Revisiting ST-TNG...

[Warped9]

"Redemption" *** (Part II)

Picard moves to prove Romulan involvement in the Klingon civil war.

I don't think this was quite as good as Part I, partly because there are a number of things that detract from it. The most obvious is how the Klingons are portrayed. I know, it's now established, but it has become a tired shtick that I find comical and overused. Add to the fact that they all seem alike with little to differentiate them.

Another problem I have is conceptual. Picard's tachyon net should really not work. You are dealing with FTL starships, so why couldn't Sela's force just go around the net? If you can cover light years in short order than Picard's net shouldn't be a problem. Granted we don't know how big the net is with twenty-three starships, but there are references to tens of millions of kilometers---this is nothing in interstellar terms.

The final flaw I see is with Sela. How could a twenty-three year old rise to the position Commander of a fleet, particularly amongst a race presumedly with long life spans as the Romulans? I just couldn't buy it. The other issue with it is: was the original timeline restored when Picard sent Tasha back on the Enterprise C or was the older Tasha always on the Enterprise C?

Data's command tenure aboard the Sutherland was cute.

Not a bad start to Season 5, but it could have been better.

I've reconsidered and decided to watch Season 5 off YouTube because I'm not sure if I want to pony up for the box set. If it turns out I like it sufficiently then I'll pick it up.

 

[Ubik]

Well, if I remember correctly, your next episode is Darmok, a masterpiece, and an episode specifically about exploration, so you should like it.

 

[Warped9]

"Darmok" *****

Picard and an alien starship Captain struggle to communicate while facing a deadly beast.

Well Done! Until now Star Trek had never really addressed the idea of the difficulty of communicating with an alien species. Here it's done in a novel way through the use of metaphor, thus allowing the idea that some of the aliens' language is getting through the translator. This is a good first contact story although there are references that this isn't strictly the very first contact with the Tamarians.

I'm not particularly crazy about Picard's new alternate uniform. Why would you need a jacket aboard ship with a shirt sleeve environment?

 

[Anwar]

Same reason the WOK Uniforms were all big shoulder-pad jackets.

Anyways, I always figured that nepotism was the answer to Sela since her dad was supposed to be some Romulan Admiral or something.

And the Klingons, well they were comical in TOS as well like with Koloth. If anything Kor and Kang are the EXCEPTIONS, not the standard. And I found a lot of TOS Klingons rather wooden, really.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, it's always been my idea that the Unversal Translator was translating it's just that the translations weren't making any sense. (Otherwise it is absurd to think that the Children of Tamara have a language that's a lot like American English just nonsensical.)

So the UT was doing a "literal" translation which didn't make sense. It'd be like if the UT converted "Carro de Juan" into English the translation would be "Car of Juan" which wouldn't make any sense to most people as opposed to hearing "Juan's car."

As Crusher said they can figure out the words but the meaning behind them and how they are used is a mystery.

 

[Warped9]

And Data was correct that without knowing Tamarian history and mythology they had no basis of reference to communicate any ideas because it would be just a collection of meaningless words to the Tamarians.

 

[Warped9]

"Ensign Ro" *****

Picard must deal with a disgraced Starfleet officer in order to find a terrorist.

I like this story and a lot of it has to do with two good characters: Guinan and Ro Laren. These are the kind of characters that contemporary Trek needs to shake things up. I particularly liked their interaction onscreen. The rest of it was decently done, too.

 

[tomalak301]

Ensign Ro is an underrated Gem. I've disagreed about some of your reviews (And your harshness and nitpicking) but I'm glad to see you liked this one.

 

[Trekker4747]

"Ensign Ro" *****

Picard must deal with a disgraced Starfleet officer in order to find a terrorist.

I like this story and a lot of it has to do with two good characters: Guinan and Ro Laren. These are the kind of characters that contemporary Trek needs to shake things up. I particularly liked their interaction onscreen. The rest of it was decently done, too.

Another episode with an often over-looked gem in the details.

Gene's "idea" was that by the 23rd/24th century humans would have abandoned zippers as a fastening mechanism for clothing there's some other mysterious "seamless" fastneing device on the clothing. The seam we see in the back of the uniforms isn't "supposed to be there" and we're really not supposed to be see it but pulling that off was impossible.

Note that when Ro pulls off her tunic to give to the young girl in the refugee camp she pulls it off of what appears to be a normal, "one piece" standard female uniform with no visible seam in the front of it. The tunic pulls off pretty much like a normal coat does (where a seam would be in the front) and even appears to defy the one-piece look of the female uniform. Under it we see the "underwear" of the female uniform is a one-piece jumper.

It's little details like this I like it's most likely to go unnoticed and if it is noticed it's likely seen as a mistake made by the production of the show when came to consistency between the coat she gives the kid and her clothes but it's really a fine display of 24th century clothing.

And it's fucked-up by Ro's communicator pin "somehow" moving from the tunic to the jumper by itself.

 

[Warped9]

^^ We can assume she removed it when we weren't looking. And nano-seams would explain a supposedly seamless looking garment.

 

[Vonstadt]

Since I am way behind this thread and making any comments about the indivual reviews I decided to read all 26 pages of it!

