When the Lincoln log probe with floating testicle came over, the French surrendered to it. That was the end of the French language. They speak Whalelese now.
I watched "The Royale" for the first time this week. It was okay but I was kinda disappointed. I wish it were weirder or leaned on the creepiness more. I didn't like that info dump from just reading his diary, although I kinda warmed to the idea of the aliens being able to read The Royale novel in the first place. Like when Worf picks up the phone I was certain some weird shit was about to go down but it was just room service. And Data had some weird personality change when he started gambling? Is he playing a character from the book? I dunno, maybe i came in with too much expectations, something that would lean on the horror of being trapped there for a lifetime, maybe more like Frame of Mind or Schisms.
LOL maybe they got bored and turned around
Just watched, and I agree!
But, note to all Starfleet captains: if you come across a derelict vessel where the crew all murdered each other for no apparent reason, warp the hell out of there immediately, and don't go back until unmanned probes have some idea as to what's going on. For example, have said probes check for energy-sucking tears in space itself, especially if that's already a Known Thing That Sometimes Happens. Just do that jazz remotely. Trust me.
The Royale is one of my favourites, so that's a bit sad for me... but if you have seen later episodes first I kind of understand it. Brannon Braga is the person who took TNG and Trek much more conceptual and at times horror. So it's no surprise that the two you mention are both his.
I do think there is some inherent creepiness. Beaming aboard the wreckage, finding his body where it's been for years and years forgotten about... and the characters just constantly on this loop even though he's long gone. Like a music box dancer whirring and whirring...
And just some nice set pieces like the revolving doors in the dark.
As to Data I just took him as impersonating that typical gambler you see in old movies with the terms he used and blowing the dice etc. As to Data's inconsistencies if you pull at that thread it'll unravel - it's most obvious in early seasons, but even to the end of the show what he knows vs doesn't know changed on the whim of the writers and what they needed to achieve.
Maybe they just felt like being really sarcastic for a moment.
Considering he died nearly 300 years prior to the episode, he IS fairly well preserved.Weird dialog/visuals mismatch in The Royale. The dialog says the body is well preserved, but we’re looking at little more than a skeleton. I wonder how that happened.
“The lack of any advanced decomposition is due to the sterile environment.”
And Colonel Skeletor does help the episode's mood and creep factor.
I was thinking about some of the main characters ethnicities and how it would be interesting if they were portrayed correctly/differently. Obviously you have Picard if he was more realistically portrayed French, but you have Geordi who is apparently Somalian, Worf if he was Russian, Deanna if she had an accent like her parents or they like her. You could also add in stuff like if Troi was portrayed more like a proper mental health professional. Maybe Wesley could be about what are the downsides of being a boy genius.
Data was testing out his new irony subroutine.
Apologies for taking so long to get back to this, but I missed being quoted somehow.Apologies, I defer to your judgement. I must have seen the wrong version with the confusing and aimless script that ends with Marina Sirtis doing some terrible wire work.
I agree the wire work was not the best (it still worked well enough for me), but what about the episode was confusing or aimless? I never found anything confusing about "Night Terrors".
There were a lot of great scenes: Crusher and the bodies, Riker in his quarters, Picard losing it in the turbolift (which REALLY underscored just how dire things were becoming when even Picard loses it), Picard telling Data about his grandfather. And everyone very believably portrayed what they were going through. Not to mention the lighting and mood really amped up the feeling of dread that roaming the corridors.
It was also imho one of the few times Troi & Data collaborated on a solution that I found believable
Indeed. The way they figured it out played perfectly to each other's strengths. Their exchange was just what you'd expect from those two specifically.
By the standard of 1991 weekly syndicated TV, I think the wire work is fine.
Since it was in the same season, they may have been laying groundwork for Beverly to be a Starship Captain in all Good Things.
I like The Royale but largely just as a comedy episode. Worf's monotone delivery of "we call it Theta VIII" is the funniest moment in Star Trek, IMO, laugh every time. Also Data's antics at the end (likely imitating the gambler in the cowboy hat he met) and Picard's disgust when he reads the actual novel are other highlights. Troi saying "it might get better" and he gives her this incredulous look for a second.
It's an example of the show starting to gel in the second season and the actors getting into their characters and building chemistry.
Remember, Data said that French was "an obscure language." For whatever reason, French has apparently disappeared by the 24th century....when Minuet accesses the "Foreign Language Bank" to speak French. Minor nit to pick but foreign to who...federation would classify it as an earth language. Therefore, I hastily conclude all French were exiled from the Federation
...on second thought if she'd said "Dead" language bank that'd have been much more entertaining.
Also, I know the later retcon is that everyone has a universal translator and they're all really speaking different languages, but I still think everyone is normally speaking English. Hell, in TOS, they explicitly say so numerous times. And the Klingons in TSFS actually switch between Klingon and English on the bridge of the ship when no Starfleet people are around. I also don't understand how a universal translator could make everyone's lips appear to be moving in English. And all the signs on the doors throughout the ship -- not computer displays, but printed signs -- are written in English as well.
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