Evolution. Season 3 Episode 1

[Gingerbread Demon]

This is the season 3 opener... I kind of liked this episode even though it's one of those episodes where Wesley gets the ship in some sort of trouble, this time by a wayward science experiment.

He's tinkering with some nanites and they escape and we later find that they are evolving.

I just wish they had done some kind of follow up to this episode, even if it had been some small mention of the nanites and the planet that they left them on. They had evolved quite far by the end of the episode and leaving them alone on that planet I had always wondered what became of them and what they are like. I wonder if they had become a larger more evolved race of their own in the macro scale and had left the microscopic universe.

I guess we will never know.

 

[RAMA]

Like the track record of other star trek series, this episode predicts a monumental shift in technology but underestimates or tones down the implications of it..

Yes, STNG was the first fictional visual of nanotech in movies or tv, though Max Headroom made mention of it 2 years earlier.

While there were some stories in literature that proceeded it, it's interesting to note that Michael Crichton's "Prey", which popularized nanotech for many readers, borrows some story elements from "Evolution", including the self-evolution of prodded "nanites". The big difference..this is Trek! No hostile takeover, no gray goo.

This episode could very easily have started with an established science team accidentally letting the nanites out, but I'm sure the writer's wanted to use a leading cast member, and Data probably wouldn't have made such a mistake, so the choice was Wesley. Fair enough. Whatever started it, it's a worthwhile exercise.

Aside from this "ground breaking" plot device, the episode isn't a bad drama..Stubbs is an interesting metaphor for Wesley taken to a logical conclusion if he continued to only work and not experience normal childhood. A cut scene from the episode reveals to us that Wes does in fact have fun with girls and boys his own age.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exclusive-a-first-look-at-deleted-scenes-from-tng-s3s-evolution/

It would be interesting to see what happened with that Nano-colony.

RAMA

This is the season 3 opener... I kind of liked this episode even though it's one of those episodes where Wesley gets the ship in some sort of trouble, this time by a wayward science experiment.

He's tinkering with some nanites and they escape and we later find that they are evolving.

I just wish they had done some kind of follow up to this episode, even if it had been some small mention of the nanites and the planet that they left them on. They had evolved quite far by the end of the episode and leaving them alone on that planet I had always wondered what became of them and what they are like. I wonder if they had become a larger more evolved race of their own in the macro scale and had left the microscopic universe.

I guess we will never know.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Like the track record of other star trek series, this episode predicts a monumental shift in technology but underestimates or tones down the implications of it..

Yes, STNG was the first fictional visual of nanotech in movies or tv, though Max Headroom made mention of it 2 years earlier.

While there were some stories in literature that proceeded it, it's interesting to note that Michael Crichton's "Prey", which popularized nanotech for many readers, borrows some story elements from "Evolution", including the self-evolution of prodded "nanites". The big difference..this is Trek! No hostile takeover, no gray goo.

This episode could very easily have started with an established science team accidentally letting the nanites out, but I'm sure the writer's wanted to use a leading cast member, and Data probably wouldn't have made such a mistake, so the choice was Wesley. Fair enough. Whatever started it, it's a worthwhile exercise.

Aside from this "ground breaking" plot device, the episode isn't a bad drama..Stubbs is an interesting metaphor for Wesley taken to a logical conclusion if he continued to only work and not experience normal childhood. A cut scene from the episode reveals to us that Wes does in fact have fun with girls and boys his own age.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exclusive-a-first-look-at-deleted-scenes-from-tng-s3s-evolution/

It would be interesting to see what happened with that Nano-colony.

RAMA

Yeah the whole Grey Goo thing. It's become a staple of scifi.

Transcendence also had this, and I rather liked the movie even if its plot had a couple of holes here and there. Kate Mara's character was useless and she's rather bland, and that wig looked hideous on her. But then that was the writers giving her crap to do and so she couldn't shine, as she's a good actor in other things.

I did find her shooting the guy near the start of the movie rather senseless, fear born out of irrational thought. Her and her luddites basically bring humanity back to the stone age almost, I felt very sad knowing that the first scene in the movie is the last scene and that's what Earth becomes. We sink ourselves because of our irrational fear of what might happen.

Dr. Who also used Grey Goo idea in the season 8 finale with the Cybermen and the sticky nanites in rain clouds, just like Transcendence, only these guys could turn corpses into cybermen. I actually didn't think much of that finale. Missy is great fun but the story sucked.

 

[Paradise City]

I enjoyed the episode well enough. It has a fresh new feel, cool new uniforms, nice to see Doc Crusher back and Stewart is in fresh acting form. Jenkins is very effective as Stubbs.

But it's reheated every trope in the book. It's got Wesley gaffe/coming-of-age/save-the-day thing in there. It's got a highly strung scientist but with a unique perspective of life that he imparts to Wesley, it's got a misunderstood lifeforms mucking about with our heroes. It's a very unoriginal episode really - and yet it works.

 

[RAMA]

A lot of people missed the point of that movie completely..the frightened people and luddites win..but only for us to find out that the human derived AI was actually a positive one. It wasn't anti-tech, it was actually saying it could be a good thing, and backwards human thought process ruined it. An excellent movie.

Gray goo is the easy way out, I'm glad that Trek didn't take it and was more mature.

RAMA

Yeah the whole Grey Goo thing. It's become a staple of scifi.

Transcendence also had this, and I rather liked the movie even if its plot had a couple of holes here and there. Kate Mara's character was useless and she's rather bland, and that wig looked hideous on her. But then that was the writers giving her crap to do and so she couldn't shine, as she's a good actor in other things.

I did find her shooting the guy near the start of the movie rather senseless, fear born out of irrational thought. Her and her luddites basically bring humanity back to the stone age almost, I felt very sad knowing that the first scene in the movie is the last scene and that's what Earth becomes. We sink ourselves because of our irrational fear of what might happen.

Dr. Who also used Grey Goo idea in the season 8 finale with the Cybermen and the sticky nanites in rain clouds, just like Transcendence, only these guys could turn corpses into cybermen. I actually didn't think much of that finale. Missy is great fun but the story sucked.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

A lot of people missed the point of that movie completely..the frightened people and luddites win..but only for us to find out that the human derived AI was actually a positive one. It wasn't anti-tech, it was actually saying it could be a good thing, and backwards human thought process ruined it. An excellent movie.

Gray goo is the easy way out, I'm glad that Trek didn't take it and was more mature.

RAMA

See I love that movie and until that bitter ending which I knew was coming (thank you director for shoving that in the first scenes of the film) I felt so let down by the ending knowing what was to come. My only gripe with the film was that they showed us at the very start of the movie what the ending was. It irked me.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Best of Both Worlds part 2.

SHELBY: What about the heavy graviton beam we were talking about?
LAFORGE: I've gone over it four times. The local field distortion just wouldn't be strong enough to incapacitate them.
DATA: Doctor Crusher and I have been working on an interesting premise.
CRUSHER: With our recent experience in nanotechnology, we might be able to introduce a destructive breed of nanites into the Borg.
SHELBY: Nanites?
DATA: Robots small enough to enter living cells.
RIKER: How long would it take to execute that?
CRUSHER: That's the problem. Two to three weeks.
TROI: In two or three weeks, nanites may be all that's left of the Federation.
WORF: We have the new phaser adapters.

 

[NigellaDeanna20]

yes i also like this episode. This was the first time i'd (and probably the rest of the world) had ever heard of the concept of nanotechnology.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Finally I am getting a TNG box set..... After much procrastination.