Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 148 (Suspicions)

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

The episode begins with Dr. Crusher packing. Guinan comes in, asking for some medical assistance. (For those that don’t watch regularly, Guinan runs a lounge called Ten Forward.) Unfortunately, Dr. Crusher has been relieved of duty and is on her way to a starbase for a hearing.

The first two thirds of the episode is spent in retrospect as Dr. Crusher tells Guinan what happened. The story begins with Dr. Reyga, a Ferengi scientist, wanting to test something called metaphasic shielding. It’s supposed to let a ship fly into a corona of a star. Others have tried and failed, but Dr. Reyga believes that he’s done it. Dr. Crusher invites several others, all experts in the field, to meet Dr. Reyga and to witness a test. One of the other scientists volunteers to fly the shuttle.

All goes well until the scientist appears to collapse. Fortunately, the shuttle is able to make it out, but the scientist is dead. A study of the body reveals that there wasn’t possibly enough radiation to kill someone, but she’s never actually met the pilot’s race before. After studying the ship, no one can figure out what went wrong. Dr. Reyga is insistent that the shielding must have worked. He’s can’t understand what could have happened.

Then, Dr. Reyga turns up dead. Dr. Crusher doesn’t think that it’s suicide. After asking around, she can’t figure out who did it. She wants to do an autopsy, but the family won’t allow it. Seeing no alternative, Crusher performs the autopsy anyway and finds nothing; that’s what gets her dismissed.

Guinan pushes Dr. Crusher to go a little further. Dr. Crusher eventually figures out that there is sabotage involved and that the shielding does work. To prove it, she takes the shuttle into the sun and succeeds. That’s when the real killer is revealed. There’s no real point in spoiling it for you. You’ll have to watch it to see who it is.

I have only one major question: What is it about Dr. Crusher’s personality that wouldn’t let her let Worf handle the investigation? I realize that Dr. Reyga was her friend, but medical doctors don’t normally go around asking questions about a murder. Also, Dr. Crusher shouldn’t have been performing an autopsy on a friend. Even if the family did allow it, she should have gotten someone more detached from the situation to do it. The fact that she couldn’t ask anyone should have told her not to do it.

I also tend not to like episodes or movies that are told in retrospect. I don’t think that it’s necessary in most cases and uses the storytelling scenes as filler. In many cases, it also tends to ruin the story. You spend the entire time wondering how a character got where they are and if the next mistake is the one that derailed them. Since there is more of a story after Guinan’s visit to Dr. Crusher, nothing is spoiled. It also is important to the storyline. Dr. Crusher needs to tell the story to someone so that they can give her the necessary push to get things going. Granted, Dr. Crusher could have gotten a visit from Guinan in the middle of the episode, but why have her in just one scene? It would have robbed the viewer of Whoopi Goldberg’s performance as Guinan.

Overall, I give this episode three stars. It’s a good story, even if it’s not a great one.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 127 (Time's Arrow: Part 2)

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

I should warn you that I’m going to reveal details in this review that will probably ruin the story of both this episode and the one before it. If you choose to proceed, don’t blame me for ruining the surprise.

Since the end of the third season, Star Trek: The Next Generation has been doing cliffhangers where the end of one season was the first part and the beginning of the next season was the second part. Time’s Arrow II opens the sixth season of The Next Generation, picking up where part one left off. To recap, Data’s head was found beneath San Francisco, despite the fact that an intact Data was alive and well in the 24th century. He was sent back by a freak accident, which the mysterious Guinan seems to know something about. This is because Data was able to locate Guinan in the19th century. Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Counselor Troi, Dr. Crusher and Chief Engineer La Forge go back to the 19th century to find him.

And so the new season begins. Picard, Riker, Troi, Crusher and La Forge have a room, but apparently can’t afford to pay rent. (They all seem to have clothes, even though the entered the era in their uniforms. For some unexplained reason, Riker has a policeman’s uniform.) Crusher has discovered that the aliens are using a cholera epidemic as cover for their attempts to steal human neural energy. The aliens feed off the neural energy and apparently can’t find a substitute for it.

The rescue team (Picard and company) manages to chase off the two aliens, which attracts Data’s attention. A police officer delays the rescue team long enough for Data to get there and join up with them. From there, it’s a matter of figuring out how to use the aliens’ device to get home. When they do accidentally activate the device, it splits Data into two pieces. His head remains in the cave in the 19th century and the rest of his body is sent back to the 24th century. Riker, Troi, La Forge and Crusher go back to the 24th century; Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) follows them; once back on Devidia II, they beam back up to the Enterprise and try to fix Data. Picard stays with Guinan in San Francisco.

While La Forge puts Data back together and attempts to get him working again, Riker tries to figure out a way to get Picard home. He’s given a way to get there, but only one person will be able to return. Clemens offers a solution. Since he’s supposed to be in the 19th century anyway, he’ll go back so that Picard can return home. We’re given another last-minute save here. Picard gets back to Devidia II just as modified weapons destroy the aliens’ lair permanently. Clemens helps an injured Guinan, but leaves a gun, his watch and Data’s head in the cave beneath San Francisco.

It’s an interesting episode that reminds me of “City on the Edge of Forever” from The Original Series, in which Kirk and Spock have to go after Dr. McCoy. The trouble is that Part I had a nice setup, but Part II was a letdown. We had all of this mystery about Data’s head and about Guinan. This episode was just kind of like, “Ok. Here’s what happened” and doesn’t really do much beyond that. There are some funny moments, like learning that the bellboy at Data’s hotel is actually Jack London and that Twain’s breaking into Data’s room allows Twain the opportunity to tell London to become a writer. We also get to see that Guinan is over 500 years old and also that from this episode on, Data’s head will have 500 years on the rest of his body.

There was a lot of explanation missing. For instance, how did the rescue party get clothing? As I said, they didn’t take it from the Enterprise. I’d be very interested to find out how Riker got a policeman’s uniform. Also, although no exact time frame is stated, they’ve apparently been there for several days. Do they have several sets of clothing? If not, how do they wash their clothes? They also managed to come across several copies of Shakespeare’s plays, yet paying rent is difficult. Data at least had the poker money.

On a similar note, after returning to the Enterprise with Twain, Troi escorts him around the ship. She beams back up with her 19th-century clothes, but at some point changes into her regular clothes. There was no mention of her stopping in her quarters to change.

While in the cave in the 19th century, Picard manages to enter a code into Data’s head that will (hopefully) allow Data to warn Commander Riker not to use unmodified photon torpedoes. How does Picard know where or how to enter the message?

I know that I beat up on a lot of the episodes, but this one had its share of bad moments. Alone, I’d have to give this episode three stars. The only reason that I do recommend it is that I recommended the first episode. It’s too bad that you can’t buy both episodes on one tape. You really can’t buy one and not buy the other and as I said in the review of Part I, you can’t get them as part of the same season set. You might be able to find a deal on eBay or half.com if you’re lucky, but I wouldn’t recommend buying this episode without the other.


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The Truth Is in the Stars (2017)

Star Trek is ubiquitous.  Between the original series, four spin-off series and two sets of movies, you’d be hard pressed to find an adult who hasn’t at least heard of it.  William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original series, hosts a documentary on the effects the TV shows and movies have had on society.

It starts with Ben Stiller, who shows off his collection of Trek memorabilia.  A few of the items were props from the original series.  From there, we get interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, who played Guinan, and Jason Alexander, who had a guest appearance on Voyager.  Seth McFarlane and Neil deGrasse Tyson are also interviewed.  Things like the science of the show and the cultural impact are discussed, but not really in depth.  Shatner is shown talking with various people for a few minutes each.  His big goal, though, is to meet Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University.

