Maybe this episode felt different before 9/11, but today it feels more like an episode about Stockholm syndrome. The terrorists/freedom fighters are being led by a sociopath which makes it kinda hard to empathize with them. Unless you are Dr. Crusher apparently. She is not at her best in this episode, especially after she has been held hostage for most of the episode and when Picard mentions that maybe listening to her and not getting her off the surface before she was kidnapped was a mistake she is outraged. Really? Of course he should have gone with his gut and beamed her out of there. They almost destroyed the entire ship!
While dropping off medical supplies on a neutral planet the away team is at the scene of a terrorist attack. Dr. Crusher insists in helping the wounded even thought he scene is clearly not secure. (As an aside I am an EMT and the first thing you ever worry about at a trauma scene like this is scene safety, you are no good if you end up as another patient.) And to prove my instincts correct she is kidnapped by the terrorists using some sort of untraceable transporter device. She awakens in a cave with a terrorist who offers he food which she refuses. In fact she refuses to talk or acknowledge his presence. Back on the ship Picard has to break it to Wesley that his mom has been taken as a hostage. He is put on the team trying to discover how the transporters the terrorists are using work.
Riker meets with the head of planetary security who explains that they have been fighting the terrorists for decades ever since they tried to break one continent off from the government. They have killed thousands including many children. Recently they started using the untraceable transporter devices and are even more dangerous now. In engineering Wesley has a breakthrough discovering how the terrorists are transporting, and it is very dangerous. Back on the planet Dr. Crusher eventually agrees to eat and after she is shown a bunch of hurt people she immediately tries to start helping them. But of course she needs supplies which, fortunately for her, the terrorists already stole from the shipment intended for the government. To the head terrorist is totally unsympathetic, but he draws some pictures of Beverley and she seems to think he is a nice guy all of a sudden.
Learning the Beverley is from the Federation flag ship the terrorists beam themselves onto the ship and try to blow it up, but Geordi stops them. They do succeed however and kidnapping the captain. They transport so much that Wesley is able to detect more about how they are doing it, he just needs them to do it one more time. And fortunately for them the head terrorist beams over to tell Troi his demands and they are on to them. Riker leads a rescue team of like 5 guys to take on the whole terrorist base and despite this being a terrible plan it of course works. But the head of security shoots the head terrorist dead which upsets Bev. Then a kid who worked with her doesn't kill them all which is a sign of hope I guess?
Review: It seemed like this episode wanted the audience to feel for the terrorists despite them being totally terrible and unsympathetic. Unlike last nights episode about a harsh government fighting just rebels this one seems like the government is doing the right thing and fuck the terrorists. Except Beverley is convinced that the sociopath leader must be a good guy since he likes to draw or something.
3 out of 10
Friday, August 7, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
TNG: The Hunted
We are in the middle of a series of episodes with The as the first word in the title, and so far it is going pretty smoothly. This episode isn't quite as good as last night, but only by a little bit. The only parts that drag a bit for me are Troi trying to convince the super soldier that he is really a good person and just needs to go with his feelings or something like that. All there parts with Danar trying to escape work really well and are very enjoyable to watch. Worf once again manages to prove he is as much wits as he is brawn, but in this case the engineered super soldier proves to be more than a match for him.
The episode begins with the captain discussing the entry of Angosia III into the Federation with the prime minister when they are interrupted, there has been an escape from a prison colony and the escapee has commandeered a ship and is considered extremely dangerous. The prime minister asks the Enterprise for assistance and Picard agrees. Data is on the bridge and along with Worf they pursue the vessel. It has no life signs aboard and when it passes behind an asteroid the drive section separates and the rest falls into the asteroid. They figure out that he must be in the drive section and when they approach it tries to ram the Enterprise, but not before dropping an apparently empty escape pod. But fortunately they have all seen A New Hope so they beam the occupant of the pod over.
The man in the pod is named Danar and as soon as he is aboard he overwhelms both security officers and O'Brien. Finally Worf arrives and along with the other security officers they manage to get Danar into a detention cell. He still doesn't show any life signs. While sleeping Troi can feel his pain from the hallway and rushes to him. Danar isn't impressed with Troi trying to help him, but she doesn't give up. The Enterprise has access to the computers on Angosia III and Troi looks into his records, it turns out he isn't a criminal, he is a soldier. Danar confirms this and explains that his government modified him and others to be the perfect soldiers but that after the war they were unable to fit into society and have been on a penal colony ever since.
