able to do incredible calculations without computer assistance.
The holes are drilled but there are problems with seismic instability. Data and Dr. Tainer beam down to try and fix the issues with the plasma injectors but they are forced to jump down a large cliff to get back to their beam out point and Dr. Tainer in injured. We see her lying on the rocks with her arm by her side, but on the inside she is an android. Back on the ship Data tells Riker that he knew she was an android from her pattern of blinking and the fact that her performance on the viola was exactly identical both times. He finds a holograph memory chip in her head and puts it into the holodeck. Dr. Soong appears and explains that she is a copy of his actual wife and even has her memories. He begs Data to not reveal to her that she isn't human. After much discussion Data reactivates her but doesn't tell her she is an android. He does agree to visit her on his next leave.
Review: I skipped over some really nice character moments in my summary above. If you want to see some really touching Data moments be sure and not miss this one.
7 out of 10
The episode opens with the senior staff receiving a briefing from a scientist and his wife. Their plants core has cooled and the ability to inhabit the planet is at risk. Data proposes drilling holes deep into the planet and then injecting plasma into the core the melt it for a few hundred years. (Note: This makes no sense on so many levels. Just to deal with one, our planets core has stayed molten for billions of years, the idea that a remelted core would cool in a few hundred seems remarkably unlikely.) After the meeting the woman, Dr. Juliana Tainer, pulls Data aside and asks if he remembers her. He tells her he does not so she introduces herself as Dr. Soong's ex-wife, his mother. Data has a lot of questions about why he has no memory of her or why she isn't mentioned in the logs of the colonists that make up has early memory as Dr. Soong's wife. She explains they got married in secret but he clearly doubts her story.
While Geordi prepares to blast holes in the planet Data researches her story and confirms that she and Dr. Soong traveled together to the planet they claim to have been married on. Geordi points out that the emotion chip was supposed to contain more memories for Data and that sometimes you just have to deal with not knowing things for sure. Data returns to Dr. Tainer in Ten Forward and addresses her as Mother. The two of them start hanging out and she asks to play viola with his violin solo performance the next day. The two of them rehearse in Ten Forward and she is clearly an accomplished player. They work together on drilling the holes in the planet and she seems to be able to do incredible calculations without computer assistance.
The holes are drilled but there are problems with seismic instability. Data and Dr. Tainer beam down to try and fix the issues with the plasma injectors but they are forced to jump down a large cliff to get back to their beam out point and Dr. Tainer in injured. We see her lying on the rocks with her arm by her side, but on the inside she is an android. Back on the ship Data tells Riker that he knew she was an android from her pattern of blinking and the fact that her performance on the viola was exactly identical both times. He finds a holograph memory chip in her head and puts it into the holodeck. Dr. Soong appears and explains that she is a copy of his actual wife and even has her memories. He begs Data to not reveal to her that she isn't human. After much discussion Data reactivates her but doesn't tell her she is an android. He does agree to visit her on his next leave.
Review: I skipped over some really nice character moments in my summary above. If you want to see some really touching Data moments be sure and not miss this one.
7 out of 10
Saturday, November 21, 2015
TNG: Force of Nature
This was by far my least favorite episode of all time as a kid. Today however I have more perspective on life and Star Trek so it is only the second worst TNG episode of all time. I get that they wanted to do an environmental episode, but limiting all ships to warp 5 forever is exactly the kind of thing that makes me glad Trek has been rebooted. If the writers has decided to limit it to warp 7ish it would have made going warp 8 or 9 super dramatic, but warp 5? They go warp 6 all the time for routine stuff so now they are going to take 10 times longer to go literally anywhere? The fact that the actor portraying the scientist who is trying to convince them about the warp problem is hella annoying also doesn't do the episode any favors. Plus, Geordi tries to convince Data to train Spot. Have the none of the writers literally ever had a cat???
The episode begins with Geordi trying to convince Data that he needs to train Spot which should tell you pretty much everything you need to know about this episode. Next they go looking for a lost Federation medical transport ship and along the way find a disabled Ferengi vessel. But it is apparently not disabled and opens fire. Picard manages to defuse the situation and the Ferengi captain explains that they found what appeared to be a Federation signal buoy which turned out to be a mine that knocked out all there systems, so where they faking being disabled or not? This is not addressed. And since this episode is extra dumb the Enterprise then falls for the same trap and two terrorists/scientists beam directly into engineering for some reason. Despite no one listening to them (a sure sign someone is crank in real life and totally correct in poorly written fiction) they are convinced warp travel is going to destroy their planet.
Since they are clearly cranks no one listens to them so the woman blows their ship up trapping the Federation medical vessel (I guess they found it finally, was distracted by how bad this episode is) and dooming their planet forever. Eventually they come up with a plan to surf their way out (not kidding) and the day is saved. But word comes down from the Federation that now no one will ever go faster than warp 5 unless war were declared.
Review: In case you couldn't tell from the description above I pretty much hated this episode. Not interesting and it pretty much wrecked any sense of urgency for the rest of TNG.
1 out of 10
The episode begins with Geordi trying to convince Data that he needs to train Spot which should tell you pretty much everything you need to know about this episode. Next they go looking for a lost Federation medical transport ship and along the way find a disabled Ferengi vessel. But it is apparently not disabled and opens fire. Picard manages to defuse the situation and the Ferengi captain explains that they found what appeared to be a Federation signal buoy which turned out to be a mine that knocked out all there systems, so where they faking being disabled or not? This is not addressed. And since this episode is extra dumb the Enterprise then falls for the same trap and two terrorists/scientists beam directly into engineering for some reason. Despite no one listening to them (a sure sign someone is crank in real life and totally correct in poorly written fiction) they are convinced warp travel is going to destroy their planet.
Since they are clearly cranks no one listens to them so the woman blows their ship up trapping the Federation medical vessel (I guess they found it finally, was distracted by how bad this episode is) and dooming their planet forever. Eventually they come up with a plan to surf their way out (not kidding) and the day is saved. But word comes down from the Federation that now no one will ever go faster than warp 5 unless war were declared.
Review: In case you couldn't tell from the description above I pretty much hated this episode. Not interesting and it pretty much wrecked any sense of urgency for the rest of TNG.
1 out of 10
TNG: Attached
I really enjoyed how well the captain and Beverly's relationship is handled in this episode. Most shows would have used this to transition the characters in a full blown relationship which then went on a rollercoaster ride until the show was cancelled without ever resolving anything. This episode also has a really strong B story about Riker having to deal with the half of the world that is open and the half that is desperate to stay closed. Both sides are so paranoid it is amazing they haven't wiped the entire planet out yet.
