Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 119 (The First Duty)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Wesley Crusher started out as a regular character during the first few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He seemed to annoy most regular viewers mostly because he as this gifted kid that always did something really smart and saved the day, usually showing up several people that had professional training, such as the chief engineer. Eventually, he left the Enterprise to study at Starfleet Academy.

Here he is, a year or two later, part of the Academy’s flight squad. The Enterprise is arriving for the commencement ceremonies where the flight squad will be performing and Captain Picard will be giving the commencement speech. Before the Enterprise arrives, though, the flight squad is in an accident. Wesley and three others make it with only minor injuries, but one member of the five-person squad dies. The Enterprise arrives in time for the inquiry, which is led by the admiral in charge of the Academy a Vulcan captain.

It turns out that the leader of the flight squad is pushing the rest of the survivors to cover up the truth. They were actually going to perform a stunt that was prohibited by the Academy because it is so dangerous. (The last time it was attempted, no one survived.) Eventually, it comes to light what happened and Picard puts it together. He gives Wesley two choices: Either Wesley can tell the Admiral what happened or Picard will tell the Admiral what happened. Eventually, Wesley chooses to admit what happened. The leader of the squad takes most of the blame for what happened and is expelled; the other three members have the previous year’s credits revoked.

This was the first indication that Wesley Crusher is capable of making a big mistake. It can be hard to live up to the potential that Wesley has. A lot of responsibility and trust is placed on him, not only by the Academy, but also by Picard and the entire crew of the Enterprise. To boot, every person that age wants to fit in. The trouble is that he’s a little too eager to please the leader of the flight squad and is willing to cover up what happened rather than tell the truth and face the consequences. Had Picard not found out and called Wesley on it, the flight squad would have gotten away with it. (I have to wonder how they would have explained it had they gone through with it. Someone might have said something and brought charges against them anyway.)

Someone who hasn’t watched Star Trek: The Next Generation a lot before this episode probably won’t get all of the references. For instance, when Wesley was getting ready to leave for the Academy, he mentioned Boothy, the groundskeeper, who appears in this episode. (He reprises the role in Star Trek: Voyager, where Robert Duncan McNeill stared as Tom Paris, although I don’t recall if they had any scenes together.) It’s still possible to enjoy the episode, but I’d recommend starting at the beginning of the series if you’re planning on watching the entire thing. This is one of those episodes that you really shouldn’t watch out of order.

I give the episode four stars. If I was buying the series on VHS, I’d buy this one. However, if I do buy the series, I’ll probably buy it on DVD.


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 109 (A Matter of Time)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

During the seven-year run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it seemed like The Enterprise was always rushing somewhere. In “A Matter of Time”, the Enterprise is on its way to a planet that’s been hit by an asteroid. The planet is experiencing a nuclear-winter type scenario and millions are at risk. On the way, the Enterprise detects a temporal anomaly. A small ship suddenly appears and the ship gets a strange message asking Captain Picard to move over.

Once Picard moves over, a man beams in. He calls himself Rasmussen and claims to be from the late 26th century. (He says that he’s from 300 years in the future, but if you do the math, it should be somewhere between 200 and 250.) Rasmussen claims that he’s an historian doing research on the Enterprise. Everyone is to carry out his or her business and simply allow Rasmussen to conduct his research. Picard orders Rasmussen’s ship taken aboard so that the Enterprise can continue with its mission.

When they arrive at the planet, tropical rivers are freezing over. Things look grim. The ship tries to create a greenhouse effect by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but that ultimately makes matters worse. There is a plan B, but it’s very risky. Rasmussen’s presence presents Picard with an interesting avenue. He pleads with Rasmussen for some bit of information to help him, but Rasmussen refuses, claiming that he’s not allowed to interfere with what he considers history. At the very least, it’s not obvious why Rasmussen picked this mission.

Picard ultimately makes the correct decision. However, Rasmussen is discovered for what he really is. It turns out that he’s actually from the New Jersey of the 22nd century. Someone from the 26th century visited his area and was discovered by Rasmussen, who stole the ship and took it to the 24th century. He was planning on stealing things so that he could return to the 22nd century and ‘invent’ them. Unfortunately for Rasmussen, he had set his ship for autopilot and it disappears back into the 22nd century without him.