Picard agrees it is a messed up situation, but he has no choice but to turn Danar back to his government, Danar promises not to go without a fight. When they try to beam him over he somehow fights out of the beam and escapes to engineering. He sets a series of false leads but eventually uses a phaser to power the transporter in a cargo bay and beams over to the ship that was supposed to take him to prison and takes over. The prime minister contacts them and asks for assistance as Danar has returned to the prison and escaped with a bunch more super soldiers and headed to the capital. Picard agrees to help but instead just beams down himself and a few other support crew including Troi. The captain is able to keep Danar from killing everybody but insists that it is the Angosians problem and if they work it out well the Federation would be happy to accept them.
Review: This is a mostly action episode and it works well for that purpose. We get to see parts of the ship we haven't seen before as he uses access hatches and Jefferey's tubes move about. Being able to have life signs the Enterprise can't detect is a bit of a stretch, but it is really the only gimme in the episode so that's fine.
7 out of 10
The episode begins with the captain discussing the entry of Angosia III into the Federation with the prime minister when they are interrupted, there has been an escape from a prison colony and the escapee has commandeered a ship and is considered extremely dangerous. The prime minister asks the Enterprise for assistance and Picard agrees. Data is on the bridge and along with Worf they pursue the vessel. It has no life signs aboard and when it passes behind an asteroid the drive section separates and the rest falls into the asteroid. They figure out that he must be in the drive section and when they approach it tries to ram the Enterprise, but not before dropping an apparently empty escape pod. But fortunately they have all seen A New Hope so they beam the occupant of the pod over.
The man in the pod is named Danar and as soon as he is aboard he overwhelms both security officers and O'Brien. Finally Worf arrives and along with the other security officers they manage to get Danar into a detention cell. He still doesn't show any life signs. While sleeping Troi can feel his pain from the hallway and rushes to him. Danar isn't impressed with Troi trying to help him, but she doesn't give up. The Enterprise has access to the computers on Angosia III and Troi looks into his records, it turns out he isn't a criminal, he is a soldier. Danar confirms this and explains that his government modified him and others to be the perfect soldiers but that after the war they were unable to fit into society and have been on a penal colony ever since.
Picard agrees it is a messed up situation, but he has no choice but to turn Danar back to his government, Danar promises not to go without a fight. When they try to beam him over he somehow fights out of the beam and escapes to engineering. He sets a series of false leads but eventually uses a phaser to power the transporter in a cargo bay and beams over to the ship that was supposed to take him to prison and takes over. The prime minister contacts them and asks for assistance as Danar has returned to the prison and escaped with a bunch more super soldiers and headed to the capital. Picard agrees to help but instead just beams down himself and a few other support crew including Troi. The captain is able to keep Danar from killing everybody but insists that it is the Angosians problem and if they work it out well the Federation would be happy to accept them.
Review: This is a mostly action episode and it works well for that purpose. We get to see parts of the ship we haven't seen before as he uses access hatches and Jefferey's tubes move about. Being able to have life signs the Enterprise can't detect is a bit of a stretch, but it is really the only gimme in the episode so that's fine.
7 out of 10
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
TNG: The Defector
I know I have seen this episode before, but mostly for the pivotal scene at the end. Even having seen it before the reveal of the cloaked Klingon warships surrounding the Romulans is one of those moments I live for. The actor playing the defecting admiral does a really good job, honestly a fair bit better than the recurring character of captain Tomalak who I swear Picard pronounces tomahawk. This episode manages to keep increasing the level of tension until the very end. Even the hidden object Jarok kept in his boot pays off at the very end of the episode while making the audience think maybe they can't trust him much earlier.
The episode opens with Data performing a scene from Henry V in which the king has disguised himself as a common soldier to discover what his men really think about the battle he is about to lead them into. This has the bonus of letting Patrick Stewart perform a few lines from the play in the course of the episode and I am ALWAYS ok with that. Picard and Data both rush to the bridge when the Enterprise receives a message from the Federation that a ship has been detected rushing towards the Romulan neutral zone and that sensors confirm it is a small scout ship. The Enterprise rushes in and finds a scout ship in the neutral zone fleeing from a Bird of Prey that is shooting at it aggressively. After the scout enter Federation territory Picard has the Enterprise shields extended around the scout and the one occupant beamed aboard.
