Season 6: Is it me?

[galleywest]

Indeed! Last Crusade is always appropriate for a good verbal thread bomb.

That said, you have misquoted EnriqueH. I was the one who posted both the "Let it go, Indiana." and the "I said no camels!" quotes, mainly because I disagreed with his assessment of some episodes or something. Anyway.

Must be my old age. Back to the cryo-chamber for me! These days I only come out every five years or so.

The one story arc that felt very clunky to me in this season was Birthright. I dunno, the mix of the DS9 crossover + a Klingon story arc was a little off. The transition between the first and second episodes is clunky and the (Klingon) story wasn't engaging. I did kinda like Dr. Bashir's fascination with Data, however.

One thing I always give TNG credit for is remaining true to itself. When a show runs for more than 4 seasons or so, what often seems to happen is that the writers get nervous and start to change the tone of the show or bring in drastic changes to drive the drama. TNG never had that. Even the episodes I didn't like, I can still look at them and say, yeah, that fits with what TNG was, with the mission of the show. It wasn't one of those shows that by the end has become a shell what it was at the beginning of its run.

 

[JD5000]

Thank goodness for a kindred spirit.

 

[FormerLurker]

Aquiel was a poor attempt to do a take on the classic noir film "Laura". The effects, direction and acting were all at least middling efforts by the cast and crew, but the writing was not up to snuff. It really needed several more drafts before it was made. Perhaps enough to realize they should drop it if necessary.

 

[JD5000]

Interesting, FormerLurker....that episode is so crappy I figured it had to be a poor take on something, most people's imaginations aren't THAT bad. I think I saw 'Laura' as part of a film class back in college, maybe revisiting it would give me a new perspective on 'Aquiel'.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Interesting, FormerLurker....that episode is so crappy I figured it had to be a poor take on something, most people's imaginations aren't THAT bad. I think I saw 'Laura' as part of a film class back in college, maybe revisiting it would give me a new perspective on 'Aquiel'.

"Aquiel" is an aberration. The dialogues are so annoying that by the end of the episode you don't even care who's the "creature" you just want it to be over.

 

[Nebusj]

The Chase: THANK YOU Star Trek for finally addressing the "why does everyone look the same but for pointy ears and weird foreheads?" question.

I've never been able to convince myself that it was a question that needed answering. There's a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, and the Federation is able to find a couple hundred that have humanoid-enough-looking critters around them, and this is some fantastically impossible thing that needs explanation?

 

[JD5000]

'Aquiel' is a strange departure from the tone of the rest of the season, which makes me think that rewatching a film that influenced it might be enlightening. I still have a feeling it was a botched reference, but I'll give it a shot.

Nothing to lose but the forty-three minutes of my life I would spend watching 'Aquiel'.

 

[Orphalesion]

I've never been able to convince myself that it was a question that needed answering. There's a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, and the Federation is able to find a couple hundred that have humanoid-enough-looking critters around them, and this is some fantastically impossible thing that needs explanation?

Fact is....we don't know. We haven't met any aliens yet, so chances are that humanoid lifeforms are fairly common, or we are the odd one out and the rest of the galaxy is populated by super intelligent amoebas or something.

There indeed is a theory that alien creatures would not look that alien since evolution is not a completely random process but breeds towards efficiency and practicality.

Plus the episode did not really explain how the heck those ancient aliens "influenced" evolution to, after billions of years, create humanoids. The alien in the episode also said "we were the only intelligent beings in our part of the galaxy" so....they only are responsible for the humanoids in the Alpha/Beta quadrant? What about all the near-human aliens in the Delta and Gamma quadrants then?

 

[EnriqueH]

Just saw "Ship in a Bottle".

A big step down from the drama of Chain of Command.

I'm not a fan of the way TNG sometimes gives us a monumental episode filled with character growth, high drama and action with repercussions for our characters, and then follows that episode with a comedic romp.

What? A big step down? A comedic romp? Did you even watch the same episode I did? "Ship in a Bottle" is one of the highlights of Season 6, and one of the best TNG episodes! You Monster!

It was a good episode!

But I just didn't like the shift in tone from Chain of Command to Ship in a Bottle.

It's like listening to The Doors and shifting to Motley Crue.

I might enjoy both but transitioning between the two can be a little jarring.

 

[Lance]

I've never been keen on the "The Chase" explanation of galactic evolution, as it tends to conventionalise things too much IMO. It's like the Klingon forehead "question": sometimes, it's better we just don't need an answer for such triffling concerns.

 

[EnriqueH]

I saw Aquiel last night.

I didn't think it was THAT bad, but I'm also the guy who thinks there's no such thing as a full-on bad Trek episode, (but I haven't gotten to Voyager or Enterprise yet, so the night is young). I find that even the worst episodes have something of value.

Still, Aquiel was not great.

It had a dullness about it, a lack of urgency to the mission. I loved the dog. Too bad it was a bad guy in disguise.

 

[Kevman7987]

'Aquiel' is a strange departure from the tone of the rest of the season, which makes me think that rewatching a film that influenced it might be enlightening. I still have a feeling it was a botched reference, but I'll give it a shot.

