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| My TNG reviews | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 15 Aug 2011, 13:55 (930 Views) | |
| Kevin Thomas Riley | 15 Aug 2011, 13:55 Post #1 |
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Vice Admiral
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So, I just bought a complete DVD box set of TNG. While it's not a favourite, I am a completist. Besides, at just $137 it was dirt cheap. I decided to do some mini-reviews, much like I did with DS9, and like sipovic has done. We'll see how long I can keep it up. Frankly, early TNG was pretty bad. So, here they come... ***** My TNG Reviews Posted Image Season One |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 15 Aug 2011, 13:56 Post #2 |
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Vice Admiral
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1-01-02 Encounter at Farpoint As a Star Trek episode Encounter at Farpoint is pretty bad. Even as a pilot for an entirely, and eagerly awaited, new Trek series it's quite bad. It's surprising that this was able to launch an entire new era of Trek on television. But then again, in the late 80s the TV landscape was a lot different. It's not even that I review this in hindsight, 24 years after the fact, because I remember being underwhelmed by it even back then. And it certainly hasn't aged well. That goes for the entire run of The Next Generation, but especially for its first seasons. The pilot does an adequate job of setting up the characters and universe, but it's a shame that neither is particularly interesting. None of the characters really stick out, with the notable exception of the android Data, even if he's somewhat of a caricature. Patrick Stewart lends a certain gravitas to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but he comes off as something of a stiff. And I cannot get over that the first major action this French captain does is surrender. It is indeed a new generation. The rest are just bland and most of them will never get that interesting, the Klingon Worf another exception. I don't care much for the look either. The new Enterprise 1701-D is more of a luxury liner than a warship/ship of exploration. It even has families on board, which is pretty irresponsible for a ship that routinely engages in armed combat. The "uniforms" are pretty silly looking spandex pajamases, and the less said about the "man skirt" the better. But what about the plot? Well, that too was fairly uninteresting and it was rather obvious that they meshed two plots into one just so they could fill two hours. The Farpoint plot was predictable and the Q plot just annoying. But then again, Q is an annoying character. He grows somewhat over the course of new Trek, but he'll become much too overused. Godlike beings have been a bane of Star Trek ever since the original series. He seems inserted here just so Picard can pontificate about how evolved humanity is in the 24th century. Yawn! If there's one thing I don't care for much in modern Trek, it's this concept of "perfect" human beings, something that goes against everything we know about human nature. It's a pipe dream made up by hippies. It's also a sign that creator Gene Roddenberry had a change of heart as he got older. I prefer the more relatable humans in the original series and Enterprise. But there was one moment that brought a little tear to my eye, and that was the cameo appearance of a very old Admiral McCoy, effectively handing the torch over to the a new crew and a new series. However, I cannot in good conscience give more than a grade of 3- to Encounter at Farpoint, and that's still generous. Since it the first Star Trek on TV in 18 years I give it a little slack - otherwise it would've been just a 2. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-03 The Naked Now It's a bad sign that they had to go and pilfer an old original series episode for their second outing. They even don't bother to hide the fact, actually referencing The Naked Time and its cure. It's even intentional, as a way to showcase the deeper feelings of the characters. Alas, it falls flat because we don't really know any of them at this point. The episode isn't even amusing and it seems all the characters' deeper feelings are sexual (apart from young Wesley) as a whooping six main characters engage in coupling up. I don't know, but it didn't really enlighten me as to what makes them tick. And let me take the opportunity to say how much I despise the Wesley character. He gets them into a deadly mess with his antics that aren't even remotely funny (my namesake Kevin Riley did that a whole lot more entertaining on the original series). And of course the boy wonder is so smart that he gets the ship out of it in the end. Gah! Can you spell Mary Sue? In fact he's so much of a wish fulfilment character for old Gene Roddenberry that he's named after the Great Bird's middle name. I measly grade of 1 to The Naked Now. Posted Image 1-04 Code of Honor This has got to be one of the worst episodes of Trek ever produced. It's totally cringe-inducing and insulting, and perhaps even borderline racist in it's depiction of these black people modelled on some notion of honour in tribal Africa. Nothing much even happens as it just drags on and on, with people talking and talking without revealing much, just so they could stretch the story to fit into an hour. And the less said about the stupid duel fight at the end the better. I'll give a non-grade of zero to this boring and offensive episode. (-) 1-05 Haven The first season of The Next Generation began really badly, and Haven is no exception. I can understand why it was pushed forward in the original airing order. It introduces us to one of the worst, if not the worst, recurring character in all of Trek, namely Deanna Troi's obnoxious mother Lwaxana. And no, even in her first outing she wasn't tolerable. It's obvious she's in Star Trek just because of Majel Barrett Roddenberry's last name. She should've been content as the computer voice. I never liked Deanna to begin with, so I didn't really care that she was being married off, especially since it was a foregone conclusion that she wouldn't be since she's a main, albeit pretty useless, character. And Riker behaved like an annoying emo child. "Waning to be a starship Captain!" Ha, considering he spent seven plus years avoiding becoming just that. The only redeeming thing about this was Mr. Homm, politely thanking Picard for the drinks. A grade of 1+ to this outing. Posted Image 1-06 Where No One Has Gone Before This episode is the first real try by The Next Generation to go on a grander scale - travelling a billion light-years into who knows where - but alas it failed. What we got was some weird alien on an acid trip, spouting new age nonsense about thoughts and time and matter. This could have been a lot more interesting, but it quickly devolved into bizarre hallucinations and funky lights. Not to mention hammering down that annoying child prodigy Wesley Crusher is oh-so-special. To add insult to injury Picard makes this 24th century Mozart an acting ensign. Had I been a real Starfleet officer I'd been pissed as hell about my CO playing favours and putting a child on the bridge, filling a slot that by rights and training should go to, you know, real officers. And I have to roll my eyes at the episode title Where No One Has Gone Before, a sign of the more politically correct era, since saying "man" is deemed too sexist (and probably speciest as well). It's now part of the opening catch phrase as well. I'll give this episode a grade of 2+ on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image 1-07 The Last Outpost Artefacts of an ancient extinct empire sound intriguing, doesn't it? Too bad that they never did much of the Tkon Empire in The Last Outpost. It was just a means of introducing the extremely disappointing new "enemy", the Ferengi. I don't know what the producers were smoking when they thought that people up, but it communicates that they really haven't a clue what real capitalism is like. The Ferengi are a caricature, and a really bad one at that. How anyone would consider them a credible threat is beyond me. Thankfully the producers soon realized that and shifted focus to more believable menaces, like the Borg and the returning Romulans. This episode also exemplifies the unfortunate tendency of 24th century Trek to be not just preachy but also condescending and acting morally superior just because we're so "evolved" compared to the other barbarians like the Ferengi. You know, for a civilisation that prides itself on tolerance, the Federation, and especially the humans, often comes off very intolerant towards those not sufficiently enlightened. Apparently the Rip Van Winkle Tkon gatekeeper