We begin with Picand and Dr. Crusher having their mornign tea together and Beverly is telling a story while Jean Luc stares into space not listening. She confronts him about it and he admits he is pondering how they will deal with a divided world applying for entrance into the Federation. One half, the Kes have requested to join, but the rest of their planet, the Prytt, are so xenophobic they won't agree to relations with the Kes let alone people from another planet. Worf calls to let them know the Kes are ready to receive them, but after beaming down Worf gets a call from the Kes asking when to expect the captain and doctor... They wake up in a prison cell with some sort of implants on their neck. Three Prytt guard open the cell and scan them at gun point. They also tell them that once the implants adapt the Prytt will be able to read their minds to find out their secret plans to ally with Kes.
Back on the ship Data has figured out what happened and they contact the Kes to try and figure out what to do. The Kes ambassador tells them a hostage rescue team is ready to go but Riker insists on meeting to discuss a diplomatic solution so the Kes ambassador beams aboard. Back in the cell another guard comes in with a covered plate they assume is food, but it is actually Beverly's tricorder with instructions for how to escape. They flee through a series of caves including some fire caves and start noticing the other one saying things that aren't being said. On the ship Worf has figured out a way to force communications with the Prytt but they refuse to talk to Riker about anything. The Kes ambassador has filled his quarters with scanning devices to make sure he isn't being spied on and tells Riker his people have helped the captain and doctor escape.
Beverly and Picard and now fully reading each others thoughts with the implants and have learned they can't even move apart from each other. The spend a night together and Beverly learns how much Picard loved her when she was still married to his best friend and how guilty he still feels about the whole thing. On the Enterprise the Kes ambassador has started freaking out and claiming the Enterprise is conspiring withe the Prytt to make a secret alliance. Riker has to trick the Prytt prime minister into being beamed aboard and confronts both of them. Just then Picard manages to get out of Prytt territory but Beverly is trapped on the other side with Prytt guards. Fortunately both leaders agree to let the two of them return to the Enterprise. Both Picard and Crusher miss each others thoughts and they have a romantic dinner together that ends in a kiss.
Review: I actually really liked this episode, but my write up is a little short because I am really tired. Go watch this one yourself it you want to see a cool Picard/Crusher psychic romance episode.
7 out of 10
We begin with Picand and Dr. Crusher having their mornign tea together and Beverly is telling a story while Jean Luc stares into space not listening. She confronts him about it and he admits he is pondering how they will deal with a divided world applying for entrance into the Federation. One half, the Kes have requested to join, but the rest of their planet, the Prytt, are so xenophobic they won't agree to relations with the Kes let alone people from another planet. Worf calls to let them know the Kes are ready to receive them, but after beaming down Worf gets a call from the Kes asking when to expect the captain and doctor... They wake up in a prison cell with some sort of implants on their neck. Three Prytt guard open the cell and scan them at gun point. They also tell them that once the implants adapt the Prytt will be able to read their minds to find out their secret plans to ally with Kes.
Back on the ship Data has figured out what happened and they contact the Kes to try and figure out what to do. The Kes ambassador tells them a hostage rescue team is ready to go but Riker insists on meeting to discuss a diplomatic solution so the Kes ambassador beams aboard. Back in the cell another guard comes in with a covered plate they assume is food, but it is actually Beverly's tricorder with instructions for how to escape. They flee through a series of caves including some fire caves and start noticing the other one saying things that aren't being said. On the ship Worf has figured out a way to force communications with the Prytt but they refuse to talk to Riker about anything. The Kes ambassador has filled his quarters with scanning devices to make sure he isn't being spied on and tells Riker his people have helped the captain and doctor escape.
Beverly and Picard and now fully reading each others thoughts with the implants and have learned they can't even move apart from each other. The spend a night together and Beverly learns how much Picard loved her when she was still married to his best friend and how guilty he still feels about the whole thing. On the Enterprise the Kes ambassador has started freaking out and claiming the Enterprise is conspiring withe the Prytt to make a secret alliance. Riker has to trick the Prytt prime minister into being beamed aboard and confronts both of them. Just then Picard manages to get out of Prytt territory but Beverly is trapped on the other side with Prytt guards. Fortunately both leaders agree to let the two of them return to the Enterprise. Both Picard and Crusher miss each others thoughts and they have a romantic dinner together that ends in a kiss.
Review: I actually really liked this episode, but my write up is a little short because I am really tired. Go watch this one yourself it you want to see a cool Picard/Crusher psychic romance episode.
7 out of 10
Thursday, November 19, 2015
TNG: Dark Page
I have mixed feelings about this episode. It is a sweet story and Lwaxana isn't bad in it, but it is also the second episode in row that literally dives into the subconscious of a character (or metaconscious if you are Betazoid) and this one is no Phantasms. It is also a mystery episode that I remembered the solution to which made it a lot less entertaining than it might have been. It has a subplot about psychic aliens learning to talk which goes no where and can't even really be called a B story since it ends about a quarter of the way in.
The episode opens with Lwaxana Troi at a reception for her efforts to teach a race of telepaths to use verbal communication to help with their entry into the Federation. He star pupil is a girl named Hedril. She is of course going on and on to the captain, but also seems to occationally be feeling bad and holds her head uncomfortably. The leader of the telepaths meets with Deanna and straight up tells her that Lwaxana has told him that she is single and that they should probably get married since he is too. Deanna is outraged, but later meets with him again and realizes it was a genuine misunderstanding on his part. He also tells her that Lwaxana has a dark part of her mind that she keeps from him which Deanna interprets to be privacy.
Later in Ten Forward Lwaxana barges in and yells at Riker for talking to Deanna and has to be taken away by her daughter. She goes to sickbay and Beverley discovers Lwaxana's brain has been totally drained of the chemicals used for telepathy and she must refrain for using it the rest of the trip. Deanna tries to take her place, but Lwaxana can't help jumping in and collapses into a coma. For some reason Deanna decides she needs to use the other telepaths to dive into her mothers mind to find the source of the problem. She finds a lot of confusion and defensiveness and a lot of the girl Hedril. She also starts reading her mothers diaries, but it takes Picard to notice that there are seven years missing from the diary starting about six years before Deanna was born. Eventually she figures out that her mother lost a daughter and in her mothers mind they have a nice moment together and it saves Lwaxana's life.
Review: I honestly found this episode pretty dull. I know it is all about the characters, but it is all about my least favorite characters on the show. Not a train wreck, but not one I would watch again.