The man on the scout ship demands to see the captain immediately despite his serious injuries. He tells Picard that the Romulans are preparing to start a war with the Federation and have established a large outpost in a strategic planet in the neutral zone. The question is now whether they can trust him. All signs initially point to no: the Bird of Prey slowed down after shooting the scout ship rather than closing and destroying it, Troi determines the Romulan is lying when interogated, and despite being a traitor he refuses to give the Federation any information that might help in the war when it comes. Only Geordi seems to trust him. Picard gives Worf the job of contacting other nearby allies to come the Enterprises aid if necessary. When time is growing short the Romulan reveals he is not a low ranking officer but instead Admiral Jarok who was responsible for the deaths of many Federation citizens in a Romulan raid years earlier. This makes Picard trust him even less, but in the end Jarok gives him valuable information which convinces Picard.
In the end Picard decides he must trust Jarok, especially since a probe from the Enterprise seems to indicate that there is subspace radio traffic coming from the planet in question. They cross into the neutral zone and find the planet empty. Jarok can only figure that he was being tested and fed lies that he Romulans were about to attack. Just as they prepare to leave two Romulan Birds' of Prey decloak and open fire on the Enterprise. They are just firing warning shots though and quickly hail. It is captain Tomalak again and he demands the Enterprise surrender or be destroyed. So Picard has Worf signal the 3 to 5 Klingon Birds of Prey that are surrounding the Romulans to decloak. Tomalak thinks better of it and gets the hell out of there as does the Enterprise. In the end they find Jarok has used the small object in his boot shown earlier to commit suicide leaving a letter to his family.
Review: This episode does a great job of capturing cold war tension of an incident like the Cuban missile crisis in a way that works great in the Trek universe. This is a tight episode and probably my favorite so far this season. Not quite a Borg attack, but pretty darn close!
8 out of 10
The episode opens with Data performing a scene from Henry V in which the king has disguised himself as a common soldier to discover what his men really think about the battle he is about to lead them into. This has the bonus of letting Patrick Stewart perform a few lines from the play in the course of the episode and I am ALWAYS ok with that. Picard and Data both rush to the bridge when the Enterprise receives a message from the Federation that a ship has been detected rushing towards the Romulan neutral zone and that sensors confirm it is a small scout ship. The Enterprise rushes in and finds a scout ship in the neutral zone fleeing from a Bird of Prey that is shooting at it aggressively. After the scout enter Federation territory Picard has the Enterprise shields extended around the scout and the one occupant beamed aboard.
The man on the scout ship demands to see the captain immediately despite his serious injuries. He tells Picard that the Romulans are preparing to start a war with the Federation and have established a large outpost in a strategic planet in the neutral zone. The question is now whether they can trust him. All signs initially point to no: the Bird of Prey slowed down after shooting the scout ship rather than closing and destroying it, Troi determines the Romulan is lying when interogated, and despite being a traitor he refuses to give the Federation any information that might help in the war when it comes. Only Geordi seems to trust him. Picard gives Worf the job of contacting other nearby allies to come the Enterprises aid if necessary. When time is growing short the Romulan reveals he is not a low ranking officer but instead Admiral Jarok who was responsible for the deaths of many Federation citizens in a Romulan raid years earlier. This makes Picard trust him even less, but in the end Jarok gives him valuable information which convinces Picard.
In the end Picard decides he must trust Jarok, especially since a probe from the Enterprise seems to indicate that there is subspace radio traffic coming from the planet in question. They cross into the neutral zone and find the planet empty. Jarok can only figure that he was being tested and fed lies that he Romulans were about to attack. Just as they prepare to leave two Romulan Birds' of Prey decloak and open fire on the Enterprise. They are just firing warning shots though and quickly hail. It is captain Tomalak again and he demands the Enterprise surrender or be destroyed. So Picard has Worf signal the 3 to 5 Klingon Birds of Prey that are surrounding the Romulans to decloak. Tomalak thinks better of it and gets the hell out of there as does the Enterprise. In the end they find Jarok has used the small object in his boot shown earlier to commit suicide leaving a letter to his family.