There are a few flaws with the episode. First off, Rasmussen claims that most time-traveling historians are careful about detection, which is true. (It’s been established in the other series.) Why is Rasmussen so obvious about it? Ok. He was obvious because he was a thief, but shouldn’t that have been a red flag for the crew? It’s hard for me to believe that the entire bridge crew could have been taken in so easily.

Actually, why would Rasmussen be so obvious about it? Shouldn’t a thief be more careful about making himself known? The Enterprise is a pretty high-profile target. If I were Rasmussen, I’d probably sneak in to some minor ship while the ship was in spacedock undergoing repairs and had a minimum crew. That way, I could just take stuff and bring it back for further study. If Rasmussen knew enough to find the Enterprise’s location right before a critical mission, he certainly could have identified some of the more significant things like phasers. At the very least, if he knew everyone’s names, then he had to know that there was an empath aboard. If I was going to pick a date, I would have picked one where she was on vacation.

Also, the Enterprise is in a rush to get to the planet, but they wait so that they can sit around and talk to Rasmussen before bringing the ship in. I’ll grant you that it’s a minor point, but I think it would bother me if I was awaiting aid from a starship and the captain was sitting around talking to someone.

The major problem that I had was Rasmussen. The acting was good, but the character was annoying. Think of that kid in middle school that constantly pestered you about petty stuff. We’re talking about the kid that was almost annoying to actually slap. Ever wonder what happened to him? Rasmussen is your answer. He keeps prodding the crew for details. He hits on Dr. Crusher. He even has to beam in right where the captain of the ship is standing. (I’m figuring that he had to do that to make himself feel important or something.)

There was also no follow up to the episode. It would have been interesting to see what happened to Rasmussen. It also would be interesting to see what happened to the time machine. There was an episode similar to this one in Star Trek: Voyager where a man from our time actually does get his hands on technology well past the 24th century. It might have made an interesting tie-in with this episode.

It’s an interesting episode and could be watched by a non-Trek fan without much confusion. For someone watching the series, it could easily be skipped. I wouldn’t recommend skipping it, though. Despite the flaws, it was an entertaining episode. I just think it could have been written a little better. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 33 (Unnatural Selection)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.


Many fans of both Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation noticed that the latter seemed to ‘borrow’ a lot of ideas for episode from the former. This is one of those episodes. The Enterprise comes across a ship that can barely get out a distress signal. By the time the Enterprise gets there, all 26 people onboard are dead. The mysterious part is that the captain was a relatively young man, yet all 26 people have died from old age.

The Enterprise goes back to the other ship’s most recent stop, which is a genetic research center called Darwin Station. Most of the people there are suffering the same fate. The only ones not suffering that fate are genetically engineered children, the oldest of which is twelve. They have some sort of hyper immune system that aggressively protects them against anything. After some investigation, it turns out that the children are the cause. Something about their immune system created an antibody that causes rapid growth in others. It was too late for those on the ship, but those at Darwin Station still have time. It’s a race against the clock to save everyone.

Ok. Once again, I’m going to have to tear apart the writing in this episode. It’s a great concept, but is poorly constructed. The episode basically pits Captain Picard against Dr. Pulaski. Picard is an adamant voice of reason and responsibility while Pulaski wants noting more than to help people. Both come across as a bit of a caricature. Eventually, they find a way to compromise and the day is saved.

That wasn’t my main concern, though. I was really had problems with the technical problems. For instance, the antibody came from the children, but was caused by a disease that someone on the ship was carrying. That means that both groups of people should have been affected simultaneously. Yet, everyone on the ship died first while it doesn’t appear that anyone on the station had died. That would mean that either those on the station were of some race that was more long-lived, such as Vulcan or El-Aurian or that everyone on the station was much younger than those on the ship. I don’t recall either potential explanation being offered.