4 out of 10
The episode opens with Lwaxana Troi at a reception for her efforts to teach a race of telepaths to use verbal communication to help with their entry into the Federation. He star pupil is a girl named Hedril. She is of course going on and on to the captain, but also seems to occationally be feeling bad and holds her head uncomfortably. The leader of the telepaths meets with Deanna and straight up tells her that Lwaxana has told him that she is single and that they should probably get married since he is too. Deanna is outraged, but later meets with him again and realizes it was a genuine misunderstanding on his part. He also tells her that Lwaxana has a dark part of her mind that she keeps from him which Deanna interprets to be privacy.
Later in Ten Forward Lwaxana barges in and yells at Riker for talking to Deanna and has to be taken away by her daughter. She goes to sickbay and Beverley discovers Lwaxana's brain has been totally drained of the chemicals used for telepathy and she must refrain for using it the rest of the trip. Deanna tries to take her place, but Lwaxana can't help jumping in and collapses into a coma. For some reason Deanna decides she needs to use the other telepaths to dive into her mothers mind to find the source of the problem. She finds a lot of confusion and defensiveness and a lot of the girl Hedril. She also starts reading her mothers diaries, but it takes Picard to notice that there are seven years missing from the diary starting about six years before Deanna was born. Eventually she figures out that her mother lost a daughter and in her mothers mind they have a nice moment together and it saves Lwaxana's life.
Review: I honestly found this episode pretty dull. I know it is all about the characters, but it is all about my least favorite characters on the show. Not a train wreck, but not one I would watch again.
4 out of 10
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
TNG: Phantasms
"It is a cellular peptide cake, with mint frosting." Man, I loved this episode as a kid and honestly I love it just as much today. It isn't one of those episodes that makes you question what it means to be human, or the meaning of life, or anything like that, but it is a great ride never the less. Despite fairly limited special effects Data's dream sequences are both otherworldly and a bit disturbing. Also the scene where Data reaches into the turbolift and then stabs Troi is genuinely disturbing. Even though he was doing so because she was infected by an alien parasite it seems like maybe Data should stop his dream experiments for a while.
The episode begins Data walking the corridors of the Enterprise and encountering a group of workmen who appear to have hammered through a bulkhead and are attempting to destroy a warp plasma conduit. Data tells the men to stop and then emits a high pitched sound which enrages them. They tear him limb from limb and even remove his head at which point Data wakes up from his dream. On the bridge Picard is getting ready to head to a super boring admirals banquet he has been avoiding for years. Geordi has just installed a new warp core and they are going to test it on the way. While making final preparations in engineering Geordi is also listening to Data talking on and on about his dream. Geordi calls to the bridge to let them know he is done, but when the ship prepares for warp it loses power completely instead of exceeding the speed of light.
In his quarters Data is meanwhile watching Spot sleep. Troi comes in to check on him since La Forge told her Data was bothered by his dreams. She suggests he try it again. The dream begins with Worf eating a piece of blue cake with a combadge. Data asks what kind of cake to which Worf replies with the amazing line at the beginning of this review. Data moves on to watching Dr. Crusher drinking some sort of fluid from Rikers head and the whole time there is the sound of an old fashioned phone ringing. He then sees the workers from earlier and makes the high pitched sound again, but they stop him and hand him a knife. He sees that the cake is Councillor Troi and she begs him not to hurt her, but he cuts a slice of cake from her right shoulder. Data is then startled by Troi, La Forge and Worf in his quarters, he has overslept. Data decides the best solution is to talk to Sigmund Freud on the holodeck, but it doesn't seem to help much.
Data starts losing it a bit and sees a mouth of Geordi's neck. We then see a nervous Troi getting onto the turbolift, but Data sticks his hand through the door at the last second and stops it. He then stabs her in her right shoulder until Riker and Worf stop him. Data is confined to quarters and Beverley gets to work on Troi's shoulder, but after treating the stab wound there is still a strange rash. She discovers an invisible parasite on the site of the wound and also finds them on many other crew. The strange part is they are all in locations linked to the strange feeding it Data's dreams, and what are they feeding on? Cellular peptides. They decide the only solution is to run Data's dreams on the holodeck because there is no way THAT could go wrong. They find themselves in the same dream with the cake and Riker getting his peptides drunk by Crusher, but this time Picard figures out the ringing is coming from a phone in Data's chest. It is Freud who tells them they have to fight the things. They then see the workers again smashing a plasma conduit and Data emits the sound. Data then wakes up and says he knows what to do, he emits a pulse from his brain at a specific frequency that kills the creatures and Geordi figures out they came from the new warp core. He is able to fix it, but Picard will just have to miss the admirals conference.
Review: A strange and enjoyable episode. The surrealness of the dreams in this episode is one of my all time favorite portrayals of dreams in media.
8 out of 10
The episode begins Data walking the corridors of the Enterprise and encountering a group of workmen who appear to have hammered through a bulkhead and are attempting to destroy a warp plasma conduit. Data tells the men to stop and then emits a high pitched sound which enrages them. They tear him limb from limb and even remove his head at which point Data wakes up from his dream. On the bridge Picard is getting ready to head to a super boring admirals banquet he has been avoiding for years. Geordi has just installed a new warp core and they are going to test it on the way. While making final preparations in engineering Geordi is also listening to Data talking on and on about his dream. Geordi calls to the bridge to let them know he is done, but when the ship prepares for warp it loses power completely instead of exceeding the speed of light.
In his quarters Data is meanwhile watching Spot sleep. Troi comes in to check on him since La Forge told her Data was bothered by his dreams. She suggests he try it again. The dream begins with Worf eating a piece of blue cake with a combadge. Data asks what kind of cake to which Worf replies with the amazing line at the beginning of this review. Data moves on to watching Dr. Crusher drinking some sort of fluid from Rikers head and the whole time there is the sound of an old fashioned phone ringing. He then sees the workers from earlier and makes the high pitched sound again, but they stop him and hand him a knife. He sees that the cake is Councillor Troi and she begs him not to hurt her, but he cuts a slice of cake from her right shoulder. Data is then startled by Troi, La Forge and Worf in his quarters, he has overslept. Data decides the best solution is to talk to Sigmund Freud on the holodeck, but it doesn't seem to help much.
