”Help me to save this episode” thread.

[JesterFace]

Is there an episode you like but there's something (tiny) in it that somehow ruins it?

For me it's 'Darmok'. I really like this one, until....

Riker says something like this in his log entry: ”Despite the risk of war, I have no choice but to break the stalemate”.

Isn't war about the worst thing to come out of first contact? How many lifes might be lost if Tamarians attack?

This decision felt weird, Picard was ”only” one man. Comparing that to what a war might cost, dumb decision?

 

[at Quark's]

Picard in Homeward.

His unwillingness to save at least some Boraalans die casts a shadow over his character, and it's not even really needed to tell the story as told in this episode. It seems it's used only to create some extra tension between him, Worf, and Nikolai.

 

[Ragitsu]

Time Squared

Riker is supposed to be cooking omelettes, but he's clearly serving "ordinary" scrambled eggs (as "ordinary" as alien eggs go, anyhow).

 

[dupersuper]

Picard in Homeward.

His unwillingness to save at least some Boraalans die casts a shadow over his character, and it's not even really needed to tell the story as told in this episode. It seems it's used only to create some extra tension between him, Worf, and Nikolai.

Yeah, but I wouldn't call that tiny...

 

[at Quark's]

Yeah, but I wouldn't call that tiny...

Ah, right. I read the opening post as 'it might be tiny, or not' (as tiny was parenthesized).

If the intention really is it should be a small thing, I withdraw my example, of course.

 

[Timofnine]

Is there an episode you like but there's something (tiny) in it that somehow ruins it?

For me it's 'Darmok'. I really like this one, until....

Riker says something like this in his log entry: ”Despite the risk of war, I have no choice but to break the stalemate”.

Isn't war about the worst thing to come out of first contact? How many lifes might be lost if Tamarians attack?

This decision felt weird, Picard was ”only” one man. Comparing that to what a war might cost, dumb decision?

I can’t remember the exact line in the episode, but I I do think that Commander Riker was being a bit trigger happy in this situation.

Without establishing proper communication channels, which should always be one of the first resorts when initiating a first contact, how could he truly know the Tamarians intentions? He was almost acting on a ‘whim’ and should have read the signs better. I know that it must have been a bit upsetting for the crew knowing that their Captain was down on a strange new world with no communication links, but at the end of the day Picard was indeed only one man as the original poster mentioned. Commander Riker should have recalled one of Spock’s old sayings “the needs of the many out way the needs of the one” in this situation. If a war had indeed started, countless Tamarians would have died…. I think that the Enterprise would have overpowered them but would have suffered major casualties. I’m sure that a ‘stalemate’ is preferable to war? What a disastrous first contact that would have been! Keep the stalemate until you can establish proper diplomatic channels and peaceful communications. Luckily Commander Riker did not get too trigger happy in this episode and back on the planet Picard had managed to open up communications with this species in the proper way, it was hard at first and there was a bit of a sad ending to this story but none the less everything worked out for the best.

Moral of the story, do not be trigger happy, establishing communication is key. I would have put commander Riker on a diplomacy course and noted this incident in my Captain’s log.

Time Squared

Riker is supposed to be cooking omelettes, but he's clearly serving "ordinary" scrambled eggs (as "ordinary" as alien eggs go, anyhow).

Maybe he can’t cook omelettes properly and messed them up, therefore he went with his back up plan of scrambled eggs.

This is probably why he decided to become a pizza chef? I hear that his pizza’s taste amazing though, but after this incident I would imagine that sometimes he does burn them a bit around the edges.

 

[JesterFace]

Ah, right. I read the opening post as 'it might be tiny, or not' (as tiny was parenthesized).

If the intention really is it should be a small thing, I withdraw my example, of course.

Size doesn't matter in this case.
The "mistake" can be big, medium, small or barely noticeable, one detail that kind of ruins an episode.

In my example it was Riker ordering to fire on Tamarians to save Picard even if it could start a war. I wonder if Picard himself would have made that decision?

 

[Oddish]

"When the Bough Breaks" would be better with a relatively small change: make the Aldeans' infertility incurable. The reasons:
1. In the show as written, Picard had an enormous potential bargaining chip that would have certainly gotten the Enterprise brats back: all he has to do is say you return our seven kids, we'll give you the power to pop out thousands of your own. And yet he never even offers it.
2. It makes the risk to Will and Data necessary, because no possible diplomatic solution exists.
3. It gives the pro-environment message some real teeth, the way the cruelty of the ending of "The Outcast" works so well for defending LGBT+ rights.
4. It makes the character of Radue less pathetic. At the end of the original, he's gone from proud leader to simpering sycophant. In this version, once Picard beams away the kids, he can just tell him to get the hell off his planet.
5. In the original, the Aldeans are no longer able to hide behind their shield and cloaking device; ergo they are forced to join the galactic community. But we never hear of them, or their technology, again. But if they lose the kids and are therefore doomed to oblivion, they can simply refuse all relations and disappear behind their shield.
6. The darker ending just has more gravitas.
7. Picard doesn't have to face the indignity of having a toy tribble stuck on him. I mean come on, having to give Alexandra pickie uppies was embarrassing enough.