Review: This episode does a great job of capturing cold war tension of an incident like the Cuban missile crisis in a way that works great in the Trek universe. This is a tight episode and probably my favorite so far this season. Not quite a Borg attack, but pretty darn close!
8 out of 10
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
TNG: The Vengeance Factor
Now this is another episode that could have just as easily been a TOS episode, but not in a bad way. The Vengeance Factor is a bit simplified compared to how these disputes usually take place, but it doesn't exactly end with all the loose ends tied up which is honestly a lot more realistic than a lot of episodes. Following right up on the episode where Troi falls in love with a stranger new to the ship who turns out to not be what he appears I guess I should have figured this would be a bit similar. The twist of Riker having to actually kill his lover was more intense than I expected and was a dramatic way to end the episode.
The episode opens with Riker beaming into a very green, very wrecked place with an away team. It turns out to be a federation outpost that went silent recently. It has been stripped of valuables and the only survivors are badly injured from being repeatedly stunned. There is also alien blood that could have only come from one race, a race divided between a civilized faction living on the surface of their homeworld and a group of outlaws know as, "the Gatherers," who wander the area raiding and pillaging. Picard decides the Acamarians themselves must end this conflict and takes it upon himself to tell their leader so. Marouk, sovereign of the Acamarians isn't excited about negotiating with the Gatherers, but with some prodding from Picard agrees to try with his help. Her servants beam aboard to aide her on the voyage including her personal chef who Riker takes notice of immediately. She agrees to cook him some authentic Acamarian cuisine if you know what I mean.
Marouk guides the Enterprise to a system suspected of having a Gatherer outpost. Riker leads an away team down and they find lots of stolen goods, and an ambush! After fighting back the Gatherers Riker pretends to retreat only to ambush them. The local Gatherer leader agrees to meet with the sovereign to discuss their readmission onto Acamarian society. While negotiations are ongoing the chef, Yuta, sneaks off and kills one of the Gatherers with an unknown substance. When his body is found Dr. Crusher beams down to try and help, but it is too late. The Gatherer leader Brull agrees to travel on the Enterprise to meet with the head of all Gatherers on his ship. While they are en route Yuta comes to Rikers quarters, but after some kissing things go wrong when Riker learns Yuta is unable to experience love or pleasure. This is interuped by a red alert and Riker heads to the bridge.
The ship is under fire from the Gatherer ship which refuses to answer hails. However they are totally outgunned and the Enterprise knocks out their shields with one shot. The head Gatherer agrees to negotiate after Picard beams over with Marouk. Things aren't going well, but the Gatherers do seem genuinely interested in rejoining society. Back on the ship Dr. Crusher has acquired the records from Acamaria and has found a tailored microvirus is what killed the Gatherer. She also learns it has been used before and when a picture is brought up of the victim Yuta is with him. exactly the same age as she appears now even though the assassination took place 52 years earlier. Riker beams down to the negotiations just as Yuta tries to kill the Gatherer leader. She explains his clan killed all but 5 members of her clan over 100 years earlier and she was modified to not age to allow her to kill all the members of the clan that massacred her own. When she proves immune to stun setting and keeps trying Riker is forced to shoot her at full power and kills her.
Review: This is a much better executed story than last nights episode. Not one that will be long remembered in the canon, but an enjoyable episode to watch. Some of the Gatherers overact a bit, but they are essentially space pirates so I am willing to put up with a fair bit of that.
6 out of 10
The episode opens with Riker beaming into a very green, very wrecked place with an away team. It turns out to be a federation outpost that went silent recently. It has been stripped of valuables and the only survivors are badly injured from being repeatedly stunned. There is also alien blood that could have only come from one race, a race divided between a civilized faction living on the surface of their homeworld and a group of outlaws know as, "the Gatherers," who wander the area raiding and pillaging. Picard decides the Acamarians themselves must end this conflict and takes it upon himself to tell their leader so. Marouk, sovereign of the Acamarians isn't excited about negotiating with the Gatherers, but with some prodding from Picard agrees to try with his help. Her servants beam aboard to aide her on the voyage including her personal chef who Riker takes notice of immediately. She agrees to cook him some authentic Acamarian cuisine if you know what I mean.