agrees in this with Riker after the latter managed to quote Sun Tzu and say profound things like "fear is the greatest enemy". Puh-leeze! And once more, after only seven episodes, we see Picard surrendering unconditionally again. Luckily for him the Ferengi were too daft to notice it. Another grade of 2+ to The Last Outpost. Posted Image Posted Image 1-08 Lonely Among Us This episode contains the by now tired cliché of Alien Possession™ and as such it's fairly standard. Not very good but not overtly bad either. It's just not very interesting. A living lightning bolt inhabits the Enterprise circuitry as well as various crew members, until it reaches Picard. It then, along with Picard, beams itself into the energy cloud from whence it came. The best part of Lonely Among Us was when the senior staff contemplated removing the possessed Captain from command. Too bad they dragged on about it until it was too late. That would have made the episode a lot better. The stupidest part was the sub-plot about two species hostile to each other riding along for a peace conference. It was frankly superfluous since it didn't have anything to do with the main plot, and they were silly to boot. But it allowed Riker et al. to once again tap themselves on their shoulders about how enlightened humans are now that we don't even eat meat from livestock anymore. Sheesh! The resolution was all too convenient and frankly violates established Treknology. Picard's living energy (presumably his "soul") could reintegrate with his body stored in the transporter's pattern buffer after more than an hour. No wonder they never tried that life-saving technique again, since it would amount to introducing virtual immortality. I'll give this a generous grade of 3 out of 10. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 19 Aug 2011, 15:47 Post #3 |
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Vice Admiral
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1-09 Justice Dear God, this episode is all kinds of awful. Easily the worst that The Next Generation has offered until now, and probably ever. Even scantily clad girls (in typical weird 80s big hair) can save this utter dreck. We have peace-loving hedonists with capital punishment for every, even the most trivial, transgressions. And boy wonder Wesley naturally stumbles into it. Considering my feelings for him, I almost wish he had been executed. Then we have an inane interpretation of the sacred Prime Directive that makes no sense. In the end Picard does violate it to save the boy, but not after copious amounts of hand-wrangling and talking where Kirk, a known basher of God-like creatures, would've resolved this in 30 seconds and felt good about it. This is one of the reasons I can't stand the Prime Directive, at least not as the "evolved" Feds of the 24th century have made it to be. A big fat zero grade for Justice. (-) 1-10 The Battle So far The Battle is The Next Generation's best outing, which admittedly isn't saying much. It is a somewhat intriguing mystery to be solved, with Picard's headaches and the return of his old ship, the Stargazer. Even the silly Ferengi fared better here than they did in their first appearance in The Last Outpost. However, it took them way too long to figure out that the headaches and the Ferengi was connected. And how is that no one, let alone Picard himself, failed to recognise the glowing sphere put into his chest? This episode also told you everything you need to know why the Ferengi never could be a credible threat. Making war is seldom, if ever, a profitable affair, and those capitalist caricatures are all about making profit. It's the main reason the Ferengi captain was relieved of command by his first officer. He wasted a fortune on un-Ferengilike petty revenge. I'll give The Battle a grade of 4-. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-11 Hide and Q While John de Lancie is an excellent actor and he really nails the role of Q, I can rarely stand the times he appear on Star Trek, although I must admit that some of the verbal sparring between him and Picard can be fun - in moderation. Hide and Q is no exception. Q is just an annoying trickster playing games with the characters. This time he is for some inexplicable reason interested in Riker, and grants the first officer Q powers. Riker, however, is no Gary Mitchell and thus the whole story failed to grab me. Instead he seems mostly benevolent and gives up his god-like powers. Another way of saying that these humans have "evolved" so much that they don't fall for the temptation. Come on, would anyone seriously decline such an offer! Also, am I a bad person for cheering to myself when Wesley got stabbed to death? And by the way, his ten year older self did not look anything remotely like the adult Wil Wheaton. I give a generous grade of 3- for Hide and Q, thanks mostly to Picard and Q talking Shakespeare. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-12 Too Short a Season This episode had two major themes, both of which could've been an interesting story, but unfortunately both were squandered as they were shoehorned together. First we have the "fountain of youth" theme, but all we got was a guest character agonizing over not being vigorous enough to helm a mission. We mostly see him trying to hide the fact he's taken some alien youth drug. And then we have the story about arming both sides of a conflict resulting in a long devastating war (reminiscent of the original series' A Private Little War). Too bad that all that amounts to some tin pot dictator wanting to exact revenge on Admiral Dorian Gray. The aging makeup for the Admiral was just plain awful. Why is it that they never could do that convincingly on Star Trek, except for the first try in the original series' The Deadly Years? Another grade of 3- to this episode, and that's mostly for the interesting concepts that, alas, failed in execution. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-13 The Big Goodbye I have to admit that I find The Big Goodbye somewhat enjoyable - for first season Next Generation anyway. While the Holodeck Malfunction™ plot would become cliché as modern Trek went on, this was the first instance, so I can't fault it from being a trope originator. The Dixon Hill universe looked very good, and I'm just not talking about Beverly Crusher's attire (Rowr!), and the adventures therein seemed sufficiently pulpy. The episode also touched on the subject of sentience for holograms, something that will become a big part of not just this series but subsequent Treks as well. The b-plot with some never seen aliens wanting Picard to greet them in their native insectoid language was both uninteresting and silly. And I hated that once again it's boy wonder Wes who saves the day. I'll give a 4+ to The Big Goodbye. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-14 Datalore Datalore is the first episode in this series that is quite good. Finally we get to learn about Data's interesting backstory. And we meet his brother Lore. While the concept of an "evil twin" is a bit clichéd, it is put to good use here, even if Lore sometimes was over the top. Brent Spiner totally nailed the dual roles of both Data and Lore. What was lacking was a sufficient motive for Lore. What was his goal anyway? He summoned the Crystalline Entity, but to do what? Feed on the Enterprise crew? What would he do then? Wouldn't it be better for him to just try and infiltrate Federation society? I was also really annoyed that it was boy wonder Wesley who was the only one who noticed the switcheroo, making all the adult crew members look stupid. We're supposed to cheer for him and agree that they were stupid, but all I could do was cheer when first Picard and then Dr. Crusher said "Shut up, Wesley!" I'll give Datalore the middle grade of 5+ on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-15 Angel One Just when you had hoped that they would have run out of god awful story ideas, someone thought up Angel One. A planet run by women with men as second class citizens, with some men planning a revolt, and Riker seducing the lead matriarch who must secretly lust for manly men… Urgh, I can't go on! And we didn't really need Riker to show off his hairy chest, now did we! Another Urgh! Then there was a totally redundant b-plot about some virus almost incapacitating the entire ship, but for some convenient reason Dr. Crusher stayed healthy. At least Wesley didn't save the day. I'll give my third big fat zero this season. Even the intriguing mention of a Romulan threat couldn't elevate it since we never see them. (-) 1-16 11001001 This episode is the first above average episode of The Next Generation. If only the rest of this first season could've had the same standard. 11001001 features an intriguing new species in the Bynars, a people so interconnected to their super-computer that they like and talk in "digitalese". That in itself is a solid science fiction concept and as such a novel one, especially for Star Trek. I can even forgive Riker and Picard for getting too caught up with holo-girl Minuet in a New Orleans jazz bar because she does come off as something different than your average holo-character. A shape of things to come, I wonder, especially since the Bynars now have upgraded the Holodeck as well. And I loved those visuals with the Enterprise entering and docking at the Starbase. It felt very much like the movies featuring the original series' cast. 11001001 gets the first grade of 6+ from me. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 22 Aug 2011, 14:40 Post #4 |