I loved the dog. Too bad it was a bad guy in disguise.

Neither of you have seen John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982)? See it. Feel it. Stay up nights, in terror.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)

 

[JD5000]

So basically it's a cinematic grafting experiment gone horribly awry.

 

[doubleohfive]

Besides, I think DS9's "A Simple Investigation" was a much more successful attempt at doing a Star Trek version of Laura. "Aquiel" is just shit.

 

[doubleohfive]

Just saw "Ship in a Bottle".

A big step down from the drama of Chain of Command.

I'm not a fan of the way TNG sometimes gives us a monumental episode filled with character growth, high drama and action with repercussions for our characters, and then follows that episode with a comedic romp.

What? A big step down? A comedic romp? Did you even watch the same episode I did? "Ship in a Bottle" is one of the highlights of Season 6, and one of the best TNG episodes! You Monster!

It was a good episode!

But I just didn't like the shift in tone from Chain of Command to Ship in a Bottle.

It's like listening to The Doors and shifting to Motley Crue.

I might enjoy both but transitioning between the two can be a little jarring.

I can understand that. The thing I think that is important to remember is that back in 1993, people watched TV in a much different way than we do today. As such, TV episodes were produced in a much different way as well. Think about it -- the majority of people back then had to wait a week between broadcasts to watch episodes. There was no Netflix, no Blu-Ray, nothing but an episode every Saturday at 6pm. You'd have a week to digest such a heavy episode like "Chain of Command" before the existential romp of "Ship in a Bottle." It sounds like you watched the shows back to back and just didn't have that "digestion" period and it's probably affecting how you received "Ship in a Bottle."

 

[FormerLurker]

I saw Aquiel last night.

I didn't think it was THAT bad, but I'm also the guy who thinks there's no such thing as a full-on bad Trek episode, (but I haven't gotten to Voyager or Enterprise yet, so the night is young). I find that even the worst episodes have something of value.

Still, Aquiel was not great.

It had a dullness about it, a lack of urgency to the mission. I loved the dog. Too bad it was a bad guy in disguise.

'Aquiel' is a strange departure from the tone of the rest of the season, which makes me think that rewatching a film that influenced it might be enlightening. I still have a feeling it was a botched reference, but I'll give it a shot.

I loved the dog. Too bad it was a bad guy in disguise.

Neither of you have seen John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982)? See it. Feel it. Stay up nights, in terror.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)

So basically it's a cinematic grafting experiment gone horribly awry.

Yeah, the dog was the quintessential "left turn at Albuquerque" to make the story 'science-fictiony'. It would have been better to have the other guy have just gone nuts.

 

[galleywest]

The Chase: THANK YOU Star Trek for finally addressing the "why does everyone look the same but for pointy ears and weird foreheads?" question.

I've never been able to convince myself that it was a question that needed answering. There's a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, and the Federation is able to find a couple hundred that have humanoid-enough-looking critters around them, and this is some fantastically impossible thing that needs explanation?

When I was a kid watching TNG for the first time, this was something that people complained about all the time. When I saw The Chase I was impressed because to me, it felt like the writers were answering that question in a fun way. It was a self-awareness I appreciated. And it gave me ammo to fire back at non-fans who made fun of me for watching! I wish ENT had taken more of a cue from this episode with the Klingon forehead thing: keep it simple, keep it interesting, keep it light, contain it to one episode. Don't belabor the point.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

"Frame Of Mind" really felt like the writers got together and one of them said:

"Let's do a Riker episode this time."

"Agreed, it's been a while since the last one, do you have any ideas?"

"What would be a good Riker story?"

"One Where he yells a lot?"

"Bingo!"

"Let's do it, people!"


Later:

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Good take, but try it a little louder next time.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Frame Of Mind is a trippy episode. I was like 10 when it first aired and my overprotective mother wanted to stop me from seeing it. At the time of the episode "Trapped in a dream" was a lot less common.

The Chase was less of a midochlorian situation than the Klingon forehead thing was. I saw the main intent of the episode was to have enemies come together and discover they had a common origin, and explaining why most intelligent species are humanoid was a fun by-product.

It is pretty statistically improbable that all intelligent species in the immediate vicinity are either humanoids or all powerful energy wisps. But, it's also pretty unnecessary to explain because the audience knows the real reason, because the actors who play them are human.

 

[Nebusj]

I've never been able to convince myself that it was a question that needed answering. There's a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, and the Federation is able to find a couple hundred that have humanoid-enough-looking critters around them, and this is some fantastically impossible thing that needs explanation?

Fact is....we don't know. We haven't met any aliens yet, so chances are that humanoid lifeforms are fairly common, or we are the odd one out and the rest of the galaxy is populated by super intelligent amoebas or something.

Well, no, we know the magnitude of how many stars are in the galaxy. And we know the Federation's aware of a couple hundred humanoid lifeforms because we've seen them. And we also know that humanoids are a tiny minority of the galaxy's population; Spock said so. What needs explaining?