EDIT: Have posted the script for the alternate ending in the "Fan Fiction" topic.

 

[puzzledtea]

"The arsenal of freedom" probably just the tiniest thing to fix. Probably remembering wrong but after Picard and Crusher get the weapons switched off, the one after the landing party vanishes but not the one after the ship.

I can't say exactly how but if the episode as aired could be changed around so the enterprise destroyed the drone first before they agree to "buy" them - then perhaps another one is sent after them in the same way as on the planet? Basically the sale would save both the ship and away team from a last minute weapon that would probably have beaten them

Think this counts as tiny , I think it's a great S1 episode despite this.

 

[Timofnine]

"The arsenal of freedom" probably just the tiniest thing to fix. Probably remembering wrong but after Picard and Crusher get the weapons switched off, the one after the landing party vanishes but not the one after the ship.

I can't say exactly how but if the episode as aired could be changed around so the enterprise destroyed the drone first before they agree to "buy" them - then perhaps another one is sent after them in the same way as on the planet? Basically the sale would save both the ship and away team from a last minute weapon that would probably have beaten them

Think this counts as tiny , I think it's a great S1 episode despite this.

This was one of my favourite episodes as a child. Best of Both World’s took the crown though eventually.

My explanation for this would be that the drone chasing the ship had gone rogue? It was an artificial intelligence though so maybe it had malfunctioned in some way rather than gone rogue? It could have been a last minute trap or attempt to destroy the Enterprise (or any other ship) set by the original engineers of Menos as they really didn’t want anyone else to have the tech but still wanted the cash? It could have been programmed to carry on destroying it’s enemy after the sale had been finalised? Perhaps it was just not in communications range of the holographic weapons dealer/salesman so didn’t get the message.

I wonder what the Federation/Starfleet did with this ancient arsenal? Did they mothball it all, condemn it or backwards engineer?

I also loved in this episode how Beverley Crusher used roots to heal the injured Picard. This actually inspired me to become a doctor at the time. But I never became a doctor... herbal medicine still fascinates me to this very day though!

I also loved the imaginary USS Lollypop! Every lolly pop became a starship for me after this golden oldie episode!

 

[somebuddyX]

It doesn't ruin it for me but thinking how some of the bits of All Good Things don't add up, like the tachyon pulses and that anti-time eruption turning up after it should have unopened. But I don't know what else they could have done.

 

[at Quark's]

It doesn't ruin it for me but thinking how some of the bits of All Good Things don't add up, like the tachyon pulses and that anti-time eruption turning up after it should have unopened. But I don't know what else they could have done.

What always bothered me was that they go look for the anomaly in 'the future', too, and at first they find nothing. Then they start modifying their equipment and presumably start scanning with the tachyon pulse at which point they are attacked by Klingons. The Ent-D rescues them and they depart from the Devron system. Picard is sedated. When he comes to, he manages to convince them they should return to check for the anomaly. When they return, it is there in its beginning stages.

Except - wasn't this anomaly supposed to be propagating backwards through time? Why does it exist, then, hours after the 3rd tachyon pulse was sent out?

 

[Timofnine]

It doesn't ruin it for me but thinking how some of the bits of All Good Things don't add up, like the tachyon pulses and that anti-time eruption turning up after it should have unopened. But I don't know what else they could have done.

Maybe the anomalies perceived backwards travel through time was the main direction of it’s formation but there was also a little bit of temporal ‘splash back’ which went forward in time which explains why it existed before it was created? Or perhaps it always existed and just needed some form of spark to start it’s cascade reaction which rippled backwards through time? Perhaps the tachyon pulses *did* cause the anomaly but it travelled in both directions through time by design rather than ‘chaos’ theory? The future direction of the anomaly would be hard to view without observing the anomaly far in to the future? But we never got this opportunity to view this in the episode itself. As the anomaly was stopped we never got to observe it following it’s expansion (or shrinking?) in a forward passage of time? Maybe it was the focal point of a giant galactic egg timer and Picard and crew interfered with the central passage when they should not have done, thus shattering time and space itself?

Perhaps the tachyon pulses caused an inverse ‘big bang’, therefore Picard and his multiverse of crews not only saved humanity from destruction but also destroyed it at the same time, though in doing so they also stopped the cycle of the universe ever being created or destroyed again by their meddling?

