Great, Overlooked TNG Episodes

[Orphalesion]

One of the big differences between TNG and TOS is that Kirk would find loopholes or rationalizations to bend the Prime Directive when he knew morally and ethically it was the right thing to do for the good of a culture, while Picard would rationalize how NOT to do anything bold or risky in similar circumstances.

As I said in the other thread I don't want to know what would have happened in A Taste of Armageddon if Picard had come across the civilization.
That whole mess with how TNG interpreted the prime directive seems to have its origins in yet another of Roddenberry's mandates for early TNG (like the no conflict nonsense)
One of the drafts for Justice, from when it was still a serious episode even had a scene where the crew starts debating on how to help the inhabitants of the planet improve their extremely harsh/deadly justice system, only for Picard to declare that they'd be doing absolutely nothing of the sort.
I mean I understand where they were coming form, I really do, but it's difficult to sell in a TV show, I think, and often ended up making the heroes look too cold hearted.

"We cannot save this civilization from that comet, if we do one of them might become the next Hitler in the future!"

 

[Vger23]

As I said in the other thread I don't want to know what would have happened in A Taste of Armageddon if Picard had come across the civilization.
That whole mess with how TNG interpreted the prime directive seems to have its origins in yet another of Roddenberry's mandates for early TNG (like the no conflict nonsense)
One of the drafts for Justice, from when it was still a serious episode even had a scene where the crew starts debating on how to help the inhabitants of the planet improve their extremely harsh/deadly justice system, only for Picard to declare that they'd be doing absolutely nothing of the sort.
I mean I understand where they were coming form, I really do, but it's difficult to sell in a TV show, I think, and often ended up making the heroes look too cold hearted.

"We cannot save this civilization from that comet, if we do one of them might become the next Hitler in the future!"

I honestly think (no proof at all, just an educated "fan guess") that the TNG approach to the PD was an over-correction for how TOS was poked fun at for years regarding Kirk's approach.

As with so many things in life, business, art, etc....instead of making a minor course correction, they swung the pendulum in the completely opposite direction.

 

[Gul Scorpius]

First Contact - A somewhat overlooked gem and a truly brilliant story is buried underneath but despite its flaws, it was a joy to watch the Federation's first contact procedure and flip the point of view, approaching the events to unfold through the lens of the Malcorians.

 

[galleywest]

First Contact - A somewhat overlooked gem and a truly brilliant story is buried underneath but despite its flaws, it was a joy to watch the Federation's first contact procedure and flip the point of view, approaching the events to unfold through the lens of the Malcorians.

One of my all time favorite episodes. I wish we'd seen Mirasta Yale in other episodes.

 

[dupersuper]

One of my all time favorite episodes. I wish we'd seen Mirasta Yale in other episodes.

Has she shown up in a novel/short story/comic/video game/fan made show/movie at all?

 

[galleywest]

Has she shown up in a novel/short story/comic/video game/fan made show/movie at all?

Honestly, I don't know. Eons ago I wrote a fanfic with her in it, and that's the only other media I know with her in it!

 

[Mudd]

One of my all time favorite episodes. I wish we'd seen Mirasta Yale in other episodes.

She was conceived by the producers as potentially being a recurring character aboard the Enterprise. Didn't pan out.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Contagion is one of my favorites. I wish they could have explored more about the Iconians and their gateways.

The Drumhead, also good.

DS9 has a *small* follow up on the Iconian Gateways

 

[JediKnightButler]

She was conceived by the producers as potentially being a recurring character aboard the Enterprise. Didn't pan out.

I didn’t know that. It would have been nice to see what happened to her after FC

 

[at Quark's]

One of the big differences between TNG and TOS is that Kirk would find loopholes or rationalizations to bend the Prime Directive when he knew morally and ethically it was the right thing to do for the good of a culture, while Picard would rationalize how NOT to do anything bold or risky in similar circumstances.

Homeward was particularly egregious in that respect.

But there also were episodes that tackled this with a cleverer twist. Symbiosis, for example. Cheesy as much of the episode was, I liked how it made the Prime Directive both the obstacle and the solution to the obstacle. When Picard finds he is checkmated by the Brekkans -who don't want their exploitation of the Ornarans to end- and the Prime Directive that he can't interfere, Picard resorts to an even stricter interpretation (which at first he didn't seem to have any trouble violating), which is that in that case he can't repair the Ornarans freighters either, knowing full well that this will end the exploitation, even if it will cause a lot of temporary pain to the Ornarans.

I wish we could have gotten a bit more of those kinds of resolutions, rather than that moronic 'hey! It's the PD yaknow! Mehands are tied!' crap of later seasons.

And even though this doesn't have anything to do anymore with TNG, I'm wondering how Kirk would have acted in Thirty days (Voyager), and whether he would have punished Tom Paris for his PD violation. (This comes up in my mind since there's a thread about that ep right now in the Voy subforum).

 

[maneth]

We're watching TNG again, as an introduction to the show for our son. He's 12, and he twigged early on that the medicine in Symbiosis was actually a drug. I'm grateful that his attitude to intoxicants is much like Wesley's "why would anyone do that to themselves?"

I actually quite like The Dauphin. Apart from the allomorphs turning into monsters now and again, I've always thought it was a pretty decent description of a teenager's first mutual crush. But what are you gonna do, Wesley haters're gonna hate...

 

[Arpy]

“The Dauphin” had that great date scene on the holodeck when you got to see a bit of what it could really do. One of my all time favorite holodeck scenes, really. I wanted to live in the 24th Century.

 

[Oddish]

Just watched "Ethics". Good episode, even if there's more than a bit of guilt tripping in it.

 

[Vger23]

“The Dauphin” had that great date scene on the holodeck when you got to see a bit of what it could really do. One of my all time favorite holodeck scenes, really. I wanted to live in the 24th Century.

I've actually always been surprised with how much I have always enjoyed "The Dauphin"

It's not a good episode by any stretch, but it IS enjoyable.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Yeah I was dreading "The Dauphin" on my recent rewatch, because it's a Wesley Crusher romance story and how could that not be terrible? But I found it to be surprisingly watchable. It was worth rewatching for the Riker and Guinan scene alone.

 

[Oddish]

Yeah I was dreading "The Dauphin" on my recent rewatch, because it's a Wesley Crusher romance story and how could that not be terrible? But I found it to be surprisingly watchable. It was worth rewatching for the Riker and Guinan scene alone.

You can get it in "Shades of Gray", too.