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Vice Admiral
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1-17 Home Soil I actually liked Home Soil, despite it being somewhat derivative of the original series The Devil in the Dark. But it too had a solid hard science fiction premise, both with regards to terraforming and the concept of inorganic life forms. The plot events might not have been the most surprising, but it still kept my attention even through the talky parts. In the end I wondered how this odd life would look in three centuries, when they said we'd be ready for renewed contact. Still, the crystal-like aliens were rather arrogant and I couldn't sympathise with them fully, even if I laughed at them calling us humans "ugly bags of mostly water", and too quick to go to "war". Ironically, the diplomat Picard resolved this through some use of force, even if it was just by dimming the lights. I'll give Home Soil another grade of 6+. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-18 When the Bough Breaks I don't like children on Star Trek, I don't like that the Enterprise-D is populated with children, and I definitely don't like Wesley Crusher. So it's no wonder that I really didn't like this episode. For all I care Wes and the kidnapped children could have remained on Aldea. I never got a sense of real parental concern anyway and the kids must have been drugged for not pulling off any tantrums. Bad acting. Then we're supposed to believe that these people are so lazy, clueless and disinterested that they let their whole lives be guided by a computer they can't even begin to repair if the need would arise. I can give no higher grade than a 1- to When the Bough Breaks. Posted Image 1-19 Coming of Age For an episode centred on Wesley, Coming of Age was surprisingly tolerable, probably because the wonder boy didn't save the ship again. Instead we saw his Starfleet Academy entrance test. While not particularly interesting, it wasn't outright bad either. And we got to see a hot young Vulcan female, which is always a plus. The b-plot featured an irritating investigator prying into the affairs aboard Enterprise, which seemed to go nowhere until the Admiral in charge revealed he had been looking in to see if Picard could be trusted. This sets up the coming episode Conspiracy and is the first attempt at a story arc. Still, it was a bit anti-climactic since Picard declined the offer of heading up the Academy and we never learn what's behind the Admiral's suspicions. In the end, though, I cannot give this a higher grade than 4 out of 10. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-20 Heart of Glory As overused that the Klingons got to later on in modern Trek, this was really the first time they got showcased and we got some idea how Federation-Klingon relations are in the 24th century. And we got a nice backstory into Worf, originally just meant as some background character to let us know that there's now peace between old adversaries. I like it, and I came to like most of the stories dealing with Klingon politics, but then again I'm also a political junkie besides being a Trek fan. Still, I'm more interested in the Romulans. Since Worf was pretty unknown at this juncture, even for his Enterprise crewmates, it worked to play up the factor of whether he would be lured by these Klingon renegades, even if some scenes (like the non-hostage with the child) was a bit too drawn out. Michel Dorn showed that he's one of the best Next Generation actors. And Vaughn Armstrong, in a first of many alien roles, made a good Klingon. I also liked the earlier scenes when they boarding party walked around in a nicely wrecked freighter. Even Picard caught up watching through Geordi's visor plot was amusing. I'll give a grade of 6+ to Heart of Glory. It was almost worth a 7. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-21 The Arsenal of Freedom I suppose they thought this would be a moral story about the evils of peddling weapons, but that mostly fell flat since normally people kills people, but here we have automated weapons that kill its creators. Besides, the plot mostly deals with the away team (how I hate that phrase; what was wrong with "landing party"?) avoiding flying light bulbs. I laughed at Riker's line about commanding the Lollipop - "It's a good ship!" One could almost hear Shirley Temple in the background. What I really liked about this episode was how well LaForge handled himself in the big chair. But I wanted to hit Troi with a shovel for spouting psychobabble to him during battle! Geordi kicking ass was a real treat to watch though. The scenes involving Picard and an injured Dr. Crusher were also nice and understated and probably got the Picard/Crusher shippers' hearts beat a little faster. Apparently this was meant as a love story at first, but Roddenberry changed his mind. The Arsenal of Freedom gets a grade of 4+ from me. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-22 Skin of Evil I can find no redeeming qualities with Skin of Evil, the episode most infamous for killing off Tasha Yar in the most pointless way imaginable. The tar pit monster was just awful, both as a character and as an effects prop. One might applaud the show for depicting a pure evil character, but no, they have to have Troi doing a psychobabble analysis of it and thus it's not really its fault for being a dick. It was created that way and then abandoned. Poor misunderstood Armus! I was never invested much in Tasha, so I didn't mourn much for her going away, and apparently actress Denise Crosby thought the same since she asked to leave the show due to being disappointed about how her character was handled. Can't say I disagree with that. I just wish that they'd gotten rid of the useless Troi instead. Another zero grade for this turd of an episode. (-) 1-23 Symbiosis It's rather insulting that this episode is called Symbiosis since the relationship between the two worlds appears to be more one-sided and parasitic, effectively enslaving their neighbours to drug addicts. Yeah, doing drugs is bad, and I actually agree with the message and Yar's lecture, but really, this is no place for such a heavy-handed public service announcement. That felt so forced and cringe-worthy. Ugh! And I absolutely loathed the Prime Directive as described by Picard here. This is a perversion of how the directive was originally intended. Kirk never allowed compassion and common sense be overruled by some uncompromising diktat, but here we have Picard pontificating about how good it is to leave people to their own devices even if that is bad. I will never subscribe to such an immoral non-interference directive, and that is the biggest beef I have with all modern Trek. Even seeing two Wrath of Khan alums (Merritt Butrick and Judson Scott) couldn't save this episode. I can only give this a grade of 1- Posted Image |
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| sipovic | 24 Aug 2011, 13:10 Post #5 |
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Wow, you squashed 1st season pretty mercilessly (as it deserves btw) and much faster than me. I honestly want to finish my TNG reviews but I don't have enough free time and honestly I hate this show, it's pretty awful even in its later seasons but I try to add my 2 cents anyway. When I'm Looking on all this Trek sites, how TNG and it's cast took more attention than all rest trek shows combined I wonder, may be there is different "TNG" somewhere because I don't get how such bad show get so much fan love? |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 24 Aug 2011, 14:43 Post #6 |
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I think it's because other than old farts like myself, most Trek fans today grew up with TNG. It was "their" Trek and thus have nostalgic feelings towards it. Much like I have such warm feelings to TOS. I think even bad TOS episodes are generally better than bad TNG ones. But then again I'm biased towards TOS. Still, I think that even "objectively" TOS was the better show. Also, when TNG aired, there weren't much else on TV, certainly not in the sci-fi genre. So people watched it if they wanted sci-fi, even if it was lacking. And there wasn't anything to compare it with. |