The documentary is kind of light.  It’s more a way of briefly describing the show’s influence.  This isn’t the kind of thing that a hard-core fan would look to for behind-the-scenes stuff.  I don’t want to call it a long fluff piece.  It is entertaining to watch, but there are a lot of Star Trek documentaries out there.  This isn’t even the first one I’ve seen hosted by William Shatner.  It does seem to take a meandering approach to the interview with Hawking, which was also only a few minutes.

I do feel that the documentary could have done more with certain things.  There are a lot of interviews during the documentary’s 85 minutes.  It might have been more interesting to stick to cultural influences.  With Hawking as the main interview, we even could have had scientific advances that were derived from the show.  In addition to Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku are interviewed.  Both are known as science communicators.

I found the documentary streaming on Netflix.  This is exactly the kind of thing I’d recommend streaming.  Most people will be able to enjoy the movie, but I don’t think that there’s going to be a lot of replay value for the majority of viewers.  I liked the documentary, but this isn’t the kind of thing where I came away with any new insights into the show.  It’s more like a documentary made for those that haven’t watched every episode of all of the series.  It’s like you liked the show, but you’re not looking for some new bit of trivia.  If you can get it streaming, go for it.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 126 (Time's Arrow: Part 1)

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

The Enterprise is called back to Earth. Captain Picard and Data are called down to an archaeological site, where they're shown several artifacts, including a watch. Picard knows that these things can't possible warrant calling Starfleet's flagship all the way back to Earth. That's when they're shown something utterly amazing: Data's head. It had apparently been sitting there for 500 years, despite the fact that it's still attached to the rest of Data. At some point, presumably in the near future, Data will go back in time and be 'killed' in such a way that his head is left below San Francisco in the 1890s. From this point on, everyone is conscious of Data's presence, abruptly ending conversations when he appears.

Chief Engineer La Forge is able to find a microbe that can be traced back to a planet called Devidia II. The ship goes there to find a cave; upon beaming down, Counselor Troi, an empath, senses a great many people and they're all afraid. There also seem to be aliens who are out of phase with normal time, meaning that they can't be seen, even if the phase shift is only by a few seconds. Captain Picard is reluctant to send Data down for fear that this will be what sends him back in time, but Data's presence is necessary to be able to see the aliens. He's able to phase himself so that he's in sync with the aliens. Using a delay mechanism, Data is able to communicate with the ship and the rest of the landing party, but loses contact after a minute or two. Data finds himself on the streets of San Francisco and the landing party is left to assume what happened.

Data manages to find his way to a hotel, but doesn't have the money to pay rent. Data gets lucky when he finds out that there's a poker game going on. He sells his badge, which has gold in it, for three dollars and cleans out the rest of the players. (If one of the other players sounds familiar, imagine him as a Cardassian. The one doing most of the talking is Gul Dukat.) Data is able to set himself up in one of the rooms so that he can try to figure out how to get back.

Back on the Enterprise, Guinan seems to know what's going on. She had overheard Data before the accident and seemed to know what was going to happen. (Her connection is revealed when Data sees Guinan's picture in a newspaper.) Guinan tells Picard that he has to join the away team; history depends on it. Picard joins the away team. The episode ends with Picard, Dr. Crusher, Commander Riker, La Forge and Troi entering a temporal rift to go after Data.

It was a great episode overall. There were only two problems that I had with it. First, no one seems to notice Data just appearing on the street. The street was somewhat crowded and while not certain, I'd say that it's probable that someone would see him materialize. The second point is that Data has to lie several times during the episode. First, he tells someone that he's a Frenchman. He later tells someone that he's an inventor. Granted, he can't tell someone what he really is or why he's there, but I thought Data wasn't supposed to be able lie. It looks like the writers had to conveniently forget about this for the episode.

Overall, it's a four-star episode. The acting was good and we got to see Jerry Hardin return to the series, this time as Samuel Clemens. (He had appeared in the first-season episode, "When The Bough Breaks".) It's also interesting to see Guinan in the 19th-century setting. Her relationship with Picard has always been a little mysterious, although the two characters won't interact with each other in the 19th century until the next episode.

The only trouble is that you'll have to buy a separate DVD set to watch the conclusion if you're not using streaming.  This will be the last episode of the fifth season with the next episode being the first one of the sixth-season set. I'd recommend the episode, but I though it fair to include this information in the review.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 123 (I, Borg)

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

Think of the one person in this world that you hate the most. Think of the person that you despise beyond any other person on the planet. What would you do if you were driving down the street one day and you saw them just laying there dying? Would you take them to the hospital or would you just leave them there?

When scouting for planets to colonize, the Enterprise comes across a Borg drone. The Borg are a ‘race’ of cybernetic beings that assimilate entire cultures. Guinan, the ship’s bartender, lost most of her people to the Borg. Those that remain are scattered among the galaxy. Captain Picard was himself assimilated and used to fight against the Federation. Both of these people have very strong objections to taking the drone aboard. Picard would just as well leave the drone to die. However, Dr. Crusher can’t bring herself to just run off without doing something.

Against his better judgment, Picard allows the drone to be brought to a holding cell for treatment. Guinan isn’t too happy about it when she finds out. It’s a very dangerous call. Both Picard and Guinan know full well what he’s capable of. The one drone could very easily assimilate (or at least cause the assimilation of) everyone on the ship. However, Picard is a man with a plan. He realizes that once brought back to the collective, the drone could be used as a Trojan horse that would introduce a virus that would spread throughout the Borg’s collective consciousness and cause their ultimate destruction.

The problem comes down to being able to see the forest for the trees in a very literal sense. The Borg don’t see individuals. One drone is the same as any other; any drone is simply part of the collective mind. To use a drone to introduce a virus is like taking a cell out of your body to study and then introduce some disease into your body. However, the drone starts to become self-aware. He goes from having the designation (Third of Five) to having a name (Hugh). Eventually, people start to see Hugh as a person. Even Guinan and Picard are swayed. The drone even goes from referring himself as ‘we’ to referring to himself as ‘I’ in Picard’s presence. Picard allows Hugh the choice of remaining on the Enterprise, but Hugh realizes that the Borg will know that he’s missing. The Enterprise will never be safe as long as Hugh is there. He must return to the Collective.

Choice is a tricky thing. This is the first attempt in the Star Trek universe to actively try to wipe out the Borg in one swoop, although it won’t be the last. Picard is set to destroy the Borg because the Borg are so set on destroying entire civilizations. However, Picard is forced to deal with the ethics when only when he is able to look at Hugh as a person rather than in instrument of the Borg. By trying to wipe out the Borg, we are no worse than they are. Normally, I would have found Dr. Crusher annoying in this episode, but she came across more as someone who was determined to see the drone as a patient. Despite what she may feel about them, Hugh was still a potential patient.

Someone that hasn’t seen the series up to this point won’t really understand much of what’s happened to Picard and Guinan. Not much has been said about Guinan’s race up to this point. We know that she despises the Borg. (The only other race that she holds any ill will towards is the Q, but that’s another set of episodes entirely.) Picard’s assimilation was the subject of the cliffhanger that ended the third season and began the fourth. It was a horrible experience for Picard, who almost didn’t make it back. At the very least, you should watch those two episodes before watching this one.

This won’t be the last time we hear from Hugh. The consequences of the events in this episode will come up again in a later episode titled “Descent”. I had heard that there was supposed to be another episode after that, but that never came to be.