Data starts losing it a bit and sees a mouth of Geordi's neck. We then see a nervous Troi getting onto the turbolift, but Data sticks his hand through the door at the last second and stops it. He then stabs her in her right shoulder until Riker and Worf stop him. Data is confined to quarters and Beverley gets to work on Troi's shoulder, but after treating the stab wound there is still a strange rash. She discovers an invisible parasite on the site of the wound and also finds them on many other crew. The strange part is they are all in locations linked to the strange feeding it Data's dreams, and what are they feeding on? Cellular peptides. They decide the only solution is to run Data's dreams on the holodeck because there is no way THAT could go wrong. They find themselves in the same dream with the cake and Riker getting his peptides drunk by Crusher, but this time Picard figures out the ringing is coming from a phone in Data's chest. It is Freud who tells them they have to fight the things. They then see the workers again smashing a plasma conduit and Data emits the sound. Data then wakes up and says he knows what to do, he emits a pulse from his brain at a specific frequency that kills the creatures and Geordi figures out they came from the new warp core. He is able to fix it, but Picard will just have to miss the admirals conference.
Review: A strange and enjoyable episode. The surrealness of the dreams in this episode is one of my all time favorite portrayals of dreams in media.
8 out of 10
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
TNG: Gambit, Part II
I can both understand why I was disappointed the first time and why I enjoyed it this time. Resolving the entire crisis with the discovery that the magical super weapon they have been searching for is defeated by peace is pretty lame. At the same time this episode contains some really solid character moments both for Riker and Picard, but also between Data and Worf. We have always known Worf doesn't like going about things in an indirect way, but in this episode he gets in trouble for openly questioning Data's command decisions and after apologizing they both decide they would rather stay friends than continue fighting.
The episode opens where it left off with the mercenary ship firing on the Enterprise. Data correctly figures it is a fake attack and fakes damage on the ship. They also return fire with limited power but it is enough to make the mercs flee. Picard again starts a fight with Riker and afterwards Baran pulls Riker aside. He offers him a role in their future ventures, all he has to do is kill Picard. Riker goes right to Picard with this info and Picard tells him he isn't surprised, but what does surprise him is that the artifacts aren't actually Romulan, they are Vulcan. Things change again when Picard finds the artifact they have been looking for and the Romulan on the ship pulls him aside. She claims to be a Vulcan in disguise and that she is on a mission to stop the artifacts from being found since they are a powerful psychic weapon. They head to meet the person with the other piece of the artifact.
But the Enterprise has beaten them there. Finding a lone Klingon on a shuttle they have detained his ship for a safety inspection to look for the artifact, but aren't having any luck. The mercs arrive and Riker leads an away team onto the Enterprise to get the artifact from the Klingon ship. They first beam to the shuttlebay but don't find the artifact so they beam directly to the observation lounge where the Klingon is being questioned by Data and Troi. Picard grabs the artifact from the Klingons jacket and blasts Riker before taking off with the mercs. Of course Riker isn't actually hurt and now he can tell the Enterprise what he knows. First thing he does is contact the Vulcans who tell him they have no intelligence officer on a mercenary ship.
Back on the ship Picard stages a mutiny and gets Baran to kill himself with his control device before leading them off to Vulcan for their money. The Vulcan insists in beaming down alone but Picard refuses. She then reveals he is a starfleet officer and the crew turn on him as fast as they turned on Baran. They all beam down together and she assembles the artifact and kills the two mercs, but just as she is about to kill Picard Worf and Riker arrive with a security team. Picard tells them to only think peaceful thoughts and her weapon is totally useless on them. She collapses at her failure and is arrested by Vulcan authorities.
Review: Not as complicated as the first half, this one goes straight for the action. Unlike season ending two part episodes this one clearly had a plan for how it would end from the very beginning. Not an all time great this set of episodes still manage to be very entertaining.
7 out of 10
The episode opens where it left off with the mercenary ship firing on the Enterprise. Data correctly figures it is a fake attack and fakes damage on the ship. They also return fire with limited power but it is enough to make the mercs flee. Picard again starts a fight with Riker and afterwards Baran pulls Riker aside. He offers him a role in their future ventures, all he has to do is kill Picard. Riker goes right to Picard with this info and Picard tells him he isn't surprised, but what does surprise him is that the artifacts aren't actually Romulan, they are Vulcan. Things change again when Picard finds the artifact they have been looking for and the Romulan on the ship pulls him aside. She claims to be a Vulcan in disguise and that she is on a mission to stop the artifacts from being found since they are a powerful psychic weapon. They head to meet the person with the other piece of the artifact.
But the Enterprise has beaten them there. Finding a lone Klingon on a shuttle they have detained his ship for a safety inspection to look for the artifact, but aren't having any luck. The mercs arrive and Riker leads an away team onto the Enterprise to get the artifact from the Klingon ship. They first beam to the shuttlebay but don't find the artifact so they beam directly to the observation lounge where the Klingon is being questioned by Data and Troi. Picard grabs the artifact from the Klingons jacket and blasts Riker before taking off with the mercs. Of course Riker isn't actually hurt and now he can tell the Enterprise what he knows. First thing he does is contact the Vulcans who tell him they have no intelligence officer on a mercenary ship.
Back on the ship Picard stages a mutiny and gets Baran to kill himself with his control device before leading them off to Vulcan for their money. The Vulcan insists in beaming down alone but Picard refuses. She then reveals he is a starfleet officer and the crew turn on him as fast as they turned on Baran. They all beam down together and she assembles the artifact and kills the two mercs, but just as she is about to kill Picard Worf and Riker arrive with a security team. Picard tells them to only think peaceful thoughts and her weapon is totally useless on them. She collapses at her failure and is arrested by Vulcan authorities.
Review: Not as complicated as the first half, this one goes straight for the action. Unlike season ending two part episodes this one clearly had a plan for how it would end from the very beginning. Not an all time great this set of episodes still manage to be very entertaining.
7 out of 10
Monday, November 16, 2015
TNG: Gambit, Part I
I recall not liking this episode, but unlike others I felt this way about I don't really know why. Of course a lackluster Part II might explain it, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. The captains obsession with archaeology is finally starting to pay off in a serious way, and the influence of DS9 is being felt. The first hint of Picard's thing for ancient artifacts came in Captain's Holiday where he encountered time travellers looking for an ancient artifact he was known to have discovered. In The Chase he considered giving up his career in Starfleet to go on the archaeological adventure of a lifetime and now we find him having been kidnapped by mercenaries and turning his knowledge into a cover as a smuggler. Also unlike every previous reference to money being totally silly sounding, now rat faced aliens can demand payment in bars of gold pressed latinum.
