Revisiting ST-TNG...

[TrekAlliance92]

I think we start seeing something in Star Trek: The Next Generation season four that we see in lots of long running shows: the actors no longer want to be part of the story, they want to be the story. Which has ruined many TV series.

We may have seen this in Star Trek as well if it had been on the air as long.

Well doing character stuff is easier than coming up with a strange new something every week. Exploring character has its place in SF, but I prefer it to be within the context of something bigger and not the primary focus.

Space exploration is a framing device for Star Trek to allow for stories that introduce and address interestng ideas. But if they want to do soap opera and character introspection as the focal point of the stories then they'll drive me away because in my book that's not Star Trek as defined by the series that established it.

And again I make no apologies for that perception.

No apologies need, IMO! This is how I prefer my Trek too. That's why I love TOS, early TNG, Voyager, parts of Enterprise, and certain episodes of DS9. (I do like all of the series, just some more than others.) I don't want soap-opera, I want space opera!

 

[Anwar]

Surely there can be room for both...

 

[Warped9]

Surely there can be room for both...

For some of us...not so much.



"Clues" ***

After encountering a wormhole the crew suspect something unusual they can't explain and cannot remember.

Part of the problem with knowing a story's ending ahead of time is that all novelty and unpredictability is undermined. To that extent you're no longer seeing this with fresh eyes, but judging it strictly on execution, watching the mechanics of the story unfold.

It is an interesting twist that a xenophobic isolationist race would bother to divert ships and erase the memories of entire crews rather than simply destroy them to keep their existence secret. You also would have thought that after all this time other ships previously might not have continued quietly and returned to investigate further as the Enterprise does. Were those ships, if any, simply destroyed as they planned to do with the Enterprise? Just a thought.

At any rate this was okay, but because I already knew the ending I couldn't get engaged in it again.

 

[Trekker4747]

It's possible the xenophobic aliens had already considered the whole "if we blow up ships people will come looking for them" thing and tried to avoid whenever they could and a "blow them up" situation only occurred when they encountered Data.

It's interesting they just bought the whole "Data just won't tell anyone" thing on nothing more than his own and Picard's word. I would also think there'd still be a lot of questions to ask as now the crew has lost TWO days of their lives and likely would've thrown off the chronometers. Rather than dicking with them Data should have just came up with the "theory" that the "wormhole" moved them through time as well as space.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I thought of that as well. I guess we can assume that's what they did, but because we don't actually see it we can assume the writers didn't think of it.

 

[RAMA]

"The Loss" ***

Troi loses her empathic abilities when the Enterprise is caught in an unusual energy field.

A surprise. This being a Troi centric episode I rather expected to wholly dislike it. That said I won't get carried away because it's still not anything more than just okay. This is an obvious analogy of someone learning to adapt to a disability, but it's ultimately a shallow one because Troi doesn't remain disabled regaining her abilities when the ship escapes its dilemma.

To bad really because I'd much rather have had Guinan as Counselor.


"Data's Day" *

Data prepares for a shipboard wedding while the ship transports a Vulcan ambassador to a rendezvous in the Romulan Neutral Zone.

This was pure fluff and boring as hell. I fought to stay focused on what was unfolding. Didn't help that the Vulcan Tpel had the nuance and screen presence of a plank of wood. She was also wearing a ridiculous looking outfit like she had strayed from some sword-and-sorcery film shoot and onto the wrong set. This was carrying character trivia to an extreme and a bad judgment call on the part of whoever green lighted production of this episode.

Note, too, that Data should have immediately reported Tpel's attempt to access classified information.

Wow a surprise!! Data's Day is a charming, funny, tour de force from Brent Spiner with a twist ending that surprised me...I thought something else was going to happen...I think it was a great script choice!! Day in the life episodes on any show can really make you reflect on things, in this case, the mid-life exploration of Data. I have never heard anyone dislike it! ***** stars!

The Loss on the other hand is one of my 3 LEAST favorite episodes. The only thing cool about it was the 2-d life forms. * 1/2 stars.