This episode gets four stars. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 122 (Imaginary Friend)

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

It’s amazing how often the Enterprise finds trouble. Occasionally, trouble finds the Enterprise, but the Enterprise is usually putting itself in harm’s way. In this case, the Enterprise is exploring a strange part of the galaxy. Some mysterious energy-based life form comes on board and starts scanning equipment and crew members. It comes across Clara, a child who’s working in the ship’s arboretum. The life form scans her and finds Isabella, Clara’s imaginary friend. (Clara’s developed an imaginary friend as a result of her father, an ensign in Starfleet, moving around a lot.) The life form takes on the appearance of Isabella to interact with Clara. She seems surprised to actually see Isabella at first, but eventually accepts it.

Isabella prods Clara to do things that she shouldn’t do in hopes of finding out more about the ship. Isabella makes a habit of disappearing when adults are around, the only exception being Worf. (The two literally run into him in one of the ship’s corridors.) Clara finds a lot of resistance from adults, the only exception being Guinan. (Guinan runs Ten-Forward.) When Clara enters, Guinan welcomes her and Isabella.

The ship is experiencing drag, which they can’t explain. Eventually, Chief Science Officer Data and Chief Engineer La Forge find a web that’s normally invisible, but that seems to be reacting to the shields and keeping the ship from moving at the speed that it should be.

It isn’t long before the two stories come together. It turns out that the life form impersonating Isabella is trying to decide if the crew of the Enterprise should live or die. The net is an attempt by others of her species to drain energy from the ship. Eventually, Captain Picard talks to Isabella and the two come to an understanding. Isabella realizes that there’s more to the Federation than what a child sees and Picard decides to release some energy for the life forms to feed on.

The episode primarily seems to deal with life as a military brat. It’s not easy having a parent that moves around every couple of years. Clara’s father even talks to La Forge about it. (Both of La Forge’s parents served in Starfleet.) Troi tells Clara’s father that Isabella will ‘go away’ when Clara makes friends. (Troi and everyone else keep dealing with Isabella as imaginary until Isabella eventually attacks Troi.) Isabella, played by Shay Astar, comes across as very creepy. Isabella had very little apparent emotion, even Clara pointed out that she never smiled. It was a great acting job.

Overall, the episode was good until the end, when it came off as being a little too preachy. It seems like I’ve been using that word about too many episodes, and in such a short period of time, but Picard basically lectures Isabella on why a child’s perspective is skewed and how it isn’t fair to judge the ship’s crew based solely on that.

I have to go with three stars on this one. Had it not been for the ending, I would have gone with four. I think that the writers could have done a little better with it. 

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Star Trek The Next Generation - Episode 103 (Ensign Ro)

There are some problems that no one wants to really acknowledge, even in the Star Trek universe.  The Bajorans, for instance, were displaced when the Cardassians annexed Bajor.  When a Federation colony is attacked and the attackers claim to be Bajoran, the U.S.S. Enterprise is sent in to Get Orta, who seems to be the guy responsible.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal.  You go in, this Orta guy and hope he agrees to go back to a settlement camp.  Picard is authorized to use any diplomatic tool at his disposal.  The bridge crew takes exception to the fact that an Ensign Ro is being transferred to the Enterprise, as per Admiral Kennelly’s orders. 

What’s the big deal, you might ask?  It turns out that Ensign Ro was ostensibly responsible for an incident on the U.S.S. Wellington.  Eight people died and she didn’t contest responsibility at her court martial.  Thus, she was sent to prison; Kennelly got her out and reinstated her for this mission, as having a Bajoran along would seem like a good idea.  Ro isn’t that keen on being there, herself, but her alternative was staying in prison.

Ro butts heads with the rest of the crew.  The good news is that she befriends the ship’s bartender, Guinan.  The bad news is that she beams down to a planet without running it through the ship’s chain of command first.  This gets her confined to quarters, at least until Guinan comes to her aid.

Guinan is very good when it comes to judging people.  She can tell that Ro is in the middle of a personal crisis.  You see,  Ro did have authorization to go down…from Admiral Kennelly.  She wasn’t circumventing chain of command at all.  What she was doing was offering to supply Orta.  At least, that’s what her mission was.  She never made the offer as Orta looks suspiciously innocent in all of this.  There’s no way any of his ships could have reached the Federation colony.  So, what’s really going on here and who can Ro trust?

Some episodes of Star Trek were subtle.  You had to work out the meaning, but it was there.  Some were more obvious.  Here, we have the Bajorans representing displaced cultures.  There seem to be two main theories on how to deal with the issue.  The United Federation of Planets officially keeps the Bajorans at arms length.  Some have been admitted to Starfleet, but it’s not really any of their business.  Whatever happens is between the Cardassians and the Bajorans.

Unofficially, there are those in Starfleet that would have no problem arming one side under the table.  This is part of what conflicts Ro.  She had to watch her people suffer at the hands of the Cardassians.  Who wouldn’t want to help get weapons into their hands?  Then again, she knows that what she’s doing is less than morally or legally right if she has to go sneaking around to do it.

On the other hand, if Ro is the unwilling puppet of Kennelly, then Kennelly is the unwitting puppet of the Cardassians.  They staged the whole thing to get the Federation involved and he fell for it.  He knew it was wrong.  He even pulled someone out of prison who had the right history rather than go with another Bajoran who hadn’t been court-martialed.  Both Kennelly and Ro were the perfect people to have their strings pulled.

This episode would go on to serve as the basis for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Some of the facts would change, but Michelle Forbes was approached to reprise her role and become the stations executive officer.  She turned the role down, claiming she didn’t want to commit to a television role at the time.  A few years later, she joined the cast of Homicide: Life on the Street.  I found it odd at the time, but it’s possible that the timing wasn’t right.

One thing I noticed in this episode is that all of the men in this episode seem to be against Ro.  Only Dr. Crusher, Troi and Guinan, all women, seem to be willing to approach her.  All of the male officers go on about how she has no right to wear the uniform. Coincidence?  Maybe.  It was just something that I noticed.



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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 99 (In Theory)

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

The Original Series had a Vulcan named Spock as the outsider looking in at humanity, denying that part of himself. The Next Generation had an android named Data as an outsider looking in at humanity wondering if he could ever achieve that. “In Theory” is Data’s attempt at romance.

He and Lieutenant Jenna D’Sora are working on illuminating a dark-matter nebula. Lt. D’Sora is just out of a bad relationship and appreciates Data’s help in keeping her from going back. It isn’t long before the two are start to think of themselves as a couple. Meanwhile, strange things start happening. Data’s cat Spot gets out of his quarters and things fall through tables. It becomes a problem when someone falls through a floor and is killed when they become stuck between decks. (For some, this might prove to be a gross-out moment.)

Data figures out that the dark matter is causing ‘normal’ matter to phase in and out. This was the good part of the episode. The trouble with the episode is that it isn’t as easy for Data to figure out romance. The relationship didn’t really work for several reasons. First, Data wasn’t really trying to get into a relationship; he was being himself and Lt. D’Sora couldn’t get enough of it. She was misreading his behavior as interest. Also, Data very often incorrectly read the situation, himself. He would start yelling at Lt. D’Sora, thinking they were having a lover’s quarrel. (This was a particularly painful scene; I think it was too far out of character for Data.) It was ultimately a rebound relationship on Lt. D’Sora’s part and, as a result, wasn’t likely to work out anyway. The whole thing didn’t seem like a real relationship. It was more like it was a way for Data to be involved in a human activity.

Although there were several times that Data spoke of the possibility of a relationship, this is his only actual attempt at one. (There was that incident with Lt. Yar, but that’s another story.) I think the aspect of Data in a relationship could have been handled much better. This episode wouldn’t have been so bad if Data had at least tried it again and gotten better, but the entire story like is so out of place and mishandled that I really can’t give this episode more than two stars.