Marouk guides the Enterprise to a system suspected of having a Gatherer outpost. Riker leads an away team down and they find lots of stolen goods, and an ambush! After fighting back the Gatherers Riker pretends to retreat only to ambush them. The local Gatherer leader agrees to meet with the sovereign to discuss their readmission onto Acamarian society. While negotiations are ongoing the chef, Yuta, sneaks off and kills one of the Gatherers with an unknown substance. When his body is found Dr. Crusher beams down to try and help, but it is too late. The Gatherer leader Brull agrees to travel on the Enterprise to meet with the head of all Gatherers on his ship. While they are en route Yuta comes to Rikers quarters, but after some kissing things go wrong when Riker learns Yuta is unable to experience love or pleasure. This is interuped by a red alert and Riker heads to the bridge.
The ship is under fire from the Gatherer ship which refuses to answer hails. However they are totally outgunned and the Enterprise knocks out their shields with one shot. The head Gatherer agrees to negotiate after Picard beams over with Marouk. Things aren't going well, but the Gatherers do seem genuinely interested in rejoining society. Back on the ship Dr. Crusher has acquired the records from Acamaria and has found a tailored microvirus is what killed the Gatherer. She also learns it has been used before and when a picture is brought up of the victim Yuta is with him. exactly the same age as she appears now even though the assassination took place 52 years earlier. Riker beams down to the negotiations just as Yuta tries to kill the Gatherer leader. She explains his clan killed all but 5 members of her clan over 100 years earlier and she was modified to not age to allow her to kill all the members of the clan that massacred her own. When she proves immune to stun setting and keeps trying Riker is forced to shoot her at full power and kills her.
Review: This is a much better executed story than last nights episode. Not one that will be long remembered in the canon, but an enjoyable episode to watch. Some of the Gatherers overact a bit, but they are essentially space pirates so I am willing to put up with a fair bit of that.
6 out of 10
Monday, August 3, 2015
TNG: The Price
This is the most Deanna Troi centered episode so far in TNG and I enjoyed it more than I expected. Even the Ferengi are starting to be a little more tolerable, but they still have a ways to go to become the actually interesting culture they turn into in DS9. Riker is fun to watch negotiating and handling the rival negotiators moves on Deanna. It was kinda obvious the wormhole wasn't going to work out when they kept mentioning over and over that there are no other stable wormholes and I happen to know they are wrong, but it hasn't been discovered near Bajor yet.
The episode begins with Troi checking her mail and trying to get the computer to make her a "real" chocolate sundae. But she is interupted and called to Ten Forward for a diplomatic reception with negotiators representing several worlds trying to win the right to control a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. Troi us bored until she meets Devinoni Ral representing some random aliens I had never heard of before. Troi is immediately fascinated by him and returns to her office after the gathering to look up details on him. Meanwhile just as the negotiations are to begin the Ferengi arrive and demand a seat at the table which they get. On a break Ral stops by Troi's office and starts playing with her hair and flirting until she agrees to meet him for dinner.
Picard and the Federation representative aren't sure about the wormhole and decide to send a shuttlecraft through to make sure it is safe since only unmanned probes have gone in before. Geordi and Data get assigned because who is going to miss them if it isn't safe (also a good hint to the audience that it is since the writers are unlikely to kill of two important characters in such a way). The Ferengi insist on sending a craft of their own. Back in Troi's quarters she and Ral never make it to dinner because they are too busy together in bed. Ral admits to Troi that he is part Betazoid as well and is also empathic, but makes her promise not to tell anyone. And then he goes straight from there to Ten Forward where he uses his power to convince one of the other aliens to back out of the negotiations.
Back on the shuttlecraft Geordi and Data discover they are not in the Gamma Quadrent, they are in the Delta Quadrant, and even worse the wormhole is unstable on this end. Geordi being a good guy tries to warn the Ferengi, but they don't listen and are trapped forever in the Delta Quadrant after the wormhole shifts positions. Back on the Enterprise the Ferengi ship suddenly opens fire on the wormhole but the Enterprise manages to blast the missile before it hits. Ral and the alien representing the planet that owns the wormhole rush to the bridge and Ral announces he has secured the rights to the wormhole and agrees to let the Ferengi have free passage. Troi has had enough and reveals this was a ruse planned by Ral and the Ferengi and unmasks Ral as an empath who has been using his powers to cheat at the dealmaking. Just then Geordi and Data come back and tell everybody the wormhole is useless. Troi and Ral have a tense good by and roll credits.