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| sipovic | 24 Aug 2011, 14:53 Post #7 |
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Oh, I agree TOS is far superior. Watched it after ENT for the first time few years ago and it was awesome (for the most part). Comparing to 1st season of TNG even VOY doesn't look so horrible) |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 24 Aug 2011, 15:03 Post #8 |
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I'm going to dive into VOY later (just bought that DVD set too) and I have a nagging feeling now that it will compare better to TNG. Previously I had the general view that VOY was the worst Trek, but maybe that will be TNG. :confused: |
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| sipovic | 24 Aug 2011, 15:12 Post #9 |
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Oh, horrors of VOY are still pretty fresh in my mind. theyre both bad shows but I would pick it over TNG any day, especially if Jeri Ryan in it :drool: |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 27 Aug 2011, 11:56 Post #10 |
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1-24 We'll Always Have Paris This, the first of many Next Generation outings dealing with time-manipulation, gets overshadowed by a cheesy soap opera plot with Picard's old flame. And neither is particularly interesting. There will be other by far more clever and cool time hiccups on this show. Despite the dire threat of tearing through the very fabric of space time, we never feel any real sense of urgency. And in the end all it took to repair the rift was for Data to put a thermos through some mirrors. There was no chemistry between Picard and his old love Jenice, which should have made Dr. Crusher feel better about her reappearing. And again I had to fight the urge to hit Troi with a shovel for being such a nosy shrink. We'll Always Have Paris gets a grade of 2- from me. Posted Image Posted Image 1-25 Conspiracy Conspiracy could have been much better had they gone with the original intent of having a real human conspiracy within the ranks of Starfleet instead of some never heard of (and never seen again since) alien bugs. Alas, Roddenberry nixed that idea because it was way too un-Trekkian, or at least to un-shiny-happy-24th-century-people-Trekkian, and the episode suffers from it. That makes the alien threat less menacing. There's very little build-up. It's only hinted at in Coming of Age and then we're smack down in the middle of it. This is a storyline that would have benefited with a longer arc, spanning many episodes. Instead it's all resolved in an hour and that's too rushed. The end also sets up for a sequel that we'll never see. Still, I was fairly entertained by it and I liked how Riker fooled the possessed Admirals that he was one of them. And the gory ending was surprising. But I cannot give Conspiracy a higher grade than 6- on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 1-26 The Neutral Zone I think my favourite Trek villains are the Romulans, so this episode ought to have made me a happy camper. Not so, for it amounts to nothing more than having them appear from an extended period of isolationism to say "we're back". They're not even responsible for the destruction of the Federation outposts along the border - that's presumably the yet to be introduced Borg's doing. Sigh, what a disappointment! And the less said about the b-plot the better. It's not even connected to the main story in any meaningful way. Or is the b-plot really the a-story? It gets more screen time at any rate. At the risk of repeating myself, I've come to loathe the holier-than-thou mentality of the humans in the 24th century, and that attitude is painfully evident here. We have some thawed up people from the 20th century and no one is even remotely curious about them (it's telling that two non-humans, Data and Worf, are the ones to beam over to their cryogenic station). Why should they, it's just some barbaric people from the past. Riker even says those people have "no redeeming qualities" and feels no interest in the derelict at all. I guess they're all so enlightened now that they have nothing to learn from the past. That kind of thinking drives me, a history buff, completely batty. The writers try to make it easy enough by making the cryo-people rather uninteresting, except perhaps for the banker, but he's made to be a strawman capitalist. God I hate this condescension Picard et al. exhibits! And here I thought Picard was interested in archaeology, but then again archaeology is about artefacts long buried, not people. He even seems pissed off that the cryo-people, technically dead, had been brought back to life so they can be a personal nuisance to him. What a humanitarian! What compassion! I'll give a grade of 2+ to The Neutral Zone and that's only for because the Rommies are back, and that one of them was played by the great Marc Alaimo, better known as Gul Dukat on DS9. Posted Image Posted Image Season One overview It's safe to say that season one was pretty abysmal, garnering a mere 2.78 (or 3- ) in average rating. Although I haven't graded Voyager yet, I'm pretty certain that its first season will have a much better average. That makes this season the absolute worst of any Trek show. It's a small miracle that it managed to get both renewed and relaunch the entire franchise. It had as many as four episodes which I couldn't give anything other than a zero grade, and there was also a multitude of ones and twos. Only five episodes got an average grade or above, with 6+ being the highest. I could forget the lack of any meaningful action if the scripts hadn't been so boring and the dialogue so dull and uninspiring. I don't mind cerebral stories, but they have to be interesting and challenging. First season Next Generation was rarely that. Add to that characters that were bland and uninteresting, which means their interactions couldn't make up for bad plots. The only characters I found somewhat intriguing were Worf and Data. It's no surprise that they are the non-humans aboard. Roddenberry's idea that there would be no interpersonal conflicts among the supposedly evolved humans of the 24th century effectively stifled any drama. As any writing teacher will tell you, conflicts create drama, and this ban on such conflicts severely constrained the stories you could tell. It also created conflicts (ironically) with the writers since Roddenberry saw fit to do extensive rewrites to their stories to excise any conflicts between the main characters. Classically trained Patrick Stewart made a good Picard, but his character never grabbed me and I was never invested much in his character. Most of the rest, apart from the aforementioned Worf and Data, were pretty interchangeable. Small wonder that Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) asked to leave. I just wish it had been Troi who would have left instead. She was pretty useless, spouting psychobabble when she wasn't stating the obvious. Her presence as the resident shrink on the bridge really dates this show. No wonder we haven't seen any "counsellors" on subsequent Treks. She was absent for a few episodes and I certainly didn't miss her. It only showed that her presence wasn't really needed. And the less said about the annoying Gary Stu Crusher the better. One thing that also hampered the cast was that most of them didn't have a proper function. What exactly were the job descriptions for LaForge or Worf? That would be remedied next season though. Alas, it would take a while until The Next Generation took off. I still have trouble believing that it was the success it once was, despite it not having much competition back in the late eighties. But it hasn't aged well at all. |
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| sipovic | 27 Aug 2011, 22:01 Post #11 |
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One of the thing I hate most about TNG, it never had a big Plot for the whole show or at least something resembling a season story arcs. Enterprise just kinda wonders around looking for problems. Such thing is forgettable for 1966 but not for 1987. Awful habbit from which all trek shows suffer with rare exceptions of some DS9 seasons and 3rd season of ENT. Another thing that amused me , why exactly TNG's Enterprise never had a helmsman? |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 28 Aug 2011, 08:45 Post #12 |
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Even by 1987 it was pretty rare for shows to have story arc. It's not even that common today.