Also, how is it that the oldest child is 12, yet this is the first time that they’ve ever come in contact with such a problem? Granted, it’s possible that not many people would go to Darwin Station, but this is the first time in 12 years that anyone has brought any disease there? It seems like I can barely go a year without a cold or something.

Speaking of the children, isn’t genetic engineering supposed to be illegal, or at least frowned upon in the 24th century? According to Star Trek history, we had Khan Noonian Singh, who was the result of genetic manipulation of some sort. In Trek’s version of the 1990s, such manipulation was rampant and caused a lot of problems, so it was abandoned. Here, they seem to be doing quite well with it.

One more thing: isn’t Darwin Station a little direct? The main focus of the episode is that science may be pushing us to a point that we’re not ready for yet and that it’s dangerous to do too much at once. In other words, it’s possible to evolve too fast. I guess Darwin is rather ‘appropriate’ here.

I’d have to give the episode three stars. The aging makeup was well done, but that’s noting new. That’s been around since the original series. The acting was also all right. It looks like many of the actors are getting comfortable with their roles and with the new doctor, who is also getting used to her new surroundings. In the end, I can’t recommend it. There are so many other, more-worthy episodes. Unless you get the DVD set, skip it.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 16 (11001001)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

The Enterprise is docked for repairs. It’s a fairly simple procedure, so most of the people onboard have taken the opportunity to go to said starbase and relax, taking advantage of things that a starship can’t provide. Four Bynars, an alien race who are short and work in pairs, are taking care of the upgrades, starting with the holodeck. (The holodeck is capable of creating any three-dimensional representation that the user can think up.) Two of the Bynars decide to show it off to Commander Riker, who calls up a New Orleans jazz club. The only fictional people he conjures up are a band and a woman named Minuet. After a while, Captain Picard joins them. Minuet insists that he stays and Riker doesn’t seem to mind.

Meanwhile, everyone else is going about their business. The other two Bynars are working on the bridge, chattering in a high-speed chatter that is their native language. (When talking in English, they alternate every few words, which shows how dependent they are on each other.) When the space station observes a warp core breach, the ship is evacuated. Everyone except Picard, Riker and the Bynars get off the ship. Picard and Riker don’t seem to hear the sirens and the Bynars are the ones creating the diversion. It causes Data and La Forge to program to ship to go as far away from any inhabited planet as possible. (As soon as the ship is about to clear the station, the problem goes away.)

The Bynars program the ship to go to their home planet, Bynus, and to allow for all of the information in the Bynar’s central computer to be transferred into the Enterprise’s computers. The reason is that their sun is about to go nova and that will wipe out their memory banks. When Picard and Riker realize what’s going on, they leave the holodeck. When they figure out that no one is left on the ship, they try to make it to the bridge, but they find themselves locked out. They have to beam onto the bridge, where they find the four Bynars lying on the floor unconscious. Two of them manage to wake up just long enough to ask for the help of Riker and Picard. (Without their computer, they cannot function on their own.) The Captain and First Officer are able to figure out what to do and save the Bynars. When Commander Riker goes back to find Minuet, she’s gone.

This episode had potential. The Bynars weren’t really that well developed and never appeared in another Next Generation episode. (There was a reference in Star Trek: Enterprise, but that was about it.) I would have liked to learn more about this race. All we know is that they work in pairs and only think in terms of yes or no.

There’s also Minuet. I don’t see why she had to not be there when Riker came back. I think that she would have made for a nice recurring character. I suppose that since she was no longer necessary, the Bynars saw no point in keeping her around. (She did come back for another episode, Future Imperfect, but that’s another story.)

Also, the Bynars got really lucky when Picard decided to stop by the holodeck. Otherwise, Riker would have been the only one that could have saved the Bynars, and they needed two people to work the computers. (Minuet couldn’t leave the holodeck; being a computer-generated image, she had to stay within the holodeck’s confines.)

In terms of the characters, the only weak point was the Bynars. I think most of the problem was that they were supposed to be emotionless characters. What little emotion came through wasn’t enough to really like them. They were acted well, but stood out too much to make the episode truly seamless.