Season 4 of STNG ranks as the best Star Trek series season in history in my book. TOS season 1 is 2nd, and Enterprise Season 4 is a close 3rd.



RAMA

 

[Warped9]

"First Contact" ****

Riker goes missing during a planetary survey preliminary to initiating a first contact.

I'm going to be a bit generous and give this a four star rating although I have reservations. It's decently told, but I see some conceptual flaws. Firstly, once again I think Picard is willing to reveal too much too soon to a new culture with absolutely no prior knowledge of life beyond their own existence. Secondly Riker's dilemma underlines a conceptual flaw in being part of a planetary recon mission. In Trek there have been previous references to subcutaneous transponders, a way of tracking someone on the surface without the need of a communicator. I think this would be a must in such a situation of going undercover planet side on an alien world. The writers either didn't think of it or just bypassed it in order to tell the story they wanted.

In some respects the Malkorians made me think of us during the mid 20th century. I sensed something of a Cold War like mentality as well as a discomfort with a rapidly changing society. The whole way Picard reveals their presence seems right out of familiar recounts of close encounters. I just don't find this approach really convincing even though it's told reasonably well.

Granted they've only got about forty minutes to tell this story.


"Galaxy's Child" ****

Laforge runs afoul of a Starfleet engine specialist while a newborn alien lifeform attaches itself to the Enterprise.

TNG has now introduced about four space borne lifeforms including this most recent one. Well done conceptually. This is an interesting and decently told story. Mind you watching Laforge again trying to sidle up to a woman is still excruciating. And it doesn't help that this one is initially something of a hardass. In an indirect way Laforge's romanticized expectation of Leah Brahms is somewhat akin to the reality many people can face when meeting new people online today.

I also like that this was much less Federation centric and more a final frontier type story.


"Night Terrors" ****

The Enterprise is trapped and the crew slowly begins going mad.

Surprise. I don't recall liking this, but it's better than I remember. I credit them with being able to create a genuine sense of tension and dread and an effectively creepy atmosphere. You really identify with the crew freaking out from hallucinations and mental exhaustion, because many of us in some measure or other have experienced something of the same thing at one time or another.

 

[JRS]

Of which I make no apologies. TOS is Star Trek, it established its identity. It set something of a pattern for what I like in space adventure SF.

You should remember that to many TNG was the first Star Trek show they ever watched. Thus they see it differently and dont necessarily compare it to TOS all the time, like you seem to do.
I would try to treat TNG as an seperate entity..maybe you would enjoy more that way
Personally I think TNGs overall quality is maybe the best of all of the Trek shows. For exsample DS9 was very good show but the good/great episodes where often follow by bad/average ones.

 

[Ubik]

"First Contact" ****

Riker goes missing during a planetary survey preliminary to initiating a first contact.

I'm going to be a bit generous and give this a four star rating although I have reservations. It's decently told, but I see some conceptual flaws. Firstly, once again I think Picard is willing to reveal too much too soon to a new culture with absolutely no prior knowledge of life beyond their own existence. Secondly Riker's dilemma underlines a conceptual flaw in being part of a planetary recon mission. In Trek there have been previous references to subcutaneous transponders, a way of tracking someone on the surface without the need of a communicator. I think this would be a must in such a situation of going undercover planet side on an alien world. The writers either didn't think of it or just bypassed it in order to tell the story they wanted.

In some respects the Malkorians made me think of us during the mid 20th century. I sensed something of a Cold War like mentality as well as a discomfort with a rapidly changing society. The whole way Picard reveals their presence seems right out of familiar recounts of close encounters. I just don't find this approach really convincing even though it's told reasonably well.

Granted they've only got about forty minutes to tell this story.


"Galaxy's Child" ****

Laforge runs afoul of a Starfleet engine specialist while a newborn alien lifeform attaches itself to the Enterprise.