The episode opens with an undercover away team looking for the captain in a seedy alien bar somewhere. Worf has found a rat faced alien who claims to know something, but the bartender threatens him when he see the rat talking to the Enterprise crew. With some convincing from Beverly's phaser he tells them he saw a group of aliens confronting the captain and they disintegrated him with some sort of energy weapon. And since this isn't Interface everybody wants to get to the bottom of the mystery of the missing captain. An admiral even gives Riker permission to take the Enterprise on a opened search for him. Riker manages to interrogate some information out of the rat faced dude and they figure out that the captain was attacked by a group of mercenaries and even find out where they were headed.
The ship heads to the last known location of the mercenaries and over Data's objections Riker leads an away team to investigate. They find a looted archaeological site and before long they are taking fire from the mercs. For plot reasons nobody but an extra is hit by all the weapons fire but Riker gets captured by the mercs. They take him aboard their ship and manage to evade the Enterprise and escape unharmed. Riker gets a neural control device implanted which lets the captain of the ship named Baran administer extreme pain or death with a touch of his control device. Baran orders Riker taken off the bridge but suddenly Picard walks in disguised as a smuggler named Galen. Picard tells Baran that Riker isn't worth the risk and that they should kill him. Suddenly the ship starts accelerating out of control and it looks like they will all die. But somehow this is just the sort of thing Riker knows how to fix so he saves the day.
Back on the Enterprise Data has figured out where the mercs are headed and warns the science outpost that appears to be their destination. Picard finally manages to get some alone time with Riker and explains that he was captured and faked this smuggler thing to find out what they were looking for. It turns out they are looking for some unknown Romulan artifact but he still doesn't know why. When Baran walks him Picard hits Riker and convinces Baran he is interrogating him which pissed of Baran quite a bit. They arrive at the outpost but Picards plan to get Riker to talk them into turning off their shields doesn't work so Picard is forced to knock out their shields. Just as they are preparing to destroy the outpost the Enterprise appears. They try having Riker order the Enterprise to leave but of course that doesn't work. Riker instead tries sending his command codes to turn off the shields but unlike in previous instances they have been changed, but Data figures out it must be part of the plan and turns off the shields. Picard fires on the Enterprise... TO BE CONTINUED!
Review: I know this is only half an episode, but I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. Picard disguised as a smuggler is a fun change of character for him and Baran is a surprising effective villain. Looking forward to the resolution tomorrow!
7 out of 10
The episode opens with an undercover away team looking for the captain in a seedy alien bar somewhere. Worf has found a rat faced alien who claims to know something, but the bartender threatens him when he see the rat talking to the Enterprise crew. With some convincing from Beverly's phaser he tells them he saw a group of aliens confronting the captain and they disintegrated him with some sort of energy weapon. And since this isn't Interface everybody wants to get to the bottom of the mystery of the missing captain. An admiral even gives Riker permission to take the Enterprise on a opened search for him. Riker manages to interrogate some information out of the rat faced dude and they figure out that the captain was attacked by a group of mercenaries and even find out where they were headed.
The ship heads to the last known location of the mercenaries and over Data's objections Riker leads an away team to investigate. They find a looted archaeological site and before long they are taking fire from the mercs. For plot reasons nobody but an extra is hit by all the weapons fire but Riker gets captured by the mercs. They take him aboard their ship and manage to evade the Enterprise and escape unharmed. Riker gets a neural control device implanted which lets the captain of the ship named Baran administer extreme pain or death with a touch of his control device. Baran orders Riker taken off the bridge but suddenly Picard walks in disguised as a smuggler named Galen. Picard tells Baran that Riker isn't worth the risk and that they should kill him. Suddenly the ship starts accelerating out of control and it looks like they will all die. But somehow this is just the sort of thing Riker knows how to fix so he saves the day.
Back on the Enterprise Data has figured out where the mercs are headed and warns the science outpost that appears to be their destination. Picard finally manages to get some alone time with Riker and explains that he was captured and faked this smuggler thing to find out what they were looking for. It turns out they are looking for some unknown Romulan artifact but he still doesn't know why. When Baran walks him Picard hits Riker and convinces Baran he is interrogating him which pissed of Baran quite a bit. They arrive at the outpost but Picards plan to get Riker to talk them into turning off their shields doesn't work so Picard is forced to knock out their shields. Just as they are preparing to destroy the outpost the Enterprise appears. They try having Riker order the Enterprise to leave but of course that doesn't work. Riker instead tries sending his command codes to turn off the shields but unlike in previous instances they have been changed, but Data figures out it must be part of the plan and turns off the shields. Picard fires on the Enterprise... TO BE CONTINUED!
Review: I know this is only half an episode, but I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. Picard disguised as a smuggler is a fun change of character for him and Baran is a surprising effective villain. Looking forward to the resolution tomorrow!
7 out of 10
Sunday, November 15, 2015
TNG: Interface
TNG does VR!!! This is one I had entirely removed from my memory, and I wish I could say it was for no reason. I must have been a little distracted early on because this episode focuses around two lost ships and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to figure out that maybe they were related. In the end I think they are actually not supposed to be related meaning that the crisis with Geordi's mom disappearing actually doesn't get resolved at all. I never got why he thought maybe she had crashed into the planet below the other ship and in the end it turns out she clearly didn't. Also, why did ship number one (the USS Raman) dip so far into the atmosphere of the planet in the first place? I guess they did and somehow picked up energy aliens, but given how much damage they taken when Geordi takes the ship that low again it doesn't really make sense. Any was the creature supposed to be able to read his mind through the probe thing? So many questions!
The episode opens when La Forge walking around without his visor on. He is working to solve an engineering crisis of some sort and we see that it is apparently some sort of VR thing since the real him is hooked up in Data's cybernetics lab. He goes into a Jefferey's tube with a fire in it and is able to put out the fire. The opening is already raising questions, is this a test or is there an actual fire? If it is a test is he actually operating the probe or is it on the holodeck or something. Presumably it is on the actual ship to really give it a test so did they start this damaging fire just so he could put it out? I am going to be asking a lot more than I tell this episode. Back to the story, the probe/interface passes the test and they proceed to investigate the wreckage of the USS Raman that, "trapped in the atmosphere," of some planet which makes no sense. It can't orbit in an atmosphere so it is flying in which case it is really wreckage?
Picard gets a call from an admiral telling him that the USS Hera has been lost and that searches aren't turning anything up. This is a crisis because Geordi's mom served as captain of that ship. His family seems totally uninterested in searching for her but he won't give up. They arrive near the USS Raman and Riker offers to operate the probe since Geordi is under so much stress, but La Forge insists he can do it. The virtual him in the form of the probe starts exploring the ship and somehow he burns his hands which is actually never explained. After some work he goes back only this time his mother is there. She tells him her ship is trapped on the surface and somehow she is sending her image up which doesn't actually make sense but Geordi buys it.
