TNG Rewatch: 7x17 - "Masks"

[Admiral Shran]

I see nothing ham-fisted in the episode especially Spiner, who apparently gave this wonderful performance with almost no lead-in time to prepare. Like I said in the other thread, when telling tales of mythology, you go big! The gods had to have big personalities, the old man and child who played a part less so..but if you have gods you also need worshipers or those who are differentiated from gods to play off of hence the numerous personalities.

Given that so many people point to Spiner's acting as one of their big hangups about the episode, I'm going to start using this to defend "Masks" in the future. I mean, for crying out loud, he plays no less than SIX different characters here (Data, Masaka, Ihat, Masaka's father, the worshiper and the freighted peasant). Cut the man some slack!

 

[Ghrakh]

I like this episode. For the detractors, it's funny how much "magic" we accept in Trek, but here it's picked apart. Just enjoy the unknown and enjoy the show embracing it instead of reacting negatively.

 

[Trekker4747]

It's funny this is even brought up, because there are at least a couple of dozen episodes or more where the crew bring in machines or experiments to work on in main engineering to test them, yet you only think of critiquing it here?? Obviously as you say, this is a cost saving measure so they don't have to build or dress a set.

Oh, I've mentioned it other times when it has happened. Here it was notably egregious because it was a *torpedo* rather than some piece of maybe dangerous equipment.

For the detractors, it's funny how much "magic" we accept in Trek, but here it's picked apart. Just enjoy the unknown and enjoy the show embracing it instead of reacting negatively.

It's a matter of "suspending" that disbelief. It being a futuristic setting with remarkable "magic" technology isn't carte blanche for them to do whatever they want and to have us just accept it. it still has to make sense. Transporters and replicators are usually treated as having limitations and are dependent on some energy/matter stores in order to work and need massive loads of energy to do their thing. In this episode things are just made out of nowhere/nothing with no real effect of it happening or impact and without any major technological equipment being nearby (and the probe way outside of the ship doesn't count; for me.) Entire sections of the ship are removed and replaced with a flash and this has *no* impact on the ship's operation.

For me, the way things are done in this episode when it comes to matter/energy use and replication breaks past that disbelief I'm willing to suspend. Them making dinners and drinks inside of a couple of seconds inside a wall-unit replicator with a "particle effect" is different than two full decks of the ship fading/disappearing into an alien temple with a dissolve effect by some means.

 

[Vandervecken]

I don't see why distance to the probe is an issue. The Kalandans have done bigger stuff. No reason to think it can't happen in the Trekverse.

I do agree that messing with Data's positronic pathways that much and still coming up with a Data-level-at-its-core, Sung-type android looks wildly improbable, no matter the aliens' superscience. He is just too delicate, too unlikely already.

 

[publiusr]

I loved this episode--very exotic.

 

[RAMA]

I find it hard to suspend my disbelief that in a universe with Dyson spheres, different kinds of warp travel, a million space anomalies, matter transportation and transmutation all over the place(we saw aliens create whole cities in TOS), you can't find enough suspension of disbelief to believe the 87 million year old alien program can't use the replicators to change the ship??

RAMA

Oh, I've mentioned it other times when it has happened. Here it was notably egregious because it was a *torpedo* rather than some piece of maybe dangerous equipment.



It's a matter of "suspending" that disbelief. It being a futuristic setting with remarkable "magic" technology isn't carte blanche for them to do whatever they want and to have us just accept it. it still has to make sense. Transporters and replicators are usually treated as having limitations and are dependent on some energy/matter stores in order to work and need massive loads of energy to do their thing. In this episode things are just made out of nowhere/nothing with no real effect of it happening or impact and without any major technological equipment being nearby (and the probe way outside of the ship doesn't count; for me.) Entire sections of the ship are removed and replaced with a flash and this has *no* impact on the ship's operation.

For me, the way things are done in this episode when it comes to matter/energy use and replication breaks past that disbelief I'm willing to suspend. Them making dinners and drinks inside of a couple of seconds inside a wall-unit replicator with a "particle effect" is different than two full decks of the ship fading/disappearing into an alien temple with a dissolve effect by some means.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The plausibility of the alien tech has no bearing for me on the core issue that the episode is just weird and awful.

 

[RAMA]

The plausibility of the alien tech has no bearing for me on the core issue that the episode is just weird and awful.

Even though you are wrong, you have a right to your opinion.

 

[The Old Mixer]

If hating "Masks" is wrong, then I don't wanna be right....

 

[RAMA]

Comparison video:

http://trekcore.com/blog/2016/05/tng-remastered-masks-hd-comparison-video/

 

[Trekker4747]

FWIW - Yes, I'm several weeks behind on my next episode, but I've been personal-life busy and ran ragged over that period. On vacation after Sunday, should be able to do it Monday or so.

 

[Kaelef]

This episode makes Sub Rosa look like Citizen Kane. Every line was excutiating, and I felt deep sympathy for the actors trying to pull this off. This is the first time in the series that I thought Spiner did a bad job with the material.

There's a good story in there somewhere with the general concept and the allusions to ancient American cultures, but this certainly is not it.

 

[RAMA]

This episode makes Sub Rosa look like Citizen Kane. Every line was excutiating, and I felt deep sympathy for the actors trying to pull this off. This is the first time in the series that I thought Spiner did a bad job with the material.

There's a good story in there somewhere with the general concept and the allusions to ancient American cultures, but this certainly is not it.

Ah too bad, I loves me some Masks.

RAMA