Overall, I give this episode three stars. (Or 11 stars, if you prefer binary.) 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 3 (The Naked Now)

When you think of a cult classic, you tend to think of movies.  It could be argued that Star Trek would be the ultimate cult classic.  It didn’t do that well when it first aired, but it gained enough popularity to spawn at least a dozen movies, hundreds of books and several spin-off series.  Having been born a few years after the original series ended, I’ve always known it as having a cult following.  William Shatner has always been Captain James T. Kirk.

I was in middle school when the first spin-off series premiered.  Set about 70-something years after the original series, it followed the adventures of the crew of a new Enterprise, the Enterprise-D.  The pilot was pretty good, considering that a new TV episode hadn‘t aired for a few decades, but the series went downhill from there, starting with The Naked Now.

The crew of the new Enterprise is responding to a research vessel, the SS Tsiolkovsky.  (The ship’s plaque shows the name as К. Э. Циолковский.)  The crew is having, as one officer puts it, a “blowout”.  Just then, what appears to be a hull breach exposes that part of the ship to space.  An away team finds the crew frozen.  Some are naked on a couch.  Another is fully dressed in the shower.

When the away team beams back, Geordi La Forge starts complaining how hot it is.  He’s uncharacteristically angry and aggressive.  Also, he seems to be sweating a lot.  Noting is physically wrong with any of the away team, but Dr. Crusher orders La Forge to be quarantined in sickbay, which consists of La Forge lying in a bed.  He later walks out of sickbay.  (Yes, he just gets up and walks out.)

What he has isn’t, strictly speaking, an infection.  It’s the same thing as the original-series episode The Naked Time.  Water molecules have chained together so as to make the affected person appear drunk.  The affliction is spread by touch and soon affects a good chunk of the crew, making them all drunk, apparently regardless of species.  It even affects the android, Lt. Cmdr. Data.  (How does an android even get drunk?)

Even the teenaged boy, Wesley Crusher, is affected.  Being that I was about that age when the show first aired, it never occurred to me just how annoying he was.  This episode was a pretty good example of how annoying and unrealistic the character could be.  Early in the episode, he shows La Forge two inventions.  One is a handheld tractor/repulsor beam that he can use to pick stuff up.  The other is a playback device that makes it seem that the Captain is giving orders.  Wesley can use this to pretend he’s a member of the bridge crew.  Both of these inventions are important to the episode.  Neither is ever mentioned again.

Wesley is able to take over engineering by having the chief engineer and assistant chief engineer report to different parts of the ship.  He then uses the repulsor beam as a force field to lock out almost everyone else.  It would almost be funny if the ship wasn’t right next to a collapsing star.  Fortunately, Wesley is able to save the day.  This earns the Captain’s respect, putting him that much closer to actually getting on the bridge.

The thing that strikes me most is that the episode is such an outright copy of The Naked Time.  Of all the non-original-series episodes, this is the only one that stands out as being a blatant rip-off.  I include Voyager’s Faces in this statement.  This isn’t to say that the spin-off series never did this.  It’s just that other attempts were much better  They had some original content.  For this to be done so early in the series was a bad sign.  Yes, there was a good deal of continuity, but at what cost?

I could see this being a good episode if they had waited until the show was more established and had made some changes to the plot.  The relationship between Data and Tasha Yar would have made more sense.  I could see this even being a decent season finale with a little work.   Wesley’s device to mimic Captain Picard, for instance, was a bit stalkerish and only served as a blatant McGuffin.  You could at least put some more effort into giving Welsey his chance to strike.  Maybe have some buildup and introduce the repulsor beam a few episodes earlier.  This could have even made a good tie-in to the original series.

The episode ended up being typical of a lot of the early episodes.  You have a major catastrophe coupled with a high degree of urgency due to another possible catastrophe.  A running joke was that the holodeck would not only malfunction a lot, but might also trap a character inside when they were needed for something important.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the end of the series.  Counting the series pilot and series finale each as double episodes, we ended up with 178 over seven seasons.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the third season that it really started to pick up.  This isn’t to say that you’d have 45 episodes to watch after this before things got good.  There were a few high points in the first two seasons.  This just wasn’t one of them.

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