Sweeeeeet, season six... thankfully the show only gets upward in quality next season, this one is the nadir that, more often than not, has me turning to "Justice" and "The Naked Now" when the choice presents itself...
The Great
Timescape - A first, I am saving the best for
first. Positively first rate acting, a fantastic high concept sci-fi goodness with a few solid twists AND a fresh take on the old "warp core breach" plot device. Even Picard has a breakdown that you just couldn't see in any other episode, not even "Chain of Command II" - that's how awesome this episode is. This episode is truly a classic for latter-day TNG as well as any ol' TNG. The smiley face was the icing on the cake and Picard's given an explanation for his going all bonkers in drawing it then breaking down (the technobabble gizmo starting to malfunction, if I recall correctly). Still can't believe all that gossip on the runabout, even Troi of all people got in the act, but it all didn't stop me from giggling and what leads to the opening credits with everyone stopping around Troi is used to great effect throughout the episode. But the smiley face scene and breakdown alone is a tour de force in what is a tour de force episode.
Frame of Mind - a mental horror flick at its finest
Ship in a Bottle - loathed how they were actively dancing around season 2 and Pulaski references. And there's a plot hole, which needs a double take to find, involving the ruse within a ruse, but it doesn't stop me from adoring this sequel.
The Good
True Q - TNG does "The Wizard of Oz", perhaps a little too close in some ways (the home of the new Q, a flippin' tornado out of nowhere, etc) but - dang - it's entertaining as all heck.
Starship Mine - Jean-Luc McClane to the rescue, woohoo! It's a fun piece, just don't think too much into it or take it too seriously
Lessons - a far better story than "Inner Light" (which had good ideas but was a tad myopic in scope yet excessively mawkish in scope with its ending)
Chain of Command II - emotionally taut and a reminder some pt 2 episodes can be better than the preceding episode's setup
The Decent
The Chase - good concept, reasonably explains the TNG universe, and to top it off has Tara King in it. A shame we never got Emma Peel as a Romulan commander...
Chain of Command I - A contrived setup just to get Troi into a uniform and Picard out of his, and it brought in a captain that's a bit more realistic in such circumstances the episode is trying to hype up
for. Complete with Riker and crew acting uncharacteristically (but they're the main cast so they're never wrong unless their name is Ro) since the Federation isn't working on a contingency plan should an actual and major war break out but a tea party with "special brownies". Could easily have been worse...
The Meh
Birthright I - Julian, the medical whiz, has more interest and knowledge in electronics/positronics/machinery than O'Brien? (it only took DS9 how many years to put in a spin that retroactively works, but O'Brien may have been a better choice. Wasn't there another cast member for DS9 to be the crossover puppet but wasn't able to do it?)
Face of the Enemy - Carolyn Seymour returning (but not as the same commander seen in "Contagion", as if TNG needs to adopt the trope known as "Same Actor, Different Role" as seen (very often) in "Three's Company")) is fun but the episode is striving really hard to get Troi to do the impossible, which is both interesting and unbelievable at the same time. All in a story that feels like a scriptwriter's equivalent to "sleepwalking lazily through the night". Still prefer "Contagion" by a country mile if not light year (aka 5.9 trillion miles) as it's more convincing (and actual) sci-fi.
Descent I - I had high expectations but the whole thing was 'meh' at best. The incidental music hit a new low too.
Rascals - interesting premise let down by too many plot holes and was yet another early season 6 episode relying on the transporter as a major plot device. Never mind the Ferengi takeover...
Rightful heir -Any earlier in the show's run and people would be screaming references to Kahless of TOS fame/infamy
Realm of Fear - "transporter room three to plot, stop using me".
Time's Arrow II - TNG was trying to experiment with something new as it wasn't going to try to top TBOBW or Redemption, but it didn't quite gel. It's still a lot better than numerous episodes following it.
Tapestry - Q is God, what can go wrong? Oh yeah, saying that anyone who isn't Picard's personality type is worth less than Data. You know, the android who was content with running tests and making analyses and carrying reports to his Picard, even when Picard threatened to have him disassembled seasons after being declared sentient and the right to choose and the rest of it. Without Q and almost everything leading up to blue-shirt Picard, this is a great episode. It's a somewhat overrated episode and could have been told in ways other than "making person a look good by making persons b through zzzzzzzz" look like ****... you know, like how Wesley was treated in season 1 only with (more finesse, oddly.) And antithetical to Trek's values. But, naah, it's really Q's fault. Picard wouldn't have said half of what he had if Q wasn't goading him in that direction for his annual cheap thrill, season 5's lack of it aside. But this episode, which was great for a while, really dropped the ball - at least it was toward the end.
The Bad
Birthright II - interesting ideas poorly handled; it's beyond all credibility when Worf ends up looking like one of THE worst characters, which also depends on how well the society being presented as a balance vs Romulans-keep-it-a-prison-camp-despite-claiming-otherwise is handled, the episode is inconsistent and for being prisoners they wouldn't be allowed to keep any ancient artifacts... Oversimplified or not, Worf still does the right thing at the end and lets them remain a secret.
Man of the People - anybody even remember any of this without googleying it up? Wasn't Troi wearing more and more face aging make-up in TNG's take on Dorian Gray or something? Is it worse when it's so bad it's forgettable or when it's so bad you're stuck with memories of it?
Aquiel - I remember Geordi and a blob
Suspicions - more Crusher out-of-character nonsense in yet another highly contrived episode, par for the course for TNG's final three seasons
Second Chances - double trouble thanks to yet another transporter flub. How the Federation would let Riker #2 end up at DS9 is a bit hokey too
Schisms - aw man, it's alien abductions -- in space!!
It's so bad it's almost good! TNG trying to give science attributes to supernatura phenomena is like Star Wars trying to use real science to justify how their lightsabers and ships work when it's , in a word, impossible given known laws of physics. SW is outright fantasy and made its own rules well enough. It didn't need to try. ST shouldn't have to do it either, genre hopscotch rarely works... and now, to forget "Sub Rosa" was ever made too as it's made along the same vein and ultimately in vain...
The Ugly
The Quality of Life - oh please, don't try doing yet another contrived and lamentable sleepwalked spin on "Measure of a Man" and especially not like this one, topped off with farting frog symphony and all.
A Fistful of Datas - Nooooooooooo. Ugh... Just. Ugh...
Relics - show this to anyone who says Trek nowadays has been pissing on the greats. TNG was doing this with TOS characters decades ago by killing Kirk lamely, making Spock second fiddle, and contrived ageist drivel for Scotty. Arguably for McCoy too as he was reciting a line to Data instead of
reacting to Data's lack of precise calendar-marking information by pointing out precise calendar-marking information that Data never drilled down to. But in McCoy's defense, this was early season 1 and the show was finding and floundering itself. By season 6, it's a very different story. Especially when they can beam through shields despite wasting all that time in continuity and canon to claim they can't. The episode is weak and playing loose on so many levels, it isn't homage. It's hackneyed. I'll watch the 1979 Buck Rogers episode that tackles ageism instead, nor did they turn Buster Crabbe (Brigadier Gordon) into a lampoon in that other episode either...