Well, they did have to positions at the front of the bridge called "conn" and "ops". Presumably the conn is the helmsman/navigator post and the other is the indeterminate operations officer. However, I could never really tell the two apart. |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 29 Aug 2011, 13:54 Post #13 |
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Season Two 2-01 The Child If I had any hopes that The Next Generation would improve in its second season, that hope was immediately squashed in the first episode. How could anyone even think that The Child would be a good season opener? I know that there was a persistent writers' strike in Hollywood still going on, and that made them dig out an old script from the aborted Star Trek: Phase II series from the 70s, but couldn't they at least have picked another one? The Child is effectively a rape story, but it's not treated as such. But that's what it is. An alien light being impregnates itself in Troi, and goes through an amazingly fast gestation period and continues growing at an alarming rate after its birth. But all Troi feels is motherly, and the creepy kid-alien was just curious, so it doesn't matter that it violated her. Then he's gone as quickly as he came when he accidentally threatens to have the whole ship infected with some virus they're transporting in the episode's uninteresting b-plot. At least we see some much needed changes in crew assignments. LaForge is made chief engineer, Worf takes Tasha Yar's old job as head of security and Riker grows a beard. Dr. Crusher leaves off-screen to be replaced by grumpy Dr. Pulaski, who will only last one season. Alas, Wesley chooses not to accompany his mother and stays on the Enterprise. And we see a new ship's bar in Ten Forward, a nice addition, and the barkeeper Guinan, a less nice addition since I can rarely stand Whoopi Goldberg. If they already have a shrink, albeit a pretty useless one, in Troi, why the need for an ersatz shrink in Guinan? There was a fan outcry when Gates McFadden left and I can understand that. While her Dr. Crusher wasn't that interesting, she was nice to look at (in fact I think she's the babe of The Next Generation, not Deanna Troi even after Troi gets a much needed wardrobe upgrade here) and she has nice chemistry with Picard, although I never shipped for them. I'm torn about Katherine Pulaski. She does come off as abrasive, but that's the point and in fact makes her more human than the other humans. Still, Pulaski never integrates fully with the rest and that seals her fate when Beverly Crusher eventually returns for season three. The silliness with the skin-tight uniforms for everyone is made evident when they have Pulaski wearing some kind of smock. Apparently her figure wasn't as suited for the unitards. In fact, most people would look dreadful in such outfits and it makes no sense to have them as uniforms. One wonders if only young and well-trained people exist in the future! But I digress. In the end I cannot give The Child anymore than a measly grade of 1+ on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image 2-02 Where Silence Has Lease This episode started off good but the latter half was disappointing. There was the somewhat intriguing mystery about what that "hole" in space was, and the odd faux ship that Riker and Worf beamed onto. But the revelation was just another God-like Being™ and a sadistic one at that. Why must all beings like that be complete dicks? I also found it unbelievable that a starship captain would just order the self-destruct like that, and then calmly retreating to his quarters to listen to some classical music. Another captain, like Kirk, would be livid, and I cannot believe that the crew would agree to that. In fact, faux Troi and faux Data made excellent points perfectly befitting what admittedly little we know of their characters, so I see no reason why Picard would think that would be out of character for them. And I just knew that the poor redshirt at the helm would bite the dust. How transparent! I'll give Where Silence Has Lease a grade of 3+. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-03 Elementary, Dear Data As far as holodeck episodes go, Elementary, Dear Data is not too bad. Data made a nice interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, especially once he learned what the point of such an adventure was. And the London sets were very well realised. It is, however, also one of those Holodeck Malfunction™ episodes that will become such a tired staple of modern Trek. We saw it first in The Big Goodbye and I suppose it would be difficult, not to mention boring, to have an episode dedicated to a perfectly functioning holodeck. Still, one has to wonder why these things are even allowed when they so easily can break down, and why there are no real safeties in place so they can be shut down from the outside, or why there even is a possibility to turn off the safeties so that people can actually be killed. The concept of sentient holograms is indeed intriguing, and will come to its fullest realisation in the Emergency Medical Hologram on Voyager, but really defies belief. The EMH I can accept since he gains self-awareness by virtue of being turned on for a prolonged stretch of time. But Holo-Moriarty gains sentience almost immediately. He even appears to notice the computer arch before LaForge tells it to create an adversary that can even beat Data. Even if we accept that it was LaForge's choice of words that "created" Moriarty, it defies belief that a non-sentient computer could make a holographic character sentient. (Maybe it was just the Bynars' fault?) It was pretty obvious that the writers were trying to re-create the old Spock-McCoy dynamic with Data and Dr. Pulaski. But it failed. Pulaski just came across as bigoted against artificial life forms like Data, and that isn't an endearing quality. But I rather enjoyed this episode, even if I found it hard that Picard would allow such a threat to the safety of his ship to remain "alive" even if Moriarty was just stored in the computer's memory banks. Elementary, Dear Data receives a grade of 6 out of 10 from me. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-04 The Outrageous Okona The only outrageous thing about The Outrageous Okona is how outrageously bad it is. The rogue freighter captain with a heart of gold is an unsuccessful attempt at creating a Han Solo-like character, bedding women left and right (including a young Teri Hatcher). And I can't even begin to care one iota about the star-crossed lovers he's been shuffling back and forth. Mildly better was the b-plot with Data trying to learn what humour is with the aid of Guinan and the holodeck. But why this need right now when we've seen him struggling with humour before? Just because of a chat with Okona? In the end it felt rather sad to see Data realise he still doesn't get humour, and probably never will. It earns its grade of 1+ just for that. Posted Image 2-05 The Schizoid Man There is nothing new or remarkable about The Schizoid Man. We have all seen numerous Trek episodes were characters get possessed by other beings. This time it is Data who becomes the lifeline of the terminally ill but brilliant scientist Ira Graves (wonderfully played by W. Morgan Sheppard). While Spiner did a good, end creepy, interpretation of Graves, I missed Sheppard, who has certain mannerisms and especially a very distinct voice. It was also way to obvious what had happened and Picard and the rest of the crew looked like morons for not figuring it out earlier. Graves-Data wasn't exactly discreet and they knew Graves was a molecular cyberneticist. It was also odd that there was very little seen of Dr. Pulaski, as she has questioned whether Data is more machine than man, a question the episode deals with since Dr. Graves obviously thinks he has the right to use Data's artificial body. But at least we got to see the hot Vulcan doctor Selar (Suzie Plakson, who comes to play Worf's wife later on). I'll give it an average grade of 5- on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-06 Loud as a Whisper A legendary deaf-mute peace negotiator arrives to settle a centuries long war only to find himself hampered when his creepy team of interpreters are killed. It could have been interesting, but Loud as a Whisper is excruciatingly dull. The pacing is glacial with too much exposition. If Riva is so well-known (even Worf has heard of him) then how come no one knows that he has this "chorus"? Well, they have to explain this to the audience, that's why - for half an episode. The other half isn't any better. Now Riva throws a tantrum that it will take a lot of effort to convince he can still be a peacemaker after all. He just has to learn the natives sign language. Colour me unimpressed. Those people don't look like they'd have the patience to do that just so they could speak to a mediator. I can give no more than a 2- out of 10. Posted Image Posted Image 2-07 Unnatural Selection I suppose every sci-fi show has to feature the Rapid Aging Syndrome™ in some form or another, and this is The Next Generation attempt. But the problem is that it has become a cliché and an excuse to put people in bad aging makeup. At least there's just Pulaski that has to suffer through it. Unnatural Selection is, alas, not that interesting. There is a lot of medicobabble and even more technobabble, especially towards the end when they wave the magic transporter wand to purge all infected DNA and return Pulaski to the status quo ante. That's much too convenient and one wonders why someone never thought up such a procedure before for any number of diseases, including aging. Save some DNA from when you're in your prime to use as a filter when you're old and voilà, young again. That's virtual immortality. Another thing that wasn't even mentioned was that the genetically enhanced children they had created on the ironically named Darwin Station were superhuman, even moreso than Khan and his ilk. But that kind of genetic engineering has been outlawed in the Trekverse ever since Khan and the Eugenics Wars, and for good reason. I guess the writers just forgot that when they wrote this episode. I'll give this a generous grade of 3. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image |
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| sipovic | 31 Aug 2011, 06:01 Post #14 |
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During watching "outrageous Okonna" and "The Child" I had a strong desire to poke my eyes out. I honestly don't know what possessed producers to add horrible Pulanski and useless Guinan characters to the cast... Edited by sipovic, 31 Aug 2011, 06:01.