Review: I am glad the writers were trying to make more out of Troi's character, but having her only serious parts be as romantic material for the male members of the show isn't really taking her seriously. She does stand up for herself in the end and takes control, but I am not sure it is enough to save the episode. The negotiation bits work rather well which is good since it is so much of the episode.
5 out of 10
The episode begins with Troi checking her mail and trying to get the computer to make her a "real" chocolate sundae. But she is interupted and called to Ten Forward for a diplomatic reception with negotiators representing several worlds trying to win the right to control a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. Troi us bored until she meets Devinoni Ral representing some random aliens I had never heard of before. Troi is immediately fascinated by him and returns to her office after the gathering to look up details on him. Meanwhile just as the negotiations are to begin the Ferengi arrive and demand a seat at the table which they get. On a break Ral stops by Troi's office and starts playing with her hair and flirting until she agrees to meet him for dinner.
Picard and the Federation representative aren't sure about the wormhole and decide to send a shuttlecraft through to make sure it is safe since only unmanned probes have gone in before. Geordi and Data get assigned because who is going to miss them if it isn't safe (also a good hint to the audience that it is since the writers are unlikely to kill of two important characters in such a way). The Ferengi insist on sending a craft of their own. Back in Troi's quarters she and Ral never make it to dinner because they are too busy together in bed. Ral admits to Troi that he is part Betazoid as well and is also empathic, but makes her promise not to tell anyone. And then he goes straight from there to Ten Forward where he uses his power to convince one of the other aliens to back out of the negotiations.
Back on the shuttlecraft Geordi and Data discover they are not in the Gamma Quadrent, they are in the Delta Quadrant, and even worse the wormhole is unstable on this end. Geordi being a good guy tries to warn the Ferengi, but they don't listen and are trapped forever in the Delta Quadrant after the wormhole shifts positions. Back on the Enterprise the Ferengi ship suddenly opens fire on the wormhole but the Enterprise manages to blast the missile before it hits. Ral and the alien representing the planet that owns the wormhole rush to the bridge and Ral announces he has secured the rights to the wormhole and agrees to let the Ferengi have free passage. Troi has had enough and reveals this was a ruse planned by Ral and the Ferengi and unmasks Ral as an empath who has been using his powers to cheat at the dealmaking. Just then Geordi and Data come back and tell everybody the wormhole is useless. Troi and Ral have a tense good by and roll credits.
Review: I am glad the writers were trying to make more out of Troi's character, but having her only serious parts be as romantic material for the male members of the show isn't really taking her seriously. She does stand up for herself in the end and takes control, but I am not sure it is enough to save the episode. The negotiation bits work rather well which is good since it is so much of the episode.
5 out of 10
Sunday, August 2, 2015
TNG: The Enemy
Two Geordicentric episodes on a row! And unlike last nights mixed bag this Geordi performance works. Also, I am somewhat surprised Gene was willing to allow the plot about Worf refusing to give his blood to save the dying Romulan. I mean, they did kill his parents and the Romulan in question refuses to allow, "Klingon filth," into his bloodstream so I guess it makes sense, but it still seems to conflict with the Roddenberry vision of a more perfect future.
While responding to a distress signal from the Romulan neutral zone the Enterprise watches a small craft fall to the surface of the inhospitable, but technically habitable planet Galorndon Core. Riker, Worf and Geordi beam down to investigate and find the debris from a Romulan vessel, which destroyed after it crashed. Their communicators and tricorders aren't working so they spread out to search visually. Worf finds a Romulan survivor and calls over Riker. Just then Geordi tumbles down a hole. Riker looks for him but their window to get off the planet is closing so they beam out leaving Geordi behind.