It isn’t even the acting. The episode was well acted and well directed, but was poorly written. Not even the other story line can bring it up past that. Don’t buy this episode. If it comes on TV or if you get the season on DVD, watch it, but it’s not worth paying $3 for the rental.


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 91 (Night Terrors)

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


There are some episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation where I wonder if someone lost a bet.  I’m not saying that the episode was horrible.  I’m also not saying that each of the 178 episodes has to be great.  It’s just that you know at some point, they were falling behind and desperately needed a script.  Night Terrors should not have ever seen the light of day.

The story begins with the Enterprise finding the USS Brittain.  (Yes, that’s how it’s spelled.)  It’s been missing for about a month.  When an away team beams over, they find most of the 34 on board dead.  There’s one survivor:  a science advisor named Andrus Hagan.  He’s catatonic and not saying much.  Interestingly, he’s a Betazoid.  The Enterprise’s counselor is half Betazoid.  Coincidence?  Probably, but it will be important later on in the story.

From what the good Doctor Crusher can tell, the other 33 people killed each other or committed suicide.  There are no apparent reasons, like disease or poisoning.  Everyone just suddenly went crazy.  The mystery of the Brittain is so interesting that no one notices that everyone’s not getting any sleep.  Well, almost everyone.  Data is unaffected, being an android that doesn’t need sleep.  Troi, on the other hand, is sleeping.

Not only is Troi sleeping, she’s having nightmares.  She’s floating towards two points of light.  A mysterious, disembodied voice is going on about a moon and two eyes in the dark.  She tries to ask what the blazes they’re talking about, but she can’t get an answer out of them.  They just keep going on about a moon in the dark.

By the time anyone realizes that there might be a danger in most of the crew not getting any sleep, it’s too late.  The ship is caught in what they call a Tyken’s rift, which drains power from the ship.  It was named for a captain that figured out that a large-enough explosion would get the ship out of the rift.  The thing is no one ever talked about sleep deprivation, hallucinations or nightmares associated with a Tyken’s rift.  This is something else entirely.

When Hagen finally does start talking, he mentions something about eyes and moons and orbits and stuff.  Troi realizes that there must be another ship caught in the rift.  They must somehow be sending out a telepathic message that’s received by Betazoids, but interfering with the sleep cycles of any other humanoid that sleeps.

The two eyes must be the binary stars they’re close to.  But what’s this crap about one moon orbiting?  It takes some work, but Troi and Data realize that it might be hydrogen, the most common (and volatile) element in the universe.  Since it’s a distress call, it would stand to reason that they’re asking for hydrogen to be released, which the Enterprise does.  It takes a moment, but the aliens hold up their end of the bargain and a large explosion frees both ships.  We’re left to assume that someone will be back for the Brittain.

I didn’t particularly care for the episode when it first aired.  Now that I know more, I’m better equipped to pick apart the episode.  First off, isn’t it odd that each of the Federation ships had exactly one person on board that could receive the telepathic transmission?  You’d think that there would be a few more Betazoids on board.  Add to this that most of the rest of the crew can’t sleep because they’re on a different brainwave set.  Data is immune purely by luck of not needing sleep.  All other people on board started going crazy after ten days.  Interesting.

Oh, and did the aliens know that Betazoids used that frequency?  I suppose it could be something common to telepaths.  I suppose the aliens may have simply assumed that all humanoids operated on that REM frequency.  I have to wonder if the aliens were monitoring the Enterprise or if it was some sort of automated transmission.  If not, it would have been cruel to continuing transmitting knowing the effect it was having on most of the people.  (An automated transmission kind of makes sense.  The Brittain was there for a month and the aliens would have been there longer.  It’s possible that they went into suspended animation to conserve life support and food.)

Speaking of the transmission, the only reason I can think of for using riddles is to draw out the episode.  It would have been way too easy to have the aliens just say what they needed the Enterprise to do.  (“Smithers, release the hydrogen.”)  Instead, they go with this one-moon thing.  Don’t say, well they didn’t know if we knew what hydrogen was.  Any race capable of space travel should know what hydrogen is.  We used hydrogen and oxygen as rocket fuel.  If a science advisor didn’t pick up on it, what hope does Troi have?

In the end, everyone just goes their separate ways.  We don’t hear what happens to the aliens.  No one from the Enterprise asks the aliens about their method of communication.  It isn’t even shown if the Brittain was destroyed in the explosion.  The episode has no replay value.  Don’t buy this on VHS.  Even if you get the DVD set, you may want to consider skipping this episode unless you’re set on watching all the episodes. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 90 (Galaxy's Child)

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

It’s always amazed me how one ship could get into so much trouble practically every week for seven seasons.  It seemed like the Enterprise was getting the snot kicked out of it by some alien race or the crew was trying to get out of some bizarre trap.  In the third season, the crew found itself ensnared in an ancient alien booby trap.  Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge managed to get out of it by recreating the woman who designed the ship, Leah Brahms.  It was a pretty ingenious move, even if it should have taken a lot of energy.

In Galaxy’s Child, the real Leah Brahms comes on board to inspect the ship.  Geordi is asked if he’d like to greet her, which he eagerly accepts, expecting her to be like his holographic recreation.  Right off the bat, she’s rude and dismissive.  Two things should be evident:  Geordi is going to fail miserably at getting her to like him and, at some point after his accepting and acknowledging said failure, she’ll find the holodeck program and it won‘t look good.

Geordi comes off kind of like a stalker.  Because of the holodeck program, he knows things, like her favorite dish and design upgrades for the next class of ship.  After a series of awkward scenes of the two of them interacting, Brahms lets Geordi in on a little secret.  She’s married.  She has no idea how he missed it, but there it is.  Talk about embarrassing.  How could he have missed that?

Before Geordi can go off and sulk, the ship gets into some trouble.  The Enterprise encountered a space-dwelling life form that attacked the ship.  (Not a life form in a ship -- a life form that is as big as a ship.)  The Enterprise managed to kill the creature with minimum phasers, but discovered that the creature was pregnant.  Just as quickly as the crew can dub it Junior, the baby creature attaches itself to the ships hull and starts draining energy.

Captain Picard isn’t too keen on playing wet nurse, but he doesn’t have much of a choice.  He was willing to abandon the creature and only now realizes how defenseless it is.  It’s up to Geordi and Leah to come together, find a solution and maybe bond a little.  When all is said and done, they both have a laugh about it and Leah is on her way.

Several things occurred to me while watching this episode.  The first of which was how unlikely it is that an alien would live in space like this.  How could something evolve in the vacuum of space?  Is there really that much material between the planets?  Also consider how long it takes us to go between planets.  It takes us several days to get to the moon.  How long would it take an alien to move between orbits?  What if one of those things got too close to the gravity well of a planet?  Most importantly, how does a species overcome all these issues, only to be killed by the lowest setting of phasers, especially when it has a similar capacity?

I also noticed how quickly Picard got over the death of the alien mother.  When I say briefly, we’re talking a moment before and a moment after what was the commercial break.  Granted, it would have seemed much longer when aired on TV, but it is a very short time.  I know we don’t want to see the crew moping around, but they do at least try to redeem themselves by saving the baby.  Speaking of which, they were pretty quick to leave.  I realize that there aren’t really any space hospitals where they can just leave Junior on the doorstep, but still…

On a similar note, I find it odd that Junior was able to feed off the ship at all.  Wouldn’t it seem more likely that it would electrocute itself?  How embarrassing would that have been?  Instead, it drains power and basically cries out when the crew tries to dislodge it.  That’s when we get an angry mob of space-dwelling aliens, minus the torches and pitchforks.  (How do those things move in the vacuum of space, anyway?)