I’m glad that it all worked out for the best though!

 

[DonIago]

3. It gives the pro-environment message some real teeth, the way the cruelty of the ending of "The Outcast" works so well for defending LGBT+ rights.

Off-topic, but FWIW, a lot of people felt "The Outcast" didn't work well at all for defending LGBT+ rights. My apologies if you were being sarcastic and I missed it. One example: https://www.tor.com/2012/08/03/star-trek-the-next-generation-qthe-outcastq/

On-topic: Since we're talking about "The Outcast" anyway, have Soren played by a male actor.

 

[Timofnine]

Off-topic, but FWIW, a lot of people felt "The Outcast" didn't work well at all for defending LGBT+ rights. My apologies if you were being sarcastic and I missed it. One example: https://www.tor.com/2012/08/03/star-trek-the-next-generation-qthe-outcastq/

On-topic: Since we're talking about "The Outcast" anyway, have Soren played by a male actor.

Maybe that’s because people were expecting it to be more about ‘binary’ gay rights, as in about a character being Gay or straight? But it was actually more about trans rights and gender fluidity which a lot of people didn’t understand so much about back when the episode was made, maybe not even the writers themselves? Maybe LGBT+ didn’t have the T or the plus in it at the time so people didn’t think of viewing it through this ‘trans’ lense as it was so cutting edge at it’s time?

I would have to rewatch the episode, it wasn’t one that I felt compelled to binge watch with repeated viewings at the time.

 

[DonIago]

^From the link I provided-
"Everything about this episode that’s supposed to challenge gender stereotypes instead just reinforces them, from Soren’s talk with Crusher to Worf’s macho idiocy. In addition, as with “Code of Honor,” a casting decision makes the script come across worse than it actually is: all the J’Naii are played by women with awful haircuts. Jonathan Frakes is on record as saying the episode would have been much stronger if Soren was played by a male actor—indeed, it’s impossible to think of Soren as anything other than female, the way Culea plays the character—and he’s absolutely right."

 

[Timofnine]

^From the link I provided-
"Everything about this episode that’s supposed to challenge gender stereotypes instead just reinforces them, from Soren’s talk with Crusher to Worf’s macho idiocy. In addition, as with “Code of Honor,” a casting decision makes the script come across worse than it actually is: all the J’Naii are played by women with awful haircuts. Jonathan Frakes is on record as saying the episode would have been much stronger if Soren was played by a male actor—indeed, it’s impossible to think of Soren as anything other than female, the way Culea plays the character—and he’s absolutely right."

Maybe it was a parody then? The moral of the story could have been “how would binary gender (male/female) identifying individuals feel if the tables were turned and they were the ones being targeted and ‘re-educated’ for their beliefs?”.

like I said though, I think that I only ever watched this episode once and the ‘B story’ must have been uninspiring.

 

[Oddish]

Off-topic, but FWIW, a lot of people felt "The Outcast" didn't work well at all for defending LGBT+ rights. My apologies if you were being sarcastic and I missed it.

A character is different, and instead of being appreciated and understood for who they are, they are crushed under the iron boot of the state and made to "conform". It's almost unthinkable by today's standards, but remember that there was a time when being gay was regarded as degenerate, or mentally ill.

It is known that conversion therapy does not work. But even if it did work (as it did in this culture), forcing it on people against their will would still be evil. Even someone as unapologetically un-woke as I am gets that.

Jonathan Frakes is on record as saying the episode would have been much stronger if Soren was played by a male actor—indeed, it’s impossible to think of Soren as anything other than female, the way Culea plays the character—and he’s absolutely right."

It certainly would have been daring, and would have gotten more people's attention. But people might have focused more on the content than on the message.

 

[Summer Solstice]

What always bothered me was that they go look for the anomaly in 'the future', too, and at first they find nothing. Then they start modifying their equipment and presumably start scanning with the tachyon pulse at which point they are attacked by Klingons. The Ent-D rescues them and they depart from the Devron system. Picard is sedated. When he comes to, he manages to convince them they should return to check for the anomaly. When they return, it is there in its beginning stages.

Except - wasn't this anomaly supposed to be propagating backwards through time? Why does it exist, then, hours after the 3rd tachyon pulse was sent out?

It really jumped out at me that it was the Pasteur not the Enterprise that sent out the tachyon pulse in the future timeline but someone has a line where they say it was the Enterprise. It doesn't ruin the episode for me though.

 

[at Quark's]

Agreed, it doesn't ruin the episode.

But for me these two are mutually exclusive. When I consider some flaw 'small', it doesn't ruin the episode for me. And in reverse too: If it does ruin the episode for me, I don't consider it a 'small' problem