TNG has now introduced about four space borne lifeforms including this most recent one. Well done conceptually. This is an interesting and decently told story. Mind you watching Laforge again trying to sidle up to a woman is still excruciating. And it doesn't help that this one is initially something of a hardass. In an indirect way Laforge's romanticized expectation of Leah Brahms is somewhat akin to the reality many people can face when meeting new people online today.

I also like that this was much less Federation centric and more a final frontier type story.


"Night Terrors" ****

The Enterprise is trapped and the crew slowly begins going mad.

Surprise. I don't recall liking this, but it's better than I remember. I credit them with being able to create a genuine sense of tension and dread and an effectively creepy atmosphere. You really identify with the crew freaking out from hallucinations and mental exhaustion, because many of us in some measure or other have experienced something of the same thing at one time or another.

Wow, a string of positive reviews. But you're right, all three are quite good episodes (Night Terrors is waaaay underrated, in my books - it's genuinely unnerving.)

Also, I tend to agree with the poster right above me: yes, to you, TOS is Star Trek. But really, TOS is TOS. TNG is a completely different animal, as I said earlier in the thread, a series of character-driven morality plays, not usually an adventure show at all. It carries the same name as the original series because it's in the same fictional universe; but science fiction writers often create fictional universes that contain individual books that are very different subgenres of sf: Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization saga, for one, and C. J. Cherryh's Merchanter-Alliance books, both consistent future histories containing many different genres of story.

So, to complain that Data's Day isn't Star Trek is just inaccurate; Data's Day is very much what TNG is about, and there are plenty of more episodes like that. Deep Space Nine is, again, even further from what TOS was about than TNG was, but still a great series.

Anyway....glad you liked those episodes. It means there's still hope for you yet.

 

[Warped9]

Again, I make no apologies for my take on what Star Trek is. I've already said I can make allowances for divergence to incorporate certain new things. If I was really narrow minded about it I wouldn't even be bothering with this revisit.

It's just as narrow minded to say, "Well TNG was first for me and so it's what I think Trek should be." It would be narrow minded and it would be wrong because TNG is reinterpreting something that came before. You can say TNG broadened the definition of the original, but it didn't define and establish the fundamentals. And that would be true for any subsequent series and film.

Star Trek TOS was a space adventure that I fell in love with and still admire and respect after all these years, warts and all, because it got far more right than it got wrong. If one doesn't like it then that's their prerogative, but they can't dismiss it. As such TOS set the basic parameters, the template, of what I think Star Trek is. If a spinoff deviates too far from that template then there is no reason why I have to like and accept it.

For the record it should be noted that I didn't dismiss an episode like "Data's Day" just because it was a small scale character piece. I dismissed it primarily because I thought it was boring. Yet on two occasions I credited episodes that featured a character I don't even like, Deanna Troi.

Now how open minded and uncritical do I have to be? To say one disagrees with my viewpoint is fair enough, but to say I'm wrong or being unfair isn't.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Enjoying the reviews very much, Warped9! Thanks for posting them!

I've also been rewatching some first- and second-season TNG episodes, and I am also finding them considerably more enjoyable than I did on first viewing. Part of it is that it's fun to see how different the characters initially were compared to what they became later. And those early episodes do manage on occasion to evoke a sense of awe and discovery reminiscent of TOS at its best.

However, I do think another reason for the difference between my earlier and now current evaluation of the episodes is what I compared them to. During TNG's initial run, all I had to compare it to was TOS, which, IMO, soundly beat the pants off TNG. On current viewing, compared to all the Trek that has followed TNG, those initial episodes fare much better.

All IMHO, of course.

This ["The Loss"] is an obvious analogy of someone learning to adapt to a disability, but it's ultimately a shallow one because Troi doesn't remain disabled regaining her abilities when the ship escapes its dilemma.

Well, when it comes to the subject of disabilties, TNG doesn't exactly have a reputation for ballsiness. Remember: Our "blind" regular crewmember actually has better vision than anyone else on the ship!

Mind you watching Laforge again trying to sidle up to a woman is still excruciating.