My biggest issue with the episode is that it’s one long, slow train wreck for Geordi.  Every interaction with Leah is her berating him and asking what kind of idiot would make these kinds of modifications.  He’s trying to be Mr. Happy and she’s beating him over the head with every little detail she finds.  And yes, she does find the holodeck program and watches the whole thing.  (Why the heck did Geordi save a recording of it?  I think she had a right to be upset about that one, personally.)

I’d say don’t buy this episode on VHS.  Put your money towards the season set.  There’s limited replay value and it’s not particularly good.  I hate episodes where it’s one bad break for a character after another.  Then again, that’s just me. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 88 (Clues)

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

WARNING:  I’m going to give away major details including the ending.  This will probably ruin the episode if you haven’t seen it, but it wasn’t a particularly good episode to begin with.  Read at your own risk.


When you have a TV show that spans 7 seasons and 178 episodes, you’re going to have a few good episodes that stand up to the test of time.  Everything comes together to make something that’s memorable and can be watched over and over again.  Sadly, this isn’t one of those episodes.

The Enterprise is going about its business when it comes across a nice looking planet.  While the crew is investigating it, a wormhole appears and sucks the ship through, depositing it about a day’s journey in a few seconds.  Most of the crew is knocked out.  The only exception is Lt. Cmdr. Data, an android.  He tells the crew that they were out for thirty seconds.  At his insistence, a probe is launched.  (The original suggestion is to go back, but Data doesn’t seem to want that to happen.)

Over the course of the next day or two, people begin to notice strange things.  Lt. Worf’s arm is broken.  Dr. Crusher’s Dromedian scarlet moss has grown an entire day over those missing 30 seconds.  The probe sends back a totally different planet than the one initially observed.  Data tries to tell lie and fails miserably at it.  The more Data is pressed on the issue, the clearer it becomes that he’s holding something back and that he’s not going to tell.

Eventually, the ship goes back to investigate despite Data’s protests.  However, without any explanations, Capt. Picard has no alternative.  He needs answers which Data isn’t giving.  When they arrive, they find the planet that they initially came in contact as well as a race of aliens that are extremely xenophobic.  They call themselves the Paxans.

Usually, they stun any approaching crew and move the ship far enough off that no one returns.  Data presents a problem as his positronic brain wasn’t affected.  He revives the crew before the ship can be moved, necessitating the revelation of the aliens, who reluctantly agree to wipe the memories of the crew and continue with their plan, trusting that Data will take their secret to his eventual grave.  Picard tells the aliens that they made mistakes and that this should count as a practice run.  The aliens agree to try again, this time successfully.

The reason this episode has limited replay value is that once you know the secret, there’s little point in watching it again.  I only watched it to see if I didn’t remember anything.  I spent the entire 45 minutes knowing how it was going to end.  The first time around, there is some mystery as to why Data’s acting so peculiar.  Once you know, it’s just a matter of the story playing out.

There were a few things I wondered.  Part of the problem in passing off the cover story was 24 hours passing in 30 seconds.  I’d imagine that the imaginary wormhole was supposed to deposit the crew a day later, but this was never clearly explained.  There were a few lines about synching the ship’s clocks.  This problem would have been greater since the crew had to do it twice.  A day passed for the original encounter, a day or two for everyone to figure out what had happened and another day for them to do it all again.  This would mean that the crew lost three or four days.  Wouldn’t anyone find it odd that they lost so much time?

Also, I get the impression that this isn’t the first ship that the Paxans have encountered.  You can’t tell me that their little ruse has worked every single time they’ve encountered an alien race.  It should have taken them several tries to get it right.  Even then, there would probably be the occasional mishap or new brain pattern.  (“Oops.  Looks like we lobotomized that one.  Sorry.”)  It seems like the ruse always works, but they made enough mistakes this time that the crew came back.  Yes, it was because Data screwed everything up.  It’s possible that they have some alternative (like blowing the ship up) when they fail, but Picard mentions that destroying the Enterprise will bring other Federation ships.  I’m amazed that the Paxans have remained hidden for so long. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 84 (The Loss)

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

There were a few episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation that dealt specifically with the ship’s counselor, Deanna Troi, being empathic.  Since she can sense the emotions of others, it can be an advantage.  Is it fair?  That depends on who you’re asking.  In The Loss, Troi has to deal with just that.  She loses her empathic abilities, forcing her to live as a mere human.  (She’s half human, half Betazoid.)  Everyone tries to help, but it seems that nothing can be done.

The loss coincides with two-dimensional aliens attaching themselves to the ship, so it’s entirely possible that Troi will regain her abilities once the situation is resolved.  (Spoiler alert:  This is exactly what happens.)  Before that happens, she decides to resign as counselor.  She doesn’t feel that she can perform her duties any more.  Captain Picard points out that many ships do just fine with non-empathic counselors.  In time, Troi might be able to cope.

Commander Riker’s the one that hits the nail on the head.  Troi is used to having an edge, knowing what everyone else is feeling.  Now that she doesn’t have that, all she wants to do is run and hide.  Now that she can’t lean on her ability, her true colors come through.  I can’t say that I’d be any better, but Troi comes off as a little whiny.  She lashes out at Dr. Crusher and tries to push Riker away.

This actually brings up an interesting point, which is that (as far as I know) the Enterprise has only one counselor.  There are over a thousand people on the ship.  Even if one counselor could handle that workload, you’d think that it would be nice to have the choice of who to talk to if you don’t like one of the counselors.  More importantly, even counselors need counseling, themselves.  Who does Troi turn to when she has a crisis?  There isn’t even any talk of giving her a few days off when this thing with the two-dimensional creatures is all over.

Also, Troi seems to go through the stages of grief very quickly.  I remember an episode of Wings where one of the characters, Lowell, finds out something bad where the other characters know he will grieve.  One of the other characters mentions even mentions the stages.  When Lowell comes in, he goes through all the stages in rapid succession, getting over his loss in under a minute.  This episode was sort of like that.  We get to see all the things someone might go through if they experience a similar loss.

The whole episode seems forced.  We have someone experiencing a loss that we know isn’t permanent.   When Odo became human on Deep Space Nine, it was done much better.  It lasted for almost half of a season.  There was some time to actually write some stories around it.  Here, it doesn’t seem that serious.  Overall, it’s a missable episode. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 78 (Family)

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

I tend to like continuity in a TV series.  I like that I can watch something that builds on previous episodes.  Star Trek: The Next Generation was good at that.  The episode Family was the perfect example.  All three stories draw on previous stories.  One story has Captain Picard visiting his brother and sister-in law in France.  On board, Worf’s adoptive parents visit him.  A third story, which is kind of minor, has Doctor Crusher debating whether or not to show her son a recording that his late father made for him when he was young.

The production number, as you can tell, was number 78, but aired right after episode 75, Best of Both Worlds II.  (If you’re watching the series, you may want to watch it in order they aired.  If you’re watching through Netflix, you don’t have to worry.)  In Best of Both Worlds, Captain Picard is assimilated by a race called the Borg and forced to help them attack the Federation.  He comes back and basically gets in a fight with his brother, who was always a little jealous of him.  Picard has to decide if he wants to leave Starfleet and return to Earth.