The Romulan is badly hurt and claims to have been alone on the planet. Geordi wakes up at the bottom of a hole and for some reason makes metal spikes to help him climb out. Back on the bridge Wesley comes up with a plan to send a neutrino pulse beacon to the surface which Geordi's visor can see and he can modify to signal he has found it. Geordi spots the beacon quickly, but is attacked by another Romulan. Bochra, the Romulan who attacked Geordi isn't in good shape, the planet damages neural synapses he he isn't doing well. He spends a while refusing to help, but eventually after Geordi can't interface with the visor any more he helps modify the tricorder to link to the visor the find the beacon.
Back on the ship a Romulan bird of prey is demanding the Romulan survivor and when the Enterprise doesn't bring him quickly enough they cross over the neutral zone and head for Galorndon Core. Dr. Crusher discovers that only Worf has some vital cell parts that will save the Romulan's life, but Worf hates them too much for killing his parents to give any blood. The Romulan dies and the bird of prey arrives. Just as they are about to open fire on the Enterprise for, "killing their officer," Geordi signals that they have found the beacon and Data detects that he isn't alone. The Romulans let them beam both of them to the Enterprise and Picard agrees to turn over Bochra. They all still hate each other, but at least they have managed to work together.
Review: This is a pretty standard TNG episode, not mind blowing, but without major flaws. The story of two men from oposite sides of a war trapped together has been done before, but it is well done here. Also Picard's showdown the the Romulan war ship is suitably intense.
7 out of 10
While responding to a distress signal from the Romulan neutral zone the Enterprise watches a small craft fall to the surface of the inhospitable, but technically habitable planet Galorndon Core. Riker, Worf and Geordi beam down to investigate and find the debris from a Romulan vessel, which destroyed after it crashed. Their communicators and tricorders aren't working so they spread out to search visually. Worf finds a Romulan survivor and calls over Riker. Just then Geordi tumbles down a hole. Riker looks for him but their window to get off the planet is closing so they beam out leaving Geordi behind.
The Romulan is badly hurt and claims to have been alone on the planet. Geordi wakes up at the bottom of a hole and for some reason makes metal spikes to help him climb out. Back on the bridge Wesley comes up with a plan to send a neutrino pulse beacon to the surface which Geordi's visor can see and he can modify to signal he has found it. Geordi spots the beacon quickly, but is attacked by another Romulan. Bochra, the Romulan who attacked Geordi isn't in good shape, the planet damages neural synapses he he isn't doing well. He spends a while refusing to help, but eventually after Geordi can't interface with the visor any more he helps modify the tricorder to link to the visor the find the beacon.
Back on the ship a Romulan bird of prey is demanding the Romulan survivor and when the Enterprise doesn't bring him quickly enough they cross over the neutral zone and head for Galorndon Core. Dr. Crusher discovers that only Worf has some vital cell parts that will save the Romulan's life, but Worf hates them too much for killing his parents to give any blood. The Romulan dies and the bird of prey arrives. Just as they are about to open fire on the Enterprise for, "killing their officer," Geordi signals that they have found the beacon and Data detects that he isn't alone. The Romulans let them beam both of them to the Enterprise and Picard agrees to turn over Bochra. They all still hate each other, but at least they have managed to work together.
Review: This is a pretty standard TNG episode, not mind blowing, but without major flaws. The story of two men from oposite sides of a war trapped together has been done before, but it is well done here. Also Picard's showdown the the Romulan war ship is suitably intense.
7 out of 10
TNG: Booby Trap
I knew in the back of my head there was an episode where Geordi fell in love with a holodeck character, but I had forgotten most of the details. But as soon as he ran into the name Leah Brahms I knew this was going to be an interesting one. I vaguely recall that they eventually return to this particular fascination of his for an even worse episode, but it certainly makes for some of the worse parts of this episode. It is especially obnoxious because allegedly the basis of his relationship with this holodeck recreation of a real woman is her ability to understand and work with him to fix the engines. But that turns out to be a red herring and in the end his suggestion is to not let the computer do and and just brute force their way out with inertia. Also, this is probably the closest Trek has ever come to understanding inertia as it would work on outer space. For some reason they can't figure out that you don't need constant thrust to stay in orbit despite that being the definition of in orbit.</rant>
The episode begins with Geordi on a hot holodeck date with a woman on the crew and despite his sweet gypsy violin player on the beach holodeck moves she isn't interested in him. On the bridge the ship is busy exploring an asteroid field that is maybe supposed to be the debris from a destroyed planet or something? There is a lot of talk about this being all that is left of two races that wiped each other out, but it doesn't really explain what the mean by that. They discover an intact battle cruiser and Picard is filled with archeological joy at the prospect of exploring such a relic. Over Rikers objections he beams down with Data and Worf and they have a fun time exploring and finding the old ships logs. But back on the ship there are strange things happening with the ships power.