I'm still trying to decide whose "love scenes" are more painful to watch: LaForge's or Scotty's.

 

[BillJ]

I'm still trying to decide whose "love scenes" are more painful to watch: LaForge's or Scotty's.

Boy that is a tough one...

 

[Warped9]

"Identity Crises" ****

Starfleet personnel are inexplicably mutating and disappearing.

How odd. I don't recall thinking much of this episode way back when. Yet now I think this is an effectively eerie mystery story as the crew tries to figure out what the hell is going on. They don't delve much into the why a species would reproduce itself in this manner, but it's nicely told.

This makes the fourth in a string of good episodes.

 

[Ubik]

If you've got any taste (which, admittedly, you seem to), then there will soon be a fifth - The Nth Degree is fantastic (although you didn't take to the Barclay character, so you may think differently...) On the other hand, it is then followed by one of the worst episodes ever.....

 

[Warped9]

Part of the flaw with "Hollow Pursuits" was the unlikelihood of the Barclay character. He's a total putz and just doesn't seem credible for him to be where he is. I recall the quirky character of Ens. Sonia Gomez. She was a bit of a goof, but she was also obviously competent.

 

[Ubik]

Part of the flaw with "Hollow Pursuits" was the unlikelihood of the Barclay character. He's a total putz and just doesn't seem credible for him to be where he is. I recall the quirky character of Ens. Sonia Gomez. She was a bit of a goof, but she was also obviously competent.

Oh, see, I disagree - one doesn't need social skills to make it, especially if you're an engineer. If the man is a great engineer, then his social skills shouldn't have posed an obstacle to his career. Barclay just appears to have Aspergers, frankly, and many engineers and scientists who couldn't even look another human being in the eye, let alone have a coherent conversation with them, because of their Aspergers, have been very successful in their own fields. No, I find Barclay one of the more plausible characters in the franchise, actually. If the man knows his stuff, then his inability to survive in a social environment is irrelevant; he could very realistically end up on the Enterprise. And there is no evidence in Hollow Pursuits to suggest that he's not a fantastic engineer. And in the following episodes with the character, they make that even more clear. It was just his social anxieties that were getting in the way.

And anyway, Nth Degree is a far better episode than Hollow Pursuits, as you will soon see.

 

[BillJ]

Part of the flaw with "Hollow Pursuits" was the unlikelihood of the Barclay character. He's a total putz and just doesn't seem credible for him to be where he is. I recall the quirky character of Ens. Sonia Gomez. She was a bit of a goof, but she was also obviously competent.

Oh, see, I disagree - one doesn't need social skills to make it, especially if you're an engineer. If the man is a great engineer, then his social skills shouldn't have posed an obstacle to his career. Barclay just appears to have Aspergers, frankly, and many engineers and scientists who couldn't even look another human being in the eye, let alone have a coherent conversation with them, because of their Aspergers, have been very successful in their own fields. No, I find Barclay one of the more plausible characters in the franchise, actually. If the man knows his stuff, then his inability to survive in a social environment is irrelevant; he could very realistically end up on the Enterprise. And there is no evidence in Hollow Pursuits to suggest that he's not a fantastic engineer. And in the following episodes with the character, they make that even more clear. It was just his social anxieties that were getting in the way.

And anyway, Nth Degree is a far better episode than Hollow Pursuits, as you will soon see.

I agree with Warped9 here, always found it unlikely that Barclay would be able to get where he was. A Starfleet officer will likely be put in dangerous situations on a regular basis... an inability to communicate could be deadly. Not only to himself but to others around him. YMMV.

 

[Warped9]

^^ That's the essence of it. On a starbase or in a research facility Barclay could fit in. But aboard a starship I just don't see him able to cut it.

Now that said...


"The Nth Degree" ****

Awkward Lt. Barclay mutates into a being of vastly superior intellect.