Worf is worried that his parents won’t understand a recent discommendation from the Klingon Empire, which happened in last season’s Sins of the Father.  Worf feels that no human could understand this aspect of Klingon heritage, but they’re his parents, even if they’re his adoptive parents.  This does lead to some humorous moments, though, since Worf’s father was a chief petty officer on the Intrepid.  (He has all the specs for the Galaxy-Class starships at home.)

Wesley gets to see his father.  It’s not a well-developed aspect of the episode, but it does draw on a lot of others.  Wesley’s father died when he was young.  He’s had to come to terms with this, which is not easy for anyone.  Now, Doctor Crusher has one of what was supposed to be many recordings for Wesley.  Does she show it to him knowing the effect it may have on him?  She comes to realize that he’s old enough.

As you might imagine, you’ll probably be a little lost if you haven’t seen the series.  You could probably follow it and would get most of it, but if you started with this episode, then went back and watched the previous episodes, you’d look at this one differently.

One thing that I’ve always found odd was that the show never deals with aftermath.  The Enterprise often leaves a planet and we have to imagine what might happen.  Here, we get to see the effects of several decisions.  We get to see Picard as being more human rather than this distant captain, mostly because of his assimilation.  Worf wants to deal with the aftermath of his discommendation alone, but realizes that he doesn’t have to.

I do find it odd that TV series will often have theme episodes like this, where all three stories have the same theme.  It works here because if you’re visiting Earth and the ship is being repaired, you’d think that people would want to visit family.  The only one that seemed maybe a little forced was Wesley’s story.  The recording was among items that Dr. Crusher had in storage.  Having the items sent up reminded her that she had the recording.

It’s episodes like this that make watching a series worth it.  I do remember much of the episode and I do recall thinking of it fondly.  It’s something that helped the show (and the characters) progress.  I know it seems that there are a few Trek episodes I didn’t like, especially with Voyager, but the shows did have their moments. 

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Star Trek The Next Generation - Episode 75 (Best of Both Worlds: Part 2)

Best of Both Worlds was The Next Generation’s first attempt at a season cliffhanger.   Episode 74 ended the third season with Captain Picard having been assimilated by The Borg, a ‘race’ of cyborgs.  They’re intent on assimilating The United Federation of Planets and, to do this, decide to use the captain of Starfleet’s flagship as a voice to get everyone to surrender.  No such luck.  A specialist is even brought on board.  Part I ends with Riker giving the order to destroy the ship that Picard is on rather than let it get to Earth.  They have one weapon that might work and they may not get another chance to use it.

Part II begins exactly where Part I ended; the weapon charges and fires, but nothing happens.  Picard was briefed on the weapon.  Since the Borg know what Picard knows, they know what the weapon does and how to stop it.  The Borg leave the Enterprise stranded.  While the Enterprise is being repaired, approximately 40 ships engage the Borg cube at Wolf 359 and are promptly destroyed.  Fortunately, Riker is able to get Picard back, albeit as a drone.  The crew is able to find a way to use this to stop the cube and cause it to destroy itself.

The big problem with episodic television is that you can’t usually have the main protagonist (or agency that the protagonists work for) fall that easily.  It’s the first episode of the fourth season.  You’re going to tell me that the rest of the season is going to be about the Federation being beaten?  Of course, the problem with answering no to that question is that the pendulum has to swing the other way.

The Borg are this awesome antagonist.   They’re so sure that their plan will work that they send one ship to take one swing at their enemy.  They come on to the Enterprise and assimilate one person.  If I were them, I would have taken as much of the crew as possible.  For that matter, why go for the heart of The Federation?  Why not start with the outer planets?  Why send one cube?  Why not send dozens and attack every planet at once?

Also, this is a cube that destroys 39 ships (including at least one that Riker was offered) and they manage to be outdone by one subroutine that no one thought to protect.  Yes, the crew uses a back door to make the ship destroy itself.  It’s never clearly stated why it works, but it does.  It turns out there may have been a reason for that.

This was one of those episodes where time changed my opinion of it.  On its face, the episode doesn’t stand up that well.  It’s kind of a letdown.  I recently found out that there were issues behind the scenes that affected how the episode was written.  Most notably, Patrick Stewart had yet to renew his contract when the first part was written.  Had he not come back, the Borg cube would have been destroyed and Riker would have become the new captain.

Speaking of which, Michael Pillar had written Part I expecting that he wouldn’t be returning, either.  He wrote this epic setup thinking that someone else would have to resolve it.  When he was asked back for the fourth season, he found himself having to sleep in the bed he made.

There had also been talk of making this a three-part episode.  Had that been done, we would have seen the battle at Wolf 359.  It would also explain why The Enterprise’s endgame worked.  There may have been more to it that was cut out for time’s sake.  It’s interesting to think of what else would have happened.  (Also, would the fourth season had 27 episodes or would another episode not have been produced?)

Even in retrospect, the episode seems a little weak to me.  The Borg were designed to be a replacement for the Ferengi.  We went from having an adversary that was too weak to having one that was too strong.  I’m not sure that I could have done better.  Still, it seems like were dealing with too extremes.  It’s too bad the Borg couldn’t have assimilated the Ferengi and found some middle ground.


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 74 (The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1)

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

 

For those that don’t know, the Borg are cybernetic organisms that assimilate entire worlds to make more drones and add to their technology. In the Best of Both Worlds, the Borg come after the Federation. The plan is to abduct Picard and use his knowledge (and face) to assimilate the Federation. Here’s the plot in a nutshell:

The Borg were encountered in a previous episode and are pretty much unbeatable. They have an incredible ability to adapt and since they have assimilated so many other cultures, their technology is already very advanced. The Federation has had time to try and develop some sort of defense, but it’s not anywhere near where they’d need it.

Lt. Cmdr. Shelby comes on board the Enterprise as a Borg Tactical Specialist. (But she really wants Riker’s job.) She and Data work together to develop a weapon. There’s no guarantee that it will be ready or that it will work.

Picard knows that there’s a dark cloud hanging over him and it’s in the shape of a Borg cube. The Borg assimilate several colonies and destroy several ships during the episode, but when they encounter the Enterprise, they are only interested in assimilating Picard. The theory is that the Enterprise can escort the cube back to Earth; the sight of this should scare the Federation into surrendering. They finally succeed in capturing and assimilating him. Riker has to make a choice and he decides to destroy the Borg cube knowing full well that it will kill Picard. The last scene is of Riker giving the order.

Now, here are the problems that I had with the episode:

First, why would the Borg send only one ship to assimilate the Federation? Are they really so arrogant that they think that one ship is enough? Even if they do succeed, they’ll probably want a few more ships to help assimilate everyone unless they plan on building a few here.

Secondly, why do the Borg really stop at Picard? Given the chance, why not grab as many officers as possible? Wouldn’t that have had a more dramatic effect on the Federation? I’d think it would be more of a blow to the Federation to flat out lose its flagship.

Ok. Enough of the complaining. I’ll admit that I haven’t thought of a better way to handle it, but those things bugged me. We get to see the main characters deal with a crisis and fans were left with the first of many season-ending cliffhangers. If you do rent or buy this, you’ll have to make sure you get the next episode as well.)

I’ll be reviewing the second part separately, so be on the lookout for that. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 69 (Hollow Pursuits)

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

 

It seems like everything in the 24th century is perfect.  Everyone is happy and well-fed.  Things seem good for everyone.  Then again, the show primarily takes place on the flagship of the Federation.  There is a pretty high standard.  This is why it’s so confusing when Lt. Reginald Barclay is transferred into the Enterprise’s engineering section from another ship.  He’s usually late.  His work is barely passable.  It seems as though someone was padding his performance reviews to pass him off on someone else.  Captain Picard decides that instead of doing the same, Lt. Cmdr. La Forge is going to become Barclay’s new best friend and make him into an officer worthy of being on the Enterprise.