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 31 Aug 2011, 14:16 Post #15 |
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I actually didn't mind Pulaski, but Guinan... ugh! :yuck: |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 6 Sep 2011, 14:54 Post #16 |
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Vice Admiral
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2-08 A Matter of Honour I really liked A Matter of Honour, which is probably the first really standout episode of The Next Generation. We get our first real introduction to the Klingons of this era (the ones in Heart and Glory were renegades) and while they would be overused in modern Trek, I cannot fault them this early. However it did establish the pigheadedness which has made me miss the smarter and more cunning Klingons from the original series, like Koloth and Kor. I cannot imagine them being as obstinate as this captain Kargan, who was just itching for an excuse to fight the Enterprise, was here. But that is tempered by the existence of Brian Thompson's Klag, who eventually formed some sort of friendship with exchange officer Riker. I'm not a big fan of the Riker character, but I must admit that he handled himself perfectly here, with just the right mix of machismo to impress the Klingons and his qualities as a Starfleet officer. I liked the scene in the Klingon mess hall. It established rapport between him and the Klingons as he could give as good as he got, including the attention of the females and the live gagh. It also added depth to the Klingon concept of honour with Klag's disavowed father. Riker was actually very clever in the way he resolved the crisis. I also couldn't help smiling at him ordering Picard to surrender. Heh, I guess he knows his French captain all to well by now… The Benzite exchange officer on the Enterprise was in comparison pretty uninteresting, but I liked that Worf growlingly put him in his place. I'll give my first grade of 7+ to A Matter of Honour. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-09 The Measure of a Man There is a reason why The Measure of a Man is considered a classic episode of Star Trek, and it's because it's just that good and raises some important and fundamental questions about the nature of man, sentience and life. Is Data a person in his own right, or is he just a piece of Starfleet property that could be dismantled and examined without his consent? The episode effectively sets the boundaries for what is considered not just human rights, not just even alien rights, but sentients' rights. A sentient life form, even an artificial one such as an android (and later on, in Voyager, a hologram) has rights as a person. While such life forms are entirely speculative, I can say that would they ever come to be in the real world, this is the view I would subscribe to. It is Trek morals and philosophy at its best. The story is very moving as we see the characters struggling with the implications of their friend Data being considered as a mere thing, and that includes Data himself, who takes an understated - as befitting his persona - and yet firm stand to protect himself and his very life. Picard was very right to come to the conclusion that creating a race of Datas to be used by the Federation would amount to slavery. A bit odd that it took a conversation with Guinan to make him realise what should have been plainly obvious regardless. I get why the need for adversarial drama made Riker an unwilling prosecutor, but it strains belief that he would be forced into that role, even if he did his job to the best of his abilities. Didn't they have any other ranking officers on that space station? It was a bit eerie to see him smile when he found Data's weak spot, only to seconds later realise what it would mean. And he did feel guilty afterwards, but in a touching final scene, Data did forgive him. Another thing that bothered me was that the entire premise of the episode didn't ring true. One would have thought that Starfleet and the Federation had already settled this issue when they allowed Data into their ranks. Why let an undefined thinking machine assume the rank and responsibilities as a Starfleet officer if he wasn't considered being alive with personal rights? I can excuse that because it made this great episode possible, but it brings it down a little. I'll give my first ever grade of 9+ on this show to The Measure of a Man. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-10 The Dauphin What could be less interesting than an episode centred on Wesley Crusher? Why, an episode centred on Wesley Crusher's first romance of course! I suppose The Dauphin was intended as a sweet story, but it didn't move me. Perhaps I'm just a heartless bastard, but I have little interest in teen romances, especially on Trek. The revelation that the girl and her guardian were actually shapeshifters was mildly more interesting, but didn't add anything to the basic plot. And could those furry monster costumes have looked any cheesier? On the original series I wouldn't have minded, but by the late 80s they ought to have been able to do more. Sorry, but a grade of 1+ is all I can muster for The Dauphin. Posted Image 2-11 Contagion I'm a bit of a sucker for Romulans, archaeological science fiction and ancient civilizations so Contagion was right up my ally. Finally we get a story that features the pointy-eared antagonists more prominently, and it could have been more. The ancient Iconians were also intriguing even as extinct species and it made sense to search out their lost technology before the Rommies get a hand on it. Too bad it was in the neutral zone. Less interesting, but still entertaining, was the computer virus infected Enterprise (and Romulan Warbird). The solution was obvious and it's odd that they didn't figure it out until the, all too rushed, end. As any computer literate person knows, when your hard drive is irreparably infected, you wipe it and reinstall from backups. But perhaps that wasn't so well known back in 1989? Or perhaps computers of the 24th century just are that good? (Yeah, right!) There was enough action and suspense to keep the story flowing. It was even funny at times, such as when the systems on both ships kept going down and coming back. Riker also had some good lines, like the, by now, classic: "Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." I wonder what that Iconian station was made of, since even after 200,000 years it looked spotless and the machinery worked perfectly. And why was that particular installation left undamaged when the rest of the planet surface had been completely destroyed? Too bad it had to be destroyed, but we now know where Stargate SG-1 got its inspiration from. I'll give Contagion a grade of 8- on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-12 The Royale What could have been an interesting tale about an old 21st century spaceship was thoroughly squandered in The Royale. Instead we were treated to something akin to a holodeck gone awry where the away team has to finish a "game" from a bad novel set in a fictitious Las Vegas casino. And naturally they have to trust Data's magical proficiency with the dices. The story was almost as bad as the trashy book, and I couldn't help smiling when Troi, of all people, wondered if people really talked like they do in the novel. Like she and the rest of the Enterprise crew are ones to give that kind of criticism! The concept of a lost NASA astronaut from the year 2037 deserved a much better story. That is however a dated reference. Considering what little has happened with the space program, it defies belief that by 2037 we would attempt not just the first, but the third, attempt to travel beyond the solar system. Even more dated is the even in the 24th century unsolvable Fermat's Last Theorem, which was actually solved in the mid-90s. Also, the prop makers got lazy when the adorned the old space suit with the mission patch from the very real Apollo17 mission, complete with the visible names of Cernan, Evans and Schmitt. The Royale gets a grade of 2+ from me. Posted Image Posted Image |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 6 Sep 2011, 14:55 Post #17 |