For some reason Picard refuses to let him go back to look for his mom but Data helps him do it anyway. He finds her again and she tells him he needs to bring the Raman closer to the surface to contact her ship. He does but starts losing signal to the probe so he has to convince Data to push the safety limits. It works but he can't find any sign of the Hera. It turns out she is an alien who needed to get lower in the atmosphere. She leaves and he almost dies before they can disconnect the probe. Picard is angry and puts it in his permanent record, but he feels he got to say goodbye to his mom even though it wasn't her.
Review: In case you can't tell I found this one kinda lame. I don't mind being left to wonder stuff, but it really seems like some of the characters should have had problems with a lot of it too.
3 out of 10
The episode opens when La Forge walking around without his visor on. He is working to solve an engineering crisis of some sort and we see that it is apparently some sort of VR thing since the real him is hooked up in Data's cybernetics lab. He goes into a Jefferey's tube with a fire in it and is able to put out the fire. The opening is already raising questions, is this a test or is there an actual fire? If it is a test is he actually operating the probe or is it on the holodeck or something. Presumably it is on the actual ship to really give it a test so did they start this damaging fire just so he could put it out? I am going to be asking a lot more than I tell this episode. Back to the story, the probe/interface passes the test and they proceed to investigate the wreckage of the USS Raman that, "trapped in the atmosphere," of some planet which makes no sense. It can't orbit in an atmosphere so it is flying in which case it is really wreckage?
Picard gets a call from an admiral telling him that the USS Hera has been lost and that searches aren't turning anything up. This is a crisis because Geordi's mom served as captain of that ship. His family seems totally uninterested in searching for her but he won't give up. They arrive near the USS Raman and Riker offers to operate the probe since Geordi is under so much stress, but La Forge insists he can do it. The virtual him in the form of the probe starts exploring the ship and somehow he burns his hands which is actually never explained. After some work he goes back only this time his mother is there. She tells him her ship is trapped on the surface and somehow she is sending her image up which doesn't actually make sense but Geordi buys it.
For some reason Picard refuses to let him go back to look for his mom but Data helps him do it anyway. He finds her again and she tells him he needs to bring the Raman closer to the surface to contact her ship. He does but starts losing signal to the probe so he has to convince Data to push the safety limits. It works but he can't find any sign of the Hera. It turns out she is an alien who needed to get lower in the atmosphere. She leaves and he almost dies before they can disconnect the probe. Picard is angry and puts it in his permanent record, but he feels he got to say goodbye to his mom even though it wasn't her.
Review: In case you can't tell I found this one kinda lame. I don't mind being left to wonder stuff, but it really seems like some of the characters should have had problems with a lot of it too.
3 out of 10
Saturday, November 14, 2015
TNG: Liaisons
This is one of those episodes that could have just as easily been a TOS episode, at least in concept. Despite looking quite a bit like us the aliens in this episode are actually quite alien. They are born fully formed rather than as children who have to grow, they have no concept of love, pleasure or antagonism, and they don't seem to know what crime is. Realistically this is a pretty long and unlikely list of characteristics, but its exploration is certainly intersting. Worf clearly gets the bad end of the deal, but honestly his character shines about as well as the captain in this one.
The episode begins with Worf fiddling with a diplomatic scarf and stalling for time. Riker shows up to get him moving and hassle him about their dress uniforms looking like actual dresses. They head to the shuttle bay to greet representatives from an advanced and previously uncontacted race. Deanna gets to show one of the diplomats around and Riker is assigned the other to show around, but the diplomat objects, he would rather hang out with Worf much to Worf's dismay. The captain is to take a long shuttle ride back to their homeworld to be given a tour. While en route the shuttle suffers an energy failure and they are forced to ditch on an uninhabited class M planet. The pilot is hurt so Picard goes out alone looking for help. He is struck by some sort of energy discharge and knocked unconscious. We see a shadowing figure dragging of his body.
Back on the ship Troi introduces her representative to the concept of dessert and he falls in love. In every following scene he is carrying and eating a container of something sweet. Worf is having a rough time, no matter what he does he can't seem to make his diplomat happy. Worf goes to Riker to try and get him to assign someone else to the diplomat but Will refuses. Down on the planet Picard awakes and finds himself in the remains of a crashed freighter. There is a human woman there who has been taking care of him. She tells him he has broken ribs and that the pilot of his shuttle is dead. It starts off alright but quickly it becomes obvious she is crazy. She is desperate for Picard to love her to the point that she sabotages his efforts to make contact with the Enterprise and keeps him locked in when she leaves.
Back on the ship Riker convinces the diplomats to join them in a game of poker. Troi's diplomat ignore the game to keep stuffing his face with chocolates. Worf's diplomat however cheats and is eventually caught stealing a chip from Worf. Worf is outraged and challenges him. The diplomat shoves him back and they come to blows. Riker eventually holds Worf back (after letting him get in a few choice blows) but the diplomat just gets up and tells them he is going to have to record this experience. Down on the planet things have gotten bad. Picard refuses to give the woman what she wants and she flees leaving him locked on the freighter. The pilot then suddenly shows up, it turns out his species goes into some sort of coma state to heal faster and he is fine. The two of them go looking for the woman and after separating Picard finds her on the edge of cliff ready to jump, but something is wrong. When she stormed off she broke her necklace and left it behind in the freighter but she is now wearing it. Picard confronts her and she transforms into the pilot and tells him her species needed to know about love, but he has failed. He takes Picard back to he Enterprise where they find Worf exhausted, he and his diplomat just finished 11 hours of combat training.
Review: This one is trying pretty hard to be serious science fiction and it largely succeeds. Probably not the most realistic take, but an interesting exploration. Also I don't think Kirk could have resisted the marooned woman...
6 out of 10
The episode begins with Worf fiddling with a diplomatic scarf and stalling for time. Riker shows up to get him moving and hassle him about their dress uniforms looking like actual dresses. They head to the shuttle bay to greet representatives from an advanced and previously uncontacted race. Deanna gets to show one of the diplomats around and Riker is assigned the other to show around, but the diplomat objects, he would rather hang out with Worf much to Worf's dismay. The captain is to take a long shuttle ride back to their homeworld to be given a tour. While en route the shuttle suffers an energy failure and they are forced to ditch on an uninhabited class M planet. The pilot is hurt so Picard goes out alone looking for help. He is struck by some sort of energy discharge and knocked unconscious. We see a shadowing figure dragging of his body.