La Forge is resistant at first.  Nobody likes the guy.  He knows his stuff, but he’s socially awkward.  He can’t seem to get a sentence out without someone interrupting him.  Add to that the fact that he runs to the holodeck and escapes into fantasy when the going gets tough.  The Enterprise is actually having a series of problems that La Forge needs people working on.  (The only serious problem is a transporter malfunctioning.)

When La Forge visits Ten Forward, the ship’s lounge, Guinan points out that maybe he’s looking at this backwards.  Instead of having to deal the guy that’s so strange, realize that maybe the reason he’s so strange is that no one wants to deal with him.  If someone takes the time to be his friend, maybe Barclay will come out of his shell.

Of course, it’s not that simple. Whenever someone gives him grief, Barclay goes back to the holodeck.  His fantasy world becomes more strange.  The attractive Counselor Troi becomes the Goddess of Empathy.  When Commander Riker becomes too threatening, Barclay creates a shorter version of him.  When the crew discovers this, no one is amused by their counterpart.  It isn’t until a crisis hits that La Forge is able to pull Barclay out of the holodeck long enough to do anything and it is Barclay that comes up with the winning idea.

I think part of the difficulty in writing a flawed character like Barclay onto the Enterprise is that, as I said, this is the flagship.  It’s only because someone was doctoring performance reviews that Barclay even made it.  However, the episode handles it well.  We get to see a Starfleet officer who can’t make it on a day-to-day basis.  The truth is that we all have moments when we’d like to run home and hide from the world, but we don’t.  We have ways of coping.  (Who hasn’t been nervous about going to a party?)

Barclay is a little overdone.  He seems to be a little too nervous at first.  It does get toned down in later appearances, but it almost comes across as comical.  I have to wonder how he was put in engineering.  I understand that it’s sometimes difficult to fire someone and it’s possible that Starfleet Academy didn’t have the same pressures.  I just don’t know I want this guy around critical systems.

It seems like the series is finding a good balance in the episodes.  Even if it’s silly, it’s not overdone.  The stories are more believable and the actors seem to have a good handle on the characters.  We have a more coherent episode here.  Barclay will come back in later episodes.  He’ll still be awkward, but he’ll have his moments. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 64 (The Offspring)

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

WARNING:  I’m going to give away major details of the episode.  If you’re not into that, you might want to hold off on reading this review.

On Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data is unique.  He’s an android made by Noonian Soong.  In fact, he’s one of two of Soong’s androids known to exist at the time of the 64th episode of the series.  (The other one is Lore, who is presumed deactivated, but more on that in a later episode.)  Data, after attending a cybernetics conference, decides to make another Soong-type android…without telling anyone.  He finally reveals his creation to Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, Counselor Deanna Troi and Wesley Crusher.  All three are surprised, to say the least.

The android, who he’s calling Lal, isn’t finished.  He hasn’t given his child an appearance yet, preferring to let his child make the actual choice.  Also, Data has to finish copying the rest of his neural pathways.  (The technology to do so was what kept him from trying before.)  Lal chooses to appear to be a human female, becoming Data’s daughter.  Now comes the hard part:  raising Lal.  Data tries to put her in school, but she doesn’t fit in.  She’s too awkward for the older kids and she’s too smart for the younger kids.

Even though Data has no emotions, it’s tough for him to watch her stumble.   He eventually puts her in Ten Forward, the ship’s lounge.  She still has trouble, but she has Guinan there to teach her.  She still has trouble adapting, but she is learning and it’s at least funny to watch her meet Cmdr. Riker.  What’s not so funny is one Admiral Anthony Haftel, coming to assess whether or not Lal should stay under Data’s care. And when I say “assess”, I mean “put on a show to make it look like an assessment”.  He’s already made up his mind that she’s going back with him.

Once the show is over and Admiral Haftel has announced his decision, Lal is excused.  She runs to Counselor Troi claiming to be afraid, which she actually is.  Lal then goes back to the lab, where she and Counselor Troi wait for Data to show up and try to repair her.  The new emotion is too much for her new positronic brain, resulting in a cascading failure that Data can’t fix.  Admiral Haftel comes out of the lab to announce that she has a short time to live.

One of the things I hate is when a TV series introduces a character only to kill them off within the same episode.  Hallie Todd does great as Lal, especially considering that she’s given the one episode to appear in.  It’s just that you kind of know going into it that she’s not going to live past the closing credits.  It would have been nice to see her grow a little.  The thing is that you don’t even have to kill her off.  You could have her appear in a few episodes, then eventually go off with Admiral Haftel.  Have Data win the battle, but let Starfleet study the new android when the time is right.

On that note, I find it odd that Data was eventually willing to give up.  When the Haftel announces that he’s taking Lal back, Data gives this whole speech about how he wouldn’t be a good parent if he just released his child into the custody of the first person to ask nicely.  Then, Haftel orders Data to release Lal into his custody because he’s ordering it.  Data just turns to get Lal; Captain Picard has to order Data not to do it.

Ultimately, it’s a good episode, even if it’s not perfect.  It deals with what it means to be a parent.  Just because Lal wasn’t ‘born’ in the conventional sense doesn’t make Data any less of a father.  For that matter, what’s a child?  Even though Lal appears to be a grown woman, she still has a lot of learning to do.  (On that note, why does a multi-species society like the Federation have such a hard time grasping that children will often look different from one species to the next?)  It’s definitely one of the episodes to look forward to. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 63 (Yesterday's Enterprise)

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

Most of the first two seasons of The Next Generation weren’t that good.  You had episodes like “The Naked Now” that were rehashing episodes of the original series.  Then you had some like “Shades of Grey” that were just being used as filler.  The third season had its stinkers, too, but the quality seemed to be getting better.  One of the better episodes is “Yesterday’s Enterprise”.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is just minding its own business when a vortex opens up.  (It’s funny how vortexes seem to open up when the Enterprise is around.)  Out of the vortex comes another ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise.  The Enterprise from The Next Generation is the fifth to bear the call sign NCC-1701, making it NCC-1701-D.  The one coming out of the vortex is its immediate predecessor, NCC-1701-C.  As soon as it emerges, everything changes.  The Enterprise-D is now a battleship.  Star dates are now combat dates.  (I mean, really?)  Everything is darker and the bridge layout has Riker manning a station rather than sitting next to the captain.  Gone is the Klingon chief of security, Worf.  In his place is Tasha Yar, the former chief of security who had died late in the first season.

The Enterprise-C is badly beaten, which is understandable.  They were defending a Klingon outpost from a Romulan attack.  This explains why history has changed.  In the new history, the Enterprise-C was lost.  There’s no record of them defending the Klingons, who are now at war with the Federation.  Returning the Enterprise-C would surely result in its destruction, but that destruction would be viewed favorably (read: honorably) by the Klingons.  Add to this Guinan, who runs the ship’s lounge, Ten Forward.  Ten Forward exists on both ships, as does Guinan.  The alternate Guinan senses that it’s all wrong and urges Picard to do the right thing.  (It’s actually Guinan’s insistence that gets Picard to even consider it.)

So, the decision is made to send the Enterprise-C back to meet their fate.  At the last minute, Tasha Yar decides to go back with the Enterprise-C.  The reason for this is that Guinan suddenly senses that Tasha Yar isn’t supposed to exist.  All she knows is that the chief of security died a senseless death.  I’m not sure how many times the two met in the alternate timeline.  I find it odd that Guinan picks this moment to get the willies.  Either way, history is set right and the normal Enterprise-D barely picks up what appears to be a ship and go off on their merry way.

