The Cloud Minders gets my vote. David Gerrold's original idea could have been a powerful moment in Trek. I like that his ending of the episode had no clear resolution to the problem. Because the problems are societal and not just mining practices. It ends with just a hope that as both sides talk they might work out their differences.
Trek episode with most UNEXECUTED potential??
- Thread starter bb-kneekey_pea
- Start date
Most unexecuted potential? I'm going with TNG's Unification. Dude, you dragged arguably the most iconic Star Trek character ever onto your show, with a guest spot by his dying dad, the promise of some cowboy diplomacy, & a story that is one of the rare few which ties in TOS, with a story arc that reaches back to the earliest days of their species, & that's the best you got, a couple lying Romulans, & one of them is Sela? I don't hate the episode by any measure, but it surely could've measured up a great deal more, for its potential
^As I said, the Romulans could have been used so much better than they were, particularly in TNG. The Spock/Reunification storyline should have followed up on with more than just a throwaway line in “Face of the Enemy”. Why couldn’t Nemesis have featured Spock, even if only in a cameo (maybe in place of Janeway, who had no business being there)?
No sarcasm intended, but wasn't that kind of the point? The writers (maybe they weren't aware of it) did occasional depict Janeway as less than a good captain.
This from someone who enjoys VOY.
Given the actress's schedule and the direction she wanted her career to go, no Ro was never going to be a regular character.
It's a thing, yeah. Treating depression like something that can be 'cured' with a good talk and a positive experience.
As someone who also has suffered from depression in the past I disagree with most of what you have written here. I do agree that they could have hinted a bit at her mental state in previous eps, but often people who are in psychological distress hide their emotions and true state, sometimes quite effectively. As per a TV show maybe this stance has problems in terms of conveying the full story to the viewer, but I liked this ep. Thought it worked well and was able to fit the "untold" pieces together in my brain due to my own past (and some present) experiences. I watched it for the first time very late on a night that I had insomnia due to distress, so maybe my appreciation was elevated because of that.
I could be wrong, but I thought the historic consensus about Unification was it was just a cheap attempt to remind the audience that TUC was about to come out and to head out to the theater to see Spock and the rest of the TOS cast once again.
Minus Chain of Command, I can't think of a single TNG two parter where the second episode was as good as the first.
I understand that depressed people hide things, I tend to do that as well. My issue is not that it was hidden from the crew, but from the audience. I think there was a massively missed opportunity for some serious exploration of depression and how it impacts an individual and those around them. Why not show us B'elanna actively trying to hide what she was going through over a number of episodes? Wouldn't that have been more realistic to the real experience of depression? As it was it came out of nowhere, we are supposed to care and be invested only for the depression to never be mentioned again. It ends up feeling disingenuous. I think if B'elanna's depression was treated in the same way as the conflict between her Klingon and Human halves even for just a few episodes, Extreme Risk would have been a much stronger and meaningful episode.
The lack of followup with the Equinox crew.
Intended for humor, but this is something I actually would have like to have seen in some form.Speaking of missed opportunities, we should have seen the Space Salamanders come back after Threshhold.
The Salamanders would somehow have encountered Janeway and Paris and expressed distress at being abandoned and questioned why their parents didn't return after Chakotay's decision to leave them on the planet.
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Regarding the bolded above I agree with you... however this is a pretty common complaint/sentiment (the lack of character development and exploration persisting in an arc over episodes) that I see regarding Voyager generally, and it's certainly not specific to this particular episode.
Within the confines of 'Extreme Risk' I thought the material was handled fine, but that's just my opinion. I felt I could relate to what B'Elanna went through, even though we the audience had no visible precursor for the events and it wasn't carried through in any way subsequently. I think that's mainly what I was disagreeing with in your previous post and especially that ep as an example per the thread topic. The OP seemed to want examples of single eps, but your criticism (which is justified) seems to involve more than just the single episode.
There are novels that go into more detail into them. Apparently the whale Probe was sent by a planet that was once habited by dolphin like beings who sent the Probe to planets with creatures like them to communicate. They were wiped out by beings who had “cube shaped” ships. God knows who they were.
And the biggest reason Voyager is my least favorite Star Trek. Character inconsistensy. Sure, all Trek has it, but Voyager was the worst if you ask me.
Seeing "Unification" brought up reminded me about "Relics". Not so much the Scotty arc, which is...arguable...but that they bring up a Dyson Sphere, but when they finally crack it open all they find is an unstable sun? That's it?
Who built it? Why did they build it? Did they leave anything useful behind?
Given the events of the novelverse, while it may be a bit "small-world" thinking, it doesn't seem like a stretch that the Caeliar could be behind it.
Ah, also the Cytherians from "The Nth Degree". A significantly advanced race we simply never hear from again.
Who built it? Why did they build it? Did they leave anything useful behind?
Given the events of the novelverse, while it may be a bit "small-world" thinking, it doesn't seem like a stretch that the Caeliar could be behind it.
Ah, also the Cytherians from "The Nth Degree". A significantly advanced race we simply never hear from again.
Were the Klingons and Section 31 busy that day?
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