Back on the ship Troi introduces her representative to the concept of dessert and he falls in love. In every following scene he is carrying and eating a container of something sweet. Worf is having a rough time, no matter what he does he can't seem to make his diplomat happy. Worf goes to Riker to try and get him to assign someone else to the diplomat but Will refuses. Down on the planet Picard awakes and finds himself in the remains of a crashed freighter. There is a human woman there who has been taking care of him. She tells him he has broken ribs and that the pilot of his shuttle is dead. It starts off alright but quickly it becomes obvious she is crazy. She is desperate for Picard to love her to the point that she sabotages his efforts to make contact with the Enterprise and keeps him locked in when she leaves.
Back on the ship Riker convinces the diplomats to join them in a game of poker. Troi's diplomat ignore the game to keep stuffing his face with chocolates. Worf's diplomat however cheats and is eventually caught stealing a chip from Worf. Worf is outraged and challenges him. The diplomat shoves him back and they come to blows. Riker eventually holds Worf back (after letting him get in a few choice blows) but the diplomat just gets up and tells them he is going to have to record this experience. Down on the planet things have gotten bad. Picard refuses to give the woman what she wants and she flees leaving him locked on the freighter. The pilot then suddenly shows up, it turns out his species goes into some sort of coma state to heal faster and he is fine. The two of them go looking for the woman and after separating Picard finds her on the edge of cliff ready to jump, but something is wrong. When she stormed off she broke her necklace and left it behind in the freighter but she is now wearing it. Picard confronts her and she transforms into the pilot and tells him her species needed to know about love, but he has failed. He takes Picard back to he Enterprise where they find Worf exhausted, he and his diplomat just finished 11 hours of combat training.
Review: This one is trying pretty hard to be serious science fiction and it largely succeeds. Probably not the most realistic take, but an interesting exploration. Also I don't think Kirk could have resisted the marooned woman...
6 out of 10
Friday, November 13, 2015
TNG: Descent, Part II
The only real problem with this episode is that it resolves pretty much how one would have predicted. Data figure out what he is doing is wrong (with some help from the captain) and kills Lore to save his friends. The part I didn't remember was the pretty cool sequence with Dr. Crusher in command of the ship successfully evading the Borg with the help of a young science ensign. Their call back to the metaphasic shields she was so excited about last season makes that episode make a little more sense. It never made sense to me why she would have been so excited by a new shield tech, but it pays off in this episode in a pretty big way.
The episode begins just where the last one left off with Data and Lore confronting Picard, Troi and La Forge. They do indeed seem to be united in their mission to save the Borg and create a new race of perfect artificial life forms. Data takes the three of them into a holding cell after they fail to convince him and even takes Geordi's visor. Back on the Enterprise Crusher is in charge, but suddenly the strange Borg ship shows up and she attempts to fend them off long enough to get the landing parties back. She can't get them all though and is forced to flee towards the transwarp conduit. But the Borg don't pursue so she decides to send a beacon with the ships longs through and head back for the rest of the crew still trapped.
Data starts experimenting on Geordi at Lore direction and implants some sort of fibers into his brain. Picard manages to attack one of the Borg and gets an important chip from him which Geordi directs him to modify to try and reactivate Data's ethical subroutines. Meanwhile Riker and Worf are on the trail of Lore but before they find him they encounter Hugh. Hugh isn't happy with what they ended up using him to do to the rest of the Borg collective, but despite his anger about the destruction of the collective he does still care deeply for Geordi. He doesn't agree to attack his fellow Borg with them, but he does agree to give them information. Meanwhile Picard activates the chip to reactivate Data's ethical subroutines just in time to get Data to not fry Geordi's brain, but Data doesn't return to normal either.
Lore realizes something is wrong and literally plays with Data's emotions to get him to do what he wants. Back on the Enterprise Crusher returns to the planet to try and save the rest of the landing party but the Borg are too fast. She does manage to flee into the systems star though and with the metaphasic shield from Suspicions the ship is able to dive much deeper into the star than the Borg. A young ensign suggest they destabilize the star to create a blast of plasma to destroy the Borg and it works! Back on the planet Lore tells Data he must kill Picard to prove his loyalty. Data refuses and so Lore decides to kill Data instead. Just in time Hugh jumps in and saves Data as Riker and Worf open fire. Data pursues Lore as the rest of them fight off the Borg. He finds Lore preparing the escape and blasts him and deactivates him. In the end Data apologizes to Geordi and then prepares to destroy the emotion chip, but Geordi stops him. He can't let his friend give up on his lifelong dream.
Review: Even though this one resolves pretty much how one would image it certainly has its moments. It is also nice to conclude the ongoing Lore situation and also see what happened to the Borg after Hugh. So many TOS episodes end with more questions than answers that it is really nice the see TNG work to resolve at least some of its own questions.
7 out of 10
The episode begins just where the last one left off with Data and Lore confronting Picard, Troi and La Forge. They do indeed seem to be united in their mission to save the Borg and create a new race of perfect artificial life forms. Data takes the three of them into a holding cell after they fail to convince him and even takes Geordi's visor. Back on the Enterprise Crusher is in charge, but suddenly the strange Borg ship shows up and she attempts to fend them off long enough to get the landing parties back. She can't get them all though and is forced to flee towards the transwarp conduit. But the Borg don't pursue so she decides to send a beacon with the ships longs through and head back for the rest of the crew still trapped.
Data starts experimenting on Geordi at Lore direction and implants some sort of fibers into his brain. Picard manages to attack one of the Borg and gets an important chip from him which Geordi directs him to modify to try and reactivate Data's ethical subroutines. Meanwhile Riker and Worf are on the trail of Lore but before they find him they encounter Hugh. Hugh isn't happy with what they ended up using him to do to the rest of the Borg collective, but despite his anger about the destruction of the collective he does still care deeply for Geordi. He doesn't agree to attack his fellow Borg with them, but he does agree to give them information. Meanwhile Picard activates the chip to reactivate Data's ethical subroutines just in time to get Data to not fry Geordi's brain, but Data doesn't return to normal either.