I still don't care for the Barclay character and his clumsy interactions with Deanna Troi, but this is an interesting story idea of an alien race that explores the galaxy...by bringing it to them rather than venturing out into the galaxy. If there's a disappointment to this episode it's that I was intrigued to see about the Cytherians. I have to note that while Barclay was becoming a super genius (and fortunately not the Wile E. Coyote kind) Picard looked particularly indecisive in this. He just stares toward the viewscreen and asks for options and suggestions.


"Qpid" **

Picard and crew find themselves playing Robin Hood and his band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest.

Oh brother! The first half of this is somewhat amusing and it's rather fun seeing Picard squirming in front of his crew because of an old girlfriend's attention. But the second half is just too bizarre. Well, Worf does have a couple of good moments: claiming he's not a merry man and breaking Geordi's mandolin or whatever it was.

On the face of it this could be somewhat comparable to TOS' "A Piece Of The Action" only I think the TOS cast was more comfortable with absurdity.


"The Drumhead" ****

A Starfleet Admiral investigates a possible conspiracy aboard the Enterprise.

It doesn't take too long to begin sensing that Admiral Norah Satie is becoming unhinged and a little divorced from reality. This is a decent analogy of the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s when countless people were questioned and suspected simply based on their associations. And Picard delivers the correct message that people like Satie are always with us waiting for their opportunity to persecute others on the flimsiest of excuses.

The first half of this season was inconsistent and a touch rocky, but the second half seems to have settled into a groove for the most part.

 

[Warped9]

I've also been rewatching some first and second-season TNG episodes, and I am also finding them considerably more enjoyable than I did on first viewing. Part of it is that it's fun to see how different the characters initially were compared to what they became later. And those early episodes do manage on occasion to evoke a sense of awe and discovery reminiscent of TOS at its best.

However, I do think another reason for the difference between my earlier and now current evaluation of the episodes is what I compared them to. During TNG's initial run, all I had to compare it to was TOS, which, IMO, soundly beat the pants off TNG. On current viewing, compared to all the Trek that has followed TNG, those initial episodes fare much better.

I agree that much of it has to do with context. I feel much the same when I look at what has been done in Trek's name since those days.

 

[Ubik]

^^ That's the essence of it. On a starbase or in a research facility Barclay could fit in. But aboard a starship I just don't see him able to cut it.

Now that said...


"The Nth Degree" ****

Awkward Lt. Barclay mutates into a being of vastly superior intellect.

I still don't care for the Barclay character and his clumsy interactions with Deanna Troi, but this is an interesting story idea of an alien race that explores the galaxy...by bringing it to them rather than venturing out into the galaxy. If there's a disappointment to this episode it's that I was intrigued to know see about the Cytherians. I have to note that while Barclay was becoming a super genius (and fortunately not the Wile E. Coyote kind) Picard looked particularly indecisive in this. He just stares toward the viewscreen and asks for options and suggestions.


"Qpid" **

Picard and crew find themselves playing Robin Hood and his band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest.

Oh brother! The first half of this is somewhat amusing and it's rather fun seeing Picard squirming in front of his crew because of an old girlfriend's attention. But the second half is just too bizarre. Well, Worf does have a couple of good moments: claiming he's not a merry man and breaking Geordi's mandolin or whatever it was.

On the face of it this could be somewhat comparable to TOS' "A Piece Of The Action" only I think the TOS cast was more comfortable with absurdity.


"The Drumhead" ****

A Starfleet Admiral investigates a possible conspiracy aboard the Enterprise.

It doesn't take too long to begin sensing that Admiral Norah Satie is becoming unhinged and a little divorced from reality. This is a decent analogy of the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s when countless people were questioned and suspected simply based on their associations. And Picard delivers the correct message that people like Satie are always with us waiting for their opportunity to persecute others on the flimsiest of excuses.

The first half of this season was inconsistent and a touch rocky, but the second half seems to have settled into a groove for the most part.

The Drumhead is a 5-star masterpiece, one of the best episodes of the franchise.

It's also the last great episode of the season. It's all downhill from here (aside from The Mind's Eye and Redemption Part 1, which are both good but not great.)