This is one of the few cases where I’m going to pick apart an episode I like.  Yes, I’m giving it more than three stars.  Yes, I’m recommending it.  This does not mean I don’t have issues with it.  First, I find it odd that both versions of the Enterprise-D happened to be near the vortex.  Generally, when you have alternate histories, the same characters exists.  If the histories diverged several generations prior to the events of the episode or movie, the odds of the same people being involved are low.  Do you realize the odds of all the parents and grandparents having the same set of kids?  The same sperm would have to hit the same egg billions of times.

Granted, we only have a 22-year divergence here and yes, we do have a character that ended up not dying when she should have, to say nothing of what happened to Worf.  (We’re left to assume that he’s somewhere safe in the Klingon Empire.)  Still, there are other time-travel episodes.  There’s even a two-part episode that sets up how Picard met Guinan.  It’s hinted that a very specific set of events need to occur.  I wonder if those events happen in the alternate time line.  The presence of Guinan was ultimately only necessary to send Tasha Yar back.  I’d imagine that the crew could have come to realize that they needed to send the ship back on their own.

Another thing that got my attention was that it was implied that the Enterprise-C defending the outpost was the cause of peace with the Klingons.  Star Trek VI would seem to indicate otherwise.  I think this was one of those cases where the episode aired before the movie came out.  It’s possible that something happened in the intervening years.

You really can’t watch this episode in isolation.  You really have to have seen the preceding episodes to understand this.  There was an emotional impact of losing Tasha Yar and a certain joy in seeing her return.  There is also a lasting impact on future episodes.  It’s one of those episodes where, if you’ve watched the entire series, your head will start spinning thinking of all the things that should have been and were necessary in the other timeline.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 61 (Déjà Q)

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


Q isn’t very well liked among the bridge crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. You see, he’s this omnipotent being that put humanity on trial and used the bridge crew specifically to answer for the crimes of their species. Now, all of a sudden, Q drops in and claims that he’s lost his powers. Because of all the trouble that he’s caused humanity, he’s been kicked out of the Q Continuum. He chose to be human and deposited on the Enterprise.

Normally, it would have been funny. However, the Enterprise is in the middle of an important mission. The orbit of a moon has destabilized and it’s going to crash into the planet that it normally orbits. When that happens, we’re talking mass extinction. Considering that Q has caused the Enterprise so much trouble, it looks like Q destabilized the moon and dropped in to watch everyone squirm.

All becomes clear when the Calamarains arrive. They’re another race that Q apparently toyed with; now, they want revenge. Q was apparently hoping for protection. The Enterprise tries its best, but ultimately can’t fend off the Calamarains. Q eventually realizes that he can’t stay; if he does, the Enterprise will be destroyed.

Those that haven’t seen the series up to this point aren’t going to understand the animosity that the bridge crew feels for Q. The Enterprise is basically forced to protect one of its enemies. Plus, the problem with being omnipotent, it’s hard to prove that you’re no longer all-powerful. How does Q prove that he’s really human?

Data, the android observer of humanity, gets to play teacher about all that he’s learned about humanity with Q as his reluctant student. It’s kind of ironic since Data really doesn’t fully understand humanity, himself. This is also something that someone might not fully appreciate if they haven’t seen the series.

During the run of The Next Generation, I always liked the Q episodes. The only drawback was that the names were difficult to remember. With the exception of “Encounter at Farpoint” and “All Good Things…”, all of the episodes that feature Q have Q in the title. For instance, this one is called Deja Q.

I can’t say that I’d recommend this episode to everyone, but I could see buying this episode if I was looking to start a collection. Normally, Q is brought in to basically toy with the crew of the Enterprise. Q is forced to grow a little in this episode, even if there is some question as to whether or not he’s really integrated that grown into his character.


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 54 (Booby Trap)

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

I was always amazed how much trouble The Enterprise got into over seven years of Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  I’m sure they had plenty of routine missions where no one got hurt or killed.  I’m sure a few even went as they were supposed to with no Ferengi trying to horn in on some deal or half the ship breaking down.  You’d think that finding a derelict Promellian ship that had been floating around for 1,000 years would be uneventful.  Captain Picard even beams over just to show how comfortable the crew is letting their commanding officer off the ship.

I suppose if it was that simple, we wouldn’t have much of an episode.  Just as the Enterprise is about to leave, these strange power drains show up.  It wouldn’t be a problem except that the ship won’t move.  Everything’s running fine, but the ship just won’t go anywhere.  Funny thing is that the same thing that trapped the Promellian ship is now acting on the Enterprise.  (Apparently, no one stopped to ask what happened to the old ship in the first place.)  The Enterprise is now stuck just as the Promellian ship is.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the devices that are sucking energy are converting it into deadly radiation.

The away team is able to bring back some Promellian logs and find out from their captain that the crew acted bravely.  Not much help there.  Geordi La Forge, the chief engineer, gets the idea to not ask any of his engineering staff for help and, instead, waste power on the holodeck recreating the station where the Enterprise was built so he can work with a recreation of the woman that designed the Enterprise.  (I think if I had worked hard enough to get to the Federation’s flagship, I’d be pretty depressed if my boss didn’t even ask for my help in an emergency.)

Part of the problem with having a series set on a ship is that you can’t really get rid of the ship that easily.  This episode was pretty early in the third season, so we know that someone’s going to save the day.  I mean, the actors all have contracts.  Right?  I doubt that they’re going to end the show this early in the season.  Yes, Geordi La Forge and the simulated Leah Brahms save the day.  The Enterprise makes it out, but the decision is made to destroy the Promellian ship.

There have been a few things I’ve wondered about over the years.  First, why doesn’t Geordi ask the engineering crew for help.  Isn’t that why they have an engineering crew?  I know I’m not the first to ask about this and I won’t be the last.  I can’t even think of a good reason other than  to let Geordi get along with an attractive woman in the holodeck.  (The episode starts out with Geordi failing miserably on a date, so he gets a chance at a rebound of sorts.)  It would also set up a later episode where the real Leah Brahms shows up.

Another thing that I was wondering was how the distress call was working after 1,000 years.  I’d imagine that the distress call wouldn’t be affected by the energy drain, as it would be a good way to trap a few more ships.  However, even without the power drain, the ship should have stopped working centuries ago.  The same goes for the bridge.  When the away team goes over, they can turn the lights on and get a console working.   What are the odds that the ship still has both power and working equipment?

I also felt bad that they couldn’t save the ship.  I understand having to blow it up.  It would have been irresponsible to leave it there so that someone else could get trapped.  You’d think they’d at least get some more logs or take some souvenirs.  Maybe take some pictures for posterity.  I’ve always hated when some historical artifact was wasted like that.  You’d think they’d make an attempt to tractor it out or something.

It’s one of those episodes that holds up, but not so well on second viewings.  This is why I didn’t give away how the day was saved, exactly.  A good part of the episode relies on the suspense.  Once you know how it goes down, you many not want to watch it again.  For this reason, don’t buy it on VHS.  (Honestly, though, who has a working VCR anyway?)

On a side note, I was looking at IMDb to make sure I had the names spelled right.  I came across Susan Gibney, who played Leah Brahms in this episode.  (I also wanted to make sure she’d be the one returning in the later episode.)  The only listing I found for that name was for someone born in 1968,  I didn’t think that could be her, as it seemed a little too old.  Leah Brahms is a young woman.  When the episode came out, she was in her early 20s.  Then I realized that the episode came out over 20 years ago.  I’ll leave you with that thought. 

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