Lore realizes something is wrong and literally plays with Data's emotions to get him to do what he wants. Back on the Enterprise Crusher returns to the planet to try and save the rest of the landing party but the Borg are too fast. She does manage to flee into the systems star though and with the metaphasic shield from Suspicions the ship is able to dive much deeper into the star than the Borg. A young ensign suggest they destabilize the star to create a blast of plasma to destroy the Borg and it works! Back on the planet Lore tells Data he must kill Picard to prove his loyalty. Data refuses and so Lore decides to kill Data instead. Just in time Hugh jumps in and saves Data as Riker and Worf open fire. Data pursues Lore as the rest of them fight off the Borg. He finds Lore preparing the escape and blasts him and deactivates him. In the end Data apologizes to Geordi and then prepares to destroy the emotion chip, but Geordi stops him. He can't let his friend give up on his lifelong dream.
Review: Even though this one resolves pretty much how one would image it certainly has its moments. It is also nice to conclude the ongoing Lore situation and also see what happened to the Borg after Hugh. So many TOS episodes end with more questions than answers that it is really nice the see TNG work to resolve at least some of its own questions.
7 out of 10
Thursday, November 12, 2015
TNG: Descent
This is the first two parter that I actually don't remember. I do remember there being a followup episode to I Borg, but I had totally forgotten it was a season finale. I suspect they decided to do another cliffhanger since by now DS9 was in full swing and they wanted to fight rumors/actual plans to cancel TNG. As always it is hard to judge a two part episode by the first half, but this one certainly seemed better than I remember. I somehow totally forgot the non-cube super Borg ship they introduce, but for whatever reason the scene with Lore and Data on the platform above the Borg was super familiar.
The episode begins with Data playing poker with Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking. The three of them bicker a bit, but for some reason Hawking seems to be having a great time (clearly because it is actually Stephen Hawking who is actually having a great time being on Star Trek). He ends his simulation when the ship goes to red alert. They are heading to an outpost that reported being attacked and then went silent. When they arrive they find everything quiet and a strange looking ship orbiting the planet. They beam down and find that everyone in the outpost has been brutally killed. Data opens a sealed door and finds a Borg hiding. Three other Borg jump out and kill a security officer before being killed themselves. Data engages two Borg in hand to hand combat and becomes enraged and them enjoys killing one of them. Meanwhile the ship has opened fire on the Enterprise and before they can return fire it disappears into some sort of subspace wormhole thing.
Rushing to help another outpost under attack they again encounter the strange ship. It fires at them, but instead of doing damage two Borg appear on the bridge and start fighting. Both are hit with phaser fire but they discover one of the Borg is alive and Dr. Crusher manages to heal it. Data meanwhile has removed himself from duty to try and figure out his emotional outburst. Troi encourages him to explore what happened so he creates a simulated Borg and tries killing it over and over to see if he can get it to happen again. Meanwhile Starfleet has sent Admiral Nechayev to take command of their operations and she puts Picard in charge of one of the taskforces after yelling at him for letting Hugh go without the virus that would have wiped out the collective. Picard interrogates the Borg survivor who tells him they are now individuals and are no longer interested in assimilating inferior organisms into their collective. It seems someone, they assume Hugh, has changed their society dramatically.
The Bord, Crosis, gets Data alone and asks him about the emotions he felt when he killed the other Borg. Data admits he enjoyed it and Crosis asks him if he wants to do it again. Data says yes and to be extra creepy agrees he would kill Geordi if it meant he could feel again. On the bridge they detect a shuttle has left the ship and turned off the tractor beam first. It seems Data and the Borg have escaped. They make another transwarp conduit open but the Enterprise follows them through. They find the shuttle on a planet eventually and Picard beams down with most of the senior staff leaving Dr. Crusher it charge. They eventually find a building which appears to be unoccupied. They make their way inside and are somehow surprise when a bunch of Borg pop out everywhere. Then an android walks out, Picard thinks it is Data but Troi recognizes Lore. But Data then joins him and Lore tells them that together they are going to destroy the Federation.
Review: They are trying pretty hard to best The Best of Both Worlds and didn't really succeed, but they did manage to make a tense and exciting episode. I was going to make a joke about bringing Troi on such a military type mission, but she did figure out it was Lore long before Picard so I guess that is why.
7 out of 10
The episode begins with Data playing poker with Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking. The three of them bicker a bit, but for some reason Hawking seems to be having a great time (clearly because it is actually Stephen Hawking who is actually having a great time being on Star Trek). He ends his simulation when the ship goes to red alert. They are heading to an outpost that reported being attacked and then went silent. When they arrive they find everything quiet and a strange looking ship orbiting the planet. They beam down and find that everyone in the outpost has been brutally killed. Data opens a sealed door and finds a Borg hiding. Three other Borg jump out and kill a security officer before being killed themselves. Data engages two Borg in hand to hand combat and becomes enraged and them enjoys killing one of them. Meanwhile the ship has opened fire on the Enterprise and before they can return fire it disappears into some sort of subspace wormhole thing.
Rushing to help another outpost under attack they again encounter the strange ship. It fires at them, but instead of doing damage two Borg appear on the bridge and start fighting. Both are hit with phaser fire but they discover one of the Borg is alive and Dr. Crusher manages to heal it. Data meanwhile has removed himself from duty to try and figure out his emotional outburst. Troi encourages him to explore what happened so he creates a simulated Borg and tries killing it over and over to see if he can get it to happen again. Meanwhile Starfleet has sent Admiral Nechayev to take command of their operations and she puts Picard in charge of one of the taskforces after yelling at him for letting Hugh go without the virus that would have wiped out the collective. Picard interrogates the Borg survivor who tells him they are now individuals and are no longer interested in assimilating inferior organisms into their collective. It seems someone, they assume Hugh, has changed their society dramatically.
The Bord, Crosis, gets Data alone and asks him about the emotions he felt when he killed the other Borg. Data admits he enjoyed it and Crosis asks him if he wants to do it again. Data says yes and to be extra creepy agrees he would kill Geordi if it meant he could feel again. On the bridge they detect a shuttle has left the ship and turned off the tractor beam first. It seems Data and the Borg have escaped. They make another transwarp conduit open but the Enterprise follows them through. They find the shuttle on a planet eventually and Picard beams down with most of the senior staff leaving Dr. Crusher it charge. They eventually find a building which appears to be unoccupied. They make their way inside and are somehow surprise when a bunch of Borg pop out everywhere. Then an android walks out, Picard thinks it is Data but Troi recognizes Lore. But Data then joins him and Lore tells them that together they are going to destroy the Federation.
Review: They are trying pretty hard to best The Best of Both Worlds and didn't really succeed, but they did manage to make a tense and exciting episode. I was going to make a joke about bringing Troi on such a military type mission, but she did figure out it was Lore long before Picard so I guess that is why.
7 out of 10
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