Back on the ship Geordi goes and talks to Guinan, but even she can't help him with his lady troubles, but she does at least give him the classic advice about trying to be himself. Back on the bridge the power drain is getting worse and when they try to fly out of there they learn they have lost power to the engines. They have fallen into the same ancient booby trap that doomed the battle cruiser. With three hours of power until they lose shields and die of space radiation Geordi is tasked with solving the energy problem so he starts studying how the engines work or something? This leads him to the audio logs of a female engineer who did most of the design work on the Enterprise reactor and engines. Through a classic Trek holodeck BS move the computer somehow decides Geordi has instructed in to make a physical simulation of the designer, Dr. Leah Brahms.
Geordi of course falls in love with her, but it is essentially just her image so he has to computer make a simulation of her based on psychological profiles and other personal data it seems like it shouldn't just let him have access to and the two of them spend hours fighting/flirting about the engines. For some reason Picard decides to try and shoot their way out, but just as Data predicted the energy eating trap just eats the phaser energy leaving them even weaker. The thing with Geordi and Brahms goes on way too long and eventually doesn't matter because the solution turns out to be just shoot the engines for a second and then turn it all off and use momentum to drift out of the trap. Picard has to maneuver with thrusters because he is a badass and they end by destroying the trap and the battle cruiser.
Review: I liked the story about the ship being trapped a lot more than the subplot about a nerd falling in love with his computer. Sure, Kirk loved the enterprise, but he didn't love the Enterprise. Geordi ends his part of the episode in a kiss with the simulation of Dr. Brahms and then, "end program."
6 out of 10
The episode begins with Geordi on a hot holodeck date with a woman on the crew and despite his sweet gypsy violin player on the beach holodeck moves she isn't interested in him. On the bridge the ship is busy exploring an asteroid field that is maybe supposed to be the debris from a destroyed planet or something? There is a lot of talk about this being all that is left of two races that wiped each other out, but it doesn't really explain what the mean by that. They discover an intact battle cruiser and Picard is filled with archeological joy at the prospect of exploring such a relic. Over Rikers objections he beams down with Data and Worf and they have a fun time exploring and finding the old ships logs. But back on the ship there are strange things happening with the ships power.
Back on the ship Geordi goes and talks to Guinan, but even she can't help him with his lady troubles, but she does at least give him the classic advice about trying to be himself. Back on the bridge the power drain is getting worse and when they try to fly out of there they learn they have lost power to the engines. They have fallen into the same ancient booby trap that doomed the battle cruiser. With three hours of power until they lose shields and die of space radiation Geordi is tasked with solving the energy problem so he starts studying how the engines work or something? This leads him to the audio logs of a female engineer who did most of the design work on the Enterprise reactor and engines. Through a classic Trek holodeck BS move the computer somehow decides Geordi has instructed in to make a physical simulation of the designer, Dr. Leah Brahms.
Geordi of course falls in love with her, but it is essentially just her image so he has to computer make a simulation of her based on psychological profiles and other personal data it seems like it shouldn't just let him have access to and the two of them spend hours fighting/flirting about the engines. For some reason Picard decides to try and shoot their way out, but just as Data predicted the energy eating trap just eats the phaser energy leaving them even weaker. The thing with Geordi and Brahms goes on way too long and eventually doesn't matter because the solution turns out to be just shoot the engines for a second and then turn it all off and use momentum to drift out of the trap. Picard has to maneuver with thrusters because he is a badass and they end by destroying the trap and the battle cruiser.
Review: I liked the story about the ship being trapped a lot more than the subplot about a nerd falling in love with his computer. Sure, Kirk loved the enterprise, but he didn't love the Enterprise. Geordi ends his part of the episode in a kiss with the simulation of Dr. Brahms and then, "end program."
6 out of 10
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