I thoroughly enjoyed the reviews and have begun to revist TNG myself, the show for me has always been my third favorite series of all of the shows. I generally stick with TOS, DS9 and TNG always watching them when I can when I find them on TV or have the time to pop in my DvD's.

I have to say I find myself agreeing with pretty much most of what you have reviewed Warped and have found your reviews to be fair and honest. I do find myself giving a extra star here and there or dropping one every now and then.

I never warmed to Pulaski, agree fully on your views of Troi, and never dug the idea of families on a starship that can so easily return to Earth or any starbase and although I prefer DS9 over TNG I did kinda miss the exploration feel and its loss in TNG, but then again it became a different type of show for me after that. Trek....just Trek seen in a different light. The characters though blander to me than those of TOS and DS9...well in some ways while revisting through your reviews I discovered they were comfortable that way I suppose and I kinda liked that for the most part. Though I still find more diversity to be much more engaging for some reason I sorta forgive these guys for it.

I guess I am an old softy for a show I used to watch regularly when it first aired so long ago.

I really do look forward to your further reviews on the series as well as looking forward to your revisit to my beloved TOS, keep up the good work

Vons

 

[Warped9]

"Silicon Avatar" ***

Data must work with a scientist who has vowed to destroy the Crystalline entity that killed her son.

What is this episode title supposed to mean??? Anyway I have mixed feelings about this episode. It isn't bad, but it isn't anything great either. There are some good moments in it and it's rather sad that Dr, Marr is so blind with vengeance she destroys her own career. That said I had some sympathy for her and Riker who felt the entity needed to be destroyed. And while Picard's view toward the thing is perhaps laudable I actually couldn't find any sympathy for it myself. You also can't help but wonder that if one of these things exists then others might also be out there.

 

[Trekker4747]

What is this episode title supposed to mean???

Data acts as an "avatar" for the specialist's lost son. Talk to her, bonding with her (from her perspective) in that role and even "judging" her from his knowledge of her son's journals.

Silicon is a material used in (present day) electronics.

Data is "electronic."

The idea seems to be that Data is an "avatar" for her son and interacts with her as such through most of the episode and, again, judges her from his interpretation of the journals. Granted Data's systems are not "electronic" nor to they use silicon-based technology, but....

 

[Warped9]

^^ Yeah, okay, that works.

 

[GalaxyX]

^^ Yeah, okay, that works.

What's funny is that for a long time, I thought Silicon Avatar was referring to the Crystalline Entity (I assumed it was made out of Silicon, hence the electromagnetic properties it had )

 

[Warped9]

"Disaster" *

The ship is seriously damaged and sections are cut off from each, leaving Counselor Troi in command.

When you have nothing good to say then smile and say nothing. But I have to say I couldn't care less about anything that was happening in this episode. And Troi in command was bullshit.

Nuff said...

 

[Ubik]

"Disaster" *

The ship is seriously damaged and sections are cut off from each, leaving Counselor Troi in command.

When you have nothing good to say then smile and say nothing. But I have to say I couldn't care less about anything that was happening in this episode. And Troi in command was bullshit.

Nuff said...

Well...I always kinda liked the Geordie/Crusher plot.

 

[Canadave]

"Disaster" *

The ship is seriously damaged and sections are cut off from each, leaving Counselor Troi in command.

When you have nothing good to say then smile and say nothing. But I have to say I couldn't care less about anything that was happening in this episode. And Troi in command was bullshit.

Nuff said...

Well...I always kinda liked the Geordie/Crusher plot.

That's the one plot of "Diaster" I don't really like, myself.

I actually really enjoy the episode. Worf gets some of his funniest scenes in the series, Picard and the children manages not to be terribly overwrought, Troi in command has interesting dramatic potential, and Riker wandering around with Data's head is just amusing to me.

 

[Trekker4747]

I kind of liked this episode because Keiko's "labor screams" sound more like moans of sexual pleasure/delight/orgasms.

I liked this episode and would rate it three stars (on a 5-star scale) personally. It's just good, "disaster movie" escapist entertainment. No, it's not trying to "say" anything but it's just a removal from reality for an hour to enjoy TV. I personally liked the plot with Picard in the turbolift the most, second would be the situation with Troi on the bridge, although I kind of think she probably waited too long to try and separate the ship, IIRC when the containment field was on the brink of the critical level the ship was still attached! I'd only suspect in a situation like they were in that separating the ship would be a large undertaking and not something you wait to do until your containment falls to 14.6% when complete failure occurs at 15%. That all said, Ro should've been a bit more respectful to Troi's status as the officer on deck.

 

[Holdfast]

"Redemption" *** (Part II)
"Darmok" *****
"Ensign Ro" *****
"Silicon Avatar" ***

I'd knock a point off Ensign Ro, and give it (and a bit more) to Silicon Avatar. Dr Kila Marr was a superb and very plausible guest character and Data's refutation her of motives to destroy the entity was an excellent end to the episode. It was made more poignant by Data's complete lack of emotions when delivering the "I believe he would be being very sad" line.

"Disaster" *

TNG does The Poseidon Adventure. I loved it. 4 stars!

Star Trek's movie riff episodes are in general a mixed bag though, sometimes coming off as derivative rather than homage.