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Continued because for some reason the board only allows 30 images per post, no matter how small they are... ***** 2-13 Time Squared Time Squared has the advantage of being the first in a long line of time loop and time travel episodes, so it actually feels rather fresh. The story itself is quite good, with an ominous atmosphere of pending doom that is greatly enhanced by a thrilling score by Dennis McCarthy. It's an intriguing mystery to be solved, and we see the characters, particularly Picard, struggling with it and second-guessing themselves. I can understand why Picard is so unsettled, and not just by the appearance of a doppelgänger from six hours in the future, but by the fact that that Picard was the only survivor from a destroyed Enterprise. Picard does adhere to the notion that a captain is the last to leave his ship, and that he'll go down with it if need be. Still, even given that, I was a bit surprised that he shot and killed his future self (although it's not clear if he intended to kill). Heh, who knew the cheese-eating surrender captain had it in him! In the end we're still left with a mystery. What was that apparently sentient energy vortex and why was it out to get Picard? And how did travelling through it solve the crisis? The Riker as a cook scene was intended to show the growing camaraderie between the crew, but residual memories of Chef Riker from Enterprise's awful finale made me not enjoy it on this re-watch. I'll give Time Squared a grade of 7. My, this season's quality really is one big roller coaster! Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-14 The Icarus Factor Nothing much happens in this episode. It doesn't even have a real plot. It might have worked by virtue of the characters, but that's not the case with The Icarus Factor. What we have is long drawn out father and son clash between Riker and his estranged father. Yawn! I'm not a Riker fan to begin with, so I cannot get invested at all in his daddy issues, especially since they're so clichéd and the resolution a foregone conclusion, albeit with some truly atrocious Tron-like gear in a faux martial arts fight. I was also annoyed at Riker for declining the opportunity for a command of his own. That will be the first of many such opportunities, so many in fact that it strains belief. In real life no one stays second-in-command for as long as Riker does before washing out of the service. Any officer with ambition would jump at the chance even if it meant leaving the "flagship of the Federation" (which is a misnomer by the way). The very nature of a serialised television show precludes one of the main characters from leaving, which also makes Riker's decision to stay another suspense-killing foregone conclusion. That doesn't mitigate my criticism of Riker. It effectively washes away the character's displayed machismo and bravado as being nothing more than an outward shell. Commanding is way out of his comfort zone. He likes it best to play second fiddle. I cannot help that this is what destroys his character in the long run. The violent Worf Ascension ritual sub-plot was more interesting, and we saw some nice character moments there as well, even including, gasp, Wesley! But it wasn't enough of that to save this episode. A grade of 2+ is what I can give The Icarus Factor, and that's only because of the Worf story. Otherwise it's a 1. Posted Image Posted Image 2-15 Pen Pals I've made no secret about my intense dislike of the Prime Directive, especially the rigid way it's interpreted in the 24th century, and Pen Pals is the perfect example of why. Here we have Picard once again pontificating about how they shouldn't interfere even if interference means stopping a planetary civilisation from being destroyed. It's only because Data, of all people, has become a "pen pal" with a little girl, Sarjenka, native to the planet that another solution is even considered. Any normal compassionate individual wouldn't hesitate to come to the aid of the planet. Anything else would be committing genocide by omission. But Picard seems more upset that Data has started to communicate with Sarjenka, thus eventually forcing him to try and save the planet, than with the immediate threat of a global catastrophe that would wipe out untold billions. And just watch the cold-hearted bastard on the bridge. He refuses even to make eye contact with Sarjenka! At the end, Picard even has the gall to lecture Data that the supposedly emotionless android has learned a lesson in being human. If anything, it's Data who should have taught Picard such a lesson. The solution was way too neat. After having saved the planet in five seconds, they conveniently wipe Sarjenka's memory of the events, including her friendship with Data. But I have to say that despite how much I despise the immoral arguments for the Prime Directive on display here, it was very moving to see Data and the poor girl here. And I normally don't like kids on Trek. I'll also give kudos to both LaForge and Dr. Pulaski (and admittedly even to Troi) for giving the human and compassionate argument for saving this civilisation. The sub-plot of Wesley's first command was pretty forgettable. No wonder some of his team tried to challenge him. He's a kid with a field commission, whereas they are trained professionals with years of experience. It would grate on me too to have to take orders from the boy wonder. And Riker's advice to Wesley about "what would Picard do" is extremely ill-advised her when Picard is such a callous and heartless s.o.b. I cannot grade Pen Pals very high because of that damn Prime Directive subversion, but I'll give it at least a 3+ because of Data's display of humanity. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 9 Sep 2011, 15:31 Post #18 |
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Vice Admiral
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Isn’t It About Time You Gave Wesley Crusher Another Chance? Um, no! |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 10 Sep 2011, 10:57 Post #19 |
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2-16 Q Who? I wouldn't say that the show kicked into high gear with Q Who? since there are lots of mediocre and bad stuff up ahead, but it introduced the resident villains of this incarnation of Trek, the Borg. Some of their characteristics aren't yet developed, such as assimilation or the ominous line "Resistance is futile", but as a first introduction it's very good indeed. They are scary of a magnitude never encountered before, from their casual indifference towards they crew members to their single-mindedness and awesome power capabilities. No wonder that a collective hive mind is much more menacing than some greedy caricatures of capitalism! It's a pity that they have to throw in Q to be the facilitator of this encounter. The first fifteen minutes or so is entirely devoted to Q and his antics, including a silly confrontation with Guinan. It just feels arbitrary that it was Q throwing a tantrum that led them to the Borg. Since the Borg was already present nearby (the destruction of starbases in the neutral zone) there was no need to hurl the Enterprise two years from the nearest Federation outpost to meet the new enemy. Still, this is the first real good Q episode, but not by virtue of Q's presence. The weakness of Picard's command style is also evident here. He calls just not one, but two, conference meetings while they're staying right next to the Borg cube. The more prudent action would be to get the hell out as soon as possible. Granted the Borg tractor beam could have caught them, but they didn't even try that until it was much too late. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention Ensign Sonya Gomez. Finally someone who felt like a real human being among the crew. I didn't hurt that she was wicked cute as well. Too bad that she'll only be present in one other episode. And if the writers had had any balls to tell a more depressing story hammering down the Borg threat, they should have killed her off with the rest of those unseen 18 people that did suffer such fate. I'll give Q Who? a very strong grade of 8+. Without Q it might have been a 9 or even a 10. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-17 Samaritan Snare Ah, the infamous Pakleds! At least we now know what happens to stupid people in the perfect society of the 24th century. They become scavengers and pirates! I do wonder if there really are dim-witted persons in the Federation. Are they even allowed? But the premise of the episode doesn’t hold water. I cannot believe that such simpletons have the smarts to pull off the stunts that they do. Perhaps with someone like Riker, who doesn't hesitate to send over his chief engineer in five seconds, but with Klingons and Romulans! And the one time when Troi might have proven useful, she's conveniently absent from the bridge so she can't sense that the Pakleds are deceiving them. The other plot with Picard going to have heart surgery was actually the better part, even if it involved Wesley. We got some nice insights to his character with his concern for his image among the crew, not to mention his younger self's bar brawl with Nausicaans that got him the artificial heart. It seems Picard really is the opposite of Kirk. He was rash in his youth but became serious, whereas Kirk was "a stack of books with legs" at the academy, becoming a cowboy when he assumed command. I'll be generous and give Samaritan Snare a grade of 3- out of 10. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-18 Up the Long Ladder This was just two dreadful stories meshed together into one equally dreadful episode. First we have the more technologically backward people getting saved to the Enterprise from solar flares, played for laughs with obnoxious drunken Irish stereotypes. "Sometimes you just have to bow for the absurd" as Picard says while having goats and chickens running around his feet. Um, no! Then suddenly the episode drastically changes theme to deal with cloning. It's such a jarring disconnect. And it's not given the treatment it deserves because there's no time left. What are the ethics of cloning? We see Riker callously destroy the maturing clones of himself and Pulaski with nary an afterthought. At least he's called a murderer by the clone prime minister. Is he? The episode doesn't delve into the issue here, other than Riker spouting some pro-choice buzzwords. But he might as well have been a murderer. A grade of 1+ is all I can give Up the Long Ladder. Posted Image 2-19 Manhunt My God, what a waste of an hour, but that's par the course for any episode featuring Lwaxana Troi. Manhunt is completely pointless. It doesn't have a plot and serves no useful purpose. Do I care that Mommy Troi is in heat? No. Is it even remotely funny that she has her eyes set on poor Jean-Luc? No. Or that she changes her affections to Will Riker and then a hologram - which she doesn't even recognise as hologram despite being on the damn holodeck? No. And it's plainly obvious that the holodeck sequences are mere filler. The episode might have been saved somewhat had they made more out of those fishy alien ambassadors who really were assassins, but they didn't. Pointless. The only redeeming thing was Picard having Data come to bore Lwaxana with his stories about anomalies, brown dwarf stars and whatnot, to save himself from the randy Betazoid. Ugh! A low grade of 1- goes to Manhunt. Posted Image 2-20 The Emissary The Emissary is an episode I quite liked, and that's in no small thanks to the half-Klingon/half-human Federation emissary K'Ehleyr, deliciously played by Suzie Plakson, previously seen as an equally hot Vulcan doctor in The Schizoid Man. She has a Klingon temper but also a more human-like sense of humour. Plus, she looked really good in those catsuits. I actually think she and Worf worked well as a couple. There were some sparks. I was a bit disappointed about their holodeck encounter though. It's presumed they had sex but we see them fully dressed afterwards; Only Worf's sash is lying on the ground. Talk about tiptoeing around what must have been a steamy, wild night of Klingon passion! I also find it hard to believe that Klingons would mate for life after what amounts to a one-night-stand. The plot about a century-old Klingon sleeper ship was just an excuse to get K'Ehleyr to the Enterprise, and that could have been a better story. For a diplomatic envoy, she was single-minded in her recommendation to destroy them on sight. What was the point of sending her along then, and in such a contrived manner? But I liked the ruse at the end, with Worf acting out as the captain of the Enterprise, even if I could see that coming a parsec away. All in all, I'll give The Emissary a grade of 7+ on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image 2-21 Peak Performance They really dropped the ball with Peak Performance, an episode that could have showcased how Starfleet trains and gears up for battle, what with the Borg threat coming and everything. But in the end it amounted to nothing but an ill-conceived jab at people who do know something about military strategy and tactics. One of my pet peeves about modern Trek is the self-delusional notion that Starfleet isn't a military. Picard even says as much, despite having the naval rank of captain and commanding a heavily armed combat vessel (which granted also doubles as a ship of exploration). But guess what, Starfleet is a military! Saying it isn't so only makes a fool of you, and it doesn't fool potential foes. It's just the absurd politically correct view that anything labelled "military" is inherently bad. But if something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. Starfleet could be called the Interstellar Girl Scouts for all I care. It doesn't change the fact that it is a military. It wages war, so it is a military. End of story. But given the misconception about what they are, it's not surprising that they call in an outsider master strategist to conduct a war game. Alas, the chosen venue is utterly pointless, especially since this is no way to train a crew to face the Borg. Why have Riker and 40-odd crew members getting aboard a Starfleet derelict to fight the Enterprise? Riker decides to cheat by using Worf's knowledge to fool the Enterprise computers, and Wesley to steal some anti-matter. Yeah, like that course of action would be open when facing the Borg! Then we have the Ferengi entering from nowhere to mess things up for no good reason. It did however save the exercise from being entirely without merit since it wasn't expected. The only really interesting thing about the episode was Data's moment of self-doubt when he lost a game to the arrogant Zakdorn strategist. But could that game have looked more cheesy, not to mention being horribly misnamed as Strategema (there was nothing strategic about them wiggling their fingers around). But I'll give Peak Performance a grade of 2+ on my 10-graded scale. Posted Image Posted Image 2-22 Shades of Gray You've got to be kidding me!? A freaking clip show! As a season finale to boot! Words fail me! The only (barely) acceptable reason to do a clip show is to show newcomers some essential events that have happened before. No such luck here. The framing device of Riker being infected by some parasite is totally flimsy and just a contrived reason to show some of his memories from the past two seasons as he struggles to beat those parasites. And for some unfathomable reason they decide to mostly show scenes from some of the absolute worst episodes made so far. I cannot give anything than a zero grade to this dreck. There is no excuse for having produced it. None! (-) Season 2 overview The second season of The Next Generation was an improvement over the first. Mind you, that isn't saying much considering how abysmal the first one was. And really, the second season wasn't very good either. It gets a season grade of 3.83, or 4- out of 10, which is still below average. Except for the season finale I didn't give any zero grades. Compare that to the first season which earned a whooping four zeros. Unlike the first season though, this one had a few excellent episodes, notably The Measure of a Man and the introduction the Borg in Q Who? I also liked the some of the Klingon episodes, such as one with the officers' exchange and the one with K'Ehleyr. But it was wildly inconsistent. A great episode could be followed by a truly awful one. By now I've come to accept that modern Trek goes like a roller coaster in quality, but it is annoying. You never know what to expect. On the character front I appreciated the growing development of Worf and Data, the two most interesting crew members. I've realised that I don't care much for Picard. He's smug and sanctimonious and prone to have conference calls too often instead of taking prudent action. And Riker continues his downward slide towards emasculation. Troi is still as useless as ever. As for Wesley, well at least the wonder boy didn't save the ship all the time. I appreciate that LaForge got a regular job, but even as a chief engineer he played second fiddle on technical matters to Data. I surprised myself in liking Dr. Pulaski more than I thought. Her crusty persona made her a more relatable human being. I still miss the sight of Beverly Crusher though, and she will return next season. The Next Generation still has a long way to go. |
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| sipovic | 14 Sep 2011, 08:15 Post #20 |
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Wow, I just compared my TNG grades to yours and they're practically the same, except 2-3 episodes. IMHO, "Measure of Man" was average mostly because of logic lapses and bad timing, although it had nice moments, and I really disliked "Emissary" cause it made little sense and it feel like cheap excuse for Worf's pairing. |
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7:37 AM Jul 11